Crown: Anytime vs. traditional

[SusaninCali]

Hi. Thanks in advance for any insights; I don't seem to be finding what I'm looking for when I search the threads.

 

Our group of 4 will be taking our second cruise on Princess; the first on the Crown Princess, during the Christmas holidays.

 

Two yrs ago we were on the Grand and tried their Anytime dining. We found it to be disorganized, the service was mediocre (good luck ordering a drink from the robotic zero-personality staff), and I don't think we had the same wait staff ever. By comparison we had anytime dining on another line (similar # of passengers) and not only did they always have a table ready for us; it was in the same section so we had the same excellent wait staff every evening.

 

I've since read that Princess might be less successful with the Anytime concept than others. And the Crown has more passengers than the Grand, so that wouldn't be a factor in the plus column.

 

So, for those of you that have more experience, would you say that is true--that Anytime on Princess is more likely than not to be disjointed?

Edited April 22, 2015 by SusaninCali

[Cruisin' Chick]

We had anytime a couple of cruises ago (when we didn't clear the waitlist for traditional dining) and my hubby said the same thing. For us, the service seemed disorganized and rush. Twice, we were seated with passengers who had already ordered. We didn't feel the connection that we tend to get with the same waitstaff (we've had late traditional on ten cruises). We ended up eating half of the 14 nights in the Horizon Court instead. When we've had traditional, we rarely eat in the buffet, only if someone is feeling iffy (but we don't mind going there if we miss our assigned seating, such as for a late port, which has been rare for us).

 

A few weeks after the cruise, we were talking about our impression, which was very favorable about the cruise itself, but "meh" about anytime. My hubby even said it wasn't special or unique (for us, traditional dining on a cruise ship sets that kind of vacation apart from a land trip).

[Colo Cruiser]

So, for those of you that have more experience, would you say that is true--that Anytime on Princess is more likely than not to be disjointed?

 

 

Yes more likely then not. You would be best to either book traditional, or see the MD about procuring the type/time for a table that you want. ;)

 

The MD is available on embarkation day at the location/time listed in the Patter. Its is usually held in one of the DR's by the MD or his designee. :)

Approx 2p-3:30p.

Edited April 22, 2015 by Colo Cruiser

[eandj]

Having cruised X more often than Princess, I can tell you that Princess handles anytime in a totally different manner...and it is NOT a good way.

Unfortunately anything goes and there are enough people switching back and forth from trad. to anytime at will, making the process a mess. One of the most often complained about issue. We choose traditional and enjoy the company of regular servers.

[Pam in CA]

Princess has mis-managed Anytime dining since it was introduced in 2001. Unlike other lines, Princess allows Traditional diners to show up and take space in the Anytime dining rooms whenever they want.

 

Management is left up to the Maitre d' and policies are all over the place. The only thing consistent about Anytime is its inconsistency.

 

IMHO, Princess should get a backbone and any Traditional diner using Anytime should lose their place in Traditional. A permanent switch. I understand that there are sometimes medical exceptions and that should be OK. Also, there should never be reservations.

 

That's my opinion and I'm sticking to it. :)

[ERTHDOG]

we are not that seasoned of cruisers as some , but feel anytime or mytime type dining really takes something away from the cruise experience

 

we tried it on rci mariner , and although the cruise was the best one yet (people and vibe) the dining arangement was by far the worst:(

 

we will stick with traditional , and when we cruise princess in a few months for a shorty...traditional it will be:)

 

dave

[victory2020]

I found anytime to be especially bad on the Crown. Would not do it again.

[PrincessLuver]

Princess has mis-managed Anytime dining since it was introduced in 2001. Unlike other lines, Princess allows Traditional diners to show up and take space in the Anytime dining rooms whenever they want.

 

Management is left up to the Maitre d' and policies are all over the place. The only thing consistent about Anytime is its inconsistency.

 

IMHO, Princess should get a backbone and any Traditional diner using Anytime should lose their place in Traditional. A permanent switch. I understand that there are sometimes medical exceptions and that should be OK. Also, there should never be reservations.

 

That's my opinion and I'm sticking to it. :)

 

Totally agree.....they should call it "Anything Goes Dining" instead of "Anytime." It is an easy fix but Princess seems to like to create chaos when it is not necessary.

[joeyancho]

Just off the Crown in March. Although we do traditional late seating, which was great, those we spoke with who had anytime dining hated it. The main complaint was the wait.

[ChesterTheCat]

Princess has mis-managed Anytime dining since it was introduced in 2001. Unlike other lines, Princess allows Traditional diners to show up and take space in the Anytime dining rooms whenever they want.

 

Management is left up to the Maitre d' and policies are all over the place. The only thing consistent about Anytime is its inconsistency.

