Another As you Wish Dining question.

[FoxyTerrier]

Our upcoming PC cruise in November will be our first time trying AYWD. DH and I love the fixed late dining, but since are travelling with my mom and dad it's a bit late for them. Early fixed dining is too early for us all.

 

Is it possible to to make a Dining Reservation for everynight at 6:30 fir the same table at the beginning of the cruise? Thus creating our own fixed dining time that works for everyone.

[Mary Ellen]

AYWD encompasses both open and fixed seating, I taking a guess that you are asking about the open seating.

 

No, if you've selected the open seating, you can only make reservations for two nights at a time - and during limited hours. I don't know if 6:30 is during that time frame.

[Krazy Kruizers]

For the AYWD dining on the lower level of the dining room, you can make resrvations for between 5:15 and 6:15 and then from 7:30 - 9.

And you can only make resrvations for 2 days at a time.

There is no guarantee that you will get the same table.

[FoxyTerrier]

Thanks for the information I guess we will have to make some adjustments so we can please everyone.

 

I know I will miss getting to know our waitstaff.

[Jemima]

Some HAL ships will accept reservations for two days and others for that day only. The early reservation times are 5:15 and 5:30 with the reservation held for 15 minutes. Some ships may have 5:30 and 5:45 as the times. We've had open dining on our last two cruises and those were the only reservation times.

If you want to eat at 6:00 or 6:30, you won't be able to reserve. I'd suggest reserving for 5:15 or 5:30 on the first night or two as waits are more likely those nights.

[Hflors]

For the AYWD dining on the lower level of the dining room, you can make resrvations for between 5:15 and 6:15 and then from 7:30 - 9.

And you can only make resrvations for 2 days at a time

There is no guarantee that you will get the same table.

 

with all the "you can not" it sure seems to take the "as you wish" out of the dining if you want to make a reservation between 6:15 - 7:30 :eek: Or for more than two nights Or if you want the same table :eek: Maybe it should be called "As THEY wish dining" :rolleyes:

[pms4104]

with all the "you can not" it sure seems to take the "as you wish" out of the dining if you want to make a reservation between 6:15 - 7:30 :eek: Or for more than two nights Or if you want the same table :eek: Maybe it should be called "As THEY wish dining" :rolleyes:

Or AHWYD (As HAL Wishes You Dine).

 

Unfortunately, HAL decided to jump on the freestyle type of dining promoted by other lines ... and the current HAL fleet is not conducive to that concept. Not enough alternate venues, and not enough space on the ships to accommodate additional dining space. If HAL truly wanted to expand its dining offerings, instead of gutting the aft of several ships to replace the pool with a poolette to accommodate more cabins below same, HAL woulda modified that space below for another dining area. The whole AYWD has become a cobbling together of spaces. Granted on the Eurodam there are additional dining areas, but are they large enough and attractive enough to provide relief to the logjam of those lining up for the main dining room?

[cruisecrasy]

with all the "you can not" it sure seems to take the "as you wish" out of the dining if you want to make a reservation between 6:15 - 7:30 :eek: Or for more than two nights Or if you want the same table :eek: Maybe it should be called "As THEY wish dining" :rolleyes:

 

When I want to dine in a land based restaurant

I must book the popular times to ensure getting a table - With this arrangement u can't guarantee anything except that u will have to 'wait'!!

 

Of course, it is being done mostly to hopefully encourage (force) lots of folks to dine early & late so not too many are waiting to fall into your seats just as u start to get up...thereby ensuring the seats never 'cool' off :)

 

& 'Camp637' - well put - yes IMO u nailed it..

 

Have happy cruises & lots of 'em!! :)

[Boytjie]

You may wish to have a stern balcony but it could be all sold out... :rolleyes:

[kryos]

with all the "you can not" it sure seems to take the "as you wish" out of the dining if you want to make a reservation between 6:15 - 7:30 :eek: Or for more than two nights Or if you want the same table :eek: Maybe it should be called "As THEY wish dining" :rolleyes:

That's only for advance reservations. If you want to just walk into the dining room and be seated wherever, you can walk in at any time, including the times the OP is talking about. Sure, you may or may not get your own table. You may have to join a larger table with other people, but so what? You get to meet up with some new people that way.

 

I say just walk into the dining room when you are ready to eat each evening and enjoy. If that's a problem, and you really don't want to deal with flexible dining, then just take fixed seating for whatever time you can get it, and then eat in the Lido on some nights when you want to dine at a different time.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[DebbieS732]

I agree with Rita. Having just gotten off the Eurodam, we never waited...ever...to get seat in the open seating dining room. No matter what time we arrived. Some nights we asked for a private table but if it looked crowded, we simply told them 'whatever is fastest.' Most nights it was a group table but one night they promptly sat us at a private table.

 

There was a line after 8pm but I suspect it was people waiting for private tables. There is almost no decent restaurant in my city where you don't wait for a table between the hours of 6 and 8:30 pm unless you have a reservation. And a great many of them don't take reservations at all. Why? Because everyone tends to want to eat during the same hours. Why would it be any different on a cruise ship? You do have options - eat at the same time every night, thus ensuring no wait, make a reservation at a available time or arrive at your chosen time and risk a wait. That's the trade-off for having the option of flexible dining times. It's not like people wait for hours for a table.

