Is As You Wish Dining Really That Bad?

[kryos]

1) I'm a traditionalist, fixed dining person.

2) AYWD seemed too open, too wild for me.

 

a) I had to take AYWD because traditional was filled.

b) I absolutely loved it

c) I made friends each night I would see during the cruise

d) I e-mailed my TA from the ship and told her to switch my dining to AYWD for my next cruise.

 

I had the same sort of experience on the QE2, but then I predicted I would enjoy it.

 

But there were differences.

 

QE2 dining is set up differently. You have your assigned table for every meal ... in the same dining room, generally same waitstaff (day and evening staffs). We were in the Caronia Dining Room (based on our cabin selection) and the nice thing about this dining room (from my perspective) was that it had a small smoking section ... something you don't see on any other cruise ships today.

 

I was traveling and sharing my cabin with a friend, so I knew I would always have companionship for dinner. We had a four-top, but were the only two people assigned to it. It would have been very miserable for me if I had been at that table alone, because I was traveling solo.

 

I loved the flexibility of having "windows" of time for each meal wherein I could show up at the dining room and eat. I also liked knowing that we had the same waitstaff each day ... and I always had my fellow smoker and cabin mate to dine with.

 

On HAL I would not at all like open dining ... not if I were traveling alone.

 

I have it on my upcoming 35-day cruise on the Statendam this September, but only because I lost my traditional when I cancelled and rebooked due to a price drop of close to a grand. My hope is that if I am not happy with it, I will be able to change after a few days. I also have friends onboard and figure I will eat with them many nights, so maybe AYWD might not be so bad if I can't change it.

 

So, I'm glad you enjoyed your AYWD experience. I think I could enjoy mine too, but only under certain circumstances.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[kryos]

I wonder if there aren't quite a few different systems around HAL all being called As You Wish dining?

I think maybe the ones allowed to have a set time and table each night may be those who got closed out of traditional and were not happy about it. If you think about it, when you do this, you basically convert a table in AYWD to traditional dining. There is no difference. You have the same waitstaff now, and the same table and tablemates. What's the difference between that and traditional dining now, except that you are on a different level of the dining room?

 

Personally, for someone who purposely booked AYWD, I cannot for the life of me understand why they would want to do this. The whole point of AYWD, as far as I'm concerned, is the flexibility it offers. I am in port today, I want to eat late tonight. Tomorrow we are at sea, and maybe I want to dine a bit earlier so that I can do some nighttime activities onboard the ship. AYWD gives me that flexibility, but only if I don't bother with reservations. When I want to eat, I just show up with my party and ask for a table. If they are busy and give me a beeper, I just pop in a nearby lounge, have a cocktail, and then go to my table when they beep for me half an hour or so later. Can't get any more convenient than that.

 

So, maybe that could be why we hear different reports of how AYWD works? Maybe it depends on why the passenger is assigned to it? By their own wish, then they are told they have to make a reservation (if they so desire) each day, and if forced into it, then maybe they are allowed to select their regular table and time?

 

Just a guess, but it would seem to make sense.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[Two if by Sea]

(Quoting K2Cruises)Only traditional diners receive the traditional Baked Alaska presentation

 

There are many here who might think this is reason enough to book Open Seating.:D

 

There were several things we didn't get because of our 5:30 open seating slot. The Yum Yum man and the mints were typically not yet available when we left around 7pm, for instance.

 

However, the Baked Alaska parade, complete with sparklers, happened JUST as we were leaving the dining room. We always left via the stairs up to the 8th level, and as we got there, the parade happened around us!

 

So there we were, decked out for second formal night, with the Executive Chef at our elbow, surrounded by sparklers and a Baked Alaska parade.

 

It felt like we were part of the show :).

[hammybee]

It is a bit like the blind men and the elephant, but I can see how people can have incredibly different reactions given all of the variations in how As You Wish is managed on each ship.

 

I think it may also vary sailing to sailing depending upon the dining whims of passengers, who passengers get their information from, while onboard and cabin class.

 

If, for example, if this week's passengers skew towards early dining, it might be easy to reserve the same table, for the same time, every night at a later time or just walk in and be seated.

 

Next week's batch of passengers might be a lot of smaller groups who want to dine together making it a cinch to snag a two top, at any time. Also those sailing in Deluxe ASuites get priority, whenever possible. Most posters are gracious enough not to announce their cabin class along with their dining experience, so we rarely know.

 

I guess what I am trying to say is that the variation is probably HAL's attemps to satisfy us, whenever possible.

