Oosterdam dining time changes for this week

[Two@Sea]

How do they expect to get a majority of the passengers opinions if they never ask the question?????:rolleyes:

 

Isn't that why they make Sharpie Pens with red ink? You can use them to write over practically anything... and it really stands out! :)

[SHayesShip]

To here it from the "horses mouth" or other but here it goes!

 

Upon boarding we were notified in writing what had been discussed just a couple of weeks prior on the boards that there was an experimental dining program just on the "O" which constituted a third change since our initial booking.

 

This is what was explained to us and what we experienced on the "O". We had confirmed dining Upper Balcony for 5:30 to 6:00 PM and were assigned to table 20. This table was one of the specific table options that we requested prior. We were told that this table was ours for the week whether we showed up or not in case we chose other dining venues. We could show up any time between 5:30 and 6 PM and would be seated at this table period.

 

We ate at that table 3 times during the week for the two formal and one informal night. We ate in the Pinnacle Grill and Lido Restaurant the other nights.

 

This turned out fine for us with the exception of an annoyance that appeared to only bother me in our little group and is probably trivial in nature to others. However, it did bug me. I have always enjoyed the chimes for calling us to dinner on HAL ships. On the "O" the chimes were rung throughout the dining room starting about 7:10 PM up to 7:25 PM (Latest we ever stayed) to inform us to get out of the dining room so the next group could start arriving at 7:45 PM. Maybe the late dining should start 15 minutes later to remove this annoyance. Who knows?

 

The dining staff explained that the dining tables were assigned to all passengers on the early seating because of the short 30 minute window of arrival. As far as the 7:45 -9 PM arrival window for late seating you could still have the confirmed same table throughout the week and arrive anytime during this period without a problem. This was confirmed by 4 friends of mine that sailed on the "O" two weeks ago. However, they had a table for 4 confirmed for late seating. If you had a large table made up of 2 or more separate groups I do not know how that was handled.

 

In function what I witnessed is HAL trying to force their existing ships into a new mold of design than what they were intended. HAL ships do not have the setup of multiple dining rooms such as Princess ships in which they can offer one dining room for traditional and one dining room (or more) for personal choice. I have experienced this and this works well (after the initial trial and error).

HAL's implemenatation of varied dining times has ended up in a poor imitation of personal choice with ships that are not designed to be everything to everybody. In reality all passengers fond of traditional or personal choice dining are compromised in this "experiment" and neither faction is suitably addressed properly.

 

My two cents.

[sail7seas]

Thank you very much for relating your first hand experience. Did you make it known to Maitre d' or Hotel Manager or F & B or someone that you were displeased with this system? Do you know if many people made comments on their end of cruise comment sheets?

 

It seems that is the only way they may get the picture that some number of passengers are not enjoying it.

[RuthC]

I've been thinking some more about this. Not any happier about it, either.

Some people who prefer early sitting may think this doesn't really affect them since it's the second time that is more flexible. But that's not necessarily true.

There may be some people who do not want the new leisure/at will/whenever/whatever! dining, but also do not want to leave HAL. They may prefer to dine earlier to get the traditional format. If they book early enough they'll get their wish, so people who book later on can't be accommodated at early sitting---the chairs will have been filled up.

Those later bookers will be forced either to the new leisure/at will/whenever/whatever! sitting or to a different cruise/cruiseline. In either case they won't be getting their first choice---and neither will the passengers who took those early seats.

Did that just get too convoluted? Or did it make some sense?

[sail7seas]

Made sense to me, Ruth, and I think you make valid point.

 

[Tinknock50]

The funny thing about this is they didn't even ask this question on the comment card. They asked just about everything else but not a word about the new dining concept.

 

Also' date=' not a word about this was spoken in the embarkation talk given by the Cruise Director. He was more than willing to tell everyone to how to fill out the cards with high marks or about how to tip. [/size']You would think that he could have thrown in a small sentence such as, "Please let us know how you liked our new dining concept".

 

How do they expect to get a majority of the passengers opinions if they never ask the question?????:rolleyes:

 

The Question was on this past weeks comment cards.

[jhannah]

Ahhaa.....

 

That is how they can say...."we've had very few negative comments about it."

Bingo!

[kryos]

Did that just get too convoluted? Or did it make some sense?

Makes perfect sense.

 

That's how it works on Princess.

 

If you book too late, you get waitlisted for traditional dining. If you're too far down the list to get traditional, you get "anytime dining."

