What is Freestyle Cruising

Hardly any rules, nothing compulsory, a holiday at sea according to your own preferences and wishes, with new inspirations every day – these associations hardly come to one´s mind when thinking about cruising, but it is exactly what Freestyle Cruising is all about. This innovative way of cruising developed by Norwegian Cruise Line challenges the conventional model of cruise holidays and is designed to meet the changing needs of today´s cruise passengers. Freestyle Cruising is characterized in particular by having no fixed dining times, no formal dress codes, up to 29 different dining options, a great variety of bars & lounges, theatres as well as other entertainment and activity options.
As the transaction between Norwegian Cruise Line and Apollo Management was completed, the cruise line announced its “Freestyle 2.0” fleet wide initiative featuring significant enhancements in its on-board  product in order to further improve the guest experience. The enhancements have been implemented in summer 2008.


Elements of Freestyle Cruising

Freestyle Dining
On board the Norwegian Cruise Line fleet, guests find up to 29 different dining options without set dining times and opening hours from 17:30 to midnight (seating until 22:30). Thus, they can choose when, where and with whom to dine. In fact, if guests prefer, they can dine in a different restaurant each night of their cruise. Should guests, however, prefer to dine at the same table and/or at the same time every evening, respective reservations may be arranged on board. Norwegian Cruise Line´s new ships feature a restaurant seating guide, displayed on flat-screen televisions placed in key areas on the ship. They show each restaurant´s current occupancy status as well as possible waiting times. If a  restaurant is fully occupied at a certain time and guests would like to wait for an opening, they will get a pager that works all over the ship and will be informed as soon as the table is available.


Accommodation
Aboard the Freestyle Cruising fleet, guests can choose from a wide range of stateroom categories to suite every taste and budget. Available stateroom categories include for example well-appointed inside staterooms for price-conscious customers, oceanview staterooms, staterooms with private balcony as well as Mini Suites. There are also spacious and connecting staterooms with space for everyone, including Family Staterooms.
In our luxurious suite complexes your customers enjoy exclusive benefits and personalized service. This includes private key-card access to the Suites complex, swimming pool, private sun deck as well as 24-hour butler service. On 8 of our vessels you will find the The Haven by Norwegian® hidden away at the top of the ship. Further details and all information about the suite complexes onboard the other vessels you can find on our website.


Attire
Resort casual sums up life on board. For those who like to dress up a little bit, there is one designated restaurant with a more elegant ambiance available on every ship.


Service
With up to one crew member per stateroom, Norwegian Cruise Line provides the highest crew-to-guest ration in its class. These large numbers of crew members guarantee a high service level and enable the cruise line to offer longer opening hours of the many public rooms and restaurants according to the Freestyle Cruising concept.


Experiences
Together with extensive sport and wellness facilities, Norwegian Cruise Line also offers a varied entertainment program. Components include everything from computer and cooking classes to yoga and shore excursions with mountain biking or horseback riding. For guests who want to stay in contact with those at home, Norwegian Cruise Line pioneered with the industry´s first internet access on the high seas in 1999 which now is a fleet wide standard.
Norwegian Cruise Line was also the first cruise line to provide remote wireless Internet access (WiFi) to its guests and in 2006, became the first cruise line to offer cell phone service fleet wide.


Family
Norwegian Cruise line offers family-friendly prices including attractive prices for children. The new ships of the Norwegian Cruise Line fleet feature family-friendly stateroom comfort with interconnecting doors in just about every category as well as suites with multiple sleeping rooms to accommodate families of every size. Norwegian´s Youth & Teen Programmes called the Splash Academy and the Entourage offer one of the most extensive entertainments for girls and boys with specially trained counselors. Children facilities aboard the Norwegian Cruise Line fleet include a separate kids´ pool, kids´ fun area and separate sections in the restaurants.


Disembarkation
Wherever possible, Norwegian Cruise Line offers Freestyle Disembarkation, which means that there is no need to hurry, so the guests can relax over breakfast and step ashore at their leisure until 10:00. Your clients simply place the luggage on the night before disembarkation in the corridor outside the stateroom and keep a small travel bag for their overnight luggage ready. Please note that the customers are required to leave the stateroom by 09:00 but they can still stay in any of our public lounges until 10:00 or until they hear their luggage tag colour called.