Norwegian recently introduced something called freestyle cruising, a great improvement on how they used to run things at sea. In the old days (and still on many other cruise lines) you had to sit with strangers, invariably older and odder than yourselves. (On a previous cruise, our forced companions were a taxidermist and his wife. Maybe she wasn't his wife...just his finest oeuvre.)
With freestyle cruising, you never have to sit with people like that. You can sit by yourselves, at a table for two or four. If you make friends with another couple, you can sit with them. Except for three fancier restaurants, where a $10 per person cover charge is levied, reservations are not necessary. You can eat where you want, when you want, with whom you want. It's a lot like being on dry land.
How's the food? Plentiful. You're bound to find something you like on the menu. If you make a choice you regret, send it back and request another item.
Above is Horizons, my favorite restaurant on board. It's where we spent that big birthday and I got to wear my sparkly new earrings. Very romantic, the capacious banquettes, up a step, overlook the sea. And the service is pleasantly obsequious. That four different Filipino waitresses separately inquired, "Did you enjoy your soup?" did not diminish my pleasure in the least.
It's nice to know that someone cared.
Page 1 - Bon Voyage
Page 2 - Enter the Cabin
Page 3 - A Champagne
& Caviar Send-Off
Page 4 - Where the Heck
are We Going, Anyway?
Page 5 - Pleasures at
Sea
Photograph appears courtesy of Norwegian Cruise Line.
