Noordam Late Dining and Shows

[billfromtulsa]

For people on late seating on the Noordam, do you do the shows before late seating or after? I was thinking of taking the late seating, but don't want to be up until late-late watching the shows. I couldn't remember if the late seating show was before or after dinner.

 

Bill

[dakrewser]

Typically after dinner (10:15/10:30) but occasionally before....

[Jade13]

For people on late seating on the Noordam, do you do the shows before late seating or after? I was thinking of taking the late seating, but don't want to be up until late-late watching the shows. I couldn't remember if the late seating show was before or after dinner.

 

Bill

 

Bill, shows are after dinner but I recommend the 8:00pm dining. You should have time to stop back in your cabin before heading to the shows (with the 8:00pm vs 8:30pm). The shows are approx 45 minutes (often 10:15pm-11:00pm, or 15 minutes later if they play Bingo prior to the show). Early is really early in my opinion, and could cause you to rush back from a port (or end your pool time early) to get dressed for dinner.

[twinkletoes4445]

Bill, shows are after dinner but I recommend the 8:00pm dining. You should have time to stop back in your cabin before heading to the shows (with the 8:00pm vs 8:30pm). The shows are approx 45 minutes (often 10:15pm-11:00pm, or 15 minutes later if they play Bingo prior to the show). Early is really early in my opinion, and could cause you to rush back from a port (or end your pool time early) to get dressed for dinner.

 

We did feel rushed the last time. We had the early lower, and felt a bit rushed, but we moved to the early upper and it was hard to get to the dining room on time (on port days). This time we booked the main early (the fixed seating) and we're going to give it a try. We also never ate lunch since we always had breakfast around 9:00 or so, we weren't hungry until mid-afternoon, and then we didn't want to eat then because we knew dinner was just around the corner.

 

I just hope we can stay awake for the late show! But we're going to give it a try. :)

[sail7seas]

I seem to remember we were told that when the ships convert to AYW, those who have late seating will go to the show before dinner. There are, even now, some nights when they switch from having the show after dinner to before.

 

[twinkletoes4445]

I seem to remember we were told that when the ships convert to AYW, those who have late seating will go to the show before dinner. There are, even now, some nights when they switch from having the show after dinner to before.

 

 

That would be nice. So if we have the fixed main seating, you think it might be possible that the shows would be prior to this? Even if this only happened a few nights, it would be nice.

[innlady1]

By the time we booked our February 6 cruise on the Noordam, we only had AYWD available. So we're going to give that a whirl.

 

Anytime Dining (same thing) worked well for us on our Princess cruise so I'm hopeful. Last year, we and the two couples we traveled with had early lower on the Noordam and that was fine, except, on port days, it was rushed.

 

We did enjoy Anytime on Princess because we planned our reservations according to what we were doing during the day...and were lucky enough to get reservations at "anytime" with the same waitstaff and same table.

 

I hope we're as lucky on the Noordam.

 

This time it's just us...so at least we don't have others to consider.

[Krazy Kruizers]

On our Nov Ryndam cruise the new dining was in place.

 

The show times were 6:30 and 8:30 every night.

 

So if you eat at 8, then your show time will be 6:30.

[barbon2]

We have found on our varies HAL cruises that most times the shows are after dinner, but there have been one or two evenings when the shows were before dinner for the later seatings.

Barbara

[twinkletoes4445]

By the time we booked our February 6 cruise on the Noordam, we only had AYWD available. So we're going to give that a whirl.

 

We thought we'd try it, but decided against it. I guess if we get on the ship and we've been assigned this (even though it says were guaranteed for fixed), we'll give it a try.

 

Anytime Dining (same thing) worked well for us on our Princess cruise so I'm hopeful. Last year, we and the two couples we traveled with had early lower on the Noordam and that was fine, except, on port days, it was rushed.

 

We ended up with early upper, and we were very rushed. By the time we trotted into the dining room, we were out of breath.

 

We did enjoy Anytime on Princess because we planned our reservations according to what we were doing during the day...and were lucky enough to get reservations at "anytime" with the same waitstaff and same table.

 

I hope we're as lucky on the Noordam.

 

This time it's just us...so at least we don't have others to consider.

 

I like the idea of having the same group of people and wait staff, which is why I prefer fixed. However, if it works basically the same way with the "anytime" I'd give it a try.

