As You Wish Dining - What and How

[Roz]

Personally, I would not remove/reduce tips due to below standard food. The kitchen and service staff are too separate issues.

 

For instance, on my Volendam cruise in Nov., 2006, the service staff in every area of the ship was excellent. The food was not. I still tipped my wait staff extra because it was not their fault that the kitchen was not up to par.

 

Just my opinion.

 

Roz

[hammybee]

I second that request, Two if by Sea! Please share the ship to which you found the food below standard. This is where manual tipping seems better than the automated one that is retroactive on the ship account. Please share which ship this was...

 

Would you really short a waiter if you did not enjoy the food?

[twinkletoes4445]

Would you really short a waiter if you did not enjoy the food?

 

I wouldn't, the waiter has nothing to do with the quality of the food.

 

Here's a question...

 

At the end of our cruise, we gave the wait staff a thank-you note and an extra tip. Now that half the passengers are doing AYWD, would you believe that the wait staff isn't receiving as much in extra tips as they might previously received on "traditional" dining only cruises? So for those that are doing the AYWD, do they leave an extra tip each night, if they choose? It seems to me that this new dining set-up wouldn't be very welcomed by the wait staff.

[Roz]

Twinkletoes,

 

I've wondered exactly the same thing. I suspect fewer people in AYWD tip their waiter(s), unless they specifically request the same table every night.

 

Roz

[twinkletoes4445]

Twinkletoes,

 

I've wondered exactly the same thing. I suspect fewer people in AYWD tip their waiter(s), unless they specifically request the same table every night.

 

Roz

 

And I can see why they wouldn't like this set-up, but I guess it is what it is. I'd forgotten that you could request the same table/waiter each night, so that probably works about the same as being at the traditional dinner times.

[dotheyes]

We have the new open dining for our upcoming cruise in November on the Veendam. We like to eat early and I am wondering if it is very crowded when they first open the dining room? And what time does the open dining start? Is it like the breakfast and lunch; just go and they seat you.

Thanks for any advice.

Dot

[hammybee]

I wouldn't, the waiter has nothing to do with the quality of the food.

 

Here's a question...

 

At the end of our cruise, we gave the wait staff a thank-you note and an extra tip. Now that half the passengers are doing AYWD, would you believe that the wait staff isn't receiving as much in extra tips as they might previously received on "traditional" dining only cruises? So for those that are doing the AYWD, do they leave an extra tip each night, if they choose? It seems to me that this new dining set-up wouldn't be very welcomed by the wait staff.

 

They rotate the wait staff between Fixed and Open Seating. I think this happens week to week on 7 day cruises.

 

I have yet to personally wittness anyone tipping above or beyond the Hotel Service charge in the Dining Room. I suspect it does not happen as often as we think.

[twinkletoes4445]

They rotate the wait staff between Fixed and Open Seating. I think this happens week to week on 7 day cruises.

 

Thanks for this info. I didn't know this. :)

 

I have yet to personally wittness anyone tipping above or beyond the Hotel Service charge in the Dining Room. I suspect it does not happen as often as we think.

 

You're probably right. We tipped extra because everyone we came in contact with in the dining room went above-and-beyond what would be expected. It was a wonderful experience.

 

Thanks! :)

[mancunian]

I think Hammybee is correct in that fewer people now tip extra whether on fixed or open. I also think you are unlikely to get different waiters as she says. We only came across one waiter at all meals who was unsatisfactory and this was in fact in the upper tier of the dining room. If is just luck of the draw - the advantage of open sitting of course being you can escape.

 

We did give an extra tip to our waiter on Rotterdam on open sitting. We had been on his table (requested) on all but 5 of the 16 nights. On the other nights we had chosen to do something else. We did notice that another couple of the 6 on our table also gave him a tip.

[twinkletoes4445]

mancunian,

 

Thanks for posting your observations. The thought crossed my mind that maybe the waiters wouldn't be happy with the AYWD because of less "extra" tips, but it sounds like it may not be an issue. :)

[dotheyes]

We have the new open dining for our upcoming cruise in November on the Veendam. We like to eat early and I am wondering if it is very crowded when they first open the dining room? And what time does the open dining start? Is it like the breakfast and lunch; just go and they seat you.

[O2B@C]

We have the new open dining for our upcoming cruise in November on the Veendam. We like to eat early and I am wondering if it is very crowded when they first open the dining room? And what time does the open dining start? Is it like the breakfast and lunch; just go and they seat you.

