Anytime dining doesn’t work!

[4cats4me]

Anytime dining has never gone smoothly. 

We complained about it back in 2004. It hasn’t improved.  If they would just do away with the reservations or make it all reservations. It’s  A little bit of this, a little bit of that, and it doesn’t meet the needs of its clientele.  

[Island wannabe]

We have had mixed results with AT.  Generally it works well if you can call in the morning and reserve a table.  If not it is a bit of a crap shoot.   I know several years ago on the Caribbean Princess the maitre D’ would not allow tables for 2 to be booked in AT.   You were required to show up and wait with a pager.  That trip dining in the dining room was a cluster. Yes sharing a table would be faster but we prefer tables for 2 for our own reasons.  Now this past summer on the Crown we had no problem reserving a table for 2.  If we showed up without a reservation waits ranged from no wait to about 30 mins.  That’s why we are actually happy about the new TD time of 7:15 pm and have requested it for our next cruise on the Sky.   As I said, very mixed AT results over the years for us.

[geoherb]

We've had anytime dining twice. The first time did not work well for us. There were long waits if we went before 8. If we went after 8, we ended up getting a table for two. No one else dining late was requesting to share a table.

 

The other time we had anytime dining doesn't really count since we took advantage of a lot of on-board credit to eat at specialty dining options every night and never in the regular dining rooms.

[jlp20]

2 hours ago, victory2020 said:

Being in the restaurant business, table turnover in a "fine dining" establishment is 1.5 hours, so if people are lined up at 5, tables should turn & be available at 6:15 to 6:45. I have never had that been the case on Princess. I have been on other lines where there is no problem getting a table within 15 minutes of arriving. They obviously have a problem in how they operate anytime. 

If reading the responses,  you and the OP are in the minority. I've read the posts a second time and have found an issue. It is never mentioned how many are in your party and if your willing to share a table. These are the two major factors in the speed of being seated. We always ask for first available and willing to share. Get to meet some interesting people this way. As far as restaurant experience, a little different on a ship. 6 or 8 top, the people leave at staggered times. Table can't be turned until last person leaves.

[sterling2]

1 hour ago, Island wannabe said:

We have had mixed results with AT.  Generally it works well if you can call in the morning and reserve a table.  

I don’t understand why reservations are allowed for anytime dining.  Don’t accept reservations and keep traditional diners out of anytime dining.

[luckyinpa]

1 hour ago, Cruise Junky said:

It’s never worked. Every time we had a 30 to 45 min wait with a buzzer. They don’t check cruise cards. Anyone can go to anytime even if they booked traditional. Our last few cruises have been on Celebrity. Have been handed a buzzer once. They cap anytime and check your room number. 

last oct. i was 2nd in line on regal. the people in front had a traditional table and they were told they cannot eat in anytime. that their  table was in the other MDR. they argued a few min but gave up. 

 

so we wound up being 1st in the mdr. i dont recall how they let it be know they had traditional nor do i remember if cards were scanned. 

Edited October 20, 2018 by luckyinpa

[Cruise Junky]

1 minute ago, luckyinpa said:

last oct. i was 2nd in line on regal. the people in front had a traditional table and they were told they cannot eat in anytime. that their  table was in the other MDR. they argued a few min but gave up. 

 

so we wound up being 1st in the mdr. i dont recall how they let it be know they had traditional nor do i remember if cards were scanned. 

Princess has been known to occasionally crack down on it but it sadly doesn’t last nor is consistent. 

[4cats4me]

I recall the days when calling  for a reservation for anytime dining and we were only allowed two choices either 6:15 o’clock or 830.   And we were always unhappy about that because we like to dine at 7:00,  and of  course seven was not a possibility because the dining room with Phil up at 6:15 and they were basically two seatings for dinner.  

 That was about 10 years ago.  

 I also remember the olden days where popular seating time was always the late seating 8 o’clock or 830,  and that was before the days of any time and the unlucky ones always got the early seating and we were always the unlucky ones. 

 It is very interesting how times have changed and that everybody wants to eat early now.   We always do anytime but we don’t always go into the dining room but now with the new 715 late seating time I would be more inclined to do traditional. 

 We don’t mind sharing a table with others but we don’t like is how long it takes to complete a meal.   It took over two hours on the crown a couple weeks ago so we never went back to the main dining room choosing to eat at other venues instead, Basically because it was such a port in tensive itinerary, we did not have the energy to sit through a big dinner  every night.  

 

[suekel]

31 minutes ago, sterling2 said:

I don’t understand why reservations are allowed for anytime dining.  Don’t accept reservations and keep traditional diners out of anytime dining.

Exactly.   

[jlp20]

42 minutes ago, sterling2 said:

I don’t understand why reservations are allowed for anytime dining.  Don’t accept reservations and keep traditional diners out of anytime dining.

You have always had the ability to make a daily reservation at AT. Princess is doing this to accommodate pax who may have plans. Since all pax have this ability, it's fair to everyone. 

[lhsail]

Have to count us among the lucky ones, we rarely have a long wait and usually ask for a table for two. We've cruised with Celebrity twice in the last year plus and didn't feel it worked any better. HOWEVER, we tend to eat 8:00 or later. We originally started dong AT so we could eat before 8:15, now it seems we eat later and the new late traditional would not work. 

[OCruisers]

Agree with those saying ... "Don't allow people with TD to have dinner in AT whenever they wish".  

So not fair to those with AT!  

