Dine Any Time?

[CruiseGal97]

Is any one experienced with this? I usually go with the early dining. Do you get the same table and waiters each time? Or do you have to move tables and get different people each time? I just was wondering, first time ever trying dine any time. :confused:

[trvlqueen]

You're seated on an "as available" basis for tables, meaning you could be seated quickly if nobody else is waiting, or you might have to wait for a table. You will be seated at whatever table is available, unless you request a specific wait team.

 

We had anytime dining on our last trip, and I have to say I'm not a huge fan. Until the third night, when we found a great waitress, the service was mediocre at best. Now, I understand it has to be very difficult for the anytime wait teams - they have to serve different people each night, everyone is sitting down at different times (no rythym to the service as there is with standard dining) and they have to reset the tables as diners finish - while a 'standard' team will only serve 2 different groups per table per night, the anytime teams can have up to 4 turnovers per table.

 

That being said, there are people who swear by it and wouldn't ever do it the traditional way again. As for me, I'm going back to traditional dining and would only do anytime again if it was the ONLY choice. It was nice being able to choose when I eat, but the tradeoff in service the first 2 nights of my cruise wasn't worth it. The last 2 nights, however, the service was fantastic and if we'd found her the first night, I might have an entirely different opinion.

[Frank12]

We sailed the Dream last week and had anytime dining. The first night we got lucky and had a great service team. Each night we requested a table for 2 with the same team. This meant a wait of 30 - 40 minutes on 2 of the evenings, but was well worth it in my opinion. The wait time was 10-20 minutes on the other nights. On all nights we could have been seated immediately if we had chosen to dine with others at a larger table in our requested section.

[Honeyroastedmelnut]

Is any one experienced with this? I usually go with the early dining. Do you get the same table and waiters each time? Or do you have to move tables and get different people each time? I just was wondering, first time ever trying dine any time. :confused:

 

I did it on my cruise (just got back today). It wasn't bad but I think I would prefer the set time dining. The freedom of eating when you are hungry was great but you can be seated either immediately or have a wait (my longest wait was 45 minutes). I had 2 really great waiter teams (had them each twice) and then a few not so hot ones. The service was never bad but you don't get the relationship and depending on when you dine you may or may not get to see the staff sing or dance.

[mndw09]

I love anytime dining. I don't have to worry about when I get back to the ship to meet my dining time. If I want to go to a certain show I work my dining time around it. On the Dream last fall we had to wait about 15 minutes one time...the rest was walk right on in! As for the waiters not being used to such a turnover and not knowing the guests, does this mean I don't need to tip my server at Texas Roadhouse as well this week since she didn't know I like unsweet tea?

[CruiseGal97]

After calling carnival they put us on the waiting list for early dinning, is there any hope that we will get it?

[Colorado Kat]

Pretty good chance. Several times we have booked late, and been assigned late dining. I speak to the Maitre D' the first day, and have always been moved to early dining by the second day.

[rjrice1]

Last four cruises we done anytime dining. Just love it. Don't have to worry about being at dinner a certain time.

[CruiseGal97]

Thanks for the good news;) I hope we do, so we have the same servers

[firstcruiser2010]

We sailed the Legend last year and will again this September with anytime dining again. We loved it. We usually went to dinner around 7-7:30 and never waited more than 10 minutes if that. We had a group of four of us and they had our names each night when we checked in with the hostess. We asked for the same waitress in the same section and never had a problem. I think that for your first cruise, set dining is good so you get to not miss the "entertainment" at dinner. We still go to see the festivitites but from above. Each person has there own opinion so it is up to your own liking. Personally, it is great for us.

[dillonsmimi]

I have worked both styles of dining.

Banquet is a set time with everything moving at a certain pace.

Regular fine dining with your tables coming and going at the diner's choice of pace.

Any dining room waitstaff that is well seasoned and knows their stuff should be able to do both, no sweat.

I have had ATD and actually prefer that the pace can go slow or a bit faster if you just want to eat and go.

Some nites I just don't have the patience for all the theatrics, yet want a better choice of menu than is offered on Lido.

 

mimi

[PA Dutchman]

We have done ATD for the last 3 cruises, All I will say after going thru it we are going back to regular dining and its a understatement of "no rythym to the service" only thing good about it is you can go whenever you want, but thats it. It was the same thing on all 3 cruises.

[RedbirdFL]

We loved anytime dining and had the same wait staff on 3 of our 4 nights. Our waiter, Jimmy, even said when he introduced himself the first night that he would be our server for the cruise. Except for the third night, we were seated in the same area each time.

 

I think the other night, they seated us in the wrong place because we were seated with the early seating diners on the other side of the dining room. We requested Jimmy on the last night and told him what happened. He said that he thought all of his guests must have been seated in different areas because none of us were in his area that night.

 

This was on the Sensation.

[cobraman302]

Here is my advice, DO NOT DO ANYTIME DINING!

