Key West-less Ryndam 12/6-12/13/09

[Desdemona01]

Just returned from the Ryndam and have a few thoughts.

 

The Good:

1)Out of all of the HAL ships we've experienced so far, we both thought that the Ryndam was the most elegant and we loved her. She's looking a bit worn and in serious need of her upcoming drydock (we got to play the "will the toilet flush?" roulette for much of the cruise) but I hope they leave the *bones" intact--she's a lovely ship and our favorite size.

2)We spent a big part of each day in the crows nest reading and enjoying the amazing views. It really was our favorite part of the cruise and we got all of the rest and relaxation that we'd hoped for.

3) Matt, the cruise director. He clearly enjoys what he's doing and it shows--he's a true delight.

 

The Bad:

1)upon arrival at the port we were informed that Key West was being skipped in favor of Cozumel. We never book a cruise based exclusively upon the ports but, since Key West was the only port we were interested in on this cruise (we booked mainly for R&R time), we were not happy. Without exception, every single person we spoke with at dinner, trivia, in the Wajang, etc was very unhappy about the KW cancellation. Since this is the second time in a month the Captain has skipped Key West for non-weather related reasons I would caution anyone on future cruises of this itin to not count on visiting Key West if that is their primary intention.

2) Open Seating. This was our first experience, having booked fairly late and finding fixed seating wait listed. Our opinion--Open Seating is not for us, at all. As a vegetarian I was unable to order my meal ahead of time from the vegetarian menu so, as happened on two nights, if I didn't want the only veg offering on the MDR menu I had to fend for myself. We were seated with 2-3 different couples each night and only one preferred open seating, but admitted they were taking most of their evening meals in the Lido, anyway....

3) Food. We do not cruise for the food but have always enjoyed the variety and flavors of the offerings on the ships. This cruise left both of us very unimpressed. My DH, who is not a vegetarian, was disappointed with the uninspired menu and the actual preparation of the food. Along with my issues in the MDR I found that lunch in the Lido was not much easier. When I ordered a veggie burger at the poolside grill, instead of cooking it off to the side, as on previous cruises, this time it was cooked in the middle of 4 hamburgers, thus soaking up a lot of grease and making it inedible to me. The next day I tried for pasta with marinara sauce--the marinara sauce was there but both pastas available were made with meat. I actually skipped lunch the last two days of the cruise because I was tired of salad. Before the firestorm rains down on me, I know I could have found other options, ordered room service etc, but I just felt it really shouldn't have been that much work. At this point we'd been snarked at by several staff members and we both just gave up and tried to stay under the radar, which leads me to...

4) The Staff. We are people who truly enjoy traveling and appreciate every person who assists us in our experiences--please and thank you are always included in our requests/questions. We both agreed that we have never experienced the level of indifference/borderline hostility that we experienced and witnessed on this cruise. Outside of the cruise director, Matt, who is the BEST we've ever had on any cruise, the rest of our experience was not good. We said to each other, more than once, that we were so glad that we didn't bring friends with us on this cruise. Since we have been accused of being HAL cheerleaders by friends and family this cruise would have been a huge mistake if some of them had decided to join us. From the lifeless unsmiling woman at the Explorations Cafe coffee bar to the wine steward who verbally dressed us down because the wine steward from the night before had put our wine in the wrong spot (another *joy* of open seating), to the MDR stewards who clearly do not seem to be as enthusiastic and helpful since they aren't getting the tips that the fixed seating staff gets, it was not good. And the "cutting corners" was obvious everywhere, and not just because the Lido is tray-less. Portions are smaller and if you asked for more than a half-scoop of oatmeal the server sighed and made a huge effort to add more--and I guess I should have been happy that he gave me *6* raisins when I asked for raisins on my oatmeal (yes, I counted). During the week we met several seasoned Celebrity, RC and Princess cruisers who were having their first HAL cruise and we got to hear how much worse HAL was--we tried to tell them that this wasn't a traditional HAL experience but I don't think we convinced them.

