As You Wish Dining - Opinions, Comments and Discussions

[Roz]

Not having to carry around money with me (and a purse or wallet to put it in) is one of the pluses to cruising. It wouldn't keep me from tipping someone, but I would find it annoying.

 

Another minus for AYWD.

 

Roz

[Charliesmom]

Can suite passengers make reservations for AYWD and have the same waiter every night?

 

Have any suite passengers tried AYWD? Did you like it?

 

Roberta

[Hanna615]

... We just disembarked from a 34 day venture and my first order of business after getting home was to request two seat dining for this next cruise, first time we ever did that... .

 

Good luck with getting what you requested. We booked our recent cruise 12 months in advance and requested a table for 2. We were assigned a table for 4. We managed to get reassigned to a "table for two" which consisted of a bench seat and a chair within 10 inches of the same seating on either side of us. We ate on the Lido deck for the balance of the cruise.

[kennicott]

Good luck with getting what you requested. We booked our recent cruise 12 months in advance and requested a table for 2. We were assigned a table for 4. We managed to get reassigned to a "table for two" which consisted of a bench seat and a chair within 10 inches of the same seating on either side of us. We ate on the Lido deck for the balance of the cruise.

 

I’m not certain what ship and line you were on that provided such close quarters for just a seating of two. Probably would have been okay for us though. But, we really don’t prefer just a seating for two, we would rather be with more folk, like you get at breakfast and lunch on most ships with traditional seating. Almost all of our voyages during over the last decade have been for a month or longer. We go always for late seating. Trip before last, on Princess, without asking for it we had a table for two, but dine anytime with others would have been much preferable. A few weeks ago we got off the Amsterdam. There were empty two seat tables (with nothing but elbow room) all over the place, all the time. We met a lot of friends. Some were all by themselves at tables for up to eight, a good portion of the time. For some reason we got stuck with the gated community aristocracy crowd. Nice folk, I guess, but not our type. Sure would have loved to join our many lonely friends at their empty tables. The dine anytime option, seems to me would have been perfect.

[iluvfun]

I'm won't be happy if the cruiselines are planning to drop traditional. Princess calls theirs "Personal Choice," but if you are forced into their anytime, how can that be personal choice (it's not yours). Same thing here. "As you wish" would mean your choice, imo.

[bUU]

As with anything, the name chosen is the one that casts the new offering in the best possible light. That's the nature of consumer marketing. Folks are more likely to buy things if they have positive, trendy names.

[Two if by Sea]

I'm won't be happy if the cruiselines are planning to drop traditional. Princess calls theirs "Personal Choice," but if you are forced into their anytime, how can that be personal choice (it's not yours). Same thing here. "As you wish" would mean your choice, imo.

 

Can't you accomplish pretty much the idea of traditional dining by making a reservation for the same time and table for the whole cruise, and asking the Maitre D' to place you with another couple that has requested the same?

[Charliesmom]

Roger should also have "Choice" room number. They are the Katzes - Al and Susan.

 

Roberta

[Charliesmom]

Posted in the wrong place - sorry.

 

Roberta

[MoreMilesPlease]

Can't you accomplish pretty much the idea of traditional dining by making a reservation for the same time and table for the whole cruise, and asking the Maitre D' to place you with another couple that has requested the same?

 

Just off the Noordam yesterday. If you could make a reservation for the same time every night, we were certainly not told that. On the contrary, we met a couple who thought they had done just that only to turn up and be told they had no resrvations and would have to wait. Some nights the wait was 30-60 min.

 

We had to call everyday, around 8 am, to make a reservation for that evening. It was a pain. We also made a reservation for 4 people most nights was we met people we wanted to dine with. This was difficult for the staff to understand. The dining staff takingthe reservation always wanted the other persons last name/cabin number. I just told them I couldn't remember it. They were not very happy with my poor memory!

 

One morning we "slept in" till 9am. No reservations were available! We did complian to the guest relations manager and he got us a reservation.

 

As You Wish dining is a nice concept but HAL does not have their kitchen or dining room set up to implement it properly. Several nights we were waiting 20-30 min for appatizers and then another 20 min to have plates cleared. Very slow service and spotty as far as quality goes.

 

People like the concept but HAL hasn't got it right.

[Odd Ball]

So this is the wonderful world of As You Wish Dining.

Waits of 30 to 60 minutes is bad. :(

Having to call every day at 8:00 AM for reservations is a bummer. Heaven forbid you over sleep. Chasing after the Guest Relelations Manager is no fun either.

[Roz]

Agreed, Odd Ball. A big appeal of cruising, for me at least, is not having to think about when and where I'm going to eat every evening, and not having to make arrangements every day. Unless, of course, I want to eat in the Pinnacle.

