As You Wish Dining - Opinions, Comments and Discussions

[KCat]

We've not sailed with HAL since '08 when we were able to choose your dining time and specific dining table. I understand the concept of the 'as you wish dining', going with either "fixed dining" or "open dining". We prefer fixed dining because we like to befriend the waitstaff or at least get to know them well. However, beyond that, we like to dine by ourselves, at a table for 2. My question is (sorry for the long story :o): If we pick fixed dining, are we able to pick the specific table number that we want? If so, I can't remember if we did this prior to sailing or immediately upon embarkation (we'll be staying in either a SB or SA if this makes a difference)? Also, would anyone out there have a picture of the table-layout for the NA Manhattan dining room?

 

We are within days of booking, I hope, so thanks for any help you can give me.

[Roz]

I've never known anyone to be able to pick their table. You can request a certain size table, but even that isn't guaranteed.

 

Roz

[startwin]

It may be possible - on our last cruise we asked our TA to enquire about booking a specific table and while she did not get a confirmation, when we boarded we did indeed have that table. It was a 2-top in a location that we liked.

[RuthC]

If we pick fixed dining, are we able to pick the specific table number that we want? If so, I can't remember if we did this prior to sailing or immediately upon embarkation (we'll be staying in either a SB or SA if this makes a difference)? Also, would anyone out there have a picture of the table-layout for the NA Manhattan dining room?

 

We are within days of booking, I hope, so thanks for any help you can give me.

I've had the same experience as startwin. My TA requests a specific table a few weeks before sailing, and I am generally assigned that table, or the mirror image table on the other side of the dining room.

 

Suite guests (your SA or SB will qualify) are supposed to get preference in dining requests, and this may extend to table selections as much as possible.

[Stevero2]

Are tables for two available on As You Wish Dining?

[RuthC]

Are tables for two available on As You Wish Dining?

There are tables for two in every venue of As You Wish, except room service---fixed seating, open seating, Lido, Pinnacle Grill, Canaletto, and Tamarind all have tables for two.

[bigo916]

[Just returned from a great cruise on Eurodam. When we were ready to go to dinner, we just walked up, and were asked if we would like to join someone, or start a table. Met some fun people whom we dined with again later in the cruise. This was about 8-8:30 p.m.. and we never had to wait but a few minutes. Service was sometimes slow, as they tried to take care of everyone. Reservations at Pinnacle were no problem if made day before. Dine as you wish is our favorite seating!COLOR=RoyalBlue][/color]

[VATRAVELLER]

Noordam FEB 2013 cruise. The Dining option "as you wish" does not work. Reservations were only available for 8.30pm or later unless you go to Italian restaurant or Pinnacle; both have a service charge. Neither should have a service charge; it is simply not worth it. In the main dining room, the tables for “as you wish” diners are near the service stations along the walkways. Constantly being bumped and ignored by staff meant we used room service or went to the buffet. We missed many of the special dinners like surf and turf. Room service has a limited menu of sandwiches and salads. Other than breakfast, room service is slow and generally unresponsive. The room service can take 45 minutes or 1 hour 45 minutes. The pickup of the trays is delayed. Seven nights (of 12 nights) our dinner room service tray was not picked up. In the morning the breakfast guy could not take the dinner room service tray. We learned to put trays on balcony - oh well, sometimes stuff vanished in the night.

[RuthC]

In the main dining room, the tables for “as you wish” diners are near the service stations along the walkways.

"...as you wish..."? :confused:

 

Both fixed seating and open seating have an entire deck each in the dining room (except on the Prinsendam).

There is no way that every single table is by a service station or walkway on both levels. There just aren't that many service stations or walkways for that.

[VATRAVELLER]

"...as you wish..."? :confused:

 

Both fixed seating and open seating have an entire deck each in the dining room (except on the Prinsendam).

There is no way that every single table is by a service station or walkway on both levels. There just aren't that many service stations or walkways for that.

