Not ANY Time Dining???

Industry-wide, two thirds of all cruisers tell us they prefer Any Time Dining.

Since you do not like it, your chances of getting a fixed dining reservation are much better.

Our experience has been the opposite. We wind up being wait-listed for traditional dining reservations unless we book a cruise well in advance - say a year.

It was hard to enter the conversation with the English because we didn't know what they were talking about- towns & their location to other towns, etc. They were part of a big group from England sailing together so they also talked, nicely, about others in their group whom we didn't know.

Once, this year we sat with two couples from Norway- part of a group of 49. The man next to me spoke fair English but the ladies never said a word to us and the four of them spoke in Norwegian to each other a lot during dinner.

In 2006 we met our cruise buddies as tablemates on Princess. If we had only had one dinner with them they would not have become our friends/cruise buddies. This is the 1st year since then we have not cruised with them. (She got a kidney stone and couldn't travel.) We do a lot of B2Bs with them and three times they have driven from Flint, MI to out house on the NC coast, then we drive to the port together. Again, if we had only spent one dinner with them we wouldn't have gotten to know each other. (There was another young couple with us we also stayed in contact with - her wedding shower, wedding, etc.)

Sounds like they need to send someone from Carnival on a NCL cruise to see how Anytime dining works.:D

On NCL we had to wait 15 to 30 minutes to be seated if we went an hour after they started serving. We have had "Anytime Dining" on Princess and NCL and it is not anytime.

It was hard to enter the conversation with the English because we didn't know what they were talking about- towns & their location to other towns, etc. They were part of a big group from England sailing together so they also talked, nicely, about others in their group whom we didn't know.

Once, this year we sat with two couples from Norway- part of a group of 49. The man next to me spoke fair English but the ladies never said a word to us and the four of them spoke in Norwegian to each other a lot during dinner.

In 2006 we met our cruise buddies as tablemates on Princess. If we had only had one dinner with them they would not have become our friends/cruise buddies. This is the 1st year since then we have not cruised with them. (She got a kidney stone and couldn't travel.) We do a lot of B2Bs with them and three times they have driven from Flint, MI to out house on the NC coast, then we drive to the port together. Again, if we had only spent one dinner with them we wouldn't have gotten to know each other. (There was another young couple with us we also stayed in contact with - her wedding shower, wedding, etc.)

Sounds like it was more of a personality vs. nationality issue, as it sounded like in your original post. Personally, I never mind talking to people about places I've never been -- gives me great ideas for future travel.

Also, with anytime dining, you aren't limited to spending only one dinner with someone. On one cruise I took a couple of years ago, the maître d' was great in seating together on the first night of the cruise a table of 8 women, all traveling solo and only two of them knew each other before hand. We were all ages from around 45 to 90 (!!) and from the US, UK, and Australia. For the remainder of the cruise, we mostly always ate together at dinner (some rotated in and out due to port stops and other events). We had such terrific conversations about everything from traveling the Silk Road to current world news to women's rights in Saudi Arabia...

We just got off Carnival's Sunshine. We always eat 2nd seating at 8:15.

But on this ship everyone who had signed up for Any Time Dining had to sign in ahead of time each night for the time they wanted to go to the dining room. It started at 5:30 around the corner from our cabin. One night I lost count after 50 people in line to do this. To me this is not really ANY time because you had to let them know what time you planned to get to the dining room. Any time means you can go at ANY time, whenever you feel like it. Met a passenger who didn't know this and said just going to the dining room threw them off, they didn't know what to do with her.

Any other ships doing this? Glad we hate any time dining!

1) Could you have called ahead of time each day to make reservations? I do not know how Carnival handles it but when we cruise, we call earlier in the day to make reservations.

2) On many ships, if there is a wait, they give you a buzzer so that you do not have to wait by the restaurant.

3) When you do Any Time dining on land; i.e., eat at a restaurant; you either reserve before you get to the restaurant or wait at the bar until there is a table available. This is no difference.

Did you really expect that you were going to be able to walk up to the dining room at "any time" and be seated immediately?

DON

This is where you are wrong. We did traditional dining before anytime came about. It was NOT enjoyable for US. We did not enjoy trying to make small talk with complete strangers. That is out of our comfort zone. Who wants to be uncomfortable on their vacation? I don't.

 

Everyone also has a different home life. Dining on a ship with just our family is not "just another day at home". We rarely get a chance to sit together at home. Between sports and work we all have different schedules. Being together for dinner on a cruise and being waited on like they do IS a special occasion for us. It is something we look forward to on a cruise...just like you look forward to your traditional dining. Just because it doesn't feel special to you, doesn't mean it isn't special for someone else. That is why it is nice to have choices.

 

We love anytime and freestyle. We have only had to wait for a max of 15 minutes 2x. We love the flexibility of eating with when, where, and with whom we want. The only time I did not like it was on Ruby Princess. They still had the flexibility but they are not set up for couples who wish to dine alone. Most of their tables for 2 are along a long bench with less than a foot seperating them. It was like we were sitting at table for 16 and not 2. Very awkward and no privacy. They tried pushing you towards sitting with others when you came in....even when you requested a table for 2 and then acted like it was a great hassle when you insisted on a table for 2. After our 2nd try we stopped going to the MDR.

I have been saying this for 6-7 years now..Thank you..very well said...different strokes for different folks...if I want my wife & I to dine alone together, I should be able to..period...if you want to meet new people and sit with strangers, also fine...

I have been saying this for 6-7 years now..Thank you..very well said...different strokes for different folks...if I want my wife & I to dine alone together, I should be able to..period...if you want to meet new people and sit with strangers, also fine...

You're welcome. I just don't get the mentality that if you don't like traditional then you just don't get what cruising is all about and are missing out on something vital to cruising. The only thing I'm missing out on is trying to figure out how to keep the conversation going with someone I don't know, when the whole time I just want to have a personal private conversation with my family. We don't want to connect with strangers on a cruise, that's not enjoyable to us...we just want to reconnect with each other, that's what makes it special to us. It's the reason we vacation together as a family or even as a couple as often as we can. That reconnect is important in busy family lives.

1) Could you have called ahead of time each day to make reservations? I do not know how Carnival handles it but when we cruise, we call earlier in the day to make reservations.

 

 

DON

Carnival does not take reservations for ATD.

 

Did you really expect that you were going to be able to walk up to the dining room at "any time" and be seated immediately?

 

DON

Funny: one might think that that is what "ANY" in "anytime" could mean.

Funny: one might think that that is what "ANY" in "anytime" could mean.

Maybe they should call it, "Wait Awhile Dining"?;)

Maybe they should call it, "Wait Awhile Dining"?;)

Land restaurants also have Any Time dining. What it means is that if there are tables available when you arrive, you will be seated immediately. If there are no tables available, you will have to wait or go elsewhere.

Any Time dining on a ship is exactly the same except that you do not have many "elsewhere" choices.

There is no way that any restaurant (ship or land) can have enough tables so that anyone at any time can walk in and get seated immediately. I do agree that as the OP's ship does not take reservations for Any Time dining, it does make it a bit more difficult. The alternatives are to do fixed time dining, eat at the buffet, or switch cruise lines.

DON

We're not big fans of "anytime" and we sailed NCL/Freestyle once and will NEVER again. On that cruise we usually tried to go to dinner anytime between a little before 7 to 7:30ish. We ALWAYS got a beeper and got beeped anywhere between 20 and 45 minutes from when we got the beeper. The joke got to be that you could dine anytime......anytime they were ready to feed you, that is.

Real "Traditional Dining"existed on ocean liners for decades.

With real Traditional Dining, there was a dining room table assigned to your cabin only for breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day. Nobody else had to use that table, so you could arrive whenever you wanted and stay as long as you liked.

Then the cruise lines started building bigger ships and marketing to the middle classes. It became impossible to build dining rooms large enough to accommodate everyone at the same time. The last mass market cruise ship built to accommodate everyone dining at the same time was the Royal Viking Sun (1988) - which is now HAL's Prinsendam. But when HAL bought it, they removed half the tables to allow a larger casino.

Today's "Traditional Dining" has morphed to a production line. Nearly all the dining tables must be used twice every evening, so we are forced to feed you in shifts - much like a prison or a military camp.

Most everyone from North America needs to eat "supper" between 7 and 7:30 pm. But the dining room will only accommodate half the passengers at any given time.

Serving, dining, and re-setting the tables takes generally just over 2 hours.

If 50% dine at 7pm, the other 50% must dine either at 5pm or 9pm. That generally will not work with North Americans.

And since the timing of the nightly entertainment is governed by dining times, that doesn't work either.

So for today's production line Traditional Dining (and entertainment), we must have 50% of the diners eat early - around 5:30 / 5:45, and the other half eat later - around 7:45 / 8:00.

That works great most of the time. But then we have family holiday cruises, where the kiddies must eat early and go to bed, and grandma and grandpa also must eat early and go to bed early. Then we have more than 50% of the passengers insisting on eating at the same time - in a space that cannot accommodate more than 50% of the passengers.

Or we have longer re-positioning cruises, where nearly all passengers are quite old. They all need to eat at 5pm, take their meds, and get to bed by 8pm. This doesn't work either.

We also have the opposite problem in Europe and Asia, where many passengers prefer to dine later in the evening. Once again, we cannot accommodate more than 50% at one time, and we must give a 2 hour window for those diners.

For about 48 weeks of every year, the average mass market cruise ship has approximately 65% of passengers who want the flexibility of open dining, and 35% of passengers who want the predictability of "Traditional Dining". Based on those historical numbers, most mass market ships are set up to serve those numbers 52 weeks of the year. It would be nearly impossible to alter the system to accommodate the changes for the 4 big family holiday cruises where dining demands are very different.

You may be interested to know that for the past 3 years, the number one request for dining on mass market ships is a table for 2.

You also have to wonder why land based restaurants generally do not offer the so-called "Traditional Dining". If it really is so popular, one would think that land-based restaurants would jump on the idea. Traditional Dining also requires fewer cooks and service staff, which would save a bundle of money for land-based operations. But you rarely see it - and certainly never see it in a highly rated restaurant.

Bruce - I'll have to give you one restaurant that does a "Traditional Seating" with 2 dinner times AND is very popular and excellent - Osteria Acquacheta in Montepulciano, Italy. You gotta make your reservations way in advance. But, it is a rare thing on land….

I did find your statistics interesting on ATD vs Traditional. Just shows that things do evolve...

 

 

 

Today's "Traditional Dining" has morphed to a production line. Nearly all the dining tables must be used twice every we are forced to feed you in shifts - much like a prison or a military camp.

 

"Feeding in shifts" is done virtually everywhere - how many restaurants, land or sea, do you know which have only one seating? Why refer to the necessity for shifts in such negative terms.:mad:

 

 

Most everyone from North America needs to eat "supper" between 7 and 7:30 pm. But the dining room will only accommodate half the passengers at any given time.

 

I think you are simply wrong here - from the Florida "early birds" who dine starting at 4:00 PM to the New York professionals who rarely eat before 8:00, certainly the US sort of North Americans cannot be so pigeon-holed.

 

 

Serving, dining, and re-setting the tables takes generally just over 2 hours.

If 50% dine at 7pm, the other 50% must dine either at 5pm or 9pm. That generally will not work with North Americans.

 

These time frames contemplate three settings - 5:00, 7:00, and 9:00. Since there is no such thing as a critical mass who "must" eat at 7:00, the 5:00 and 9:00 time frames you mention are absurd. 6:00 and 8:00 would work well - except for the fact that cruise lines have cut staff levels to the point where two hours is really not sufficient turn-around time, so early dining has to be at 5;45 or earlier

 

 

Or we have longer re-positioning cruises, where nearly all passengers are quite old. They all need to eat at 5pm, take their meds, and get to bed by 8pm. This doesn't work either.

 

Where do these passengers come from? Certainly not the North America you cite where virtually everyone eats between 7:00 and 7:30.

 

You also have to wonder why land based restaurants generally do not offer the so-called "Traditional Dining". If it really is so popular, one would think that land-based restaurants would jump on the idea. Traditional Dining also requires fewer cooks and service staff, which would save a bundle of money for land-based operations. But you rarely see it - and certainly never see it in a highly rated restaurant.

 

Virtually all land based restaurants do have the two-seating concept of traditional dining - if not three. Generally starting at 6:00, then 8:00 or so, and a few late diners at 10:00.

 

Ordinarily your posts are well-informed and well thought -- but in this instance you have gone off the deep end with incorrect -in fact, contradictory - cliches --- leading you to absurd conclusions.

"Virtually all land based restaurants do have the two-seating concept of traditional dining - if not three. Generally starting at 6:00, then 8:00 or so, and a few late diners at 10:00."

Could you please cite those restaurants that have the fixed seatings? Other than the one I mentioned before, ALL my restaurants I have visited are not fixed seatings. Sure, you may have to make a reservation, but you can also just walk-in and either get seated right away or wait. Go to OpenTable - if you want to book a reservation, you have a choice of times in increments of 15 minutes. That isn't fixed, 2 seatings… The reasoning behind it is to get the majority in 15 minute increments, then walk-ins are accommodated via empty tables available when they come in. Someone may have a 7:30 reservation and finishes at 8:40; a walk-in at 8:15 may have to wait for those people to depart at 8:40….

Maybe things are different where we live - I'm not trying to be difficult, but I really want to know.

 

Virtually all land based restaurants do have the two-seating concept of traditional dining - if not three. Generally starting at 6:00, then 8:00 or so, and a few late diners at 10:00.

I have to disagree with you here. I have never been to any land based restaurants with the two-seating concept of traditional dining...nor have I ever heard of any and we eat out a lot both on vacation and at home. To say "virtually all" of them have it is not true.

"Virtually all land based restaurants do have the two-seating concept of traditional dining - if not three. Generally starting at 6:00, then 8:00 or so, and a few late diners at 10:00."

 

Could you please cite those restaurants that have the fixed seatings? Other than the one I mentioned before, ALL my restaurants I have visited are not fixed seatings. Sure, you may have to make a reservation, but you can also just walk-in and either get seated right away or wait. Go to OpenTable - if you want to book a reservation, you have a choice of times in increments of 15 minutes. That isn't fixed, 2 seatings… The reasoning behind it is to get the majority in 15 minute increments, then walk-ins are accommodated via empty tables available when they come in. Someone may have a 7:30 reservation and finishes at 8:40; a walk-in at 8:15 may have to wait for those people to depart at 8:40….

Maybe things are different where we live - I'm not trying to be difficult, but I really want to know.

Although I can not think of specific restaurants off hand, I know that there are some high end restaurants that have a single seating for the entire evening. They are all very expensive but they do exist.

DON

I have to disagree with you here. I have never been to any land based restaurants with the two-seating concept of traditional dining...nor have I ever heard of any and we eat out a lot both on vacation and at home. To say "virtually all" of them have it is not true.

There are a number of restaurants which will only accept reservations at specific times because their customer base do not want to find out that they gave to wait for their 8:00 reservation because the party which had their table before them decided to linger over dessert and coffee.

In any event, well managed restaurants effectively have two seatings because they know that the six o'clock crowd will not be done before eight - so they will tell people who call after all their tables are taken at the six o'clock time, that they can only get a reservation at eight.

Of course, I am not talking about Applebee's, Olive Garden, Ponderosa, Red Lobster, etc.

There are a number of restaurants which will only accept reservations at specific times because their customer base do not want to find out that they gave to wait for their 8:00 reservation because the party which had their table before them decided to linger over dessert and coffee.

 

In any event, well managed restaurants effectively have two seatings because they know that the six o'clock crowd will not be done before eight - so they will tell people who call after all their tables are taken at the six o'clock time, that they can only get a reservation at eight.

 

Of course, I am not talking about Applebee's, Olive Garden, Ponderosa, Red Lobster, etc.

While I have no doubt there are a few top end restaurants that are run like this, my point was that there are not many in comparison to the number of land based restaurants out there. Your post stated that "virtually all land based restaurants" were this way....which is the point I was disagreeing with. Of course I do include restaurants like Applebees, Olive Garden, and Red Lobster as well as the high end ones....they are all "land based restaurants":rolleyes:. I've yet to see an Applebees or Olive Garden on a ship:D.

While I have no doubt there are a few top end restaurants that are run like this, my point was that there are not many in comparison to the number of land based restaurants out there. Your post stated that "virtually all land based restaurants" were this way....which is the point I was disagreeing with. Of course I do include restaurants like Applebees, Olive Garden, and Red Lobster as well as the high end ones....they are all "land based restaurants":rolleyes:. I've yet to see an Applebees or Olive Garden on a ship:D.

