Normal
Just returned on the Dawn this past Sunday. We have cruised before but this was our first freestyle experience. Here is a summary of what we found:Positive - You can eat when you want. No more rushing to shower up so you can make it to your seating. The ship is like a little city. You can decide where you want to hang out that night. All the restaurants have their own identity and feel. There are plenty of bars and lounging areas to hang out and wait if there is a wait for a table. If you don't feel like waiting, there are 9 other places to eat. Debarkation was the best we've ever experienced. We got up watched the ship sail into the city, went back to the room and showered, went and had breakfast (full sit-down style), then back to the room to grab our carry-ons and went to sit outside on a lounge chair waiting to be called. Fantastic.Negative - I think in some cases the service suffered a little. This seemed to have more to do with the individual waiter/waitress but it was noticeable at some points. Unlike most cruises I've been on the wait staff didn't seem to have the same understanding of the items on the menu that evening. (no big deal) There is definitely more planning and decision making involved. We had a great time on the Dawn but I could have lived without having to coordinate 6 peoples desires for where and when to eat. I missed the set time and place on days where I was tired and didn't want to deal.Tips and Tricks - Here is the skinny. There are no set "seatings" but the dinning rooms and restaurants opened at either 5:30 or 6pm. That is obviously going to be the first waive of customers. It takes between 1 1/2 to 2 hours for dinner so that's when they will start to have major turnover. So 7 to 7:30 was the unofficial second seating. What we did was picked the place we wanted to eat that night and one person from our group went by when the place opened. We talked to the maitre'd (not sure how to spell that) about when we wanted to eat. We never waited past the estimated time given to us at that point. If they said 7:30 we went by at 7:15 to tell them we were there and we usually sat right away. Sometimes we sat and had a drink for 15 minutes. Also, as was mentioned in other posts, the crowds were from 5:30 to 7. If you're hungry and can't wait until 7:30 or 8pm you can order a snack from room service at 4 when you get back to the ship (remember it's free). By 8 you'll be ready to eat again. In order to make the 10pm shows try to sit no later than 8pm. This was plenty of time to enjoy your meal and still make it to the show at a leisurely pace. We found no need to eat anywhere besides the 3 main dinning rooms. They were great. No need to pay anything extra unless you have desire for something different.
Just returned on the Dawn this past Sunday. We have cruised before but this was our first freestyle experience. Here is a summary of what we found:
Positive - You can eat when you want. No more rushing to shower up so you can make it to your seating. The ship is like a little city. You can decide where you want to hang out that night. All the restaurants have their own identity and feel. There are plenty of bars and lounging areas to hang out and wait if there is a wait for a table. If you don't feel like waiting, there are 9 other places to eat. Debarkation was the best we've ever experienced. We got up watched the ship sail into the city, went back to the room and showered, went and had breakfast (full sit-down style), then back to the room to grab our carry-ons and went to sit outside on a lounge chair waiting to be called. Fantastic.
Negative - I think in some cases the service suffered a little. This seemed to have more to do with the individual waiter/waitress but it was noticeable at some points. Unlike most cruises I've been on the wait staff didn't seem to have the same understanding of the items on the menu that evening. (no big deal) There is definitely more planning and decision making involved. We had a great time on the Dawn but I could have lived without having to coordinate 6 peoples desires for where and when to eat. I missed the set time and place on days where I was tired and didn't want to deal.
Tips and Tricks - Here is the skinny. There are no set "seatings" but the dinning rooms and restaurants opened at either 5:30 or 6pm. That is obviously going to be the first waive of customers. It takes between 1 1/2 to 2 hours for dinner so that's when they will start to have major turnover. So 7 to 7:30 was the unofficial second seating. What we did was picked the place we wanted to eat that night and one person from our group went by when the place opened. We talked to the maitre'd (not sure how to spell that) about when we wanted to eat. We never waited past the estimated time given to us at that point. If they said 7:30 we went by at 7:15 to tell them we were there and we usually sat right away. Sometimes we sat and had a drink for 15 minutes. Also, as was mentioned in other posts, the crowds were from 5:30 to 7. If you're hungry and can't wait until 7:30 or 8pm you can order a snack from room service at 4 when you get back to the ship (remember it's free). By 8 you'll be ready to eat again. In order to make the 10pm shows try to sit no later than 8pm. This was plenty of time to enjoy your meal and still make it to the show at a leisurely pace. We found no need to eat anywhere besides the 3 main dinning rooms. They were great. No need to pay anything extra unless you have desire for something different.
