AYWD was NOT a Problem!!

[CocoKai]

Just off our second O'Dam cruise and were assigned AYWD this time. I have to say it worked out just fine. The four of us were seated promptly or no longer than a 15 min wait. Service was not compromised but I have to say we were given the less than desirable seats if we did not make reservations the morning before. Hint: If you want a window seat or something out of the aisles, make a reservation in the morning. Also, if you are on hold forever, go directly to dining room in the morning and reserve your table.

 

Unlike our last cruise, room service was horrible on this time. One night we were on hold for 30 minutes. I finally called the front desk which patched me through with another 15 minutes wait. When I finally connected, they said they were very busy and it would take an hour to deliver as they had 5 orders ahead of mine. 5 orders!!!! I could see a delay with 50, but 5!!! We ordered room service 3 times through the phone and items were always missing or the food was ice cold. Hint: To get better room service, go directly to the dining room and order with the front desk. Food will arrive hot, accurate and quick that way.

 

Overall, it was another fabulous HAL cruise. Sadly, it will be our last cruise with HAL though until they can sleep 4 in their SZ, SY, etc. category. We booked a VB by mistake and it was a mistake! I did not realize I would have someone sleeping over my head at night. Other cruise lines have the bunk over the pull-out couch. No sitting up in bed to read and if you have to go to the bathroom, please remember in your sleepy fog you have 18" clearance.....I have a head contusion from whacking the bunk bed for a week. We travel a lot and only stay at amazing places. Booking double rooms or SA suites isn't where I want to spend my money since I'd rather be on a land vacation at the Four Seasons for that price.

 

Final thought.....with AYWD, I wonder if the Room Stewards have seen an increase in tips. Normally, I would be tipping our Dining Room Stewards but we never had the same guy twice. I ended up tipping our Room Steward $100 throughout the week since he was the only constant in our cruise and they work SO HARD. Yeah for them!!!

[jhannah]

Having to make a dining room reservation every morning is something I'm not going to do. I seldom do that when dining out at home, and will certainly not do it on a cruise.

 

Having to go to the dining room to get a room service order taken care of in a reasonable time frame? That just ain't right. I hope this was simply an anomaly on your cruise.

[CJcruzer]

We were on the Westerdam early march, and they had just implemented AYWD - so it was fairly new to them....

 

We went down for dinner around the "prime time" - 6:50 to 7:20 or so, and NEVER had a wait or problem being seated.....we had tables for 4, 6, and 8 --- I didn't feel my wait service sufferd - but then hubby and I are pretty easy to please!!! Hubby had some wine he bought at ports - of the wine we brought to the dining room (w/corkage fee) - we had no problem the next night asking for finishing the bottle from previous night...

 

I felt it lifted a great "weight" so to speak - to be ready for a certain time, etc....sometimes I just stayed in the Thermal suite/thalassotherapy pool longer, knowing that if I was running 15 minutes later than the norm, we would still have dinner!!!!

 

BTW I found the food on this trip much better than the my previous Westerdam trip 2 years ago - both were Caribbean cruises - -- What did change was that you had to ask for the bread pudding at the ice cream station - whereas 2 years prior - it was self-serve....

 

Was it just me, or has the bread pudding/vanilla sauce changed in taste?? It was still good, but I thought the vanilla sauce was "thicker" on my previous HAL cruises....In Alaska, I even added fresh blueberries to the vanilla sauce!!!

 

CJcruzer

[Bookfinder]

We are going to be leaving on the "O Dam" on April 12th. We've never cruised with HAL before and was wondering if they have a breakfast menu you can leave on the door before you retire? We have done this on Celebrity and RCL and is works well. We prefer to be lazy in the morning and have breakfast in our cabin before heading our for the day.

