Oosterdam dinner seating

I called in to request the fixed late dinner seating time for my upcoming cruise on the Oosterdam in March, 2019, and was told I was put on a wait list? I was surprised as I thought the cruise was so long away. Is this standard? What are the chances I will get my requested time? Not really interested in any time dining.

We have had this wait list experience. Sometimes we get our preferred dining assignment before we sail. Other times I’ve gone to the dining room captain on embarkation day and requested fixed dining. Usually he’s available to consult at a spot near the front desk. We’ve always been accommodated. We’re not fans of open dining either.

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We have had that happen as well.

Just keep calling about once a month to see where you are on the list.

We were wait listed on the Oosterdam 15 months out from the cruise. We ended up keeping the open dining. We also ate most of our meals in the Lido after we realized we had to to make any shows as the service in the MDR was extremely slow.

If you call HAL, they'll be able to tell you how far down the wait list you are. We've been Wait listed before, but managed to make it into late fixed seating, which is where we wanted to be.

Hi sunchaser49, I heard, on "cruising with Bruce" online, that one of the first times you need to do is visit the diner and s/w the majordomo and ask directly/ telling him what you need and he/she should be able to accommodate your needs.

I'll be cruising on Nov. 2018.

Is there a group on this cruise? Large groups are usually assigned late set seating. This happened to us one an Alaska cruise. Dining room mgr. was very helpful, had same table and wait staff and time the rest of the cruise.

If you happen to be on a collector's cruise, for whatever reason, HAL let's those that are on only one segment choose and those on the two or three segments can be waitlisted.

The rationale is beyond me but that is what they do.

We have always gotten our chosen assignment though.

Hard to say what your situation is, but between collectors cruises and groups, I can't think of another reason for you not to be assigned.

Main (late) dining is not usually popular except on European cruises IME.