TrinitySea

What process did you use and how for any "tipping" you may have found appropriate for excellent service?

 

Thanks.

Finely,

As it happens, when we called down to make reservations, we asked to be seated in our original waiter's section and on almost every evening, we were able to have our same waitstaff. They were very attentive and service very good. So we put "a little something extra" along with a brief Thank You note in a 3X3 inch envelope and subtly (we hope) presented it to each of them -- once about 4 days into the 10 day cruise and then again on the last day. The service and extra attention went from very good to outstanding after the first envelope. The last Thank You note, aside from containing additional cash, stated that the service was exceptional and mentioned that we were complimenting them by name on the end of cruise survey.

We followed the same procedure on each cruise when we had AYWD and it worked well for us-- and, based on the "thank yous" and plentiful smiles we received from our dining room attendants, we think it worked for them too.

When you call at 8:15am and can only get 8pm dining, I am not sure what science that would be?? When you show up at 5:45 and can only get 8pm dining and are given a flashing/vibrating "alarm" like you get at Outback Steak House, I am not sure HAL has this down to a science. I thoroughly understand that some people like AYW but please recognize that it does not work for some of us. When you cannot eat late because you will be faced with a night of acid reflux, it is not a pretty picture.

 

Doug

Doug,

My post should have read "--they seem to have this complicated process of accommodating special meals orders down to a science."

My comments were in response to the "Special Meal" post. I, too, had concerns about how the AYWD would work for those who had dietary issues. I couldn't figure out how the staff could accommodate those of us who order from alternative menus. I believe the Noordam was the first HAL ship to test the AYWD and I was aboard during one of the earlier implementations. I changed my reservation from early seating to AYWD and was prepared to tough it out if things didn't work well. However, I was pleasantly surprised that things worked so smoothly with the special meals.

Although I had no problems getting my preferred times, I sympathize with those who are only able to get the "left over slots" and to those who had no choice but were "assigned" AYWD. I am, however, pleased that HAL is offering this option and hope that the bugs can be worked out so that passengers can continue to have a choice of dining options.

I always pre-order from the vegetarian menu, I am assuming any special ordering such as this will not be available during the AYWD.

Does anyone have an insight on this?

I love the AYWD -- it gives you the flexibility to not have to plan your day around your dining times. I have always ordered from the vegetarian menus and on both the Noordam and Oosterdam, the AYWD procedure is similar to that of the fixed dining. That is-- your waiter brings you the menu after your current meal so that you can pre-order for the next night. When you call down to make your reservations, you just inform the operator that you have a "special meal". Once, we decided to just drop in instead of making reservations and when we spoke to the reservations clerk at the entrance, we just indicated that we had pre-ordered the night before. On both 10 day cruises, we never experienced a mix-up and were always seated at a table for 3 (which we requested). The folks at HAL are to be commended--they seem to have this complicated process down to a science.