As You Wish Dining - What and How

[sparty1]

I thought I had already sent this - but guess I didn't- we are booked on a 46 day cruise on Volendam fall 2008 - we are on late seating/traditional dining. We are wondering if there are some days that we feel like eating earlier could we go to for AYWD and get a table....we don't mind a bit of a wait. this would be on evenings that we don't want to go to PG or Lido. We are not sure that we want to do the AYWD everynight....but as I said there may be some days that we don't feel like eating later. How do they know when you go for dinner AYWD if you are on traditional dining or?

Thanks very much for your help. We are not trying to do a 'freestyle' cruise - I can just picture some evenings wanting to eat earlier...especially during 46 nights!

 

Hi panddas, think we'll be on a b2b with you this fall on Volendam. Los Angeles to Sydney? we r put on the aywd. it may be the best for that long a trip. we'll c, I guess.

[Aussie Gal]

Panddas,

 

I have a feeling that once you are on Traditional dining, you cannot go and have some meals on AYWD. If you don't want to eat in the dining room you will have to eat in the Lido.

 

I think once you are put on either traditional or AYWD, you have to stay with it the whole cruise.

 

Jennie

[Roz]

What Jennie (Aussie Gal) said is correct, based on the dining info I received with my cruise docs for my March 8 Oosterdam cruise.

 

Roz

[gentlemancruiser]

Your seapass or stateroom ID card will have your dining assignment printed on it, so you cannot change seatings unless the dining room manager has made the change.

 

What Jennie (Aussie Gal) said is correct, based on the dining info I received with my cruise docs for my March 8 Oosterdam cruise.

 

Roz

[terkatz56]

So how do the formal nights work with AYWD? 1st time cruiser, and we want the AYWD but do want to go to the three formal dinners that are offered. Thank-you for your input.

[RuthC]

So how do the formal nights work with AYWD?

AYW is an umbrella term for either traditional or open sitting. It refers more to a time of dining. It has nothing to do with what you wear to dinner.

Both traditional and open sitting follow the evening dress code.

Go ahead! Dress up! :D

[Spokaneman]

I have been following the threads regarding the open dining concept. That is the option we opted for, as well as our travelling companions. In open dining, can you get just a table for 4? Is that even an option? It's not that we are adverse to meeting new people, but reading about people being seated with diners already halfway through their meals concerns me greatly. I would NOT want that, nor would my travelling companions. That is quite tacky, indeed...and as a diner I am relatively low-maintenance.

In hindsight I wish we had gone traditional, since I do like the idea of having the same waiter, etc. every night. I don't relish being part of an experimental group.

[bUU]

We regularly were able to get a table of two (we were just two) with open dining.

 

There was nothing experimental about open dining aboard Noordam. It was a very professional and effective offering.

[hammybee]

I have been following the threads regarding the open dining concept. That is the option we opted for, as well as our travelling companions. In open dining, can you get just a table for 4? Is that even an option? It's not that we are adverse to meeting new people, but reading about people being seated with diners already halfway through their meals concerns me greatly. I would NOT want that, nor would my travelling companions. That is quite tacky, indeed...and as a diner I am relatively low-maintenance.

 

In hindsight I wish we had gone traditional, since I do like the idea of having the same waiter, etc. every night. I don't relish being part of an experimental group.

 

You can get any size table you desire in Open Seating. The prompt availability of that table is dependent upon how many others want that size, at the same time. No different than fixed seating..

 

There is no certainty you would get a requested table for 4 in fixed seating. Again, it all depends upon how many others want the same thing as you do at the same time.

 

There have been a few reports of open seating diners being seated with others already well into their meal. This is not the norm. Usually, those willing to share are seated with others who have just been seated. If offered the opportunity to intrude on others with a meal in progress, I would decline it. You have control over the end result.

[Spokaneman]

Good to know...thanks hammybee.

[Two if by Sea]

You can get any size table you desire in Open Seating.

 

But what size tables even exist? There are 2s, and now I take it there are also 4s. What are the other sizes?

[bUU]

I was offered, at different times, 2, 4, 6 and 8.

[RetiredMustang]

And -- I didn't know this until our last cruise on Noordam -- there are at least a couple of tables of 10 on some ships. We were at one in fixed dining (we had asked for a table of 6, but HAL can't always seat everyone at exactly the table they want).

