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Anytime dining or traditional?


bigsky2010
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We've done both, and typically prefer MDR seating because of the relationship built with the waiters...they anticipate what you want. But, we did ATD with a group of 7 and found a table/waiter we really liked and requested that table every night after that and were able to get it.

 

On the next planned cruise we are going ATD because we don't want any "down time" between planned activities, getting ready for dinner, and waiting for the dinner time to roll around. This last cruise we spent a lot of time "waiting around" for dinner because we got ready to early. It would have been nicer to go to dinner as soon as we were dressed. Yes, we did go listen to music, have a drink, etc....but still felt like we were treading water.

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.....either way it depends on what I'm doing that day! It may also depend if I can bear being with the same dinner mates every single night. I am one of those who hates being told what time to eat also. There can be so many variables thruout a day and I can never commit to one or the other. The food quality is good at either venue so anytime versus traditional....I can swing!:o Lauri

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  • 1 month later...

We sailed on HAL last spring and would have trouble going back to traditional. There were 3 of us (husband, my Mom and myself). We went to main dining fairly early each evening and never had a very long wait. The bonus was we met delightful new people at each meal. I'm not a big fan of mandatory (automatically included in your bill) tipping. We had ok service in the main dining room but I think it had more to do with the automatic tipping than familiarity which comes with traditional seating. In fact early on the cruise we were in the same area with the same waitstaff as we had the previous night. I had been served a disgusting dish that I barely touched. In the old days the waitstaff would have noticed and offered to bring me something else. On this trip they merely let it sit in front of me until they were clearing the table and then whisked it away with no comment. On other evenings we had very engaging service and the waiter was begging me to let him know what else he might do to make our dinner wonderful. We liked being able to come back from shore excursions and not worry about making it to the early sitting but also knowing that if we were hungry from a long day we didn't have to wait for the late sitting. Enjoy your cruise

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My friend got back from a carnival cruise and the anytime could be a nightmare because there was a long wait time(hour to hour and a half).

With that I would prefer traditional with the same waiter who remembers my fave drink and my seat is waiting for me. As far as tablemates are concerned they are all interesting...good bad or indifferent. They always left something for my husband and I to talk and laugh about as the evening concluded. Alot of times we didn't feel like dressing for dinner and there were so many other meal venues that we took advantage of them.

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  • 1 month later...

Just got off the Royal Caribbean Jewel of the Seas. We had a group of 6 and did the anytime dining. I liked the way RC allowed us to make our reservations on the computer even before we boarded the ship, so we never had a wait. We dined @ 8:00 when we had activities, 5:45 when we were at sea (to avoid the 6:00 fixed dining rush). As we left the dining room each night, we reserved the same table & wait staff. So this allowed us the flexability of the time with the consistancy of the same staff waiting on us and knowing our likes and dislikes as they would for people who choose fixed time dining.

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As others have mentioned, we also have done both and there are advantages and disadventages to both. For our first 25 cruises we did tradtional dining. We liked getting to know our tablemates ( always a large table), waiters and when we would be eating. We never had disageeable people and many of these people have remained friends that we visit from time to time. Retaining the same waitstaff is also extremely pleasant.

On the other hand, our last cruise we tried anytime dining. As this was our first experience and it was on the Ruby Princess, we have no other comparison. The big drawback was the long wait. We didn't know that you could reserve a table, time or waitstaff, so had to wait for the room to clear out. Sitting with different people most nights was a fantastic way to meet more people that we wouldn't have otherwise encountered. Our last 4 nights, we sat with another 2 couples that we had met this way and reserved our table each night. It was great fun.

We are now undecided as to what option to choose for our fall TA. With the majority of days being sea days there is no need to rush back from port, so traditional would be fine. We hope that we will have friends joining us, so anytime may fit better with no co-ordination required for a larger group.

Ciao,

Nikki

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  • 2 weeks later...

We have sailed ten times all with Princess. We have had TD, ATD and the new five thirty dining. We travel by ourself so we always ask for a large table. We love the ATD as we sit with different people everynight. We wouldn't do the five thirty dining again. We like having the same wait staff so the TD is nice. But we now do prefer the ATD, reason is the last ten day cruise, we had a couple that the wife complained everynight about something...It was horrible, because of her we felt our service was only about a 5!

