Questions on HAL's Open Seating Dining

[TAD2005]

We have tried to get a late seating (7:45 I think) table reservation for 4 on our Zuiderdam Oct 14, 26 day cruise and it has been waitlisted. Our cruise partners want to try the Open Seating, As You Wish, Anytime (or whatever it is called) dining. I have heard that the Open Dining is always in the lower level of the MDR, and you can get a reservation for a table, but it's only valid for 3 days, and after that, you have to request again, and, it may not be granted. Other posts say that you can reserve a table in the Open Dining section for the entire duration of your cruise, also getting the same waiter and same time. Is this possible ? How exactly does the AYW Dining work, what are the restrictions, what time periods can you get a reservation, are any time periods locked out for walkins, and is it possible to get a reservation for the same table & waiter for 3 days or even the whole cruise.

We are hoping that our waitlist will clear and we get late seating, but AYW Open dining may have to bail us out if the waitlist doesn't clear. Any suggestions or prior experience with AYW dining would be greatly appreciated.

[3rdGenCunarder]

If you're wait listed for late seating, you're currently in open seating.

 

I think the reservation process varies from ship to ship, as so many things do on HAL. We usually get early seating, but the time we had open seating on Maasdam, we liked our waiters so much that we asked to reserve the table for the next few nights, I guess 3. Each night, on the way out, we reminded the maître d' that we wanted that table the next night. I think he got tired of that, and said "Would you like that table for the rest of the cruise?" and we said we would.

 

The times available to reserve are toward the early and late parts of the dining time. I've heard conflicting reports of the exact times that are and are not available. Mid-times like 7:00 are cannot be reserved.

 

I think late seating is 8:00, not 7:45, but you can eat later if you've got open seating.

[kazu]

We have tried to get a late seating (7:45 I think) table reservation for 4 on our Zuiderdam Oct 14, 26 day cruise and it has been waitlisted. Our cruise partners want to try the Open Seating, As You Wish, Anytime (or whatever it is called) dining. I have heard that the Open Dining is always in the lower level of the MDR, and you can get a reservation for a table, but it's only valid for 3 days, and after that, you have to request again, and, it may not be granted. Other posts say that you can reserve a table in the Open Dining section for the entire duration of your cruise, also getting the same waiter and same time. Is this possible ? How exactly does the AYW Dining work, what are the restrictions, what time periods can you get a reservation, are any time periods locked out for walkins, and is it possible to get a reservation for the same table & waiter for 3 days or even the whole cruise.

We are hoping that our waitlist will clear and we get late seating, but AYW Open dining may have to bail us out if the waitlist doesn't clear. Any suggestions or prior experience with AYW dining would be greatly appreciated.

 

If you don't clear the wait list check your key card when you get in and see if it shows a table number. if it does, you got Main (late) dining. If it doesn't, head to talk to the Asst Dining Room manager and see if it can be arranged. It can happen.

 

If you are on Open Dining, then yes you can reserve and, as long as you are outside the peak hours, you can at least reserve three days in advance. Our friends were successful on getting their reservation for the entire cruise on the Prinsendam one time.

 

Things can vary from ship to ship and cruise to cruise, but it isn't hard to stop on the way in every third day and ask for the same time and the same table for the next three days (especially if you have been enjoying the location and waiters)

[doublebzz]

We have always enjoyed the flexibility of "open seating" and rarely made reservations. My sense is, if you intend to dine late, after 7:15, there will be little or no wait time getting a table without reservations. To me, the only advantage of "fixed" seating is that you have the same wait staff each night and they get to know your preferences. I agree with a previous poster that late seating is 8pm or later.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Main fixed dining (late seating) can be either 7:45 or 8 PM -- depends on ship and itinerary.

The only times you can make reservations for Open Seating is from 5:15 - 6:16 and 7:30 - 9 PM.

Yes you can make reservations for 3 evenings at a time. Some people get to know the dining room manager and get the same table for each night of the cruise.

[TAD2005]

Thanks for the help. I guess we will hope for a late (main) seating reservation. Our TA says we are #32 on the waitlist, and we are about 68 days out. We both are 2-star Mariners with 10 days to go for 3-star, which we will have 1/3 of the way on our cruise. But this is the first time we have had to deal with As You Wish dining. We always had no problem getting a table for 4 late seating. We do like the stability of the same table and same wait staff.