Dining question - if we are assigned to late, can we do "Your Time?"

[sallybrown2012]

Hi. We weren't able to get our first choice for dining (early) so are now assigned to late. Once on board, if we are still unable to switch to early, will we be able to do "Your Time" or are we stuck eating late?

 

Thanks.

[firemanbobswife]

No. Your assigned dining is just that. It doesn't let you choose at your leisure.

[cruzeluver]

All three dining options (early, late, flexible) are capacity controlled. Once an option is full, no one else can get it. Once on board you can inquire at the main dining room if an opening for early seating has become available and if so they will give it to you. If not, you can also inquire about flexible dining. If it is also full you will be stuck with late.

[crewsweeper]

However,

Once on board if you go to the maître d' around 1:30 P or so on Embarkation Day (there should be a listing in the Fun Times as to where and exact time), you can request Early dining or You Time dining. They will review your request and send a notice to your cabin. You'll most likely have to eat at late dining on that first night--good time to get a reservation for the Steakhouse.

[jdkbrim]

Whenever we have been unable to get the dining time we wanted prior to our cruise, we just visited the Maitre d' (or whomever was working things out) as soon as we got on board and have never had a problem getting switched to the dining time we wanted.

[etwright]

Agree with above. Once onboard, go to the dining room. There will be a time when the Mattre' D will be available. If available, he will change it for you.

[bnorris10]

Last time we booked a cruise we got stuck with late time dining and there is no way we are eating at 8 pm at night - we simply showed up a few minutes before 6 and let them know we wanted to switch to early time dining and they accommodated us

[moongal]

Just curious, but do many people actually want the late dining or do most of the people who get it just stuck into it by default when both early and anytime dining are full?

 

We eat very late at home but on the ship it seems if you had the late seating you would miss a lot of the evenings activities.

 

I don't understand why they even have the "early" or "late" seatings. Why not just have it all be "anytime". I would hate it if I got stuck with late dining.

 

 

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[crewsweeper]

Just curious, but do many people actually want the late dining or do most of the people who get it just stuck into it by default when both early and anytime dining are full?

 

We eat very late at home but on the ship it seems if you had the late seating you would miss a lot of the evenings activities.

 

I don't understand why they even have the "early" or "late" seatings. Why not just have it all be "anytime". I would hate it if I got stuck with late dining.

 

 

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A lot of people prefer late seated dining. Especially many cruisers coming from the West Coast for east coast based Caribbean cruises. Eating dinner at 2:30 in the afternoon body clock time doesn't cut it. However, you are correct in that Your Time dining makes the option more adaptable that strictly seated dining. But YTD can get crowded and people do experience waits at peak times. As far as entertainment goes, for ship board production shows and comedy acts, there are typically 2 times available that do permit both early and late diners to see shows without interfering with dining. Now those times may not be acceptable to you, but that's your call. And YTD times are not structured with shows in mind so a wait for dining and possible slower service have to be factored in if trying to grab a spefici show time.

[MarcelLucSell]

Lido Buffet

 

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[firemanbobswife]

Just curious, but do many people actually want the late dining or do most of the people who get it just stuck into it by default when both early and anytime dining are full?

 

We eat very late at home but on the ship it seems if you had the late seating you would miss a lot of the evenings activities.

 

I don't understand why they even have the "early" or "late" seatings. Why not just have it all be "anytime". I would hate it if I got stuck with late dining.

 

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I don't want ATD. I like to be able to walk in and sit at "my" table with "my" waiters with no lines. They usually have our drinks waiting there for us. It makes me feel pampered. To me ATD is like going to any old restaurant. Cruising is different and traditional dining is one thing that sets it apart from other vacations for me.

[SadieN]

Want to do ATD while having Assigned Dining- try Princess. They've never checked on our Princess cruises.

ATD all the time- try NCL.

 

 

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[salinator]

Not sure when your cruise is leaving, but I have been stuck in the later dining option for my next Cruise in September. My PVP put us on the waitlist for any time, and she said she is never seen somebody not get the anytime option. I am not sure whether I believe her or not. Make sure you're on the waitlist for your preferred dining option. People do cancel their cruises at the last minute.

 

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[Nic6318]

 

I don't understand why they even have the "early" or "late" seatings. Why not just have it all be "anytime". I would hate it if I got stuck with late dining.

 

 

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Hi there

 

Again, this is another one of those things where a company decides how best for them to operate and if for you, the customer, find one aspect of the "package" to be of sufficient import, then there are other cruise lines that will accommodate you, but then you are buying a different package. Sort of like buying a car or buying a house.

 

I realize that these are just suggestions that people think would be nice, but what it amounts to is asking "why can't they do it the way I would like it". After all it makes sense to me. :)

 

Not surprisingly we all have our likes and dislikes, fortunately there are so many choices most of us can find a product that suits us. Always keep in mind, that when changes are made, it might suit me but a thousand other people might complain.

[sallybrown2012]

Thanks for all of your comments and the suggestion to see the maitre d'hotel. We originally booked many months in advance but then had to make a change to accommodate a family member - it was our pleasure to do it, but it did mean we wound up with a different timing for dining than our first choice. We have cruised on many different cruise lines, and I was just trying to find out how this one works - no judgment intended.

