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[quote name='legalslave']Getting early or late traditional dinning is not easy. We have booked 7 months in advance for our next cruise and were informed traditional dinning is not available. We have booked a year in advance and told it was not available. Many passengers would love to reserve traditional dinning, book way ahead of time of the cruise and are informed traditional dinning is not available when the ship is not anywhere near half booked.

Diane[/quote]

We just booked a cruise for 4 people in late Oct for the Ryndam 2 wks in Jan and were told that early seating was not available so we would have to take late seating which is OK with us. No one mentioned flexible eating. It has been my experience that early settings are always gone but late is always available. Once a cruise line messed up our times and gave us early by mistake. I had to go down to try to get it changed and everyone there was trying to get early seating. I just guessed that because HAL has a lot of older passengers that early was the most desired.
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[quote name='Mcscotty']My only option on our forthcoming cruise was "as you wish" and I tend to believe you would receive better, or possibly I should say more personal, service with fixed seating.

My only proof of this was on my first cruise when the anytime dining room was busy, we were put at a table for 8 with fixed seating passengers. The waiter hardly said two words to us, but kept bringing his regulars little extras and second portions of lobster without them asking (it had to have been lobster night!) On the other hand he wisked our plates away and didn't even offer us, very rude I thought.

The concept of "as you wish" suits us but I wondered if it's normal/a good idea to keep asking for a particular waiters area, if you find a good one early on?[/quote]

Hate to keep repeating myself but we signed up for a 2 wk cruise on the Ryndam for Jan 9th, only 10 wks ahead of time, and were told we needed to take late seating. No one mentioned anytime dining and we were not surprised to be assigned late because in our experience, early seating is always gone.
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Just back this morning from Amsterdam, having joined the last 19 days of this year's Grand Asia (review to follow). Upon Boarding in Sydney, we were informed that we were required to choose between 5:30 (too early) or 8:00 (with the show at 10:00--way too late).

The website indicates (through drop-downs at time of booking) that open seating is offered; a note in the printed brochure states that "select voyages feature traditional fixed dining". Holland America should revise this note to reflect a better understanding of 'feature'--perhaps using the word 'require' or adding the word 'only' to correctly set passenger expectations.

Moreover, how would one know beforehand rather the 8:00 pm seating has an early showtime (6:30 pm on Volendam) or a late showtime (10:00 pm on Amsterdam)? Edited by Jezebel's Master
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[FONT="Comic Sans MS"][SIZE="4"]Since we never intended to try Open Dining, I thought I'd share a recent experience:

We have always booked early enough to receive our preferred "Early Upper" dining, till we did a last minute Ryndam in November. Our only choice at booking was Open Dining. We had an S Suite, so knew we could switch once onboard, but decided to give Open a try. To our surprise, we loved it - and will choose that in the future. Table service was every bit as good as "upstairs" and we thoroughly enjoyed every meal we had there. We much prefer a table for two, and did receive that seating without needing to wait - though we appeared between 5:30 and 6:30 each evening, which I think avoided the rush. We especially liked that it didn't matter if we felt we were running late, or if we were dining elsewhere - it was just a matter of doing "As we wish".

Our only dilemma was how to tip the extra that we like to do - not knowing if we would have the same dining stewards each night. We decided to leave our tip on the table each night, in cash. That worked out perfectly for us, and we felt like we were able to take care of the specific people who were taking care of us.[/SIZE][/FONT]
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We have been on HAL with RSVP charters and have had flexible open dining for the last two years and have not encountered any problems. (Other than my usual issue with the wine stewards not getting to us soon enough after sitting down).

I have to add that a charter such as RSVP is not the usual HAL crowd and what time people decide to eat can be very different from a regular cruise: there can be a party on deck late afternoon and a must-see entertainment act in the theater and trying to see and do everything there may be sudden rushes on the dining room.

I spoke to someone on staff and they said it is a challenge for them since they cannot always predict it but they seem to be able to manage well. They will move servers around to accomodate this (we have seen Canaletto waiters work the dining room). Wait times and the length of dinners have not been an issue. Then again, the RSVP crowd is pretty flexible on who they eat with too. Lately we have always dined with friends whereas in teh beginning we often opted to join another table. We have made too many friends on these charters. :)
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  • 2 weeks later...
LindaJ, the answer is YES. I had open seating for a 10-day cruise and never made a reservation once. Was seated immediately upon arriving at the DR podium. I will say I was willing to sit with other people, and that helped a lot.

Roz
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Hello...and a special hello to Roz! We dined with you, I think it was on the Veendam or the Volendam, out of Tampa about 4-5 years ago. We were friends of Gulfcoaster, and dined on upper level at a 5top. Great Cruise!

