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anytime dining vs. fixed cruise like dining?


yamaha123
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we are going on the July 1 coral princess cruise.. heard a lot of complaints about anytime dining and recent experiences on the coral princess this season - 2015 Alaska season?

 

sounds like there was a lot of waiting with anytime dining, etc...when the ship was in the Caribbean over the winter... need to decide this... I know that the princess agents put you automatically into anytime dining if they can .. that's why I am in that group now..... we are a group of 5 many thanks in advance for your views.. than

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We have dabbled with the anytime dining concepts on several cruise lines and find universally that it just isn't true to the name. Unless you want a lengthy (30 min) wait you will have to make reservations. If I have to make reservations daily I would just rather pick a traditional fixed time and not have to spend my hard-earned vacation time making reservations. On NCL where fixed is not an actual option we made standing reservations after the first dinner when we found a wonderful server. Some lines do not allow making reservations for the entire cruise at one time though.

 

With fixed dining we meet interesting people and have only had "bad" tablemates once. The rest of the table stood together against their bigotry and otherwise mean-spirited comments so it actually became somewhat of a game. Could have asked to be moved but the rest of the table were fun.

 

We also like having the same servers who learn our preferences asap including my seafood allergy. Makes dinner even easier for us and that is part of what cruising is all about.

 

Susan

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I am always asked by the agent what my dining preference is (anytime, early or late traditional) and am not forced into any one of these.

 

Anytime onboard is like a restaurant on land. If many people show up when you do, you may have to wait.

 

If your idea of "anytime" is at a different time than most of the others, you will never have a wait.

Edited by caribill
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What you heard about Anytime is not unfounded. Our recent cruise was

the worst. The first night was well over an hour wait for Anytime due to the fact that Princess takes the other Anytime Dining Room for Traditional until around 7:30.

 

Believe it or not, with all our sea days, we finally settled in an took a 5:30 seating time. Made it easy to make the shows, etc. Just had to be extra good at lunch.:D

 

Princess needs to rethink their Traditional strategy and stop "stealing" the Anytime Dining Room. JMHO

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We have used AD on the Grand, the Star and the Crown for about 120 days total. We go to dinner at about 7:30 and ask for a table for 6. We have never waited more than 3 to 5 minutes to be seated. We were never given a beeper. Thhe one thing we did was always use the dining room on the lowest level possible. There was always a longer line for the higher deck dining room

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What you heard about Anytime is not unfounded. Our recent cruise was

the worst. The first night was well over an hour wait for Anytime due to the fact that Princess takes the other Anytime Dining Room for Traditional until around 7:30.

 

Believe it or not, with all our sea days, we finally settled in an took a 5:30 seating time. Made it easy to make the shows, etc. Just had to be extra good at lunch.:D

 

Princess needs to rethink their Traditional strategy and stop "stealing" the Anytime Dining Room. JMHO

 

I agree, hard to know what you will find until you are onboard. :eek:

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Over 20 cruises with Anytime Dining and have no plans to go to a fixed time in the future. On a couple of occasions we let them sit us at a large table. Interesting, but it did take 3 hours to eat. Generally we sit at a 2 top and get to the dining room before it opens (no way could we wait for an 8 PM seating!). With a group of five, you are kind of between table sizes, but if you want to sit with others they do have a fair number of larger tables. I've also seen them put this size group at a round table for 6, so the key is to get to the dining room when they are not full and can move tables around.

 

You can sometimes make reservations, but on some ships it is only on the same day. On others it is only for large groups. Sometimes the checkin staff will make a reservation for the whole cruise, sometimes not.

 

A couple of key points - if you get to the dining room 45 minutes after they open then all the tables are probably in use and you WILL have to wait until they clear the tables. This is generally where the complaints come from. If you go after 8:30 PM there is almost never a line or wait. Go early or late.

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I totally dislike having to show up for dinner at the set dinning time.

 

I always book anytime dinning on all ships so I can meet different people each night.

 

Recently, I was on a Carnival ship and chose to eat by myself because I was sick with a chest cold. The minute I started coughing I left the dining room.

I had not ordered my food yet. If I had done that already I would have taken my plate of food to my cabin.

 

Instead I ordered room service. There were times when I was okay and could eat in the dining room alone.

