sackman Posted March 14, 2014 #51 Share Posted March 14, 2014 See the lead DRM once you are onboard. Depending on who he is, he may be able to help you with this problem. Some of the DRMs are willing to go the extra mile, others just go by the book. I think the OP has two choices. Either do what Typhoon is recommending, and see the Dining Room Manager on embarkation day to see what can be arranged, or pick a fixed seating time. It also sounds to me like the OP wants to have her cake and eat it, too. Of course, we all want that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilvertoGold Posted March 14, 2014 #52 Share Posted March 14, 2014 I think the OP has two choices. Either do what Typhoon is recommending, and see the Dining Room Manager on embarkation day to see what can be arranged, or pick a fixed seating time. *********It also sounds to me like the OP wants to have her cake and eat it, too. Of course, we all want that.********** And that is why there have to be rules to the game. Everyone is in the same boat and should be gracious enough to recognize that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Copper10-8 Posted March 14, 2014 #53 Share Posted March 14, 2014 See the lead DRM once you are onboard. Depending on who he is, he may be able to help you with this problem. Some of the DRMs are willing to go the extra mile, others just go by the book. Excellent advise! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare kazu Posted March 14, 2014 #54 Share Posted March 14, 2014 I suggest you try to contact the Ships Coordinator for your ship. They may be able to help. Not sure how you would get the name of that person, but worth trying. I think HAL would be doing everyone else a favor by getting you sorted out so you don't become a big ol' impediment in the Anytime Dining line-up -- if they had tables set aside for you, they could deal with all 28 in the line quickly. IMHO knowing that you are coming every night at a specific time and you need "X" number of tables will be doing all the other pax a favor -- as opposed to trying to deal with the tidal wave of your group "on the fly" every evening. As for everyone who is concerned that they won't get a table the moment they get to the MDR, that is actually a chance they take every night. I guess I too need my flameproof suit ;) That is good advice IMO. If the ship's co-ordinator can't help then talk to the MDR manager on board. The ship's co-ordinator may be able to help. They are not hard to reach and very easy to talk to :) The do arrangements on board for groups, group activities (including meet and greets). I think this phone number should get you there -1 877 885 4259 Give it a try. That would be your best avenue pre cruise IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shmoo here Posted March 15, 2014 #55 Share Posted March 15, 2014 Yet again I continue to be amazed at how poorly the CC HAL community treats others. Was it really necessary to suggest that the OP charter her own ship? The Zuiderdam's dining room sits 1,045 guests and from the reaction, you would think that a group of 800 was showing up and not a measly 28. The OP is not asking for special treatment. She has stated that she is aware of the extra work and disruption that a group of 28 can have on the staff and the other diners in the dining room and it has proven to be easier for the dining room to be prepared for the group rather than having them just show up. She is actually trying to be respectful of HAL's dining room staff and every other diner and their dining experience. It is so sad that others cannot show her the same respect. But she is asking for special treatment. She wants to sit in Open Seating at a set time every night, prearranged. The "rules" for Open Seating say you can call up every day and make a reservation if you want, but you can't set it up for the whole cruise. Or you can just show up and wait for a table. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare cbr663 Posted March 15, 2014 #56 Share Posted March 15, 2014 But she is asking for special treatment. She wants to sit in Open Seating at a set time every night, prearranged. The "rules" for Open Seating say you can call up every day and make a reservation if you want, but you can't set it up for the whole cruise. Or you can just show up and wait for a table. I disagree. She is seeking an accommodation for a small group so as not to disrupt others. I personally would rather that HAL provided the accommodation rather than find myself at the end of the group and having to wait for HAL to rearrange a dining room and to seat all 28 of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OVgirl Posted March 15, 2014 #57 Share Posted March 15, 2014 I disagree. She is seeking an accommodation for a small group so as not to disrupt others. I personally would rather that HAL provided the accommodation rather than find myself at the end of the group and having to wait for HAL to rearrange a dining room and to seat all 28 of them. If you find yourself in the any time dining line at 6:30 behind 28 people, it doesn't matter if they are in a group of not. There is going to be a long wait. It also means that from 5:15 when the dining room opens until 6:30, no one can be seated in those 28 chairs. And they will all be in the same area. The stewards will go nuts waiting that long with empty tables and then suddenly having to serve them all at once. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruz chic Posted March 15, 2014 #58 Share Posted March 15, 2014 Even if HAL gives you a fixed dining location in the anytime dining roomat the time you want. Not fair to all of us that select anytime dining so we can call and decide if we want to eat early or late that day. I hate when people get their way in anytime dining and have the same table every night. It cuts down on availability for us. Not fair. For those people wanting to eat at a certain time all together you need to select fixed dining. Fair to everyone(although you may think it isn't). When we travel with friends, we ask for fixed dining.On our own, anytime dining and we meet new people nightly. But she is asking for special treatment. She wants to sit in Open Seating at a set time every night, prearranged. The "rules" for Open Seating say you can call up every day and make a reservation if you want, but you can't set it up for the whole cruise. Or you can just show up and wait for a table. The OP is bringing 28 people on board. That is a lot of revenue for Hal. Have either one of you done that? It wouldn't kill Hal to give them a crumb. What kills me is people that think that they can flit back and forth between open and traditional. The OP is not doing that. Now that is something that is totally unacceptable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
innlady1 Posted March 15, 2014 #59 Share Posted March 15, 2014 IMHO, in fairness to others on the ship, a party of 28 should have fixed dining...early or late. Try to make one or the other work. Back in '09, we were on the "Good Nuts Cruise" on the Noordam. There were probably that number of us in our group. The TA arranged several tables at the Late Seating. It worked perfectly...and no one else was inconvenienced. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jtl513 Posted March 15, 2014 #60 Share Posted March 15, 2014 It also means that from 5:15 when the dining room opens until 6:30, no one can be seated in those 28 chairs. Right. Also those tables will not be available to late diners until around 8:30 to 9:00. She wants her half of the dining time right out of the middle of the prime time that many people want. I'd bet the MDR manager would be happy to set a standing reservation for the group early (before 5:30) or late (8:00) ... just like Fixed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare richwmn Posted March 15, 2014 #61 Share Posted March 15, 2014 There is another solution -- as I mentioned in post #27, the conference rooms can be set up for dining and have room for at least 28 people. SilvertoGold mentioned in post #47 specifically the Kings Room and Kazu in post #55 gave the number to the ships co-ordinator (who would need to set it up). The benefits to this 1. Everyone would dine together in a private setting 2. This solution would bother very few others 3. The dining time could possibly be varied depending on the group's activities. 4. It would be easier for the group to mingle. 5. The group might be able to have input on the menu. 6. Most likely the same servers would be used each evening. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YubaSutter Posted March 15, 2014 #62 Share Posted March 15, 2014 If I were in this situation, this is what I would do. I know that on HAL, you are able to reserve a dinning time 2 days out. I would have 4 people from different cabins go together to the dining room podium during the day and request a table for 8 for whatever time you want. Do this each day. The MD will assign all 4 tables a dining time. Everyone will probably be seated within 15 minutes of each other. Or Have all 28 show up for lunch or breakfast. You would almost be certain you will get 4 eight tops next to each other. Have a great reunion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
serendipity1499 Posted March 15, 2014 #63 Share Posted March 15, 2014 (edited) If I were in this situation, this is what I would do. I know that on HAL, you are able to reserve a dinning time 2 days out. I would have 4 people from different cabins go together to the dining room podium during the day and request a table for 8 for whatever time you want. Do this each day. The MD will assign all 4 tables a dining time. Everyone will probably be seated within 15 minutes of each other.Or Have all 28 show up for lunch or breakfast. You would almost be certain you will get 4 eight tops next to each other. Have a great reunion. Only problem with your suggestion about 4 people from each cabin is that HAL will not make a reservation for anyone at 6:30 in open seating..Even 4 star Mariners would have a difficult time getting tables at 6:30..They will only take reservations for people after the first 5:45 seating is finished which