Now the reason for this post. We just returned from a Back to Back, but not the usual kind. We first sailed a wester Carib. itin. on the Nieuw Amsterdam, then changed terminals and ships, and sailed on the Ruby Princess to the Eastern Carib. This post is about our experiences with the Anytime Dining on the Nieuw Amsterdam.

First of all, we booked late, so were assigned to Open Dining. We were dismayed, and hoped that we could change to Traditional Dining once on board. We are a Traditional kind of couple, and love having the same waiter team each evening, and love the interaction with that same team. We always tip generously, extra, at the end of the cruise, and prefer this kind of dining to a different waitor every evening. In the past, we had one experience with Open Dining, and were able to change easily with the kind and understanding Maitre'D. Unfortunately, this time on the Nieuw Amsterdam, we were told it was not possible to change, and we needed to call the special phone number for reservations. There followed several days of never knowing when or what time or with whom or at what size table we would be able to dine. We were told various versions about when we were to call for reservations, we were terribly frustrated because we could never understand the person taking the reservations, and it was never the same person. We always got the reply, "The only times you can get a reservation are at 5:30 or at 9:00." Since we don't like to eat that early or that late, we often just hung up, because the voice at the other end would only repeat this statement over and over. We could not deal with the Maitre'D at the podium, as he always said to call for a reservation, and he was never able to give us a reservation or change us to Traditional Dining. We tried Caneletto and did have a reasonable experience, but not wanting to eat there every evening, we continued to deal with the reservationless system. Eventually, during the course of the cruise, we met another couple that we enjoyed, and we were able to arrange to have a particular table, however early at 5:30, for a couple of nights in a row. It is a lousy system if you are not interested in Open Dining. If you like Open Dining, it works just fine, and I know many people are happy with it. However, for us, the frustrations of trying to get a reasonable time for a reservation just put an unhappy cast over our weeks' cruise. The ship is lovely, but we could tell that Holland is cutting down on crew numbers, not only in the dining rooms, but with cabin stewards as well.

Now, we don't know what to do, as we had already booked a transatlantic on the N.A. for next year, and we have been assigned Open Dining....We will attempt to change it to Traditional Dining, and if we cannot, we are going to have to decide if we will need to cancel it, even though we love the itinerary. My husband and I cannot face the thought of trying to call and call and call to get a reservation for something other than 5:30 or 9:00. Edited by flyingA
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Not to highjack this thread, but a big hi to FlyingA. Yes, I remember you and the Gulfcoasters - it was the Veendam out of Tampa.

Neither 5:30 nor 9:00 would be acceptable to me.

Roz
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[quote name='flyingA']Now, we don't know what to do, as we had already booked a transatlantic on the N.A. for next year, and we have been assigned Open Dining....We will attempt to change it to Traditional Dining, and if we cannot, we are going to have to decide if we will need to cancel it, even though we love the itinerary. My husband and I cannot face the thought of trying to call and call and call to get a reservation for something other than 5:30 or 9:00.[/QUOTE]
[FONT="Comic Sans MS"][SIZE="4"]I can understand how frustrating your experience had to be. The trick, I think, is to simply appear without a reservation. That's how we did it and we were seated immediately each time. If you happen upon tablemates you'd like to dine with again, simply agree to meet at the dining room entrance at a certain time. You will easily be seated together - though not always with the same staff to serve you.

The reservation system for Open Dining definitely needs some work, but my experience is that they DO take good care of the walk-ins.[/SIZE][/FONT]
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I agree competely with Donna. We have enjoyed Open Dining on three HAL cruises a Princess cruise and a Celebrity cruise and have been happy with all of them. We show up around 6 PM and tell them we are willing to sit at any table. We are seated immediately every time,
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I agree, I had more success with just walking in than trying to make reservations. People were surprised when I told them I got seated at 6:30 or 7:30 - they thought since reservations were only being taken for very early or very late that those were the only possible times they could be seated.

Roz
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I think it may depend on the ship. Certainly on our three cruises on Rotterdam and one on Prinsendam there was no problem at all with the booking system and on two of the cruises we actuallly booked a specific table and waiter.

When we did not make reservations we turned up around 7 pm and were seated immediately. Again as has been stated we did not specify size of table. Edited by mancunian
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Just back from Noordam 10 day and Eurodam 8 day and I can only say that the title 'As You Wish' does not really tell the truth.

You can book three nights in advance only. We tried calling as early as 7am and could not obtain a table for two at 7pm, being told they were booked. I understand suite occupants have priority but I think HAL push you to a seating time that coincides with early or late sitting.
On the Christmas cruise we were always able to obtain 7.45pm bookings.

It is all done by laptop and software and is very complex with cards being delivered to your cabin indicating table etc.

Having sailed on four NCL cruises the system they use seems to me simple and efficient.

