"As You Wish" dining... is it really over?

[kryos]

OK....I'm totally confused now! So, I got "traditional", "as you wish" and now "at your leisure" with the 30 minute window. I know I won't go hungry but couldn't I just eat at 7:30 with my spouse? I don't want to make plans with a bunch of strangers and their dietary wishes and whims.

I think "leisure dining" was the first stage of the "experiment." It meant that you had an assigned table, but could arrive anytime within a certain window. That's the concept where, if you had others at your table, some people can arrive in the early part of the window, while others arrive later. Everyone could conceivably be on different courses, or the early birds would be "slowed down" to let the late arrivals catch up and get everyone on the same course.

 

The "Dine as You Wish" seems to be the second stage of the "experiment" and it's a situation where you don't necessarily have an assigned table. You arrive in the dining room at any time within a much larger window, and you tell the matri 'd what kind of a table you want. If you and your spouse wish to eat alone, then you just tell the Matri 'd that you want a table for two. You might have to wait a bit if all the tables for two are occupied, but you can eat exclusively with your spouse if that is what you wish to do. However, if you don't want to wait ... say, the Matri 'd tells you it will be about half an hour for a table for two ... you could opt to be seated at a large table with several others. I assume everybody will be about on the same course because the stewards won't begin taking orders until that larger table is full. Think about it being the same as with breakfast and lunch in the dining room.

 

So, no ... you won't have to make plans with others even under the "Dine as You Wish" experiment. You can just request a table for two and wait, if necessary, for it.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[GeriatricNurse]

Hi Heather. Hi Ward. Happy Saturday! :)

 

Honestly, I've been tempted in the past to venture over to Celebrity, but one thing is holding me back....

 

This might seem very inconsequential to you....but...:o

 

Apparently, Celebrity now only allows 2 bottles of wine per room.

 

Dom and I have a 70+ acre spread here. We work hard and play hard.

 

We bring along a case of wine/bubbly for a cruise, but also spend a great deal in the lounges.

 

I fear that all of the lines are going to adopt the same wine guidelines...if so, it'll be back to land based vacations. (Which saddens me).

 

I wish now that I would have done a Celebrity cruise prior to their new wine limitation. :(

 

 

That would be of no concern to us as although being wine drinkers, we do & would not want to be bothered with purchasing, packing & transporting wine onboard. We find that we have enough concerns involved with our luggage, docs, etc.

[GeriatricNurse]

OK....I'm totally confused now! So, I got "traditional", "as you wish" and now "at your leisure" with the 30 minute window. I know I won't go hungry but couldn't I just eat at 7:30 with my spouse? I don't want to make plans with a bunch of strangers and their dietary wishes and whims.

 

Pinnacle Grill...here I come!

 

 

It would be either/both PG (or Lido) for us as well!

[GeriatricNurse]

Cocokai, add to your list of dinning names "Mystery Dinning". It seems to be a more appropriate description of the new dinning on HAL than the names HAL has been advertising.

 

Diane

 

 

Exactly! "Mystery Dining" would be the perfect name for this dining "experience"!

[ekerr19]

Did the letter not say, "Reservations may only be make onboard"? If so, that's different from, "must make a reservation".

 

Allowing reservations for open dining would seem to exacerbate any waiting issues. I understand there was a dining time period (likely busy time for the dining room) for which reservations could not be made.

 

Fred

 

Fred - I don't see how it really is any different. If we want to dine at a certain time, we have to make a reservation onboard. I am not the least bit interested in "maximum flexibility to dish as I wish".

 

We booked this cruise and were told we had upper level dining, 8:00pm. I get my docs and they have switched us to lower level, dine as you wish with the letter explaining the concept.

 

This is not what we want.

 

I called my TA and she tells me that she doubled checked with HAL - not only could we not be switched to 8:00pm as we always request (there is already a large waiting list), but that HAL has decided to abandon the "As you Wish" dining for the time being on the Oosterdam - it was merely an experiment for 30 days. How accurate this is - I can't say. That is why I decided to post the thread.

 

Those people that like the new dining concept - fine by me. It doesn't appeal to me in the least, sorry. The fact that there is already a huge waiting list for dining the traditional way (on the upper level) speaks volumes to me - and it should to HAL.

