Anytime Dining concern on Dream

Leaving April 6th with my family for our first ever cruise on Carnival Dream:D

Having never cruised before I reserved with "anytime dining" because it sounded like it would be more convenient for us.

However, I just spoke with a friend who had a friend who was on the Dream in February. They said they loved the cruise except for the anytime dining. According to them it was a "disaster". A couple of nights they even gave up and ate at the buffet because their kids were hungry.

Is anytime dining a bad idea for a first time family? Is it too late to change my mind and what time would the regular standard seating be at?

Leaving April 6th with my family for our first ever cruise on Carnival Dream:D

 

Having never cruised before I reserved with "anytime dining" because it sounded like it would be more convenient for us.

 

However, I just spoke with a friend who had a friend who was on the Dream in February. They said they loved the cruise except for the anytime dining. According to them it was a "disaster". A couple of nights they even gave up and ate at the buffet because their kids were hungry.

 

Is anytime dining a bad idea for a first time family? Is it too late to change my mind and what time would the regular standard seating be at?

I was on the Dream back in November, and the first formal night there was a line and a little wait, BUT we chose to go at the 7:00 pm time frame, and everyone know that's the busiest time for any good restaurant on or off land. We went to the DR at 5:45 for the remainder of the cruise and had no issue getting seated right away. One more thing I can add, everyone has different tolerances for wait times. The only thing you can do is give it a try and if you don't like it, don't do it again.

I would imagine if you found it was not working for you, you could ask the Matre'd if you can switch. There are plenty of people who never eat in the DR the whole cruise. Try not to believe everything you read or hear, if I did, I would never go on another cruise, and as you can see I love cruising! I hope you and your family love every minute of it, careful you may get hooked like so many others have:D

We did the anytime dining one time. If you go to the dining room at the peak times, or want a table for 2, you may have to wait a little while to be seated...just like at a regular restaurant. We wanted a table for 2 and were told it would be about 30 minutes. They gave us a buzzer and we went to the bar to have a drink. No big deal for us. Later that evening, after dinner, there was a knock on our cabin door and room service was there with a bottle of champagne and chocolate covered strawberries as an apology for having to wait to be seated. We didn't even complain:D If you want to eat at a set time each night, than traditional didning works. We personally prefer the late dining which is usually 8:15 or so...it's nice to have the same server each night as he gets to know you.

IF you are a very large group then Anytime Dining doesn't work well because there are few large tables.

IF you can sit at a table for 4 you won't have any trouble.

We ONLY cruise with Anytime Dining and we love it!

We go early when the dining room first opens and never have to wait more than a few minutes. IF you like the wait staff you can ask to be seated in the same area each night so they get to know you. IF you don't like them you can change until you find a group you enjoy.

I've done early with kids, and late without, but next we are doing Your TIme and I am looking forward to the flexibility. I dn;t mind going to the bar to wait, but I think I would try to catch an off time.

Our first cruise was the Dream and we chose ATD. We had a short wait a couple of the nights at peak times. We chose it because we wanted to be able to eat when we were hungry and not a set time. We are doing it again for our Breeze cruise. We had good service overall. Dinner service is very busy but we enjoyed talking with each other and occasionally the tables around us.

The buffet is a good option too.

I posted this on another thread.... I too was on the Dream in February.

- Anytime dining was a serious disaster. I would never do it again. The line up was usually back to the shore excursion desk before the dining room even opened. Average wait-time was probably about 45 minutes. Because of this, we only ate in the MDR 3 nights, and when we did, it took over 2 hours. Food temperature was hit or miss. Long wait between courses. The second night our coffee never arrived. The third night, we weren't even asked if we wanted coffee. We had the same table staff the first two nights, and they were very, very nice. My complaint is not about the staff - they were obviously working very hard, coming and going all the time. But something just isn't working in the dining room, for whatever reason.

I'm not sure what the problem was on our sailing, but it didn't matter what time it was.... there was ALWAYS a line up for ATD. You had to wait in line just to get the buzzer. Like the OP's friend, we gave up after 3 nights & ate at the buffet.

If you go out to eat as a family when you arehome, and your kids are okay with waiting maybe 10 minutes or so, you will be fine. We did anytime dining on the Dream when it first sailed, and out of 7 nights, we only waited twice. Once for about 10 minutes and once for about 20 min. The night we did the 20 minutes, we returned to our cabin to a nice note apologizing along with some chocolates - fancy ones. We didn't mind the wait - went into the lounge right next to the dining room and had a drink. Ithink you will be fine, as long as the children (you didn't mention ages, won't put up a fuss) Oh, btw, we usually went to eat around 7:00 p.m.

We did ATD on our first 3 cruises because we thought the flexibility would be could. Then on our 4th which was booked last minute we were forced to take early dining. Wow what a difference. We booked that for every Carnival cruise since. The service was much faster. The food was always the right temperature which was something we'd had a problem with in ATD.