 

In summary, despite the hiccups we had a relaxing cruise. But, for the first time in several cruises we did not purchase future cruise credit while on board. We have a Veendam cruise already booked for fall and future credit for one additional--if these two cruises show that this experience was the beginning of a pattern, and not an isolated experience, then most likely we will be spending our vacation dollars elsewhere.

[cruzeluver]

upon arrival at the port we were informed that Key West was being skipped in favor of Cozumel. We never book a cruise based exclusively upon the ports but, since Key West was the only port we were interested in on this cruise (we booked mainly for R&R time), we were not happy. Without exception, every single person we spoke with at dinner, trivia, in the Wajang, etc was very unhappy about the KW cancellation. Since this is the second time in a month the Captain has skipped Key West for non-weather related reasons I would caution anyone on future cruises of this itin to not count on visiting Key West if that is their primary intention.

 

So what reason, if any was given for skipping Key West?

[Desdemona01]

So what reason, if any was given for skipping Key West?

 

We weren't given one but some other passengers said they were told it was a problem with the desalinization tanks/process. A previous cruise a few weeks ago was told that KW wouldn't let them in, but that was incorrect because they were offered tendering and the Captain refused. So, who really knows why we didn't go.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thank you for taking the time to write your report.

 

Welcome Home!!

[the_dylaness]

I was on the same cruise with you and enjoyed hearing a different viewpoint. This is only our second HAL cruise and although there were a few minor bumps we were overall favorably impressed. Having said that, we ate Lido breakfast only twice, never went to Explorations Cafe, and didn't share many other experiences that you might've so we didn't have the same problems. I did find the lido servers to be fairly stingy with portions the few times I did eat there (esp breakfast--- a few tiny shreds of crab on the eggs benedict!) And I'm not a ravenous eater by any means. We enjoyed the Crow's Nest, too.

 

I hope your Veendam cruise is exceptional and you have a wonderful time!

[Desdemona01]

Thank you for taking the time to write your report.

 

Welcome Home!!

 

Thanks :) Still have a bit of a roll in my walk but it's getting better:o

[IRL_Joanie]

Welcome home and thank you for the review. I am sorry there were so many problems and hope that they can be fixed/remedied ASAP for future cruisers.

 

Bless you for still being able to enjoy your cruise!! And I hope that the next 2 with HAL are much much better than this one was!!

 

Joanie

[suenroy]

We were also on the Ryndam last week and I pretty well agree with everything. I've traveled before on HAL (Zuiderdam) and we really happy with everything. We had a first time cruiser with us this time and as she is a experienced traveller, she was really looking forward to her first cruise on HAL. All through the cruise she kept telling me what a great time she was having with very few exceptions. I totally agree with you about the food.

--On the last formal night I ordered the Filet Mignon and wasn't even able to eat it as it was over cooked and definately NOT a Filet (one of my other travelling companions grew up with a butcher so she know these things).

-- I ended up just ordering a bowl of berries for dessert most evenings as this was the only thing that I could be pretty sure was at least semi-fresh.

-- One of my friends almost got into an argument with one of the bartenders at the Lido Pool Bar as she ordered a drink that was not covered on the "cocktail card" and he didn't let her know until the drink was already made and the drink she ordered costed LESS than the drinks included. He didn't want to punch her card but she stood her ground until he did.

-- We never did know the waiter and bus-boys' names and we were at the confirmed late seating.

-- When we were getting ready to get off the ship on Sunday, I was just straitening out the bed and my thumb went right through the sheet they were so threadbare.

-- My first-time-cruiser friend was disappointed with the food in general. When you read though all the brochures and go online to the HAL site they so on and on about the 5-star dining. She knows 5-star dining and this was not it. She did have a good time and will cruise with us again in the future. The last night we went to the Lido Restaurant and the food there was better than the food in the dining room. Too bad we didn't figure that out at the beginning of the cruise, though.

There were many good things about the cruise...

