New to Holland....have questions.

[ronmaca]

We could not get a seating for the early dinner...so we have Open Seating. Never have done this on previous cruises. Is there a special dining room for "open?" and should we make a reservation for a specific time. Just don't want to eat any later than 6 30PM. Any hints or procedures we should know? On Westerdam/March

[CruiserBruce]

Opening is commonly held in the bottom floor of the Main Dining Room. If demand for Open Seating is high, some tables on the higher deck will be used.

 

You can only made reservations for opening to 6pm, and (IIRC) after 7pm.

 

Not sure how we would know what would be good for you relative to making reservations.

[Captain Canuck]

just did Holland American cruise to Alaska. Had any time dining. Basically 2 floors of the dining room. Upper was assigned seating and lower was any time. You can book a reservation but since you like to eat early likely not necessary. Holland America does have an older crowd so eating early is more of a thing so you may want to do this just in case. Also better if you want a table for 2 and do not want to share with different people. We did not pack dinner clothes so ate in the buffet on the two formal nights. Food in the buffet was the same as the dining room (we had checked the menu).

[Krazy Kruizers]

Open Seating is on Deck 2 -- lower level of the dining room.

Having been on the Westerdam several times, reservations could be made from 5:15 to 6:15 and 7:30 - 9 for 3 days at a time and any size table you want.

If you get staff and a table you like, you can request to have the same table each night of the cruise.

[ronmaca]

Open Seating is on Deck 2 -- lower level of the dining room. Thanks!!

Having been on the Westerdam several times, reservations could be made from 5:15 to 6:15 and 7:30 - 9 for 3 days at a time and any size table you want.

If you get staff and a table you like, you can request to have the same table each night of the cruise.

great info...thanks for the help.

[Krazy Kruizers]

You are welcome.

Just check with the dining room manager to make certain of reservation times.

Also if you wish to have dinner in your cabin, ask the dining room manger when you can place your dinner order. You can ask for any time you want it delivered.

[joekerstef]

For our cruise in May, we requested early dining and were assigned anytime dining, which we decided to roll with. Our boarding pass even said Confirmed Dining: Open Seating. So on the first day of the cruise, we went to the MDR to make a table reservation and what we had not noticed on our key card was that they did in fact assign us to early dining. Guessing that all of the two-tops had already been requested by the time we reserved the cruise, but they gave us a four top just for us. Was actually nice having the extra room. Anyway, definitely smart of OP to learn about how open dining can be arranged when that wasn't your first choice, but you may find out that you get what you actually requested in the first place. Check your key card! (that never even occurred to us)

[kazu]

It depends on the ship where the "anytime dining" is.

 

Normally you report to the lower dining room to get a table (except on the Prinsendam whose dining room is one floor) but on the Westerdam we found they mixed the open and fixed dining. So, some fixed dining was on the Lower dining room with open and some open dining was on the Upper Level with fixed. We hadn't encountered this previously.

 

This was not the case on our Rotterdam cruise. It was the standard set up.

[ronmaca]

For our cruise in May, we requested early dining and were assigned anytime dining, which we decided to roll with. Our boarding pass even said Confirmed Dining: Open Seating. So on the first day of the cruise, we went to the MDR to make a table reservation and what we had not noticed on our key card was that they did in fact assign us to early dining. Guessing that all of the two-tops had already been requested by the time we reserved the cruise, but they gave us a four top just for us. Was actually nice having the extra room. Anyway, definitely smart of OP to learn about how open dining can be arranged when that wasn't your first choice, but you may find out that you get what you actually requested in the first place. Check your key card! (that never even occurred to us)

Thanks...will do!

[Roz]

In a way it's good you didn't get early seating, because there's so much daylight in Alaska in summertime, you don't want to cut back your port time in order to get back on the ship for dinner. Just my opinion based on experience.

 

Roz

[Ine]

On ms Koningsdam fixed and anytime were on both floors and mixed. So it will depend on the ship.

[esimon]

We do open -- eat around 5 or so -- have reserved a table earlier in the day and can reserve up to 3 days - NEVER had a problem.