As You Wish Dining - Opinions, Comments and Discussions

[Roz]

We had a yum yum man on my March Oosterdam cruise. Do you think maybe they were short staffed?

 

Roz

[terrydtx]

It is hard to know what to do, as there seems to be so many conflicting postings about the dining service, then again maybe those who are happy with the service don't bother to say so?.

 

Kiwi, When you take into account that so far thousands of HAL passengers like myself, have already experienced and participated in AYWD and only a handful have posted in the CC forums on the subject, I think you are on target with your statement. Its just human nature to write or complain about something you have experienced that you disliked rather than to write or promote a positive experience. If you read all the negatives on AYWD in this forum it is amazing how many are from those who have not been in the AYWD dining room or personally participated in AYWD, but would rather complain and post about their “perceived” negative on the idea of any form of open dining on any HAL ship.

 

We have seen a HAL cruise that takes our fancy, but as it is a long cruise we can't think of anything worse than being frustrated and unhappy with the dining service over a long period of time. If it was a 2 week cruise we would take a chance. We have thought about doing that but at this point in time we are really more interested in long holidays and longer cruises.

 

On a longer cruise I can not think of any thing worse than being stuck with possible tablemates you may not like, this has happened to me too many times. The worst was the 2 couples of religious fanatics that asked my DW and I to not have wine or alcohol in their presence at the table and then prayed for us every night at dinner to deliver us from the demon alcohol.:eek:

 

I would think the flexibility of AYWD would be a bigger positive on a long cruise, especially on port intensive itineraries. My biggest complaint about traditional seating is the dinning times are either too early or too late for my wanting. When you get back from a shore excursion and board the ship between 5 and 6 pm it is too hard to make a 5:45 or 6:15 seating and the 8 or 8:30 seating are just way too late.

[kelmac]

 

 

On a longer cruise I can not think of any thing worse than being stuck with possible tablemates you may not like, this has happened to me too many times. The worst was the 2 couples of religious fanatics that asked my DW and I to not have wine or alcohol in their presence at the table and then prayed for us every night at dinner to deliver us from the demon alcohol.:eek:

 

I hope you switched tables for the next evening!!?? My wife and I are not anit-social, but we always dine at a table for two.

 

Enjoy!

Kel:)

[terrydtx]

I hope you switched tables for the next evening!!?? My wife and I are not anit-social, but we always dine at a table for two.

 

Enjoy!

Kel:)

 

That cruise and our seating time was sold out and the Maître D said we could not move tables so on the third night of the cruise I became a "nasty drunk" at the table and the other 2 holly rollers were not seen again for the rest of the cruise. The real funny thing was they told us the first night that their TA had confirmed them at a guaranteed non-alcohol table:confused: which had been a prerequisite of their booking the cruise and as such we had no right to drink at dinner and had to abide by the non alcohol policy for that table. The Maître D informed them the first night that RCI had no such thing as a non drinking table and that they needed to take up the matter with their TA.:p

 

Since you prefer tables for 2 I did notice on our Volendam cruise last November that there were a lot of empty tables for 2 in the AYWD room and I have heard that it can be real tough to book tables for 2 in the past with traditional seating.

[RuthC]

If you read all the negatives on AYWD in this forum it is amazing how many are from those who have not been in the AYWD dining room or personally participated in AYWD, but would rather complain and post about their “perceived” negative on the idea of any form of open dining on any HAL ship.

That people who have not experienced the open sitting portion of AYW does not make their negative opinion any less vaild.

Some people know themselves well enough that they know what they like, what they don't like, and what's right for them.

[terrydtx]

That people who have not experienced the open sitting portion of AYW does not make their negative opinion any less vaild.

Some people know themselves well enough that they know what they like, what they don't like, and what's right for them.

