We sailed the NCL Star Hawaii cruise last spring and loved the "free-style" dining. My husband never again wants to be STUCK with horrible table-mates. We are looking for a Caribbean cruise this summer and taking our 12 year old daughter so need a good kids program. Very interested in Carnival Legend. Do they have dining alternatives? Thanks for your help.

All ships have lido buffet dining. Carnival dining is still traditional assigned. But they do have excellent 24 hour pizza. I would look into NCL again if the freestyle dining is a priority.

Hi Lovetotravel: While I am a fan of Carnival, you'll want to really understand what BudgetQueen means by lido buffet dining.

Carnival recognized that people like this "free style" concept so, they spruce up the buffet dining area (table cloths, flowers, etc.) during main dining hours and serve food that is closer to what is being served in the main dining rooms (steak, etc.). While it is closer to what NCL would offer it is not the same. I wouldn't want you to be disappointed since it won't be quite as nice as a main dining room experience.
Anyway, I am a fan of Carnival and it is a great value with a lot of fun activities, shows, etc.
Hope this helps.

You may want to take a look at Princess which has 'personal choice' dining in at least one of their main dining rooms. It's similar to NCL's freestyle except Princess tends to seat you with others unless you request a private table (at least this has been our experience). You won't find anything that comes close to the variety of dining options available on the NCl Star though.

It was actually the Grand Princess Med cruise 3 years ago that turned my hubby off to assigned tables in the dining room. We had 14 nights of misery!

I would cruise the Legend and tell your TA to give you a small table when you book the cruise - a table for 4. Last year, my brother, sister-in-law and I had a table for 4, so we had our own private table. When you board the ship, make sure that you go to the maitre d right after you board to insure that you have the seating you want and a small table. That way, you can enjoy your family. Althoug I like the food in the Lido Buffet for lunch, the quality of the food is not at the same level as it is in the main dining room, especially on Carnival ships. This is not a jab at Carnival - I like sailing Carnival - will be sailing the conquest in about a month.

As far as assigned dining, we have been very lucky - when we have been at large tables, we have had very nice table mates.