Annoyed by Anytime Dining taking reservations and wait times once seated

[casofilia]

Anytime dining is like eating at a restaurant on land. Some people make reservations and are seated promptly and some people do not make reservations and have to wait until a non-reserved table is available. Seems very simple and obvious to me. Stop complaining.

 

DON

 

We have a shorex starting before 8am. Please tell me how I can make a booking for Anytime that day.

[PrincessLuver]

Anytime dining is like eating at a restaurant on land. Some people make reservations and are seated promptly and some people do not make reservations and have to wait until a non-reserved table is available. Seems very simple and obvious to me. Stop complaining.

 

DON

 

It is more complex then that.....Princess MDs allow people to abuse the system in all kinds of ways as mentioned early by many others here. Princess does not allow everyone who signed up for ATD to be able to make a reservation. Also, we have quite a few friends who cruise on Princess and have TD but also are allowed to make reservations in ATD.....Princess has an entirely different definition of ATD then you do:

 

Anytime Dining

 

For passengers wanting more flexibility in their dining schedule. Just like in a restaurant, show up when you like between 5:30 p.m. and 10 p.m., to enjoy dinner alone or with friends.

No mention of reservations anywhere in their literature!!! :cool:

[JimmyVWine]

We have a shorex starting before 8am. Please tell me how I can make a booking for Anytime that day.

 

I did that on my most recent cruise. We got back to the ship around 3:00 or so and I thought that I would have no shot at a reservation. Lo and behold, I picked up the phone, dialed DINE, a person answered it, and I was offered a 7:45 time slot. Past performance is no predictor of future results, but that's my story.

[casofilia]

I did that on my most recent cruise. We got back to the ship around 3:00 or so and I thought that I would have no shot at a reservation. Lo and behold, I picked up the phone, dialed DINE, a person answered it, and I was offered a 7:45 time slot. Past performance is no predictor of future results, but that's my story.

 

But I don't want to eat at 7.45!! I want to eat a lot earlier.

[JimmyVWine]

But I don't want to eat at 7.45!! I want to eat a lot earlier.

As I noted earlier, reservations are not open-ended. There are very limited times. Mostly you would be offered either 5:30 or 7:30 (or later, but that doesn't pertain to you). I didn't ask for a 5:30. I asked for "as close to 7:30 as you can get me." So I don't know if 5:30 would have been available had I asked. All you can do is try. We all have choices to make. And in some instances, excursions take precedence over dinner times. So it goes. As Steven Wright says: "You can't have everything. If you did, where would you put it?"

[tv24]

We typically sit down for dinner at home around 7:00-7:15. On every cruise we have been on, we have arrived at the transitional MDR at 7:15 (when we don't have a reservation) or at 7:30 if we do have a reservation. Hand to God, we have never, ever been handed a buzzer and never waited more than a minute to be seated. The only time that we waited longer was a 5 minute wait when we were asked if we would like to wait for a window table. Don't get discouraged.

 

Thanks for the response. Since we eat at 8:00 or 8:15, it might be even easier for us to get seated quickly. After the rush, I think.

[DeloreanGirl]

Sounds like you need to stick with Carnival and be seated in a timely manner.

 

Got off Carnival Imagination in January. Our group had Anytime Dining as well and it was a 40-minute wait one night with a pager. I was shocked. I'm really hoping to avoid this with Ruby Princess next month. I suppose we'll go to the dining room before we actually become hungry. :(

 

Save

[pablo222]

But I don't want to eat at 7.45!! I want to eat a lot earlier.

 

That's the problem -- too many people want to eat a lot earlier.

 

It doesn't matter what the system is. More people want to eat between 6:00 and 7:30 than there are seats.

[wrongwaywatson]

We like ATD. We sometimes eat at the buffet (formal nights) and we usually do the Crown Grill once, also. On the nights we eat in the Main Dining Room, we make reservations. Anytime doesn't mean a free-for-all, come as you want with no wait. It means that it is flexible and you can choose to eat when you want. I've never done traditional, but sitting with people I don't know doesn't appeal to me. Also, since we sometimes do the buffet and the Crown Grill, I wouldn't want to take someone's spot that wants traditional dining. We also don't want to do formal nights, so we do the buffet on those nights. We look at the activities that night and decide what time we need to eat to be able to do what we want to do. Then, we make our reservations. We've never had an issue and we have always had pretty good service.

[JimmyVWine]

It doesn't matter what the system is. More people want to eat between 6:00 and 7:30 than there are seats.

 

It really is just that simple. And there is nothing that can ameliorate the situation except people's willingness to dine later or the ship adding more dining space. The latter is not going to happen unless said dining space is fee-based. No ship is going to allocate more square footage to dining rooms that only get used from 5:00-9:00 and do not generate additional revenue.

[ridge4]

It will show clearly in the Patter (daily newsletter) which dining room has Early Dining then Any time.

 

From experience it is usually the dining room mid ships deck 6.

 

 

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Thank you!

[$hip$hape]

Most other cruise lines handle in on a first come first serve basis....

why bring Carnival into the mix

....other then Princess has created a circus when it come to ATD.....:rolleyes:

 

Freestyle Dining on NCL is not much different.

You are "free" to wait.:cool:

However, we find, the longer one waits, the better the food taste once you get it.