 

We found (it only took me about three or four nights to figure this out :rolleyes: ) that the dining room stewards would wait until everyone had finished one course before serving the next course. That meant that when someone wanted seconds on the escargot starter, for example (getting seconds is always possible on HAL), the rest had to wait before the entree was served, and the same thing later -- they would wait until all had finished the entree before bringing the dessert menu. Luckily, we all were pretty much compatible and had things to talk about, but a table that large might not suit everyone.

 

Dave

[wdw1972]

I was booked on the 3/9 Veendam, got the call they were overbooked, and took HAL's generous offer to switch to the 4/6 Veendam....which happens to be the start of their AYWD.

 

As a solo, initially I had real concerns - but also as a solo I figure I could easily get switched to traditional once I board the ship, as a party of 1 is easy to squeeze in somewhere. But....5:45 is too early and 8:00 is later than ideal for me. The main appeal of traditional would be having the same table of people to get to know - even the worst tablemates over the years were not truly horrible <g>.

 

On the other hand, I hate knowing that every day at the same time I have to go to dinner then - not earlier, not later, but at that set time. I know the Lido is an option, but that's not such a great option for a solo. Likewise there's room service, but how exciting it would be to eat alone in my cabin ...not!

 

So, I'm going to give this AYWD a chance, and hope for the best. I always enjoy being on deck when the ship sails, and plan to be on deck when we sail under the Sunshine Skyway bridge was we leave Tampa. AYWD gives me the flexibility to eat when it fits into my schedule. Likewise, if I see a movie at 6, I don't want to have to skip that because I have a dining time that conflicts. I will ask to be seated with others, but may bring a small book for a back-up plan just in case.

 

Couple of questions:

1. That ridiculous Master Chef's Dinner nonsense....do they still do the prancing around, etc on the lower level? Since each table may be on different courses, I'm hoping they skip the "entertainment" and just serve the food.

2. I had bought the wine card for the 3/9 cruise with delivery to the dining room. I want to buy it again for the new date, but with AYWD how does that work? I'm thinking I should have it delivered to my cabin, otherwise they wouldn't know where/when I'd be dining...and I'd spend the first meal waiting for someone to track it down!

 

Thanks for any insights!

 

Sue/WDW1972

Veendam 4/06/08

[hammybee]

I

 

Couple of questions:

1. That ridiculous Master Chef's Dinner nonsense....do they still do the prancing around, etc on the lower level? Since each table may be on different courses, I'm hoping they skip the "entertainment" and just serve the food.

2. I had bought the wine card for the 3/9 cruise with delivery to the dining room. I want to buy it again for the new date, but with AYWD how does that work? I'm thinking I should have it delivered to my cabin, otherwise they wouldn't know where/when I'd be dining...and I'd spend the first meal waiting for someone to track it down!

 

I avoided the dining room on Master Chef Night so I do not know from experience. I have read a few posts on this board that the silliness occured on the lower level too.

 

By wine card, do you mean the wine package? The card gets you wine by the glass anywhere on the ship. The wine package means you buy several bottles. If it's the latter, all you need to do is let them know you are dining in Open Seating. Your wait staff should be able to handle it from there.

[wdw1972]

By wine card, do you mean the wine package? The card gets you wine by the glass anywhere on the ship. The wine package means you buy several bottles. If it's the latter, all you need to do is let them know you are dining in Open Seating. Your wait staff should be able to handle it from there.

 

I ordered the wine card, good for 10 glasses of wine anywhere. I'm having it delivered to the cabin, so I don't have to worry about it. Besides, I might want a glass of wine with the card before dinner, so this makes more sense. I also have some small boxes of wine (4-pack from Target) for inside my cabin. Since I'm cruising solo, a bottle of wine would last me several dinners!

 

Sue/WDW1972

Veendam 4/06/08

[Roz]

I just got back from the March 8-15 Oosterdam sailing. Here are my first hand observations and experiences:

 

1. I never thought I would say this, but next cruise, I'm really tempted to give AYW a try. I'm a solo cruiser for the most part, and took traditional dining so I would have other folks to eat dinner with. Without going into the hairy details, my table was a real dud. One night I left the dinner table feeling insulted and depressed. Who needs that? I thought about just doing the Lido the rest of the cruise. With AYW, I could have just sit by myself and read a book.

 

2. I made a point of asking other cruisers about their experience with AYW dining. All positive comments. One man said the service was slow in the AYW dining room, but some people in traditional had slow service.

