Specialty Dining showed up 222 days out

[POA1]

I was shocked but delighted to see that our specialty dining reservations showed up more than 8 months before our March 2025 Nieuw Statendam cruise. We're traveling with 2 other couples and I figured we'd have to wheel and deal at the dining podium for 7 PM reservations for 3 different HIA bookings. I found the dining availability by dumb luck yesterday when I logged in to the website. (All quiet in the app.)

 

I was not expecting to see them until 5-6 months before sailing.

[Sea42]

Very jealous! Still waiting for it to show up on our Jan 6th Oosterdam sailing.

[dfish]

And I'm waiting for them to show up for our January 11th sailing.

[BermudaBound2014]

Compared to other main stream lines, HAL is very inconsistent.

[POA1]

15 minutes ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

Compared to other main stream lines, HAL is very inconsistent.

 

Or, could it be that The Bubble of Awesome has time travel powers? (That's my theory.) ⏰😁

[BermudaBound2014]

2 minutes ago, POA1 said:

 

Or, could it be that The Bubble of Awesome has time travel powers? (That's my theory.) ⏰😁

 

HA! perhaps 😄 

 

Meanwhile I'm stuck in the bubble of Abysmal-ness and still can't get HAL site to work outside of incognito 😄 

[VMax1700]

Just checked our September 2025 cruise on NSDM and Speciality Dining is bookable 😃

So the Bubble of Awesome not only has time travel powers, it does not recognise International borders 😉

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Try all the restaurants.

[JBSteelerfan]

Is there a "normal" time frame that reservations usually are available to book?

[BermudaBound2014]

23 minutes ago, JBSteelerfan said:

Is there a "normal" time frame that reservations usually are available to book?

 

Not really with HAL as I've found them to be the most inconsistent among the main stream lines. Not just with dining, but inconsistent with other policies too.  There seems to be a great difference depending on what ship you sail.

 

Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't see anywhere advertised that specialty dining opens up XXX amount of days before the cruise like all the other main-stream lines?? Anyone??

 

Note that the inconsistencies have not prevented me from booking and enjoying HAL cruises, but I've learned to have a bit of patience as their systems seem somewhat outdated,

 

PS: Am I the only one still needing to use incognito when surfing HAL? 

[VMax1700]

1 hour ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

PS: Am I the only one still needing to use incognito when surfing HAL? 

Possibly!

Working ok for me (at this present moment!)

[Ipeeinthepools]

On 8/7/2024 at 9:33 AM, POA1 said:

I was shocked but delighted to see that our specialty dining reservations showed up more than 8 months before our March 2025 Nieuw Statendam cruise. We're traveling with 2 other couples and I figured we'd have to wheel and deal at the dining podium for 7 PM reservations for 3 different HIA bookings. I found the dining availability by dumb luck yesterday when I logged in to the website. (All quiet in the app.)

 

I was not expecting to see them until 5-6 months before sailing.

 Thanks for the Heads Up.  We just booked our specialty dining on the NS for April 2025.

[foodsvcmgr]

Seems like no rhyme or reason, just need to keep checking.

I’m on Westerdam Seattle to Tokyo end of September 2025.

No speciality dining open yet.

Shorex in Juneau open and getting limited already.

Nothing yet published for tours in the two port stops in Japan.

[Cruise Suzy]

1 hour ago, Ipeeinthepools said:

Thanks for the Heads Up.  We just booked our specialty dining on the NS for April 2025

Reservations for the 4/2/2025 cruise on Eurodam still not available.

[Ipeeinthepools]

2 hours ago, Cruise Suzy said:

Reservations for the 4/2/2025 cruise on Eurodam still not available.

For whatever reason, the NS appears to have opened reservations for early 2025.  I'm sorry the Eurodam didn't.

Edited August 9 by Ipeeinthepools

[SeaMatesNYC]

Thanks for the heads up!  Just booked mine for July 2025 on Nieuw Statendam. 

[0106]

Still unable to book dining for my January 2025 cruise on the Koningsdam.

[oakridger]

2 minutes ago, 0106 said:

Still unable to book dining for my January 2025 cruise on the Koningsdam.

 

Although clearly not consistent, in my experience my cruises have opened up specialty dining maybe 4-6 months-ish out.  The much sooner opening is the exception at this time!

 

~Nancy

[shadow 123]

On 8/8/2024 at 9:32 AM, BermudaBound2014 said:

 

Not really with HAL as I've found them to be the most inconsistent among the main stream lines. Not just with dining, but inconsistent with other policies too.  There seems to be a great difference depending on what ship you sail.

 

Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't see anywhere advertised that specialty dining opens up XXX amount of days before the cruise like all the other main-stream lines?? Anyone??

 

Note that the inconsistencies have not prevented me from booking and enjoying HAL cruises, but I've learned to have a bit of patience as their systems seem somewhat outdated,

 

PS: Am I the only one still needing to use incognito when surfing HAL? 

No

[boeckli]

Nothing yet for Westerdam Feb 2025

[Ken the cruiser]

OK, something new to figure out. We’re booked on the April 2025 Panama Canal cruise on the Eurodam. I take it the 5-6 month timeframe estimate is only a guess based on the OP being able to book their reservations 222 days out.

 

If I might ask as we haven’t cruised with HAL since 2019. Will we be able to book our 3 HIA specialty dinners when dining reservations open up for our cruise or will they only be available to those that want to actually pay for them in advance? 

[oakridger]

54 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Will we be able to book our 3 HIA specialty dinners when dining reservations open up for our cruise

 

Yes!  Just select that it's the included meals when booking and the fee will be $0

 

~Nancy

[Mary229]

I no longer make reservations.  I have had no issue walking up on my cruises this year 

[Ipeeinthepools]

1 hour ago, Mary229 said:

I no longer make reservations.  I have had no issue walking up on my cruises this year 

 

I just want to see if I understand you correctly.  Are you saying that you just walked up to the specialty restaurants and you were seated for dinner?  What ship was this?  What time were you going to dinner?  5:30?  8:30?

[Ipeeinthepools]

5 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

OK, something new to figure out. We’re booked on the April 2025 Panama Canal cruise on the Eurodam. I take it the 5-6 month timeframe estimate is only a guess based on the OP being able to book their reservations 222 days out.

 

If I might ask as we haven’t cruised with HAL since 2019. Will we be able to book our 3 HIA specialty dinners when dining reservations open up for our cruise or will they only be available to those that want to actually pay for them in advance? 

 

When you make your reservation there will be a "Complimentary" box that you need to check.