Freestyle Dining

Norwegian Cruise Lines started this program. Basically, on a standard cruise vacation, if you want to eat in the dining room, you go at your assigned time, and sit with other guests that were assigned the same table. With freestyle dining there are no set times or table mates. NCL ships have as many as 13 different restaurants on board offering different cuisine. But now, other cruise lines are looking into adding a freestyle or anytime option on some of their ships. Holland America is in the process of rolling out there program called "as you wish" and Princess has a program where you can have dinner on your balcony (for a small fee of course). I see the dining options becoming a trend among most if not all the cruise lines as they try to cater to what the people want.

A side note on the NCL program: Reservations are required at some of the more popular restaurants on board and some also have an added fee.