 

I hope it all works out for you on the Noordam. :)

[twinkletoes4445]

On our Nov Ryndam cruise the new dining was in place.

 

The show times were 6:30 and 8:30 every night.

 

So if you eat at 8, then your show time will be 6:30.

 

I hope that's what's going to happen on the Noordam. I pulled out our old daily programs from our past Zuiderdam cruise and all but one evening, the shows were at 8:30 & 10:30. On the last night, the shows were at 6:45 & 8:30.

 

Thanks for the information...6:30 would be a much more preferable time for us. :)

[twinkletoes4445]

We have found on our varies HAL cruises that most times the shows are after dinner, but there have been one or two evenings when the shows were before dinner for the later seatings.

Barbara

 

It does look like it varies a little, so that's good. We'll just go with the flow...who knows, I may surprise myself and make it though the late show! :)

[dakrewser]

On our Nov Ryndam cruise the new dining was in place.

 

The show times were 6:30 and 8:30 every night.

 

So if you eat at 8, then your show time will be 6:30.

 

That's terrible. Leaves you with nothing to do after dinner plus you need to rush to get ready for dinner plus there's no time for a quiet drink/hors d'oeuvre before dinner.

[gizmo]

That's terrible. Leaves you with nothing to do after dinner plus you need to rush to get ready for dinner plus there's no time for a quiet drink/hors d'oeuvre before dinner.

 

Ditto. I think this is a lousy set up. For me, the entire point of late seating is not having to rush to get ready for dinner plus having a couple of cocktails prior to dinner.

[Krazy Kruizers]

As I indicated in my "Live" report, we couldn't even get a decent seat at a couple of the shows. We eat at 5:45 - traditional. Many people were dining at 5:15. By the time we got to the show lounge - usually around 8 - the placed was already packed. Not good JMO.

[sail7seas]

That's terrible. Leaves you with nothing to do after dinner plus you need to rush to get ready for dinner plus there's no time for a quiet drink/hors d'oeuvre before dinner.

 

 

I totally agree. We rarely go to shows and will not be going to any if they are all before dinner.

 

We like to enjoy a relaxing drink in the lounge before our dinner and don't want to dress early and rush out to go to a show Before our 8:00 dinner.

 

I guess they will never please all the people all the time. :)

[Eicruise]

We just finished a fabulous cruise on the Noordam. Most nights the shows were at 8pm and 10:15pm. Maybe 2 nights the show was before dinner for the late seating. We were assigned AYW dining initally. We went to the dining room the 1st night around 6:45. We waited a few minutes before we were seated at a table for 10. Service was awful. The worst I've experienced in 13 cruises. The waiter actually apologized at the end. We were told we could make reservations for dinner at 7:45 and to call in the morning. We were staying in an SY and used the telephone consierge to make the reservation for us. She asked us if we would like that time every night and we agreed. Later in the day we received a note saying that we were reassigned to fixed dining at 8pm. It was the best thing. Our waiters were incredible and added greatly to our cruise experience.

[twinkletoes4445]

Eicruise....

 

I think 2 nights with early shows will be a nice balance (for us). That way, we can try both and see what we like the best. We may even go back to the early fixed next time, but we'll give the main fixed a try. Who knows, we may even try the AYW in the future, but I'd like to give it a little while for them to get the bugs out. I really like the idea of having the same table mates, and wait staff.

[Jade13]

On our Nov Ryndam cruise the new dining was in place.

 

The show times were 6:30 and 8:30 every night.

 

So if you eat at 8, then your show time will be 6:30.

 

I hope this is not the case on most HAL cruises. They do this on Celebrity and it seems to be one of the bigger complaints on that board. It certainly would not make any sense in the Med when most departures from ports are at 6:00pm. How would one get back at about 5:30pm, enjoy the sailaway and have time to change for the evening?

[bUU]

It is hard to please everyone. I know that if we had late seating for dinner, we would unequivocally want the shows to be before dinner, regardless of all other considerations. Shows that start at 10PM or afterwards might just as well be 3:30AM, from our perspective.

[Odd Ball]

That's terrible. Leaves you with nothing to do after dinner plus you need to rush to get ready for dinner plus there's no time for a quiet drink/hors d'oeuvre before dinner.

 

TERRIBLE, TERRIBLE, TERRIBLE.

 

Changing them to before dinner is the pits.

Looks like Hal is putting the screws to us again.

Doesn't Hal want to make any money with pre dinner drinks ?