Dining times

[Synderela]

I have only cruised once on Norwegian. I want to know if we can do anytime dining on Carnival. Also can we bring on board soft drinks?

[Schoifmom]

I have only cruised once on Norwegian. I want to know if we can do anytime dining on Carnival. Also can we bring on board soft drinks?

 

On Carnival it's called Your Time Dining. That's all that I have ever done (I love the flexibility).

 

You can take on up to 12 cans or cartons 12oz or less per person of non-alcoholic drinks.

[Synderela]

Thanks so much! We are doing the NE/Canada and Carnival is quite a lot less than Norwegian and I am not "attached" to Norwegian so probably moving over to Carnival.

[vp1]

Just an FYI - Anytime Dining is becoming increasingly popular with Carnival. We sailed on the Victory about a month ago and the Maitre D' told us that the Anytime Dining for that cruise had "sold out" more than six months earlier and the "waiting list" was over 460 people… The only people who were able to move off the waiting list were essentially those who were Diamond, Platinum or who had paid for Faster to the Fun. Ironically, we had booked the cruise on only 2 weeks notice and had bought FTTF because we had to be off the ship immediately upon docking at the end of the cruise - moving from late dining to Anytime Dining turned out to be worth the FTTF price as we were very disappointed with late dining on our cruise a couple weeks earlier.

 

~Bob

[riffatsea]

When you book the cruise you must choose Your Time Dining IF it is available.

IF not then your only choices will be traditional dining with either early or late seating.

[beachbum53]

When you book the cruise you must choose Your Time Dining IF it is available.

IF not then your only choices will be traditional dining with either early or late seating.

 

Well, not exactly your "only" choice. There are other choices on board besides the MDR for dinner.

[riffatsea]

We were talking about choices for the MDR therefore the 3 possible choices are: YTD, early or late.

Other eating venues on the ship were not part of this question.

[coevan]

Riffatsea, I know this is off base, but I noticed your signature. We sailed on NCL Star in Alaska. This was the worst cruise we have ever been on. The MDR was not very good. We ate in specialty restaurants every night. On sea days it was freezing, everyone was inside and it was very claustrophobic, especially around the shops and casino. On a positive note the ports were all awesome

[riffatsea]

@coevan,

We disliked the food on NCL in the MDR and the buffet!

I agree that only specialty restaurants were decent and you had to pay extra for all of them when we were on board. I haven't been back to NCL since!

[crusinpsychRN]

You can alos take on 1 bottle of wine or champagne.

[GradUT]

You can encounter lengthy waits for YTD on Carnival. We were on a 4-night Carnival cruise two weeks ago and the wait one night (elegant night) was 30 minutes. The wait on the final night was going to be 45 minutes, so we skipped it and ate pizza.

 

I will never do YTD on Carnival again. (On HAL, they let you book a time in advance with YTD, but Carnival does not. Also, HAL will seat you with other people in order to be seated quicker--on our Carnival cruise, they weren't doing that although I've heard it's possible.)

[riffatsea]

Carnival will seat you with other people if you ask and there are other folks who also want to sit with "others" as well. They won't just do it to save time.

All the ships are crowded at some times and not crowded at others(for YTD).

Usually if you go early or late it is less crowded.

IF you go at a popular time in the middle then you have to wait just like you would in a restaurant on land.

Even when we have reservations there is sometimes a wait.(on land)

[SadieN]

Carnival will seat you with other people if you ask and there are other folks who also want to sit with "others" as well. They won't just do it to save time.

All the ships are crowded at some times and not crowded at others(for YTD).

Usually if you go early or late it is less crowded.

IF you go at a popular time in the middle then you have to wait just like you would in a restaurant on land.

Even when we have reservations there is sometimes a wait.(on land)

 

Depends on the Hostess whether they will allow shared tables. Sailed on the Miracle several times within the past year. One hostess w©ouldn't deal with shared tables. When she, the next hostess was more than happy to fill shared tables. We had the same MD for all cruises.

[ABQrobin]

You can encounter lengthy waits for YTD on Carnival. We were on a 4-night Carnival cruise two weeks ago and the wait one night (elegant night) was 30 minutes. The wait on the final night was going to be 45 minutes, so we skipped it and ate pizza.

 

I will never do YTD on Carnival again. (On HAL, they let you book a time in advance with YTD, but Carnival does not. Also, HAL will seat you with other people in order to be seated quicker--on our Carnival cruise, they weren't doing that although I've heard it's possible.)

 

sorry, but we have done 5 Carnival cruises, had YTD on 4 of them. We never had to wait more than 15 minutes for a table. But then we are early diners, and have seen lines at the door when we are leaving. I am sure if you wait to show up until 8pm, you may have a wait since at YTD, you can sit at your table as long as you want.

[Synderela]

Thank you all. We will be early so shouldn't have to wait.