 

I want to be able to get dressed for the evening and walk into the dining room and go to my assigned table. No muss, no fuss. I walk out of land-based restaurants when I'm told the wait will be 30-60 minutes.

 

Let's hope the situation improves.

 

Roz

[MoreMilesPlease]

I am not sure if waits of 30-60 min are the norm on all ships for all cruises. We were on a holiday cruise with every cabin occupied.

 

I think the problem is that many, many people want to eat around that 6:30 to 7:30 time. HAL will not let you make a reservation between 6pm and 7:59 pm. You can make a reservation for 5:45, 8pm, or 8:15pm. That was it. Other wise you had to go and take your chances. No 6:30, 7, 7:30, etc reservation were allowed. It meant some nights everyone showed up en mass and there were long waits. Also there were a limited number of reservations available. Once the reservations for 8 and 8:15 were full that was it. Stand in line and wait.

 

The first couple of nights we made reservations for 8pm for just the two of us and were seated at a table for six. It wasn't nice listening to the other people complain about having to wait so long in line because they hadn't/couldn't get reservations. This is when we started calling at 8am and getting a reservation for 4 people at a table for 4. We figured if we didn't find dinner companions during the day we'd just pull someone from the line. Fortunately we met a nice couple and had dinner with them almost every night.

[Hanna615]

I’m not certain what ship and line you were on that provided such close quarters for just a seating of two. Probably would have been okay for us though. But, we really don’t prefer just a seating for two, we would rather be with more folk, like you get at breakfast and lunch on most ships with traditional seating. Almost all of our voyages during over the last decade have been for a month or longer. We go always for late seating. Trip before last, on Princess, without asking for it we had a table for two, but dine anytime with others would have been much preferable. A few weeks ago we got off the Amsterdam. There were empty two seat tables (with nothing but elbow room) all over the place, all the time. We met a lot of friends. Some were all by themselves at tables for up to eight, a good portion of the time. For some reason we got stuck with the gated community aristocracy crowd. Nice folk, I guess, but not our type. Sure would have loved to join our many lonely friends at their empty tables. The dine anytime option, seems to me would have been perfect.

 

Oh, sorry. We were on the Oosterdam over Christmas. It was the two seat tables with elbow room between that we didn't care for. Neither did we like the bench seating for one while the other got a chair. It was too much like cafeteria seating to my liking. Interestingly, this was our 3rd sailing on the Oosterdam and we've had dining issues each time. Never-the-less, we had a wonderful trip and will sail on the Oosterdam again and mayby try out the AYW dining option. :)

[flashdog_1]

I began to wonder if it is the size of the HAL ships (as well as those of RCI who I understand are also starting to experiment with their own brand of "as you wish dining") and number of passengers carried that make this a more difficult transition than I read about on the Regent & Oceana boards where they seem to have no complaints. But then, they knew what they were getting when they booked, didn't they? ha

 

If this is going to be the trend of cruising (when they actually work it out so that some people can have traditional dining and others the freedom to take their chances, or spend all their time making reservations which may or may not be honored), I thought to myself, "perhaps I should try the most experienced in this business." So i booked a couple of NCL cruises. I may laugh all the way to the travel agency after the first one, to cancel and rebook the second one.

 

On land, if I have failed to make a dinner reservation because I was too busy shopping or whatever, I take my chances when I go to a restaurant. If I see a long line I either decide to go somewhere else if I'm too hungry, or wait it out if I know the food is great where the long line is. Would this be so on a ship? We're rather captive there, though.

 

But it is comforting to know, from what I've read here, that you usually do not have to wait for a table if you dine before 7 p.m.

 

Personally, I think part of the cruise experience is getting to know some new people if you didn't come aboard with friends you already know. This would include your table mates and servers in traditional dining. I like meeting new people, so that's part of my expectation.

 

I'd like to know if anyone traveling without friends under these experimental dining venues has had a less than satisfying experience in the realm of getting to know new people. Thanks

[spindrift]

AWD is a fairly new thing to HAL, as it was to Princess some years back. Even tho the lines are under the same Corporate umbrella (and you would think they would learn from each other), they will still experience "growing pains." We have always been able to go at the time we selected for a table, either specific or number of diners, on Princess and have not experienced a problem. The first couple cruises after the intitiation of "anytime dining," there were a few problems. They seemed to be resolved on future cruises.

 

It seems when reviewing the comments that those who are unhappy are trying to go to dinner near one of the traditional times, so making a rezie close thereto should not be a problem, should it? Or maybe, just stick with the traditional time.