 

Ruth, I couldn’t disagree more, suppose I told you that I hated Chocolate and that the idea of eating Chocolate was undesirable and that it had a foul taste, but also I have never tasted chocolate as I perceive it too taste awful because I heard from others that it did in fact taste awful. How could I make such an irrational statement as this with our experiencing the taste of chocolate for myself?? That’s my point for people in this forum to condemn the AYWD just because they think it is bad for them so it must be bad for all without first hand knowledge and experience is just as irrational.

[RuthC]

That’s my point for people in this forum to condemn the AYWD just because they think it is bad for them so it must be bad for all without first hand knowledge and experience is just as irrational.

I don't remember any posts from people saying that since they think the open sitting portion of AYW is "bad" for them, then it follows that it is "bad" for anyone.

Perhaps you will refresh my memory and list the post #'s, so I don't have to re-read the entire thread?

What some of us have said, and what some others refuse to allow, is that the open sitting portion of AYW is not right for us.

Self-awareness is a wonderful thing. I guess not everyone is lucky that way.

[terrydtx]

I don't remember any posts from people saying that since they think the open sitting portion of AYW is "bad" for them, then it follows that it is "bad" for anyone.

Perhaps you will refresh my memory and list the post #'s, so I don't have to re-read the entire thread?

What some of us have said, and what some others refuse to allow, is that the open sitting portion of AYW is not right for us.

Self-awareness is a wonderful thing. I guess not everyone is lucky that way.

 

Ruth, I know you have been one of the most vocal against AYWD implementation since it was announced over a year ago by HAL. Your big concern has been as a single cruiser you might not be able to have traditional dining on a cruise as you use dinning with the same tablemates as a tool for meeting and making new friends on your cruises. So I agree it is not the best option for you and I have not seen any post from me or others suggesting otherwise or that traditional seating should be done away altogether. Have you been denied a traditional seating on any cruise, once you embarked, that you have been on so far? Have your concerns been justified? Transversely I ask you the question; if you had the power within HAL to end the AYWD option and return to all traditional seating would you choose to do so, I think your honest answer would be in the affirmative.:p

[RuthC]

I ask you the question; if you had the power within HAL to end the AYWD option and return to all traditional seating would you choose to do so, I think your honest answer would be in the affirmative.:p

Clearly, you don't know me.

I don't suppose you'd like to get to know me over dinner on a HAL cruise sometime, because I'll be at fixed seating. Or I won't be aboard.

[terrydtx]

Clearly, you don't know me.

I don't suppose you'd like to get to know me over dinner on a HAL cruise sometime, because I'll be at fixed seating. Or I won't be aboard.

 

Ruth, I would love to sit with you at dinner on a HAL cruise and have a chance to get to know you, I have heard many nice things about you from others on this board. I have no personal opinions about you personally since I do not know you nor have I had the opportunity to experience your company. :D

 

Having said that you still haven’t addressed my direct questions to you:

 

Have you been denied a traditional seating on any HAL cruise, once you embarked, that you have been on so far? :confused: Have your concerns been justified?:confused:

and

If you had the power within HAL to end the AYWD option and return to all traditional seating would you choose to do so?:confused:

[RuthC]

Having said that you still haven’t addressed my direct questions to you:

 

Have you been denied a traditional seating on any HAL cruise, once you embarked, that you have been on so far? :confused: Have your concerns been justified?:confused:

I have sailed only once on a ship with open sitting, and I was fortunate enough to get the traditional dining I requested when I booked 15 months earlier. Others at my table were not so fortunate and had to fight to get there.

One out of one does not mean much to me.

and

If you had the power within HAL to end the AYWD option and return to all traditional seating would you choose to do so?:confused:

No, that's not necessary, and it would be selfish of me to want everyone to dance to my tune. I want to dine as I wish. I hope others have the same opportunity.

But, I don't want to see HAL do away with fixed dining, nor do I want HAL to make the opportunity to dine at fixed so difficult as to be considered unavailable. If that were to happen I would not be sailing HAL.