-- The Spa staff were amazing and so friendly everytime we went to use the Thermal Spa.

-- The Lido Restaurant staff were great with my friend who walks with a cane.. always there to help her carry her plate.

-- The String Quartet in the Explorers Bar was out of this world and we went every chance we could to listen to them.

 

I'm not sure if I'll cruise on HAL again and as I cruise at least once every year that will greatly limit who I choose to cruise on. I won't cruise with NCL as I don't like the open seating for dinner, and I really do like the superior on-board service that HAL, Celebrity and Princess provides. I was also talking to a couple at breakfast one morning and they feel that when Carnival took over HAL is when the quality of HAL started going down. Interestingly enough, I'm booked on Carnival in March... only because for some strange reason I was talked into travelling with kids... I need my head examined... :O)...

[RuthC]

I was also talking to a couple at breakfast one morning and they feel that when Carnival took over HAL is when the quality of HAL started going down.

Did they indicate they knew it's been over 20 years since Carnival Corp. took over HAL?

[Jemima]

2) Open Seating. This was our first experience, having booked fairly late and finding fixed seating wait listed. Our opinion--Open Seating is not for us, at all. As a vegetarian I was unable to order my meal ahead of time from the vegetarian menu so, as happened on two nights, if I didn't want the only veg offering on the MDR menu I had to fend for myself. ... When I ordered a veggie burger at the poolside grill, instead of cooking it off to the side, as on previous cruises, this time it was cooked in the middle of 4 hamburgers, thus soaking up a lot of grease and making it inedible to me. The next day I tried for pasta with marinara sauce--the marinara sauce was there but both pastas available were made with meat.

 

We are both vegetarians and have no problems with open seating. (We prefer it to fixed). You can still order from the vegetarian menu. We choose not to because it is extra work for the waiters in open seating. There is always one veg entree and occasionally two on the regular menu. We stick with this and never leave dinner hungry.

I am concerned about the pasta made with meat, but also confused. There has always been plain pasta and nearly always marinara sauce. Was all the pasta made with meat every day? There is also pizza and veg deli choices. We eat big breakfasts just in case veg offerings at lunch are slim.

[Desdemona01]

We are both vegetarians and have no problems with open seating. (We prefer it to fixed). You can still order from the vegetarian menu. We choose not to because it is extra work for the waiters in open seating. There is always one veg entree and occasionally two on the regular menu. We stick with this and never leave dinner hungry.

I am concerned about the pasta made with meat, but also confused. There has always been plain pasta and nearly always marinara sauce. Was all the pasta made with meat every day? There is also pizza and veg deli choices. We eat big breakfasts just in case veg offerings at lunch are slim.

 

I'm glad open seating works for you. I'm aware of the various options--this wasn't my first cruise...

 

There was only one *veg* offering each night on the main menu and I do not care for Jambalaya or cous-cous, so on those two nights (one was a formal night, unfortunately) we had to dine in the Lido. At dinner I order either an appetizer or salad, not both--one night they didn't offer either for a vegetarian so I asked for a plain green salad and it took several attempts to get my waiter to understand that it meant without any meat on/in it.

 

The pizza was not available for at least two of the days--they make it at the poolside grill, wheel a cart full of uncooked pizzas into the Lido restaurant, bake them, and wheel them back to the poolside grill (It seemed to work much better when the pizza was offered at the Italian station in the Lido). Two of the days I checked they "didn't have time" to make the pizzas.

 

Yes, my previous experience had been that I could always get a plain pasta w/marinara at lunchtime in the Lido. When I asked for it this time, one pasta offered was meat-filled ravioli and the other was spaghetti cooked with big chunks of sausage--I asked if they had any pasta that didn't have meat and was told no. I didn't go back other days to check.

