Main dining room

[Bjbilly]

Is the dining room open on boarding day?   Thanks

[USN59-79]

Yes, for the evening meal and "probably" for lunch.  As we are usually waitlisted for our preferred dining time, we go there as soon as we are on board to meet the manager and request our preferred time and table size.

Ray

[3rdGenCunarder]

2 hours ago, USN59-79 said:

Yes, for the evening meal and "probably" for lunch.  As we are usually waitlisted for our preferred dining time, we go there as soon as we are on board to meet the manager and request our preferred time and table size.

Ray

 

When I go to lunch the first day, I walk around the dining room and check out where my table is. 

 

I have to ask--your profile picture, are you from Hanford? Or were you on a nuclear sub?

[terrydtx]

When you board the crew will try to direct you to the Lido for lunch, but the MDR is open for lunch but the hours are usually limited. Last year on the Oosterdam when we boarded in Trieste the MDR was open for lunch from 11:30 to 1:00pm. The Lido gets so busy and packed during the E-Day and I have never seen the MDR that busy.

Edited February 22, 2023 by terrydtx

[USN59-79]

5 hours ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

 

When I go to lunch the first day, I walk around the dining room and check out where my table is. 

 

I have to ask--your profile picture, are you from Hanford? Or were you on a nuclear sub?

The picture is of my collar device when I was a Navy Warrant Officer.  The helium atom means that my specialty was electronics.  I was the electronics repair officer on a repair ship during the Vietnam War, the ground electronics officer at a Naval Air Station in the Philippines and assistant OIC of a satellite tracking facility in Hawaii.  A surface skimmer, never on subs.

[bvocruise]

This is slightly off topic but related to the main dining room. Does HAL charge for a second main course at dinner? I saw they did a test awhile back. We haven't cruised HAL in many years but will next year in Alaska. 

[RuthC]

36 minutes ago, bvocruise said:

This is slightly off topic but related to the main dining room. Does HAL charge for a second main course at dinner?

No. The test was never implemented across the fleet. 

[KroozNut]

On 2/21/2023 at 2:16 PM, USN59-79 said:

As we are usually waitlisted for our preferred dining time, we go there as soon as we are on board to meet the manager and request our preferred time and table size.

Ray

I somehow find this odd, or maybe it's just because we've been extremely lucky, and have batted 1000 with every fixed dining time request we've made (usually early). Have never been wait listed..

What is your preferred time, and how far out do you typically book?

[KroozNut]

On 2/21/2023 at 10:10 PM, USN59-79 said:

The picture is of my collar device when I was a Navy Warrant Officer.  The helium atom means that my specialty was electronics.  I was the electronics repair officer on a repair ship during the Vietnam War, the ground electronics officer at a Naval Air Station in the Philippines and assistant OIC of a satellite tracking facility in Hawaii.  A surface skimmer, never on subs.

 

Nothing wrong with 'surface skimmers'. I was a Supply Officer on a couple of them in my day.. 🙂

[Florida_gal_50]

23 minutes ago, KroozNut said:

I somehow find this odd, or maybe it's just because we've been extremely lucky, and have batted 1000 with every fixed dining time request we've made (usually early). Have never been wait listed..

What is your preferred time, and how far out do you typically book?

You’ve been lucky, I believe.  Why would anyone lie about this?  I’m not interested in early traditional dining  but you used to have to book more than a year in advance for it.  The main dining was way easier to get.

[KroozNut]

3 hours ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

You’ve been lucky, I believe.  Why would anyone lie about this?  I’m not interested in early traditional dining  but you used to have to book more than a year in advance for it.  The main dining was way easier to get.

 

Yep, I thought it had a lot to do with luck. Not accusing anyone of lying, I'm just really curious about their typical dining request, and how far out they typically book. So I can compare it to our process, since our request results seem to be much different than theirs.

I do believe that the longer before sail date you book, the better chance you have of getting the fixed dining choice you prefer, without being wait listed. That has been our experience at least..

[Colorado Klutch]

8 minutes ago, KroozNut said:

 

Yep, I thought it had a lot to do with luck. Not accusing anyone of lying, I'm just really curious about their typical dining request, and how far out they typically book. So I can compare it to our process, since our request results seem to be much different than theirs.

I do believe that the longer before sail date you book, the better chance you have of getting the fixed dining choice you prefer, without being wait listed. That has been our experience at least..

 

I booked a May cruise in early January. Early dining was completely booked out and late dining was waitlisted. I was automatically assigned Any Time Dining. 

[USN59-79]

To answer @KroozNutquestion, we prefer early dining in the MDR.  Before Covid, we typically booked a cruise less than 90 days before sailing as we usually got better prices at that time.  However, our next cruise is a continuation of a cruise we booked in 2020, was cancelled mid-cruise, rebooked on the Noordam, cancelled by HAL and rebooked again on the Westerdam, the ship we originally booked in 2020.  I just noticed about a month ago that we were waitlisted for dining which wasn't a big thing as I know how to deal with it once onboard.

Ray

[KroozNut]

33 minutes ago, Colorado Klutch said:

 

I booked a May cruise in early January. Early dining was completely booked out and late dining was waitlisted. I was automatically assigned Any Time Dining. 

