Why 5:30 dining?

[mdchachi]

This is extremely rude and inconsiderate of staff.

How does this negatively impact the staff? So if you start at 5:30 or if you start at 6:00 what's the issue? If anything, I'd think it would be helpful not having all their tables seat exactly at the same time.

 

The downside I see now is that many tables in traditional go unused, These are tables that cannot be used by My Time, so the staff cannot use them to reduce the My Time lines.

 

On the Oasis at least they send MyTimers up to the MDR if tables are going unused. Perhaps their computer systems have been updated to handle this compared to older ships.

Edited February 24, 2016 by mdchachi

[time4u2go]

How does this negatively impact the staff? My assumption was that the later dining time isn't moved up. So if you start at 5:30 or if you start at 6:00 what's the issue? If anything, I'd think it would be helpful not having all their tables seat exactly at the same time.

 

 

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It gives them less time to clean up between seatings.

[cruisinfanatic]

How does this negatively impact the staff? My assumption was that the later dining time isn't moved up. So if you start at 5:30 or if you start at 6:00 what's the issue? If anything, I'd think it would be helpful not having all their tables seat exactly at the same time.

If you are at my table or one my waiter serves, and you show up 30 minutes late, you do impact service. The waiter has to stop serving on time guests and take your order. Then instead of worrying about serving the main course, he has to run to get your appetizers. It goes on. Rude to be late

With 6PM dining, late is at 8:30

With 5:30 dining, late is at 8:00

Edited February 24, 2016 by SeaUs

[Paulette3028]

It didn't. We always schedule our day/evening around our assigned dining times. My post was just to let Bob know we had a 5:30 dining time on the Jewel. Why?

 

Actually you have answered my query by stating it 'didn't negatively or positively' affect your day or evening....so I am glad to hear that. We have Freedom booked for November, and never have had such an early seating for dinner, and fully expect we will be able to get it as we get closer to sail date. On our first cruise we had the Late Seating because of 'experienced cruisers' we went with and for us the late seating was terrible on our bodies -- we just are not accustomed to eating that late.

[cruisenfever]

How does this negatively impact the staff? So if you start at 5:30 or if you start at 6:00 what's the issue? If anything, I'd think it would be helpful not having all their tables seat exactly at the same time.

Traditional Dining is not just about "you" and when "you" want to show up. Showing up 30-45 minutes late not only impacts the staff, but the other guests seated in that particular serving station.

[dagadget]

I think it's great that the ships have 5:30 dining. I wish it was at 5:00 p.m.! I am an early morning person. I eat breakfast at around 6:00 a.m., lunch at 11:30 and dinner at 4:30 to 5:00. If I eat too late (anytime after 7:00 p.m.) I feel uncomfortable and don't sleep well. Just saying that there are folks who really like the 5:30 seating.

 

I agree that and the fact that the DW is diabetic and controlling her levels are easier if dinner is before 6pm. Granted dinning in the MDR lasts way past 6pm but the later seating's would make the DW have levels well above 200 the next morning. Still we have better control over sugar levels when we are not stressed like on a cruise :)

[Merion_Mom]

I agree that tradititional is the easiest for all involved. It's worked on cruise ships for years. However, as time goes on, it seems that fewer people want to be tied to a specific time. I'm sure Royal got a lot of feedback before starting My Time a few years ago, and they have attempted to make both types work.

 

The downside I see now is that many tables in traditional go unused, These are tables that cannot be used by My Time, so the staff cannot use them to reduce the My Time lines.

 

Of course, I always attibute an ulterior motive. I think they would like to adopt the NCL setup. Now, I've never been on NCL, but I read their forums and reviews. It seems they have little incentive to reduce lines or improve the quality of food in the free dining rooms. The more waiting time, the more likely people will opt for extra cost specialty restaurants.

 

Although they try to avoid doing this, they occasionally do this on the Anthem. We were "Dynamic Choice", but they stuck us in the middle of a "Dynamic Classic" area. We didn't notice anything until just about everyone got up and left at the same time! :) Our waiter explained what had happened. :)

 

I know that on all the other ships, they set aside a deck, or a deck and a half, for MTD, with no intermingling.