Sadly, that was our experience on the Noordam. There is not an entire deck for the dining room on the Noordam. A portion of 2 decks near the rear of the ship is for the dining room. We spent 2 nights in dining room being on the walk by aisle in front of service area and constantly bumped, 2 nights in Italian restaurant where were had a good table, 1 night in Pinnacle we had a table where the sun shone directly in our eyes and waiter would not close the curtains or move us. We gave up and the remaining nights had room service. Terrible service, terribly executed concept.

Edited April 15, 2013 by VATRAVELLER

[GeriatricNurse]

Noordam FEB 2013 cruise. The Dining option "as you wish" does not work. Reservations were only available for 8.30pm or later unless you go to Italian restaurant or Pinnacle; both have a service charge. Neither should have a service charge; it is simply not worth it. In the main dining room, the tables for “as you wish” diners are near the service stations along the walkways. Constantly being bumped and ignored by staff meant we used room service or went to the buffet. We missed many of the special dinners like surf and turf. Room service has a limited menu of sandwiches and salads. Other than breakfast, room service is slow and generally unresponsive. The room service can take 45 minutes or 1 hour 45 minutes. The pickup of the trays is delayed. Seven nights (of 12 nights) our dinner room service tray was not picked up. In the morning the breakfast guy could not take the dinner room service tray. We learned to put trays on balcony - oh well, sometimes stuff vanished in the night.

 

Sadly, that was our experience on the Noordam. There is not an entire deck for the dining room on the Noordam. A portion of 2 decks near the rear of the ship is for the dining room. We spent 2 nights in dining room being on the walk by aisle in front of service area and constantly bumped, 2 nights in Italian restaurant where were had a good table, 1 night in Pinnacle we had a table where the sun shone directly in our eyes and waiter would not close the curtains or move us. We gave up and the remaining nights had room service. Terrible service, terribly executed concept.

 

I haven't dined for any meals in the MDR for the past several cruises. :eek: Instead, I dine exclusively in the Lido for all meals & have enjoyed the dining experience immensely! :)

[hrhdhd]

There is not an entire deck for the dining room on the Noordam. A portion of 2 decks near the rear of the ship is for the dining room.

 

Right--and deck 2 is open seating whereas deck 3 is fixed seating. Sometimes they seat folks from open seating in fixed when they know the people are dining elsewhere and they are seating them at the start of the fixed seating session.

 

But not every table in open seating is on a walkway or near a serving station.

 

I am sorry you didn't have pleasant dining experiences; that makes a big part of the cruise a disappointment for sure.

[Tinknock50]

Is the Upper Dining room designated as fixed seating on the Amsterdam?

[RuthC]

Is the Upper Dining room designated as fixed seating on the Amsterdam?

Yes.

 

Lower level is open seating.

[Tinknock50]

Yes.

 

Lower level is open seating.

 

Thanks Ruth.:)

 

Next question.....does anybody have the contact e-mail for the guy in charge of assigning tables in the Dining Room on the Amsterdam?

I want to choose my table for two by number.

[RuthC]

Thanks Ruth.:)

 

Next question.....does anybody have the contact e-mail for the guy in charge of assigning tables in the Dining Room on the Amsterdam?

I want to choose my table for two by number.

You're welcome, Sean.

Wish I could help with the follow-up question. My TA always takes care of that request for me.

Hopefully, someone else will spot your question and have the answer for you.

[Tinknock50]

You're welcome, Sean.

 

Wish I could help with the follow-up question. My TA always takes care of that request for me.

Hopefully, someone else will spot your question and have the answer for you.

 

Yeah, TA's can help with that. This time I have booked directly with HAL. I am considering switching to an agent to save more money, but i am hoping to have my personal requests locked up first. This is the last thing I need to do before that.

[Mooregre]

We are on the May 18th sailing of the Zuiderdam. I have contacted my TA twice and we are still wait listed for early seating. Hopefully, we will have a shot before departure.

