As You Wish Dining - opinions wanted pls

[ukdeblarz]

Early seating is not available.  I am interested to hear opinions on As You Wish Dining on the Zuiderdam for New Year's.  Party of 3.  If we go at 515, do you think we will have to wait a long time?  Will being Club Orange help us with wait times?  Thank you

[CruiserBruce]

You probably won't have to wait at all at 5:15. 

 

No experience with Club Orange, but I doubt you would have to wait much for Club Orange seating either. Its supposed to be a relatively small number of people in Club Orange.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Friends of ours one time were not able to get early dining.  They opted for Open Seating at 5:15.  They never had a problem getting a table and service was fast and efficient.  

[3rdGenCunarder]

If you like the table and servers you get in open seating the first time, ask to reserve that table again. Depending on the ship, you can reserve the table for as many as 3 nights in advance. 

[bamelin]

Not sure about HAL but I know with Celebrity you can get your TA to call the cruise line before the cruise and reserve a set dining time in "anytime" dining -- provided the reservations are not all booked.

 

The TA calls the cruise line and is transferred to Special Services that make the arrangements.  Alternately you can try to do this once on board.

[Homosassa]

On Hal, "As You Wish" dining refers to the idea that one can have the type of dining one wishes, i.e., early or late traditional or anytime.

 

As you have found out, the concept actually can play out to be "Not As You Wish" dining when your preferred choice is not available.

 

The time that anytime dining will be open on your cruise will be determined once on board and the dining hours are posted. You may find that anytime may start at a time other than 5:15 (probably later).

 

[catl331]

If you try go right at 5:15 or a little before you will likely find a long line waiting for the doors to open. Once they do the line gets processed quickly.  If you go at 5:25 there will likely be no line.

[TAD2005]

As You Wish dining is HAL's corporate name for the generic term Anytime.   As the name describes, you can dine Anytime you want, within the normal MDR hours.   Traditional, fixed time dining is the complete opposite of Anytime, or As You Wish, meaning that you dine at a specific time at a specific table with the same waiters every night for the full cruise.   Many people enjoy traditional dining because they have the same waiters who know your favorites, the way you want your meat cooked, ice tea or coffee, and other special favors.   Other people enjoy the flexibility of Anytime (As You Wish) dining, but you are not guaranteed the same table and wait staff if you choose to dine in the peak hours.   Some have said that they can get the same table for the full cruise in anytime, depending on the ship and the matre'd.

[sevenseasnomad]

On longer port-intensive cruises, DH and I have opted for anytime over early fixed.  We never stood in line and never had a problem getting the table and time we desired.  You can call Ship Services and try to get your first several days aboard taken care of prior to leaving home.  Afterwards, either speak with the maître d' or call from your stateroom for reservations.  Ask for a table for four, set for three.

 

As for New Year's Eve. . .  Have you considered going to one of the specialty restaurants that evening?  If not, maybe you should look into that option.  Make certain you make these reservations online prior to leaving home and take your payment confirmation with you. 

 

If you don't want to spend the extra money (and a lot of passengers, don't---nothing wrong with that attitude), then go about ten minutes after the dining room opens.  This lag allows for those who have been waiting in line to be seated, so you shouldn't have any wait at all or not much of one.  You can also request a certain time and table at least three days in advance.  There is a separate line for passengers with reservations; however, even having a reservation may not exclude you from a short wait in a line.

 

Hope you enjoy your cruise.

[mimii]

We just finished a cruise in Zuiderdam with As You Wish dining.

 

At first, we'd go and wait in line, about five minutes. After a couple nights, we learned you could make a reservation for the time you wanted, as long as you did so by 4pm. We still had to wait in line, but about 1-3 minutes max. The only time the line was longer was on gala night, but even then, it was still only about 5-7 minutes total. 

 

There are 2 parallel lines - one for Reservations and one for walk-ins. When one line is empty, the hostess will take from the other line, to keep things moving. I've never seen such efficiency at dining check-in as I did on this cruise - they are ON it! We once went at 5:30; once at almost 8pm, and at different times in between - never had to wait like I've experienced on other ships. We asked to "share" our experience, becuase we thought that would be quicker, so we sat at different tables each night and met different cruisers. I'm not sure if that made it easier for us.

 

I think you are not going to have any trouble eating at the time you prefer on the Zuiderdam. You are in for a wonderful experience on this ship. I've cruised many times , but this was my first Holland America cruise and I loved it.

[ghstudio]

 On HAL, you can reserve a dinner time in anytime dining for every night of the cruise once you get on the ship.....we just set up the reservations when we left the dining room the first night.  This probably varies by ship and who you talk to....like most things.  The peak dining times on HAL are early (related, likely, to passenger age)...on our recent Veendam cruise, 5:30 was packed, including the specialty restaurants....by 7, you could sit almost anywhere.

 

Celebrity also allows you to reserve a time every night and you can do it yourself prior to boarding...you don't need your TA to be involved...it's just like booking a n/c specialty restaurant.

[davy jones]

It is my understanding that you can not book a dining time during certain hours, typically between 5:30 and 8:00.  Is this still the case?

[3rdGenCunarder]

7 minutes ago, davy jones said:

It is my understanding that you can not book a dining time during certain hours, typically between 5:30 and 8:00.  Is this still the case?

 

Yes. The exact time frame varies from ship to ship, but that's about average. For the middle of the dining period you have to wait in line (unless you bought Club Orange).