 

As I said before in my review, this was my experience and I was sure that someone would point out that I had *other* options. My point was that on this cruise, without creating "extra work for the waiters in open seating" my normal options for dining were significantly reduced in comparison to previous cruises. As a vegetarian I have spent 20+ years making compromises and alternate plans. Until this cruise, being on a HAL ship was a joy because I had 5-7 choices at dinner each night. Considering how busy/distracted the wait staff was on this cruise I knew better than to compound it by attempting to order from the vegetarian menu each night. When my DH was given a dirty coffee cup with his dessert one evening, the clean one he requested didn't arrive until we were leaving the table. The next night the dish for his baked Alaska had dried food all over the bottom and he just left it--there wasn't any point.

[Desdemona01]

-- One of my friends almost got into an argument with one of the bartenders at the Lido Pool Bar as she ordered a drink that was not covered on the "cocktail card" and he didn't let her know until the drink was already made and the drink she ordered cost LESS than the drinks included. He didn't want to punch her card but she stood her ground until he did.

 

-- The String Quartet in the Explorers Bar was out of this world and we went every chance we could to listen to them.

 

 

We also had an issue with the cocktail card. We normally don't purchase one because we've been told that DH's drink of choice is not included. After boarding on this cruise the steward insisted that his drink would be covered, so we assumed they'd changed their policy and he purchased one. He used it at the pool bar, casino bar and piano bar over several days. On his *10th* and final punch he ordered a drink in the piano bar (different bartender than previous evenings) and was told he would have to pay extra. He told Ronald (the bartender) that he'd been using it with no problem and Ronald started arguing. My DH, who is pretty non-confrontational, said no problem. He whispered to me that he was going out to the casino bar and get his drink. He ordered his drink, the bartender punched his card, and then Ronald showed up (he'd followed my DH to the casino bar). He started yelling at the casino bartender that he couldn't accept DH's cocktail card for the drink, so DH ended up paying extra. It wasn't the money, but this was the first time we've gone to the front office to complain about an employee.

 

I also agree about the Adagio Strings--they were beyond fantastic. They were playing in the Ocean Bar while we were waiting for our room to be ready and just blew us away--we enjoyed them throughout the cruise. We had a chance to converse with the cellist and his passion for music was inspiring. For us,their concert on the show stage was the highlight of the enterainment on this cruise.

[pseudochicken]

Thank you all for the various reviews. We are not big drinkers are eaters, so hopefully that won't be an issue.

 

On this cruise we are just looking forward toward some relaxation and warmth.

[Rosethorn40]

Thank you all for the various reviews. We are not big drinkers are eaters, so hopefully that won't be an issue.

 

On this cruise we are just looking forward toward some relaxation and warmth.

 

I was on this same cruise (Dec 6-13) and I am still working on my review. By time I finally get it finished you will be on board, but I thought I would tell you that as a Devoted Princess Cruiser I was very happy with my experience on board the Ryndam. Yes, I will agree with much of what was written; the ship is a bit worn (But I knew about the dry dock when I booked), and not everything I ate I enjoyed. That said I Loved the smaller size of the ship, the quieter vibe (Great for R & R), and while disappointed about missing Key West, enjoyed our snorkel trip in Cozumel. Overall I thought the staff were good; the front desk personnel were among the best I have ever encountered. The waiters in Lido were much more helpful than those on Princess ships. However, the service we received from our room steward was not quite up to the standard we enjoy with PCL; Our bed wasn't turned down 4 nights, probably because we would retire by 9PM and our steward hadn't finished his nightly rounds, fruit wasn't replenished. We didn't get our HAL tote bags until the 4th day, when everyone else seemed to have theirs by the first or second day. We never even met our steward until the 3rd day, and he never pointed out anything to us, such as the location of the hidden refrigerator (Which I found by accident on our last full day). But he did keep us supplied with fresh towels. I would sail with HAL again in a heartbeat. DH still perfers Princess, but that's mostly because the buffet is opened with at least something to eat 24/7.

