As You Wish Dining - Opinions, Comments and Discussions

[bUU]

You may call it "alternative" but Hal is calling it "As You Wish". I take exception to you telling me to "move on". Voice your opinion but DON'T tell me what to do.

My point was that fixating about the words used only gets you so far. It's not going to change anything. It's not going to improve your voyage or that of anyone else's. I feel that there is a big difference between being concerned about the words versus the strong points that Ruth is making, i.e., being concerned about the reality. Ruth cannot just ignore the reality, whereas anyone can truly and easily ignore the words.

[terrydtx]

A friend of mine who is an editor for a major travel industry magazine that is privy to a lot of cruise line marketing and research told me that the number 1 criticism of cruise passengers is the traditional “cattle call” dining. The number 2 criticism is formal wear requirements especially on resort destination cruises like the Caribbean. She also said that these are the 2 primary reasons potential new customers have not ever taken a cruise. NCL has been leading the industry in attracting first time cruisers primarily because of their free style cruise marketing

 

She told me that HAL is reacting to what current and potential new customers are telling them they want in the future and that Hal is not the only major line looking at this change. She expects Celebrity and RCCL to offer some form of AYWD by 2008. Carnival is also looking at the reported success that Princess has had the last 2years with open dining. The next big controversy will be formal wear and that we should expect major changes on this in the next 2 years industry wide. . As more and more mega ships and itineraries are added every year the market for first time cruisers is going to become much more competitive to fill these ships and the cruise lines will do what it takes to change the barriers that keep these potential new passengers from booking cruises. Most of us who are seasoned cruisers aren’t going to give up booking cruises over open dining and what we wear to dinner and the cruise lines know that.

 

I for one am in favor of the AYWD and somewhat divided on the formal wear policy. My 2 adult kids have never been on a cruise for these reasons. My daughter who is a Marketing Manager for a major computer company has stated many times she and her husband will not take a cruise (we have tried to get them to go with us several times) because when on vacation they do not want to be told when and where to eat and the idea of formal wear on a warm weather destination cruise has no appeal. They both have to dress for success on the job and a vacation to them is leaving those clothes behind.

[RevNeal]

Thanks, terrydtx ... your remarks about the Market trends and the results of Market Research conducted industry-wide jives with what I've been told by sources within the Line, too. I have no doubts that people tell market researchers what you state; I've heard much the same thing from church members, and others, who ask me about cruising on HAL.

 

Cultural attitudes and opinions are usually generated by the media and fashion industries. The current North American culture is very much the result of the managed development of tastes, likes, and dislikes. We are told what to like and what to dislike, and it is sold to us in commercials, etc. The "cattle call" nomenclature for traditional dining schedules is an example of this. We've seen it used in commercials by one particular cruise line to describe HAL's (and other's) Traditional dining schedules. It's a flashing, catchy, sometimes laughable image presented in the least-flattering way, and the language used ("cattle call," "regimented," "programmed") is crafted to project a negative (a "pejorative") opinion. This opinion has been created over a long time ... it's not a new evolution. It goes hand-in-hand with the long term, progressive "casualizing" of North American culture and tastes that began in the 1960s, and continues to this very day. It is, hence, not any surprise that this is what is driving the change among cruise lines toward ever-increasing casualness in the cruise experience. "Traditional" gives way to some form of "Freestyle." Formal, first, gives way to less-formal definitions of what qualifies for "Formal Night," then collapses altogether into only requiring "Smart Casual;" eventually, even that standard will go as the oft-cited "it's my vacation, I'll do what I want" mentality takes over and shorts and the "personal comfort" of t-shirts become the norm. It's the domino theory in action.

 

Cruise Lines have, in the past, managed to attract new customers with their long-standing traditions. Changes were minimal, at best, and usually involved providing reasonable option and new features without inflicting harm upon the standing-traditions. In order to keep filling their ever-expanding fleet capacities, the Cruise Lines have had to change (i.e., dump their long-standing traditions) in order to appeal to an ever-expanding range of new passengers -- many of whom will come for only one cruise, or who (at best) will cruise only two or three times a decade (and, hence, the repeat-passenger effect of the past is lost).

 

In short, the changes are coming and those of us who prefer something different are either going to have to become accustomed to them, keep doing "our own thing" (i.e., be the only people aboard ship dressed formally), find a niche Line that wants to cater to us weirdoes, or quit cruising. In the end, it's as simple as that.