 

The same will therefore probably happen on HAL. People like me ... for whom an early dining time is not that big of a hardship ... might prefer to eat early than have to deal with the "Leisure Dining," and therefore that traditional early seating will fill up fast. People who book later, and people taking the more popular cruises that fill up fast, are gonna find themselves with no choice but leisure dining.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[mechcc]

From now on, we will make the comment on the comment card that we love traditional dining regardless of what cruise lines we are on. Hope everyone else that is opposed to "anytime dining", "freestyle dining" and "leisure dining" express their displeasure at this schedule.

[stanford's girl]

The Question was on this past weeks comment cards.

Sean,

It's nice to see that they finally got around to adding it. But sadly, an entire month went by before they did.

Do you recall how the question was worded?

[Tinknock50]

Sean' date=' [/size']

It's nice to see that they finally got around to adding it. But sadly, an entire month went by before they did.

 

Do you recall how the question was worded?

 

It was something like.... "How would you rate the Leisure Dining concept?" and then the usual number system.

I am not positive on the wording, but I am fairly certain the word "leisure" was in there.

[stanford's girl]

It was something like.... "How would you rate the Leisure Dining concept?" and then the usual number system.

I am not positive on the wording, but I am fairly certain the word "leisure" was in there.

Thanks Sean!:) Did the cruise director mention it at all in his embarkation talk?

[KSCnCA]

I was also on the Oosterdam last week with my husband, parents and sister and brother-in-law. We were given 2 different papers as we checked in. The first was titled "Important Dining Notice" and the other was "Leisure Dining Service Questions and Answers." They made sure we understood the change at that point. (But I was a little surprised to hear we were to be guinea pigs, since my TA was told by HAL that we would have traditional dining - and that was the week before we sailed!) My opinion on the leisure dining: it worked fine for our group of 6. We usually arrived together at 7:45, and if anyone was a little late we just waited till everyone arrived to order our meals. We sat close to the back of the upper dining room, table 60. There were usually tables around us that were either empty or partially empty. The dining stewards and assistants seemed just as busy as our previous Zuiderdam cruise. I noticed there were many empty tables for 2 and 4 on our way out of the dining room each night, but that could be that the occupants were finished and had left already.

[stanford's girl]

We were given 2 different papers as we checked in. The first was titled "Important Dining Notice" and the other was "Leisure Dining Service Questions and Answers."

We were given the exact same 2 papers on the 10/22 cruise, which was the first test run of the concept. :)

[PRINSENDAM]

We were given the exact same 2 papers on the 10/22 cruise' date=' which was the first test run of the concept. :) [/size']

 

 

Janice,

 

If the noticesare not too long could you copy them here for us to read? :)

 

Thanks,

 

Stephen

[vie lee]

We also just got off the Oosterdam yesterday, and even though we hate open dining, every thing turned out very OK. We had second seating and were assigned to table 71. First night all four couples showed up at 7:45 and had a very open talk about how much we all hated open dining but we liked everyone at our table, so we just showed up everynight, except for Pinnacle Grill night at 7:45 and now we have 4 new friends. Thanks to Brook, John, Levi, and Gary for being such nice dinner companions. Every thing else was wonderful too. the ship is beautiful, the food was good and presented beatuifully, intertainment was good and our room was very nice and service all over the ship was great. Even though we had no real complaints this cruise we did make note of how much we hated the concept on our comment card. Anyway back to the real world, have to go fix my own dinner. Rats!

[RevNeal]

Thank you, vie lee, for giving your first hand report.

I suspect that many people will have reports like yours in that things worked out ok. However, there exists the VERY real possibility that things will not turn out well and, while such has always been the case, it seems like this new dining scheme really amplifies the possibilities.

 

On the Westerdam last month I made a point of writing in my comment card that I really did not like what I was hearing about the Oosterdam testing a new dining scheme with no traditional dining for Main Seating, and that I would rather not HAL institute such a scheme fleet-wide. That's a comment on a comment card about dining that calls for Traditional Seating. Perhaps all of us who prefer the traditional seating should make such a note on EVERY cruise we take, be there traditional seating or not. Since the "hew and cry" for more flexibility in the dining times (i.e., Open Seating) would appear to be something that a few malcontents have written onto the comment cards, perhaps the majority of us who want things kept as they have been should become equally vocal. Remember ... it's the squeaky wheel which gets the grease. :)

[HALGirl]

Returned from the Oosterdam yesterday sailing the Mexican Riviera under the leadership of Captain Jonathan Mercer, Hotel Manager Henk Mensink and Cruise Director Jimmy Lynett. (I did have the pleasure of sailing with Capt Mercer on the Statendam, Inside Passage, Alaska, May 26, 2002). For any of the Officers or Staff reading this message, thank you all for a most enjoyable cruise.

