Open Seating On The Westerdam

Was curious if anyone out there has experience with open seating, aka anytime dining, on the Westerdam. We don't like to eat late, but 5:30 is just too early for us. Is the wait unduly long for open seating?

Thanks!

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One other question...And if we want a specific dining time, we can make a reservation a day in advance, correct?

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Have never done Open Seating.

But I do know that most ships allow you to make reservations from 5:15 to 6:15 and from 7:30 to 9. And you can make reservations for 3 days at a time and for any size table you want.

Was curious if anyone out there has experience with open seating, aka anytime dining, on the Westerdam. We don't like to eat late, but 5:30 is just too early for us. Is the wait unduly long for open seating?

Thanks!

 

 

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We were on the Westerdam last November. Our routine is as soon as we board we go right to the lido where the reservations host will be and request a table for 2 at a certain time. We then request the same table (if we like it) as we leave the dining room, and have found it is ours for the rest of the cruise. On our Westerdam cruise we actually were given a table for 4 that served as a table for 2...very nice! We hope this works for our upcoming Volendam cruise....hope so!

Karen

We were on the Westerdam last June. Our schedules changed all the time, as did the number of us eating in the MDR any given night, so we would make a reservation the day before or the morning of most days. It was never a problem, but I should point out that we were in a suite, so the concierge took care of it.

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We were on the Westerdam for its first cruise out of dry dock. We had no problems with the dinning. Some days I made a reservation and others I did not. Even when I had a reservation, I often showed up early. We were just 2 people and we never had to wait. It was a very easy experience.

We were on the Westerdam last November. Our routine is as soon as we board we go right to the lido where the reservations host will be and request a table for 2 at a certain time. We then request the same table (if we like it) as we leave the dining room, and have found it is ours for the rest of the cruise.

 

Karen

Did you eat in the Lido and not the MDR?

Did you eat in the Lido and not the MDR?

We do open seating in the MDR. The reservations host has always been in his position on the Llido on embarkation day to take reservations for open seating. There is usually a line of people waiting to make reservations or changes. We have done this for at least our last 10 cruises.

Karen

Thank you so much for all these responses! How easy is it to just get a table for two without reservations? Also, has anyone been on the Zaandam? We are also booked on her, and, again, would rather go with the open seating if there isn't too much of a wait.

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Thank you so much for all these responses! How easy is it to just get a table for two without reservations? Also, has anyone been on the Zaandam? We are also booked on her, and, again, would rather go with the open seating if there isn't too much of a wait.

 

 

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We have been on the Zaandam 3 times, the latest the 21 day Antarctica Holiday in 2013-14. We did open seating, table for 2 with reservations...kept the same table the whole cruise. The Zaandam is a wonderful ship with a great crew!

Karen

We only do Open Seating (on HAL and other lines) and love eating when we want..and usually share large tables. On HAL, a large majority of the cruisers prefer to dine early (before 7) which creates issues for early open seating. If you arrive for dinner at 6:15...much of the dining room is full with those who prefer eating dinner at lunch time: As to reservations, we have experienced different policies on different voyages (there must be some discretion left to the Maitre;d. We recall one cruise where they refused to take Open Seating reservations from 6 until about 7:45. On other cruises they have accepted any reservation...but many with reservations actually waited longer then us (with no reservations) because they had various demands (such as wanting a 2 top, seating of a group, etc). We simply show up when we want to eat and ask to share a large table...and seldom wait more then 5 minutes to be seated. Others with various demands are often seen standing around the entrance of perhaps listening to Adagio (in a nearby lounge) with a beeper.

Hank