[Cruzman]

I was on this same cruise (Dec 6-13) and I am still working on my review. By time I finally get it finished you will be on board, but I thought I would tell you that as a Devoted Princess Cruiser I was very happy with my experience on board the Ryndam. Yes, I will agree with much of what was written; the ship is a bit worn (But I knew about the dry dock when I booked), and not everything I ate I enjoyed. That said I Loved the smaller size of the ship, the quieter vibe (Great for R & R), and while disappointed about missing Key West, enjoyed our snorkel trip in Cozumel. Overall I thought the staff were good; the front desk personnel were among the best I have ever encountered. The waiters in Lido were much more helpful than those on Princess ships. However, the service we received from our room steward was not quite up to the standard we enjoy with PCL; Our bed wasn't turned down 4 nights, probably because we would retire by 9PM and our steward hadn't finished his nightly rounds, fruit wasn't replenished. We didn't get our HAL tote bags until the 4th day, when everyone else seemed to have theirs by the first or second day. We never even met our steward until the 3rd day, and he never pointed out anything to us, such as the location of the hidden refrigerator (Which I found by accident on our last full day). But he did keep us supplied with fresh towels. I would sail with HAL again in a heartbeat. DH still perfers Princess, but that's mostly because the buffet is opened with at least something to eat 24/7.

 

Hidden refrigerator??? Please elaborate.

[Rosethorn40]

Hidden refrigerator??? Please elaborate.

 

I didn’t know that our room had a refrigerator; have always had one on the Princess ships, but on RCCL didn’t. Anyway, the refrigerator was housed in a wood cabinet that doubled as a side table for the sofa in our sitting area. Wedged between the window and the sofa with a lamp on top and a chair sitting in front of it I had no idea it was more than just a table. I thought it was a “modern” style block of wood. There was no handle on the front to indicate this was something that opened either. If someone at the pool hadn’t made a comment about their refrigerator (And I knew they had the same category cabin as us) I would have remained ignorant. It wasn’t a big deal, and it didn’t ruin my cruise, it was just an observation from someone that is used to the room steward pointing out the very obvious fridges on Princess ships.

[pseudochicken]

I was on this same cruise (Dec 6-13) and I am still working on my review. By time I finally get it finished you will be on board, but I thought I would tell you that as a Devoted Princess Cruiser I was very happy with my experience on board the Ryndam. Yes, I will agree with much of what was written; the ship is a bit worn (But I knew about the dry dock when I booked), and not everything I ate I enjoyed. That said I Loved the smaller size of the ship, the quieter vibe (Great for R & R), and while disappointed about missing Key West, enjoyed our snorkel trip in Cozumel. Overall I thought the staff were good; the front desk personnel were among the best I have ever encountered. The waiters in Lido were much more helpful than those on Princess ships. However, the service we received from our room steward was not quite up to the standard we enjoy with PCL; Our bed wasn't turned down 4 nights, probably because we would retire by 9PM and our steward hadn't finished his nightly rounds, fruit wasn't replenished. We didn't get our HAL tote bags until the 4th day, when everyone else seemed to have theirs by the first or second day. We never even met our steward until the 3rd day, and he never pointed out anything to us, such as the location of the hidden refrigerator (Which I found by accident on our last full day). But he did keep us supplied with fresh towels. I would sail with HAL again in a heartbeat. DH still perfers Princess, but that's mostly because the buffet is opened with at least something to eat 24/7.

 

Well I am glad you enjoyed your cruise. I imagine that with any cruise there will be few hiccups here and there. Every cruise I have been on has had it's hiccups. (Possibly with exception of the RCCI cruise. We are absolutely amazed with that one, but maybe we just had really good luck on the Adventure). But I am second guessing myself. My girlfriend and I had the choice between the Ryndam and the Eurodam. We liked the Ryndam for the itinerary and the small ship size (which we've never truly experienced). We were leaning toward the Eurodam because the ship was modern and new (aka not worn). We decided itinerary was the most important thing... I hope we chose the right one! :o

[Oceanwench]

I'm glad open seating works for you. I'm aware of the various options--this wasn't my first cruise...