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we are going on the July 1 coral princess cruise.. heard a lot of complaints about anytime dining and recent experiences on the coral princess this season - 2015 Alaska season?

 

sounds like there was a lot of waiting with anytime dining, etc...when the ship was in the Caribbean over the winter... need to decide this... I know that the princess agents put you automatically into anytime dining if they can .. that's why I am in that group now..... we are a group of 5 many thanks in advance for your views.. than

 

We were on the Coral in April and tried anytime dining for the first time.We loved it. We usually arrived at the dining room between 6:30-7:00 PM and never had to wait more than 5 minutes.

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This is a very subjective and situational decision. On my first 4 cruises, I was with family groups and chose traditional dining. On my 5th cruise, I was with younger dd and we tend to be more relaxed and wing it from day to day, so anytime worked well for us. I will be going to Alaska with same dd in mid-June and we'll do anytime again. She has Celiac's disease and even with ATD, there was no problem accommodating her dietary needs. We never had a long wait, but we knew to avoid peak hours and did call the dine line each morning for reservations. Since we will be staying late in some Alaska ports, we don't want to be locked in to a dinner time, but if were with a large group again, I think I'd go traditional.

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What you heard about Anytime is not unfounded. Our recent cruise was

the worst. The first night was well over an hour wait for Anytime due to the fact that Princess takes the other Anytime Dining Room for Traditional until around 7:30.

 

Believe it or not, with all our sea days, we finally settled in an took a 5:30 seating time. Made it easy to make the shows, etc. Just had to be extra good at lunch.:D

 

Princess needs to rethink their Traditional strategy and stop "stealing" the Anytime Dining Room. JMHO

 

Dinner at 5:30???????? If you have lunch at 1:00 and afternoon tea at 4:00 how can you possibly be hungry at 5:30? I assume you must want to eat supper at 8:30, when I am just sitting down to dinner.

I think the idea of dining so early is a particularly North American trait. I can't think of any European country where dinner would be eaten so early. Living in Spain it was quite normal for us to be eating dinner at 11:00.

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Just back from the Grand in Alaska. We chose anytime. We went at all different times and never had to wait. We were a group of 4 and always said we were willing to sit with others. Sometimes we got put with others, sometimes we got a table just for us. Sitting with others always took longer, but we had a great time meeting new people.

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This is completely in the eye of the beholder. DW and I prefer the traditional dining. We have only done anytime on NCL once with a very large group so I really have nothing to base the experience off of.

 

For us we enjoy getting the same wait staff each night, they learn our preferences and we get to learn about them, plus we usually get fantastic service and this way we get to tip them a little more. We utilize breakfast and lunch (depending on the menu we generally eat in the dining room) to meet new people and sit with different groups. We enjoy sitting with the same people each night at dinner and hearing about their day and really getting to know them over the course of the cruise. With no kids it's generally just DW and I on a cruise and we enjoy this part of the experience.

 

We always go with the late seating even though at home we eat early we find the late seating gives us enough time in the evening to finish up our day ashore and not feel rushed for dinner.

 

I like knowing I have a seat, where my seat is and that I don't have to wait for anyone (except for them to open the doors some nights [emoji6]).

 

We may try an earlier seating on an upcoming cruise that's shorter but we are on a 10 day coming up and are confirmed for the late seating.

 

I will say I feel the late traditional, while once coveted, is now rare. On our cruise in April the dining room was half full most nights and sparse on others. I think the majority are moving to anytime.

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Dinner at 5:30???????? If you have lunch at 1:00 and afternoon tea at 4:00 how can you possibly be hungry at 5:30? I assume you must want to eat supper at 8:30, when I am just sitting down to dinner.

I think the idea of dining so early is a particularly North American trait. I can't think of any European country where dinner would be eaten so early. Living in Spain it was quite normal for us to be eating dinner at 11:00.

 

Funny. I guess this is what makes the world go 'round. At home we eat our main meal at noon. Later -6ish-is a light snack and/or dessert. When we travel we adjust accordingly. So, what is served at tea to fill you up? We may have to try this!