 

It's a little more complicated on the Anthem, with four "main" dining rooms.

 

But it was 5:30 for Dynamic Classic, and I did not like that one little bit. Waaaaay too early.

Edited February 24, 2016 by Merion_Mom

[Merion_Mom]

I love my 830pm but for the freedom they have it at 8pm. To be honest 30 minutes earlier is ok with me to eat but what I really don't like is the fact that I have to be there 30 minutes earlier than usual. I was this close to do my time sinning but I'm reading that my time is getting a little bit crazy on the freedom so I rather stay with traditional. Ohh and the shows are before dinning which I think we will miss a lot of them. Years ago were usually after dinner

 

Great Freudian slip. :D

[Merion_Mom]

I think they changed it from 6pm to 5:30pm a few years ago to allow more time between seatings. We always choose early seating because we like all the evening ship activities. With late seating, which we did do a few times, we found ourselves missing too much.

 

If someone doesn't want to eat at either 5:30 or 8:00, then they should choose MTD. Wait staff are so stressed that having them go back to the kitchen for soup while the rest at due their entrees isn't fair to anyone. Their system is to pick up all the plates for the same course for all their passengers at the same time.

 

That's not the case. Late seating is also moved up 1/2 and hr

 

Agree. On almost all ships, the traditional times are either 5:30 & 8 or 6 & 8:30.

 

That is the reason that I found my Anthem 5:30 assignment so odd. Second seating was 8:30!!! :eek:

 

And no, I could not get anyone to give me an explanation. Not for the 5:30 time (when EVERYONE'S invoices, bookings and reservations said 6:00) nor for the three hour spread, unique to the Anthem.

 

:rolleyes:

[LMaxwell]

Would not be surprised to see open dining 5 to 9pm and only one fixed dining time of 6 or 7pm in the future.

 

530 dinner wouldn't be so bad if Royal had decent selection of late night food but they severely lag the industry here

[Merion_Mom]

Traditional Dining is not just about "you" and when "you" want to show up. Showing up 30-45 minutes late not only impacts the staff, but the other guests seated in that particular serving station.

 

You know what this reminds me of, Patti?

 

People whined about not wanting to be told when to eat. So Royal Caribbean instituted My Time Dining. Now people pick traditional dining, but think that they should just be able to show up when they want to.

 

People whined about not wanting to dress formally for dinner twice a week. So Royal Caribbean created The Grande on Quantum class ships, which is supposed to be formal every night, and no other venues are. What happened? People whine that they don't want to dress up to eat at The Grande.

 

<smh>

[LMaxwell]

Although they try to avoid doing this, they occasionally do this on the Anthem. We were "Dynamic Choice", but they stuck us in the middle of a "Dynamic Classic" area. We didn't notice anything until just about everyone got up and left at the same time! :) Our waiter explained what had happened. :)

 

I know that on all the other ships, they set aside a deck, or a deck and a half, for MTD, with no intermingling.

 

It's a little more complicated on the Anthem, with four "main" dining rooms.

 

But it was 5:30 for Dynamic Classic, and I did not like that one little bit. Waaaaay too early.

Did you do a post on the the different dining styles on your anthem cruises? Interested in your thoughts

[Clarea]

Would not be surprised to see open dining 5 to 9pm and only one fixed dining time of 6 or 7pm in the future.

 

530 dinner wouldn't be so bad if Royal had decent selection of late night food but they severely lag the industry here

I remember when Adam Goldstein accounced that they were adding the late night charge to room service. He promised that there would be a venue open during the midnight to 5am period to accomodate those people that wanted late night snacks. Don't know how long it lasted, but most Park Cafe's on Vision and Radiance class ships (the only late night venue on those ships) close at 1am or 2am.

[astro1861]

We first encountered the 5:30 pm dining time on Rhapsody of the Seas sailing from Hawaii to Vancouver in 2014. More recently, it was on Freedom of the Seas. We had never done late seating before, but decided that 5:30 was just too early, so why not try 8:00? We went into our first late dinner with low expectations, but we found there are several advantages to late seating.

