As You Wish Dining - Opinions, Comments and Discussions

[fsalzer]

Clearly, on Noordam this fall we would try the AYW some night when there's no line and open tables are available -- since we generally dine earlier than most, we might find such a situation.

 

If you do try it, hopefully you will be finished with dining prior to the dining room filling up so there will be no impact on those choosing open-seating. Another way to try the open-seating option would be to select that option for one cruise.

 

Fred

[davispigeon]

Well, darn it! I booked the first AYW cruise on Oosterdam in January and was told that there was no room in the traditional dining plan for me! :mad: I'm on the waitlist. Hopefully they're putting everyone on the wait list until things shake out.

This bums me out...I'm not an old fogey who insists on TRADITION but I love having 'my' waiter for the week! Dinner on a cruise ship is an EVENT for me, I dress for dinner every night and I enjoy being spoiled by the wait staff.

I did NCL once and really didn't like their flexible dining thing. If I want a regular restaurant experience, I can get that at home.

My TA is going to keep trying to get me confirmed for the traditional dining.

Just had to put in my 2 cents.

Bel

[NHBob]

Well, darn it! I booked the first AYW cruise on Oosterdam in January and was told that there was no room in the traditional dining plan for me! :mad: I'm on the waitlist. Hopefully they're putting everyone on the wait list until things shake out.

Bel

 

Bel, I sympathise, as I have exactly the same situation with my booking on Zuiderdam's transatlantic in March. We seem to be getting some mixed signals from HAL. On one hand, a few posts in this thread indicate that from poster's experience, HAL appears to be adjusting open/traditional dining space to meet demand. On the other hand, HAL is "encouraging" my TA to recommend open seating to her clients. In my case, ain't gonna happen. No way I'm risking making final payment and then, upon boarding, learn that I am relegated to open seating.

 

I've just about made up my mind to cancel if I can't get assurance of traditional dining, and try Fred. Olsen's "new" Balmoral - former Norwegian Crown, stretched and completely re-fit.

 

Good luck! Hope you'll post any developments.

[bermuda triangle]

My TA is not the easiest to get a hold of, so I email customer support at HAL to find out where we are on the dining waitlist.

A couple of weeks ago we dropped from 71 to 55. This is important to me, therefore I emailed again, simply asking what # we are currently. This was the response.:(

(names XXXX'd to maintain privacy). I wonder if this policy is going to lead to people canceling their reservations.:confused:

 

 

Dear Ms. XXXXXXXX,

 

Thank you for your recent correspondence with Holland America Line

concerning your upcoming cruise on the ms Noordam departing on Jan. 5th,

2008. We would be delighted to welcome one of our valued Mariners back

on board.

 

I do apologize for you receiving information and then not being able to

receive any information. The new policy which has taken in affect

this past week states that we can no longer provide what the waitlist

number for dining is. You will be told when you arive on board the ship.

You will have to direct all future questions to your travel agent

because you did book through them.

While we are anxious to provide as much assistance to you as possible,

we regret that we are unable to make any changes, review monetary

figures or release any information regarding your confirmation. This

includes dining status and requests for room assignments. This is due to

contractual agreements between Holland America Line and your travel agency.

Any requests or inquiries regarding your booking must be made through

your travel professional.

 

Their services are beneficial to you. As your travel planner, they can

assist you with the many details that will make your reservation worry

free. Your agent must call us on your behalf for further details or

assistance with the reservation. Please accept our apologies for any

inconvenience this may have caused.

 

Please feel free to contact us if we may be of additional assistance.

Our valued Mariners’ comments or suggestions are always welcome and

very much appreciated. We look forward to welcoming you on board in the

near future.

 

Thank you for your continued patronage!

 

Kind Regards,

 

XXXXXX

 

Consumer and On-Line Support

Holland America Line

1-877-SAIL-HAL

[RuthC]

I'm feeling a little frustrated....

Can't say that I blame you, bermuda. Have to wonder if HAL is deliberately trying to make it more difficult for all concerned. :rolleyes: (that includes the low-level employees, too.)

