kennicott

If you're sharing a table with others, it would be the polite thing to do if you let them know you won't be there. That way they can go ahead and order, without awaiting your arrival.

If it's just your party, and you know in advance you won't be dining there the next night, it's nice to let your steward know.

 

Absolutely. Also, they may be a little concerned and worry over the reason you didn't show, like a health issue, etc.

 

Having said that, it is just another reason why we are not so enamored anymore with assigned seating. We do HAL, Princess and more recently, Regent. It certainly was a relief when the lines opened things up and we were able to shuck the metaphorical ball and chain associated with being fused to a specific dinner table.

 

Of course, there are some positive aspects of traditional which we do miss, however the plusses of non-traditional greatly outnumber the disadvantages. Our meal companions, for the most part over the years, we got along very well with. But as we gravitated into longer and longer voyages, the horror stories we witnessed where others were saddled with outright borers for months on end was chilling. Better to simply avoid the potential grief.

I noticed that you are going on a cruisetour rather than a cruise-only. I HIGHLY recommend that you bring bug spray with the highest percentage of Deet you can find.

 

Moonbear appears to be from Alabama. I scanned all the posts and may have missed something, but it appears to me Moonbear gets my golden Alaskan survivor award.

 

Having lived in Alaska all my life, mostly in the aviation and commercial fish industries, this post caught my attention. I wondered what the advice would be. Since the OP appears to be traveling throughout the state, perhaps into remote hinterlands and away from the plush accommodations of the fine ships, I would expect the list to include at least one of my priorities.

 

For a dozen years I commercially flew for an Alaskan carrier's bush division, then started my own outfit. Chances of being forced down were a real concern. Since we had flight following I was never worried that I might need weeks of grub but there were other more important considerations. Besides, we were required by Alaskan law to have certain items of emergency equipment on board anyway. Usually these were stored behind the rear bulkhead in a durable container.

 

What I personally found most important were, 1. Bug dope, preferably 100% deet. 2. A sleeping bag. 3. A gun.

 

Now the law required a gun and sleeping gear for 50% of the max. passenger capacity but I believed that due to the potential of fire or a water related accident, where the aircraft sinks, I might not be able to get to the emergency gear in the tail. Perhaps in OP's circumstances here he/she can forgo the sleeping bag and gun. But not the bug dope.

 

My first boss was forced down once. He survived the crash, but the mosquitoes almost killed him.

After many years, in traditional assigned seat dining, on our voyages with Princess and HAL, (the days when alternatives weren’t available), we happened to do two cruises on Regent, where they don’t have traditional. Loved it.

 

So, last month we were back on the Rydam for three weeks. We purposely did not select traditional. No regrets. We like to eat dinner between 7 and 7:30. Never had a problem getting seated immediately. Ship was full too. Never made any reservations except for the Pinnacle and the Canaletto. Met nice folk at dinner every time we used the main dining room. Sure glad we weren’t stuck with the same tablemates for the entire three weeks. One time on we were on the Prinsendam for almost three months. New traveling companions on the second half were great. But I dreaded a repeat of the four weeks on the Amsterdam where we were stuck with three other couples who considered themselves the “aristocracy” politically and otherwise, funny though, on formal nights they hardly dressed up at all. One formal evening, the guy in the most expensive suite on the ship wore a Hawaiian shirt. We didn’t have to eat way early or way late either, as you have to do with traditional.

 

Another thing about this trip, the cuisine seemed, generally speaking, to be about the best we ever had. Since we were on our own we could enjoy all the different dining options without feeling guilty over not being at dinner with our assigned companions or insulting the table staff. Yes sirno sir, alternative dining is the only way to go.

