Zuiderdam 5-28 sailing early seating wait-listed

[showdog]

We are on the 5-28 sailing and are wait listed for early seating. Does anyone know what our chances are of getting it? HAL can't tell us where we are on the list. It looks like there are still a lot of cabins left on this sailing.

thanks.

[Tarkus]

dunno your chances, but if you're not successful we might randomly get seated together (since my group is also on the 5/28 sailing and we've requested late seating). seems there are several here who'll be on this itinerary...

:cool:

[Cathy p]

We are going on the 3/5 Zuiderdam cruise and were listed as waitlist for early dinner. My DH takes that Purple pill for his belly and my TA advised me to get a note from his doctor stating he needed early dinner. I faxed it over to her and when she called Holland we did not even need it. They already changed us to early. Hope this helps.:)

[JDee]

HAL seems to keep a lot of early seating tables in reserve for some reason. I usually book 60-90 days in advance and have been wait listed many times.. Always got the early seating, including once on the Zuiderdam, plus the table for 2. Think your chances are excellent for early seating...Good luck....

Happy cruising....

[stanford's girl]

We booked our Oct 22nd Oosterdam cruise to Mexico in Jan. We are on a wait-list for the 8:00 seating. Lots of cabins still left and it's 8 months away. I've never been wait-listed before on any cruise. Is this something that HAL does? It's our first cruise with them. Is there a way to fix this? My TA said to check as soon as we get on board but I'd like to know ahead of time.

[showdog]

Since we booked through an online TA it's hard to tell what we'll get. They said that they would let us know via email as soon as they hear something if we get off the wait list. I don't know what else to do about it. I just hope that we can get early seating. 8:30 seems pretty late to eat dinner. Is there a midnight buffet on HAL?

Tarkus, are you going scuba diving on this trip? I noticed on your site that you dive.

[JDee]

Showdog: If you don't get early seating, you have 2 options. (1) Lido casual from about 6 to 8, semi-buffet. Pick up a few items on the buffet line (soup, salad), order your main entree & it will be delivered to your table. Table will be set with tablecloth, silver, etc. You will have most all of the same dishes served in the DR, less the lobster & large shrimp cocktails, maybe an apptz or two less.

Option (2): Pinnacle alternate, primarily a steak house, but has few other main entree selections. Cost $20.00 pp (plus tip), $10.00 on first night....

Midnight buffets are now mosly called evening snacks starting about 11:30 and usually last an hour. Themes change each night, such as Italian, Amercican, Asian, etc...

Lastly, there is always room service 24/7. During regular DR hours, you can order pretty much what is also served in the DR.

Happy cruising....

[showdog]

OK, that's really good to know that we'll have a choice. I don't think I'd be able to eat a lot at midnight anyway but it would be nice to see what they have for a snack. It sounds like there are many dining opportunities and with the 24 hour room service you won't go hungry.

[Tarkus]

...Tarkus, are you going scuba diving on this trip? I noticed on your site that you dive.
oh yeah, definitely. i understand there are two other divers in our group of almost thirty... if they're game, i'd like to look-into chartering a private boat with ubs in tortola; otherwise, i'll likely book my own thing in st. thomas and just use hal's shore excursion scuba for the other three ports.

any excuse to get wet... :D

[showdog]

That sounds like fun. We're diving with HAL in Nassau and in the private island.



thank you to everyone to answering my dining question. I'll let you know if I hear anything from TA.

[Tarkus]

That sounds like fun. We're diving with HAL in Nassau and in the private island.
then i should definitely get a chance to meet you. i had wavered a bit about doing the one-tank trip on hmc, but from what i read over in the scuba forum decided to go ahead and do that as well (only diff with the other dives is that i'll leave most of my gear on the ship - for one dive their bcd/regs are fine, and it'll mean i don't have to schlep 'em around with me all day).

also, i was planning to dive with stuart cove's operation anyway (if you've never used them they definitely deserve the stellar reputation they've acquired) - so when i saw they already had them under contract with hal so much the better. and, at that point, i can catch-you-up on what you missed in st. thomas and tortola! ;)

see ya in a few months!