[SherriZ366]

Can't say that I blame you, bermuda. Have to wonder if HAL is deliberately trying to make it more difficult for all concerned. :rolleyes: (that includes the low-level employees, too.)

or is HAL making it unattractive for past cruisers to sail. Not finidng out whethere one has traditonal until one is onboard does not sound like what As you Wish should be. Sounds lit is As HAL Wishes.

[bermuda triangle]

I agree Ruth. I think they made a bad situation worse for all involved. What is the big deal about saying you are number. X . At least it allows paying customers to know what they are paying for in advance. And it gives them the option before final payment to know if they will go or cancel.

 

Laura

[SherriZ366]

I agree Ruth. I think they made a bad situation worse for all involved. What is the big deal about saying you are number. X . At least it allows paying customers to know what they are paying for in advance. And it gives them the option before final payment to know if they will go or cancel.

 

Laura

Sounds like HAL doesn't want passengers cancelling because they will not get their dining assignment.

[bermuda triangle]

Sounds like HAL doesn't want passengers cancelling because they will not get their dining assignment.

 

Could be, however, this could lead to more cancellations since people don't know...

Laura

[serendipity1499]

Wow I think it's awful for those who want traditional...I fully understand why Solo's would want Traditional...

 

Even as a couple would prefer traditional, only because we don't want to have to go through the meeting of new people every single nite..It's fun to share the days activities with those who you have gotten to know a little bit..We've had so much fun with some of our Table mates & have even been in a position to have surrounding tables ask if they could join in the fun..

 

On one cruise we had a small group opposite our table who never talked to each other & always looked Angry with the World.. They became quite annoyed with our table because we always had so much fun..But that was their problem not ours..LOL..:rolleyes:

 

HAL cetainly is not showing that it really cares about their past Mariners, being able to have the Dining Option of their choice!:rolleyes:

 

Since we usually travel with friends, we have no problem whatsoever with open Dining as we can share our days with our Friends:) :) Betty

[pms4104]

I agree Ruth. I think they made a bad situation worse for all involved. What is the big deal about saying you are number. X . At least it allows paying customers to know what they are paying for in advance. And it gives them the option before final payment to know if they will go or cancel.

 

Laura

The big deal is that, as HAL's communication infers, pax who book thru a T/A should be dealing thru that T/A when it comes to the particulars of a specific booking. I'm guessing that HAL would be forthcoming with most information for bookings made directly thru HAL. As to privacy issues mentioned in HAL's communication ... unknown callers can say they are anyone to get certain information, and that can lead to serious liability for HAL.

 

Bottom line: It is the T/A's job, in return for earning the commision off the booking, to service his/her customer.

[bermuda triangle]

The big deal is that, as HAL's communication infers, pax who book thru a T/A should be dealing thru that T/A when it comes to the particulars of a specific booking. I'm guessing that HAL would be forthcoming with most information for bookings made directly thru HAL. As to privacy issues mentioned in HAL's communication ... unknown callers can say they are anyone to get certain information, and that can lead to serious liability for HAL.

 

Bottom line: It is the T/A's job, in return for earning the commision off the booking, to service his/her customer.

 

 

The policy is that they are not telling anyone. Passengers will not know until they are checked in/onboard. That is what the email says.

 

Laura

[pms4104]

The policy is that they are not telling anyone. Passengers will not know until they are checked in/onboard. That is what the email says.

 

Laura

Thanks for the assist on my reading comprehension. But ... the balance of the communication pretty much says that if you book thru a T/A, you should deal thru the T/A. Did I at least get that part right?

[bermuda triangle]

The big deal is that, as HAL's communication infers, pax who book thru a T/A should be dealing thru that T/A when it comes to the particulars of a specific booking. I'm guessing that HAL would be forthcoming with most information for bookings made directly thru HAL. As to privacy issues mentioned in HAL's communication ... unknown callers can say they are anyone to get certain information, and that can lead to serious liability for HAL.