 

Now for the Dining "experiment". I was assigned 7:45-9pm upper level, table 58, a table for 6 people. I prefer a more traditional dining arrangement but felt that I would not pre-judge the process. At check in we received a letter about leisure dining times stating we could arrive any time between 7:45 and 9pm and the table reserved for us would be our table no matter what time we arrived. Well this was not a very comfortable situation. Our first night all 6 of us arrived at 7:45pm which was fine. On night 2, we stayed at the Capt.'s welcome party for all the introductions which ran past 8pm. When we arrived at the table, our tables mates were being served their salads. We felt pressured to eat rapidly and catch up with our table mates and felt sorry that the Dining Stewards had to start the entire meal process over again. On all other nights (except for the night at the Pinnacle) we tried to arrive at 7:45 so we would be there at the same time as our table mates. I heard that they might push the flex time up 1/2 hour for both early and late seating which probably would be better for everyone. 8pm is the perfect late dining time in my opinion. I was wondering about the kitchen arrangements (should have taken the tour) having the 4 dining times or leisure dining and was informed that the Vista Class ships have 2 kitchens (upper and lower) so the Stewards don't have far to go for the meals. None the less it was not a comfortable dining experience. The Stewards were professional and accommodating and the food was good. Only weakness were the salads.

 

I am in favor of the traditional dining but whatever they decide to do I will still sail those DAM Ships.

[kryos]

I am in favor of the traditional dining but whatever they decide to do I will still sail those DAM Ships.

I wonder how they would handle it if only ONE person or ONE couple showed up any given evening at a table for six? Would they begin seating others there as the time got later? If there was only a solo traveler seated at the table on a given night, would they offer him/her the opportunity to move to another table, as they sometimes do in traditional dining.

 

I know on my last Princess cruise, in traditional dining, I've seen large tables with only one couple dining at them. Especially on formal nights, the dining room would be half empty. Once the "official" arrival time is over, if there are a bunch of empty seats at several of the tables in a waiter's station, he will usually have no problems with you moving over to join the singles or single couples seated at other tables around you.

 

But with this "leisure dining," I can't imagine this sort of thing working, since even if a table has a bunch of empty seats, it is possible those diners can arrive later and then you'd be sitting in someone else's seat.

 

Gonna be interesting to see how this plays out.

 

If they want to do "leisure dining," then it would seem to make sense not to have assigned tables at all ... but rather honor requests as people arrive in their groups. This way if there are singles or single couples who do not wish to wait for a smaller table, they can all be seated together at larger ones. I know I sure wouldn't want to get stuck dining alone every evening just because my tablemates wanted total flexibility to dine at different times each night.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[gizmo]

Kyros,

 

Since you have cruised on Princess, how about some clarification on PC dining?

 

At one time I was looking at Princess and started reading the Princess board. I found a lot of horror stories on PC. Here are a couple of things that I found.

 

1. If you book traditional and ask for a table for 2 your chance of getting it are slim even if you book way ahead of time. I recall reading that someone claimed they were told that tradional is held for large parties so your early request means nothing.

 

2. You have to call and reserve a time and table every day.

 

3. They hand out beepers and you have to wait during the most popular times. If you eat very early or very late you are ok. Forget the idea of eating between 7:00 and 8:00.

 

4. Some claim you can reserve the same table and time for the entire cruise. If this is true, why are there complaints about the waits? Why do some people say they have to call every day?

[Grumpy1]

Remember ... it's the squeaky wheel which gets the grease. :)

 

Sorry, Rev, but you are out of touch with the realities of the modern world. In these days where everything is sealed at the factory, the squeaky wheel no longer gets greased.... IT GETS REPLACED!!:D

[sail7seas]

:) You got that right, Grumpy. :(

 

 

[arzz]

In my experience on the Grand Princess we were not allowed to call and reserve earlier in the day -- we were repeatedly told to just arrive at the dining room and 1 out of two times we were given a beeper even though we let them know that we would be willing to share a table. It was extremely irritating as we never knew which of the scheduled evening activities we would be able to attend. The only times that we could predictably be seated upon arrival was if we arrived very early for dinner. And then, of course, there were the awkward introductions and stilted conversation day after day with new folks -- no building of relationships. Unlike most cruises that we have taken, on that cruise we made no new friends at all. We spent the whole week wandering as anonymous as we were on day one.

[RevNeal]

Sorry, Rev, but you are out of touch with the realities of the modern world. In these days where everything is sealed at the factory, the squeaky wheel no longer gets greased.... IT GETS REPLACED!!

 

Gee, Grumpy, I'm sorry I'm out of touch with the realities of the modern world. I Guess I'll go back to the monastery now.

[gizmo]

Arzz,

 

Thanks for the info.