How long was your wait? Anytime dining

I have 2 cruises that are in the works and I've always done a set dining time but I was just wondering about anytime dining.

If anyone can just help me out and post the round about time you've had to wait on cruises and peak hours I should try to avoid.

Thank you so much!

We've had Anytime dining for the 2 Carnival cruises we were on. There's just the 2 of us but we never really waited at all and always got a table for 2. We would go to eat between 7-8.

Same here. I've always done YTD and never waited. We've been on ecstasy, glory and valor incase that makes a difference.

Usually a big rush when it opens then a wait around 7 because the tables haven't yet cleared. Takes 60-90 minutes to eat. BUT each cruise is different, after a day or so the timing becomes apparent.

Usually we get seated right away or within a few minutes. A few cruises we've had to wait in line then get seated. Expect longer wait during Cruise Elegant night. The later you go, the quicker you'll be seated. Also depends on where you want to sit. We will sit anywhere. There could be a wait if you have a special request--either a certain type of table or waiter section.

Worst was on the Imagination when the hostess computer went down. 30-45 minutes to get a pager. Another 30 minutes to be paged. Only time in over 30 cruises that has happened.

I have done YTD on the last two cruises. The only time I had to wait was if I arrived there right at opening time 5.45, then there would be a line waiting to get in, but once the doors opened it moved fast and was seated right away. Other times I went between around 6pm to 6.15pm and was seated right away.

Table for two, same wait staff too.

I have 2 cruises that are in the works and I've always done a set dining time but I was just wondering about anytime dining.

 

If anyone can just help me out and post the round about time you've had to wait on cruises and peak hours I should try to avoid.

 

Thank you so much!

We chose Your Time Dining for our 13 day Legend cruise last August. We made friends with two other couples on the first day of the cruise so the six of us met outside the dining room every night at 6:30. We never had a wait.

We also had always booked assigned dining time and didn't think we'd like YTD. We loved it. We even found a exceptional team of servers and requested to be seated in their section, which we were every night except one.

I have 2 cruises that are in the works and I've always done a set dining time but I was just wondering about anytime dining.

 

If anyone can just help me out and post the round about time you've had to wait on cruises and peak hours I should try to avoid.

 

Thank you so much!

It also depends on how many people you're cruising/eating with... When we tried it with our family of 17 where usually there was a minimum of 8 of us wanting to eat together we always had to wait... There are not as many larger tables. FORGET about the night we all ate at the same time and had to wait about 90 minutes for 2 large tables next to each other... NEVER EVER AGAIN YTD if cruising with alot of people ....

Personally I think YTD is ok for smaller parties just don't go in when the doors open or around 7-7:30 and you should have little or no wait time at all...

The longest wait I have ever had was 30 minutes but that was at 6:45 ti 7:00 and we wanted a specific server.

We just did the Victory 6/27 and did YTD for the first time. We never watied. Went to eat between 6-630 or so. For the first three nights we actually requested and got the same table. The last two nights we requested another server we'd seen but his section was full. We took another table right by the entrance and had that for the next two nights. Say some lines around 7-730 but no real wait unless they were larger parties. We were party of two.

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We've done YTD dining on 3 ships. 2 were successful, (Breeze, Legend), one was an utter disaster, (Paradise). On the Paradise our wait was so long on Cruise Elegant night we ended up at the Lido Buffet ..... they felt so bad about it they sent us chocolate strawberries and a genuine plastic gold ship on a stick the next day. But it wasn't just lobster night... every evening we faced a minimum 30 minute wait and we are not particular about where we sit.

The experience was so horrible we've switched back to traditional dining for our upcoming cruises. Might give it another try in the future.

We done it a few times with different number of people, smaller wait times for smaller groups but not long with groups of 16. It takes longer with big groups since there are not as many big tables plus all the party has to be there before they will seat you.

We had a similar experience on the Breeze in May. Shortest wait time was 15 minutes. Mostly waited 20-30 minutes, once I believe 40!

Edit, this was for a table for two 7.30-8ish most the time.

On the upside it gave us the chance to check out the atrium bar, where we wouldn't usually hang out and see the goings on there and have a drink or two before dinner :).

Like Surfwench, we've done ATD three times and had two great experiences, Legend and Sensation. On the Liberty we had to wait, but then we did ask for the same server. It just seemed a lack of organization and the fact that we eat at 7 at home and wanted to do that on board. We got a pager every night and sometimes waited 10 or 15 minutes, but a couple of nights it was over 30! The hostesses sent delicious toffee candies to our cabin to apologize. It really wasn't a big thing. Our dining room entrance was near the atrium and we enjoyed the music, watching other guests (especially on elegant night).

