As this thread demonstrates, cruises are very polarizing. You either hate them or love them.
That being said, cruising used to be better. They now have this “freestyle” crap where you can eat in one of several different restaurants. What they don’t tell you (before you book the cruise) is that you have to make reservations BEFORE the ship sails, or you won’t get a table. They also play down the fact that in these “restaurants” the food you would want - say lobster or steak - is extra. You can always get a table in the regular dining room or buffet, but the food choices there tend to be not quite up to the selection or quality in the specialty restaurants.
Other things that used to be free - like soft drinks and basic port tours - are also now extra.
Cruises used to offer “classes” to bring you up to speed on the port you would be visiting next. These have now turned into sales presentations to get you to go to particular stores or restaurants which, of course, the cruise line has a financial interest in.
I still like cruising, but if you don’t know what you are getting into, it can be quite a shock to the wallet.
We’ve been on 3 Norwegian Cruises with freestyle.
You do have to make reservations for the specialty restaurants, but you can make them the day you want to eat.
You pay a little bit extra ($10 or $20), but not that much. My husband and I would pay for ourselves to eat at the specialty restaurants. I love the French Bistro restaurants on the Norwegian cruises, and have some of the best meals of my life there. We would get so much food: escargot, great soups, great salads, great main meals and great desserts. We would try tons of food because you could as much as you want.
The buffets were good food, but not great. They had made to order pasta, roast beef, and other standard fare. All good, and my kids loved it.
The main dining rooms were sit down affairs. They just took a long time to eat. Some days that worked, and others it didn’t. I tried unusal things like a duck asian salad at lunch. I typically tried unusual food that I would never get at home, and I loved it. I thought the Asian choices were always really good. They had steak and lobster, but it wasn’t as good as in the specialty restaurants. They also had great souffles and creme brulees for desert!!