 

I will state again, the only time I ever saw a line (more than 2 parties deep) at the door on the Eurodam was between 8 and 9 pm. We arrived at all different hours between 6 - 9pm. Even the few times we arrived at 8pm and there was a line of 4 or more parties ahead of us, it moved very, very quickly. The only people who had to 'wait' once they got to the head of the line were people who requested a private table.

 

Personally, I'm glad they don't take reservations in the open seating dining room during peak hours. That would make it more difficult for those of us who truly want flexible dining times. On the Eurodam, you have plenty of options. There are 3 private restaurants (that take reservations), the Lido, room service, a fixed timing dining room and an open seating dining room. I applaud HAL for offering so many dining options.

[kryos]

I will state again, the only time I ever saw a line (more than 2 parties deep) at the door on the Eurodam was between 8 and 9 pm. We arrived at all different hours between 6 - 9pm. Even the few times we arrived at 8pm and there was a line of 4 or more parties ahead of us, it moved very, very quickly.

I never waited so much as one minute to be seated as long as I didn't mind sitting with others. I was shown right to the table. The only time you really need advanced reservations is if you insist on a table for two, and that's only because tables for two are limited, and the dining room manager has to make sure that every single one of them gets turned over at least twice in a night. So, that's why they control the time you can reserve them. If you try, for example, to reserve a table for two at maybe 7:30, you'll probably get turned down. The table won't be ready from the first people sitting there that early, and HAL is not gonna leave that table empty so that you can occupy it at 7:30, leaving no time for someone else to use it after you.

 

But with the larger tables, HAL just fills 'em up and then gets the people seated there fed. No need to wait any longer than it would take to fill that table.

 

Now, I will add this ... the one problem with sitting at a large table is that if you have so much as one person who likes to jabber while she eats, and you are in a hurry to eat and be on your way ... you might want to think seriously about heading to the Lido that night. But that would be the case in fixed dining too. The servers will not bring the next course until everyone is ready for it. So if you have people who eat at different speeds, some who don't care how long dinner takes, while others do because maybe they have somewhere they want to be at a certain time ... it doesn't work and you are probably better off reserving a table for that night ... and taking the times that are available.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[suse]

I find this as you wish dining complicated. I prefer to call it all you can eat dining. I don't eat very much but some people do.

[Cruising-along]

Thanks for the information I guess we will have to make some adjustments so we can please everyone.

 

I know I will miss getting to know our waitstaff.

(bold added)

 

Or you could get lucky like we did. On our 15-day cruise we had NO problem asking for and getting the same waitstaff every night. We just requested a table in their station each time and that's what we got. Some nights we had to be a little flexible, but only a half-hour one way or the other. It worked great for us.

[Tinknock50]

We were on the Oosterdam when AYW was first put into effect. We were told the same rules stated in this thread as to when you could reserve. We really wanted 7:00 every night and the dining room staff accomodated us and we had the same waiter every night. We were actually at a different table a couple of nights, but incredibly our waiter stuck with us whereever we were placed. About the third night we were in the same location thereafter. We were a party of 8 and were never seated with people we never met and had our own table.

 

Perhaps the rules have hardenned since then , but I would try to work with them and get the time you want.

[jtl513]

There is no guarantee that you will get the same table.

 

True, no guarantee, but we called each morning, asked for a specific table, and got it every time.

[kelmac]

Our upcoming PC cruise in November will be our first time trying AYWD. DH and I love the fixed late dining, but since are travelling with my mom and dad it's a bit late for them. Early fixed dining is too early for us all.

 

Is it possible to to make a Dining Reservation for everynight at 6:30 fir the same table at the beginning of the cruise? Thus creating our own fixed dining time that works for everyone.

 

Yes on the Westerdam and no on the Maasdam. When we were on the Westerdam last summer we were able to request the same table for two nights at a time. Last month on the Maasdam we had fixed seating, but they messed up our request for a table for two, the only fix was to go to open seating again:mad:. We couldn't request a specific table, and reservations had to be made each morning at 8:00am. The last night everyone wanted early dinning so we couldn't get a table until 8:30pm (too late for us), so for the first time in 32 cruises we ate in the Lido for Dinner. The dining thing is one of the things pushing us away from one of our favorite cruise lines!

 

Good Luck!

Kel

[smtcan]

We booked for our Zuiderdam cruise when only open dining was available. We were not enthusiastic, but the price of the cruise was too good to turn down. We were very pleasantly surprised by the experience. We went for dinner when we were ready each evening - the times varied from 6pm to 8:30. We were asked if we wanted to share at table, and we agreed as long as it was not larger than a table for 6. We never had to wait, even the one time we asked for a table for two. We got to know many interesting people and didn't miss the interaction with the wait staff, which has never been very important to us. We appreciate professional service and we certainly had that from all our servers.

I would book open dining again without hesitation.

Sheila