 

First of all, we discovered that 8:00 pm is not too late for dinner -- at least for Mrs. Astro and me. It allows more time in the late afternoon. Finding two chairs together in the Solarium is easy after 4:00 pm. A late dinner also allows one to enjoy afternoon snacks in the Windjammer and other eateries, and enjoy them I did. It allows more time for a pre-dinner drink or two.

 

Late seating is more compatible with shore excursions, as it allows more time to unwind and wash up after a day in port. One of my favorite memories from our recent Freedom cruise was the 7:00 pm sail away from St. Thomas. It was already dark, with a beautiful crescent moon hanging over the harbor. Mrs. Astro and I decided to experience sail away from the helipad. It was a spur of the moment decision and something we would probably not even have thought about if we had early seating. That experience turned out to a highlight of the trip.

 

Yet one more advantage of late seating is that you can then attend the early show in the theater, and the early show is usually much less crowded than the late show. For example, on my last cruise, a party of four could arrive at the theater ten minutes before show time and easily find good seats in the center of the main floor.

 

For all of these reasons, I really like the 8:00 seating. I am not sure if I would like an 8:30 seating, as that might be a tad too late. So the 5:30/8:00 dining times win my vote.

[Merion_Mom]

Did you do a post on the the different dining styles on your anthem cruises? Interested in your thoughts

 

What did you have in mind? What do you mean by "styles"?

[LMaxwell]

I remember when Adam Goldstein accounced that they were adding the late night charge to room service. He promised that there would be a venue open during the midnight to 5am period to accomodate those people that wanted late night snacks. Don't know how long it lasted, but most Park Cafe's on Vision and Radiance class ships (the only late night venue on those ships) close at 1am or 2am.

Wasn't Quantum class supposed to have a 24 hour section of Windjammer? I was on Vision in 2013 and Legend 2014 and Park Cafe was never open that late. And it was basically just cookies and pizza.

 

Even the big ships are just pizza and cafe promenade. Cafe Promenade is nice until you see the late night buffet sections on NCL and Carnival, or International Cafe on Princess that is 24 hrs and has significantly more selection than Royal.

 

I think a limited 11pm to 2 or 3am selection in Windjammer would be nice. I eat way more on a cruise than at home. I enjoy it. Everyone's got their something. But if I finish dinner by 7pm it would be nice to grab a bite after the nightly entertainment above frozen pizza.

[Clarea]

Wasn't Quantum class supposed to have a 24 hour section of Windjammer?...

Yes, and I think it was initially, but I believe I read that Anthem no longer has a 24-hour section.

[LMaxwell]

What did you have in mind? What do you mean by "styles"?

Didn't you do the Dynamic rotation one week and some different format the other week? That is what I mean by styles. Just curious how each worked and what you liked more and why. I remember you mentioned it pre cruise but I hadn't seen your thoughts on how it went

[mdchachi]

If you are at my table or one my waiter serves, and you show up 30 minutes late, you do impact service. The waiter has to stop serving on time guests and take your order. Then instead of worrying about serving the main course, he has to run to get your appetizers. It goes on. Rude to be late

I wasn't paying that much attention but on the Oasis at least I didn't feel that they were somehow coordinating incoming courses with other tables. That would be hard to do -- some people may be rushing through dinner to make their show. Others may be having a leisurely, relaxing dinner.

 

Has anybody actually talked to waiters about the impact to them? Based on my experience last week (see below), I'd be surprised if they thought it was a big deal. (Or even a little deal.)

 

People whined about not wanting to be told when to eat. So Royal Caribbean instituted My Time Dining. Now people pick traditional dining, but think that they should just be able to show up when they want to.

You may be talking about me here. I'll tell you why I had this thought. It's because the Oasis waiter encouraged us to do so just last week.

On the Jamaica stop we didn't get back to the boat until a little after 6; we couldn't make the 6pm dinner so we went to the MyTime dining room around 7:00 and got seated right away. Less than 15 minutes later our normal waiter stopped by to greet us; apparently when his early diners didn't show up they shipped him down there to work (not our table though). The next night he said if we were running late for whatever reason to come to the MDR anyway. When I joked about not showing up so he could get a break he explained it doesn't work that way. They get dispatched to areas that need service, or they will put MyTime diners at his empty tables. I'm not sure why he still wanted his customers to come even when late. Maybe it prevents him from being assigned to other areas or maybe it affects his compensation somehow.

 

Of course if I had seen this thread a week ago I'd have asked him about the impact of consistently showing up 15-30 minutes after official start time.

 

Perhaps somebody cruising soon could ask the question ("I know it's 5:30 dining, would it be a problem if we come at our preferred time of 6:00?") and see what they say.

[DrD]

It's always been 5:30, that I can remember, that's why I go second seating. Early can be better for those with young kids.. Also it can be nice that's it light outside if you're near a window.

[Merion_Mom]

Didn't you do the Dynamic rotation one week and some different format the other week? That is what I mean by styles. Just curious how each worked and what you liked more and why. I remember you mentioned it pre cruise but I hadn't seen your thoughts on how it went

 

Got it. I will work on it. :)

[Merion_Mom]

I wasn't paying that much attention but on the Oasis at least I didn't feel that they were somehow coordinating incoming courses with other tables. That would be hard to do -- some people may be rushing through dinner to make their show. Others may be having a leisurely, relaxing dinner.

 

Has anybody actually talked to waiters about the impact to them? Based on my experience last week (see below), I'd be surprised if they thought it was a big deal. (Or even a little deal.)

 

 

You may be talking about me here. I'll tell you why I had this thought. It's because the Oasis waiter encouraged us to do so just last week.

On the Jamaica stop we didn't get back to the boat until a little after 6; we couldn't make the 6pm dinner so we went to the MyTime dining room around 7:00 and got seated right away. Less than 15 minutes later our normal waiter stopped by to greet us; apparently when his early diners didn't show up they shipped him down there to work (not our table though). The next night he said if we were running late for whatever reason to come to the MDR anyway. When I joked about not showing up so he could get a break he explained it doesn't work that way. They get dispatched to areas that need service, or they will put MyTime diners at his empty tables. I'm not sure why he still wanted his customers to come even when late. Maybe it prevents him from being assigned to other areas or maybe it affects his compensation somehow.

 

Of course if I had seen this thread a week ago I'd have asked him about the impact of consistently showing up 15-30 minutes after official start time.

 

Perhaps somebody cruising soon could ask the question ("I know it's 5:30 dining, would it be a problem if we come at our preferred time of 6:00?") and see what they say.

 

 

1. I am shocked that they admitted you to MTD. They absolutely "don't do that". You can't just switch into MTD "one night".

 

2. Your waiter said that because HIS TIPS GET DINGED if you go eat in MTD!!!!!

[USNUZULOOSE]

DH and I eat around 5:30 everyday, so that is perfect timing. I have had it at 6 and it was a little to long to wait.

[Cabansail]

Perhaps somebody cruising soon could ask the question ("I know it's 5:30 dining, would it be a problem if we come at our preferred time of 6:00?") and see what they say.

 

I did ask almost that question. Requested MTD but it was not available. I was told that they did not mind if we got there at about 6pm or even up to 6.30. I asked if that would inconvenience them (if it did we would just arrive early) and they assured us it was perfectly OK, especially as we had a table for two. I guess it could be different if it were a larger table.

[mdchachi]

1. I am shocked that they admitted you to MTD. They absolutely "don't do that". You can't just switch into MTD "one night".

We asked at the American Grill in advance when we boarded if we could come back down there for dinner and they said no problem. Perhaps it had something to do with that particular night and the fact that we were still on the early side for the MTD rush. We certainly didn't insist on dining in one of the dining rooms. If they had said no it wouldn't have bothered us. We'd have gone to the Windjammer, no big deal. They did give us pretty much the worst table. The one closest one to the front doors that everybody walks by.

Edited February 24, 2016 by mdchachi