still working on the dinner thing

[Ellen Dio]

I started something of a rant from the good people here on the forum asking about open seating vs. fixed seating = any time dining or any way you want etc. etc. - that was all cleared up pretty well (not for the last time I suspect). The info was very helpful and has made me pretty sure we'll opt for open seating (hopefully that's what it's called - we're not going to opt for 6:15 or 8pm). That decided I now face another problem - reading reviews of the Westerdam (the ship we would be going on) it sounds like the Lido closes around 8pm - on days we've been in port I like to rest up, have some drinks at one of the bar before dinner which would probably put us looking to have dinner at about 8:15-8:30 - will our only option be room service or making a late reservation at the specialty restaurant? Thank you for the help and I'm sorry if this is a lame or oft asked question.

[jtl513]

No, the open seating in the MDR runs from 5:15 to 9:00. :)

[Ellen Dio]

well, now there's a simple answer that I actually think I knew but forgot! LOL thank you

[ariawoman]

Wonder why this ship has earlier dining times than others? I have to say my only real complaint about HAL was their dining times. On N.A. the Lido closed at 830pm and the MDR at 930pm. When you're rushing back from port tours and whatnot and need to freshen up and get changed (due to the dining room rules for dress) I wished there was a larger window, so to speak. I realize the Lido opened back up at 1030pm on N.A. for "late night snack" but that 2 hour window was really when we'd have used the lido more.

 

As for dining, we used Open Seating, never had to wait for a table, though we did opt to share each night (we were a party of 2). Not sure if that made a difference in the expedition of getting a table, but everyone we met were very nice and we even ended up at a table with the same people twice lol. If you're into going whenever you want (within the hours of the dining room) i'd recommend it. Also you'd need to not want to develop a relationship with your waitstaff as well with this option, unless you decided to make reservations each night with the same staffer. That's one thing I did notice, that those that had fixed did seem to get more attached to the staff then I did as an open diner, however I did find that some of the staff did get to know us anyway.

[jtl513]

Wonder why this ship has earlier dining times than others? On N.A. the Lido closed at 830pm and the MDR at 930pm.

You not get in after 9:30, but you could take your time eating once you got in. It's in the Caribbean that the Open seating runs 5:15 to 9:00 generally.

Also you'd need to not want to develop a relationship with your waitstaff as well with this option, unless you decided to make reservations each night with the same staffer. That's one thing I did notice, that those that had fixed did seem to get more attached to the staff then I did as an open diner, however I did find that some of the staff did get to know us anyway.

We took pot luck the first two times we ate in MDR, and decided that we liked the second night's wait team. We asked what tables he had for four, and after that each night we just asked at the door for one of those tables, and always got one.