We have had ATD on 4 Carnival cruises and only waited once for like 5 minutes.

Always a table for 2, with request to NOT sit at tables for 2 on top of each other.

Miss the connection with set seating, but LOVE eating when we want to!

I have 2 cruises that are in the works and I've always done a set dining time but I was just wondering about anytime dining.

 

If anyone can just help me out and post the round about time you've had to wait on cruises and peak hours I should try to avoid.

 

Thank you so much!

I think it's really about the time you show up. My husband and I have usually shown up around 6pm-630 and requested a table for 2 and have never had more than a few minute wait. But when we leave and it's after 7:30 sometimes closer to 8:00 pm there is always a wait. I think it's really similar to land restaurants. If you go at peak times, there will be a wait. But if you go when it opens or closer to closing then there won't be as much of a wait time or one at all. We have never really had a problem going at the time between 6:00-6:30.

I think it's like any restaurant. Table for 2 and you don't wait long. Table for 12 and you wait longer.

We were on the Valor in April. Two different nights, we waited in line for 30+ minutes, only to be given a pager and required to wait longer. One night it was another 30 minutes, and the second time it was a bit shorter than that. There were just the two of us, and we were open to any kind of table.

This was our first Carnival cruise, so it was a bit of a turn-off to that line. Based on what I've read here about other ships, plus what we observed in other situations onboard, I think the organization on Valor was lacking. That's just my opinion.

We've done My Time/FlexTime, etc. before and opted for it again on our next cruise on RCI.

Our experience has been more varied than the above posters with ATD, DH & I have had as long as an hour wait to be fitted in with a group table (this was how long the line was) to walking right up to the hostess podium to be sat at a specific table and server.

From our observations the more popular times will be the ones than would of had you seated and done eating in time for shows or lining up to be seated just after the shows mimicking the approximate times of the traditional dining.

So we usually try to avoid these times, but on certain nights like the first Elegant one it does not always work out so we always keep our plans flexible.

If making as many on board productions or comedy shows is important to you skip ATD in favor of the set time dining as the show schedule is made around these, we always expect to miss at least one show (either of the comedians or the main stage production) and if we do make all the shows we would like to we are thankful otherwise we just spend the time in the casino.

Maybe it depends on the ship, and the dining room staff, but we've never had the wait problems that some people have posted on here. Whether it's just the two of us, or a large group (10 from our roll call group), we've never had a long wait to be seated. Even though it's Any Time dining, we go at 6:00 (or just a little before). As soon as the MDR doors open, we're there to be seated. Yes, sometimes there is a line, but it's not a very long one, and we get seated pretty quickly. One thing that I should point out though. When it was just my wife and I, our service was excellent. The waiter kept our water glasses filled, and our orders were served in a very timely manner. When it was a large group, service was slow, and we would have to ask (more than once) to have our water glasses refilled. You may experience different results. As I said, it depends on the staff.

We never had to wait- just walked to the host stand and were seated.

These were tables for 2 or tables for 4 on the Triumph.

We did it once on the Conquest. Our wait times always exceeded 30 minutes. We much prefer traditional late dining.

We are going on NCL and to avoid the freestyle dining in the MDR we have the Ultimate Dining Package so we can eat in one of the alternative dining venues every night of the cruise. Since we will be in a Haven Suite we can make our reservations for dinner 100 days out.

We were on the Freedom Jun 20-27.

Party of 5.

We always went between 7 & 7:30 and had to wait 30 minutes. I think the 6:00 crowd was still eating. The one time we went around 8:00 we only had to wait about 10 minutes.

The pager worked throughout the ship so we just put our name in and walked. One time I went down about 15 minutes early and got the page while wife and daughter finished getting dressed.

We normally go between the 7:30 - 8:30 time frame. Say we'll share at any size table with any server. Only had to wait once and that was 30 minutes. :)

LuLu

Thank you everyone for taking the time to respond!

I think I'm definitely going to be trying anytime dining on our up and coming cruise on the breeze jan 2nd!

We had 4 of us on Liberty back in January. It was a fail for us. 30 mins on 1/2 the nights even worse for elegant. And I suspect the servers were trainees on our 2nd night. They'd forget to bring things to the table, when we'd ask, we'd get "I do my job, I do my job" for an answer. The first night, they seemed indifferent. The servers were better from the 3rd night on. We're going back to the standard 6pm seating in September. I do not want to have to deal with that again and it would be just my luck.