[bar_20]

We had as you wish last December, and hated it. They would only allow a same day reservation, and we still had to line up and wait. Different servers each night, so there was no consistency in service, ie: no one knew our preferences by the second night like they do at the traditional seating. One night we were abandoned by our waiter! He never came back to take our coffee/dessert orders! We mentioned it to the maitre'd, but he seemed very stressed already, so we just let it go and went to the buffet for a late dessert. We are going again March 3 2013, and have made sure we have fixed seating!

 

We were on a 10 day cruise with fixed seating and our waiter couldn't remember anything. I told him I drink ice tea and would like one served every night after I am seated. I also told him I would like a shrimp cocktail at every meal. He constantly forgot one or the other or both. He had a bad case of CRS. However he did have a joke for us at every meal.

[chy62]

Just finished the Eurodam Baltic cruise, with As You Wish dining and loved it...when we used it! Of the ten nights, we ate 3 in MDR, 1 in Pinnacle, 1 in Tamarind, the remainder in Lido. We didn't make reservations for MDR until embarkation day, so the available time slots were limited, and no reservations for tables for two were available. We honestly prefer to dine on our own, but didn't want to wait until after 8 for a reservation. The maitre'd told us they hold some two tops back and if we didn't mind dining early, we could walk up and probably get a table for two. We went ahead and booked as a part of a group table, with reservation times ranging from 6 to 7 pm, then just walked up around 5:45, and got a table for two. The first night, we had a 4 top to ourselves. It was adjacent to a serving station and walkway, but had no issues with the location. The other two nights, we were seated in two tops, along the inner side. No problems with those tables, either. Eating early worked out great, too, as after, we would head to the hydro pool and thermal suite, which were virtually empty, because almost everyone else was at the shows or dining :)

 

In the end, though, we ended up chosing to eat most of the time at Lido, because of the less formal atmosphere and range of choices.

[cruisingberger]

When we booked ( In January) this summers cruise on the Westerdam we were told that we couldn't book an early or late dining time and that the only option was "Open Dining". The TA said there were no " assignments" left. We thought it was odd but told her it didn't really matter in our case. We were traveling with both Grandma and 2 teenagers so we liked the flexibility any way. She did say that they have had people refuse to book if they can't get an "assigned seating".

[gerryl12]

We always choose open seating. It is so much easier, flexible, eat with who you want, when you want and can ask for a table sharing to meet new people. If you want you can have dinner with the same people again by just arranging it with them. We don't even bother with reservations and it works just great.

[terrydtx]

I was once one of those who loved the traditional cruise fixed dining, but after our last two HAL cruises being stuck with total dolts for dinner for 7 nights I found the light. Never again, I will only cruise on lines with open dining and we are this year going to experiment with total freestyle cruising on our first NCL cruise. I am also sick and tired of hauling an extra suit case of dress up clothes with us just so we can eat dinner every night. Having to put on a suit on a hot Caribbean cruise while on vacation in not a vacation. This maybe my goodbye to stuffy HAL after 8 cruises with them.:cool:

 

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Edited June 6, 2013 by terrydtx

[cruzincurt]

I was once one of those who loved the traditional cruise fixed dining, but after our last two HAL cruises being stuck with total dolts for dinner for 7 nights I found the light. Never again, I will only cruise on lines with open dining and we are this year going to experiment with total freestyle cruising on our first NCL cruise. I am also sick and tired of hauling an extra suit case of dress up clothes with us just so we can eat dinner every night. Having to put on a suit on a hot Caribbean cruise while on vacation in not a vacation. This maybe my goodbye to stuffy HAL after 8 cruises with them.:cool:

 

Sent from my GT-P3113 using Tapatalk 2

And, you won't have to use the rear staircase so as not to disturb the "atmosphere".:eek: On our last cruise on HAL, their idea of anytime dining was still their time dining at either 6:00 or 8:00.

[Boytjie]

On our last cruise on HAL, their idea of anytime dining was still their time dining at either 6:00 or 8:00.

 

Care to explain that a bit more?