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Anytime Dining - can reservations be made

acctgtogo
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acctgtogo

acctgtogo

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We have Anytime Dining.  Are we able to make reservations once onboard?  On Celebrity we can make reservation before boarding but it is not available on HAL.  Hoping it is available on board so we don't have to stand in line too long.  Thanks.

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Cruise Suzy

Cruise Suzy

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3 minutes ago, acctgtogo said:

We have Anytime Dining.  Are we able to make reservations once onboard?  On Celebrity we can make reservation before boarding but it is not available on HAL.  Hoping it is available on board so we don't have to stand in line too long.  Thanks.

 

Yes, MDR Anytime Dining reservations can be made onboard. There are Specialty Dining podiums near the Pinnacle Grill and Spa entrance on embarkation afternoon. That is also where MDR reservations can be made. However, they allow no more than 50% of the tables to be reserved. Some ships allow you to book for the whole cruise and some ships allow booking only 3 days in advance.

 

How long the non-reservation line is varies by when you want to dine.

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acctgtogo

acctgtogo

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Thank you for the information.  Early seating was full when we booked.  We will head to the dining podium after boarding and hopefully will be able to reserve a table.  

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sherryf

sherryf

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1 hour ago, acctgtogo said:

We have Anytime Dining.  Are we able to make reservations once onboard?  On Celebrity we can make reservation before boarding but it is not available on HAL.  Hoping it is available on board so we don't have to stand in line too long.  Thanks.

We have never bothered to make reservations in the MDR, and have never waited more than about 5 minutes.

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C 2 C

C 2 C

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2 hours ago, sherryf said:

We have never bothered to make reservations in the MDR, and have never waited more than about 5 minutes.

So you're the reason everyone else has to wait half an hour.🙃

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mahi mahi

mahi mahi

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You can also call or email ships services and ask them to switch you to fixed dining. Times vary by itinerary, on our last cruise over Easter fixed times were 5 pm and 7:30 pm. Too early and too late for us. Usually we were able to go to the podium on boarding and make a standing reservation for the same time every night but not this time. They also don’t let you reserve between 6 and 7:30.

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ChinaShrek

ChinaShrek

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53 minutes ago, C 2 C said:

So you're the reason everyone else has to wait half an hour.🙃

I actually thought you were supposed to just show up and not make reservations with Anytime Dining. Why would I want to make reservations ahead of time? I have no idea when I am hungry.

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lupaglupa Great Review Rare

lupaglupa

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5 hours ago, acctgtogo said:

Thank you for the information.  Early seating was full when we booked.  We will head to the dining podium after boarding and hopefully will be able to reserve a table.  

This happened to us one cruise and we were able to make a reservation after we got on board for the same table every night at the same time - just as if we had had a regular assigned table. We even got a window table. 

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Cruise Suzy

Cruise Suzy

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18 minutes ago, bkennedytx1 said:

I can't make reservations for any dining.  The website keeps saying "no venues available."  The website in general sucks.

 

That's probably because dining reservations aren't yet available. Reservations for Specialty Restaurants normally open about 6-7 months in advance. Our November 2024 cruise opened dining reservations just a few days ago. Reservations for Fixed (Early or Late) MDR Dining are made at the time you book.

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jimbob22

jimbob22

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Just got off Neiuw Amsterdam.  The app does seem to let you make reservations for certain times for the passengers in your room.  But our family was in multiple rooms, so I went to the MDR to make a reservation for later that day and they said no can do, that we'd need to get a buzzer when we got there.  Fortunately, the waits were not too long (we could immediately get a buzzer and we waited nearby).  It would be nice if there was a way to make a reservation for more than just those in your cabin though.

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cccole

cccole

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The only time I noticed a long line for the MDR was on port days where everyone came back from a fun day, changed for dinner, and showed up for later dining.  Early fixed diners who had missed their dining time were now in this line.  If you are on a port intensive cruise I think that early dining may become a problem.  We never had a problem with anytime dining getting a nice table, but we did not go to the dining room before 7:15.  Doesn't anytime dining mean that you do not want to commit to a certain time for the entire cruise?  But some want to confirm dining reservations for whenever they choose for the entire cruise?  I never thought of choosing Anytime dining and asking the dining room to give me a table for my entire cruise for the time I want.  Awesome.  Cherie  

Edited by cccole
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julia

julia

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12 hours ago, sherryf said:

We have never bothered to make reservations in the MDR, and have never waited more than about 5 minutes.

Lucky you... can I assume you've never sailed on Koningsdam? 😲

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sherryf

sherryf

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10 hours ago, C 2 C said:

So you're the reason everyone else has to wait half an hour.🙃

I don't get your logic. 🤔 Maybe it's just the time we choose to go, but there's never been a long line.  We aren't causing anyone else to wait, and I've never seen a line that would cause anyone to wait half an hour.

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sherryf

sherryf

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9 hours ago, ChinaShrek said:

I actually thought you were supposed to just show up and not make reservations with Anytime Dining. Why would I want to make reservations ahead of time? I have no idea when I am hungry.

Exactly!  I certainly don't know when I'll be hungry months in advance!

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simplyrubies

simplyrubies

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On 4/27 we boarded about 3:30pm but likely didn't try reserving until 4:00 (too hungry after our wait in customs!) and were unsuccessful in reserving through the app. 

 

We were able to make one dining reservation a few nights before, not at the dining reservation desk but through an MDR host. Dining reservation desk told me they couldn't do MDR reservations(?) - I'm guessing he could, they were just full. 

 

We ended up walking in around the same time every night - 5:00 to 5:15pm right when they opened - and hardly waited. I don't think we would've waited much closer to 6:00pm judging from the line we saw. 

 

 

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alwaysfrantic

alwaysfrantic

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On 4/30/2024 at 3:24 PM, bkennedytx1 said:

I can't make reservations for any dining.  The website keeps saying "no venues available."  The website in general sucks.

That is for specialty dining venues.  They open closer to your trip.  If you are trying to choose Fixed Main, Fixed Late or Anytime Dining, have your travel agent add it if you have one, or call HAL reservations if you booked online to have it noted 

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EmsMom

EmsMom

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We were recently on the Koningsdam for 35 nights and had anytime dining.    It was not working well for us as we had a different server every night and our service wasn’t good.   We finally got an excellent server and asked the Maitre d if we could get a table at a specific time in his area and he was able to do that for us and our dining experience was excellent from then on.  We were able to make a reservation ahead of time before we got an assigned table …. It just didn’t work for us.   

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jeh10641

jeh10641

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On 4/30/2024 at 4:13 PM, jimbob22 said:

Just got off Neiuw Amsterdam.  The app does seem to let you make reservations for certain times for the passengers in your room.  But our family was in multiple rooms, so I went to the MDR to make a reservation for later that day and they said no can do, that we'd need to get a buzzer when we got there.  Fortunately, the waits were not too long (we could immediately get a buzzer and we waited nearby).  It would be nice if there was a way to make a reservation for more than just those in your cabin though.

Try synching your cruise reservation numbers to connect more than 1 cabin for reservations. I have done that in the past.

Jim

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jimbob22

jimbob22

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31 minutes ago, jeh10641 said:

Try synching your cruise reservation numbers to connect more than 1 cabin for reservations. I have done that in the past.

Jim

now we're off the ship.  I'll try that before our next Hal.  Definitely when we were on the ship, we could only see our own cabin.  Turned out to not be a huge deal.

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LAX

LAX

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We picked early dining when the booking was made. Is it possible to request a certain location within the MDR (ie: near windows)?

 

LAX

 

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