HAL anytime dining?

[TomBeckCruise]

We've been on 4-5 HAL cruises, but not since 2006. We hope to sail on the Volendam Jan, 2010 to New Zealand. Fixed dining is not available(wait listed for 1 section 8PM). This won't keep us from cruising, and we look forward to returning to HAL.

 

 

How is the anytime dining working out on HAL? Any suggestions?

 

Any thoughts on Volendam?

thanks

Edited October 3, 2009 by kt88

[kakalina]

I loved it last time I cruised. My friend and I just called up ext.88 early in the am and reserved a table for two on the evenings we ate together in the MDR. No problems at all. Have a wonderful cruise.

[Northshorecruisers]

We did Anytime on our last cruise and loved it. Very well done. We had done this process on Princess and didn't care for it at all.

Never made a reservation, just showed up whenever we felt like eating - usually between 6 & 7 - and were seated promptly. Service was excellent.

We liked it because it really enhanced our cruise that we didn't have to watch the clock to be at dinner at a specific time. We also met many more people aboard the cruise as we always requested to sit at a large table. That made it nice when we would meet up with the same people in a lounge, at a show, or on a shore excursion.

[Himself]

I have done anytime cruising on my last two cruises and I like it. By the way I was on the Volendam last summer and I just love that ship. I hope you have a great cruise.

[Cruising-along]

We've done open dining twice now, on the Rotterdam and the Zuiderdam. Loved it both times.

[LindaM]

We just had open dining on Prinsendam in Sept. We loved it, for the reasons already posted. I would never want fixed dining again!!

[DaveOKC]

We just did anytime dining on Volendam, two weeks ago. Absolutely no problems, but we dined early and made reservations. I did notice a bit of a line at 7PM, but did not hear any complaints.

 

I do think the service was not a good as the fixed dining times, but with our late port times we wanted the flexibility of open dining. Also, we did meet more people this way.

 

DaveOKC

Edited October 3, 2009 by DaveOKC

[dandro]

Really liked the anytime dining. The first day we made a reservation for that night for 2, but the rest of the time we just showed up and we sat wherever they had space for the 2 of us, most of the time at a table for 6. it was fun meeting different people each night.

 

We also liked the fact that we could have dinner at whatever time we felt like it, never the same time every night.

[CowPrincess]

We needed the ability to eat when one of us was feeling rested enough to go to the dining room, so we had open dining on our Alaska cruise (Ryndam). We usually got there between 6 and 6:45 pm and did not have to wait for a table, as long as we were prepared to share with others.

 

We found that the flexibility worked well in our circumstances, but felt the service suffered, in that the waiters have more to juggle -- watching, setting up, providing menus, taking orders, delivering food, clearing -- with NO RHYTHM. On at least one evening (and I think it was actually 2 or 3) the wine steward was out of sync with the tables.... arriving to take our wine order only after we'd started dinner. And another night (different wine steward) taking our orders, and not arriving back until we were well into our entrees. Did it "ruin" our cruise? Absolutely not :)

 

If you meet compatible table-mates (which we did our last night in the MDR), you can arrange to dine with them again, too. My preference is still fixed time dining, but as you can see from this thread, many people think anytime is the best!

 

We cleared the waitlist on a previous cruise we've taken, and made it into fixed time dining. So you may or may not get to experience open.

[durangoscots]

I liked the anytime option since sometimes I just don't feel like eating at a scheduled time. Worked well for me.

 

Susan

[karatemom2]

We really like anytime dining and have become accustomed to how it works with Princess where a dining room, or rooms are set aside for anytime diners. Is that how it works on HAL as well? We usually like to dine with just our family of four most nights. Can you usually get a table for four only?

Edited October 3, 2009 by karatemom2

[not in ks anymore]

We had no choice on the Eurodam last Feb, but ended up loving it. We identified a table and servers we liked after the first night and then called for that table every night thereafter. Basically, we had the same great service one expects for fixed dining and had a little flexibility as well.

 

We liked it so well that we are going with anytime dining on our upcoming cruise this month.

[rentlady]

The open seating option is just WONDERFUL!!!! We meet some very friendly and interesting people. One nite we just showed up and requested a table for 2, no wait, no problem!Will NEVER accept assigned seating again, this limits the travelers we get to visit with. Remember this, one year from today you will be the same person you are today, except for the books you read, people you meet and the places you travel!:)

[karatemom2]

Just bumping this back up to see if anyone can answer my questions regarding anytime dining on HAL -

 

Is there a separate dining room for anytime diners?

 

Can you usually get a table for four fairly easily?

 

Thanks!

[DaveOKC]

On the Volendam two weeks ago the lower level of the dining room was used for anytime dining (upper for fixed). Table for 4 were a bit harder, but not a long wait, since most of the tables are set up for 6 or 8.

