HAL Flexible Eating

[BAJDfromNJ]

We are booked on HAL Veendam to Bermuda with our daughters (21 and 18). Our TA booked us for flexible dining, rather than early or late. Is there any advantage or disadvantage to this?

[Bill S]

You will likely get a broad range of responses over on the HAL board in the Cruise Line Forums here on Cruise Critic. There are lots of very experienced HAL cruisers over there. Although I have cruised with HAL quite a bit, I have never chosen As You Wish Dining on HAL, so I'm not a good person to respond to your question. Nevertheless, I hope you have a wonderful cruise. :)

[cb at sea]

The only "downside" to the "flexible" dining, is that most who partake of this option do NOT want tablemates....

We enjoy tablemates, so always opt for one of the "traditional" seatings. Tablemates truly can make dinner special, instead of just a time to feed!

[elycelynne]

It's probably not as important for a Bermuda itinerary given that there aren't that many evening shows onboard, but the big advantage to open seating is that you don't have to be tied down to a rigid dining schedule. You don't have to rush back from whatever you were doing, nor do you have to worry about missing activities that occur at the same time as dinner. While it's true that there may be people who prefer their own table, there are more than enough who don't mind sharing a table.

 

The only disadvantages I can think of are that you don't have tablemates to bond with for the duration of your cruise, and also you won't have servers who come to know your preferences.

 

Usually a TA will ask what kind of seating you prefer, so if they went ahead and booked you for flexible without first asking, chances are fixed wasn't available.

[Krazy Kruizers]

HAL refers to all dining options as: As You Wish Dining. Which simply means that you have choices where and what time you wish to have dinner.

It is not called Flexible dining on HAL.

Options:

Fixed (tratditional) dining -- times 5:45 and 8 PM -- on the upper level of the dining room.

Open Seating -- Open from 5:15 - 9 PM -- lower level of the dining room. You can make reservation for times between 5:15 - 6:15 PM and 7:30 - 9 PM for size table you want.

Lido -- from 5:30 - 8 PM

Pinnacle Grill - 5:30 - 9 PM -- $20 per person fee

Canaletto - 5:30 - about 9 -- free (located in the Lido)

[Hlitner]

The only "downside" to the "flexible" dining, is that most who partake of this option do NOT want tablemates....

We enjoy tablemates, so always opt for one of the "traditional" seatings. Tablemates truly can make dinner special, instead of just a time to feed!

 

We totally disagree! In fact, we have had many more great tables since we started using the various Anytime dining options (we cruise about 70 days a year). For many years we loved assigned tables until we got a table for 8 on a RCI ship and never saw the other 6 for a single meal. We then had a similar situation on a Princess cruise where half the table never came to the dining room. This has become more common with all the alternative dining venues. So now, we always choose Anytime dining. When we go to the dining room we always tell the maitre'd that we want to share a large table (the maitre d's love passengers who want to share). We always get a large table (always full) and quickly meet lots of people. Usually after a few days we start forming our own table when we start getting together with other "friends" we have made in earlier dinners. It seems to be the best of both worlds. In a few cases we have actually formed an entire table and found a particular waiter we liked, after which we would simply arrange with the maitre'd to get that same waiter (and group) every night.

 

Hank

[BAJDfromNJ]

Thanks for the helpful responses.

[Mary Ellen]

I have never chosen As You Wish Dining on HAL, so I'm not a good person to respond to your question. Nevertheless, I hope you have a wonderful cruise. :)

Bill, you know that, as KK said, ALL the dining options come under the 'As You Wish Dining' on HAL, not just those stuck in the open seating for dinner. ;) Please say hi to your lovely DW for us. :D

[Ontariotrekker]

We had as you wish or non-assigned times on our HAL cruise. Since my travelling buddy and I usually eat at 5:30 ish anyway, we found it a great time to go down and get a table. We always asked for table for 6 or 8 and met many interesting and fun people. The early time let us see the early show and left us plenty of time to do other things.

We ended up going on excursions, having afternoon tea etc. with several of the people we met.

Have a great cruise!

[Hlitner]

We had as you wish or non-assigned times on our HAL cruise. Since my travelling buddy and I usually eat at 5:30 ish anyway, we found it a great time to go down and get a table. We always asked for table for 6 or 8 and met many interesting and fun people. The early time let us see the early show and left us plenty of time to do other things.

We ended up going on excursions, having afternoon tea etc. with several of the people we met.

Have a great cruise!

 

5:30! We thought that was still lunch time :)

 

Hank

[wwinfl91]

We have enjoyed "as you wish" on HAL and PC (Personal Choice) dining on Princess and prefer it to fixed seat dining especially port intensive cruises. You can arrange to eat with others who you meet onboard or on your rollcall at the same time or at different times each night.

 

It must be relatively popular since almost all cruise lines are offering some variety of it.

 

Have a great next cruise.

[rjm1cc]

If you are off the ship might be hard to get back for early seating. You have more flexibility if you have open seating.

[Bill S]

Hi Mary Ellen! Yes, you are right that As You Wish Dining includes both fixed seating times and open seating. But, after being forced into open seating last year (due to a large group), I cynically call it "As HAL Wishes You to Dine" and I associate AYWD with open seating. We did not enjoy the open dining experience at all. Best to you and your DH as well. :)

[Hlitner]

We do love the open seating concept, but we think it works well for us since we like to dine relatively late (usually no earlier then 8:00). HA does tend to attract and older crowd many of whom seem to prefer dining by 5:30 and going to bed by 9. We think that open dining schemes have problems with the early diners since it can get filled and the early diners may have to wait. And we all know how much some folks like to wait :)

 

Hank