 

Anyway, just a comment. I think HAL will do very, very well.

 

Oh, and speaking of close proximity of a table for two to other tables, we had requested a table for two on our Prinsendam transatlantic, and our table was within a foot of abuting a table for four--more like a table for six, but it was fabulous. What was important to us is if we were just a few minutes late, the others were not held up.

 

If eating is your primary focus, then you have to do some soul searching as to what would make your cruise most memorable. Mine certainly was not the "eating" process but the interaction with many passengers and the ports we visited. (Loved those sea days as well.)

[filadin]

I can only compare HAL's AYWD to NCL as that is the only other AYW experience that I have had. I must say that HAL compares poorly. I will not spend too much time guessing as to reasons, but it could be the smaller size of the HAL ships, the limited number of venues, the fact that HAL has retrofitted the concept while NCL has designed ships around it, who knows?

 

On NCL, you could make reservations in advance and for any time that they had a table. If you showed up without a reservation, you might have to wait from no time to 30 minutes depending on the popularity of the restaurant and the time that you showed up.

 

On the Statendam last week, you could only make reservations at 5:15, 5:30, 5:45, or I believe after 8:00. You could not make reservations for the more popular times. You also could not make reservations in advance, so as earlier posters said you would have to call at 8 a.m. to make the reservations. By 9:00 a.m. on most days the reservations would be full and you would just have to show up. If you showed up before about 6:15 you would have little to no wait. After that, the waits could be from 15 minutes to one hour (New Year's Eve).

 

Why can't HAL let you make a reservation at 6:30? Why can't HAL let you make reservations in advance? If you had an early morning tour, you could not make a reservation.

 

A side annoyance was the need to give all of the room numbers, with the MD having a brain lapse or poor command of English and never being able to get the number correctly. No exaggeration - I would have to repeat my room number about 3-4 times. It was like "Who's on First," only not funny and terribly annoying. I finally got to where I would hold up my fingers while I said the number.

 

While HAL claims to be an upscale line and NCL is a mass market line, I must say that I was greatly disappointed in several aspects of HAL including AYWD. NCL does almost everything better, including AYWD.

[bUU]

NCL was also a lot more expensive than HAL for the cruise we were considering.

[Jsipes]

I was on the Noordam last week, and I understand that the "As You Wish" dining option was a popular one, so chances are you will see it on the Veendam. A lot of people like having more flexibility in their dining arrangements.

 

Karin

 

As you wish dining is a Godsend to those poor, unfortunate souls who are assigned late dining..........Hallaluya !!!!! :) :) :)

[peterjohn]

During Christmas of 06 we were on Oceania's Insignia cruise from Buenos Aires to Valparaiso where they had their form of As You Wish. It was seamless and always a pleasure to use the system. On those very few occasions when there wasn't a table immediately available, there was a beautiful cocktail lounge adjacent to the dining room where you actually wanted to spend more time before dinner. They set up the dining room with mostly tables for two in maybe rows of 6. You got to meet interesting new people on each side of you, and if those next to you weren't in the mood to chat, which was seldom, that was okay.

 

We also were on the Statendam this Christmas from Australia to New Zealand when they were initiating their As You Like. To this point HAL had introduced the service on 5 previous ships. When we approached the dining room for our first dinner, along with 30 to 50 others who apparently wanted the same option, the outcome was a hungry mob. The only way the ship was able to get a handle on what amounted to an average 30 minute wait or more every night, was to encourage passengers to call each morning for a reservation. We never had trouble getting a reservation and if we called late we choose an alternate time, but even with a reservation, it still took about 30 minutes(after a 10 minute wait in line) the first 5 or 6 nights to get a table at the new "As You Like It, when we can do it" service.

 

You know those fast food places that give you those light up pagers? Well, that's what we would get at the front door all dressed up in our formal wear. It took a few tries to finally learn how the pager worked as they offered no explanation. I guess that probably another 30% of the passengers finally got fed up with the whole procedure and asked for fixed seating in the upper dining room or went to the buffet which saved the ship's bacon. Finally, we begged to be sat at a 8 person table at any time.

 

To be fair to Holland America, the Statendam had 1200 passengers while the Insignia had around 600. But, you just don't launch a new service in a restaurant without some practice on someone else other that paying customers. They had this fixation with knowing what table you were being assigned to and where you sat the night before. So they would have to log each set of diners into a what looked like a very slow laptop which acted as a choke point in the system. One night the computer was broken and we sailed in to dinner. The Oceania system seemed to care less where you sat last and with whom, but you could request where you wanted to be seated. I found the 30 minute wait on the Statendam to be unacceptable when you arrive on time for a 8:00pm reservation. The dinner hour on board should be tranquil and a highlight.

