I am planning a cruise for a small group(ladies middle age and older, maybe a few husbands)and have a choice between Norwegian Sun and Grandeur of the Seas. These are my only choices as I need a 7 night out of New Orleans and have already eliminated Carnival. I am tentatively booked on NCL but now I'm spooked. I keep reading horrible things about Freestyle cruising. Most comments tend to be a couple of years old. Has anyone been on either ship recently? My TA tells me that the ships are comparable. Please, any words of wisdom?

You can read recent reviews of both ships at www.cruise-addicts.com. Hope this helps.

I was on the NCL Sun recently - great ship and I loved freestyle. There are some reviews of the Sun at
www.cruisecritic.com and lots of other info.

I have sailed on the Sun twice (and a toal of 8 times on NCL), on RCI 36 times.

I have sailed on both the Granduer and the Sun and prefer the Sun overall. She is a pretty ship with a great staff. I do not care for Freestyle Dining nor for the casual dress favored on NCL but if you try the Specialty restaurants once or twice, the food is good overall. I often had a light dinner at the tapas bar and that was good for me.

I travelled alone and everyone was friendly. The cigar lounge had great jazz music.

Grandeur was not one my favorite RCI ship. It was overrun with children and the Purser was beseiged with complaints. They were everywhere they were not supposed to be and, as a childless adult, I was one of those who did not appreciate the lack of enforecement by RCI of their own rules.

For my money, I would choose the Sun.

Is this a first cruise for most? If so, I would favor the Grandeur for the traditional cruising style. I have sailed on NCL (the wind) and the Grandeur. The Grandeur is a nice ship, not too overbearing in size and not small. I have taken 16 cruises and my favorite waiter ever named Geno is what I remember most(he was the captains waiter also). I think RCCLs strong point is entertainment as they favor big name entertainment and even if the big name may be past their prime they are usually really good. Don't be horrified of freestyle cruising- it has it's advantages. But, for a group I think you will want to come together at each night and experience your evening meal. It is actually what melds the group together. You can pretty much feel free to do your own thing during the day and at dinner look forward to seeing everyone! PS- Why did you count out Carnival??

I just came off the Grandeur this past week. I would guess the timing is important but the ship was virtually child free with the exception of a few stroller toddlers. The age group was mostly, 40's on up. The entertainment was exceptionally good. The ship is showing its age so I feel. It is still a nice ship, the food was medium to above, and the staff goes out of there way to make it a nice vacation. The music at the pool is not extremely loud or annoying. Everyone seemed to be having a very good time. As for NCL I have not sailed that line so difficult to judge between the 2. I have sailed Celebrity, Carnival, and although I liked the others I always remember things about RCCL most of the time.

Thanks, everyone, for taking the time to respond. I will check out the other web sites mentioned. My concern with Carnival was that it might cater more to younger crowd/more children. The itinerary for the NCL was really the selling point - going to Roatan and Belize, not just Mexico/Caymans. I think most in group have sailed before and I was looking for a slightly different itinerary on a decent ship. I know I can't please everyone, but I continue to think Freestyle could be a problem.

I am curious - why do you think Freestyle will be a problem?
You may not be aware but on NCL you can arrange to dine at a specific time at a specific table. You just have to speak to the maitre d'. I think there is some limitation as to what time you can select (but that is the way it is with "traditional" cruising anyway) Or of course you can also take advantage of Freestyle dining and arrive when you want. However especially with a large group you may have to wait to be seated.

I've just read alot about lines and having to wait. As I mentioned earlier, some of my group will be older and the idea of standing in line concerned me. I don't remember ever having to wait in a line on any other cruise, except perhaps waiting for the dining room to open if we got there a little early. With so many restaurants on board I've been mystified as to why there would be lines waiting unless there was, perhaps, disorganization lurking beneath the surface. I'm feeling better tho, since everyone has responded.

On my 2 Sun cruises, there were lines for the main dining room when it first opened for dinner and for about an hour afterward. It lightened up about 7:30 or so. In the "healthy fare" dining room, there was never a line.

For the specialty restaurants, they were good about seating you at the time of your confirmed reservation.

If the reserved dining is really important to you, you need to factor that in.

I liked the option of having mulitple restaurants. It might be nice night to be restricted to having dinner as a group all the time. There are pluses and minuses to both.

I strongly urge you to got to the www.cruisecritic.com forum. The NCL board there is quite active. I have cruised on the Sun and the longest I ever waited to get into the dining room was 4 minutes (and we had seats while we waited). We mainly dined at 6PM and noticed no line-ups at all. The only time we waited to be seated (for 4 minutes) was at 7:00PM. However things may be different for a group which is why I recommend the above board. There will be people on that board who have travelled on the Sun in groups. I am curious where have your read about all these "lines" on the Sun - except at the buffet I did not see a lineup anywhere.