[hammybee]

 

So there we were, decked out for second formal night, with the Executive Chef at our elbow, surrounded by sparklers and a Baked Alaska parade.

 

It felt like we were part of the show :).

 

Now that's a a good cruising story. Did you pick up a napkin and twirl it in the air?;)

[djhsolara]

We have always had traditional dining on HAL but recently had the open seating on Princess. I can say that based on this experience we love traditional seating.

 

We are two who have always had a table for two. I don't care what anyone says, unless I invite someone along we don't sit with others when we go out at home so I really don't care to do so on holiday.

 

We greatly enjoy knowing that we will have the same server and bar attendant who will have our beverages waiting for us when we sit down. It may sound silly...but it is little things like this that make cruising special for us.

 

AYWD may be better on HAL than on Princess...but we'll still take traditional. :)

[jrzebird]

Only traditional diners receive the traditional Baked Alaska presentation, only the traditional diners received the dining chair covers (the steward stated they didn't have enough) on formal nights.

 

Actually, we had the Baked Alaska presentation when we had AYW. Granted, it happened while we were eating our appetizers, but it went right by our table, sparklers, napking waving, and all. We also had dining chair covers on the last formal night.

 

We had AYW dining on our last cruise and went with an open mind. I loved it. It gave us many options to dine, both time and number we sat with, and it was all good.

[jeffs55]

I'm a traditionalist who loves the fixed seating/formal nights/yum yum chimes

etc.

I also enjoy NCL's freestyle because that's what NCL is.

Maybe I'm just trying to hold on to Niew Amsterdam 1987.

Thinking about booking HAL next winter...

Maybe we'll just have to learn to "play" as you wish as some other posters have done.

We've had some great tables on ships and some awful ones.

I guess it gives one some options.

Jeff

[cf_chuck]

What's the difference between that and traditional dining now, except that you are on a different level of the dining room?

 

Personally, for someone who purposely booked AYWD, I cannot for the life of me understand why they would want to do this. The whole point of AYWD, as far as I'm concerned, is the flexibility it offers. I am in port today, I want to eat late tonight. Tomorrow we are at sea, and maybe I want to dine a bit earlier so that I can do some nighttime activities onboard the ship. AYWD gives me that flexibility, but only if I don't bother with reservations.

 

From my experience, and everything I have read here, it is possible to make reservations each day for either early or late open seating. The reservations can be requested (and confirmed) for a specific table or a specific server section. The advantage of doing this is that there is a guaranteed time and continuity from day to day, with the increased flexibility of picking the time (within the constraints that the ship has). There is, of course, the added flexibility of walking up whenever and taking the chance of being assigned to a different section or waiting for a specific table or section to open up.

 

For those that reserve (or show up) at times that approximately correspond to the fixed seating times, there is no difference in the dining experiences that they have (special presentations, e.g.) compared to the fixed seating diners. The Chef's dinner, the baked alaska parade, the yum-yum man, the dinner chimes, whatever, at least based on my experience with open seating.

 

On the last cruise, where I was assigned to open seating, I did request fixed seating but the waitlist was full and I had no choice but to go with open. I had to reserve each day if I wanted a reservation, which I did.

 

Although I prefer fixed seating, because it affords an anchor around which I can plan, I don't think open seating is a particularly troublesome approach and it does provide increased flexibility for those that want the dining experience afforded in the main DR (something I appreciate) with an increased flexibility (which is something I think others appreciate more than me).

[hammybee]

with open seating.

 

Although I prefer fixed seating, because it affords an anchor around which I can plan, I don't think open seating is a particularly troublesome approach and it does provide increased flexibility for those that want the dining experience afforded in the main DR (something I appreciate) with an increased flexibility (which is something I think others appreciate more than me).

 

I like the way you framed this. :)

[Two if by Sea]

On the Maasdam last week, some people who didn't make reservations for dinner did find trouble getting a seat, especially in the middle hours (between 6pm and 7:30pm).

 

They really were pushing for everyone to make reservations for either 5:30ish or 7:45ish.

 

As I said earlier, we did get in without reservations at 6:00 pm three times, but I don't know if that's because we were in a suite or because we just happened to luck out.

 

But as I see it for the future, the advantages of open dining -- as practiced on the Maasdam at any rate -- are that one can choose early or late dining EACH NIGHT, and can sit with different people each night. They do NOT extend to the stated goal of being able to walk in ANYTIME. That wasn't a reality for many people.