[madelinerose]

In short, the changes are coming and those of us who prefer something different are either going to have to become accustomed to them, keep doing "our own thing" (i.e., be the only people aboard ship dressed formally), find a niche Line that wants to cater to us weirdoes, or quit cruising. In the end, it's as simple as that.

 

 

Amen! ;)

[HeatherInFlorida]

.....................

In short, the changes are coming and those of us who prefer something different are either going to have to become accustomed to them, keep doing "our own thing" (i.e., be the only people aboard ship dressed formally), find a niche Line that wants to cater to us weirdoes, or quit cruising. In the end, it's as simple as that.

 

Yup ... just one more reason "growing old isn't for sissies":) . Every day there's just one more thing you have to give up. And eventually it's all gone. Some of us just go kicking and screaming a bit more than others;)

[kryos]

If HAL wants input from Mariners, why not poll us directly? IF HAL polled the Mariner database directly on this matter, I believe it is quite reasonable for us to say that we would have heard about it on this board ... either directly (through at least one of our number being polled) or indirectly through all of our many contacts among non-CCer Mariners.

Because HAL seeks the opinions of the first time cruiser on this issue ... not necessarily the Mariners. My guess is that HAL knows they've got our loyalty. Even with the adoption of AYWD, as long as they implement it properly, chances are that not too many loyal Mariners will fly the coop over such a relatively minor issue. What HAL needs, however, is the opinions of those millions of first time cruisers ... the exact group of people HAL will need to retain if they wish to continue their growth.

 

Let's face it ... when you have a fleet of 14 ships (which HAL will soon have), you need to be assured of a constant flow of people to fill them. Loyal Mariners will not be able to do this. We're just not a big enough group. HAL needs loads and loads of first time or new cruisers to keep those boats filled week after week. So, my guess is that HAL's market research on this issue of AYWD was probably conducted strictly from the comment cards and perhaps telephone surveys of first time cruisers. The Cruise Line Industry Association may even have been contracted to do some of the research for them.

 

My guess is that in a year or so, after this AYWD has been fully implemented, we are going to find that it isn't that bad. In fact, many of the staunchest opponents to it may have been converted when they see how nice and convenient it can be. There is definitely something to be said for having the flexibility of changing your dining time each night. One day you may wish to eat early, but the next day ... when you get back to your cabin after 6:00 from a full day of touring in port ... you may want to "chill" for a couple of hours before going to dinner. AYWD allows people to do this ... and I think that's what will make it so attractive to so many. And let's face it ... what's the big change here for most cruisers? Most travel with their groups and tend to dine with their groups each night in traditional dining. Well, they will continue to do that with AYWD, but now will just have the element of flexibility thrown into the mix. What can be wrong with that?

 

Also, from what I've been told, AYWD will actually improve the quality of the food offering in the HAL dining rooms. Since the line is not preparing 1000 meals all at once, they can cater more to individual tastes ... add something a passenger wants to their meal ... take something away ... cook that steak to absolute perfection, etc., etc. I think they call this preparing food "ala minute?" Don't even ask me to spell that correctly. :)

 

The bottom line is that I think when all is said and done, it is only the single traveler who is going to be challenged by AYWD. We're gonna have to do a bit more work now ... seek out other singles to dine with ... make sure we attend that first "singles mingle" onboard so that we can hook up with fellow singles to dine with, approach the matri 'd as a group to make sure a "singles" table is set aside at a certain time for the singles group, work within our Cruise Critic roll calls to find others to dine with ... and lastly, be flexible enough to accept that there just may be some evenings where we have to dine at a table of strangers ... or even at a table for two by ourselves. But other than us singles ... who are a very, very small percentage of HAL's customer base ... so small as to be almost non-existent ... I think most loyal HAL cruisers are gonna find they love this new dining format ... so much so that I predict in a couple of years we'll wonder what all the fuss was about ... and won't be in the least bit surprised to see traditional dining totally phased out.

 

Just my opinion ...

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[RevNeal]

Because HAL seeks the opinions of the first time cruiser on this issue ... not necessarily the Mariners.

 

Rita, that's what I said.