Last time I posted on this thread we were still trying to determine the advantages or disadvantages of “anytime” type dining, since in all our travels, just shy of a years total time on the high seas then, only traditional had been available. Since then, we have enjoyed 45 days of voyaging where traditional wasn’t even offered. Never had a single problem. No waits, and had our choice of tables almost always. Mostly we ate by ourselves. We both prefer this type of arrangement, immensely, over traditional. The primary benefit, in our view, is that we are no longer stuck on a one or two month duration cruise with the same dinner companions. Contrary to what critiques had suggested, we had plenty of opportunities to meet others and got to know dining staff members pretty well. Of course, we only travel on long trips and smaller ships, the last was the Seven Seas Mariner. We will never book traditional again.

ALL I am asking is that one use open seating when they are talking about that aspect. I do not want to add to the confusion by using the all-encompassing phrase "as you wish" when talking about only one aspect. It doesn't make sense to use that when talking about the Lido or the PG, why use it when talking about the open seating in the MDR?

 

Drives me up a tree as well. Why can't people speak without using a complexity of semantic phrases? In this case I blame the industry, in particular HAL. Their marketing types know darn well what they attempted to do here. That is adopting language defining dining options in a way which deliberately confuses the naïve voyager.

 

Trying to decipher honest opinion of fellow travelers in an attempt to form a judgment over dining alternatives, while so many of them speak in a mishmash of semi-conflicting industry created jargon and phraseology is enough for one to say, screw it. :mad:

, you've said that it is "difficult" to get seated during that prime time, which is a whole lot better than "impossible".

 

Excellent point. In our situation, in our travels, we have never been offered the luxury of AYW dining. Contrary to perhaps the majority of opinion here on CC, most of those folk on board we listen to would and will prefer AYW dining. In our case, having been confined to only traditional, we have always preferred second seating, but would much prefer that time be moved up to say, 7:15-7:30. Unfortunately, this is impossible for most any ship to accommodate, because just about everybody wants to eat at that time. Therefore, you must choose between 6:00 or 8:15, and that is it. But even with traditional being the only option, we still find, even when booking a year in advance, we are always waitlisted for the 8:15 seating up to the point of departure. AYW dining would be ideal for us. For two reasons,---It sounds like we won’t have any trouble getting seated at our accustomed time ----We don’t have to take a chance on getting stuck with the same folk at dinner for a two and a half month voyage.

Very interesting the chatter here about dining. Since we have most always been on long voyages, 30 days plus, we have not experienced the so called “any time you wish dining experience” per se. We have always had no choice but to except the so called “traditional” which today really isn’t the “traditional” of yesteryear, where all three meals were at assigned tables with the same partners. (We experienced that on our very first cruise.) Many posters here appear to assume that the preponderance of HAL clients want so called traditional, most of which base their argument upon the fact that HAL has extensive waitlists for traditional. They may have a point. But, as I explained in an earlier post, we have never been on a cruise where you had any other option than “traditional” and we have been waitlisted from the getgo on just about every voyage, including many on Princess. I mentioned previously, that in four weeks we will be boarding the Prinsendam for a 73 day voyage. We booked almost 10 months ago and all dining was waitlisted then, and today we are still waitlisted, as is all dining. Don’t get me wrong, no big deal for us, HAL, always gets it squared away anyway. The point is, there is, and has been, a waitlist for traditional on that ship and that ship does not offer AYWD. Don’t bother to post that that the Prinsendam will soon be going to AYWD as I know that and that isn’t the point. The point is, even though the ship offers only “traditional” you are waitlisted until about the time you board, AYWD has nothing to do with the equation. Furthermore, a little over two months ago, we got off a 35 day cruise on the Amsterdam. No AYWD there either. Traditional was waitlisted from booking to boarding. In the dining rooms, most of the time, there were more empty seats than occupied ones. We would have much preferred to have had the option of sitting at the empty seats along with recently met lonely friends dutifully sitting at their assigned seats instead of sitting with the bores at our assigned places. About the ship there was some chatter over the coming AYWD, which incidentally most seemed to want. However, there was much more concern about the changing dress codes. Some folk wanted more casual, but some were very unhappy about the informal trend. That is where we really witnessed anguish, much more so than over dining arrangements, a lot of folk wanted to stick with a few formal nights a week and were very vocal over the drift toward more relaxed dress codes. We happen to go along with the formal argument crowd. However, in a way, we can say we have experienced AYWD for years, because that is what you get at breakfast and lunch with the so called “traditional”. We love relationships at breakfast and lunch. But give us this new AYWD for dinner too. If given the opportunity, I’m certain we will love it as well.