 

Based on what I've read here on CC, I believe the dining room opens for open seating at 5:30, but in any event, the time will be in your daily program. No way to know how crowded it will be on first opening - that will vary from cruise to cruise. Yes, you just show up and they seat you - though you can call to make a reservation in the morning if you prefer to do so, at least for times during the off-peak hours (early and late). When reserving, or on arrival in the dining room, you can request the size table you want; if none that size is available, you can accept a different size, or wait. Again, how long a wait will vary a lot cruise to cruise, even night to night.

[dotheyes]

appreciate the help.

[Brooklyn444]

My BW and I chose Open Seating and via same met many nice people from all over the world

[cp556]

This is a pet peeve of mine....people in the business of selling cruise vacations who have no clue about what they are selling. So many of those selling cruises are part time, work from home, have never cruised before and are lucky if they can read a deck plan.

 

There are many top notch travel agents out there and many more who just "clerk it".

 

 

Hammybee---

Can't agree with you more. I'll never forget attending a cruise line training meeting, and the agent in line ahead of me uttered the immortal line:

 

"I don't know what I'm doing. I just read the brochure one line ahead of the passenger and that seems to work."

 

Heaven HELP the passengers who used this agent as their "expert".

 

Before I get flamed, there are indeed many excellent, knowledgeable agents out there. It's up to the consumer to find one.

[DesertDogs]

My BW and I chose Open Seating and via same met many nice people from all over the world

 

What is a BW?? Best Wife?? :o

[hammybee]

What is a BW?? Best Wife?? :o

 

Oh I am hoping it means " beautiful wife" .:)

[GMWT10A]

We have the new open dining for our upcoming cruise in November on the Veendam. We like to eat early and I am wondering if it is very crowded when they first open the dining room? And what time does the open dining start? Is it like the breakfast and lunch; just go and they seat you.

 

On the Maasdam last month, the anytime dining room opened @ 5:15pm... AND we were done with a leisurely enjoyable dinner in time to catch the 7PM show clear at the other end of the ship. We actually had the same waiters every night, also.

[megold7]

I didn't read this whole thread, just the first and last pages so I apologize if I am repeating what has already been posted.

 

I just returned from a cruise to Alaska on the Oosterdam. We had As You Wish dining or the open seating. From HAL's material, I thought that you could make a dinner reservation for any time, and also specify how big a table you wanted. That was wrong. Apparently you can only make reservations for certain times. I believe they are 5:15, 5:30, (could have been 5:00 and 5:15), 7:45 and 8:00. Anything in between and you have to just show up. Also, if you show up they will probably seat you with other passengers at your table.

 

Depending on when you show up, you will probably have to wait. The first night, for example, everyone just showed up at 7:00. They had to give out beepers like Cheesecake Factory. (And the beepers only worked on that ship level.) The wait for us was approx. 20 minutes but many waited longer. We were then seated at a table with two women and I was completely confused. When I called the next morning to make a reservation I was told about the 4 reservation times.

 

Finally, some people on board were able to make dinner reservations for that day and the following day. Others were told to call every day to make a reservation so it seems it was not consistent. You can make reservations for the Pinnacle Grill on any day and it fills up quickly.

 

Hope this info helps.

[ISLAND DIVA]

We Are Cruising On The Westerdam On March ,2009 Back To Back Cruises.we Are Wait Listed For The Early Dining.my Question Is That One Of Us Some Food Sensitivities Which We Always Made Our Dining Server Aware Of The First Nite So That The Kitchen Could Have Certain Request Prepared And Did Not Have A Problem As It Was Taken Care Of,now With The Free Dining Time We Will Have A Different Server Each Nite And Will Have To Tell Each Night What The Requests Are.how Do Other Passengers Handle That.

It Seems To Be A Step Backward As Your Server Always Knew What You Wanted After The First Nite.i Always Enjoyed Getting To Know Our Dining Room Staff And Wine Steward.

Do You Have To Make Reservation Each Day For A Table For 2 And Are There Line Ups And Reservation Lines Busy.i Do Not Want To Have To Waste Time Waiting To Make A Reservation Or For A Table.

Any Info Would Be Appreciated .

[hammybee]

I didn't read this whole thread, just the first and last pages so I apologize if I am repeating what has already been posted.

 

I just returned from a cruise to Alaska on the Oosterdam. We had As You Wish dining or the open seating. From HAL's material, I thought that you could make a dinner reservation for any time, and also specify how big a table you wanted. That was wrong. Apparently you can only make reservations for certain times. I believe they are 5:15, 5:30, (could have been 5:00 and 5:15), 7:45 and 8:00. Anything in between and you have to just show up. Also, if you show up they will probably seat you with other passengers at your table.

 

Depending on when you show up, you will probably have to wait. The first night, for example, everyone just showed up at 7:00. They had to give out beepers like Cheesecake Factory. (And the beepers only worked on that ship level.) The wait for us was approx. 20 minutes but many waited longer. We were then seated at a table with two women and I was completely confused. When I called the next morning to make a reservation I was told about the 4 reservation times.