 

Let's face it ... when you have a fleet of 14 ships (which HAL will soon have), you need to be assured of a constant flow of people to fill them. Loyal Mariners will not be able to do this. We're just not a big enough group. HAL needs loads and loads of first time or new cruisers to keep those boats filled week after week. So, my guess is that HAL's market research on this issue of AYWD was probably conducted strictly from the comment cards and perhaps telephone surveys of first time cruisers. The Cruise Line Industry Association may even have been contracted to do some of the research for them.

 

Again, Rita, that's essentially what I said.

 

My guess is that in a year or so, after this AYWD has been fully implemented, we are going to find that it isn't that bad. In fact, many of the staunchest opponents to it may have been converted when they see how nice and convenient it can be. There is definitely something to be said for having the flexibility of changing your dining time each night. One day you may wish to eat early, but the next day ... when you get back to your cabin after 6:00 from a full day of touring in port ... you may want to "chill" for a couple of hours before going to dinner. AYWD allows people to do this ... and I think that's what will make it so attractive to so many. And let's face it ... what's the big change here for most cruisers? Most travel with their groups and tend to dine with their groups each night in traditional dining. Well, they will continue to do that with AYWD, but now will just have the element of flexibility thrown into the mix. What can be wrong with that?

 

Nothing ... and I hope you're right.

 

Also, from what I've been told, AYWD will actually improve the quality of the food offering in the HAL dining rooms. Since the line is not preparing 1000 meals all at once, they can cater more to individual tastes ... add something a passenger wants to their meal ... take something away ... cook that steak to absolute perfection, etc., etc. I think they call this preparing food "ala minute?" Don't even ask me to spell that correctly. :)

 

I have no idea how this will impact the food quality. It still seems to me that they'll have to prepare just as many meals and within a similarly short time frame. So ... they'll prepare as much of it as possible ahead of time.

 

The bottom line is that I think when all is said and done, it is only the single traveler who is going to be challenged by AYWD. We're gonna have to do a bit more work now ... seek out other singles to dine with ... make sure we attend that first "singles mingle" onboard so that we can hook up with fellow singles to dine with, approach the matri 'd as a group to make sure a "singles" table is set aside at a certain time for the singles group, work within our Cruise Critic roll calls to find others to dine with ... and lastly, be flexible enough to accept that there just may be some evenings where we have to dine at a table of strangers ... or even at a table for two by ourselves. But other than us singles ... who are a very, very small percentage of HAL's customer base ... so small as to be almost non-existent ... I think most loyal HAL cruisers are gonna find they love this new dining format ... so much so that I predict in a couple of years we'll wonder what all the fuss was about ... and won't be in the least bit surprised to see traditional dining totally phased out.

 

Again, I've said pretty much all of this in my prior post and in other posts in the past ... just without the long-range projection. I don't know if they'll actually phase out traditional entirely ... not with the current outfitting of the ships. I'm not sure they CAN.

[Marmarjudy]

>>The "cattle call" nomenclature for traditional dining schedules is an example of this. We've seen it used in commercials by one particular cruise line to describe HAL's (and other's) Traditional dining schedules. It's a flashing, catchy, sometimes laughable image presented in the least-flattering way, and the language used ("cattle call," "regimented," "programmed") is crafted to project a negative (a "pejorative") opinion. This opinion has been created over a long time ... it's not a new evolution.<<

 

I started cruising 15 years ago, with my sisters. I couldn't talk my husband into sailing until 10 years ago, and, on his very first cruise, his reaction to the dining was exactly those statements above. It was negative for him, although we were always with just our group or each other. Six years ago, after a very (I thought) enjoyable cruise on Celebrity, and several prior cruises, he said he was done cruising...he hated the regimentation.

 

Five years ago, I talked him into a cruise for our 35th anniversary, and I assumed it would be our last together.....he caved, for me, but......we sailed Princess for the first time with anytime dining. We booked another 4 months later, and one or two every year since.

 

He now agrees that cruising is the only way to vacation. The anytime dining and assured table for two, when we choose, makes all the difference. We are looking forward to trying Holland for this reason.

 

There are many others like us. (And, by the way, we like the formal nights.)

 

Judy...20+ cruises

[Williebill]

I guess I'm just to much of a traditionalist; I wish HAL would stay with what they know best.