[ekerr19]

double post

[fsalzer]

Fred - I don't see how it really is any different. If we want to dine at a certain time, we have to make a reservation onboard.

 

I don't understand why anyone using open dining must make a reservation to dine at a certain time. I do understand if one must have a specific table or waiter but, to me, that's inconsistent with the open-dining concept and not fair to others because of the reduced utility of the tables.

 

We frequently dine with with our new onboard friends and simply agree with them to meet at the dining room entrance (or some other location) and then proceed to the MD to be seated. It has always worked well for us.

 

If we are not dining with new friends, we ask to share a table of 6 or 8 so we may enjoy the company of others.

 

With all-traditional dining, there will always be those that don't get the seating they want. We ate at the Lido Restaurant (very nice) on our first HAL cruise because we were assigned late seating and couldn't get the seating changed.

 

Fred

[serendipity1499]

Fred...You said that you never waited for a table at the time you wanted to eat.. I'm curious to know what ship you were on & what time you went for dinner?

 

Hal's our favorite cruise line & have enjoyed traditional Dining. We usually book an 8:30 seating...However, since the "Prinsendam" to the Amazon in Nov. 2005 was wait-listed, we decided to book NCL's "Crown" to S.A for our Friend's 50th Anniv..(Please don't say we were traitors;) )

 

None of us were sure how we would take to "Free Style Dining"...We all had tried it on the "Dream" Trans-Atlantic for 17 days in 2002 (just when NCL first started it) & the service & wait time was horrendous:( ..This was such a disaster.that we vowed never to take NCL again..We've since learned never to say never again..LOL

 

We were pleasantly surprised & Free Style worked well for us..Our DH's wanted an earlier dinner, so we went to the Dining room between 7 & 7:15 every night..We always got in within 5 minutes..Twice we waited a few more minutes for a table for 8 with the fun CC group...The service was excellent & the stewards were friendly... It was a wonderful cruise!

 

Wonder if "free style" worked because the "Crown" is a smaller ship with only 800 plus passengers...

 

Would like to hear your comments on this..Betty

 

P.S. DH still does not like "free style", but I'm keeping an open mind..

[ekerr19]

I don't understand why anyone using open dining must make a reservation to dine at a certain time.

Fred

 

Fred -

 

I'm just telling you what the letter says. I was supposed to have traditional dining - Upper level, 8:00pm. Instead, I get a letter telling me I am now dining on the lower level and if I wish to dine at a specific time, I must make a reservation once I get onboard.

 

If I don't care what time I eat, it sounds like I just show up at the lower level any time I want and they seat me - sort of like how they do for breakfast and lunch. This is not what I want. I want the same time & table every night. That is why I requested traditional.

[constructiondude]

Rita-I had always asked for a table for 8 and was often the first person to be seated. The immediately expected me to place my order and when others were seated, they placed theirs. A couple of times I did wait to see if others were to be seated so we could all be on the same course at the same time, but this wasn't always the case and the waiters didn't seem to mind; they expected it.

 

ekerr19-Did they moved you to as you wish dining after you had been confirmed? I was only waitlisted when I had been moved, but I was #12 on the list. Since I booked my cruise over 2 months ahead of time I fully expected to get a confirmed traditional dining time.

[Old As Dirt Mom]

Trying to bring up the Dude's post. It seems to be trapped in the great white vortex......

[constructiondude]

thank you, i'm about ready to throw in the towel....today's score has been:

 

WSOD 4

the dude 1

[dolls4sell]

It's like everything else (CHANGE) no one likes change. HAL is just trying it out and I am sure letters are being written. Like anything else there are problems when they try something new and if they do decide to do this I am sure there will be alot of bugs to work out. As for me,I will not switch from HAL because of this when I go out to eat I ususally have to wait about 20 min to be seated.

Going on the Maasdam 10/30 10 days

[ekerr19]

ekerr19-Did they moved you to as you wish dining after you had been confirmed? I was only waitlisted when I had been moved, but I was #12 on the list. Since I booked my cruise over 2 months ahead of time I fully expected to get a confirmed traditional dining time.

 

Yes, we were moved after we had confirmed upper level, 8:00pm. However, when I called my TA when we got the docs, she she that the "experiment" ended 1/31/07 and that the lower level is back to fixed dining - so we are at 8:30pm, a table for 8. It's a bit late for us and it is our Anniversary cruise, but if it's truly fixed at 8:30pm when we board, we'll be ok with it. She said that 8:00pm has a long waitlist and she has no idea why they moved us...