 

The choice of where, when and with whom you want to be seated obviously was important to most of the Statendam passengers and the old fixed seating custom a relic of a time when there was less competition. Good bye to those cocktail bores that used to sit with you the whole cruise.

 

Hopefully HAL will work out the bugs.

[hammybee]

 

 

They had this fixation with knowing what table you were being assigned to and where you sat the night before. So they would have to log each set of diners into a what looked like a very slow laptop which acted as a choke point in the system. One night the computer was broken and we sailed in to dinner. The Oceania system seemed to care less where you sat last and with whom, but you could request where you wanted to be seated. I found the 30 minute wait on the Statendam to be unacceptable when you arrive on time for a 8:00pm reservation.

 

I sailed on one of the first cruises with open seating. The practice of checking in everyone by cabin# was in effect there too as well as in the LIDO. It was obvious to me, at the time, that the crew had no idea when or where passengers were going to present themselves for dinner because so many abandoned fixed seating.

 

I am as surprised as anyone that open seating is being used on longer sails that attract passengers who probably prefer fixed seating more so than on a typical 7 day sail.

 

Who knows, back in the day when cruise lines coverted to two fixed seatings in the same cabin class, people probably thought it would never work as early is too early and late is too late.

[DL10]

Thanks for this thread! Cruise critic boards are so helpful!

I've been looking at Alaska cruises and had just about decided on Holland America when I found this thread.

 

Now, I'm not so sure. We've sailed HA once and liked it. The only freestyle dining we've sailed was NCL and we really didn't like it. We frequently had to wait for a table at dinner - and often went to more than one restaurant trying to find a shorter wait. But, even with the waits, it wasn't chaos.

 

It sounds like HA might have chaos until they work out the kinks. I prefer traditional dining. I especially want evening dining to be a smooth, easy and pleasant experience, and I really don't want to participate in a calling for reservations contest every morning at 8!

[bUU]

Holland America is introducing AYWD ship by ship, so I expect we will encounter a comparatively smoother experience on ships that have had AYWD for a longer period.

[hammybee]

I think there is enough feedback to conclude that the dining experience, fixed or open seating, is as subjective as the actual food. When a passenger does not get what he/she wanted, he/she is more likely to not enjoy what he/she got.

 

Stick someone who wants to dine early in a late seating slot and he/she is probably going to be disappointed.

 

Stick someone who wants late seating in an earl dining slot and he/she is probably going to be disappointed.

 

Stick someone who wants fixed seating in open seating and he/she is probably going to be disappointed.

 

Stick someone who wants open seating in fixed seating and he/she is probably going to be disappointed.

 

Stick someone who prefers to dine at a leisurly pace, in a setting that is faster than preferred, and he/she is probably going to be disappointed.

 

Stick someone who wants to dine chop-chop, in a leisurely paced dinner, and he/she is probably going to be disappointed.

 

Stick someone who wants a table for two at a table for 8 and he/she is probably going to be disappointed.

 

Stick someone who wants a table for 8 at a two-top and he/she is probably going to be disappointed.

 

At the end of the day, when we choose to sail with 1000-2000-3000-4000 others and when a majority want the same thing, at the same time, some of them are going to be disappointed.

 

Cruise lines know this better than anyone and see a business opportunity. In otherwords, passengers who pay more, tend to get more. Deluxe Suite passengers pay dearly for the privledge of getting what they want and those of them who book early enough seem to get what they want, when they want it. And those who are not willing/able to pay more, run a higher risk of getting what's available. Sometimes this is enough and sometimes, not.

[mancunian]

One of the things that interests me is that people are complaining that they cannot prebook on what they see as the popular times between 7 and 8 pm. Actually they have never been able to do that. Early sitting is earlier, late sitting 8 or later. Where you have a ship with numbers that fill the dining room twice in an evening you will never be able to have many people able to eat at that prime time for obvious reasons - it is blocking tables too long.

 

I cannot see why people who want traditional seating cannot have it. Surely provided HAL divide these people into two so both sittings are the same size they can just adjust the numbers cruise by cruise. As it was people did not always get the sitting on ships they wanted as one was usually oversubscribed.

 

For the people (like myself) who want open sitting this can only provide for sitting with whom you choose within the boundaries of the two present traditional times. You have some leeway but not much.

 

On the question of long and short cruises I would have thought it was the people on the longer cruises that would prefer open sitting not wishing to be stuck with the same people for a long time but preferring to make friends and then elect to sit with them on open sitting.

 

Just my thoughts.