Is the poor maitre d open seating service we experienced on the Veendam normal?

Hi Fellow Travelers,

We just returned this week from a 7 day Mexican cruise on the HA Veendam.

The purpose in taking this trip was to access whether to follow through with our 24 day HA Nieuw Amsterdam trip next year as we have never sailed on HA.

Although we were ok with most of the ship offerings, the maitre d REFUSED to attempt to seat us with other passengers at open seating dining unless we dined at 5:45 or 7:45...no exceptions. The dining room was not full...that was "their policy". We requested, we pushed, we cajoled...all without benefit of being seated at a larger table. With the only exception of one night when others invited us to sit with them, we were brought to a table for 2 each evening. Again, the restaurant was not busy and most of the 6-8 person tables were empty.

We have been on many different ships, both higher and lower end, and have never experienced this before.

We are very close to canceling our next trip but wanted to throw this out for other's experiences. I agree that the MDR food could stand much improvement too (as others have stated) but with eating off-ship at many of the ports, we can go light at dinner). But not being able to have dinner conversation with others, is unacceptable.

Would appreciate other's experiences, especially on the Nieuw Amsterdam.

Many Thanks!

We had really good experiences being seated with different diners on our last cruise (on the Prinsendam), with the ship's staff and with interesting passengers. Most nights we just walked up when we were hungry.

Trish

This sounds a little bit confusing.... Were you assigned fixed/traditional dining? If you were, then I can see that the staff might have a hard time putting you at another table that would have been assigned to someone else.

If you had open seating and your friends did as well, you shouldn't have had a problem.

That's why I asked about your seating assignment for the cruise.

Sorry for the confusion...tried to be explicit!

We were on he open seating option and were traveling alone as a couple.

On our recent Noordam cruise, we had Open Seating and were always asked either when we made reservations or when we walked in, if we would share a table. We did not wish to so easily got a table for two but we did eat early. I don't know if that makes a difference. Tables for 2 normally are at a premium so I would think there wouldn't be any available between 5:45 and 7:45 and they would gladly seat you with others.

Sounds strange to me what you experienced.

Wow - have never seen what you experienced in many cruises. Sounds like he just did not want to be bothered as this is NOT the HAL policy - unless it has changed since this past April.

This is really strange, almost the exact opposite of what we have seen. HAL usually loves to fill the big tables and it can be hard to get a table for 2.

Did you talk to the actual DRM or only the As you Wish Host at the podium? The Host does the seating, not the DRM, who is around and about, but it is not his job to do the seating.

Did you talk to the actual DRM or only the As you Wish Host at the podium? The Host does the seating, not the DRM, who is around and about, but it is not his job to do the seating.

Who is the As You Wish host? All of the dining options on the ship combined is known as "As You Wish".

... the maitre d REFUSED to attempt to seat us with other passengers at open seating dining unless we dined at 5:45 or 7:45...no exceptions. The dining room was not full...that was "their policy". We requested, we pushed, we cajoled...all without benefit of being seated at a larger table....

It is not clear to me exactly what it was that you were requesting.

If you arrived at the MDR along with your friends and asked to be seated together, I cannot imagine the host not complying with your request. I’d consider this to be absolutely unacceptable and would, after dinner, have spoken directly to the Dining Room Manager or the Guest Relations Manager.

If, on the other hand, you requested to be seated at a table and then, when your friends arrived separately, they be escorted to the table, I can understand why there would be a hesitancy to comply during the particularly busy hours of the MDR. This would be particularly significant if you had requested a larger table and the remaining seats at the table would be vacant until your friends arrived.

As I said, it is not clear to me which request you had made.

Scott & Karen

I was in the Veendam last week. 4 out of the 7 nights we were given a table for two. If we wanted to share we would have to wait an additional 20 to 30 minutes.

This has not been my experience in the past. If we were willing to share, we got seated right away. Last week it was just the opposite, they had more tables for two.

There were difinately Service issues in the Dining Room last week.m

Deleted.

We just came back from a cruise on the Maasdam. We did open seating, arrived at the times that we wanted to, and had no problem getting a shared table. By some miracle, the people we got to share with who were different every night were also very interesting table mates. I would make sure that HAL was aware of the problem and of your dissatisfaction with the maitre d. He should be demoted and given lessons on how to have good customer relations.

DON

Hi Fellow Travelers,

 

We just returned this week from a 7 day Mexican cruise on the HA Veendam.