 

I have been on 6 cruises so far with set dining time and it has been amazing! This last cruise I decided to do ATD since there 5 guys and it would be easier on us. The service was horrible, unforgettable, and awful. First night it took 20 minutes to get butter, after the bread had already been put out. Empty glasses of water for over 10-15 minutes at times, no personality really with the waiters since they typically have different people. The wait wasn't bad at all, I was impressed with their organization. By the second night I had enough and requested a late seating dining, and everyone with us was AMAZED. All 4 people had never been on a cruise before and it was a night and day difference for them as well. Just my opinion and my experience with it.

[CruiseGal97]

Here is my advice, DO NOT DO ANYTIME DINING!

 

I have been on 6 cruises so far with set dining time and it has been amazing! This last cruise I decided to do ATD since there 5 guys and it would be easier on us. The service was horrible, unforgettable, and awful. First night it took 20 minutes to get butter, after the bread had already been put out. Empty glasses of water for over 10-15 minutes at times, no personality really with the waiters since they typically have different people. The wait wasn't bad at all, I was impressed with their organization. By the second night I had enough and requested a late seating dining, and everyone with us was AMAZED. All 4 people had never been on a cruise before and it was a night and day difference for them as well. Just my opinion and my experience with it.[/quote

 

I agree just hope we will make it! On waiting list!!!

[elcuchio24]

We have done Anytime dining since it's been offered. Always been happy with it, never had a problem with service, rarely have to wait. You don't get as much personal intereaction with the waitstaff as you do with traditional dining, but we're not big on chit chat anyways.

[Lydia B.]

Being kind of anal I always did the late seating and wasn't all that gung ho about going anytime, but on our last cruise I did like it. There were 4 of us, 2 much older and they wanted to eat early....we didn't eat until 9 or 9:30 each night so that was good as we just went in shifts. The first night we had a great team and each night we asked for them, which seemed to please the staff. They were so friendly that one night my cruise buddy didn't want to go at all and I was very comfortable going by myself (I even took a lava cake back to the room for my buddy who loved it, said she was in heaven....in bed with that yummy cake).

My one and ONLY complaint is that on the Glory they seat folks on anytime down on the first level and it was very hard to see any of the entertainment. Other than that worked out and we are booked that way again in Feb.

[wenbarb]

My DH and I have had both Anytime Dining and Early Seating. At ATD the only time we had bad service was when we requested a table for two.

 

I enjoy meeting different people each night. Met some very nice and interesting people. If we had bad service didn't notice because we were all busy getting acquainted.

[lindzann]

Bump. Does anyone know specifically about the service of a set dining time versus ATD on the Splendor?

 

We have ATD confirmed for our first cruise next year, but after reading about it, I don't know if it sounds so great. Thoughts?

[MissDiva1]

Bump. Does anyone know specifically about the service of a set dining time versus ATD on the Splendor?

 

We have ATD confirmed for our first cruise next year, but after reading about it, I don't know if it sounds so great. Thoughts?

 

 

It could be the luck of the draw on both. We have had horrible service and good service on both.....

ATD still wins in our eyes because we can get ready and go when we want and eat with who we want.......

[Warm Breezes]

We did anytime dining on the Destiny and loved it. We had the same wait team for 3 out of the 4 nights. We had the flexibility to eat at different times each night which worked great for us. We could eat based on our schedule and not the dinner schedule. We went at 7:00 the first night since DD and I scheduled a manicure before hand; 5:45 the second night since we wanted to beat the crowds for Elegant night; 8:15 the third night since we were in port on an excursion and got back to the ship later; and 7:30 the last night since we slept in on our sea day and ate all our meals on a later schedule than we normally do. We never had to wait for a table, but we did see line ups a couple times while we were eating. I would not do anytime with groups larger than 4 or 5. They seemed to be the ones who had to wait for seating to open up.

 

The wait team on our last night were not as personable as the one we had on our previous nights, but the service itself was not lacking. We had the same service (speed/quality) as we have had on our other cruises with traditional dining. We will continue to do anytime because the flexibility was something that we valued and we can't get that with traditional dining.

[elcuchio24]

Bump. Does anyone know specifically about the service of a set dining time versus ATD on the Splendor?

 

We have ATD confirmed for our first cruise next year, but after reading about it, I don't know if it sounds so great. Thoughts?

 

It's individual choice. Some love it, some hate it. We have always gotten as good or better survice with ATD, it's all we do. If they didn't have ATD on CCL we would probably going back to crusing mostly with NCL.

[ChefSusan]

In all nine of our previous cruises, we have done Your Time Dining for every one of them except for Freedom '09. Never any issues getting a table (except for the couple of times when there were none available and we were gladly issued a pager), meals always came with no problems, and the wait staffs were extremely pleasant and accommodating!

[elcuchio24]

The biggest thing for us: We always get a 2-top.

[Warm Breezes]

The biggest thing for us: We always get a 2-top.

 

Yeah...we loved being able to have a table for just the 4 us too. We don't get into sitting and having to make conversation with strangers.