Having asked various questions among staff and guests there seems to often be upset and frustrated passemgers but I agree you cannot please everyone. The food on HAL was a great improvement on NCL and who knows that may be because the system they operate makes life easier in the kitchen and allows the chefs to produce reasonable quality food that is hot.
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  • 3 weeks later...
[FONT="Century Gothic"]G'day,

It is good to read some of the advice contained in these posts. I wonder if there are any other Aussies who will be aboard for this trip when we sail in [B]Noordam[/B] in late July around the Med.

We are really looking forward to the trip with a little time in London and one week in Rome before the cruise followed by another week in London and returning to Australia via Penang for 5 days, to unwind on the way home.

Looking forward to meeting some of you long term HAL sailors... I used to travel Grey Funnel Line, but have now retired and am looking forward to the relative luxury of HAL, although it is gunna be hard to control my urges to wander onto the bridge or down into the engine-room etc....!

Cheers for now from flood-bound Queensland, Australia. ;)[/FONT]
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  • 2 weeks later...
[quote name='Hello_Sailor'][FONT=Century Gothic]G'day,[/FONT]

[FONT=Century Gothic]It is good to read some of the advice contained in these posts. I wonder if there are any other Aussies who will be aboard for this trip when we sail in [B]Noordam[/B] in late July around the Med.[/FONT]

[FONT=Century Gothic]We are really looking forward to the trip with a little time in London and one week in Rome before the cruise followed by another week in London and returning to Australia via Penang for 5 days, to unwind on the way home.[/FONT]

[FONT=Century Gothic]Looking forward to meeting some of you long term HAL sailors... I used to travel Grey Funnel Line, but have now retired and am looking forward to the relative luxury of HAL, although it is gunna be hard to control my urges to wander onto the bridge or down into the engine-room etc....![/FONT]

[FONT=Century Gothic]Cheers for now from flood-bound Queensland, Australia. ;)[/FONT][/quote]

[quote name='Hello_Sailor'][FONT=Century Gothic]G'day,[/FONT]

[FONT=Century Gothic]It is good to read some of the advice contained in these posts. I wonder if there are any other Aussies who will be aboard for this trip when we sail in [B]Noordam[/B] in late July around the Med.[/FONT]

[FONT=Century Gothic]We are really looking forward to the trip with a little time in London and one week in Rome before the cruise followed by another week in London and returning to Australia via Penang for 5 days, to unwind on the way home.[/FONT]

[FONT=Century Gothic]Looking forward to meeting some of you long term HAL sailors... I used to travel Grey Funnel Line, but have now retired and am looking forward to the relative luxury of HAL, although it is gunna be hard to control my urges to wander onto the bridge or down into the engine-room etc....![/FONT]

[FONT=Century Gothic]Cheers for now from flood-bound Queensland, Australia. ;)[/FONT][/quote]

Hello Sailor...

First of all welcome to Cruise Critic...I just came across your post & unfortunately no one has seen it..The reason your post has not been seen or answered, is that you posted on the "As You Wish Dining Thread" which is a stickey & not often read..The thread you posted on is only about Dining on all HAL ships...I doubt that you will find anyone on your cruise there..

However there is a way to look your cruise up:

May I suggest that you go on to the Roll Call Boards:

[URL]http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=86[/URL]

Then Scroll down & click on the Noordam Roll Call:

[URL]http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=316[/URL]

Then you will have to click on the date of your cruise...Since you don't mention a date I can't help you there..You will find many posters on your particular cruise..Don't know if any of them are Aussies but go through all the pages...

Hope you see this & are able to follow the directions..

Cheers....Betty
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[quote name='GmaPajama'] [SIZE=4][FONT=Comic Sans MS]We much prefer a table for two,.... We especially liked that it didn't matter if we felt we were running late...".[/FONT][/SIZE]

[SIZE=4][FONT=Comic Sans MS]Our only dilemma was how to tip the extra that we like to do - not knowing if we would have the same dining stewards each night. We decided to leave our tip on the table each night, in cash. That worked out perfectly for us, and we felt like we were able to take care of the specific people who were taking care of us.[/FONT][/SIZE][/quote]

You've given two reasons we prefer a flexible dining option as opposed to traditional. Our first two cruises were when fixed seating was the only choice to dine in the main dining room. I dislike being tied to a schedule when I'm on vacation and we got seated with some folks that were not the easiest for us to chat with.....luck of the draw!

I like your suggestion of tipping on the table each night! As we've used flexible dining, I notice some waiter/server teams definately go above and beyond requirements while others meet minimum standards. Thanks for the idea. We'll try it on our next cruise. May I ask about what amount you consider leaving each night?
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  • 3 weeks later...
[quote name='serendipity1499']Hello Sailor...

First of all welcome to Cruise Critic...I just came across your post & unfortunately no one has seen it..The reason your post has not been seen or answered, is that you posted on the "As You Wish Dining Thread" which is a stickey & not often read..The thread you posted on is only about Dining on all HAL ships...I doubt that you will find anyone on your cruise there..