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  • 2 months later...

As much as I enjoyed Traditional, I have to say that Anytime has won me over.

We did Anytime for the first time on our Princess cruise. Hated it. Disorganized, long waits, people at the table were eating different courses at different times. Vowed I'd never do it again.

 

Then our next HAL cruise, we decided to do it because it was just hubby & I and wanted some more flexibility. Loved it!! No waiting, tables filled quickly, service was excellent, got to meet some very interesting people.

 

Sailing to Alaska in a few weeks and have selected Anytime again.

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  • 4 weeks later...

We did As You Wish on our last two cruises and loved it. It left us free to eat when we wanted and where we wanted, without having to let anyone know we had changed our minds about either. We found that we tended to eat at about the same time most evenings, and ended up in the same area of the dining room. We ate with the same people sometimes, but never had a boring dinner. HAL does it right, by filling a table as soon as possible, so that everyone is eating the same course at the same time.

 

I find it funny when people say they like having the same waiters who "learn my favorite drink". Honestly, I don't want the same thing to drink every evening. I might have iced tea one night, lemonade the next, wine for a few. Unfortunately, when they start anticipating what I am going to order, it just makes it uncomfortable for me to tell them I don't want that today!

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 4 weeks later...

having done both..my preferance is *anytime* while the wife prefers

the more traditional dining setup..

 

not worth arguing about..so we ll take turn s..one cruise she ll choose..the following, i ll get to choose..

 

not to say i won t have a good time dining with others..on the contrary i ve always enjoyed my table mates..

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  • 3 weeks later...

The thing I liked about traditional dining was having a 'reservation', if you will. It was nice knowing that at 8:15 every night, I was expected to show up to my table with my same waitstaff. I feel like with anytime dining, we'll make up an excuse not to go and just eat on the lido. I'll be cruising with my boyfriend in December and he has no sense of time. :rolleyes: With traditional, I figure I can force him to get fancy and have a nice dinner at the same time every night.

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  • 4 weeks later...

We're cruising on the Golden Princess next summer with extended family

(5 familes, 17 people). My MIL organized the trip and chose to do the anytime dining. I've never cruised and am trying to understand how it works. Do you just show up and wait for a table, or can you make a 6:00pm reservation for "tonight" when you get up in the morning? Or does it work both ways? Also, are there formal nights when you do the anytime dining? Thanks!

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The food should be exactly the same. Both take place in the MDR.

We love traditional BECAUSE of the tablemates....we just enjoy having others to talk to! We can (and do) eat by ourselves most of the time at home (empty nesters!) and enjoy the company of others!

None of the shows conflict with either of the traditional dining times, and there's still plenty of time to be "active"....

Give traditional a try. It's certainly the more "fun" option!

 

The food should be the same in both systems - but it rarely is.

 

And for very good reasons.

 

When we invented "Traditional Dining" back in the 1980's, we did it because ships had gotten too large to accommodate everyone for dinner at the same time - which is what REAL Traditional Dining is. So we decided to feed you in shifts - like in a factory or high school. That is what traditional dining has become today. There are many really good reasons (mostly financial) to do it this way. If most everyone eats at the same time, we can cook everything at the same time - in very large quantities. This requires far fewer cooks to accomplish the same job. Instead of one cook preparing 3 or 4 steaks at the same time (like in your local restaurant or in open dining on a ship), he can prepare 100 steaks at the same time, giving far less attention to the one you are about to eat.

And since everyone eats at nearly the same pace in traditional dining, we can accomplish serving the food with far fewer waiters. They feed you on a production line.

 

With Open Dining, people arrive at all times and eat at different paces. Our cooks are forced to prepare the food in small batches, giving them more time to pay more individual attention to what they are doing. Open Dining requires 20% more waiters to do the same job, since guest arrivals are unpredictable and we cannot serve everyone the same thing at the same time.