 

The purpose in taking this trip was to access whether to follow through with our 24 day HA Nieuw Amsterdam trip next year as we have never sailed on HA.

 

Although we were ok with most of the ship offerings, the maitre d REFUSED to attempt to seat us with other passengers at open seating dining unless we dined at 5:45 or 7:45...no exceptions. The dining room was not full...that was "their policy". We requested, we pushed, we cajoled...all without benefit of being seated at a larger table. With the only exception of one night when others invited us to sit with them, we were brought to a table for 2 each evening. Again, the restaurant was not busy and most of the 6-8 person tables were empty.

 

We have been on many different ships, both higher and lower end, and have never experienced this before.

 

We are very close to canceling our next trip but wanted to throw this out for other's experiences. I agree that the MDR food could stand much improvement too (as others have stated) but with eating off-ship at many of the ports, we can go light at dinner). But not being able to have dinner conversation with others, is unacceptable.

 

Would appreciate other's experiences, especially on the Nieuw Amsterdam.

 

Many Thanks!

We were also on the Veendam Mexican Riviera cruise and I also found the seating assignments puzzling. We usually have open seating but we eat early so that we don't have to wait (we would prefer to eat at 6:00). This time I decided to make reservations so I asked the maitre d what times were available for early dining and was told 5:00, 5:15, and 5:30. I then asked him to make reservations for the next three days at a table for 6 aft for 5:30. This worked for the first three days and then I asked again for a table for 6 for the next three days and sometimes we ended up on the side but at a window table for 6. By now he knew us and our room #.

I only made reservations for 2 but we had friends join us without reservations and they were seated with us and another couple would be seated with us. It worked for us. He would still have to choose our table each night and put it on a piece of paper to give to the person who would seat us. This caused a delay for everyone.

We have had open dining on several HAL ships and I have never experienced this slow and deliberate seating process. Usually it has gone very smoothly. I recommended in my HAL evaluation that they need to get more people working in the open seating dining. I could only assume that this is part of reduced staffing in the dining room and they need to fix it.

I really prefer fixed seating as you can walk right in and sit down at your table. I also like to meet new people which is an advantage of open seating. We have a 14 day scheduled next summer and I have asked for fixed seating. I just hope we like our table mates. If we don't I guess we'll ask to change.

Even in open dining the times for reservations are fixed for early and late. Otherwise you walk in but sometimes you will find a line all the way to the stairs with walk-in service. Check the times for early and late dining and hopefully you can find one of the times that will work for you. Then reserve that time.

I thought the food was excellent. I don't eat a lot so the portions are perfect. The food was served hot but there were delays and most meals took about 2 hours from beginning to end. Sometimes the delay can be caused by slow eaters who are enjoying their table mates. In fixed you will have the same servers each evening and they will get to know your preferences.

As far as the maitre d goes, he was not what we have experienced on other ships.

Who is the As You Wish host? All of the dining options on the ship combined is known as "As You Wish".

OK. Dinner in the MDR, Open Seating, lower level: the Host is the guy at the podium who punches your cabin number into the computer and gives you a table.

That sounds the absolute opposite of "As You Wish" whether in open or assigned seating, and is every bit as bad as forcing passengers who'd rather eat alone to sit with others. I'm sorry this happened to you, and like you, wonder what on earth the time of night had to do with anything. Better luck next time being seated with others "as you wish."

Sounds like there were at least three other couples who experienced the same issues as us on the same cruise! So I sent a pretty scathing evaluation regarding the restaurant only (because as I initially mentioned, we had no issues other than their seating process and the quality of the dinners). I'm curious to see if I get any response from customer service!

So we are still on the fence re our cruise next year! Most of the responses on this thread seem to indicate that on most of the other ships, requesting to be seated with others was not a problem. I wish someone who sailed on the Nieuw Amsterdam would come forward!

Thank you all for your comments!

Hi Fellow Travelers,

 

We just returned this week from a 7 day Mexican cruise on the HA Veendam.

 

The purpose in taking this trip was to access whether to follow through with our 24 day HA Nieuw Amsterdam trip next year as we have never sailed on HA.

 

Although we were ok with most of the ship offerings, the maitre d REFUSED to attempt to seat us with other passengers at open seating dining unless we dined at 5:45 or 7:45...no exceptions. The dining room was not full...that was "their policy". We requested, we pushed, we cajoled...all without benefit of being seated at a larger table. With the only exception of one night when others invited us to sit with them, we were brought to a table for 2 each evening. Again, the restaurant was not busy and most of the 6-8 person tables were empty.