However there is a way to look your cruise up:

May I suggest that you go on to the Roll Call Boards:

[URL]http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=86[/URL]

Then Scroll down & click on the Noordam Roll Call:

[URL]http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=316[/URL]

Then you will have to click on the date of your cruise...Since you don't mention a date I can't help you there..You will find many posters on your particular cruise..Don't know if any of them are Aussies but go through all the pages...

Hope you see this & are able to follow the directions..

Cheers....Betty[/QUOTE]

Thank you for your advice and for finding my nearly 'invisible' posting Betty.
We will have a look at the threads that you recommended.
Our Cruise starts from Rome on Noordam on 16 August, 2011 for 20 days...probably too short a period, but it should be a lovely cruise.
Cheers, Les...
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We had open dining on our Prinsendam 24 day cruise and loved it. We never made reservations, just showed up when we were ready. Usually were at a table for 8. We met so many interesting people and then saw them throughout the cruise. Don't think we would have made as many friends if we had traditional dining.
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  • 4 weeks later...
My wife and I have begun cruising late in life, due both to age and mobility problems (the latter should not now be the problem it was because we finally got my wife's botched surgery sorted out and she can now get around quite well!).
Anyway, we've had cruises on Princess and Celebrity, and would like to try HAL. I have not gone through the 91 pages on this thread to see if this question's already been answered, so here goes:
On Celebrity we had a dining arrangement where we had to appear at a certain time and sit with the same two couples. This did not work for us. On Princess we ate exclusively in the buffet, with flexibility as to dining time and the chance to eat food that was healthier for us and in portion sizes of our choosing.
Within HAL's "anytime dining" category is there also a buffet-type of dining option like Princess has? If so, is it difficult to navigate?
Thank you,
Ray Mac
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We were on the Zaandam in Sept 2009. They had anytime dining back then. Or you could pick a set time. The set time people were upstairs and the any time were downstairs. We would just show up, the Maitre'D would ask how many and if we wanted to dine with other people. Then we would be seated. There was one night where we had to wait for 15 minutes. I thought that the all the HA ships offered Anytime or Freestyle.:D
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[quote name='fud2468']My wife and I have begun cruising late in life, due both to age and mobility problems (the latter should not now be the problem it was because we finally got my wife's botched surgery sorted out and she can now get around quite well!).
Anyway, we've had cruises on Princess and Celebrity, and would like to try HAL. I have not gone through the 91 pages on this thread to see if this question's already been answered, so here goes:
On Celebrity we had a dining arrangement where we had to appear at a certain time and sit with the same two couples. This did not work for us. On Princess we ate exclusively in the buffet, with flexibility as to dining time and the chance to eat food that was healthier for us and in portion sizes of our choosing.
Within HAL's "anytime dining" category is there also a buffet-type of dining option like Princess has? If so, is it difficult to navigate?
Thank you,
Ray Mac[/quote]

We just returned from a week-long Southern Caribbean cruise on the Westerdam, and chose the "As You Wish" dining option; we loved it. We never made a reservation, and showed up at various times throughout the week. The maitre d' asked if we would share a table, we always said "yes", and we NEVER had a wait. We often had wonderful tables by a window, especially when we arrived early.

We ate several meals in the Lido; it was usually busy, but we always managed to find a seat. The food was quite good. We enjoyed several breakfasts in the main dining roon - big selection, excellent food.
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[quote name='fud2468']My wife and I have begun cruising late in life, due both to age and mobility problems (the latter should not now be the problem it was because we finally got my wife's botched surgery sorted out and she can now get around quite well!).
Anyway, we've had cruises on Princess and Celebrity, and would like to try HAL. I have not gone through the 91 pages on this thread to see if this question's already been answered, so here goes:
On Celebrity we had a dining arrangement where we had to appear at a certain time and sit with the same two couples. This did not work for us. On Princess we ate exclusively in the buffet, with flexibility as to dining time and the chance to eat food that was healthier for us and in portion sizes of our choosing.
Within HAL's "anytime dining" category is there also a buffet-type of dining option like Princess has? If so, is it difficult to navigate?
Thank you,
Ray Mac[/quote]

Ray Mac,
Yes, HAL allows you to go the buffet any night at any time it is open (5:30 to 9 PM) and you can have whatever portions you want and sit whereever there is an empty table. All for no extra charge. They are very good about this, much better than Celebrity and as good as Princess except Princess is open 24 hours a day. You will like the buffet on HAL, called the Lido. Also, you can make no-cost reservations at the Italian Restaraunt called The Canalletto in one corner of the Lido area and it serves excellent Italian food. There are lots of dining options! Plus the Room Serivce is open 24 hours a day at no charge!
Bill
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