 

IMHO, Princess should get a backbone and any Traditional diner using Anytime should lose their place in Traditional. A permanent switch. I understand that there are sometimes medical exceptions and that should be OK. Also, there should never be reservations.

 

That's my opinion and I'm sticking to it. :)

 

Way to go Pam. After every cruise, I complain about having to have reservations if you want anytime dining. I prefer less structure, since I am on vacation.

 

Whenever we starting cruising with Princess, anytime dining was a welcome feature, but they have succumbed to the seat everyone in traditional no matter how it disrupts anytime. If one wants traditional, they should book the cruise early enough to get the seating they want.

[pierpressure]

It's unfortunate we didn't know this before booking "anytime" for our cruise on Crown starting this Saturday. I wonder if there's a chance to change to traditional late dining time? We experienced our best dining experience on a cruise (after many years of cruising) on Oceania with their "anytime" dining which went without a hitch and very professionally every evening!

[Pam in CA]

It's unfortunate we didn't know this before booking "anytime" for our cruise on Crown starting this Saturday. I wonder if there's a chance to change to traditional late dining time? We experienced our best dining experience on a cruise (after many years of cruising) on Oceania with their "anytime" dining which went without a hitch and very professionally every evening!

Go to the Maitre d' after boarding and ask for Traditional. There'll be a notice in the "Welcome Aboard" Patter where he'll be and the times but if you don't see it, call the Passenger Services Desk. It's usually something like 2-3:30pm and often in Sabatini's or the Crown Grill. He makes a lot of changes in both directions that first day so you're not asking for anything unusual.

 

Ask and you shall receive. :)

[OCruisers]

When on Crown Princess we never had a problem with Anytime BUT we were only two people and happy to share and sit anyplace. :)

 

Totally, agree with others: Those who book Traditional Dining should NOT be allowed to go to Anytime whenever they wish! :mad:

 

LuLu

[KruzPrincess]

I agree that Princess shouldn't allow traditional diners to go to the anytime dining room. People make a choice and should stick with it. When I pick anytime dining, I'm not allowed to just go to the traditional dining room and expect to be seated somewhere. They staff based on what people choose. If traditional diners just go where they want it puts extra burden on the already overworked staff in the anytime dining room while there are empty tables in the traditional dining room. It's just plain inconsiderate and Princess allows it.

 

One time, they did take me from the anytime dining room to the traditional dining room for an empty table there. I don't recall which ship I was on. They made me walk through the atrium and up the steps to the other dining room. The people in traditional were in the middle of their meals. It was clear to us that the waiters who got us weren't happy to have us dumped on them. It was a terrible meal.

[Kartgv]

We had anytime dining on the Crown for 28 days in the fall and it was generally a good experience - but probably because we got to know the head waiter and other staff after the first few days and found them very accommodating. We met two other couples and agreed to eat together on sea days; one couple made reservations by calling in the morning. After a few days, we had a regular section/wait staff/dining time that worked very well. On port days, we were all on our own. After awhile we learned when the peak lines were and went when there were no lines; we eventually had 3 sections that we preferred and were always able to get one of them. There were probably 2 really bad nights during the whole time - the rest were very good.

 

We definitely agree that Traditional diners shouldn't be allowed in Anytime Dining, but as far as we know that wasn't an issue on our cruise. The real issue was that most people always wanted to eat at the same time, 6:30-7:00 - if you're flexible about time, you should be able to enjoy it without major lines.

 

If the cruise lines were paying attention, they might someday notice that the reason a lot of people prefer Anytime/Mytime dining is that the 5:30-6:00 sitting is too early and the 8:00-8:30 sitting is too late. With all the experimentation with dining options, isn't having 3 'traditional' sittings a possibility? Yes, there are issues (maybe section off the dining rooms with different start times) and with showtimes, etc., but it's worth trying to get a little more creative?

[eandj]

We experienced our best dining experience on a cruise (after many years of cruising) on Oceania with their "anytime" dining which went without a hitch and very professionally every evening!

 

Oceania does everything well in their dining room. But remember the ships are small and there is no traditional seating. A whole different and classy experience... all without formal nights.;)

[BarbinMich]

One of the main reasons we started cruising on Princess so much 10 years ago was precisely because they were the first to offer anytime dining (compared to Celebrity, our original favorite line, and HAL) and now have been on 25 cruises with them. We always eat dinner in the Horizon Court because a formal dinner takes away from time we want to spend enjoying all the night-time entertainment. Only exception: the 2 formal nights when my DH wants his lobster. We usually eat after 7:30 or 8:00 and I guess things have calmed down in the anytime DRs by then as it's usually been an OK experience. I can understand, though, the frustration of wanting a traditional formal dining experience under the Anytime system.

