Anytime Dining - Breeze

We are trying to decide between Anytime Dining or a set time on the Breeze over NYE this year. Any experience - pros/cons on the anytime dining. Normally we do late dining but am tempted to try anytime this go around.

I, too, will be trying ATD on my Breeze Cruise in March 2019 for the first time. I decided to go with it after my last two cruises with NCL. We fell in love with Freestyle Cruising, and may never go back to a set rigid dinner time. I want to eat when I feel like eating. Granted, ATD is not Freestyle, and is much more limited as to where you can eat, but I’m going to give it a try. Hoping to hear some good encouraging comments on this thread.

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Did it on Breeze a couple weeks ago. It’s 3FWD if that matters. Worked for me since room was FWD. Main reason was to try to finish in time for an early show. Would get there right when they opened. Liked table and server the first night so requested it on second and third night and by the fourth night it was basically assigned. Only had a long line once. Last night everyone was trying to eat early. But the line moved fast. They had someone with a mobile device assigning the tables to people down the line and what I thought would be a 20min wait was more like 5.

We really like ATD and only do scheduled dining if we have a large group. Having the same waitstaff is not a big deal to us, but when we like a certain staff and ask to sit in thier section, it almost always works out. Have done both scheduled and ATD on the Breeze and both were well done.

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We've chosen ATD for the past 5 cruises, and one of them was on the Breeze. We like the flexibility. Unlike a fixed dining time, if you opt to skip dining in the MDR on a certain night (for whatever reason), you don't have to let any table mates or the waiter know ahead of time of your plans. We typically eat dinner around 6:00 p.m. We've found that if you go to the MDR about 10 - 15 minutes before the doors open, the line is very short or hasn't formed yet, and you'll get seated right away after the doors open.

We had YTD on the Breeze just a few weeks ago. Here's the thing....yes, the doors do not open until 5:45pm and there is always a line waiting. BUT they have people with tablets walking down the line starting around 5:30pm, giving everyone the ticket to hand to waiter with our table number. It worked like a charm. When the doors opened it took merely 5 minutes to all file in and be taken to our tables. After that, it didn't look like there was a line at all most nights. We are early eaters since we get up early daily for gym before breakfast, so we eat lunch and dinner both early. This is the only way that works for us.

Last year, on the Magic, we showed up late to dinner YTD, around 7:30pm, and had to wait with a buzzer thing. Took about 20 minutes to get seated. Then food service was slow. It was during spring break, so that was part of the issue I am sure. It's our only time showing up that late to dinner in YTD room.

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Also remember that even if you choose the ATD, you can normally get a table in the section for a particular waiter if you eat fairly early. So if weighing giving up the same server each night who knows your preferences, etc. you can still keep this aspect of the dining experience if you eat fairly early. Enjoy the cruise!

We had the same waiter for 2 weeks, what does early dining have to do with this? We ate around 8:30 every night, by the third night the hostess just took us to his station. He knew we liked wine before dinner and always fetched us a cocktail waitress. We gave her a nice tip and said we like a glass of Cabernet every night before diner. She was there every night.

We had the same waiter for 2 weeks, what does early dining have to do with this? We ate around 8:30 every night, by the third night the hostess just took us to his station. He knew we liked wine before dinner and always fetched us a cocktail waitress. We gave her a nice tip and said we like a glass of Cabernet every night before diner. She was there every night.

It's obviously dependent on each ship if you choose ATD whether you can get the same waiter each night. If you choose a popular location, e.g. near the window on the side of the sunset each night where the seats fill up fast, there's a good chance if you show up later each night that section will already be filled up. If you're an early diner and show up early each night I'm just saying there is a better chance you can sit where you want and the ability to request a certain waiter is much better so having to weigh whether you want ATD vs. a set dining time with the same waiter each night is much less an issue.

If you choose a popular location, e.g. near the window on the side of the sunset each night where the seats fill up fast

Seriously, you can request that?

We did ATD on our Breeze cruise last October. We were a party of 6 or 7 every night depending on which kids came with us. We never waited more than 10 minutes and we usually ate around 7. The wait was more for wanting the same servers than room.