[terrydtx]

I have sailed only once on a ship with open sitting, and I was fortunate enough to get the traditional dining I requested when I booked 15 months earlier. Others at my table were not so fortunate and had to fight to get there.

One out of one does not mean much to me.

 

No, that's not necessary, and it would be selfish of me to want everyone to dance to my tune. I want to dine as I wish. I hope others have the same opportunity.

But, I don't want to see HAL do away with fixed dining, nor do I want HAL to make the opportunity to dine at fixed so difficult as to be considered unavailable. If that were to happen I would not be sailing HAL.

 

Nor do I want to see HAL do away with traditional seating, to have true “as you wish dining” traditional seating has to be considered as part of the as you wish availability. I have to commend HAL for taking the bold step in implementing AYWD, it makes it a more enjoyable cruise experience for me. However, I would not let the lack of any form of dining either open or traditional keep me from taking any cruise of my choice. My wife and I, my parents and my cousin and his wife are booked on the Celebrity Century for a Western Mediterranean cruise this September. Celebrity has only the 2 traditional dining times of 6:15 and 8:30. My parents wanted the early seating which I hate, but I have to agree with them 8:30 is just to darn late to eat. This is a 10 night 8 port cruise and we sail most of the ports at 7pm which means we miss the sail aways and we are taking 4 8-9 hour shore excursions that will get us back to the ship most times less than an hour before dinner. Fortunately we have a Sky Suite so we will be dinning on our terrace 3 to 4 of those nights watching the Italian and French coast. At least on this cruise having a table for 6 and all being family, I do not have to suffer through the possibility of insufferable tablemates :eek: for the other nights. We chose this cruise not because of the type of dining but the itinerary that we most wanted and the departure port of Barcelona instead of Rome which is what HAL offered.

[wdw1972]

I shared Ruth's opinion that for a solo cruiser only traditional dining would make me happy. Then - I cruised solo on the Veendam last week and tried the open seating and absolutely LOVED it! I'll never go back to traditional again - whether I'm solo or cruising with my boyfriend. In fact I booked us for next January and requested open seating.

 

For me the main advantages were meeting so many more people than I would have if I'd been stuck at the same table for 7 nights. Also, we encountered 1 "dud" - grumpy old man - it was nice knowing I didn't have to deal with him the rest of the week. Secondly, I loved the flexibility to eat at whatever time I felt like eating. I don't like to see a show before dinner, so I usually ate around 7 (with NO wait, ever) and had plenty of time to get to the 9pm show.

 

Talking with other passengers who also were used to traditional dining - not a single person didn't like it alot.

 

Sue/WDW1972

Westerdam 1/11/09

[bUU]

Hi Sue! Glad to see you here!

[kelmac]

My wife and I always eat early, so we've always had 5:45 seating. We eat at a table for two so we can enjoy our time together talking about the cuisine, our day...., We will be on the Westerdam this July and could not even "wait-list" tradtional dining. We are stuck with AYWD. We didn't care for Princesses' open seating for many reasons, but we did make Azamara's open seating work for us.

I would think we could find a nice table for two in the AYWD section and request it the same time each evening? That's what we did on the Journey and it worked out fine.

 

It will be interesting to see how this works.

Kel

[Koshlong]

NO YUM YUM MAN?????????????? Are you serious?:mad:

 

And we watch the traditions die:( . One of my favorite things after dinner is stopping to chat with the Yum Yum man, get a little ginger, or mint.

 

This news makes me very sad. Just one more nail in the coffin.

So that's what a YUM YUM man means! If there was a waiter in the vicinity, he did hurry over to help, but I don't think it was an assigned part of his job!

[mancunian]

We still had yum yum men on Rotterdam in March.

[Mary Ellen]

I have sailed only once on a ship with open sitting, and I was fortunate enough to get the traditional dining I requested when I booked 15 months earlier. Others at my table were not so fortunate and had to fight to get there.