 

Finally, some people on board were able to make dinner reservations for that day and the following day. Others were told to call every day to make a reservation so it seems it was not consistent. You can make reservations for the Pinnacle Grill on any day and it fills up quickly.

 

Hope this info helps.

 

HAL does not accept reservations for prime time, 7:00 P.M. +/-. It seems that on some sails, a lot of people get a bee in their bonnets to dine at the same time and when this happens, there have been reports of wait times. This does not happen on every sail and there is no way to predict if it will on the next sail cause who knows what next week's passengers are apt to do.

 

One does not have to dine with others if they prefer not to do so. Again, this may or may not result in a wait. It all depends on what those pesky other passengers are doing, when you are.

 

Those passengers sailing in Deluxe Suites get dining priority and are often able to secure the time and table size they prefer because they pay more to get more.

[terrydtx]

We Are Cruising On The Westerdam On March ,2009 Back To Back Cruises.we Are Wait Listed For The Early Dining.my Question Is That One Of Us Some Food Sensitivities Which We Always Made Our Dining Server Aware Of The First Nite So That The Kitchen Could Have Certain Request Prepared And Did Not Have A Problem As It Was Taken Care Of,now With The Free Dining Time We Will Have A Different Server Each Nite And Will Have To Tell Each Night What The Requests Are.how Do Other Passengers Handle That.

It Seems To Be A Step Backward As Your Server Always Knew What You Wanted After The First Nite.i Always Enjoyed Getting To Know Our Dining Room Staff And Wine Steward.

Do You Have To Make Reservation Each Day For A Table For 2 And Are There Line Ups And Reservation Lines Busy.i Do Not Want To Have To Waste Time Waiting To Make A Reservation Or For A Table.

Any Info Would Be Appreciated .

 

You can make a reservation and request the same table with the same waitstaff every night. We did this on our Volendam cruise last year and it was just like having fixed seating. We made 7:45 reservations and showed up every night at 7:15 to 7:20 and got immediately seated to our requested table.

[NHCruisr]

Island Diva, I sailed the Westerdam in April of this year. Although we were in fixed dining, it appeared that the Open dining was a work in progress. There are very few tables set up for two in the lower (open) dining. I have food allergies. Overall, I think that HAL is not doing as well as it has in the past dealing with food allergies. I have sailed several times with HAL and have been pleased with how they dealt with allergies. (I always send in a form to HAL months before the cruise.) On our recent sailing, it was handled less well and I had to be especially vigilant. Part of the problem is that HAL has reorganized their dining rooms so that there are fewer assistant maitre d's supervising the dining room. More responsibility is placed on the already harried waiters.

[Opinions]

HAL does not accept reservations for prime time, 7:00 P.M. +/-.

 

On our recent 24 day cruise on the Zuiderdam we were able to make a reservation for 7PM for a table for two on some nights...When you called for a reservation there was no consistent answer about times...If you were lucky enough to get connected to the reservation desk early then you had more choices.

[Two if by Sea]

I just returned from the Maasdam. Here is how it worked both in theory and in our (obviously limited) practice:

 

Theory: You may make a reservation for 5:15 or 5:30 for any size table, for 7:15 for tables for 2, 7:30 for tables for 4, or a few later times beginning with 7:45 for any size table.

 

We were told that we could make a reservation for the whole week for the same time and table if we wanted. But we were in a deluxe suite. I don't know if everyone was given this option.

 

Otherwise, you show up and either get seated right away, or are given a beeper and wait a few minutes.

 

Practice: Our party of 3 showed up about 6:00 PM with no reservation on three nights out of the week and were seated immediately. For the other nights, we had a reservation for 5:30 (except for Master Chef night when 5:15 was the only early choice available) and again were seated immediately, including the time we arrived at 5:40.

 

One night we cancelled our 5:30 reservation (prior to 4pm) so we could go at 6:00, and again there was no problem -- we were escorted right in.

 

We heard from a couple of people who tried showing up at 6:30 that they were told there would be a one-hour wait. I also heard one person complaining that it was impossible to get in at all without a reservation. However, as she was complaining to the Photo Gallery staff, I don't think it did much good....

 

Everyone else we spoke to either had made reservations, or had no trouble getting in when they showed up about 6:00 PM (which is about when they had to show up if they were sitting with us).

 

Again, I don't know if we were treated differently because of our suite status. It might have been interesting, on a 117 day cruise, to try showing up on various nights at every possible 15-minute interval alongside a non-suite family and seeing what happened to each of us. But in our one-week cruise we weren't playing scientific study, just eating at a time that worked for us. And for us, open dining worked fine.