 

There was only one *veg* offering each night on the main menu and I do not care for Jambalaya or cous-cous, so on those two nights (one was a formal night, unfortunately) we had to dine in the Lido. At dinner I order either an appetizer or salad, not both--one night they didn't offer either for a vegetarian so I asked for a plain green salad and it took several attempts to get my waiter to understand that it meant without any meat on/in it.

 

The pizza was not available for at least two of the days--they make it at the poolside grill, wheel a cart full of uncooked pizzas into the Lido restaurant, bake them, and wheel them back to the poolside grill (It seemed to work much better when the pizza was offered at the Italian station in the Lido). Two of the days I checked they "didn't have time" to make the pizzas.

 

Yes, my previous experience had been that I could always get a plain pasta w/marinara at lunchtime in the Lido. When I asked for it this time, one pasta offered was meat-filled ravioli and the other was spaghetti cooked with big chunks of sausage--I asked if they had any pasta that didn't have meat and was told no. I didn't go back other days to check.

 

As I said before in my review, this was my experience and I was sure that someone would point out that I had *other* options. My point was that on this cruise, without creating "extra work for the waiters in open seating" my normal options for dining were significantly reduced in comparison to previous cruises. As a vegetarian I have spent 20+ years making compromises and alternate plans. Until this cruise, being on a HAL ship was a joy because I had 5-7 choices at dinner each night. Considering how busy/distracted the wait staff was on this cruise I knew better than to compound it by attempting to order from the vegetarian menu each night. When my DH was given a dirty coffee cup with his dessert one evening, the clean one he requested didn't arrive until we were leaving the table. The next night the dish for his baked Alaska had dried food all over the bottom and he just left it--there wasn't any point.

 

Desdemona,

 

Thanks for taking the time to write a review!

I, too, would have been disappointed at missing Key West -- especially when no reason was given.

 

As far as the vegetarian offerings and open seating goes -- well, now I know I will NEVER opt for open seating, and I will hope we never have to settle for it.

I am not a vegetarian, but I do not eat red meat, shellfish, etc. and more often than not choose the vegetarian option from the daily menu.

On our recent cruise on the Westerdam we had early dining and each night I was given the vegetarian menu to peruse - so I could order ahead for the following night.

There were at three choices for appetizers and entrees.

Our servers were so wonderful - when we told our waiter we'd be eating at the Pinnacle the next night, he personally delivered the vegetarian menu to my cabin for the following night, so I could order something for when we returned to the MDR!

HAL wants to accommodate guests' dietary needs, and we should never be made to feel guilty for that!

You should never have to "make do" with a salad and a side of veggies.

 

I hope your experience on the Veedam is much better!

[pseudochicken]

Desdemona,

 

Thanks for taking the time to write a review!

I, too, would have been disappointed at missing Key West -- especially when no reason was given.

 

As far as the vegetarian offerings and open seating goes -- well, now I know I will NEVER opt for open seating, and I will hope we never have to settle for it.

I am not a vegetarian, but I do not eat red meat, shellfish, etc. and more often than not choose the vegetarian option from the daily menu.

On our recent cruise on the Westerdam we had early dining and each night I was given the vegetarian menu to peruse - so I could order ahead for the following night.

There were at three choices for appetizers and entrees.

Our servers were so wonderful - when we told our waiter we'd be eating at the Pinnacle the next night, he personally delivered the vegetarian menu to my cabin for the following night, so I could order something for when we returned to the MDR!

HAL wants to accommodate guests' dietary needs, and we should never be made to feel guilty for that!

You should never have to "make do" with a salad and a side of veggies.

 

I hope your experience on the Veedam is much better!

