JerseyGirl1007 Posted March 17 #1 Share Posted March 17 Total newbie to this (except for one ill-fated very short cruise where everything was handled by someone else) -- we're on HAL during an Alaskan cruise on Nieuw Amsterdam. I've made reservations for our "special" dinner night, but do I need to make reservations for every dinner before we go? Am I making a mistake to wait until we're on board, thinking that we just aren't going to know what we'll want until we get there? We're pretty casual people and aren't interested in eating in the super fancy places every night. Thank you for any help. I tried searching the boards for this and I apologize if I overlooking the answer! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Ferry_Watcher Posted March 17 #2 Share Posted March 17 For a regular meal in the Main Dining Room, no reservations are needed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerseyGirl1007 Posted March 17 Author #3 Share Posted March 17 Thank you so much! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shipgeeks Posted March 17 #4 Share Posted March 17 Does your booking show your dining assignment? There could be Early, Late, or My Time. If you have Early or Late, the exact time will be on your ship card, along with the table number. If you have My Time (or whatever name HAL uses), you can just show up, or you can reserve times in advance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mum2Mercury Posted March 17 #5 Share Posted March 17 (edited) I have never sailed HAL, but on Royal Caribbean /most other mainstream lines you do one of two things: - Choose Early or Late Traditional dining, and that sets your dinner reservations for the whole cruise. - OR choose My Time Dining, and you reserve your specific time for each evening. You can just show up, but you'll get in more quickly with a reservation. But that may or may not be true on HAL. Edited March 17 by Mum2Mercury Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerseyGirl1007 Posted March 17 Author #6 Share Posted March 17 4 hours ago, shipgeeks said: Does your booking show your dining assignment? There could be Early, Late, or My Time. If you have Early or Late, the exact time will be on your ship card, along with the table number. If you have My Time (or whatever name HAL uses), you can just show up, or you can reserve times in advance. Our dining is listed as "Open Seating." That's all it says. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crystalspin Posted March 17 #7 Share Posted March 17 44 minutes ago, JerseyGirl1007 said: Our dining is listed as "Open Seating." That's all it says. Open Seating means you can go to MDR or Lido "As You Wish", or $pecialty dining, and no one will miss you! Some people, those who wish to eat at a fixed time but not THE fixed times, will make reservations for MDR which they can do a few days at a time. But you don't need to make reservations for MDR. You can see the menu vs offerings at the Lido, ahead of time on the Navigator app, if you install it on your cell phone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nebr.cruiser Posted March 18 #8 Share Posted March 18 (edited) 5 hours ago, JerseyGirl1007 said: Our dining is listed as "Open Seating." That's all it says. That means you can go when you want, within dining hours of course. Without a reservation you may have a wait at busy times, usually before 7 or so. Even with a reservation there may be a short wait. We hardly ever have reservations and the wait is usually a couple of minutes up to ten: however, we don't want to eat early and usually eat after the first show, say 8ish. Edited March 18 by Nebr.cruiser Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerseyGirl1007 Posted March 18 Author #9 Share Posted March 18 Thanks to everyone for all your help! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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