Traditional dining unavailable - what are my chances?

[Infi]

Just booked a cruise for spring break on Eurodam yesterday. It leaves next month. We really prefer early traditional seating, but since it's so late in the game, only As You Wish dining was available. :( Our TA tried to waitlist us for early seating but HAL told him it was not available. I know we can go speak with the Maitre D' upon boarding and ask for a change.

 

What are my chances of getting early traditional this way? Does HAL actually have a waitlist for traditional dining? (Just trying to figure out if there will be a waitlist of others ahead of me trying to get traditional.)

 

Thanks for any information you all can provide.

[danilynn17]

The waitlist does exist. We are leaving on the Ryndam on Sunday and had booked back in the summer. We were placed on the waiting list for early seating traditional dining, and assigned to the "As You Wish".

 

About a week ago, my dad (who booked the cruise) was notified via email that we had been placed on Early Seating.

 

So yes, the wait list does exist, however, you did book really late and probably wouldn't be high enough up on the list.

 

Our back up plan was going to be to go to the maitre'd on the first day.

 

Good luck!

[Krazy Kruizers]

All the ships do have waitlists for both the 5:45 and 8 PM traditonal dining times.

The people on the waitlist will be taken care of first.

Booking late -- yes I can understand why they have closed off the waitlist. They can only take care of so many extra requests.

On Embarkation Day you can go and talk to the dining room manager and see what he can do for you.

Otherwise -- try to make reservations for times between 5:15 - 6:15 in the Open Seating -- you make reservations for 3 days at a time. That will give you the early time.

[howard6933]

Just booked a cruise for spring break on Eurodam yesterday. It leaves next month. We really prefer early traditional seating, but since it's so late in the game, only As You Wish dining was available. :( Our TA tried to waitlist us for early seating but HAL told him it was not available. I know we can go speak with the Maitre D' upon boarding and ask for a change.

 

What are my chances of getting early traditional this way? Does HAL actually have a waitlist for traditional dining? (Just trying to figure out if there will be a waitlist of others ahead of me trying to get traditional.)

 

Thanks for any information you all can provide.

 

We were on the Eurodam last year (party of 9) and we booked about 7-8 months in advance. We requested early sitting tradiitional dining and some "jerk" who assigns the tables had 5 of us at one table and 4 at another table. :mad: I complained to the maitre d' and his ridiculous reply was that the large tables were held for "large groups". I guess he didn't think that 9 people was a a "large group". :rolleyes: At any rate, one of the assistant maitre d's suggested that we go down one deck to the anytime dining room and see a guy (can't remember his name) and he would fix us up with a large table for nine and we could hold that table for every evening. It worked out very well and we had the same table and waiter for the whole cruise. :)

[JYGresham]

All the ships do have waitlists for both the 5:45 and 8 PM traditonal dining times.

The people on the waitlist will be taken care of first.

Booking late -- yes I can understand why they have closed off the waitlist. They can only take care of so many extra requests.

On Embarkation Day you can go and talk to the dining room manager and see what he can do for you.

Otherwise -- try to make reservations for times between 5:15 - 6:15 in the Open Seating -- you make reservations for 3 days at a time. That will give you the early time.

The large majority of posts I read on these boards seem to much prefer the AYWD open dining over fixed (traditional) seating, many stating they "would never go back to fixed" Why then is there increasing difficulty in being able to secure the fixed? We experienced the latter for the first time in many years of cruising last year on the Prinsendam.

[DRWhit]

I don't know if being upstairs, the number of traditional dining seats is less than the anyway dining seats. But we booked our cruise 4 months prior and had to be waitlisted for MAin Late dining. It finally did come thru though, and we did get our choice of main late. :)

[Mary Ellen]

Just booked a cruise for spring break on Eurodam yesterday. It leaves next month. We really prefer early traditional seating, but since it's so late in the game, only As You Wish dining was available. :(

That is always the case. Both traditional and open seating are part of HAL's As You Wish dining. Actually all of HAL's onboard dining is part of As You Wish dining, no way to eat on the ship otherwise.

[DRWhit]

oops; double post

[cruz chic]

The large majority of posts I read on these boards seem to much prefer the AYWD open dining over fixed (traditional) seating, many stating they "would never go back to fixed" Why then is there increasing difficulty in being able to secure the fixed? We experienced the latter for the first time in many years of cruising last year on the Prinsendam.

Really? I find most people prefer traditional on these boards. You must not have been around when HAL decided to go to open dining. Many people were not happy. I've always preffered traditional dining to open because I generally cruise solo. When I changed jobs last year I had to cancel the cruises I had booked and book new ones as my deadlines changed. I was not able to get traditional. I've had some "different" tablemates in traditional lately so I'm more open to open dining. I will try it for the first time when I go on my cruise in April. I'll see if this might work better for me.

[dpm321]

The large majority of posts I read on these boards seem to much prefer the AYWD open dining over fixed (traditional) seating, many stating they "would never go back to fixed" Why then is there increasing difficulty in being able to secure the fixed? We experienced the latter for the first time in many years of cruising last year on the Prinsendam.

 

Its harder now because they only use half the dining room for fixed seating. The other half is for open seating. We prefer open dining as a great way to meet more people. On our cruise this past December, we ran into many people who abandoned their fixed seating and came downstairs. Apparently this happened quite a bit because the dining room managers were constantly trying to talk AYW diners into taking a fixed seating table. Can't beat the flexibility.....:D

[Islander34]

If you're booked in a Deluxe Veranda Suite then see your concierge in the Neptune Lounge. I bet you get whatever seating you desire.

[Halfmoonfan]

If you're booked in a Deluxe Veranda Suite then see your concierge in the Neptune Lounge. I bet you get whatever seating you desire.

 

My experience is that the girls in the Neptune have never been able to do anything for me as far as getting or changing a table in the MDR. You need to talk to the MDR folks.

[Infi]

Thanks everyone for your replies and info. I sympathize with everyone who has had issues getting traditional - we've been in the waitlist boat on Princess before and it's not fun. Oh, and sorry to the person who picked apart the semantics in my use of "As You Wish dining" - didn't realize it was such a big issue. :rolleyes:

 

One last question, just curious - does anyone have any experience with successfully getting traditional after talking to the Maitre D'?

[euro cruiser]

We had the opposite problem last month on the Zuiderdam. We requested anytime dining, and that was printed on our e-documents, but when we got to the ship our room cards said "early seating" and had a table assignment. We were not happy campers and the check-in folks could not do anything to change it.

 

We were told to see the dining room staff immediately upon boarding, which we did. There was a short line of people waiting to change dining assignments and we had no problem getting rid of the set time and switching back to anytime.

[TheresaMarie]

Where do you go to change assigned seats if you are not happy?

[RuthC]

Where do you go to change assigned seats if you are not happy?

On embarkation day the Maitre d', or his representative, will be in a specific location to meet with those who need to discuss arrangements. That location will be published in the daily program, called The Explorer. It's usually near the dining room, probably the Explorers Lounge.

[TheresaMarie]

Thanks, Ruth. Nice to have you here to answer our questions!

[mmr923]

On our Noordam cruise in 2009, we booked 5 months out, requested Fixed Late, and were waitlisted for it. All our e-docs showed wait list for Fixed Late, but when we checked in our sign and sail cards said fixed early! We thought that was too early for us to eat (we don't usually eat before 8 at home anyway), so we spoke with the Maitre 'D and he switched us to "anytime," which ended up working well for us (even though we would have preferred to have the same wait staff and table mates every night). Unfortunately, Fixed Late was full. I think this may have been becuase it was a Mediterranean cruise and had lots of Europeans (versus Americans) who usually eat dinner later anyway.

[mains_dream]

Hi, We are booked on the Eurodam over Spring Break. We were waitlisted for early seating and received an Email yesterday that we have a table at early seating now. We booked in October though.

 

If you get on the same cruise, we have quite a group for our meet and greet. Make sure you check the boards!;)

[foodsvcmgr]

Possibly a "Spring Break" sailing may have a larger number of families and

younger demographic aboard than a typical week.

 

Some of these people may for whatever reason be assigned to a fixed seating but once aboard, or after the first night, will want to opt for

the open seating.

 

Just a theory, but I think you may have better luck switching on this

cruise than you might normally.

[ccos]

Open seating is the way to go. If you get back late from an excursion, no problem. There is always room for you. Also, you meet a variety of fellow passengers. We are joining the World Cruise in two weeks and they only offer 2 seatings...we hope this will work out and will not ruin our trip.

[Infi]

Thanks all, for the responses. We have had open seating before and strongly dislike it, so I am really hoping we can get early seating on this cruise. The spring break factor can either work for or against us, but I'm trying to be positive.

 

Mains_dream: Yes, that is our cruise! I just checked in on the roll call a few days ago. :) Congrats on getting early seating.

[molly22]

Hi, We are booked on the Eurodam over Spring Break. We were waitlisted for early seating and received an Email yesterday that we have a table at early seating now. We booked in October though.

 

If you get on the same cruise, we have quite a group for our meet and greet. Make sure you check the boards!;)

 

which curise is this pls?

 

molly

[molly22]

Hi, We are booked on the Eurodam over Spring Break. We were waitlisted for early seating and received an Email yesterday that we have a table at early seating now. We booked in October though.

 

If you get on the same cruise, we have quite a group for our meet and greet. Make sure you check the boards!;)

 

which cruise is this pls?

 

molly

[siebelqueen]

Call HAL directly to see if they can find you a table in the seating you prefer. When we first booked last month, there was only open seating available. When we called to confirm our infant related requests, we also asked for a table in the early seating. Not only could they get us into the seating, but they reserved a table for four for us so that we don't have to annoy anybody else with our kids for the week. HTH!