Edited by Ready to Sail!
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Afternoon tea, when at home, is basically just a cup of tea, with a couple of biscuits [cookies] for 'dunking'. [Dunking is when you dip the biscuit in the tea, just long enough so that it becomes soft, but not so soft that the 'dunked' part of the biscuit falls into the tea. Dunking is learnt at an early age in the UK, and IMHO should be an Olympic sport].

When on a cruise the biscuit element tends to be replaced with sandwiches and cake.

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I've done Anytime dining several times over the years and every time, experienced long (30-60 minutes) waits no matter what time we got there. I've been on quite a few cruises in late Traditional and seen the Maitre d' seating Anytime passengers in the Traditional dining room because waits were too long. Several times, they seated them at an empty table near us at 9pm which slowed our service down to a crawl because instead of getting our entrees, our waitstaff got drinks, took orders, etc. Dinner for us wound up taking almost 2½ hours because of the disruption. And we didn't stay for coffee because of the delay.

 

I like knowing what time I'll be having dinner and adjust my eating during the day. It's nice to walk into the dining room, go directly to "your" table, and your waitstaff has your iced tea or whatever ready to serve.

 

All that said, if you have Anytime dining now, chances are slim that you can select Traditional without going to the Maitre d' once onboard and requesting it. Traditional usually has a wait list.

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Coral Princess in Alaska, if you wish to dine early go with traditional dining. The Coral Princess just does not have enough tables available for early ATD. If you wish to dine late, say 8pm, it's a toss up.

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Dinner at 5:30???????? If you have lunch at 1:00 and afternoon tea at 4:00 how can you possibly be hungry at 5:30? I assume you must want to eat supper at 8:30, when I am just sitting down to dinner.

I think the idea of dining so early is a particularly North American trait. I can't think of any European country where dinner would be eaten so early. Living in Spain it was quite normal for us to be eating dinner at 11:00.

 

That may be the most judgmental diatribe I've seen in 5 years on Cruise Critic. What makes you think that everyone eats lunch at 1 and takes tea at 4? Is it just because you do? What makes you think everyone should act and feel the way you do?

 

What makes you think that North American traits are evil and European ones are pure?

 

My 95-year-old mother eats dinner between 5 and 5:30 every night. Is that OK with you? Probably not, because you seem to think everyone should follow your lead.

 

Jim

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Dinner at 5:30???????? If you have lunch at 1:00 and afternoon tea at 4:00 how can you possibly be hungry at 5:30? I assume you must want to eat supper at 8:30, when I am just sitting down to dinner.

I think the idea of dining so early is a particularly North American trait. I can't think of any European country where dinner would be eaten so early. Living in Spain it was quite normal for us to be eating dinner at 11:00.

 

Wowzz,

Everyone from everywhere has their own habits and preferences. I have lived abroad and traveled extensively and would never imagine questioning any dining preference, of a country or individuals. Can't we each do what works best for us, without putting others down?

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That may be the most judgmental diatribe I've seen in 5 years on Cruise Critic. What makes you think that everyone eats lunch at 1 and takes tea at 4? Is it just because you do? What makes you think everyone should act and feel the way you do?

 

What makes you think that North American traits are evil and European ones are pure?

 

My 95-year-old mother eats dinner between 5 and 5:30 every night. Is that OK with you? Probably not, because you seem to think everyone should follow your lead.

 

Jim

 

Jim, get a grip! Take a cold shower! I read and reread wowzz's post and certainly did NOT take offense the way you did. I do not believe he/she was trying to belittle anyone but merely stating that Europeans have different eating habits than North Americans. You seems to think that the poster was targeting you personally. They were just making a comment and you decided to fire your flame thrower. Ease up!

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What we have done on our cruises is to approach the Maitre De on the first night and tell him we would like a "standing reservation" at a certain time. We usually pick 7:30. We always sit at the same table with the same wait staff. I think it is the best of both worlds.

The

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Sorry for jumping in and asking this question but what if you're confirmed for a traditional dining time but due to an excursion, will be late for dinner? Do you then just show up late or follow the lines to the ATD? Thanks!

Edited by Crabby_Cruiser
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Sorry for jumping in and asking this question but what if you're confirmed for a traditional dining time but due to an excursion, will be late for dinner? Do you then just show up late or follow the lines to the ATD? Thanks!

 

Unfortunately, Princess allows those booked in Tradition to be seated in Anytime. :(

 

LuLu

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