One out of one does not mean much to me.

Especially since some passengers on that same cruise, who were confirmed for 'traditional' seating in their cruise docs, only to arrive on board to discover they had been assigned to the 'open' seating. The explanation: "We thought you'd like to try something different." If we ever have that experience, my response will be 'Gosh, I do believe you're correct. Do you have any brochures for Celebrity so we can pick our next cruise?'

 

Our upcoming cruise was booked over a year in advance. It was only at final payment that we cleared the waitlist for our desired traditional seating.

 

I have NO problem with others having the option of 'open' seating, if they so desire - as long as we can have OUR choice, traditional.

[grsnovi]

We just got off Oosterdam and had a week's worth of AYW.

 

Plus:

+ no line to get into the dining room

+ got to sit virtually immediately and have a full table quickly

 

Minus:

- service seemed slower

[Eremita]

What time did you usually choose to eat? Could you tell if there were times that were more or less crowded? You say it seemed slow... how long did it take?

 

Thanks, Eremita

First timer sailing in August.

[HeatherInFlorida]

Especially since some passengers on that same cruise, who were confirmed for 'traditional' seating in their cruise docs, only to arrive on board to discover they had been assigned to the 'open' seating. The explanation: "We thought you'd like to try something different." If we ever have that experience, my response will be 'Gosh, I do believe you're correct. Do you have any brochures for Celebrity so we can pick our next cruise?'

 

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

 

This is priceless!!!!:D

 

Don't you just love when someone else decides what you might like to do???

 

We just got off Oosterdam and had a week's worth of AYW.

 

Plus:

+ no line to get into the dining room

+ got to sit virtually immediately and have a full table quickly

 

Minus:

- service seemed slower

 

 

Grsnovi, this is great news for those who are looking forward to AYW or want to give it a try. All the rest of us are asking for is the choice of Traditional. It doesn't matter to me how soon I get seated or how fast the table fills up.

 

I want the opportunity to have the same table with the same Stewards and the same tablemates at the same time for the entire cruise. I want the ability to choose that and have that choice confirmed at the time of booking, not some arbitrary date down the line sometime after I've made final payment.

 

If that ends up being too much to ask of HAL down the road then I, too, will try something different .... another cruise line.

[K'Arthur]

I'm booked on the Westerdam in August and I have AYWD. I wasn't sure what to think about it but after reading here, it sounds all right to me and my husband. I'm hoping we can get a private table with the rest of our party, though. Thanks for the information in this thread and the other one.

[grsnovi]

What time did you usually choose to eat? Could you tell if there were times that were more or less crowded? You say it seemed slow... how long did it take?

 

Hi Eremita,

 

We like to eat early, so we were usually in the dining room between 6 and 6:30 and out between 8 and 8:30. Some nights seemed slower than others.

 

It seemed that as we were leaving there was often a wait to get in.

 

We ate in the dining room all but one night when we ate in port.

 

It seemed that the last night's "Master Chef's Dinner" took longer but it was also a 5:15 PM "fixed" time despite the fact that we were all AYW. That is, there was no choice that evening - you either had an early or late reservation or your ate on the Lido.

 

I wouldn't hesitate to do AYW on another cruise - we liked it better.

[mancunian]

K'ARTHUR You will have no problem getting a table for all your party, but only one of you makes the booking for all of you. When you phone if you ask for say a table for 8 they will ask your cabin number. When they look you up they will only find two names and will then ask for the other cabin numbers so make sure they are to hand. The confirmation card for all of you will come to the person making the booking so you will all need to arrive together.

[Thedabraddock]

Sorry not sure if I understood. I signed up with my fiance for 8 seating but I don't know if it was 'fixed' or 'open'. Does fixed mean you have to be there exactly at 8 or do you have leeway time to say 9, or so? Do they give your table away? I don't mind being there at 8 but probably better to know before so we don't miss dinner!