Dining times

[Stx3me]

Hello,

Does anyone know why it is impossible to select main (late) dining anymore? It seems to me that HAL is forcing everyone into the anytime dining scenario, which the one time we tried this it was so awful that we ended up in the lido. Thanks all.

[Hlitner]

Not sure why you cannot get the late (main) dining anymore.  But you might consider that HAL is one of the last cruise lines to even have Fixed Dining.  Just about every line has moved to an open dining concept.  Why?  We asked this question of a long time Matire'd when we were last on Princess and he told us that Fixed Dining had become a nightmare for staff.  Many folks would select Fixed Dining and simply not show-up on most nights.  This left empty tables, many empty chairs, messed up planning, and created staffing problems.  Princess has tried to deal with this with a system that allows folks to reserve dining times (you can do this well in advance or the day of) but even this has issues.  I do think that Fixed Dining has become somewhat of a dinosaur in the cruise world.  But as we are aware, HAL does tend to hold onto dinoaaurs whether it be their policies or their fans 🙂  (Ok folks, lighten up).

 

We would add a shocker to many HAL fans.  Seabourn, which is part of the HAL Group, does not even open-up for dining until 7:00 (in their MDR).

 

Hank

[terrydtx]

There have been some CC posts in the last couple of weeks that HAL is dropping fixed dining options and going all anytime.  One post I remember was from someone on the Rotterdam.

[Hlitner]

1 hour ago, terrydtx said:

There have been some CC posts in the last couple of weeks that HAL is dropping fixed dining options and going all anytime.  One post I remember was from someone on the Rotterdam.

We would not be surprised.  The HAL Group's CEO comes from Princess where they eliminated all Fixed Dining in favor of a "Dine as you Wish" program.  This allows folks to reserve (through an App) a specific time, specific MDR (most Princess ships have 3), and a preferred table size.   When we were on the Enchanted Princess, every morning DW and I would look at the daily schedule and make a reservation for that same night.   But since the ship was only about 60% of capacity, we have no idea how well that system will work at 100% capacity.  For those that want Fixed Dining it was possible to book the same time and MDR for the entire cruise although I do not think the App allowed one to choose a specific table.

 

Hank

[terrydtx]

6 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

We would not be surprised.  The HAL Group's CEO comes from Princess where they eliminated all Fixed Dining in favor of a "Dine as you Wish" program.  This allows folks to reserve (through an App) a specific time, specific MDR (most Princess ships have 3), and a preferred table size.   When we were on the Enchanted Princess, every morning DW and I would look at the daily schedule and make a reservation for that same night.   But since the ship was only about 60% of capacity, we have no idea how well that system will work at 100% capacity.  For those that want Fixed Dining it was possible to book the same time and MDR for the entire cruise although I do not think the App allowed one to choose a specific table.

 

Hank

On our Oosterdam cruise in August we were in anytime dining and a couple of nights when we arrived for dinner between 6:30 and 7pm, we were taken to tables in the fixed dining MDR upstairs because so many tables were empty in fixed dining and the staff needed the work. Not once in the 14 nights did, we have to wait for a table, and we not once prebooked a time. The cruise was at about 1400 passengers so not near capacity as well.

[REOVA]

1 hour ago, terrydtx said:

There have been some CC posts in the last couple of weeks that HAL is dropping fixed dining options and going all anytime.  One post I remember was from someone on the Rotterdam.

If they do, I'm sure there will be alot of upset passengers and they will have to allow folks to reserve times throughout the ship. Fixed dining is easier for the crew and we used to do it years ago but found we didn't always make it to dinner each night at the same time and didn't like leaving table mates eating by themselves.