to reserve or not to reserve?

[MacGuffin]

I've read a few conflicting bits of info about HAL's anytime dining. Going on the Westerdam in April. We prefer a table for 2 and eat early. Last year on Crown Princess we had no trouble making reservations for 2. However, I've read on Cruise Critic that on HAL ships it's sometimes better to just show up rather than make a reservation, as those with reservations have to wait? Seems confusing.:confused:

[Jemima]

Uh? Reservations get you into the diningroom quicker. We are early diners, do open dining, make daily reservations and have always been seated promptly.

[wander]

We also like to eat early. With anytime dining we never make reservations and always found a line with like two parties and each was seated immediately when their turn came. Same for us. But, you will find many folks expressing many different experiences. I think it also may vary with the ship AND the folks onboard. If many want a table for two early it is certain to be more of a problem.

[rugbypopsie]

We did anytime and never had to wait in the MDR more than a couple of minutes...unfortunately we could not manage to get a booking into Canaletto or Pinnacle in the entire 14 nights..only times that were not booked out were 5.30 or 9.30...so book those in advance.

[liketraveling]

I have done Anytime dining on 4 Hal cruises.

 

We were seated right away without reservations on every cruise except the last one on the zaandam Hawaii Cruise in October. We had to wait 45 minutes sometimes.

 

With that said I still prefer open seating.

 

Since you eat early make a reservation to be safe.

 

I know people who have a table for two show up the first night and just continue to show up at the same time every night and have the same waiter.

 

I didn't think I would like open seating the first time a tried it but found out i liked it.

 

Gail

[Krazy Kruizers]

I think you have been reading the reports where a few people got involved with some large groups on ships that had the early times completely booked for the Open Seating.

 

This is not normal on any ship -- but it can happen once in a great while.

[BumperII]

The experience with as you wish dining varies from ship to ship. We found it to be excellent on the Maasdam and Veendam, but on the Westerdam they were handing out pagers and people were waiting in line nearly every night.

The problem has to do with the design of the MDR on Vista Class ships. After a week of using the MDR on the Westerdam we renamed it the Main Dining Room and Obstacle Course. HAL just tried to cram too much bulky dining room furniture into too small a space. The wait staff has very little room to negotiate, and we found ourselves trying to navigate the narrow spaces just to get in and out without bumping into someone or asking someone to move a chair. On the second week of that cruise we ate mostly in the Lido or Pinacle Grill. Dinner was much more relaxed in both venues.

[KirkNC]

We have done open seating on our last four cruises and like it. We also eat early and have only had to wait once for about 20 minutes. We have never made a reservation but might try that on our upcoming cruise on the Rotterdam.

 

Kirk

[kazu]

We have done open seating on our last four cruises and like it. We also eat early and have only had to wait once for about 20 minutes. We have never made a reservation but might try that on our upcoming cruise on the Rotterdam.

 

Kirk

 

A lot of our roll call members did as you wish dining (open seating) on our last cruise on the NA. I asked them about it as we have never done it. They really enjoyed it. They didn't want to make reservations as they didn't want to be 'tied down' to a time. They never waited very long and quite enjoyed it. :)

[frbob]

We just completed a 28 day cruise on Statendam and had open seating. We like to eat around 7:30, table for two. We couldn't make reservations before 7:45. We went to the dining room at 7:00 one evening (without a reservation) and were given a beeper. I'm a type A, so I left after waiting a short while. Hey, I'm grumpy, OK?

 

Crunch time for open seating seems to be 6:00 to 7:30. It's easier to get seated if you are willing to share. 2-toppers like us have some problems eating at our preferred times without reservations.

 

All this said, we had no problems getting reservations at 7:45 or later throughout our 28 days. I can't speak to earlier times...we didn't try for reservations before 6:00.

 

Get friendly with the guys up front managing the seating. They can be very helpful. many times it's not what you know, but who you know. :)

[JJPacer]

We have used open seating aka as you wish dining many times. No problems or waiting. 2 tops are hard to get, but we usually ask for a table for 4 or 6. These size tables were very nice for conversation. We found if we ask for a reservation between 5:30 - 9 PM we are unable to get one. But if we show up when we want between those times, we are able to get a table quickly. We enjoy this dining option.

[Aruba]

Get friendly with the guys up front managing the seating. They can be very helpful. many times it's not what you know, but who you know. :)

That's true of a lot of things in life...

[dfish]

I've done open seating on two cruises and have really enjoyed it. I've never made a reservation as I prefer to go when I'm hungry and not by a determined schedule.

 

On the first cruise, Maasdam Canada/New England, we only had to wait once, on a formal night, and the wait was relatively short, about 10 minutes.

 

On the second cruise, Veendam South America/Antarctica, we only waited once and on that night we showed up as a party of 4 that grew to a party of 6. The wait was short, about 10 minutes again. We had no trouble other nights showing up as a party of 2 or as a party of 5 at times.

 

Of course, we didn't want a table for two. On one night that was all that was available, but another couple showed up within a couple of minutes and also did not want a table for two. The compromise is that we were seated at two tables for two right next to each other and turned it into a table for four.

 

Debbie

[camofwilliamsburg]

I wish we did that open dining instead of late. We would have been able to make more of the game show games done only during late seating hours. I was told that we could change daily but we would be on the bottom of any list and have to wait, so we never did. I also heard you can only make reservations for 3 days at a time. Speaking of Eurodam only!

[Ocean Dancer]

so, if you have late dinner, you will miss some of the entertainment.....:eek:

[Mary Ellen]

We have used open seating aka as you wish dining many times.

Open seating is only one aspect of 'as you wish dining'. Thus it isn't synonymous.

[MacGuffin]

Thanks to everyone for replying. Sounds like earlier the better for many reasons - more tables available, less waiting and less conflict with show times. I checked the HAL website and it looks like our Westerdam cruise is far from sold out, even though it is still 6 weeks away. Hopefully the dining room won't be too crowded... and the upgrade fairy will come out of hiding. :D