Open Seating for a group of 7?

[AmyinCT]

I'm cruising in a few weeks with a group of 7 and have Open Seating (the only option available when we booked). I'm wondering how large the tables are, if this will present any special challenges in getting a table and what kind of wait to expect at say, 7:30, for example?

 

I know the basics: try to make reservations if we know when we'll be dining; avoid the peak times (during which reservations can't be made); they'll give us a pager if a table isn't available.

 

I'm just trying to figure out what expectations we should have. Since we're a group, if we know we'll have a 20 minute or so wait, we can send one member of the group to the dining room to get our pager while the rest finish a pre-dinner cocktail in a lounge.

 

Thanks for your input!

[Krazy Kruizers]

You didn't mention which ship you are on -- but on the Vista Class and Signature Class ships there are lots of table for 8.

I have seen those tables of 8 empty for long periods of time as many people do not want to wait for those tables to be filled before their dinner orders are taken.

You should not have a problem getting a larger table at all.

[eh2zed]

Sounds as if you might prefer fixed seating. Go to the Maitre d'It first day and check to see what might be available if that is preferred.

[cb at sea]

If you can call ahead, then they can be ready for you. Just like in any restaurant, larger tables are somewhat limited.

[protocrone]

Good question since we'll also be a party of seven on the Eurodam over Thanksgiving. We intend to make reservations for Thanksgiving dinner in advance but we're not sure how many of us on any given night will want to do the MDR. Hub and I are the only seasoned cruisers so we're leaving it up to the others to decide when and where they want to dine.

[AmyinCT]

We're on the Eurodam. I was counting on there being many tables for 8 so it's reassuring to hear that's the case.

 

I did originally want a fixed seating time, but only because I thought that would be the best chance to assure the group would be easily seated together.

 

Since that doesn't sound like it will be an issue with open seating, I'm glad we went with open seating. 5:30 is just too early and on past cruises (other cruise lines), I found the late seating excluded you from many of the evening activities, which seemed to take place at 9 or 9:30. With open seating we can look at the evening's activities and time dinner accordingly.

 

Thanks, as always, for the useful information!

[aeh88]

Does anyone know if there are tables for 9 on the Amsterdam? I will be traveling with my family over Christmas and we would like to be able to have Christmas dinner together.

[EGCruisers]

We've had two different experiences with open seating with a large group. On the first trip on the Noordam (April, 2009) with 7 people, it was great. We would call the MDR about 30 - 60 min. before we wanted to go down and there was never a problem. The table was waiting for us when we arrived. We alternated between 2 tables, but had the same wait staff every day. Our dining time did not vary much, usually around 6:30.

On the last cruise (last January, Zuiderdam) with a group of 8, it was not so easy despite having a deluxe veranda suite, which is supposed to get priority dining. When we got on the ship we had been assigned a dining time of 5:00PM (maybe 5:30 ???) -- not what we wanted or had requested. We immediatley went to talk to the maitre'd. The maitre'd said that it seemed like everyone on the ship wanted to eat fairly early. So, if we didn't want to eat at the assigned time, we could eat at 6:15, and getting that took some arm-twisting. We did end up getting the same table every evening. The wait staff seemed overworked and service was sometimes slow.