You would think that someone at HAL would get the message that for some cruise itineraries AYWD isn't going to work - 200 people on a waiting list for traditional??? Sounds like HAL isn't giving the majority of people "what they wish".

 

I doubt if the current waitlist for traditional on your Statendam cruise has anything to do with the popularity, or lack thereof, of either traditional or AYW dining. HAL seems to develop waitlists for a variety of reasons. For instance, we booked the Prisendam early last year for a departure in about 5 weeks, March 11th. The Prisendam’s capacity is about 800 passengers. At the time we booked it, all dining was waitlisted. We are still waitlisted. Judging from posts regarding our cruise, apparently most passengers are still waitlisted as well. The Prisendam has no options, you must accept traditional dining or eat in the Lido.

...the sun will still rise and it will set each day too!

 

We have enjoyed traditional type dining and for the most part have enjoyed our table mates, the exception being last year when we sat with a group of obnoxious individuals who took every opportunity to remind us that they had suites with concierge service and huge balconies while we only had a room with a window!

 

The service was still of very high standard and no we did not have to wait more than a minute or two to be seated. When we did enter the dining room, we were not part of a cattle herd.

 

Sometimes we just want to sit and watch the sun rise and set and you know, the sun still rises and sets each day even with "As You Wish Dining"!

 

We too. Thanks for the post.

Good luck with getting what you requested. We booked our recent cruise 12 months in advance and requested a table for 2. We were assigned a table for 4. We managed to get reassigned to a "table for two" which consisted of a bench seat and a chair within 10 inches of the same seating on either side of us. We ate on the Lido deck for the balance of the cruise.

 

I’m not certain what ship and line you were on that provided such close quarters for just a seating of two. Probably would have been okay for us though. But, we really don’t prefer just a seating for two, we would rather be with more folk, like you get at breakfast and lunch on most ships with traditional seating. Almost all of our voyages during over the last decade have been for a month or longer. We go always for late seating. Trip before last, on Princess, without asking for it we had a table for two, but dine anytime with others would have been much preferable. A few weeks ago we got off the Amsterdam. There were empty two seat tables (with nothing but elbow room) all over the place, all the time. We met a lot of friends. Some were all by themselves at tables for up to eight, a good portion of the time. For some reason we got stuck with the gated community aristocracy crowd. Nice folk, I guess, but not our type. Sure would have loved to join our many lonely friends at their empty tables. The dine anytime option, seems to me would have been perfect.

Thanks copper 10-8. There were some new ones there.

 

It's nice to have familiarity at some point in the day. I'm not looking forward to the "where are you from?" and "what do you do?" at every meal. I'd rather get into politics and religion.:eek:

 

After about 20 years of cruising we have found many friends, some we still exchange Christmas cards with. A lot of those folk we met at traditional dinner arrangements. A lot of good people sail on these ships. However, and most probably, due to the extreme polarization of political views in the US today, I wish traditional dining was no longer the only option for dining room service, particularly since we are booked for a 73 day voyage in a few months where we still have no alternative other than traditional or the buffet. We just disembarked from a 34 day venture and my first order of business after getting home was to request two seat dining for this next cruise, first time we ever did that. I am not one to sit at a table when some red faced hard nosed ideological idiot shoots his face off dinner after dinner after dinner about political beliefs that in his mind we should all subscribe to. I might as will eat the plate as to enjoy the meal. So, when I make up my mind to take this dude on, that is the end of congeniality at that table for the rest of the voyage. I am certain others at the table didn’t pay the kind of dough they did to listen to this sort of discourse and I know my wife sure didn’t. So give us an option to still have dinner in the dining room but don’t nail our feet to a floor where we have to listen to the same naive political diatribe every evening.