[quickrate]

Just curious, but do many people actually want the late dining or do most of the people who get it just stuck into it by default when both early and anytime dining are full?

 

We eat very late at home but on the ship it seems if you had the late seating you would miss a lot of the evenings activities.

 

I don't understand why they even have the "early" or "late" seatings. Why not just have it all be "anytime". I would hate it if I got stuck with late dining.

 

 

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We Love late dining. Only had early dining once and that is because we had the grandkids with us and they needed to eat early. Perks of late dining for us: Not feeling rushed at dinner, when we come back from ports, not rushing around to get ready. We love having wine on the balcony before dinner and stopping by alchemy bar on the way to dinner. All the shows are made available for both dining times.

[quickrate]

I don't want ATD. I like to be able to walk in and sit at "my" table with "my" waiters with no lines. They usually have our drinks waiting there for us. It makes me feel pampered. To me ATD is like going to any old restaurant. Cruising is different and traditional dining is one thing that sets it apart from other vacations for me.

I agree! Dinner time is an event for us. We relax, don't want to be rushed, usually have friends we are crusing with so we all catch up on each others day, share a bottle of wine.

Pat

[bUU]

I don't want ATD. I like to be able to walk in and sit at "my" table with "my" waiters with no lines. They usually have our drinks waiting there for us. It makes me feel pampered.

I'm a generally optimistic person and it is that optimism that prompts me to prefer set time dining, and for us that would mean early seating. My spouse is not quite so optimistic. Our experience with set time dining in the past was underwhelming. With the exception of our last Cruise we never found that we were seated with people with whom we could expect to have a reasonably interesting conversation or people that we would keep in touch with after the cruise.

 

Our most "memorable" set time dining experience was one when we found ourselves, night after night, waiting sometimes as much as a 20 minutes before our waiter would be willing to take our order, our assigned tablemates being no shows with no notice. This was a family of four evidently and they never appeared in the dining room. But despite our pleas to be moved to a table of two we were stuck on this table and our waiters insisted on waiting on the odd hope that this family would someday appear. (To put this in context a bit, this was back when you got envelopes on the last day of the cruise that you would stuff with cash. So these waiters, stuck with this table themselves, were holding out hope that they'd be able to earn the gratuity from these people who never showed.) So not only would we be left waiting and waiting and waiting but then we'd be rushed through the meal in order to get us out in time and turn over the table for the next seating. I was awfully tempted to assert some financial consequence on the maitre d' for refusing our request and our waiters for making us wait more than the first night.

 

I did get my way on our last cruise and it was nice. We had a table of 4 instead of a table of 6 or 8 as on prior cruises. And the other couple was a very nice couple that we are still in contact with.

 

I think my spouse's perspective on this is that with this one recent positive experience we've now used up all the possible good luck we could ever have with regard to set time dining and so my spouse now insists that we go with anytime dining.

 

 

This message may have been entered using voice recognition. Please excuse any typos.

[NHNEV2003]

Just curious, but do many people actually want the late dining or do most of the people who get it just stuck into it by default when both early and anytime dining are full?

 

We eat very late at home but on the ship it seems if you had the late seating you would miss a lot of the evenings activities.

 

I don't understand why they even have the "early" or "late" seatings. Why not just have it all be "anytime". I would hate it if I got stuck with late dining.

 

 

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We prefer late dining. When we get back from excursions, we don't want to have to rush to get ready and get to the dining room.

 

On sea days, we usually get something light late in the afternoon to hold us over.

 

We still have time after dinner to roam the ship, see the late show, or whatever.

[cb at sea]

Once on the ship, go to the dining room and get switched to Anytime....if it's possible, they will do it for you. Folks board, and rearrange dining times all the time.

[happy cruzer]

Late dining is great for no waiting like ATD, no kids, and getting a table for two. Since it is less popular, they have more flexibility and time to take care of you.

 

I like that they provide three options and have used all of them at different times.

[moongal]

Interesting responses! Those of you who like the late seating stated your case so well that now if I find myself stuck with it, I'll give it a try! I didn't book a cruise I wanted (my first choice of itinerary and date) because the only dining option still available was the "late" seating and it was a deal breaker for me, but now after reading some of your thoughts I would be willing to give it a try.

 

 

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[MSUcruisers]

We booked a Carnival cruise several years ago, and only late dining was available. Because of my husband's gastric reflux, he can not eat late at night. With a written letter from our doctor, we were easily able to get early dining.

[siestakeys04]

We always choose late dining. We don't want to rush coming back from an excursion and we may want to take a nap before dinner.

[beachbum6264]

We usually do late dining. The only time we didn't was a 21 day cruise - we didn't want to take the chance of sitting with someone we didn't like for 21 days. (I know you can ask to move, but that might have been too obvious). I agree with what everyone before me has said, fewer children, no rushing through dinner, no rushing to get ready after a port day, longer to enjoy the day on a sea day, the same servers without having to ask, know where our table is, and never have to wait. One less thing to think about, one less decision to make - make life easy. :cool: