Holland America has responded to customers' demand for more flexibility in onboard dining by offering optional open seating at dinner aboard several ships. Similar to Princess' "Personal Choice" dining and Norwegian's "Freestyle" dining, the "As You Wish" program will allow passengers to choose open seating anytime between 5:15 p.m. and 9:00 p.m., or make reservations for standard early or late dining via HAL's traditional pre-set seating schedule.
The line first tested their "As You Wish" dining program on the Noordam, and based on the positive feedback they received from passengers, decided to roll out the program to the rest of the fleet. "As You Wish" dining will be gradually implemented starting with the Ryndam, Volendam and Statendam over the next few months, and the rest of the fleet in the first half of 2008. Guests can decide between traditional early or late seating and flexible, open-seating dining at the time of booking.
Right on Holland America's heels, Royal Caribbean has announced that it will test open seating during dinner on Freedom of the Seas cruises departing between Oct. 14 to Dec. 16. Flexible dining will be offered in the Galileo Dining Room, situated on the uppermost tier of the three-tier main restaurant. During these sailings, open seating will be offered between 6 and 9 p.m., while the other tiers of the main dining room will offer two traditional seatings.