 

It sounds like your food was always cold. We don't usually order too much hot for breakfast but sure wouldn't want cold eggs or be waiting long after the time we indicate. On Celebrity and RCL they always call when they are on their way which is nice. I must admit that this is my only concern with HAL. We've always requested early dinning and it was not available when we booked. The things I've read about AYWD have been very mixed and can't seem to get a handle on how to keep DH from getting upset.

 

Bookfinder

[CocoKai]

Yes, they do have the "thing" to hang on the door and that was our first room service mistake. I'm not a "hot" eater either so I had a Bagel with Cream Cheese.....no cream cheese came or even butter. We also ordered milk for the coffee and no milk came. Trust me.....you NEED milk to thin out HAL's coffee.

 

I agree....AYWD was much more relaxing than having a schedule. I could eat when I wanted to and not when they wanted me to. Making the reservation was really no big deal. If you couldn't get a reservation, you were still going to eat at your preferred time or close to it. The greatest inconvenience was having to wait 15 minutes in the Ocean Bar and being forced to consume a Martini :) As long as I don't have to eat in the Lido, I'm happy. Lido is for Ice Cream and Bread Pudding only!

[Sea Island Lady]

 

Final thought.....with AYWD, I wonder if the Room Stewards have seen an increase in tips. Normally, I would be tipping our Dining Room Stewards but we never had the same guy twice. I ended up tipping our Room Steward $100 throughout the week since he was the only constant in our cruise and they work SO HARD. Yeah for them!!!

:eek: Didn't you leave the suggested tipping, to be divided for all that served you?

[Boytjie]

It sounds like your food was always cold. We don't usually order too much hot for breakfast but sure wouldn't want cold eggs or be waiting long after the time we indicate. On Celebrity and RCL they always call when they are on their way which is nice. I must admit that this is my only concern with HAL.

 

On the Amsterdam we ordered hot breakfasts through room service and it was always hot. They do not call before delivery, just knock on the door when it arrives.

 

We also never had anything missing and when we asked for milk and cream with the coffee we sometimes ended up getting two glasses of milk (and the cream).

 

On the Zuiderdam we only ordered coffee once IIRC. Either ports of call were early and we grabbed breakfast in the Lido before getting a tender ticket to get to excursions, or we took our time getting up and going to the Lido for breakfast.

[iancal]

Good to hear about AYWD. We are thinking of the Noordam in Jan and hopefully they will have this. Saw a number of complaints but did not think that it would take HAL long to work out the bugs. It is not exactly rocket science.

[ldog]

Sounds like AYWD worked fine for four of you. We are a couple and like to chat at dinner. We don't want to have to go through the same introductory questions at every meal and then never see those people again.

 

I sure hope our waitlisted dinner clears for our trip in November. We booked it 14 months out.

 

I don't want to spend hours on the phone making a reservation.

[pipedreams62]

Wow I saw all CAPS and 2 exclamation points AYWD was NOT a Problem!! and thought we were all supposed to drink the kool-aid?

 

 

[legalslave]

AYW dinning is wonderful for some and not for others. It just depends on how you want to have your meals on a cruise. Some folks like to eat dinner with others they have never met and consider dinner a social aspect of cruising. I personally, only see my best friend once a year and we prefer spending our dinner time with just our conversation. I like being around other people. However, I don't want to spend my dinner time trying to remember names, trying to hear what others are saying to me and giving a brief scenario about myself and where I am from and why I am on the cruise and how many cruises I have been on, explaining why my husband isn't cruising, how my best friend and I became friends, where I was born, where I live now, why I live where I live now, where I am going on my next cruise, talking about my children, talking about grandchildren I don't have yet plus anything else you can think of. I am more comfortable not eating with people I have never met. I do however enjoy meeting people and getting to know them when I am not eating dinner.

 

Diane

[travel guy]

Well Said!

I feel the same. So much of the "meeting others at dinner" is simply small talk. I much prefer better dinner conversation with people I know. And like you I enjoy meeting others and getting to know them......just not at dinner!