[RevNeal]

>>The "cattle call" nomenclature for traditional dining schedules is an example of this. We've seen it used in commercials by one particular cruise line to describe HAL's (and other's) Traditional dining schedules. It's a flashing, catchy, sometimes laughable image presented in the least-flattering way, and the language used ("cattle call," "regimented," "programmed") is crafted to project a negative (a "pejorative") opinion. This opinion has been created over a long time ... it's not a new evolution.<<

 

I started cruising 15 years ago, with my sisters. I couldn't talk my husband into sailing until 10 years ago, and, on his very first cruise, his reaction to the dining was exactly those statements above. It was negative for him, although we were always with just our group or each other. Six years ago, after a very (I thought) enjoyable cruise on Celebrity, and several prior cruises, he said he was done cruising...he hated the regimentation.

 

Five years ago, I talked him into a cruise for our 35th anniversary, and I assumed it would be our last together.....he caved, for me, but......we sailed Princess for the first time with anytime dining. We booked another 4 months later, and one or two every year since.

 

He now agrees that cruising is the only way to vacation. The anytime dining and assured table for two, when we choose, makes all the difference. We are looking forward to trying Holland for this reason.

 

There are many others like us. (And, by the way, we like the formal nights.)

 

Judy, I'm so happy that you have had great cruises and that you and your husband have found a cruise Line and a dining system that he likes and that enables you both to have wonderful cruises together! And, with the AYW dining schedule, the chances are great that you'll also be able to have such cruises on HAL. And that's excellent. Please don't misunderstand me; I truly am happy for him and for you. However, his attitude and experience of the traditional dining experience as being "regimented" is part of the same cultural attitude that interprets set dining times and tables as being a negative, rather than a positive. Your husband had his view due to the way in which he was "wired" by the culture (including events in his background, etc). The same wiring is behind the attitude that occasions the commercials, and those commercials further feed the attitude.

 

Sadly for those of us who like Traditional -- and who do not experience Traditional as "regimented" or (shudder) a "cattle call" -- the market trends resulting from the changes in social expectations and cultural preferences is producing a situation where HAL cannot survive by maintaining its dining tradition. To continue to grow and be profitable the Line has to change its dining schedule to provide what the majority of the market wants. This means that your husband gets what he wants, while those of us who love Traditional (and don't consider ourselves "cattle" being called) don't. Sure, we can attempt to "re-regiment" ourselves by reserving tables and times ... but it simply won't be the same.

 

Judy, please don't misunderstand me. I truly am happy for you and yours. I cannot help, however, but be sad for me and mine. Not if I'm going to be honest.

[bermuda triangle]

I truly am happy for you and yours. I cannot help, however, but be sad for me and mine. Not if I'm going to be honest.

 

*sighs*

[kryos]

I have no idea how this will impact the food quality. It still seems to me that they'll have to prepare just as many meals and within a similarly short time frame. So ... they'll prepare as much of it as possible ahead of time.

I've been doing research on this exact thing ... for other purposes ... and the comment I'm getting again and again is that with open seating dining you generally get better service AND better food preparation. Not that the food itself is any different ... it's made in the same galley ... but that the food can be more cooked to order than it can be with en masse dining. Yes, all food is prepared to some extent ahead of time ... but the final preparations can be done more on a custom basis in a flexible dining format than they can be when there are perhaps 1000 meals coming out of the kitchen at the exact same time.

 

Service too, I am being told, can be more personalized with flexible dining. I can readily believe this based on my experience on the QE2. Of course, there the flexible dining was a bit different. We had an assigned table which was ours for ALL meals. Since the waiters in our area had a group of tables at which not everyone dined every meal, and even when they did they came at different times, we got very, very personalized service. Often those waiters only had us and maybe one other table of diners in there at the same time. It certainly wasn't hard to get the attention of your waiter if you wanted something.

 

I've made up my mind to not get too excited about this flexible dining. I'm gonna just keep an open mind and see how it goes. Another thing I am thinking is that it might not be too bad on HAL. Since HAL draws a lot of singles anyway, it might be possible to form a "singles network" early in the cruise and then set aside a general time for everyone to come to the dining room each evening. Arrangements can readily be made with the matri 'd then to have a large "singles table" set aside where we can all break bread together.

