Late fixed dining

[kopykat]

Asked my TA to put my DS and me on late fixed dining for our cruise on the Rotterdam in February. Was told it wasn’t available but we would be out on a wait list. Has anyone experienced this? My first time in more than 15 cruises 

[CruiserBruce]

Close to actual sailing date, "waitlist" is pretty common.

[KirkNC]

47 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

Close to actual sailing date, "waitlist" is pretty common.

But not for late seating, usually that’s lightly attended.

[aliaschief]

Yes, this has happened to us and we went to dining room after embarkation and they have always accommodated us. I believe once we had to wait until second night to get our late dining table.

 

I haven’t checked but if there is a special group on your cruise that could affect availability.

By the way @kopykat hugs here from your brother-in-law!❤️

Edited December 10, 2021 by aliaschief

[OlsSalt]

Late fixed is usually crowded the first night and then drops off. They even start putting in anytime diners into the upper fixed dining room. Best bet is to check in with the dining staff as soon as you embark and see what can be arranged or get on a waiting list.  Used to be in the Explorers Lounge, but don't know where that Maitre d' desk is located today.

 

Sometimes, and hopefully rarely a charter group will take over one of the fixed dining hours so they can all dine together if it is a large group. Then you would be out of luck, and probably not  happy to be in a close membership group anyway. Hope it works out - late fixed is our very favorite time to dine - quieter, low key, more attention from dining personnel. A very sane experience. And often in and out in a much shorter time since there is less traffic.

[FlaMariner]

When we book closer to departure....even several months out....we will end up being waitlisted but when we've gotten our key card onboard, all is fine.

 

 

[CruiserBruce]

6 hours ago, KirkNC said:

But not for late seating, usually that’s lightly attended.

Maybe "usually ", but can you speak for every cruise?

[Skipper's Mom]

12 hours ago, CruiserBruce said:

Maybe "usually ", but can you speak for every cruise?

We were on the NA in October from San Diego to FLL.  We had Main seating table.  The place was a virtual ghost town.  LOL.  We could have gone bowling.

[visagrunt]

I have been waitlisted before and never not gotten a table assignment.  That being said we have always asked to be put onto a large table.

I have always suspect that Dining Room management are keeping their eyes on the numbers so that they know how many deck 3 tables they can dedicate to flex dining, so they build the larger tables only a few weeks out.

I don't know what the experience would be like for people asking for a 2-top.

[jimdee3636]

My wife and I are four-star with HAL. We have always made a request, at the time of booking, for a table for two "by the rail" for the "main" (i.e., late) fixed dining. We have gotten it every single time. As others have noted, though, a similar request for early dining may not be as easy to achieve.

[zgscl]

1 hour ago, visagrunt said:

I don't know what the experience would be like for people asking for a 2-top.

 

We usually do early fixed seating. We have always been given a two top. Usually we are assigned the worst possible location in the dining room (such as the former orchestra pit that has a view of everyone's feet and way too many tables crowded into it), or the section with no window views at all and looking only at the bus station. We have always asked to move after the first dinner and have been accommodated every time either to a four top with no one else assigned, or they arranged for us to have open seating but with the same waiter, table & time every night. We always stay in a Neptune suite and the concierge is usually very helpful in accomplishing this. 

[jhsocal]

Once we were waitlisted due to large charter group. MDr Mgr gave us a two top  that we liked, and we kept it the rest of the cruise.