Topic: Open Dining

One of the best bits of cruising on Azamara, and some of the more expensive lines, is being able to come to dinner when you want and to dine on your own or with different companions each time. There is nothing to stop a party of family or friends having a table to themselves or joining someone on a regular basis but I think that they should give us the option

Thats of course if you do not mind queueing for an hour to actually to get IN to the main dining room. Not very nice when travelling with an 87 year old disabled aunt, and grumpy, hungry Americans around you who expected better service. Azamara ships are too small for open dining. Its OK if you have a ship large enough to keep everyone happy

QUOTE:

We prefer fixed dining, late sitting on a large table. From our previous experiences, we have enjoyed the company of the people we were seated with and looked forward to meeting them each evening. On our last cruise, we went with a couple we had first met on a cruise 2 years ago. In addition, we are able to enjoy the service and rapport with the same restaurant staff each evening.

On the only occasion we experienced open dining, which was on a Princess cruise some years ago, we just turned up when we felt like it, often had to queue and then shared a table with whoever turned up at that time. I understand that others prefer open dining and think that there should be the flexibility to offer both open and fixed. However, if you don't want queueing or reservations, how are the restaurants going to cope?

My thoughts exactly. We also have cruised again with former table mates and are still in regular contact after 13 years. Five years after our very first cruise we ran into our waiter from that ship (then on another ship from the same line) and he remembered us! What would be the chances of that with open dining?? Never underestimate the relationships that can blossom from fixed seat dining.

My ideal is the same table with the same waiters throughout the cruise without the 2 sitting system. The trouble is that the restaurant size is designed for 2 sittings and unless there is spare capacity when they have open sitting for Breakfast and lunch you sometimes have to queue especially if you are a party of 4 or more. I also think that they should keep buffet meals out of the main restaurant.

We wholeheartedly agree with your comments. Whilst we have met and made many good friends from set dining tables, in the past few years we have not been so fortunate. Maybe this is because table allocations are now made by computer. Equally, for us, the timings are either too early or too late. Having enjoyed Freedom Dining - Princess, Cunard, Seabourn, Silverseas, etc. set dining is now a bone of contention and where-ever possible we will cruise with a line that offers Freedom/Anytime Dining. Certainly that is the case on all our future booked cruises.

Thank goodness we now have Celebrity sailing out of Southampton - this can only be for the good of the cruiser.

For those who have mentioned shows, when we first started cruising (in the good old days!) there were two performances per night of most shows, one for those passengers on first sitting, and a repeat for second sitting passengers. Ah - cut backs.

It is a case o freedom of choice, if you like 'Club Dining' all well and good - if not, then the ability to dine when you want is great. After all, if you take a land based holiday, you invariably dine at a time suited to you.
QUOTE=Neil Down, Southampton;8724]In a probably vain attempt to get away from the two most written about subjects can I ask for your thoughts on:

OPEN DINING

Do you think that it is about time that the cruise lines stopped messing about with two sittings? Surely it is not beyond their expertise to provide an open dining situation each and every night. People always want to eat at different times and yet they are still regimented into filing sheep-like to the same tables every night irrespective of what they have been doing, what plans they have and what new friends they have made.

One of the best bits of cruising on Azamara, and some of the more expensive lines, is being able to come to dinner when you want and to dine on your own or with different companions each time. There is nothing to stop a party of family or friends having a table to themselves or joining someone on a regular basis but I think that they should give us the option.

I realise that this provision is partly satisfied by the new "My Time" dining schemes but many of them require you to book a time at which you wish to dine and few allow you just to turn up.

I am not saying this is imperative or what must happen....I just want to know what you think. ....Neil[/QUOTE]

On NCL we never had any problems with its Freestyle Dining. We rarely had to wait more than a few minutes.
We could choose whether to see the show before or after dinner.
On our next cruise on MSC the sittings are at 7 and 9.30. We would normally go to dinner at about 8,30. The shows are at 9,30 and 11.30 so as we'll most probably choose the later time, I wouldn't be surprised if I end up dozing during the show at 11.30.
I've never tried traditional dining. But surely it must be awkward to find yourself alone on a table for 8 because your dining companions had decided to eat in the buffet or speciality restaurant.

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On NCL we never had any problems with its Freestyle Dining. We rarely had to wait more than a few minutes.
We could choose whether to see the show before or after dinner.
On our next cruise on MSC the sittings are at 7 and 9.30. We would normally go to dinner at about 8,30. The shows are at 9,30 and 11.30 so as we'll most probably choose the later time, I wouldn't be surprised if I end up dozing during the show at 11.30.
I've never tried traditional dining. But surely it must be awkward to find yourself alone on a table for 8 because your dining companions had decided to eat in the buffet or speciality restaurant.

Strangely, our experience is the exact opposite of yours. We have never had table mates desert us for an alternative restaurant. In fact, last year on Tahitian Princess we all got on so well that we would not have dreamed of opting for an alternative venue unless the whole table upped sticks and went together.
On the other hand the only time we tried Freestyle Dining was with NCL (who offered no alternative) and we were often left by ourselves as insufficient people showed up at the same time to make up a large table. This was particularly disappointing on the evening of my 50th birthday. It was very early in the cruise and we had not had chance to make friends with many people on board so we pitched up at the dining room and asked if they could organise a large table of people to make up a good party but only 1 other couple could be found so we had a "party" of 4 on a table designed for 10. Not what I had hoped for. Give me the old traditional ways every time.

It all depends on whether one regards the evening meal as a means of satisfying ones hunger before getting on with the evenings's entertainment or whether one regards the meal as a major part of the evening's entertainment in its own right. To me, to sit in a formal dining room at a set time and gradually build up a report with ones fellow guests and the waiting staff is a major part of the cruise and I would be very unhappy to see it go in favour of a quick rush into the buffet or having to queue for a table allocation in the dining room.

I pity the poor cruise line executives trying to find a solution to please everyone. I've never tried traditional dining. It's just that sometimes the late sitting is .... too late. Eating at 9.30 and going to the show at 11.30 doesn't leave much time for anything else. (MSC). Yet having to eat at 7 doesn't leave much time for a rest after an excursion, showers etc.
We've never had to share a table with someone in freestyle.

QUOTE:

It all depends on whether one regards the evening meal as a means of satisfying ones hunger before getting on with the evenings's entertainment or whether one regards the meal as a major part of the evening's entertainment in its own right. To me, to sit in a formal dining room at a set time and gradually build up a report with ones fellow guests and the waiting staff is a major part of the cruise and I would be very unhappy to see it go in favour of a quick rush into the buffet or having to queue for a table allocation in the dining room.

I agree that the evening meal is part of the evening's entertainment and as I have said before, we love to sit on a large table for 8 or 10, but when only one couple turns up the entire cruise on a table for 8, it somewhat defeats the object. That why I was saying, if you have no intention of eating in the main dining room and only intend to use the buffet you should be able to opt out, as they always ask you at the time of booking which sitting you prefer, and therefore a place is not kept for you, resulting in empty places. Joan Happy cruising

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As someone who has never had ' bad' set dining companions, I would be against this idea. Late/set dining suits us. Our holidays are our down time and the thought of having to reserve a specific dining time every day scenario is not my idea of down time. I'm not a good queuer and the idea of a lineup to dine in the evening is also dreadful thought.

I agree totally. We have never had a bad experience with late/set dining. We have met some wonderful people on tables of six or eight and were a bit disappointed to be on a table for four this year, especailly since our companions did not make dinner on the first night. However from the second night on we got on really well and found we had a lot in common even though they were quite a lot younger than us. I too am not in favour of standing in line on holiday (or any other time!) Judith