 

Based on some of my recent experiences in HAL's dining room, I'm thinking this AYWD might actually work out better for singles. I don't know about you, but my last few cruises had very slow service in the dining room. On my April TransAtlantic it would sometimes take us over two and a half hours to get out of there. On other cruises I've seen where some people only sporadically showed up for dinner. On two of my past cruises I was seated at tables for eight where only three of us regularly came to dinner. It is just as likely you could wind up eating alone in traditional as you could in AWYD if your tablemates don't clue you in to their plans for a given night.

 

I think the best solution for you and I, Rev, is to book a cruise together. Then we'll never have to worry about dining companions. I'd consider it an honor to break bread with you each evening, and ... in fact ... will even break down and do the "formal thang" in order to make that happen. :)

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[bUU]

... and the comment I'm getting again and again is that with open seating dining you generally get better service AND better food preparation.

While this is good to hear, I don't think anyone should get the idea that even that is a sacred cow. Service and food will invariably vary over the course of time based on how important those aspects are to the bulk of the travelers that the cruise lines are aiming for.

[terrydtx]

This whole discussion about flexible dining is probable a moot point and something all future cruisers will have to accept. From the information I have heard from very knowledgeable people in the cruise travel industry within the next 2 to 3 years some form of flexible dining will be the norm.

 

For the seasoned HAL cruisers that have stated on this forum they will take their business elsewhere, I ask where? Insiders tell me that Celebrity and RCCL will most likely make the change next year and that Carnival is taking a serious look too after the reported success of Princess. That leaves maybe Costa and a couple of other smaller lines, even the most of the super premium lines have some form of flexible dining hours.

 

II say fantastic to the AYWD or some other flexible dining. No more having to rush back to the ship from shore excursions to dress and make dinner at 6:00. No more missing the sail away from the ports. No more having to eat on the Lido deck or in our cabin because we missed our “Traditional” 6:15 seating. We can now go to the Crows Nest for a drink during the port sail away at 6 or 7 and have diner when we want at 7 or 7:30 in the main dining room. HAL’s traditional 5:45 or 6:15 is too early to eat and 8 or 8:30 is way to late. Based on the information that Celebrity may change to flex dining next year we have booked a September 2008 Mediterranean cruise on the Century. On this itinerary most of the port departures are 6 or 7 pm.

[terrydtx]

This whole discussion about flexible dining is probable a moot point and something all future cruisers will have to accept. From the information I have heard from very knowledgeable people in the cruise travel industry within the next 2 to 3 years some form of flexible dining will be the norm.

 

For the seasoned HAL cruisers that have stated on this forum they will take their business elsewhere, I ask where? Insiders tell me that Celebrity and RCCL will most likely make the change next year and that Carnival is taking a serious look too after the reported success of Princess. That leaves maybe Costa and a couple of other smaller lines, even the most of the super premium lines have some form of flexible dining hours.

 

II say fantastic to the AYWD or some other flexible dining. No more having to rush back to the ship from shore excursions to dress and make dinner at 6:00. No more missing the sail away from the ports. No more having to eat on the Lido deck or in our cabin because we missed our “Traditional” 6:15 seating. We can now go to the Crows Nest for a drink during the port sail away at 6 or 7 and have diner when we want at 7 or 7:30 in the main dining room. HAL’s traditional 5:45 or 6:15 is too early to eat and 8 or 8:30 is way to late. Based on the information that Celebrity may change to flex dining next year we have booked a September 2008 Mediterranean cruise on the Century. On this itinerary most of the port departures are 6 or 7 pm.

[NHBob]

For the seasoned HAL cruisers that have stated on this forum they will take their business elsewhere, I ask where? .... That leaves maybe Costa and a couple of other smaller lines, even the most of the super premium lines have some form of flexible dining hours.

 

 

It also leaves Crystal, Fred. Olsen, Saga, and Cunard! I doubt it will work for the Britannia Dining Room on QM2 without complete redesign of the room - in my limited experience open seating didn't work at all well for breakfast and lunch. Something like HAL's AYWD might work on Queen Victoria, since the upper and lower levels of Britannia Dining Room appear to to completely separate. Interested to see that according to brochure deck plans, Victoria's Britannia DR appears to offer only tables for four - none larger, and none for two. Wonder how that will work!