Perhaps I wasn't clear. I was really talking about restaurants which really take - and keep - reservations. I do not consider a reservation for 8:00 PM, say, to really be a reservation if you have to wait half an hour or more for a table - that is just letting the restaurant know that you plan to stop by, and the restaurant letting you know that they will seat you when someone leaves - but only if there hasn't been someone there waiting longer than you. Having traditional dining aboard ship is comparable to having a real reservation at a restaurant: when you show up at the agreed upon time your table is ready --- that is what having a dinner reservation really means.

1) Could you have called ahead of time each day to make reservations? I do not know how Carnival handles it but when we cruise, we call earlier in the day to make reservations.

 

2) On many ships, if there is a wait, they give you a buzzer so that you do not have to wait by the restaurant.

 

3) When you do Any Time dining on land; i.e., eat at a restaurant; you either reserve before you get to the restaurant or wait at the bar until there is a table available. This is no difference.

 

Did you really expect that you were going to be able to walk up to the dining room at "any time" and be seated immediately?

 

DON

I just am not interested in making a phone call in the morning to make a reservation for that night. I don't even want to call about any meals. That's one major reason I like traditional dining. I know when we can go into the dining room, and be given menus. We can have a mid-afternoon nosh to hold us over to 8 pm. Not a problem for us. And with a line-adverse hubby, he's happy and I'm happy.

And it's very different from going to a restaurant (we're not foodies so our restaurant outings run more toward the lowly "Islands," at which we'll probably will get a pager because it is a popular place) around here. We even had a long wait at the local TGIFridays on July 4th around 10PM because my daughter decided she was starving and didn't think she'll last til we got home (we actually walked a couple of miles to a fireworks show so we wouldn't have to deal with the humongous traffic). Yes, 10 PM.

Nope, we can do anytime dining at home. While on a vacation, it's nice to have a different experience.

(BTW, maybe a few restaurants have the fixed seatings, but saying "virtually all land based restaurants" is very different from saying the more accurate "many or most high end restaurants...")

Perhaps I wasn't clear. I was really talking about restaurants which really take - and keep - reservations. I do not consider a reservation for 8:00 PM, say, to really be a reservation if you have to wait half an hour or more for a table - that is just letting the restaurant know that you plan to stop by, and the restaurant letting you know that they will seat you when someone leaves - but only if there hasn't been someone there waiting longer than you. Having traditional dining aboard ship is comparable to having a real reservation at a restaurant: when you show up at the agreed upon time your table is ready --- that is what having a dinner reservation really means.

I see your point. It is rare at most restaurants when making a reservation, you will be seated at the exact time of that reservation. We seem to have to wait anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes regardless of when the reservation was for. They should call it a place holder, not a reservation. In other words, "show up at the time of your reservation and we will move you to the front of the line behind the earlier reservations that are still waiting for a table when one becomes available."

At least with traditional dining, if your time is 6:00, you are shown to your table at six. None of that "the next table is yours after the reservations before yours are seated" nonsense.

There are a number of restaurants which will only accept reservations at specific times because their customer base do not want to find out that they gave to wait for their 8:00 reservation because the party which had their table before them decided to linger over dessert and coffee.

 

In any event, well managed restaurants effectively have two seatings because they know that the six o'clock crowd will not be done before eight - so they will tell people who call after all their tables are taken at the six o'clock time, that they can only get a reservation at eight.

 

Of course, I am not talking about Applebee's, Olive Garden, Ponderosa, Red Lobster, etc.

So, Le Bernadin, Babbo, Binkley's, Mariposa, Talisker, Cut, Prime, Jaleo, French Laundry, Bouchon are all not well managed restaurants???? :roll eyes: I've only been to a very few restaurants where they had two seatings - that was because they were very small and did a very small, restricted menu for only that many tables.

So, Le Bernadin, Babbo, Binkley's, Mariposa, Talisker, Cut, Prime, Jaleo, French Laundry, Bouchon are all not well managed restaurants???? :roll eyes: I've only been to a very few restaurants where they had two seatings - that was because they were very small and did a very small, restricted menu for only that many tables.

A high end restaurant which pretends to take reservations and then does not honor them is not well managed.