Open versus Reserved Dining

[dan1618]

This is our first time on a cruise, so I am trying to make the decision about how best to schedule our dining. I am traveling with my wife and 3 adult children. We are currently scheduled for late dining (8 PM).

 

We are in a Deluxe Suite on the Zuiderdam and supposedly one of the perks is priority dining and seating requests. What would the disadvantages of switching to open dining be? The obvious advantage is flexibility. The obvious disadvantages might be a wait and not having the same staff each evening -- but how much of that is mitigated by the priority dining? Can we ask the concierge to call ahead and have seating arranged for the time we want to be there? Having never done this, am not certain how to proceed and want to make sure we get the most out of all our time there.

[Krazy Kruizers]

advantage of traditonal dining -- you will have the same staff each night -- they will get to know you -- they will even have the children's milk -- if they prefer that -- ready each evening for them

open seating -- yes the concierges can make reservations for you for 3 nights at a time -- you / they can make reservation for the times between 5:15 - 6:15 and 7:30 - 9 -- for any size table you want -- disadvantage you may not always get the same table and waitstaff -- so they don't get to know what you like -- children may have to wait for milk

[Alberta Quilter]

because we often request special orders such as a shrimp cocktail every night. Special orders must be requested 24 hours in advance. I don't know how special orders would work in open dining.

 

I did do open dining when I was in Alaska for one cruise because of the timing of our shore excursions. While I did miss getting to know the waitstaff (and the shrimp cocktails), the flexibility did allow us more freedom.

 

So, I would say it would depend on how you expect to spend your days!

[jtl513]

-- disadvantage you may not always get the same table and waitstaff --

It's true that you "may not" but it has been our experience to never have any difficulty getting the same steward team, and most often the same table, with a request made far enough in advance. For the first three nights we take "pot luck" to decide which stewards and locations we like best before beginning to make reservations, but even then we've often been given the same table on successive nights.

[Cruising-along]

It's true that you "may not" but it has been our experience to never have any difficulty getting the same steward team, and most often the same table, with a request made far enough in advance. For the first three nights we take "pot luck" to decide which stewards and locations we like best before beginning to make reservations, but even then we've often been given the same table on successive nights.

 

Ditto for us. We've done this several times and had wonderful steward teams who knew exactly what we liked and didn't like.

 

If you have a port intensive cruise, Open Dining is just easier, IMHO. We never know when/where we might want to dine that night. Sometimes we were so tired after a long day in port that it was easier to order room service and have a relaxing dinner in our cabin. With fixed seating you would have to have a crystal ball to know this ahead of time, in order to let your dining companions and stewards know the day before. ;)

[FLACRUISER99]

advantage of traditonal dining -- you will have the same staff each night

Not always an advantage if you get a poor wait staff. Yes it has happened to me on HAL - the waiter never introduced himself or knew my name! Never saw the head waiter until the last night.

[Typhoon1]

We had AYWD in February for the first time. We much preferred Early fixed dining. The staff at open dining seemed to be overwhelmed at times.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Not always an advantage if you get a poor wait staff. Yes it has happened to me on HAL - the waiter never introduced himself or knew my name! Never saw the head waiter until the last night.

 

are you referring to the dining room manager as the head waiter?

 

if so -- we have never met or seen the dining room manager on any of the ships that we have been on for the last 2 1/2 years -- couldn't even tell you their names

[m steve]

as we like to have the same staff and table each night, We have never had bad dining stewards on any HAL ship and they always remember our favorites. This also allows us to relax from the day and not rush to dinner.

Afew in the cabin (balcony) another in the bar before dinner and we are ready to have a relaxing evening. This will be very important on our next cruise in the Med with lots of tours.

[ybarber]

We love fixed dining. It is so nice to have the same stewards, as we did on our recent 14 day B2B on the NA. Our Stewards, Mess and Wendra knew what we liked by the second or third day and catered to our every whim. It was such a pleasure. The Stewards will pay extra attention to your kids and will try to keep them entertained. You will love fixed dining and so will your family.

[kazu]

We like fixed main (aka 8pm or late) dining. In a deluxe verandah, you should have a nice table. Myself I'd stay with it (as it will be hard to change back) unless you are SURE you do not want it or it doesn't suit you.

 

Once you are on the ship if you don't enjoy it, you should be able to switch to open dining (I'm sure there will be a waiting list for your time slot). They do permit one switch.

 

You can have hors d'hoeuvres delivered to your cabin every afternoon if you so wish and there are munchies in the Neptune lounge so I don't think anyone will go hungry waiting until 8 pm ;)

[Randyk47]

We did fixed dining for our recent Maasdam cruise and thoroughly enjoyed it. Of course it's the luck of the draw and I promised Mrs. K we'd bail to either another table or to open dining if we didn't get a good table which was the situation on our previous cruise. Turns out we had a great table and fantastic staff. Widi, our waiter, and Emilio, our wine steward, were top notch and quickly got to know our likes and dislikes and were great with recommendations that turned out to be spot on. Had such a good time with our table that one of the couples from our cruise is most probably going to sign up and cruise with us next year. :)

 

Did want to add that after reading about folks having trouble getting the late/fixed dining on other cruises I was surprised that there were several tables, at least three immediately adjacent to our table, that were open the whole cruise.

[DeepWaterMariner]

We are open sitting fans and we thought it worked very well on our recent Noordam cruise. Our experience with traditional dinning is that you sometimes/often end up with empty places at the table due to tablemates opting for dinning at another venue like the Pinnacle Grill or Canaletto's. In open sitting you generally get a full table if you want to share.