 

Bottom line: It is the T/A's job, in return for earning the commision off the booking, to service his/her customer.

 

I am not disputing the TA's responsibilities. I wasn't an unknown caller.. it was an email. It listed my booking information and my email address which is on file with my mariner number at HAL. I didn't mention I was a mariner, the person responding did.

Also, I was not changing anything or asking anything regarding payment. I just wanted to know where we stood for dinner. I work in commission based sales. I can answer questions pertaining to many things without their being a liability issue. I don't think it is a big deal to say what number we are on the waiting list. It isn't as though it is personal information, ie credit card number, that I am asking for.

My issue was with the new policy, as I stated originally. BTW no one was questioning your reading ability. There was also no reason to take this to a personal level. Unless of course, you were responsible for implementing the new policy.

 

Laura

[bUU]

or is HAL making it unattractive for past cruisers to sail.

I doubt that that is the case, though it is not unprecedented. There are several prominent cases where the best strategy for a business would be to deliberately seek to switch from one customer base to a completely different customer base.

[bUU]

Could be, however, this could lead to more cancellations since people don't know...

That's a good question, but I suspect more people would cancel because they know they're not getting what they want versus not knowing. A good plan would be to address the gap via guest recovery on-board ship, either showing people how great the new offering is, or achieving customer delight by comp-ing drinks or something like that. As long as the cost of guest recovery doesn't exceed the combination of the cost savings from the new operations plus the extra revenues from the opening the line up to a new customer base, then they're golden.

[NHBob]

I doubt that that is the case, though it is not unprecedented. There are several prominent cases where the best strategy for a business would be to deliberately seek to switch from one customer base to a completely different customer base.

 

You are right, of course, and I think we have already seen an example of this with sister company Cunard. This became evident to a lot of us loyal Cunarders when Cunard did not replace Caronia with a similar size ship, instead concentrating on the much larger QM2 and the soon-to-be- launched Queen Victoria. Of course they do attempt to satisfy both the mass market and the luxury demand, but the latter applies only to the very expensive grill class cabins. Berlitz even rates the different restaurant categories as if they were separate ships.

 

I accused Carnival/Cunard of abandoning those of us who loved the old Cunard, but of course they denied it. A review of the Cunard message boards appears to indicate that the QM2 devotees are an almost entirely different group from the long-time QE2 passengers. With the QE2 being replaced by Victoria in '09, it will be interesting to see how many QE2 old timers move to Victoria or QM2.

 

So, is HAL also willing to sacrifice the business of their traditional passengers to attract a new generation of NCL-type freestyle cruisers? I think so, but hope I am wrong.

[pattycat1]

Hello:

My husband and I are sailing on Noordam 9/23 (Alaska); just received my cruise docs and we are waitlisted on both early and late seating. Just talked to my TA and if things don't change, I'm in "as you wish dining"-I think our cruise is SOLD OUT. I booked 5 months ago and thought we were all set for late dining. How disappointing! If I had wanted as you wish dining, I would have booked NCL to Alaska. Any thoughts? I tried to do a search but I keep getting an error message today.

 

Any experience on HA with this new dining concept?

[jhannah]

There are several threads dealing with this that may shed some light on it for you. Bottom line, once you board the ship check your cabin for your assignment. If it's AYW, head straight to the dining room and see what the Maitre D' can do for you.

[O2B@C]

Even if you end up getting what you want - and I certainly hope you will - PLEASE, for the sake of all of us, do not just accept this without protest. Be polite, of course, but I urge you to complain not only to the maitre d' and hotel manager on your ship, but also to Mr. Stein Kruse himself. Being shunted into open seating when what you wanted was traditional is NOT "as you wish" dining. :mad:

 

HAL needs to get the message loud and clear that if they want to attract the people who want open seating without losing the people who want traditional (which includes not only many longtime HAL devotees but also people like me who are looking forward to becoming same!), they are going to have to accommodate both, and that means implementing "as you wish" in a way that really gives each individual passenger what that passenger wishes. Please add your voice to those who are trying to convey that message. Good luck, and GO FOR IT!