That said the one issue we never had with ATD dining was excessive waiting. We tend to eat early on vacation, around 6, and on those nights we never waited. Occasionally when we'd eat later there would be a wait for a private table. They'd ask If we minded sharing a table and we were seated straight away.

So to sum up my rambling IMO there are disadvantages with ATD but the wait time isn't generally one of them unless you insist on eating at 7 like everyone else. In which case it's just like waiting at a restaurant at home.

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We were on Dream last year. While we always choose Anytime Dining, we could not select ATD on Dream because the list was full. I guess ATD is extremely popular on Dream. We did not have any problem with ATD on other ships except couple formal nights.

We pick anytime dining every trip (when possible) and have only had to wait one time for about 5 minutes. We have done the anytime dining with 2 people, 4 people, 6 and 9;)

Thanks for all the help...Awesome:D

We are a family of 4. Probably we will stick with the anytime dining.

8:15 will be too late for us and I don't want the feeling of rushing to get to an early seating each night.

- Anytime dining was a serious disaster. I would never do it again. The line up was usually back to the shore excursion desk before the dining room even opened. Average wait-time was probably about 45 minutes. Because of this, we only ate in the MDR 3 nights, and when we did, it took over 2 hours. Food temperature was hit or miss. Long wait between courses. The second night our coffee never arrived. The third night, we weren't even asked if we wanted coffee. We had the same table staff the first two nights, and they were very, very nice. My complaint is not about the staff - they were obviously working very hard, coming and going all the time. But something just isn't working in the dining room, for whatever reason.

 

 

I'm not sure what the problem was on our sailing, but it didn't matter what time it was.... there was ALWAYS a line up for ATD. You had to wait in line just to get the buzzer. Like the OP's friend, we gave up after 3 nights & ate at the buffet.

Yikes...That sounds very familiar to the story I was told about.

Hoping for a better experience.

Then on our 4th which was booked last minute we were forced to take early dining. Wow what a difference. We booked that for every Carnival cruise since. The service was much faster. The food was always the right temperature which was something we'd had a problem with in ATD.

Just curious what time exactly is set early dining?

I have always done ATD and my husband and I always go stand in line about 15 minutes before dining opens and we get seated right away.

6pm to 6:15 is a great time. Wait for the heard to clear and probally walk in 5 out of 6 times. ATD is great for not having to worry about early seating when running late or to tired or show for late dining.

I was on the Dream back in November, and the first formal night there was a line and a little wait, BUT we chose to go at the 7:00 pm time frame, and everyone know that's the busiest time for any good restaurant on or off land. We went to the DR at 5:45 for the remainder of the cruise and had no issue getting seated right away. One more thing I can add, everyone has different tolerances for wait times. The only thing you can do is give it a try and if you don't like it, don't do it again.

 

I would imagine if you found it was not working for you, you could ask the Matre'd if you can switch. There are plenty of people who never eat in the DR the whole cruise. Try not to believe everything you read or hear, if I did, I would never go on another cruise, and as you can see I love cruising! I hope you and your family love every minute of it, careful you may get hooked like so many others have:D

This is what I do and agree 5:45 works great for me. Since Carnival doesn't accommodate Platinums any longer, this was a better option than Early dining .

We've done YTD on our last 3 cruises, including the Dream and have always been very satisfied. The time you go does make a difference in the wait time.

In May, we're doing a 12 night cruise with 10 port days. We chose Anytime Dining, because so many of the port days are very late.

Yikes...That sounds very familiar to the story I was told about.

Hoping for a better experience.

 

 

 

Just curious what time exactly is set early dining?

Early dining is at 6:00pm.

Early dining is at 6:00pm.

Thank You!!

I'm going to stick with ATD. Hoping for a positive 1st experience though.

Thank You!!

 

I'm going to stick with ATD. Hoping for a positive 1st experience though.

Should be two separate lines, so make sure you look to the left side for ATD entrance to the MDR ,you'll see a sign that states ATD.

Don't stand in the line for E-Dining thinking thats the line for ATD ;)

Should be two separate lines, so make sure you look to the left side for ATD entrance to the MDR ,you'll see a sign that states ATD.

 

Don't stand in the line for E-Dining thinking thats the line for ATD

Thanks..Will look for that.

Also ... You may want to ask for Prannie. She was our waitress and she did a great job. I have found that if you elect to have ATD on any ship, I look on here to see who other people recommend. I'm not sure if she is still there, but she was there last year when we were on the Dream.

Good luck. :)

This is what I do and agree 5:45 works great for me. Since Carnival doesn't accommodate Platinums any longer, this was a better option than Early dining .

The priority assignments is for being assigned your requested dining arrangement, not skipping to the head of the line onboard.

That being said last cruise we were seated right away when others were getting buzzers. It helps when there are 4 platinums sitting together.