Your Time Dining Question

[stephaniemason0316]

DH and I have been on 4 cruises but have always used early dining. This time, because we booked so late, we are waitlisted. DH is a diabetic, so late dining for us doesn't work. We usually go to the Maitre D' and they are good at changing it to early dinning if there is a spot, but I have the following questions:

 

1) How does Your Time work?

 

2) If we want to eat at 6 what is the best time to get there?

 

3) Can we arrive whenever we want (before 9pm of course) or do we need to be there specifically for the 6pm or 8pm dining times?

 

 

One other question I have.. we are going to be the Miracle and have room 5240. Does anyone have pictures of this room and/ or know where I can find pictures of room and ship? I see 1 review with pictures but I want to see more! :p

 

Thanks for all the help you can offer!

[riffatsea]

We love Your Time Dining but you have choose it as your dining option you cannot use it if you are listed as late seating!

IF you have Your Time Dining you can go to the dining room any time you want. It is like eating in a restaurant you are seated as you walk in.

IF you want to eat at 6 I'd go down to the dining room and get in line at about 5:30 since I think Your Time opens at 5:45.

That way you'll be seated and have time to order to be served around 6.

We like to eat early and have a table for 2 so only do Your Time Dining on our cruises.

[FlaGrl4Evr]

Just to add, that if you find a waitstaff that you really like, you can request to sit in their section each night. You may have to wait but we have found that with using ATD, a good waitstaff can make for a much better dining experience.

 

:)

 

 

 

.

[guxu]

You go there whenever you want, which also answers your 3rd question.

 

From our experience (Your Time Dinning in our last 4 Carnival cruises), the waiting time is normally within 5 minutes except the 1st formal night. Our worst waiting time was over 45 minutes (do not remember if it was on Carnival or not).

[bmwmj]

LOVE your time dining. We generally ate about the same time each evening (6-6:30), after the 2nd night we requested our previous server and had him every night. Upon boarding the Matre'd should be in the dining room and you can then give him your husband's dining restrictions. They will note this and when you check in each evening a memo pops up to all involved that you are now seated at table #___ and if you have anything (restrictions, wine being held) it is all available to them.

On the Miracle 2 yrs ago we were offered to sit with others, this time that was not an option and they sat you at a table based on your party size. Even though there were generally 4 of us, I enjoyed meeting others at dinner and wish that was still available.

[PittsburghGirlee]

After 2 nights we learned to not go until after7:05..on the Liberty in January...if we went before...we waited half hour...first formal night, was over an hour wait.....

 

 

OP,

 

I post this as I do not want you to think you just walk in and get seated.... The Anytime Dining Line was at least a 15 minute wait just to enter the dining room and request a table. This was between the hours of 5:45 -7:00...

[happy cruzin]

DH and I have been on 4 cruises but have always used early dining. This time, because we booked so late, we are waitlisted. DH is a diabetic, so late dining for us doesn't work. We usually go to the Maitre D' and they are good at changing it to early dinning if there is a spot, but I have the following questions:

 

1) How does Your Time work?

 

2) If we want to eat at 6 what is the best time to get there?

 

3) Can we arrive whenever we want (before 9pm of course) or do we need to be there specifically for the 6pm or 8pm dining times?

 

 

One other question I have.. we are going to be the Miracle and have room 5240. Does anyone have pictures of this room and/ or know where I can find pictures of room and ship? I see 1 review with pictures but I want to see more! :p

 

Thanks for all the help you can offer!

 

 

We just did YTD for the first time on the Breeze - 2 weeks ago and it was great. You show up - they ask your your cabin number and we had no wait except the first elegant night. We went right a 7 pm and waited about 20 minutes for a table. No big deal - just hung out at the lobby bar until our pager went off.

 

It was great to have the flexibility to go when were were ready - and not be locked in to an early or late time slot withthe traditional seatings.

 

For pictures of your cabin - try cruise line rooms dot com. Pick the ship and the deck to see if anyone has posted pictures there.

[chipq]

I love YTD. Knowing that the flow of the galley is crazy at the main seatings, I try to get in 15 mins before or after the main seatings. For example, when the main seating is going to their entre, I would be going to my starter.

 

Also, I hate having to rush back from port or the pool to make an early seating. If we get back to the ship late and can not get to the MDR until 8:30 we still are served.

 

Remember the buffet is also open and if a meal is needed sooner than you will get to the MDR that may work in a pinch.

 

Have a great cruise.

 

http://luv2cruise.blogspot.com

[jimboridesmtb]

We always choose your time dining and it has been great. In Jan. the only wait time we had was on the second formal night and that was only 20 minutes. Our daughter was with us and has dietary restrictions (severe nut allergy). Carnival was great. She would order her meal during dinner the night before and it would be specially prepared so there would be no chance of cross contamination. She never felt like she was a burden and if there were any items she should avoid they would let her know.

[fkfad]

We just got back from the Carnival Dream and used YTD. We had to wait one hour+ on at least three nights to get seated. In one case, they ran out of pagers, so we had to stand to wait to get a pager, wait for our pager to go off, and had to wait to get seated after handing our pager to the hostess. Everything else on this cruise was AWESOME...except for the YTD! :-(

[Scottohiocpa]

We have done YTD on the last 3 cruises and it has worked out great. Out of 17 nights I think we have waited once for 10 minutes and all other times there was no wait.

 

It was nice to be able to eat early on sea days but eat later when we were in port.

[SadieN]

If you are unfortuante enough not to get changed out of Late Dining there will be food available.

 

Room service operates 24/7 and the buffet is also open. The buffet offers the same or a variation of the same meals in the MDR. Sometimes we find the lido food to be better (and hotter) than the MDR.

[TNCruzer56]

Went great on The Dream last year. Check in, get your pager and off to the Center Lounge. Rarely got past 1/2 a cocktail.

[Laurin612]

We LOVE Your Time Dining! We used to always book the early seating, but often found ourselves scrambling to get back from shore excursions and rushing to take a shower, etc. before dinner. With Your Time Dining we can take our time and go to dinner whenever we feel like it.

 

There are busy times, however, where you might have to wait for a while, as others have mentioned. We had to wait one night (a formal night), but it was only about 15 minutes.

[mommom of 7]

We have done YTD every cruise since they started it. Had to wait one time formal night :D & when got back to our cabin there was a dish of sweet treats ( there name ) from the hostess for our wait. Nice touch.

Other than that nite it was just like any busy resturant ( spelling :eek: )

Char

[BARBARA J.W.]

DH and I have been on 4 cruises but have always used early dining. This time, because we booked so late, we are waitlisted. DH is a diabetic, so late dining for us doesn't work. We usually go to the Maitre D' and they are good at changing it to early dinning if there is a spot, but I have the following questions:

 

1) How does Your Time work?

 

2) If we want to eat at 6 what is the best time to get there?

 

3) Can we arrive whenever we want (before 9pm of course) or do we need to be there specifically for the 6pm or 8pm dining times?

 

 

 

I like YTD......

I was on the Fascination,,,,I went about 5;20,,5;30................

I wanted to get in the Dining Room early....

I also wanted a certain Waiter,,,,,also I wanted to get there

early to get one of his tables........

Thoses that was early,,,,would chat while we wait inline...

[J and J]

We loved YTD on the Valor last year. It is especially nice days you are in port. We never waiting longer then 5-10 mins. And that was between 5:45 and 6:30. Some nights we at with other passengers and then some nights just our family (3 people).

[092306]

We've done YTD our last several cruises and love it. We normally eat around 6-6:30 and have requested a table in the same waiter section without any wait time. We would never go back to traditional dining.