Question about dining strategy for antisocial types!

[iggycat]

Hi, all. My wife and I recently booked our fifth cruise on Holland America (the Veendam). For the first time, all fixed dining was closed, so we had to go with the flexible dining option. We love cruising and meeting new people, but we're just not the kind of people who enjoy eating dinner with random strangers. Do people have suggestions on how we can dine in the main dining room alone? Could we sit at a four-person table but request that no one join us (perhaps if we eat late, when things are quieting down)? Can we call to reserve a two-person table? If that works, can we simply request the same table at the same time every night? I realize we could skip the maining dining room and choose the Lido restaurant or more up-scale (and costly) restaurant, but we have always enjoyed the main dining event. I feel a little silly sounding so antisocial, we just enjoy our relaxing, private moments together and hope we can figure out a way to eat alone without too much hassle or stress. Thanks very much.

[LindaKE]

If HAL's As You Wish dining is like Princess' Anytime dining and NCL's Freestyle, you just go to the specified restaurant and request a table for 2, just like you'd do in a restaurant at home. You'll be asked if you care to join others. Just say "No". We were able to request a table in a particular waiter's area when we found one we really liked. We stuck to Princess and NCL because of being able to do just that. Now we have a whole cruise industry opened up to us. Have a great cruise!

[marco]

Yep! Just ask for a table for two. If you want to dine at the same time/same table every night, that can be arranged. If you want to be more flexible, and not dine at the same time every night, you might have to wait a few minutes for a table to become available.

[cb at sea]

Perhaps, after a day or so, you'll meet some new friends who then WON'T be "random strangers", and can enjoy a meal with them! With the "As you wish" dining, it's up to you!

[ILoveScotland]

DH and I were on the Westerdam about a year and a half ago with traditional dining - don't think flexible dining was available or we would have taken it. We wound up at a large table of folks we simply did not enjoy - nothing wrong with them, but we just didn't enjoy ourselves.

 

So we wound up in the buffet each night for the rest of the cruise and loved it. The food was excellent; we did have to go through the buffet to make our choices and order them, but the food was delivered to us at our table, and we had the same waiter most nights. We loved the informality and the quality of service and the flexibility.

[uppitycats]

Hi, all. My wife and I recently booked our fifth cruise on Holland America (the Veendam). For the first time, all fixed dining was closed, so we had to go with the flexible dining option. We love cruising and meeting new people, but we're just not the kind of people who enjoy eating dinner with random strangers. Do people have suggestions on how we can dine in the main dining room alone? Could we sit at a four-person table but request that no one join us (perhaps if we eat late, when things are quieting down)? Can we call to reserve a two-person table? If that works, can we simply request the same table at the same time every night? I realize we could skip the maining dining room and choose the Lido restaurant or more up-scale (and costly) restaurant, but we have always enjoyed the main dining event. I feel a little silly sounding so antisocial, we just enjoy our relaxing, private moments together and hope we can figure out a way to eat alone without too much hassle or stress. Thanks very much.

 

That's the beauty of the flexible option -- you don't have to eat with random strangers. When you show up for dinner you simply request a table for two, and you'll be seated there. (It may end up being a table meant for 4, but just like in a land-based restaurant, they'll simply remove the other place settings.)

[jollyjones]

I cruised on the Veendam earlier this year as a solo with anytime dining. I prefer eating alone with my thoughts and a good book so I just turned up at the dining room and asked to be seated alone; I never had to wait more than five minutes although I did avoid the peak times of 7.30 - 8pm. As a couple you probably won't get any 'looks' but I must say that asking to eat alone usually elicited a slightly annoyed look from the Maitre d' but I figured that was his problem, not mine.