 

We have been on many different ships, both higher and lower end, and have never experienced this before.

 

We are very close to canceling our next trip but wanted to throw this out for other's experiences. I agree that the MDR food could stand much improvement too (as others have stated) but with eating off-ship at many of the ports, we can go light at dinner). But not being able to have dinner conversation with others, is unacceptable.

 

Would appreciate other's experiences, especially on the Nieuw Amsterdam.

 

Many Thanks!

That is a very bizarre experience in my opinion....can a maitre d make this a policy I wonder? Sure sounds like it. We have always had open seating and usually are seated with others with no problem at all. We have, on occasion, asked for a table for two and some times they can accomodate it when it isn't peak times but usually we were told if we would sit with others we would get in quicker. I'm sorry you experienced this-to me, it isn't the norm. We haven't been on the Veendam or NA though.

It is interesting that "liketraveling" had a similar experience on the Veendam and noticed service issues.

I can see why you are on the fence regarding your next cruise with HAL. I hope you get a decent reply from customer service.

I'm sure someone might come along that has been on the NA recently and provide some feedback. (or you might have to start another thread with it in the title).

Good luck-let us know what happens!

My traveling companion and I had almost the opposite problem on the Zuiderdam last month. I was unable to get early fixed dining, or even be put on a waiting list, so decided to "play the game" with Anytime dining. I first wanted to see the Maitre d' (or whoever was accepting change requests) as I had on other cruises, but we boarded so late (Port Everglades processing was very slow) that there was no one available to do that.

We decided to simply ask for a table for two for that evening. We happened to get an excellent table for our needs and had dining and wine stewards who were excellent. So, according to the instructions, we called, requesting that we be seated at that table every night. They said they could only do it for 3 nights, so we accepted that and when "renewal" was due, we called and requested that table for 3 more nights. We attempted to follow the procedure laid out, but the dining room [table assignment manager - I don't know his title] would assign us to the reserved table some nights and elsewhere other nights. Since I have a hearing handicap, I can't really converse with other diners other than my companion. One night, after being assigned to a table for 6 in the middle of many tables, we complained to the Dining Room Manager and were reassigned to a more appropriate table. Another night, the same thing happened and we went back to the podium and insisted on a suitable table. Some nights we had an appropriate table at the time they requested we be there and some nights not. We tried to "follow the rules" and HAL wasn't following their own rules.

I really, really dislike Anytime Dining, but had no choice in the matter. My companion and I were not about to be driven out of the MDR by the table assignment person. I have a reservation for a suite on an Alaskan cruise in May, but she is hesitant to go through another unpleasant experience on HAL. I'm undecided at this point.

We always had "As you wish" dining on HAL, were always asked whether we wanted to share and were always at tables for 4 - 8. We usually requested 4 or 6 and got it.

The young waiter who made seat assignments was not always the same. He is not the maitre d'. On other lines, we have seen a more senior person do the seating.

The OP's 'seating person' may have misunderstood the policy. I have seen a supervisor explain something really fast in strongly accented English to a group of new crew from Asia. None of them dared ask a question and I am sure they understood him even less than I did.

As mentioned, this is not a HAL policy. It sounds like the host was a) having a bad week, b) new, c) too lazy to try to do anything helpful or d) all of the above.

Sorry you had this issue, it's really terrible. Make sure to, on your post-cruise survey, write this in detail. HAL really does read those and they'll contact you if they want more info (they did to us after our September cruise fwiw).

It is interesting that "liketraveling" had a similar experience on the Veendam and noticed services issues

why do you find it interesting? It is what happened!

The issues I had, I noted in the HAL evaluation.

why do you find it interesting? It is what happened!

 

The issues I had, I noted in the HAL evaluation.

Don't be paranoid! I am happy you reported it and just found it interesting and helpful that others also had a similar experience. Perhaps I used a poor choice of words but I meant it in a nice way:)

Hi All,

Just to bring closure to this thread, it's been three weeks, and I still haven't heard back from customer service at Holland America :eek:

We were away when you first started this thread.

Although we do not choose Open Seating, this is the first that I have heard / read where people had problems getting seated at a larger table.

Write your letter to the Office of the President.

By the way -- it is Dining Room Manager.