[riclop]

6 hours ago, Gracie115 said:

AND now that they have decided to change early dining to 4:30 & 4:45 it's only going to get a lot worse!!! Who eats dinner at 4:30 on a cruise???????

Yes it's a bit early.

[firecrewcapt]

We always have ATD on all our cruises and have never waited and after the first/second night we show up at the same time and walk right in to the two top we got the first/second night and have dinner, usually after 1930 hrs. Let me point one more thing out...……...I believe everyone on this thread got to sit down and eat, isn't that the desired conclusion? Just saying.

[mdwcruises]

Wait a minute, Princess allows fixed time dining pax to switch to anytime?  Is that really true?  If that's really the case how stupid can they get?!?!  No wonder it doesn't work.  

[voljeep]

4 minutes ago, mdwcruises said:

Wait a minute, Princess allows fixed time dining pax to switch to anytime?  Is that really true?  If that's really the case how stupid can they get?!?!  No wonder it doesn't work.  

Exactly - book a TD at 7:15 - 2 top ... then the nights it doesn't work, just show up for Anytime Dining when it fits

[Hlitner]

We have been doing Anytime ever since it existed.  For us it is not a problem since we tend to dine late (seldom before 7:45).  After reading of the problem on the Royal I am sure glad we enjoy dining later. By the way, I assume on the Royal it is similar to what we have experienced on the Regal (and Grand Class).   Around 7:30 or 7:45 they open a 2nd restaurant (usually the one on deck 6) for Anytime.  On most cruises this is used for early traditional but later opened for all.  We have seen many times where there will be a long queue on deck 5 for Anytime, but the restaurant on 6 has no queue and is open for Anytime.  Our personal norm is to dine in the Deck 6 restaurant soon after it opens for Anytime dining.

 

Hank

[Cruise Raider]

21 hours ago, jlp20 said:

You have always had the ability to make a daily reservation at AT. Princess is doing this to accommodate pax who may have plans. Since all pax have this ability, it's fair to everyone. 

As of last month on the Grand, reservations were not possible.  We asked and were told NO.  And because they changed the traditional dining times for those assigned, those passengers also went to the Anytime Dining and were not turned away, making the lines for AT dining even longer.  

I know some like to eat at 6 PM and some at 7 PM, yet others prefer 8 PM.  We would have loved to eat at 6 PM, but that wasn't ever possible as we couldn't make a reservation so would have to show up at 5 PM, which is way too early for us.  If we went at 7 PM, we missed the show and my DH can't eat as late as 8 PM. This used to work in the past but they've created chaos and it is no longer a pleasure to dine in the MDR on a cruise, at least, not on a Princess cruise.  

[paul929207]

It was a while ago, but when we were on the Grand, we called most mornings for a reservation and had no problems.

[pink845]

We always like to dine early.  So, we always book our cruises a good year or so out.  That way Traditional Early Dining is always available.  When it comes to  cruises, where there will be a lot of late departures from ports (we like to say good bye to each port), then we will look at the itinerary closely, and usually book Traditional Late Seating (8 or 8:30) and then jump over to anytime dining around 7:30 pm should we wish to eat a little earlier, in the case that it is raining or inclement weather.   Always book table for two and always get a table for two as well.   Have always had luck in this regard.  

[satxdiver]

It is my understanding that reserving a table in ATD is at the discretion of the maitre'd.  I know in the past when we did ATD, we were told the earliest to reserve a table in ATD MDR was 7:30 pm.  We also have been told no reservations.  

 

We were on several South American cruises with natives from that part of the world.  We found out they eat late like after 8:00 PM.  The usual lines to get in the ATD MDR earlier like 5:00 PM did not exist but the lines at 8:30 PM were long.  

[suekel]

18 minutes ago, pink845 said:

We always like to dine early.  So, we always book our cruises a good year or so out.  That way Traditional Early Dining is always available.  When it comes to  cruises, where there will be a lot of late departures from ports (we like to say good bye to each port), then we will look at the itinerary closely, and usually book Traditional Late Seating (8 or 8:30) and then jump over to anytime dining around 7:30 pm should we wish to eat a little earlier, in the case that it is raining or inclement weather.   Always book table for two and always get a table for two as well.   Have always had luck in this regard.  

I don't want to be rude but that's one reason why it doesn't work.  If you sign up for a table and don't use it, you're taking a table away from someone else who doesn't have one reserved.  

[jagsfan]

If traditional diners are allowed in Anytime, the reverse should be allowed. How would these traditional diners feel if they go to their assigned table and Anytime diners have “jumped over” and are sitting in their seats? Maybe they would meekly go to Horizon Court, but I don’t think so. 

[WarEagle76]

The Princess description of ATD states “Just like a restaurant at home, Anytime Dining enables guests the freedom to dine when and with whom they wish, at any time between 5:30 PM and 10 PM.”  So the fact that at the end of the day one gets to eat isn’t the issue when their marketing material sets an expectation that it should be when one chooses to dine during that time period. 

[Cindy]

I agree with others...people with Traditional Dining should not be permitted to take a table in an Anytime dining space. It's very unfair to the people who chose (or were forced to choose) Anytime. In my opinion, it is selfish for Traditional diners to switch back and forth because it fits their schedule for the day. It increases the wait time in Anytime while reserved tables in Traditional sit empty.

 

Everybody has to be a part of the solution. If you can't make your Traditional seating, you can choose a specialty restaurant or the Horizon Court.