 

I am not a vegetarian by any stretch of the imagination, but I am a bit worried about the poor reviews for open seating. The problem is by the time we booked our cruise in October the timed dining selections were all wait listed. I just chose open seating to be done with it. Now you all have me worried. :(

 

Can I request tables for two? I'd prefer that but if we have to eat with others at larger table, we'd definitely be fine with that. Making new friends is always a pleasure. But I am willing to guess my girlfriend and I will be the youngest pair on the ship sailing without others in a larger party. :rolleyes:

I bet if you combined our ages we'd still be on the younger than average on the cruise. ;) Errr... our combined age is 47. :D

[Rosethorn40]

. I just chose open seating to be done with it. Now you all have me worried. :(

 

Can I request tables for two? I'd prefer that but if we have to eat with others at larger table, we'd definitely be fine with that. Making new friends is always a pleasure. But I am willing to guess my girlfriend and I will be the youngest pair on the ship sailing without others in a larger party. :rolleyes:

I bet if you combined our ages we'd still be on the younger than average on the cruise. ;) Errr... our combined age is 47. :D

 

We had no trouble with open seating (Granted we ate most dinners in the Lido), but when we did go to the main dining room we just showed up (7:30-8:00ish) and were seated right away. Of course we didn't mind sitting with others; usually we were put at an 8 top. I overheard a person who requested a 2 top being told there would be a 5-10 minute wait-not too bad. You can also make a reservation earlier in the day.

[Jade13]

[quote name=suenroy;

 

-- My first-time-cruiser friend was disappointed with the food in general. When you read though all the brochures and go online to the HAL site they so on and on about the 5-star dining. She knows 5-star dining and this was not it. She did have a good time and will cruise with us again in the future. The last night we went to the Lido Restaurant and the food there was better than the food in the dining room. Too bad we didn't figure that out at the beginning of the cruise' date=' though.

 

.[/quote]

 

My DH is a Chef and we have never had a 5 star dining experience on any cruise ship and we have been on SilverSea. You just can't expect that on a cruise ship. It is a banquet cooking for a large group of people.

[cruz chic]

My DH is a Chef and we have never had a 5 star dining experience on any cruise ship and we have been on SilverSea. You just can't expect that on a cruise ship. It is a banquet cooking for a large group of people.

 

I agree, but the cruise lines should not mention this in their information. A lot of people go with the expectation that the ship is going to have gourmet food which simply isn't true.

[pseudochicken]

We had no trouble with open seating (Granted we ate most dinners in the Lido), but when we did go to the main dining room we just showed up (7:30-8:00ish) and were seated right away. Of course we didn't mind sitting with others; usually we were put at an 8 top. I overheard a person who requested a 2 top being told there would be a 5-10 minute wait-not too bad. You can also make a reservation earlier in the day.

 

Well thank you for that comforting remark. I hope you are right and I am willing to bet you are. Most negative reviews I feel are flukes and over reactions. I am so excited!!! I leave in a week!

 

My DH is a Chef and we have never had a 5 star dining experience on any cruise ship and we have been on SilverSea. You just can't expect that on a cruise ship. It is a banquet cooking for a large group of people.

 

Agreed.

[Oceanwench]

Just remember that As You Wish dining is not one-size-fits-all.

Some of us with a lot of HAL cruises under our belts prefer the fixed dining times in the upper MDR, that's all. Old habits are hard to break! ;)

 

On my most recent cruise, there was an unfortunate mix-up and we had to have our first meal in the open seating dining room. To us, it was rushed and the servers seemed unfriendly. Just our view.

 

Fortunately the assistant manager of the MDR found us an accessible table -- and some lovely women who agreed to move and take the table that had been assigned to us -- which was not accessible to a person in a wheelchair. [it was by a window and rather boxed in by other tables.] HAL graciously presented us and them bottles of wine to apologize for any inconvenience.

 

We were so much happier to be in the upper MDR with an assigned table.

But that's just us - and an experience we've come to see as an integral part of our cruise.

[RuthC]

Just remember that As You Wish dining is not one-size-fits-all.

Fortunately, As You Wish Dining gives so many choices, that most people can find a way to pick a choice that suits them.

From fixed seating, to open seating with reservations or walk-up, for a basic choice, to room service, Lido, Pinnacle, and on some ships Tamarind and Canaletto, something's going to fit.