As You Wish Dining Question

[BRU5]

If you go to the main dining room and you have to wait for a table, do they give you a specific time to come back..or give you some type of alarm that you carry notifying you your table is ready...or do you just wait in close proximity to the restaurant entrance? Thanks for your help.

[JJ33328]

No beepers on HAL. Generally you just line up at the door and wait for a table. If you avoid the rush hour 6:30 to 7:30 you usually don't have to wait.

[Daisyloo]

We were given a pager on Westerdam last year. It only happened one evening and our wait was maybe 20 minutes at the most.

[Mary Ellen]

We just show up at the appropiate time, walk right in, and sit at our table. Easy peasy. ;)

[OVgirl]

We were also handed a pager on Noordam when the wait was going to be about 30 minutes.

[Shmoo here]

We just show up at the appropiate time, walk right in, and sit at our table. Easy peasy. ;)

 

I got it ;)

 

:)

[Krazy Kruizers]

They are suppose to hand out pagers when the line gets long anf the time is more than 15 minutes (may be longer on some ships).

[cruiseapril]

We make reservations before 4:30 pm and have not had to wait.

[dr.dawg]

i've only had 'beepers' on hal a couple of times, but it does happen. usually, the wait is not long. and if you are willing to be seated with others, it is very short, in my experience. that said, i cruise a lot by myself, so eating alone in the lido at my time is what i prefer. dining room is mostly for couples; i am a priest and often travel by myself. but, the beepers are not bad.

[jer_l]

If you go to the main dining room and you have to wait for a table, do they give you a specific time to come back..or give you some type of alarm that you carry notifying you your table is ready...or do you just wait in close proximity to the restaurant entrance? Thanks for your help.

 

On the Zaandam they regularly passed out the pagers on our cruise a couple of weeks ago. We were told they would work up to deck 8 (Lido) in all areas except staterooms. We usually headed to the Explorer's Lounge and enjoyed the Adagio Strings while waiting.

[maxxboy]

Going on the Nieuw Amsterdam in December. How late can you show up for Anytime Dining?

[jtl513]

Going on the Nieuw Amsterdam in December. How late can you show up for Anytime Dining?

Open seating ends at 9:00 usually, but on our eastern Med N.A. cruise it was 9:30.

[hillside]

On the Volendam, Australia-South Seas, we were given a beeper twice and asked to wait in the nearby lounge where we listened to the Addagio Strings and were given a complimentary glass of champagne. The wait both times was very short. We always get anytime dining these days as we like to keep our options open. It's been very successful with little if any wait times. We sometimes make a reservation, but they usually don't book reservations in "prime time" in my experience. Reservations are easily booked for early and late times. Enjoy!

[Lauranne]

They had pagers on the Amsterdam last week.

[Mumsysailor]

On the Volendam, Australia-South Seas, we were given a beeper twice and asked to wait in the nearby lounge where we listened to the Addagio Strings and were given a complimentary glass of champagne. The wait both times was very short. We always get anytime dining these days as we like to keep our options open. It's been very successful with little if any wait times. We sometimes make a reservation, but they usually don't book reservations in "prime time" in my experience. Reservations are easily booked for early and late times. Enjoy!

 

I suspect the champagne was for some other reason than having to wait for a table. Sometimes they hand out a glass as a sweetener because of some other inconvenience to pax during the day.

 

We've often been given bleepers on HAL and were never offered champagne.

 

Mumsy.

[Krazy Kruizers]

That is very nice of HAL to give people a free glass of champagne if you have to wait for a table.

I haven't heard of that before.

[kjeanne2001]

Can you make a reservation for anytime dining or just show up or both?

[RuthC]

We just show up at the appropiate time, walk right in, and sit at our table. Easy peasy. ;)

I'm with you! :D

[startwin]

I'm with you! :D

 

 

Me too! Unfortunately, sometimes you just can't do that - usually by booking late. I am heading into my first open dining cruise, not by choice.

[DaveOKC]

Me too! Unfortunately, sometimes you just can't do that - usually by booking late. I am heading into my first open dining cruise, not by choice.

 

Startwin - is this the cruise you ended up in a Neptune suite? If so, you should have your TA see about getting you into fixed dining. It happened to be before - waitlisted for Early and then when I did an upsell to Neptune they cleared my waitlist into Early (after I requested it). At the very least, have the Neptune staff look into it when you get onboard.

 

DaveOKC

[startwin]

Startwin - is this the cruise you ended up in a Neptune suite? If so, you should have your TA see about getting you into fixed dining. It happened to be before - waitlisted for Early and then when I did an upsell to Neptune they cleared my waitlist into Early (after I requested it). At the very least, have the Neptune staff look into it when you get onboard.

 

DaveOKC

 

Yes it is, Dave - and thanks for the tip, I'll give it try. We are waitlisted for early, right now.

[wander]

I have never been in a suite and I have always been cleared for fixed seating when I had requested it. Maybe because I made my reservation and request long before the cruise.

 

In terms of wait times, on two cruises when I did ask for a get anytime dining (over 35 days total) only once did I have to wait more than 2-3 minutes to be seated. Usually only wait until the "take them to their seats" steward gets back from the folks before us. This was regardless of the time I arrived at the MDR. BUT, I do ask to be seated at a large table with others. If I, or we when DH is with me, wanted a table for 2 I do not know what the wait, if any, would have been.

[Typhoon1]

No waiting if you arrive shortly after the MDR opens.

 

Peak times may have you waiting for a table, depending on the size of your group.