 

DaveOKC

Edited October 4, 2009 by DaveOKC

[govols1]

We are on the Ryndam 10-18 from Tampa and were not able to reserve late dinner. Our concern with anytime dining is my wife must eat a gluten free diet and we have never had a problem when we had the same staff for all meals. We plan on talking to the matrie d to request assistance with her diet. Does anyone have any experience with gluten free and anytime dining? Thanks

[CowPrincess]

We are on the Ryndam 10-18 from Tampa and were not able to reserve late dinner. Our concern with anytime dining is my wife must eat a gluten free diet and we have never had a problem when we had the same staff for all meals. We plan on talking to the matrie d to request assistance with her diet. Does anyone have any experience with gluten free and anytime dining? Thanks

 

 

I'd talk to the Special Needs dept, and see if you can get into fixed.... it just seems the logistics would be MUCH easier in fixed.

[alberta_cruiser]

We had anytime dining on the Eurodam Transatlantic this spring. It was new to the ship and they seemed to be in an learning curve as to how it worked. They used the lower dining room for anytime dining. We reserved our dining times up to 1 day ahead. They only had 4 set times that you could reserve. You could also ask for a small or lorge table. I found it a pain to have to reserve our dining time every day. We later found out that they only take reservations for half of the tables at any given time. You can also just show up and you will be seated fairly quickly. We started doing this at the end of the cruise and found it to work much better. We really like anytime dining as it allows for flexible dining as compared to watching the clock to ensure that you dine at a certain time. The other benefit is that you get to meet a lot of different people which we also enjoy.

[bobnjeff]

Having been through this whole thing on NCL I must say that I don't like the dine when you want thing. Perhaps HAL does it better. One of the main problems on NCL is that the theater does not hold the entire number of passengers and they often only have one show time per night so it can be difficult if not impossible to get into the show. Does HAL still have two shows per night??? And the lounges also do not handle the crowds well also. I have been on the Veendam and loved the main lounge in the atrium as a place to go before dinner. They had a great group to listen and dance to but.... you had to wait for the early dining crowds to leave before you could get a seat. How is it working now with people dining when ever?? These ships were designed for the traditional dining style and most areas are set up to handle at best half of the passengers at one time so.... seems that this freestyle dining this does not work.

[Mary Ellen]

We had anytime dining on the Eurodam Transatlantic this spring. It was new to the ship and they seemed to be in an learning curve as to how it worked.

No, the E'dam has never had only the 'traditional' fixed seating (possible exception if she was chartered). She started with both open and fixed seating almost a year before you sailed. There shouldn't have been a 'learning curve'.

[Bage]

My husband and I had anytime dining on the Maasdam and the Zuiderdam.

 

Both worked quite well. We had different ship mates and staff each night- which was fine.

 

Marcia

[emileg]

My husband and I had anytime dining on the Maasdam and the Zuiderdam.

 

Both worked quite well. We had different ship mates and staff each night- which was fine.

 

Marcia

You had staff dine with you each night?

[dandro]

Having been through this whole thing on NCL I must say that I don't like the dine when you want thing. Perhaps HAL does it better. One of the main problems on NCL is that the theater does not hold the entire number of passengers and they often only have one show time per night so it can be difficult if not impossible to get into the show. Does HAL still have two shows per night??? And the lounges also do not handle the crowds well also. I have been on the Veendam and loved the main lounge in the atrium as a place to go before dinner. They had a great group to listen and dance to but.... you had to wait for the early dining crowds to leave before you could get a seat. How is it working now with people dining when ever?? These ships were designed for the traditional dining style and most areas are set up to handle at best half of the passengers at one time so.... seems that this freestyle dining this does not work.

 

There are two show times on HAL ships.

 

The lounges on the Westerdam were not overly full with pre-dinner passengers. There are a couple of lounges nearby the MDR to have a pre-dinner cocktail or wait for a table. There are two levels to the dining room, the upper for the fixed seatings and the lower level is for the open dining, so that if you have the open, you can dine when you want, you don't have to wait for the fixed diners to finish. It worked really well, IMO.

[ottawa_traveler]

We never made reservations, just showed up when we were ready and never waited more than 5 minutes to be seated. We had shared tables a few times as there aren't many tables for four that are near a window, and we decided we preferred the window seats. Service was always timely, and as we have two children, we appreciated that very much. We usually had different servers but almost always had the same wine steward.

[hammybee]

Just bumping this back up to see if anyone can answer my questions regarding anytime dining on HAL -

 

Is there a separate dining room for anytime diners?

 

Can you usually get a table for four fairly easily?

 

Thanks!

 

The lower dining room is reserved for Open Seating.

 

Your chances of gettting a 4 top within Open Seating are probably better than getting one within the Fixed Seating dining room. It all dependes on how many other passengers want, what you want, when you want it. No way to predict this.

 

Open seating gets the advantage because they are able, in some cases, to turn a table, three times in an evening as opposed to twice with Fixed Seating.