If we booked with a TA

[Megsie1000]

Do we have to go through her to make dinner reservations at Tamarind? Or can we do it directly online/by calling?

 

We have a January Eurodam cruise and I am thinking about making reservations for Tamarind for our last night. I am assuming this will be in the MCD. Am I right about that? :p

 

We didn't "hate" the MCD, but I don't really see the point in doing it again, especially since we have open seating and won't necessarily miss seeing "our" waiter on the last night like we might if we were doing fixed seating. Also, am I right that at the MCD you only have two seatings to choose from even if you have previously done open seating? That won't work so well with our schedule since we are going to try and drop the kids off at Club HAL at 7 and then eat immediately after.

[jtl513]

You do not have to go through the TA. Either book on line at My Account > My Reservations > Purchase, or by calling 800-541-1576.

 

Open seating can be done any time from 5:15 to 9:00, but you may have a little wait at peak times ... like 7:00. :p

[Megsie1000]

I was wondering about the waiting b/c I hear that you can't make reservations for a 7:00 or 7:30 time. It's too bad Club HAL doesn't open earlier to ease that window a bit for us.

 

My parents went on a Panama Canal cruise last year and I don't know if their experience was unusual, but they were able to ask for their same table at the same time every night. I think there were 4 of them total (with my two brothers) and after the first night, somebody asked them "do you like this table?" and they said "yes" and he said he would save it for them for every night at 7:30. Every night they showed up at 7:30 and it was waiting for them.

 

I'm not saying this is typical, nor am I expecting this to happen on our cruise, just sharing their experience since it seems to be unusual from what most people are saying about the open seating.

 

My parents are in a deluxe suite this time, so maybe the concierge can work some magic for our party. We have a pretty small window there b/c of the Club HAL hours. I don't mind waiting either, though, as long as we can just sit and chat with a drink in our hands.

[3rdGenCunarder]

I was wondering about the waiting b/c I hear that you can't make reservations for a 7:00 or 7:30 time. It's too bad Club HAL doesn't open earlier to ease that window a bit for us.

 

My parents went on a Panama Canal cruise last year and I don't know if their experience was unusual, but they were able to ask for their same table at the same time every night. I think there were 4 of them total (with my two brothers) and after the first night, somebody asked them "do you like this table?" and they said "yes" and he said he would save it for them for every night at 7:30. Every night they showed up at 7:30 and it was waiting for them.

 

I'm not saying this is typical, nor am I expecting this to happen on our cruise, just sharing their experience since it seems to be unusual from what most people are saying about the open seating.

 

My parents are in a deluxe suite this time, so maybe the concierge can work some magic for our party. We have a pretty small window there b/c of the Club HAL hours. I don't mind waiting either, though, as long as we can just sit and chat with a drink in our hands.

 

Definitely ask your parents to make arrangements thorugh the concierge. Deluxe suite passengers do get priority treatment in the MDR. On our last three HAL cruises, we asked for fixed early seating. For two of the cruises, we booked more than a year out, and couldn't get our choice of early seating. (We were told it fills up early) On the one cruise where we booked a deluxe suite, we booked less than 6 months out and had no trouble getting the early fixed seating. AND had a nice window table with another couple from a Deluxe suite. So it seems they do "save" tables for the deluxe suite folks.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Do we have to go through her to make dinner reservations at Tamarind? Or can we do it directly online/by calling?

 

We have a January Eurodam cruise and I am thinking about making reservations for Tamarind for our last night. I am assuming this will be in the MCD. Am I right about that? :p

 

We didn't "hate" the MCD, but I don't really see the point in doing it again, especially since we have open seating and won't necessarily miss seeing "our" waiter on the last night like we might if we were doing fixed seating. Also, am I right that at the MCD you only have two seatings to choose from even if you have previously done open seating? That won't work so well with our schedule since we are going to try and drop the kids off at Club HAL at 7 and then eat immediately after.

 

On the Caribbean cruises the Master Chef Dinner is on the last night of the cruise -- at least it was last year and I don't see HAL changing that.

You are right -- on the MCD night on all the cruises that wee have been on -- there are only 2 dining times that night for everyone including those with Open Seating -- 5:30 and 8. On one ship they requested everyone who selected the early dining time to be in the dining room at 5:15!!