I believe is between 7 & 7:30.. Think about it; this group would be tying up a tables from 5:45 to 6:30 with NO One seated at them & then also from 6:30 to 8:30 as it normally takes almost 2 hours to feed 28 people.. In effect the OP wants to tie up 3 tables all night long which is totally un-reasonable & un-fair to the rest of the Psgrs who might want to eat a 5:45!..I know from experience that 5:45 is a popular time & they may not even have the tables to hold 28 people.. Perhaps RCCL has larger restaurants & more group bookings where they have no problem, but on a full HAL cruise it would not work.. IMO Richwmm & Kazu have the right idea..The OP should contact the ships co-ordinator or see the Dining room Mgr. on embarkation to see if they could set up the group in one of the private conference rooms ..The coordinator will e-mail the Hotel Mgr on the ship & ask him what can be done to accommodate the group..But the OP should be more flexable as the HM may suggest a slightly later dining time instead of 6:30..I've worked with HAL's Coordinators many times to set up M& G's & they are all very helpful.. That would be a solution & accommodate all Psgrs.. Betty Edited March 15, 2014 by serendipity1499 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruz chic Posted March 15, 2014 #64 Share Posted March 15, 2014 There is another solution -- as I mentioned in post #27, the conference rooms can be set up for dining and have room for at least 28 people. SilvertoGold mentioned in post #47 specifically the Kings Room and Kazu in post #55 gave the number to the ships co-ordinator (who would need to set it up). The benefits to this 1. Everyone would dine together in a private setting 2. This solution would bother very few others 3. The dining time could possibly be varied depending on the group's activities. 4. It would be easier for the group to mingle. 5. The group might be able to have input on the menu. 6. Most likely the same servers would be used each evening. The waiters can't seem to handle what they have already. How would they handle this extra? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tampa Girl Posted March 15, 2014 #65 Share Posted March 15, 2014 The waiters can't seem to handle what they have already. How would they handle this extra? Good point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retdon Posted March 15, 2014 Author #66 Share Posted March 15, 2014 Ok, this is my last post to this thread......................:p We are going to take the Main fixed time, 8pm. Our group coordinator is going to talk with the Dining Manager and see what she can work out for the group when she gets onboard. This is what our ship coordinator said to do. Does this sound OK so far????????? Remember I said we were all experienced cruisers, not a bunch of whiny babies who want to step on or get ahead of other passengers. On past cruises when we went in at 6:30PM and the open seating was WIDE open, we walked in without stopping at the desk and sat down. There were no tables that were held all night, how ridiculous...... The DM even said it worked so well they were going to do it for all groups. If you read my post I said 7PM would work also. Now we will see what happens when we board, I don't care, DH and I eat at the 8pm seating all the time, no problem for us................... Some of you people love a fight, hope you enjoyed this one and if you happen to be on our cruise you will enjoy meeting a bunch of fun loving seniors, by the way, please feel to join us we like to meet new friends who love to cruise. You can find us wearing our red, Hialeah High tee shirts and name badges, sometimes we have horse balloons, LOL (our mascot is the Thoroughbreds of Hialeah Race Track). Hope you all have a wonderful weekend, thanks Betty, Kazu and other posters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bodger Posted March 15, 2014 #67 Share Posted March 15, 2014 It also means that from 5:15 when the dining room opens until 6:30, no one can be seated in those 28 chairs. Retdon: I understand your desire to eat when it is convenient for your group, but, as OVgirl points out, you are asking for HAL to allow only a single seating in 28 seats instead of the normal two turns per seat. They plan and price cruises based upon certain economies of scale. Additionally you are asking some of the hard working dining room stewards and assistants to work at half price because they would not have the normal two guests in each chair in their section each night. My personal opinion is that is not fair to these folks that work so hard to please us. You may already have thought of that and are willing to double up on gratuities to make it right. It wasn't mentioned. I think you need to take a step back and look at the request from both points of view. Understanding that you have special requirements, it would be fairer to make those arrangements in advance and offer to pay appropriately. Bodger Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