Which supports my belief that that further out the booking is made, the better luck is had with dining request times.

[KroozNut]

29 minutes ago, USN59-79 said:

To answer @KroozNutquestion, we prefer early dining in the MDR.  Before Covid, we typically booked a cruise less than 90 days before sailing as we usually got better prices at that time.  However, our next cruise is a continuation of a cruise we booked in 2020, was cancelled mid-cruise, rebooked on the Noordam, cancelled by HAL and rebooked again on the Westerdam, the ship we originally booked in 2020.  I just noticed about a month ago that we were waitlisted for dining which wasn't a big thing as I know how to deal with it once onboard.

Ray

Yeah, I think it is 90+% a result of the timing of when you book. Where you typically book relatively close to sail date and are most times wait listed, we typically book 9 mos or more out and have never been wait listed.

[Florida_gal_50]

9 hours ago, KroozNut said:

 

Yep, I thought it had a lot to do with luck. Not accusing anyone of lying, I'm just really curious about their typical dining request, and how far out they typically book. So I can compare it to our process, since our request results seem to be much different than theirs.

I do believe that the longer before sail date you book, the better chance you have of getting the fixed dining choice you prefer, without being wait listed. That has been our experience at least..

Absolutely that is true and exactly what I said in my post.  

[3rdGenCunarder]

Does booking a guarantee cabin, as opposed to choosing a cabin, affect getting your choice of dining time? 

[Florida_gal_50]

8 minutes ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

Does booking a guarantee cabin, as opposed to choosing a cabin, affect getting your choice of dining time? 

Not at all.

[Infi]

Agree that booking earlier does improve your chance of getting your desired fixed dining time. 

 

However, did want to point out that it's not always guaranteed, even if you do book early. We book our holiday cruises ~1.5years out (usually as soon as the itineraries are released) and have rarely gotten our preferred early dining time. This has always been easily remedied by meeting with the MDR staff on embarkation day, but it's forever a head-scratcher for me that early seating could be unavailable right after HAL releases the itinerary. 

[KroozNut]

2 hours ago, Infi said:

Agree that booking earlier does improve your chance of getting your desired fixed dining time. 

 

However, did want to point out that it's not always guaranteed, even if you do book early. We book our holiday cruises ~1.5years out (usually as soon as the itineraries are released) and have rarely gotten our preferred early dining time. This has always been easily remedied by meeting with the MDR staff on embarkation day, but it's forever a head-scratcher for me that early seating could be unavailable right after HAL releases the itinerary. 

That is a puzzler, especially since we have had the opposite experience when booking that far out.

Maybe because the holiday sailings are more popular and therefore book much faster than others?

We did have an experience a couple of years ago, where we booked a sailing ~1 year out, and our confirmation email indicated 'wait listed' for early fixed dining.

This prompted a quick phone call to Ship Services, and the rep promptly assigned us confirmed early seating. Took less than two minutes on the phone.

So even if you get an initial wait list assignment for your preferred time, don't stop there; call them and they should be able to work it out, especially that far out.

[Florida_gal_50]

2 minutes ago, KroozNut said:

That is a puzzler, especially since we have had the opposite experience when booking that far out.

Maybe because the holiday sailings are more popular and therefore book much faster than others?

We did have an experience a couple of years ago, where we booked a sailing ~1 year out, and our confirmation email indicated 'wait listed' for early fixed dining.

This prompted a quick phone call to Ship Services, and the rep promptly assigned us confirmed early seating. Took less than two minutes on the phone.

So even if you get an initial wait list assignment for your preferred time, don't stop there; call them and they should be able to work it out, especially that far out.

I think it’s highly dependent on when you book.  For instance if you book Alaska for late April or early may I imagine those bookings would be less busy/booked than August.  Just because you haven’t had trouble and make one call doesn’t mean it’s exactly the same as your situation.  This is puzzling that you would think so.

[KroozNut]

20 minutes ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

I think it’s highly dependent on when you book.  For instance if you book Alaska for late April or early may I imagine those bookings would be less busy/booked than August.  Just because you haven’t had trouble and make one call doesn’t mean it’s exactly the same as your situation.  This is puzzling that you would think so.

 

Which is exactly what I'm saying.. that it's highly dependent on when you book. And the further out you book, the better luck (generally speaking) you'll likely have with your specific dining request.

Not sure why that's so puzzling..

[Florida_gal_50]

43 minutes ago, KroozNut said:

 

Which is exactly what I'm saying.. that it's highly dependent on when you book. And the further out you book, the better luck (generally speaking) you'll likely have with your specific dining request.

Not sure why that's so puzzling..

It’s not.  It’s you that seems so puzzled, as you have posted.

[mikebsxm]

We usually book around a year out,, and are 4 star mariners, (not sure if that has any clout, but we always mention it).  We send an email to the Ship Coordinator for the particular ship we are on.  The email includes our booking number, cabin number, request for early fixed dining, and we include a list of 10 or more table numbers, in order of preference.  We have always received one of our top 3 favorite tables. 

[KroozNut]

1 hour ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

It’s not.  It’s you that seems so puzzled, as you have posted.

 

I was puzzled by your puzzlement..😑