[kazu]

What size of table have you requested? if you have requested the size to fit your family, you will most likely be accomodated and will have no worries about waiting for other people or empty seats ;) If your TA or you have requested a larger table, you can alter your request;)

[dan1618]

What size of table have you requested? if you have requested the size to fit your family, you will most likely be accomodated and will have no worries about waiting for other people or empty seats ;) If your TA or you have requested a larger table, you can alter your request;)

 

We have a total of 5 in our family. I am guessing the tables seat 6?

[Randyk47]

We have a total of 5 in our family. I am guessing the tables seat 6?

 

The larger tables sit up to eight and there might be even a few up to ten but I've never paid that much attention.

[kazu]

We have a total of 5 in our family. I am guessing the tables seat 6?

 

Yes, tables are normally even numbers - you could ask your TA if a table of 5 can be reserved - I've never asked for odd numbers but it could be possible. That way you will have just your family:) Otherwise go for the 6. There are tables for 6 on the Zuiderdam. We had one by the window and it was very nice.

 

Since you are in a deluxe verandah, you could also ask for a nice table by the window ;) if you like that type of thing:)

[dan1618]

Yes, tables are normally even numbers - you could ask your TA if a table of 5 can be reserved - I've never asked for odd numbers but it could be possible. That way you will have just your family:) Otherwise go for the 6. There are tables for 6 on the Zuiderdam. We had one by the window and it was very nice.

 

Since you are in a deluxe verandah, you could also ask for a nice table by the window ;) if you like that type of thing:)

 

Would we need to request that before we get there? Or is that something we would request on boarding? I would definitely prefer that. One of my main issues with the "fixed" dining is not wanting to need to leave a beautiful view to head off to dinner, especially with the long daylight hours in Alaska.

[kazu]

Would we need to request that before we get there? Or is that something we would request on boarding? I would definitely prefer that. One of my main issues with the "fixed" dining is not wanting to need to leave a beautiful view to head off to dinner, especially with the long daylight hours in Alaska.

 

I would request it now - that way you should get it - and if you have a window table you will have the view right there ;) if you wait until you board, the tables will already have been assigned. if you decide later that you want to switch your dining, you will make someone very, very happy when they get your table. Reserving now protects you. You can change your mind later or even on the cruise :)

 

And hey, even if you have fixed dining, if you prefer to eat at the Lido, or do room service or the Canaletto, you can still do it. you are not obligated to go there every night ;)

[Krazy Kruizers]

Would we need to request that before we get there? Or is that something we would request on boarding? I would definitely prefer that. One of my main issues with the "fixed" dining is not wanting to need to leave a beautiful view to head off to dinner, especially with the long daylight hours in Alaska.

 

confused

are you requesting fixed dining or open seating?

fixed dining you can and should have your ta request -- now -- a table for 5

for open seating -- your ta can not make that request now -- have the concierges do it for you once you get on the ship -- they will ask you for a time and size of table -- just like i mentioned in any earlier post

[TxMamacitaII]

We have always had early fixed seating, and we have experienced issues of having to rush to get ready for dinner after shore excursions. We are considering late fixed dining, but I'm wondering if we will miss the shows by doing this. Is there usually an early theater for those who have late dining? Does the show time overlap into the late dining time?

[dan1618]

confused

 

are you requesting fixed dining or open seating?

 

fixed dining you can and should have your ta request -- now -- a table for 5

 

for open seating -- your ta can not make that request now -- have the concierges do it for you once you get on the ship -- they will ask you for a time and size of table -- just like i mentioned in any earlier post

 

Sorry for the confusion. I was responding to another poster saying we could use our deluxe suite status to request a table by the window if we stay with fixed. I was asking them if that request - a window seat - should be made ahead of time.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Sorry for the confusion. I was responding to another poster saying we could use our deluxe suite status to request a table by the window if we stay with fixed. I was asking them if that request - a window seat - should be made ahead of time.

 

okay -- now i understand

yes -- get that request in now

window numbers:

aft -- 55, 57, 59, 61, 30 and 26

port side has only 1 large window table 12

the starboard side has quite a few tables that can seat 4 - then a blank area -- ten 4 -- all oushed together in a long row and they can be set up with 6 by the window-blank area and then 2 -- i don't recommend these

table 33 on the port side is the only true table for 6

as far as i know these table numbers have not changed as we always request a certain size table and a certain table number -- and the majority of the time we have gotten the table number that we requested

good luck

[dan1618]

okay -- now i understand

 

yes -- get that request in now

 

window numbers:

 

aft -- 55, 57, 59, 61, 30 and 26

 

port side has only 1 large window table 12

 

the starboard side has quite a few tables that can seat 4 - then a blank area -- ten 4 -- all oushed together in a long row and they can be set up with 6 by the window-blank area and then 2 -- i don't recommend these

 

table 33 on the port side is the only true table for 6

 

as far as i know these table numbers have not changed as we always request a certain size table and a certain table number -- and the majority of the time we have gotten the table number that we requested

 

good luck

 

Just clarifying...is table 33 by the window? With a party of 5, will the tables you mentioned by number (are the window numbers the same as table numbers) all accommodate us?

 

Thanks so much. You are an amazing wealth of information!

[Krazy Kruizers]

all the table numbers that i gave you are tables for 6 -- by the window -- oblong

i have dining charts for all the ships