Question about Anytime Dining ...

[FM]

Onboard Princess Cruises, is there really a reason for one to choose Anytime Dining if you are dining with the same group of people around the same time each evening?  It's not like you have the ability to dine in a different themed restaurant like those aboard Celebrity Edge as part of your main dining or the rotational dining that occurs on Disney Cruise lines.  If a couple was on Anytime Dining would they have to request a table for two each and every time … or if you were a party of three or four, would your group be placed at a larger table (that seats eight for example) with other groups?  Just curious as to how AD works aboard Princess.  Thanks. 

[AbbyGirl]

Personally, we love AD. I haven't done traditional dining in a long time. I like the freedom to go early or late when ever we like. We have done it with a party of two and a party of three. We prefer that once we find a dining staff that we like, we ask to be seated in their area each night. If you want to sit together as a group you can, you can also opt to sit with others if you'd like as well. To me they are flexible, as long as you don't go at a peak dining time. 

 

[Cruise Raider]

They used to do a pretty good job with the Anytime Dining on Princess ... but since they moved up their traditional dining times, not all that many people seem happy and just decide to use the Anytime Dining rooms even though they are assigned to traditional.  Since Princess caught wind of this, they are (inconsistently) telling the traditional diners that show up in the anytime dining room lines, that they have to wait until until after 7:30.  What happens now is that it is nearly impossible to get a table anytime around 6:15 anymore ... anywhere on the ship.  

If you would request a table for two, you may get in after a short wait ... maybe!  If you are willing to share a table with a larger group, your wait won't be as long.  If you are a larger group, it may be harder to just walk right up and be seated.  I don't always mind sharing a table but have some allergies to strong perfumes / colognes so, it's not always possible to know what is going to put me into an asthmatic attack until the scent hits me.  To prevent having to be reseated, we usually just request a table for two.  

You always have the option of requesting your own table for a couple or for your group.  Gone are the days where they will hold a table with your favorite wait team if you want to eat at during their rush hour each night....between 6 and 7, though.    

 

[Mike45LC]

I am not a fan of Anytime Dining.  I like to have a set time, a set table, and the same staff every evening.  But I have to admit that after the first few days, the experience was not as terrible as I had feared.  

 

On our last cruise, we were "wait listed" for the Late Seating but we never got placed into the Late Seating.  I started unhappy, and the long lines and disorganization made it worse.  The first night, the Maitre D' sent us upstairs to a sitting area to wait, and we were then sent back downstairs when a table was ready  -- because of a bad knee, that extra two flights was not a good idea, and the next night, I refused to go to their "get the people waiting out of sight so others won't realize how backed up we are" waiting area.  Once, they did offer us a drink while waiting, which was nice of them.  I would estimate that the longest wait was about 45 minutes, which is not acceptable -- that night, we skipped the MDR and went to Alfredo's.

 

We did get seated at a table for two every night, at our request.  Once, they seated us in the Traditional Dining area, probably at a table whose usual occupants were doing a Specialty Dining that night. 

 

[jeromep]

Anytime Dining is just like visiting a restaurant, if they are busy you will get waitlisted, if they are not you'll be seated.  The number of people in your party will have an impact on how easily and quickly they will seat you, just like on land.  While a normal restaurant will generally not even try to seat your party with another party at a large table, unless they have one of those communal table things which is all the rage now, it is possibly that they will offer your party a shared table if you want.  If you don't, then you will be waitlisted.

 

The consensus I see here is that the change in the seating times for Traditional Dining is negatively impacting the popularity and management of Anytime Dining, and I'd have to agree.  Lots of Trad. Dining stalwarts can't or won't do it anymore and are begrudgingly opting for Anytime Dining, which is putting pressure on the Anytime Dining venues to handle the extra load.  And it also seems to be extending the high demand time for Anytime Dining from 6 to 7:30 to begin earlier, like 5:30 and going all the way till 8 on some nights.

 

I've been predicting the death of Trad. Dining for some time now, like 10+ years, but Princess keeps it kicking in spite of their scheduling changes and the outcomes thereof.  When I look at how the dining rooms are scheduled, the dining room dedicated to scheduled seating is where the inefficiency of the system appears.  If Trad. Dining were folded up and all the dining rooms were open seating, there would be less pressure on the Anytime venues, and people would be seated as soon as a table was freed up and during high demand times all tables available on the ship would be occupied.  If you poke your head into a Trad. dining room on any given night you'll see a bunch of tables that are unused waiting for their occupants, who may never show up.