[ekerr19]

Another double - sorry.

[fsalzer]

Fred...You said that you never waited for a table at the time you wanted to eat.. I'm curious to know what ship you were on & what time you went for dinner?

 

Betty, we have chosen open dining on HAL Oosterdam, Star Princess and Oceania Regatta. The only time we have waited for a table was on Star Princess and that wait was less that 5 minutes, inconsequential to us. That wait wasn't for a open table, but because others were being seated ahead of us. We usually arrive for dinner sometime between 6:00pm and 7:30pm.

 

Fred

[HeatherInFlorida]

...............Apparently, Celebrity now only allows 2 bottles of wine per room............... :(

 

NNN, do you mean to bring on yourself? If so, I don't know the answer to that. Not sure if you ever noticed in my posts but DH and I consumed our lifetime allotment of alcohol many years ago so this is a non-issue for us.:D

 

This thread seems to bear out what I've been reading on these boards since these experiments began ... with rare exception, both new cruisers and experienced cruisers are befuddled, confused and basically just not that happy with the idea.

 

From what I read here with "As You Wish" dining you are not required to make a reservation unless you want a specific time. Otherwise you just show up. That's just dandy in theory, but if you get to the DR and there are no tables available, you wait. And that leaves the possibility of those having their meals being pushed to finish.

 

One person mentions they have no issue with waiting 20 minutes for a table because they do it at home. Maybe I'm weird, but I don't like it at home either and avoid restaurants where I have to wait. And when I'm on vacation I don't want to wait! It's that simple. I love the feeling of going to dinner, walking in, sitting down with new friends and enjoying a long, leisurely meal. No pressure, no hassles, no waiting, no stress:) .

 

Hopefully I'll continue to get that on HAL's smaller ships and on Celebrity. But I will not cruise on any ship that doesn't offer us that. It's just my opinion ... a highly personal decision ... and there's no right or wrong about it. It all depends on what you enjoy.

[fsalzer]

I'm just telling you what the letter says. I was supposed to have traditional dining - Upper level, 8:00pm. Instead, I get a letter telling me I am now dining on the lower level and if I wish to dine at a specific time, I must make a reservation once I get onboard.

 

Here's an excerpt from the letter, signed by James Deering, that I received:

"The lower level dining room on Deck 2 features open dining. You may choose to dine anytime between 5:15pm and 9:30pm. Reservations may only be made onboard. You will not have to make reservations if you would prefer leaving yourself maximum flexibility to dine as you wish. Information on making reservations will be provided to you when you embark."

 

Perhaps we interpret the same words in a different manner. I understand from that letter that if we wanted to dine at a specific time, we would just show up at that specific time. And, that's exactly what we did and exactly the result we achieved.

 

Did the letter you received have something different? If so, would you please quote the relevant part and advise who signed it?

 

Fred

[Timoneer]

My wife and I were on the 1/13 Oosterdam sailing and enjoyed the "As You Wish" dining format. We both thought that it worked as well, if not better, than Princess' system. We ate at a variety of times, sometimes by ourselves, sometimes with another CC couple we met on the cruise, and sometimes at a larger table. If we wanted to join a larger table, we always could have been seated immediately. Mostly we wanted a table for 2 or for 4, so sometimes had to wait a few minutes (the longest being about 5 minutes when we arrived at 7:30pm). All of the wait staff were friendly and helpful. Some of staff we talked to said they liked "As You Wish" because it spread things out and they could better manage food delivery, etc.

While on the cruise we were told that the following week, i.e., the 1/20 cruise, corporate people would be on board to evaluate the experiment to date (I understood that the experiment was designed for 4 weeks). Afterwards, a decision would be made at some point to implement the program permanently, further modify it, or abandon the concept.

 

While we will continue to sail HAL with or without "As You Wish" dining, I hope that they continue to offer it as an alternative to traditional dining.

[HeatherInFlorida]

Timoneer and FSalzer, I'm really glad you both had a good experience with this experiment and glad you posted that you did. Very often only people with complaints about something end up saying anything at all ... it's just the way we are:) .

