Holland America wears the mantle of ‘traditional cruise line.’ While other lines have added mega-sized ships, rock climbing walls and movie nights, Holland America added the Culinary Arts Center, a venue that offers cooking demonstrations in a professionally staged demonstration kitchen. I attended a demonstration given by Michael Lomonaco on the Noordam. It was impressive. Our table thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. We ate some tantalizing treats and drank a few glasses of wine…hey, what’s not to enjoy?
Now, Holland America has launched As You Wish dining. It consists of choice of seating, early and late as usual, and flexible/dining service from 5:15pm-9:00pm daily. Guests who choose the flexible seating option can also make reservations up to 4:00pm each day for their choice of dining time.
Currently, the Noordam is the only ship offering the service, but the Ryndam will debut As You Wish dining on October 11. The Volendam will follow on November 13 and the Statendam will finish the 2007 roll out of the flexible dining debut on December 18.
The other members of the Holland America fleet will introduce the service in the first half of 2008. Richard Meadows, the executive vice president of marketing and guest programs offered the following comment, “We’ve operated As You Wish dining in a pre-launch phase aboard the Noordam and the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive.”
I think this is a great idea and am happy that Holland America is giving their guests more options. I like an assigned dinner seating because I know what time I need to be dressed and ready to go. On the other hand, sometimes I just want to eat a bit earlier or a bit later and the ability to have that choice is liberating. This is a nod to a younger, more casual clientele who still likes to dress for dinner.
Filed under: Cruise Industry, Travel Industry, caribbean cruises, cruise agency, cruises