 

What it all comes down to that I guess all us posters on this thread have to agree to disagree - nothing anybody can say will convince me that open seating is good for me, and I'm sure nothing I could say will convince the open seating fans otherwise!

[terrydtx]

It also leaves Crystal, Fred. Olsen, Saga, and Cunard!

 

NH BOB my point exactly! Most likely in 2 years there will be very little in the way of cruising choices for the HAL cruisers to go that can’t accept the AYWD and HAL knows that as well. I do not see Crystal, Saga or Fred Olsen as viable cruise alternatives for HAL cruisers.

[madelinerose]

What it all comes down to that I guess all us posters on this thread have to agree to disagree - nothing anybody can say will convince me that open seating is good for me, and I'm sure nothing I could say will convince the open seating fans otherwise!

 

 

Being redundant on my end - Amen! ;)

[RevNeal]

I've been doing research on this exact thing ... for other purposes ... and the comment I'm getting again and again is that with open seating dining you generally get better service AND better food preparation. Not that the food itself is any different ... it's made in the same galley ... but that the food can be more cooked to order than it can be with en masse dining. Yes, all food is prepared to some extent ahead of time ... but the final preparations can be done more on a custom basis in a flexible dining format than they can be when there are perhaps 1000 meals coming out of the kitchen at the exact same time.

 

Service too, I am being told, can be more personalized with flexible dining. I can readily believe this based on my experience on the QE2. Of course, there the flexible dining was a bit different. We had an assigned table which was ours for ALL meals. Since the waiters in our area had a group of tables at which not everyone dined every meal, and even when they did they came at different times, we got very, very personalized service. Often those waiters only had us and maybe one other table of diners in there at the same time. It certainly wasn't hard to get the attention of your waiter if you wanted something.

 

That sounds excellent, and I am hopeful that the this new system will help conditions all across the board (both in terms of food quality and in service). I think I can see how it could help in the food preparation end of the operation. I'm not so sure about the service end. But, as I have already said elsewhere, I have suspended assumptions and will just wait-and-see. Thus far, however, reports from the ships are, at best, mixed.

 

I've made up my mind to not get too excited about this flexible dining. I'm gonna just keep an open mind and see how it goes. Another thing I am thinking is that it might not be too bad on HAL. Since HAL draws a lot of singles anyway, it might be possible to form a "singles network" early in the cruise and then set aside a general time for everyone to come to the dining room each evening. Arrangements can readily be made with the matri 'd then to have a large "singles table" set aside where we can all break bread together.

 

Perhaps that's an option. However, while I enjoy meeting other singles, I do also enjoy meeting couples and families. Perhaps the compromise that makes dinner in the AYW system tolerable is just such a network as your describe, however it will be sad that the result will be that we won't be able to meet and dine with couples and families too.

 

Based on some of my recent experiences in HAL's dining room, I'm thinking this AYWD might actually work out better for singles. I don't know about you, but my last few cruises had very slow service in the dining room. On my April TransAtlantic it would sometimes take us over two and a half hours to get out of there. On other cruises I've seen where some people only sporadically showed up for dinner. On two of my past cruises I was seated at tables for eight where only three of us regularly came to dinner. It is just as likely you could wind up eating alone in traditional as you could in AWYD if your tablemates don't clue you in to their plans for a given night.

 

My last cruise, on the Ryndam, had some of the best service and the quickest meals I've had on HAL in a long time. Dinner on the Noordam, this last January, could tend to lag a bit but it never took more than an hour and forty-five minutes.

 

On the Oosterdam, during their "Leisure Dining Service" test, I dined alone one evening because the two families with whom I was dining decided to eat in the Pinnacle together but without me. It was at first quite uncomfortable, but the Hotel Manger came over and had dinner with me so that made it a joy. :) Once, on Traditional by myself, there was a night when I would have eaten alone that night had a group of five not noticed that I was alone and invited me over for the remainder of the meal.

 

I think the best solution for you and I, Rev, is to book a cruise together. Then we'll never have to worry about dining companions. I'd consider it an honor to break bread with you each evening, and ... in fact ... will even break down and do the "formal thang" in order to make that happen. :)

 

Thank you so much, Rita. I look forward to that cruise with great anticipation. Like you, I suspect that the best thing for those of us Singles who are CCers is to cruise with CCer groups from now on. That way, we always have dining groups. Though being solo in our cabin arrangements, we're not really solo on the cruise.