[silvercruiser]

We meet other passengers at breakfast and lunch for brief, onetime chats. But at dinner, small talk gets stale pretty quick and we much prefer to have a table for two most of the time.

[scopewest]

Glad to hear AYWD was fine. I'm looking forward to trying it.

[Sprocket]

Can someone tell me if I can make a reservation on embarkation day? We would like a 2 top, and not sure if we are allowed in the DR earlier that day to maybe choose one that we would like.

 

Noise is a problem for DH as he wears 2 hearing aids, so would prefer not to be too close to the serving stations, etc.

[CocoKai]

You can only make reservations one day at a time, starting at 8 am. We cruised around the dining room with the numbers on them and found the table that we liked. When we did make reservations, we requested that table and received it. I believe you can make a reservation on embarkation day as well, so I'd wander the room, find your favorite tables and note them down. We went to the Pinnacle the first night so did not use the DR on day 1.

 

Yes, if you have hearing problems, you may really want to request a table # along with your reservation. As I mentioned before, the dining room staff really was accommodating. Just be nice and pleasant, explain your situation and I have no doubt they will take care of you.

[AlohaPride]

:eek: Didn't you leave the suggested tipping, to be divided for all that served you?

 

Isn't that included in the daily fee we pay ($10 pp/pd)?

 

I think the $100 was on top of what he already was paying.

[Sprocket]

You can only make reservations one day at a time, starting at 8 am. We cruised around the dining room with the numbers on them and found the table that we liked. When we did make reservations, we requested that table and received it. I believe you can make a reservation on embarkation day as well, so I'd wander the room, find your favorite tables and note them down. We went to the Pinnacle the first night so did not use the DR on day 1.

 

Yes, if you have hearing problems, you may really want to request a table # along with your reservation. As I mentioned before, the dining room staff really was accommodating. Just be nice and pleasant, explain your situation and I have no doubt they will take care of you.

 

 

Thanks, we'll head for the DR right after we make our reservation for the Pinnacle later in the cruise. I have the seating plan but its really difficult to make out the numbers.

[Momee]

I also booked a VB for 4 people. I was told to have the beds made up backwards. Your head is on the other end and feet under the bunk. I requested that but my cabin steward was not good although jolly. He did not make towel animals at all and he did not seem to remember things asked of him. We never ordered room service and other then our room being made up only about 6 or 7 of the 10 days because someone out of us four was always sick, our room steward really never paid much attention to our room. I had to go and ask for towels, but I see all of this as no big deal. Everything on 3/19 Noordam was the most wonderful experience from any vacation I ever had, and that was my seventh cruise.

Also the room was a little tight!!! for four but that is all I could afford.

[ncsongbird]

I like AYW dining for the several reasons. It's nice not to have a set time you absolutely have to show up. If you're running late after a long day in port you can eat dinner when you're ready without rushing.

 

I prefer not to share a table at breakfast since I'm not a morning person and not into chatting in the morning. We usually like to share a table at dinner with others about half of the time and just eat with the two of us on the other days. With AYW dining, you have that choice.

[nchank]

We are going to be leaving on the "O Dam" on April 12th. We've never cruised with HAL before and was wondering if they have a breakfast menu you can leave on the door before you retire? We have done this on Celebrity and RCL and is works well. We prefer to be lazy in the morning and have breakfast in our cabin before heading our for the day.

 

It sounds like your food was always cold. We don't usually order too much hot for breakfast but sure wouldn't want cold eggs or be waiting long after the time we indicate. On Celebrity and RCL they always call when they are on their way which is nice. I must admit that this is my only concern with HAL. We've always requested early dinning and it was not available when we booked. The things I've read about AYWD have been very mixed and can't seem to get a handle on how to keep DH from getting upset.

 

Bookfinder

 

Yes, you put the order on your door. Our food was always hot. They had some kind of heavier metal plate under the plates with hot food that seemed to have been heated which helped keep the food and plates hot.