 

It still isn't for me for a ton of other reasons beyond the possible wait ... I happen to like having the same waiters every night. I like that they get to know me and I them. I like we can give them something extra over the autotip at the end of the cruise. I like knowing that I have the same table every night with the same people.

 

But I also understand these things aren't important to everyone. So we'll see how it all plays out as HAL gets feedback over time.

[Noordam III]

Here's an excerpt from the letter, signed by James Deering, that I received:

"The lower level dining room on Deck 2 features open dining. You may choose to dine anytime between 5:15pm and 9:30pm. Reservations may only be made onboard. You will not have to make reservations if you would prefer leaving yourself maximum flexibility to dine as you wish. Information on making reservations will be provided to you when you embark."

 

Perhaps we interpret the same words in a different manner. I understand from that letter that if we wanted to dine at a specific time, we would just show up at that specific time. And, that's exactly what we did and exactly the result we achieved.

 

Did the letter you received have something different? If so, would you please quote the relevant part and advise who signed it?

 

Fred

 

Your letter still states you must (unless you prefer maximum flexibility) make a reservation, does it not? Perhaps some folks prefer to know they will be at the same table at the same time every night. Just a thought.

[jtl513]

"As you wish" will probably be a necessity on the Signature class (Eurodam and later) ships, with 200 more pax and the same size dining room as the Vistas ... but the Sig class will have 3 specialty restaurants, not just the Pinnacle. IMHO it will never be tried on the R&S class ships, and whether it stays or goes on the Vistas is very debatable right now. Maybe HAL will retro-fit the Vistas with an extra deck and a couple more specialty dining rooms? :confused:

[fsalzer]

Your letter still states you must (unless you prefer maximum flexibility) make a reservation, does it not? Perhaps some folks prefer to know they will be at the same table at the same time every night. Just a thought.

 

It doesn't say one must make a reservation, it says, "Reservations may (emphasis added) only be made onboard. You will not have to make reservations (emphasis added) if you would prefer leaving yourself maximum flexibility to dine as you wish." We never made reservations and we were always seated immediately.

 

Choosing As You Wish Dining's traditional-fixed-dining option gives one "the same table at the same time every night." Also, one will likely have the same waitstaff.

 

A nice feature of As You Wish Dining is passengers have an additional choice of dining times.

 

Fred

[ekerr19]

It doesn't say one must make a reservation, it says, "Reservations may (emphasis added) only be made onboard. You will not have to make reservations (emphasis added) if you would prefer leaving yourself maximum flexibility to dine as you wish." We never made reservations and we were always seated immediately.

 

Choosing As You Wish Dining's traditional-fixed-dining option gives one "the same table at the same time every night." Also, one will likely have the same waitstaff.

 

A nice feature of As You Wish Dining is passengers have an additional choice of dining times.

 

Fred

 

Well, I'm not going to split hairs with you about it anymore..

 

The letter states clearly that if you want maximum flexibility you don't need to make reservations. I have previously stated that I want to eat at the same table at the same time - every night. Period. You can try and spin it anyway you want - it's pretty clear to me; and yes - I have that letter.

 

I'm happy you liked the concept, however I like to have the same dining companions and the same dining time & table each evening.

 

There is no way that would be guaranteed under the "flexible" concept and quite frankly, I'm just getting tired of trying to justify how I feel, sorry.

[ekerr19]

It doesn't say one must make a reservation, it says, "Reservations may (emphasis added) only be made onboard. You will not have to make reservations (emphasis added) if you would prefer leaving yourself maximum flexibility to dine as you wish." We never made reservations and we were always seated immediately.

 

Choosing As You Wish Dining's traditional-fixed-dining option gives one "the same table at the same time every night." Also, one will likely have the same waitstaff.

 

A nice feature of As You Wish Dining is passengers have an additional choice of dining times.

 

Fred

 

Well, I'm not going to split hairs with you about it anymore..

 

The letter states clearly that if you want maximum flexibility you don't need to make reservations. I have previously stated that I want to eat at the same table at the same time - every night. Period. You can try and spin it anyway you want - it's pretty clear to me; and yes - I have that letter.

 

I'm happy you liked the concept, however I like to have the same dining companions and the same dining time & table each evening.

 

There is no way that would be guaranteed under the "flexible" concept and quite frankly, I'm just getting tired of trying to justify how I feel, sorry.