Anytime Dining Rooms

[shofer]

We are on the Grand leaving this Sunday and have booked Anytime Dining. Which dining room will we be in? I heard that there are 2 of them but are we assigned to any one in particular?

 

Sue

[1025cruise]

You can use either of the two dining rooms, though one may be used for the early early traditional seating at 5:30pm and not be anytime until afterwords.

[Jasperdo]

The Anytime Dining Rooms on the Grand will be the Da Vinci on Deck 6 and the Michelangelo on Deck 5. As 1025cruise mentioned, one of them (most likely the Da Vinci) will probably be Traditional until 7:30pm or so. The other AT Dining Room will be Anytime all evening. Check your Princess Patters for the exact times and locations.

[ltcal94]

In a case like this where there are two dining rooms for ATD, are they serving the same menu or are there differences.

[Loonbeam]

Same menu generally regardless of dining type (I think the only exception is the Sapphire? where certain rooms have a specialty...)

 

In a case like this where there are two dining rooms for ATD, are they serving the same menu or are there differences.

[LARGIN]

In a case like this where there are two dining rooms for ATD, are they serving the same menu or are there differences.

 

Same menu..

[paul929207]

In a case like this where there are two dining rooms for ATD, are they serving the same menu or are there differences.

Same menu for all Main Dining Rooms. Traditional and Anytime

[Pam in CA]

Same menu for all Main Dining Rooms. Traditional and Anytime

Not just the same menu in all dining rooms, whether Traditional (fixed seating) or Anytime (open seating like showing up at a restaurant) but the same dress code. Anytime is not more informal than Traditional as the main difference is the time you eat.

[1 HappyCruiser]

I'd love to see the 2 anytime dining rooms have different menus each night. It would make for a much different sort of experience. :D

[Off2China]

I'd love to see the 2 anytime dining rooms have different menus each night. It would make for a much different sort of experience. :D

 

A different sort of experience, yes . . . but I'm not sure if would necessarily be a good one. I think it would just be one more thing for people to complain about--not being able to get into the DR where the meal they wanted was being served so they had to go to the other one where they had to settle for (fill in the blank). :(

[Pam in CA]

I'd love to see the 2 anytime dining rooms have different menus each night. It would make for a much different sort of experience. :D

You do remember that they tried that on the Sapphire and it lasted only a short while, don't you? Totally bombed. Not sure if they tried it again it would be more successful but I kind of doubt it.

[catsmit]

I'd love to see the 2 anytime dining rooms have different menus each night. It would make for a much different sort of experience. :D

How so? I ask because DH & I like the ATD concept; it provides us the opportunity to explore each port city to the fullest without worrying about hurrying back to the ship to shower and get ready for an early dinner seating (we do not like eating dinner late as we are accustomed to eating dinner at 5PMish)

[oskidunker]

You can arrive at 7pm and get a beeper and will end up eating around 8pm. The early fixed dining is the only solution if you don't want to eat late. This was the case on our recent star to Hawaii cruise. 2 Dining rooms out of the three had Early Fixed dining making it impossible to do anytime and eat early.

 

Note: Generally you have to be on board a half hour before the ship sails which is usually 4:30. So if you are the absolute last person to return , you have 1 hour and 15 minutes to get ready and make it to your table by 5:45. Your basic decision is do you want to get ready a little earlier than you want or would you rather line up and waste 45 minutes waiting there.

 

But you should try anytime at least once.:<)

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

The first 2 nights there might be a line ....

[caribill]

.

 

Note: Generally you have to be on board a half hour before the ship sails which is usually 4:30.

 

Generally yes, but on my next cruise onboard times after a day in port include one day at 8 PM.

[curiouscat]

We've never had a line... and don't hand a buzzer to my hubby. :eek:

 

 

CC

[Pam in CA]

We've never had a line... and don't hand a buzzer to my hubby. :eek:

Unfortunately, I've had long to very long lines whenever I've tried Anytime, including after making a reservation for the same table at the same time for the entire cruise. I've often seen long (45+ minutes) waits on other cruises and felt badly for those having to wait.

[OCruisers]

:) Happily, we've been doing Anytime on Princess (including Grand) for a long time and have never ever had to wait. Could be that we don't go to dinner until 7:30 or later, will share, and don't request a special wait station. They'll see us coming and overhear comments that we're EASY. Might help that DH always $hakes hands early.

[Jasperdo]

We've never had a line... and don't hand a buzzer to my hubby. :eek:

 

 

CC

Consider yourself lucky! My last 3 cruises since Princess started the 3rd Traditional Dining time, we have gotten a pager over half the times we've gone to Anytime Dining. Our most recent cruise on the Coral Princess, we had a wait of one hour and 15 minutes one night. The entire Atrium was packed with people with pagers. We wound up eating in the Horizon Court every night after that. I checked the Atrium outside the AT Dining Room a few other times later in the cruise, and every time I saw people waiting with pagers.

[frugaltravel]

Might help that DH always $hakes hands early.

 

Requiring a bribe to get good service shines a very negative light on Princess unfortunately. Tips are for good service after the fact. Bribe$ like your husband gives are for the expectation of good service.

[caribill]

:) Happily, we've been doing Anytime on Princess (including Grand) for a long time and have never ever had to wait. Could be that we don't go to dinner until 7:30 or later, will share, and don't request a special wait station. They'll see us coming and overhear comments that we're EASY. Might help that DH always $hakes hands early.

 

If there is no line when you go, I doubt the bribe had anything to do with that.

[ltcal94]

Thanks everyone for the great information. I really enjoy the flexibility of anytime dining and I don't mind having to wait a short time. Usually we just sit at a nearby bar and listen to music or watch the sea go by. In addition, my wife and I also prefer to get dressed for dinner and we enjoy the service , so we typically avoid the Lido deck for dinner.

[1 HappyCruiser]

You do remember that they tried that on the Sapphire and it lasted only a short while, don't you? Totally bombed. Not sure if they tried it again it would be more successful but I kind of doubt it.

 

I must have missed that experiment or maybe it was before my time. :D

 

How so? I ask because DH & I like the ATD concept; it provides us the opportunity to explore each port city to the fullest without worrying about hurrying back to the ship to shower and get ready for an early dinner seating (we do not like eating dinner late as we are accustomed to eating dinner at 5PMish)

 

I was referring to the menu selections only not the choice of dining rooms.

[catsmit]

 

I was referring to the menu selections only not the choice of dining rooms.

 

That's what I thought. I didn't and still don't understand your reasoning for the need of experimenting with different menu selections in TD vs ATD. Seems to be much ado about nothing, IMHO.

[1 HappyCruiser]

That's what I thought. I didn't and still don't understand your reasoning for the need of experimenting with different menu selections in TD vs ATD. Seems to be much ado about nothing, IMHO.

 

I guess I didn't post very clearly but what I really meant was to offer some different menu selections in one of the AT restaurants than the other on the same night. If it's a different galley doing the cooking it wouldn't present that much of a problem and would offer a breakup in the same old thing. As you say it's not happening so why worry.