Anytime dining?

[Acheavacci]

Is there ever a longer than 15 minute wait with anytime dining?  Can you make reservations for a certain time if you have anytime dining to ensure you will have a table?  It is my understanding that you will get a pager if there is a wait. Is there a bar in the MDR?  if not, Can you go to one of the bars or the casino to wait?  

[Schoifmom]

There is no method of making reservations on Carnival for Your Time Dining.  On the newest ships, you can check in using the HUB app, but that is as close as it gets.

 

Personally, I've never waited for more than 5-10 minutes for a table.  Of course, I hear otherwise from others.  There are two of us and we tend to eat early.

 

If you have a wait and they give you a pager, feel free to roam.  They will let you know how far you can with it.  There are multiple bars on the ship, but none in the MDR.  Which bar would be the best for you would depend on the ship.

[30scruiser]

TBH, we have done anytime dining on a bunch of cruise lines but would probably not do it in Carnival again since you can’t make a reservation. Most nights we had about a 20-30 minute wait for a table for 2 at a variety of different times. One night we said we would eat with others and it was still quite a wait and they sat us with just one other person which was kind of awkward. 

 

The buzzers do work most places on the ship, but not in the Casino, but because they were also bad at estimating the amount of time it was hard to get engaged in another activity. 

 

Otherwise the food and service was great. This was really only of two negatives on our cruise, but will definitely just do late dining next time.

[naxer]

We've never waited for more than 5 minutes or so on those rare occasions we've had to wait on our Conquest class ships.  On those occasions, we just plop down in the atrium (lobby) bar, listen to the music, and get a drink.  We're on the Panorama next February, and know that our way of doing this will be changing.

[Gamecock_Cruiser]

We had it twice, not by choice, but because the Matri'd couldn't get us into a set dining time. We have had to wait no matter when we went, and SERVICE was SLOOWWW, way slower than set dining. I will eat the lido before I do ATD again. 

[Ariel1985]

ATD is our preferred dining option. The longest wait we’ve ever had was the first formal night on the Vista. It was maybe 20 min. Never had a wait any other time, but my husband and I tend to eat later. 

[Butterbean1000]

We never had waited more that 20 minutes and I think that was on elegant nights.  We were even on a cruise where we requested the same serving team every night and didn't have to wait any longer.  We love YTD.  I also want to add that we don't have to wait every time.  There are times they show us immediately to a table.  We generally go between 6:30 and 7.

[teknoge3k]

We always get ATD and never once have we had to wait. Neither when we go as a family (4 top) or my wife and I (2 top), we go straight in and sit down. Also the past few years we are always out of the MDR in under 45 minutes because we tell our wait staff we don't want some long drawn out process. We want to eat and move along. 

[Saint Greg]

Never had to wait for a table...but have had to wait in line to get to request a table. Not a problem on Vista though. Vista has so many more ways to request a table though. 

[imridingdolphins]

5 hours ago, Acheavacci said:

Is there ever a longer than 15 minute wait with anytime dining?  Can you make reservations for a certain time if you have anytime dining to ensure you will have a table?  It is my understanding that you will get a pager if there is a wait. Is there a bar in the MDR?  if not, Can you go to one of the bars or the casino to wait?  

Yes.  We waited just over 1 hour to be seated on one of the dress up nights.  You'll get a pager. 

[TerReuv]

The only time we've had more than a 5-10 minute wait is on formal night. Even then it was less than 30 minutes.   We've learned to eat first then take pictures. 

[ray98]

I don't think we have ever waited more than 10 minutes.  Normally the wait is just however long it takes the line to get to the hostess stand.

[coevan]

4 hours ago, Gamecock_Cruiser said:

We had it twice, not by choice, but because the Matri'd couldn't get us into a set dining time. We have had to wait no matter when we went, and SERVICE was SLOOWWW, way slower than set dining. I will eat the lido before I do ATD again. 

 

 

We never experienced any different service between set time or YTD. Actually our YTD server who we ate with for 2 weeks was excellent and we were in and out in an hour. We eat around 8 and never waited for a table.

[Acheavacci]

Thank everyone for the feedback.  Our family of 4 will be on the Breeze Feb 15, 2020.  It's President's Day week vacation for NYS and others so I am expecting the Ship to be a full capacity.  I am a planner and like to be prepared especially since my son and husband get seriously impatient and hangry 

[Joebucks]

Early and late dining, no wait at all! 10 minutes here and 10 minutes there, you've spent an hour+ of your vacation waiting on tables that could have been avoided. 

[Schoifmom]

9 minutes ago, Joebucks said:

Early and late dining, no wait at all! 10 minutes here and 10 minutes there, you've spent an hour+ of your vacation waiting on tables that could have been avoided. 

 

Funny ... I've seen people lined up waiting to get into fixed dining.  I guess it's all perspective. 😉 

[Joebucks]

7 minutes ago, Schoifmom said:

 

Funny ... I've seen people lined up waiting to get into fixed dining.  I guess it's all perspective. 😉 

 

The only perspective I've seen on that is trying to get in before your scheduled time. I've never once waited.

[fdwt994]

3 hours ago, Acheavacci said:

Thank everyone for the feedback.  Our family of 4 will be on the Breeze Feb 15, 2020.  It's President's Day week vacation for NYS and others so I am expecting the Ship to be a full capacity.  I am a planner and like to be prepared especially since my son and husband get seriously impatient and hangry 

For what it's worth, I'm guessing the ships are pretty much at full capacity year 'round.  No worries, have fun on your cruise!  🙂

[Saint Greg]

Just now, fdwt994 said:

For what it's worth, I'm guessing the ships are pretty much at full capacity year 'round.  No worries, have fun on your cruise!  🙂

 

ehhh..I think there's a difference. Go when school is in session and you have a lot of rooms that are two adults. Go when school is out and a lot of those rooms have two adults plus a kid or two.

[coevan]

2 hours ago, Joebucks said:

Early and late dining, no wait at all! 10 minutes here and 10 minutes there, you've spent an hour+ of your vacation waiting on tables that could have been avoided. 

 

 

unless you want to eat at 6:30, 7, 7:30, or whenever you are hungry

[dmdiver]

The longest we have ever had to wait was 20 minutes on formal night for a party of 6.  We simply ordered a drink from the lobby bar & relaxed on the sofas until the pager went off.  Pretty painless.

[tmackel]

We were on the Magic two weeks ago and never had to wait. We love ATD.

[rukkian]

20 minutes ago, tmackel said:

We were on the Magic two weeks ago and never had to wait. We love ATD.

Good to hear.  We decided on ATD for our party of 9 next year on Magic.  

[blondestickchick]

Since it's inception, we've always selected ATD.  We usually travel with a group of 8-10; this time we have 14 or so and intend to continue with ATD knowing that we won't all be seated together, but hopefully close in proximity.  We usually have to wait in line, and on rare occasion, for 5-10 minutes once we've reached the hostess stand.  However, we are a large group and usually request the same wait team.  We tend to arrive at the same time every night right when the doors open.  We liken it to eating out in our town on a Friday night...we always have to wait for a table, sometimes upwards of 45 minutes.  

[cloudninecat]

Most of the time our wait is under 15 minutes but on our last cruise we did have a couple of times we waited close to an hour. I just think it depends on how many people want to eat at that same time. We did have a larger party on our last cruise so that may have made a difference too.