 

3. I had 8:00 dining. If I went to the show, there was no chance of catching the entertainment in the Ocean Bar or Explorer's Lounge. With AYW, I could schedule dinner around what I wanted to do in the evening.

 

4. The Oosterdam is trying out a new format for the Master Chef's Dinner. More toned down and less prancing around. Still not my cup of tea, but tolerable. On Master Chef night, there were 2 fixed dining times for everyone.

 

5. Despite reading here at Cruise Critic that traditional dining is virtually unavailable, there were always empty seats and tables in the upper dining room. Some tables were chronically empty. Don't know if some folks were able to switch to AYW or they simply ate in the Lido or Pinnacle.

 

6. I don't think TA are doing a good job of explaining the dining options (maybe they don't know the difference), and/or passengers aren't listening to them. The options (traditional, AYW, Lido, and Pinnacle) only make sense if you've cruised before.

 

Roz

[terrydtx]

I just got back from the March 8-15 Oosterdam sailing. Here are my first hand observations and experiences:

 

1. I never thought I would say this, but next cruise, I'm really tempted to give AYW a try. I'm a solo cruiser for the most part, and took traditional dining so I would have other folks to eat dinner with. Without going into the hairy details, my table was a real dud. One night I left the dinner table feeling insulted and depressed. Who needs that? I thought about just doing the Lido the rest of the cruise. With AYW, I could have just sit by myself and read a book.

 

2. I made a point of asking other cruisers about their experience with AYW dining. All positive comments. One man said the service was slow in the AYW dining room, but some people in traditional had slow service.

 

3. I had 8:00 dining. If I went to the show, there was no chance of catching the entertainment in the Ocean Bar or Explorer's Lounge. With AYW, I could schedule dinner around what I wanted to do in the evening.

 

4. The Oosterdam is trying out a new format for the Master Chef's Dinner. More toned down and less prancing around. Still not my cup of tea, but tolerable. On Master Chef night, there were 2 fixed dining times for everyone.

 

5. Despite reading here at Cruise Critic that traditional dining is virtually unavailable, there were always empty seats and tables in the upper dining room. Some tables were chronically empty. Don't know if some folks were able to switch to AYW or they simply ate in the Lido or Pinnacle.

 

6. I don't think TA are doing a good job of explaining the dining options (maybe they don't know the difference), and/or passengers aren't listening to them. The options (traditional, AYW, Lido, and Pinnacle) only make sense if you've cruised before.

 

Roz

 

This was pretty much our expierence on the Volendam last November, very few if any complaints about the AYWD and empty tables in the lat fixed dining area.

[mancunian]

We have just returned from Rio to Valparaiso on Rotterdam. It was Rotterdam's third cruise with AYW. We had booked early and had confirmed traditional late but had switched to Open before the trip. The following were our observations and feelings about this:

 

THE RULES AS APPLIED BY ROTTERDAM

 

Upper tier traditional, lower tier open. There were tables for 2,4,6 and 8.

Three options - traditional, arrive anytime for open or thirdly booked open.

Booked open had limited options - 5.30 pm and 5.45 pm, 7.45 pm and 8 pm. Arrival anytime you took your chance but it seemed to work well.

Booking by phone between 8 am and 4 pm although it was earlier from 7 am if there were early excursions. You could book for other cabins and you could request a particular table/waiter. In the latter case they would say your preference is noted but we cannot guarantee. Later in the day a card appeared at your cabin to say the time and persons you booked for and to take the card to the dining room with you.

 

HOW WE FOUND IT

 

We think Rotterdam has adapted well by this third cruise. The only two crits I could pose would be that it was a little chaotic the first day because naturally people had embarked at lunchtime or after and not got into the swing of booking and to make matters worse (or better depending how you looked at it) we sailed from Rio at 6 pm on a glorious evening followed by a beautiful sunset. People were not anxious to leave it. The second thing is they really must number all the tables - most do not have numbers on and the staff taking you to your tables often did not know where they were going.

They were using the lower tier plus several tables in the upper tier for open as they said their were more people for open on this cruise.

 

Most nights we booked for 7.45 pm on a table for six. The first night we had a waiter, Eddy, who we really liked and we often asked for one of his two six tables at the stern of the ship which we got every time we asked. We did not find booking a chore at all. We have always studied the next day's programme at bedtime so know what time we would prefer to eat the next night. Particularly if there are two of you in the cabin one is always ready first in the morning and it just became part of the morning routine. There seemed to be two phones working and only once did I find it engaged. Where we live we would always book for dinner if going out so it was no different really - though it was faster!