[Bogof1]

We had anytime dining on our last cruise and for us there were no problems at all. After the second night we were shown to the same area each time we went so had same wait staff for whole cruise. We ate between 6 and 6:30 most evening never had to wait and on most evenings had a table for 2. It was perfect

[Husky61]

We always book anytime dining and have never had a problem. Traditional dining doesn't appeal to us. We would rather eat when we feel like it, not on a schedule.:)

[AKman2495]

We were on the Crown for 2 weeks at the beginning of last year. We always choose anytime. The first week was wonderful. No problem getting a table. Service was good etc.

 

The second week was terrible. We had a large group (around 1000) who were split between anytime and traditional. They would get together and have dinner and would just go to anytime to get a table. We had to wait every night of that week. Once it was so backed up we went to the early show and ate at 8:30 and got in with no problem.

 

We have has success most time with anytime dining. However, there are times when it totally breaks down.

 

Those who prefer same table/same people same waitstaff should stick with traditional instead of trying to recreate it with anytime by reserving a table every night at the same time in the same area. iMHO.

[eandj]

We had anytime dining on our last cruise and for us there were no problems at all. After the second night we were shown to the same area each time we went so had same wait staff for whole cruise. We ate between 6 and 6:30 most evening never had to wait and on most evenings had a table for 2. It was perfect

 

This time is ideal for anytime dining. Most crowds start showing up after 6:30 since there is traditional dining near 6:00. 7:00 is very popular and if you don't want to sit at a group table, you will be waiting.

 

By allowing reservations for anytime dining and letting traditional diners come and go as they please makes the whole process on the Crown a joke from what we observed. Just walk over to the dining room entrance and listen and watch the waiting diners. It's almost funny. Maybe that's how Princess gets more bar revenue!

[texasnana]

We did anytime dinning in March on the Emerald. We had never done this type of dining before. We totally hated the experience. Having to wait for a table, service was so slow after 2 hours of waiting I had to leave without dinner as I had to meet friends at the show. Another time was another two hour dinner. I hated making small talk to folks I would never see compared to a set time and regular folks at the table. We said we would never do this type of dining again and on our upcoming cruise we booked a set dinner. We ate a total of 3 dinners in dining room and ate at the buffet the other nights as I did not want the hassle of anytime dining.

 

But then again other folks love this type of dining.

[shredie]

We had a large group (around 1000) who were split between anytime and traditional. They would get together and have dinner and would just go to anytime to get a table. We had to wait every night of that week.

 

We had a similar problem on the Golden in January, only it was the other way around. A very large family group showed up in our traditional dining room, sitting at our table when we got there. Seems the people who normally did ATD wanted to eat with the ones who normally had Traditional, so they just walked in and took over three tables in TD. There was a language problem. When told they couldn't do that, one woman in the group started shouting in a foreign tongue, and the Head Waiter had to go find someone to translate. This woman was one of people seated at our table, and when she finally got up to leave, she said something apparently rude to us when we took our rightful seats. BTW, this was formal night.

Edited April 24, 2015 by shredie

[AKman2495]

We had a similar problem on the Golden in January, only it was the other way around. A very large family group showed up in our traditional dining room, sitting at our table when we got there. Seems the people who normally did ATD wanted to eat with the ones who normally had Traditional, so they just walked in and took over three tables in TD. There was a language problem. When told they couldn't do that, one woman in the group started shouting in a foreign tongue, and the Head Waiter had to go find someone to translate. This woman was one of people seated at our table, and when she finally got up to leave, she said something apparently rude to us when we took our rightful seats. BTW, this was formal night.

 

It's OK to break the rules when your in the family....:roll eyes:

 

That must have been sticky....

[peety3]

We had no complaints with Anytime aboard the Coral Princess in 2010. Two MDRs, one AT, one TD, so an even balance of capacity all night long.

 

We had no complaints with Anytime aboard the Sapphire Princess in 2012, "Five" (three) MDRs, one TD, four half-size for AT, so a distinct capacity split of 1/3 for TD and 2/3 for AT, but presumably 2/3 of the ship didn't/couldn't get TD so it was an appropriate balance of capacity all night long. It did take us the better part of the week to figure out how the themes worked in the four half-size dining rooms though.

 

We had some complaints last year aboard the Grand Princess. With presumably half of the ship requested TD, one MDR was TD for early and late, one MDR was AT all night long, and one MDR was TD for early and AT after that. This put 2/3 of the AT capacity into the second half of the night, so AT reservations were only allowed at 5:00 or after 6:45, and lines got long at 6:00 and stayed that way until at least 7:15.

 

My suspicion? Anytime there's an odd number of DRs AND more than one is assigned for TD, you'll have complaints unless you're johnny-on-the-spot or a late diner.