senior lady Posted March 15, 2014 #68 Share Posted March 15, 2014 Retdon................ I hope everything works out for you on this cruise sounds like you've got a fun group going. I think your question was a good one, and I don't think you deserved all the nasty comments you've received. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retdon Posted March 15, 2014 Author #69 Share Posted March 15, 2014 Retdon................ I hope everything works out for you on this cruise sounds like you've got a fun group going. I think your question was a good one, and I don't think you deserved all the nasty comments you've received.[/QUO Thanks Karen, We will have fun, always do by looking at the cup as being half full not half empty. Isn't it amazing how some people respond when you only asked for help from them. I feel sorry for them, maybe posting is the only thing they have in life, for me there is a lot more. :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mfanderso Posted March 15, 2014 #70 Share Posted March 15, 2014 Since you are opting for Fixed Dining, you should have your TA contact Ship Services and make a request for tables in the same area. Once you get onboard the tables will already be assigned for Fixed Dining. There are only 4 of us and our TA makes a request for us for a specific table prior to us boarding. I have seen large groups with a specific TA be accommodated at tables in the same area in Fixed Dining. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare cbr663 Posted March 15, 2014 #71 Share Posted March 15, 2014 thanks karen, we will have fun, always do by looking at the cup as being half full not half empty. Isn't it amazing how some people respond when you only asked for help from them. I feel sorry for them, maybe posting is the only thing they have in life, for me there is a lot more. :d +1. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mytime2014 Posted March 15, 2014 #72 Share Posted March 15, 2014 Retdon................ I hope everything works out for you on this cruise sounds like you've got a fun group going. I think your question was a good one, and I don't think you deserved all the nasty comments you've received.[/QUO Thanks Karen, We will have fun, always do by looking at the cup as being half full not half empty. Isn't it amazing how some people respond when you only asked for help from them. I feel sorry for them, maybe posting is the only thing they have in life, for me there is a lot more. :D Reading this as a complete newbie and a relative outsider, I did NOT see the "flaming" you accuse others of. In fact, I thought you were offered some well thought out suggestions which YOU were prompt to dismiss as not being suitable enough for your group. You were quick to be dismissive, rude and overbearing in the insistence that you and your 27 compatriots should and will have the run of the ship's dining and to hell with anyone else's concerns or needs. I've seen flaming and fighting on these boards and frankly, you were handled with kid gloves compared to the way some discussions turn. I do hope y'all enjoy your cruise but I'm sure glad I'm sailing on the Westerdam....I'd be concerned if I knew we were going out on the same ship. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
san diego sue Posted March 15, 2014 #73 Share Posted March 15, 2014 RETDON, Glad you all worked it out. Have a wonderful cruise. Going with a big group of friends has to be fantastic. Happy cruising. Am so sorry you thought my post was flaming, really didn't mean to be. I get very frustrated sometimes with anytime dining and able to get a seat. (we mostly cruise Princess). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare kazu Posted March 15, 2014 #74 Share Posted March 15, 2014 Fixed (main) dining sounds like a smart alternative to me. Now - do you have the booking numbers for everyone else? or the TA does I assume? There is NO reason if the call is made to the ships' co-ordinators that they can't assign everyone at the same tables and possibly very close to each other. We do have the dining room layouts on HALFacts.com You might find (depending upon the layout) that it will work out well with three tables of 6 for example and an 8. I have called personally in the past to reserve a specific table and never had an issue. I think they should be very helpful whether you want to do it yourself or trust your TA to do it. I know the 8:00 pm time wasn't ideal for everyone, but there are munchies on the ship (not to mention room service) so I truly hope that this option works out for your group. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Copper10-8 Posted March 15, 2014 #75 Share Posted March 15, 2014 Ok, this is my last post to this thread......................:pWe are going to take the Main fixed time, 8pm. Our group coordinator is going to talk with the Dining Manager and see what she can work out for the group when she gets onboard. This is what our ship coordinator said to do. Does this sound OK so far????????? ..................... Good for you! Hope you and your group have an enjoyable cruise Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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