 

On ships that offer both Traditional and Open Dining, ratings for service are typically higher in the Traditional Dining rooms - not because the service is better, but because it is more predictable. And that pleases the average diner.

 

But the food quality ratings are always higher in the Open Dining rooms, where more care and attention has been taken in preparing your food.

 

If you are more interested in having the waiter know in advance that you want your salad dressing on the side, and your iced tea waiting for you, you should choose Traditional Dining.

If you are more interested in eating better prepared food, go for Open Dining.

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If you are more interested in having the waiter know in advance that you want your salad dressing on the side, and your iced tea waiting for you, you should choose Traditional Dining.

If you are more interested in eating better prepared food, go for Open Dining.

 

That is some very interesting and helpful insight Bruce. Thanks for sharing that! It makes a lot of sense once I thought about it. I would rather have great food with okay service than okay food with great service.

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Ahhh Bruce Bruce Bruce! We know you spent a lot of time working on ships....but we have spent a lot of time (more then 2 1/2 years) cruising on ships (more fun then work). We have actually found that doing open (Anytime, Select, etc) dining has lots of advantages for those who like to dine pretty late (after 8). We do notice that the quality of our food prep is normally somewhat better (you pointed out the reason) but we also love the quality of service. When folks dine early the waiters are under pressure to get their charges out of the dining room as soon as possible so they can accomodate the later seating or later diners. But when you go into the MDR after 8 the only pressure on the waiters is to get everyone out so they can go "home." But most waiters actually seem to enjoy the more relaxed atmosphere that happens with later diners and we usually (not always) get terrific service. There is another aspec to fixed dining that can be very problamatic. Most ships now have multiple alternative dining venues and many passengers try some (or all) of these restaurants. We prefer a large table because we enjoy the socialization. But we (and others we know) have had large tables at fixed dining times when the others at the table may not show-up because they decide to eat elsewhere that night. A table of 8 feels very empty if there are only 4 (or even 2). This never happens with Anytime dining since we always ask to share a large table and they always fill up.

 

Hank

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

So timely that I found this thread! Hubby and I have enjoyed traditional dining on past cruises, but for our upcoming journey I've been thinking about anytime dining. Many thanks to all for your insights, it's definitely given me some more to think about!

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  • 10 months later...

Since I eat most breakfasts and lunches in the MDR, I think I get the best of both worlds. or breakfast and lunch I constantly meet new people by sitting at larger tables and have had some great conversations. At dinner time, Traditional dining is nice since not only do you have the same table mates which can be really nice, but the wait staff gets to know your likes and dislikes as well. Also, if you have good wait staff, they seem to try harder to please you once they get to know you. So anytime for breakfast and lunch along with Traditional for dinner is a great combination!

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  • 1 month later...

So we're sailing RCCL on the Freedom in August. I have always gone traditional late seating and already put in for that, but now I am starting to rethink. There are 5 of us, my husband and I and our 3 sons, 21, 16 and 13. I really like the socialization with table mates. It has always been one of the things we've really enjoyed. Now it looks as if with any time dining, we can get the same wait staff and just request a large table so we will have table mates? And if we really connect with a group, we can just meet up with them again? This is really starting to appeal to me. We've never sat at a table where we've disliked our table mates, but there have been a few that have been very bland and it became a little quiet at times. When we took our oldest on a graduation cruise, they set us alone and we kind of had to fight it to get a larger table with table mates. I spend all day with these guys. I want to play with others! lol. I'm glad I read this thread. Think I'm going to talk to my hubby about seeing what his opinion is.

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When we first started cruising we always had fixed early seating. We now do anytime because it suits us better. I often found myself rushed on port days to get ready for dinner. Some port days we came back to tired to bother with the MDR. I always made a point to tell our tablemates when we wouldn't be there just so as not to have them waiting for us.

 

The best piece of advice my TA ever gave me was if you are going to go with a fixed dining time was to sit at a large table. Sure you can get a table for two if you want privacy. The one table she told me never to get as a couple was one for four people. At a large table you are sure to hit it off with at least one other couple. At a table for four if you don't hit it off with the other couple it can make for very awkward dining for the entire trip

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