Dining Preferance?

[Tom O.]

Going on my first HAL cruise in 3 weeks. When I booked my cruise, almost a year ago, I told my agent that I wanted late dining. But I never saw anything that said late dining written on my ticket or anywhere else. How can I verify that I have late dining?

[Krazy Kruizers]

Dining time has always been written on our initial reservation and our final documents.

 

If you won't see it anywhere on your ticket, call your TA and and he/her check it out.

 

If it isn't what you want, once you are on the ship, then check your daily program for the time and place to meet with the maitre'd. This doesn't guarantee that you will get changed - but it never hurts to try.

[terrydtx]

In case you have not been following this board since you booked a year ago, HAL has been converting their fleet to a new dining option called As You Wish Dining (AYWD) and the lower dining rooms are being converted to this concept while the upper DR are staying with traditional fixed dining. AYWD is open seating from 5:30 pm to 9:30pm. The late 8:30 and 6:15 dining times are the ones that were eliminated. You do not say which ship you are on and so can’t say if it has converted over as of yet. The Volendam converted over this week and a schedule and answers to how this works can be found by reviewing the thread: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=627832 If your ship has converted by the time you cruise and if you were booked on the 8:30 seating you might have been put into AYWD.

[terrydtx]

Tom

 

I found the AYWD converting schedule for you it is as follows:

 

The ships and starting dates are listed below.

 

Noordam- Implemented

Ryndam-Implemented

Volendam-Implemented

Statendam-12/18/07

Oosterdam-1/5/08

Rotterdam-1/27/08

Zaandam-2/3/08

Westerdam-2/24/08

Zuiderdam-3/15/08

Veendam-4/6/08

Maasdam-4/24/08

Amsterdam-5/16/08

Prinsendam-5/23/08

Eurodam-7/5/08

[sail7seas]

Traditional Dining is offered for 8 P.M. seating on the Upper Level of the Dining Room. AYW Dining is an option but you do not have to select that. You can still have your late Traditional if you wish.

 

[Tom O.]

Thank you Krazy, Terry and Sail7Seas. I knew about the new dining plan, but my ship, the Oosterdam will not be implementing it until after my cruise.

I double checked my ticket and found that it said Confirmed Upper Seating, but did not give a time. Does this mean I have late seating?

 

By the way, I don't think much of the new dining plan. It is very similar to what they have on Princess. I have sailed Princess many times and I think that their dining system is a disaster for people who want fixed dining. It works well for those who want anytime dining, but most people request fixed times. As a result, the fixed times are always wait-listed, and there are always a bunch of unhappy people who thought they were going to get fixed time and end up with anytime dining. For me, the main thing about anytime dining that I don't like is that you get a different waiter every night, and I enjoy getting to know my waiter and assistant.

I was looking forward to my first cruise with HAL knowing that I wouldn't have to worry about being stuck in Princess anytime dining. Luckily, I missed the implementation of the new Hal plan by one month. I bet that first cruise with the new plan will be chaos.

[terrydtx]

Thank you Krazy, Terry and Sail7Seas. I double checked my ticket and found that it said Confirmed Upper Seating, but did not give a time. Does this mean I have late seating?

.

 

In the past my tickets either said early upper for 5:45 or main upper for the 8:00 seating.

[Harry1954]

Traditional Dining is offered for 8 P.M. seating on the Upper Level of the Dining Room. AYW Dining is an option but you do not have to select that. You can still have your late Traditional if you wish.

I believe we are both on the Maasdam segment leaving this 29 Nov. According to the Docs from our TA, we have confirmed 6:15 seating for dinner ... that does not seem to be in parity with this thread .. what are your thoughts?

harry

[sail7seas]

Harry, Yes...... we are on that Maasdam cruise. :)

 

Maasdam has not yet begun the AYW Dining Program. It is still traditional dining for the four time slots and from what you say, you have been assigned the 6:15 dining which is the second of the four seatings. You will be on lower level of the dining room.

 

When you check in you will be given a folder/envelope which contains your key cards and dining assignment slip. If you are not happy with what it is, look for the daily program on the counter when you get to your cabin. It will say where you can meet with a representative from the dining room to try and change your assignment. There will probably be a line of others trying to do the same.

 

They cannot always accomodate your wishes but they try their best.

 

HOPE we meet aboard.

We're into short countdown. :)

 

[Harry1954]

thanks for your comments .. we had requested 6:15 lower as we had upper late on prior cruise and felt it was too late for us.

can't worry about countdown yet, have to get all my business ducks in a row and help my dear wife plan our Thanksgiving dinner for a mob ... then I will gladly start the countdown happily!

harry

[Tom O.]

In the past my tickets either said early upper for 5:45 or main upper for the 8:00 seating.

 

Maybe because some ships are already on the new dining plan while others (including mine) are not, this caused some confusion with the printing of the tickets and they had to leave off the dining time while in this interim period.

[sail7seas]

Our Maasdam docs say Main Upper for our upcomin cruise. (Thankfully....... :) )

 

[RuthC]

I double checked my ticket and found that it said Confirmed Upper Seating, but did not give a time. Does this mean I have late seating?

I wouldn't worry, if I were you. You are confirmed for the upper dining room, which (admittedly) could be either early or late. But, since early always fills up and has a waiting list, and late isn't nearly so popular, the odds are well in your favor that you got the later sitting that you wanted.

Relax and enjoy. :)

[FreeStyleNCL]

I'm planning on takin the Noordam out of NYC in Jan 16...

 

is this dining interchangeable throughout the cruise? I don't want to sit with the SAME people, for 10days! I'd like to mix in different dining here and there as well.

 

please lmk! :)

[RuthC]

is this dining interchangeable throughout the cruise? I don't want to sit with the SAME people, for 10days! I'd like to mix in different dining here and there as well.

Then you want AYW from the get-go. Traditional dining does involve having the same tablemates for the entire cruise.

I understand that you may change dining arrangements once during the cruise, but I suspect it will be difficult to change to Traditional, as that tends to be fully booked.

[FreeStyleNCL]

I wouldn't worry, if I were you. You are confirmed for the upper dining room, which (admittedly) could be either early or late. But, since early always fills up and has a waiting list, and late isn't nearly so popular, the odds are well in your favor that you got the later sitting that you wanted.

Relax and enjoy. :)

 

oh ok. this would be my second cruise and I started it off with the FreeStyle cruise of the Norwegian which I did enjoy a lot. I never had experience with the traditional cruise dining but it seems like ur tied up the entire week.

Thanks for the info I appreciate it