 

We also had become friends with another couple on open who had to eat early. We do not mind this too much on sea days so went with them on four occasions and just turned up at six. No queue - straight in.

 

We did not hear any complaints either about traditional or open but we did however, raise the question on four evenings to get people's view. Everyone liked it - five other couples like us had changed from traditional to open after their tickets arrived or when they boarded. A foursome - two couples together - had booked later, one couple wanting open the other traditional. As it happened no contest because they were assigned open but all four agreed it was the way they would go next time. In fact of the people with whom it was mentioned nobody would go back to traditional.

 

When we went to future cruises to book another cruise we were of course asked which dining we would prefer. She smiled when I said open. I asked her how it was going. She said it had started with people very much against the change but now they were finding people becoming very happy with this.

 

ADVANTAGES AS WE SEE IT

 

I have listed the two disadvantages at the top - not sure how they will deal with the first but the second is quite simple to put right.

 

However on the advantages we thought there were many.

 

We met lots of people which was great. Unless you set out to do so you do not often meet the same people twice - many people varied their times even more than we did and of course we all went to the Pinnacle and to the Lido on different nights. Apart from our friends we only came across the same people twice. It is interesting that people are listing this as one of the chief attractions. Moving round the ship you knew so many people to speak to.

 

You always had a full table without absentees and if indeed you yourself went to Pinnacle or Lido you did not feel guilty about leaving a gap.

 

New friends you made on board, provided you were both on open could be met up with. Dinner is an event in the day and you probably want to dine with them at least a few times.

 

We have liked open before but never have had the opportunity to book the same table/steward. That just put the icing on the cake for us.

 

Finally I do not think there will be a problem for the traditional people at all. Traditional is much easier on the staff and they will probably be delighted that some people opt for it. I am sure the whole thing has been driven by customer demand and other ships offering a form of this. Certainly I suspect that on this cruise most people eventually got what they wanted as their was not enough traditional to fill upstairs - possibly because of these people like us who changed. This of course will quickly die out in months if not weeks.

 

These are obviously just my opinions and hope they may be helpful to someone. I would suggest that if you are unsure you try both over your next two cruises and measure the results for yourself.

[hammybee]

We have just returned from Rio to Valparaiso on Rotterdam. It was Rotterdam's third cruise with AYW. We had booked early and had confirmed traditional late but had switched to Open before the trip.

 

This is probably one of the most balanced posts on this topic. While Open Seating is not for everyone, it does have a growing list of fans from those who tried it.

[hammybee]

But what size tables even exist? There are 2s, and now I take it there are also 4s. What are the other sizes?

 

2-4-6-8 and perhaps a few larger round tables.

[Two if by Sea]

2-4-6-8 and perhaps a few larger round tables.

 

I don't think I'd want to be at a table larger than 8. Hopefully that won't be necessary to get in within a reasonable time frame.

 

Of course, with a family of 3 they won't be putting us at a table for 2, and I assume a table for 4 would be out as well as that means finding a single willing to eat with a family of 3. Not that I'd mind at all if they did.

 

I am a bit worried about DDs allergies and what that will mean if we don't settle in with the same waiter. But more importantly we need to find someone, whether it's the same person or multiple people, who truly understand our need to know all ingredients.

[hammybee]

 

I don't think I'd want to be at a table larger than 8. Hopefully that won't be necessary to get in within a reasonable time frame.

 

Of course, with a family of 3 they won't be putting us at a table for 2, and I assume a table for 4 would be out as well as that means finding a single willing to eat with a family of 3. Not that I'd mind at all if they did.

 

I am a bit worried about DDs allergies and what that will mean if we don't settle in with the same waiter. But more importantly we need to find someone, whether it's the same person or multiple people, who truly understand our need to know all ingredients.

 

We were a party of three and dined alone when we wanted and shared with another party of two-three when we wanted.

 

Regardless of either dining venue, I would make sure to alert HAL to any special requirements before you sail and then confirm it with the Dining Room Manager upon boarding and then again with your wait staff.

[oldmedic]

thanks for the comments!!

[Two if by Sea]

I would make sure to alert HAL to any special requirements before you sail and then confirm it with the Dining Room Manager upon boarding and then again with your wait staff.

 

I've already filled out the paperwork with HAL's special services department. But we'll see what that means onboard. I'll tell the concierge and the dining room manager and see what they recommend.