Nieuw Amsterdam in Alaska dining questions

[torybruno]

Hi!  We are a group of 9.  We have not cruised Holland in a while.  
 

We have selected anytime dining, our reservations are linked.  Which night would be the best to book a reservation in the Pinnacle?  Trying to consider we think it’s important to dine in the main dining room the first night, also formal nights, port days, etc.  

 

Is there a way to pre book the 9 of us when we decide which night before boarding?

[CruiserBruce]

Personal preference. Some people like to eat in the MDR on Gala nights for the better menu, some don't. Menu is the same every night in Pinnacle.

 

You can pre-book 4-5 months in advance, but it may require all of the individual bookings to do so. 

[OlsSalt]

Do you plan on any speciality eating while in Alaska ports - crab, salmon etc. 

 

Might not want to have two large meals on the same day then pick an at-sea day for your Pinnacle dinner. But usually those are also days reserved for the main dining room "gala nights". Nothing wrong with making your Pinnacle dinner a gala night too.  

 

Honestly (sadly) today, there is little that is special about "gala night - dressy night" in the main dining room.  So personally, I  would pick an at sea night and even if it is a gala night. Pull out all the stops for your own group to dress up or not, and have fun. 

 

[wdw1972]

1 hour ago, OlsSalt said:

Honestly (sadly) today, there is little that is special about "gala night - dressy night" in the main dining room.  So personally, I  would pick an at sea night and even if it is a gala night. Pull out all the stops for your own group to dress up or not, and have fun. 

 

There's nothing special about the main dining room any night - including dressy nights.  It's been over a decade since I ate dinner there, and I have no plans to change that.  We tend to use our have it all credits to book Pinnacle & Tamarind (we tend to book 10+ night cruises) on the dressy nights simply because those nights fill up first.  It's relatively easy to add more specialty dining once onboard - with embarkation day the easiest night to get since so many people are either worn out from traveling or want to meet their tablemates & serving team in the MDR right off the bat. Also, if the ship is in port well into the evening, that night will be pretty easy to book once onboard.

 

Sue/WDW1972

[oaktreerb]

Unless you have priority dining, the first night in open dining can be a total mess with everybody wanting to eat early.  You have a large group and I assume that you do not all plan to eat together every night.  My advice would be to arrange to eat together in the Pinnacle on the first night.  Otherwise, choose a sea day or a day when you have an early “all aboard”

[richwmn]

3 hours ago, torybruno said:

Is there a way to pre book the 9 of us when we decide which night before boarding?

For a group of 9, if possible you should contact ship's services in advance. (800) 541-1576

[PalmSprings]

46 minutes ago, richwmn said:

For a group of 9, if possible you should contact ship's services in advance. (800) 541-1576

Have the names & cabin numbers for everyone in the party when you call - we had to make a similar reservation on the NS for both Pinnacle and Tamarind and the reservations were all set, with no problems, long before we sailed.

[crystalspin]

5 hours ago, torybruno said:

We are a group of 9.  We have not cruised Holland in a while.  
We have selected anytime dining, our reservations are linked.

If you DO want to eat together, I would recommend you try to switch to fixed dining. We were a group of 9 on the Zaandam to AK, and they put us on the Anytime Dining level bc that was the available 10-top. It was nice to go our own ways (except for excursions we all did together) during the day and catch up over dinner.

 

On upcoming cruise, I have reserved Tamarind for the first night. With 9 of you on open seating, MDR on the first night is going to be a zoo. If you were 'fixed' of course that would be when you met your servers, who would be the same for the rest of the cruise.

[torybruno]

On 12/31/2023 at 3:53 PM, crystalspin said:

If you DO want to eat together, I would recommend you try to switch to fixed dining. We were a group of 9 on the Zaandam to AK, and they put us on the Anytime Dining level bc that was the available 10-top. It was nice to go our own ways (except for excursions we all did together) during the day and catch up over dinner.

 

On upcoming cruise, I have reserved Tamarind for the first night. With 9 of you on open seating, MDR on the first night is going to be a zoo. If you were 'fixed' of course that would be when you met your servers, who would be the same for the rest of the cruise.

Couldn’t all agree on a fixed dining time.  

[crystalspin]

5 minutes ago, torybruno said:

Couldn’t all agree on a fixed dining time.  

I have never done this, but have read on CC/HAL board, that you can make reservations for an intermediate time -- possibly with the Navigator, but linking all those cabins may make that tricky. On embarcation day there will be a kiosk-podium where you can discuss MDR reservations.