 

I'm not sure what your future schedule looks like, but I'm always keeping my eyes open for a "quickie" cruise. I know that your schedule is strapped right now, and my own 2008 schedule is packed. However, given the prices on the Oosterdam's 7-day cruises early in 2008, I've been toying with the idea of taking one of those cruises. Yes, I'm due to go to South America at the end of the month, but a New Years cruise (either over New Years or the very next week) is always an option for me. The days immediately after Christmas are always dead around the church.

 

Interested in a quickie cruise at the end of the December or the very beginning of January? I'm serious. The Prices on the Oosterdam are GREAT for that first week of January. :) Almost too great to turn down. :D

[bUU]

It also leaves Crystal, Fred. Olsen, Saga, and Cunard!

Absolutely.

 

And I just checked something, because I was curious: (The dollar amounts are obfuscated, showing only the difference in price -- we're not allowed to post actual prices here, I believe.)

 

Fred. Olsen - 13 day Caribbean Cruise in February - $21

Cunard - 13 day Caribbean Cruise in February - $18

Holland America - 14 day Caribbean Cruise in February - $14

 

So a difference between the three isn't unexpected.

 

What it all comes down to that I guess all us posters on this thread have to agree to disagree - nothing anybody can say will convince me that open seating is good for me, and I'm sure nothing I could say will convince the open seating fans otherwise!

I hope this whole discussion hasn't been a misunderstanding. I don't think I have seen anyone say that open seating is good for you, specifically. These discussions have been about whether or not open seating is (1) good for anyone; (2) good for a lot of people; (3) preferred by enough to warrant offering it; (4) a significant enough motivator to select a cruise line to justify making it the standard; etc. I don't believe it was every about any one single cruise passenger.

[RuthC]

What makes you say that about Saga? I see them as comparable in terms of the HAL atmosphere I became used to. What am I missing?

[LuvsDamships]

Reverend! If Rita can't, I might.

Mitch can't get away in January (he's got a major photo shoot to get ready for mid-January). You're right, those prices are dirt-cheap!

[NHBob]

Just received both phone and e-mail messages from Gary Quantz in HAL's Guest Relations office confirming my requested main seating, assigned table, traditional dining on Zuiderdam's March 15h crossing. Messages also invite me to contact Guest Relations if I have any further questions. Quite a change from previous refusal to even talk to me directly because I booked through TA.

 

Of course there's no way to know it this is a result of my letter or would have happpened anyway, so I guess I'll flatter myself by assuming the former!

 

Good luck to other traditional diners still on wait lists, as well as open seating fans - hope all of you get your preferences eventually.

[RetiredMustang]

All,

 

Hammybee told me that this thread doesn't approach the postings that were generated when Zuiderdam joined the fleet, but I stand (o.k., sit with a glass of merlot of a Friday night) in amazement at where this thread has gone. I'm relatively new to the threads (spring this year), but have been constantly amazed and amused how this has taken off.

 

I did not start this thread (I wonder if we've totally scared off OP?), nor did I sticky it (I wouldn't begin to know how) but I think I may have struck a chord with us all when I innocently asked Karin, who sent me to hammybee, just how AYW was actually working. Wow, what a can of worms we heave, when first we ask how was it received!

 

Clearly, this is a hot topic. Who knew? But, you know, I would really like to hear from someone who has been there just how it went, how it worked, do you have to reserve every day or can you block reserve, and what happens if you miss a night, etc. Not whether you think it reeks or is sublime -- how does it work, how do you do it? A 20 to the yum yum man to get a good table? Sucking up to the maitre d'?

 

I'll try, maybe, if I don't get mugged or wedgied, to tell you how it went at least one night on the Noordam PCanal next month (only approximately 5 weeks, 1 day, 22 hours, 55 minutes until we sail, but who's counting).

 

Dave

[RuthC]

Just received both phone and e-mail messages from Gary Quantz in HAL's Guest Relations office confirming my requested main seating, assigned table, traditional dining on Zuiderdam's March 15h crossing.

Congratulations, Bob. That is good news indeed. Hopefully HAL is looking at this thread, contacts received at their headquarters, and other sources and realizes it needs to be proactive in reassuring passengers their needs and desires won't be ignored.