As you wish dining question

After a 10 year hiatus from HAL, we are booked on the Zuiderdam for a cruise this September. As I recall from many years ago, As you wish dining was difficult for us because we often had long waits to be seated at a table for two. When we tried to make advance reservations, we found them unavailable during desirable dining hours...sometimes only available before 5:30 p.m. or after 8:30.

Wondering whether it is now possible to make advance reservations for as you wish dining on line prior to the cruise, or does it have to be done on a daily basis once on the ship.? Also, are a variety of desirable times usually available, or is it still a situation where advance reservations can only be made for very early or very late dining times? Also, if you do not have a reservation, is it usually a long wait to be seated?

Thanks.

Ed

Open Seating -- reservations can only be made once you are on the ship.

They can be made for times between 5:15 - 6:15 and 7:30 - 9 on most ships for 3 nights at a time.

As to the wait time for your reservation -- can't answer that part.

Open Seating -- reservations can only be made once you are on the ship.

They can be made for times between 5:15 - 6:15 and 7:30 - 9 on most ships for 3 nights at a time.

As to the wait time for your reservation -- can't answer that part.

This is correct. Reservations were never restricted to before 5:30, particularly as the MDR typically opens at 5:15 or 5:30, depending on the ship.

As to how long you might have to wait without a reservation is going to vary by each cruise. Sometimes the line might be long at a peak time. Other times it will move along quite fast. All depends on the demands of a given cruise, and is not predictable. Many will come along and say they were seated quickly, others will report different circumstances.

HAL seems to have gotten very flexible with Open Seating. If the demand for one type or the other is really imbalanced, you will see the "extras" assigned to the opposite floor in the MDR. For example, if there are a lot more people desiring Open Seating, some open seating pax will be put on the 3rd Floor of the MDR, which is usually reserved for fixed seating.

The smaller the table, the longer the wait.

Got tables for two on 4 cruises over the past 5 years on different HAL ships with open seating. Never waited more than 5 minutes with most times getting immediate seating. This was usually between 5:30 and 6:45 each time.

I wonder about the "table for two in anytime dining". We were just on another Cruise Line and it was kind of comical. We weren't really getting a table for two. We were getting a table for 10 on five little slivers of table that were separated from each other by about 2 or 3 inches. It's that the way Holland America does it now too?

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There are a few ways to nearly guarantee getting a table for two. 1. Make reservations to dine every night in the Pinnacle or any other alternative restaurant :). or 2. Cruise in Aqua Class on Celebrity! oh...and 3. Dine after 8:15.

Hank

This is correct. Reservations were never restricted to before 5:30, particularly as the MDR typically opens at 5:15 or 5:30, depending on the ship.

 

As to how long you might have to wait without a reservation is going to vary by each cruise. Sometimes the line might be long at a peak time. Other times it will move along quite fast. All depends on the demands of a given cruise, and is not predictable. Many will come along and say they were seated quickly, others will report different circumstances.

 

HAL seems to have gotten very flexible with Open Seating. If the demand for one type or the other is really imbalanced, you will see the "extras" assigned to the opposite floor in the MDR. For example, if there are a lot more people desiring Open Seating, some open seating pax will be put on the 3rd Floor of the MDR, which is usually reserved for fixed seating.

I keep hearing that you can get a reservation as late as 6:15, but when we had open dining (about 4 years ago), the latest we could reserve was 5:30. So sometimes they do limit reservations to the edges of the open times.

I have seen them fill in available spaces in fixed. We were at a table of 6 in early fixed dining a few years ago, and a couple from our table had gone to the Pinnacle. The maitre d' brought two other passengers to take their seats. I believe he asked "could these two ladies join you?" or something like that. So of course we said yes. It turned out we liked them better than the couple they replaced.

I wonder about the "table for two in anytime dining". We were just on another Cruise Line and it was kind of comical. We weren't really getting a table for two. We were getting a table for 10 on five little slivers of table that were separated from each other by about 2 or 3 inches. It's that the way Holland America does it now too?

 

This message may have been drafted using voice recognition. Please forgive any typos.

Actually, if the demand for tables for two is really high, they frequently convert a table for 4 into a 2. So the space is large. Happened to us the last two cruises.

We were getting a table for 10 on five little slivers of table that were separated from each other by about 2 or 3 inches. It's that the way Holland America does it now too?

Formal nights are teirable 5.30 to 6.30

Formal nights are teirable 5.30 to 6.30

Huh?

Also the first night of a cruise

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There are many that way, and there are many that are 4 or 5 feet from others. MDR plans for all ships are on halfacts.com

I noticed on K'dam that tables seemed to have more space around them. We asked for a 2-top and were by ourselves at a 4-top. That worked out to be good because we could sit at adjacent sides, rather than across the table.

HAL does much better now than they did originally. I don't think you'll have much wait time at all. Sometimes the maître 'd allows couples to reserve tables for the whole cruise for a certain time in the anytime dining room. If I did have a long wait, I would accept the option to sit at a table with strangers; sometimes that's better anyway.

Actually, if the demand for tables for two is really high, they frequently convert a table for 4 into a 2. So the space is large. Happened to us the last two cruises.

That's what happens to us on Anytime on our first HAL cruise last September - during the first Gala Night, we asked for a two top and was seated at a 4-top in the upper dining room. During the second Gala Night, it was a true 2-top - also in the upper