[toescat]

People have to use logic. If they want anytime dinning they need to have an open mind and realize there are 2000+ people wanting to eat in two to three dinning rooms. If you want the flexibility to eat when you want then deal with the possible wait. They give you a device to let you know when to come back, go have a cocktail, glass of wine or a soda and relax. I don't care for ATD but if I was stuck with it I most certainly would not allow it to ruin my cruise. I would go with the flow. 🍷👀🍸🥃🍹🍺

[Yosef42]

However, we find, the longer one waits, the better the food taste once you get it.

 

I love your attitude!

[Credit 00]

Couldn't imagine going on a cruise without traditional dining, sure it gets a bit "groundhog day" after a while but it's fantastic getting the same waiter every night. With that said, that's not what the topic is about. I think the OP has to consider the amount of other people wanting to eat and at what time they want dinner, work of that rather than blaming princess.

[the mistral wind]

We agree!! We have gone back to a fixed time for our next cruise [emoji568]. This was way too stressful and not what you go on vacation for!

 

 

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Sounds like i better change my reservation to a fixed time. I never had dinning room trouble before but it seems like a lot of people are signed up for my time now. We are scheduled for my time on the allure of the seas. But i still have time to change this . Thank you for the information.

[the mistral wind]

People have to use logic. If they want anytime dinning they need to have an open mind and realize there are 2000+ people wanting to eat in two to three dinning rooms. If you want the flexibility to eat when you want then deal with the possible wait. They give you a device to let you know when to come back, go have a cocktail, glass of wine or a soda and relax. I don't care for ATD but if I was stuck with it I most certainly would not allow it to ruin my cruise. I would go with the flow. 🍷👀🍸🥃🍹🍺

I think the gentle mans concern was the fact that he booked this my time with a window of time. He did not expect other people to have reservations ahead of him. His interpetation of the My time process was he would be able to come to the dinning and be seated in a timely manner, in the window of time that he was assigned to. Had he known he had to also make a reservation he would not have booked my time and would have booked an exact time. Too much trouble for a EASY seating arrangement as it is advertised. I do understand. I too wouldn't let this ruin my vacation. But i can understand his disappointment and this needs to be addressed. And if i know RCCL they will fix this. As other people have posted this same thing, and people who post on here are avid cruisers and important customers.

[the mistral wind]

I was talking to a waiter who once worked for Carnival & they a saying on their ship "feed em, water em, and get em out the door" :D

My last carnival vacation was great the food was very good. I think carnival has come along way and somehow gets a bad rap that isn't true. I have cruised both am emerald on rccl and also vip carnival. Both are FUN SHIPS and the Food is equal. A lot of new food venues on Carnival that i especially like. I just thought that i would let our viewers on cruise critic know that they won't be disappointed on either ships.

[PrincessLuver]

My last carnival vacation was great the food was very good. I think carnival has come along way and somehow gets a bad rap that isn't true. I have cruised both am emerald on rccl and also vip carnival. Both are FUN SHIPS and the Food is equal. A lot of new food venues on Carnival that i especially like. I just thought that i would let our viewers on cruise critic know that they won't be disappointed on either ships.

 

It is just a thing on the Princess boards that many Princess cruisers try to promote Carnival ships as full of cruising heathens and barbarians who swirl their grog......our kids like cruising on Carnival and RCCL and compare Princess ships to floating rest homes......( Princess people will say....no....that's Holland America).....while our friends who like to cruise with Crystal cruises think that Princess is made of plebeian passengers who cannot afford a country club memberships....it really is just a bunch of nonsense all the way around...:D;p

[hllwdcruiser]

It is just a thing on the Princess boards that many Princess cruisers try to promote Carnival ships as full of cruising heathens and barbarians who swirl their grog......our kids like cruising on Carnival and RCCL and compare Princess ships to floating rest homes......( Princess people will say....no....that's Holland America).....while our friends who like to cruise with Crystal cruises think that Princess is made of plebeian passengers who cannot afford a country club memberships....it really is just a bunch of nonsense all the way around...:D;p

 

Very,very well said.

[toescat]

I too love Carnival but I also really love Princess too. I have been on Disney, and RCL and the bottom line is the number of people on board who all want to eat at the same time. I think it is great to give the passengers the choice of when and how they dine. I love TD and it is what I choose. I have friends who will only do ATD and they cruise knowing some nights they have to wait but they never complain they drink instead.

[Homosassa]

Just an additional note about the Dining Room "B" that may be used for early traditional dining and then switched to anytime dining. It has been my experience as an early traditional diner usually assigned to the "B" room, that the whole dining room is not filled with early traditional diners.

 

The portion of the dining room that is empty will be open for anytime diners at whatever the announced time is for the start of anytime dining.

[casofilia]

{Snipped}

 

The portion of the dining room that is empty will be open for anytime diners at whatever the announced time is for the start of anytime dining.

 

Do you mean that if the dining room that changes from Early Traditional to Anytime Dining is only half full a half hour after the Early Traditional starts it will then take Anytime Diners?

[yags]

Anytime dining should be walk in only. No reservations.

[casofilia]

Anytime dining should be walk in only. No reservations.

 

I would agree totally with this but with a proviso and an addition.

 

Let groups of 8 or more reserve.

Swipe room cards and turn away Traditional Diners while Anytime Diners are waiting