 

And whatever happens, I hope you will enjoy your trip regardless. After all, dining arrangements, though important, are only a small part of the Alaska cruise experience. I'm sure you won't let this disappointment ruin the other aspects of your trip.

[SharonN]

My TA is not the easiest to get a hold of, so I email customer support at HAL to find out where we are on the dining waitlist.

A couple of weeks ago we dropped from 71 to 55. This is important to me, therefore I emailed again, simply asking what # we are currently. This was the response.:(

 

Wow that's not good at all. I'm waitlisted for late traditional too so understand your frustration. I'm using a HAL PCC so I wrote her right after they announced that AYW would start on the Rotterdam on my cruise. She told me I was within the top 20 so wouldn't have any problem clearing the wait list but I was hoping to know for sure before final payment. Now sounds like they won't even tell us that? I really don't why they can't provide this type of information so we can decide what we want to do with a cruise. Finding out when you board is not acceptable to me when we've booked before they announced the change. If we'd booked afterward knowing what we were getting into I'd have less of an issue with it.

[kryos]

Hello:

If I had wanted as you wish dining, I would have booked NCL to Alaska. Any thoughts? I tried to do a search but I keep getting an error message today.

No worries. If you can't get into traditional, turn AYW into traditional. Once you get onboard, just book the same table for two ... at a set time ... every night of the cruise ... in AYW. Then basically you will still have traditional, just in the AYW dining room.

 

NCL is only different because they have multiple dining rooms. That's why this sort of strategy won't work there. But on HAL, with only one dining room, it is very easy to get traditional even if you have to dine in the AYW level of the dining room.

 

It's only single folks who can get royally screwed with this concept ... they are gonna have to arrange their own dining buddies or else they will wind up getting shoved "wherever" ... with other groups who may not be too pleased to have an outsider joining their table. Or, those poor singles will simply be placed at tables for two ... and dine alone every night. But couples and groups or families traveling together will be fine.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[kryos]

HAL needs to get the message loud and clear that if they want to attract the people who want open seating without losing the people who want traditional (which includes not only many longtime HAL devotees but also people like me who are looking forward to becoming same!), they are going to have to accommodate both, and that means implementing "as you wish" in a way that really gives each individual passenger what that passenger wishes.

In a perfect world ...

 

Let's face it, HAL is not set up properly to offer this AYW dining. They are gerryrigging things in order to do it. As a result, since HAL only has one two-level dining room ... there is very little chance that everyone is gonna be able to get their preference. Some people are gonna be unhappy.

 

Now maybe in the future ... when HAL builds bigger ships ... they can plan for AYW dining by adding more capacity to their dining rooms ... enough so that if a substantial number of people wanted one or the other, they could all still be accommodated. But the way things are now ... only so many people can be accommodated on each level of the dining room, and if more people want traditional than there is capacity for, some of them are simply gonna get routed into open seating. True, they could open up a section of the AYW dining room for the overflow from traditional, but if they do that the people in that AYW section, dining at a set time, are still gonna have constant traffic walking through the dining room, possibly passing by their table, as AYW diners are shown to their tables throughout the course of the meal. It is no way gonna be the "traditional style" of traditional dining. When you only have one dining room to work with, that's just the way it is.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[kryos]

The new policy which has taken in affect

this past week states that we can no longer provide what the waitlist

number for dining is. You will be told when you arive on board the ship.

So basically what they are saying is your pay your money and you take your chances. You will have no idea prior to boarding what type of dining you've been assigned to. You could get onboard and find a card in your stateroom saying "AYW Dining Room."

 

That doesn't work for me. If I can't be confirmed, then I cancel my booking and go with another cruise line. It's as simple as that.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[kryos]

Sounds like HAL doesn't want passengers cancelling because they will not get their dining assignment.

Exactly.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita