As you wish dining on the Eurodam?

[Travrat]

:confused: Having just returned from the 7 night Mediterranean Glamour cruise on the Eurodam I must ask this question- What does HAL mean when they tell you that you may dine when you want with whom you choose to dine with?? This could not have been further from the truth! The first night our party of 3(myself, husband and 21 year old son) asked to be seated by ourselves. We were escorted to a table for 6 after a 20 minute wait and then they seated an older couple with us saying that only this one night we would have to share a table. It was pretty uncomfortable but we tried to make the best of it.The entire dinner was a fiasco-we ordered the lamb shank and they brought out charred almost beyond recognition rock-hard lamb loinchops. We were told they ran out of the shanks but never asked if we wanted to choose a different entree-just substituted something else.

Next night we arrive to dinner, asked for a table for 3 and were told we had to share a table because we didn't have a reservation. I refused and they managed to find us a table for 3 in a few minutes. I was told to call reservations the next morning if we wanted to eat by ourselves. I called reservations the next morning and was told there was no availability at 9:00 for a reservation-just go down and they will seat you when they can-OK-but then do I have to share a table since we don't have a reservation?? I could go on day by day with this ridiculousness.

It comes down to the fact that since the dining room has become so understaffed it is how HAL wishes you to dine not how you want to.

So much of the food came out lukewarm, no second waiter to bring cheese for your pasta, refill your water glass offer pepper,etc. Steaks were not cooked to order most of the time and many times we had to ask for the wine steward to order drinks only to have the wine arrive after our first course was already served. This is my 4th HAL cruise and 2nd on the Eurodam. What a difference a year makes! So much confusion and unorganization really made for a stressful dining situation. Lunch and breakfast in the MDR was much better with respect to service. We go on HAL for the food and service but I will have to think twice about this now. We went on Celebrity Equinox 5 months ago and I thought my last Eurodam cruise was so much better we booked this. Now, I'm not so sure HAL is any better than Celebrity or Princess. The Lido is also very understaffed-many times no silverware was available and trays of some food items at the buffet line were empty. Gone from the MDR menu is the yummy rack of lamb. I still think the food is better than Celebrity's but unfortunately if HAL continues slipping in the service area they will lose some of their loyal cruisers.:(

[Krazy Kruizers]

soory that you had a terrible dining experience

[RuthC]

Since the open seating style of As You Wish didn't work for you, perhaps next time you should try the fixed seating style of As You Wish. You could request a table for your party during main seating. It would be ready for you, without sharing, every night.

[3rdGenCunarder]

Since the open seating style of As You Wish didn't work for you, perhaps next time you should try the fixed seating style of As You Wish. You could request a table for your party during main seating. It would be ready for you, without sharing, every night.

 

I have found that service is better in the fixed dining. We don't mind sitting with other people, in fact, we like it. But I do not like to sit and wait, just the 2 of us (and our menus) at a table for 6, while they find other people to fill the table. With the fixed dining, everyone arrives at the table at the same time. Actually everyone in the whole dining room arrives at the same time. This makes service smoother. The meal has a cadence to it, which makes service more efficient. At open seating, each table may be at a different point in the meal, which makes service a bit chaotic.

[RuthC]

I pretty much agree with what you posted, Kathy, although it doesn't always work exactly that way.

On the Amsterdam last summer I switched from As You Wish main seating to open seating about half way through the cruise. With the exception of the last night in Victoria, every night I was seated at a table that was completed quickly. The Victoria night was not a good mix of people, one night was superb, and the others were a good to very good mix. Except for that last night, service was at least good, and steady.

I missed out on things I was planning for the evening as the conversation kept me from leaving! It was a happy switch.

On the last segment of my recent cruise I was again on AYW main seating at a table for six. I noticed that when we all arrived in the first couple of minutes we were finished much sooner than if two or three people arrived at the end of the crowd. The stewards had already started waiting on their other tables, and we ended up last in line all evening.

[cruz chic]

I hope the open seating will improve before I get on the Eurodam in Sept. I'm one of those people who said that having open seating would be a deal breaker. Due to having to switch to another cruise because of a job change I ended up "stuck" in open on my Westerdam cruise (April 2011). I ended up liking it and the company better then I have in traditional. I seem to end up in traditional with people that haven't learn to tell time because someone is always late. I'm talking 15 min. or so. That can ruin the rythym of traditional dining in my mind.