 

I think Club Class dining also puts pressure on the quantity of available tables, since it is a section of a dining room roped off for Club Class cabin occupants.  Those tables suffer from the same availability and demand issue as Traditional Dining does.

[Mike45LC]

Jero, I agree that the change in Traditional Dining times has messed things up.  I was surprised when we were unable to sign up for Second Seating and were wait listed, because it used to be that they could always fit another couple into the Late Seating.  So I guess more people are signing up for the "late" seating, which is no longer late.  

[voljeep]

I hope Princess is indeed enforcing that if you sign up for TD,  that you can't get into AT before 7:30pm

[PRINCESS Sweet Pea]

Here is how it went with us for Anytime Dining.   We did the buffet one night, and two of the specialty restaurants.  So we knew we wouldn't have to have a specific seating each night!   Okay, so here is our tip.   When we did show up for Anytime Dining, usually early in the evening,  but not right at opening,  yes, it was hard to get a seat.  Once the tables are filled, you pretty much might have to wait until the first people are done.   BUT, here is the thing.  On the larger ships  (we were on Regal Princess)  they did mention that we could go down to Allegro which is usually set seating,  but was never full.  I guess with the new dining times, too many people did not want to get down there that early?  So anyhow, we headed down there.  There were very few people!  No crowds, no overwhelmed waiters.  It was so nice!   Our server was Dan Lee and he was great.  Since that dining room was not packed, he actually had time to talk with us, offer suggestions, and give really good friendly service.  We mentioned that we would be back and ask for him the next night!  So, for those who are sailing soon on the newer and larger ships, this might be something that would work.

Edited January 28, 2020 by PRINCESS Sweet Pea

[Thrak]

We always chose TD in the past but once they changed the times we went to ATD. The early seating is way too early. The late seating interferes with the evening activities. We loved TD in the past and have met some really great people that we still still see a couple of times a year. With ATD we have done more tables for two and when we do share we don't see the same people repeatedly so don't really get to know anybody. In ways it's unfortunate but we simply don't like the fixed times Princess has chosen for TD.

[Steelers36]

1 hour ago, voljeep said:

I hope Princess is indeed enforcing that if you sign up for TD,  that you can't get into AT before 7:30pm

OR,, if no line and empty seats at tables, shouldn't matter if < 7:30.

[crimmj]

We are soon traveling on the Royal with 10 people and anytime dining. Are there tables that can seat 10? Sounds like this could prove difficult. 

[Cruise Raider]

9 minutes ago, crimmj said:

We are soon traveling on the Royal with 10 people and anytime dining. Are there tables that can seat 10? Sounds like this could prove difficult. 

 

They do have a few tables for 10 but, I've seen them in the traditional dining much more often than in anytime dining.  They may have to wait until two tables nearby one another are available ... which can take a long time.  You may want to speak with the Maitre'd when you board ... that is, if you all want to eat with each other around the same time every night.  In anytime, they won't hold one large or two medium tables near one another for your group if someone else needs them ... unless you go at 5 PM or after 7:45 PM.  

If I were you, I'd decide upon either the early or late traditional dining or go as a group at one of the times suggested above.  

[hllwdcruiser]

23 minutes ago, crimmj said:

We are soon traveling on the Royal with 10 people and anytime dining. Are there tables that can seat 10? Sounds like this could prove difficult. 

Go see the Maitre D on embarkation day, the location and time will be noted in the patter. Last year we sailed with a group of 8 with ATD. Having read previous advice on this site, I met with the Maitre D and he asked us when we wanted to eat, we told him ideally around 7. He was super friendly and assigned us a table in the TD dining room that opened at 7:30 to ATD but told us we could arrive earlier. The first night we all arrived at 7:15 and were immediately seated in a great location with wonderful waiters. It turned out that no-one was seated at our table for TD so the dining staff told us we were welcome to arrive at any time. 

It was like TD and Club Class at the same time!

I'm pretty sure we were accommodated because we were in a large group. This photo was taken on our last evening. Valeria (Waiter) and Clifford (Junior Waiter) - Concerto Dining room (I think) Regal Princess.

Edited January 28, 2020 by hllwdcruiser

[justafem]

We choose any time.  Never know if we're going to be hungry early or late.  Never know if we're going to see an early show or late.  Never know if we're going to skip the dining room all together and go specialty or if we'll hit Alfredo's or the buffet.  Also with the platinum lounge, if there are certain items we want to nosh on, it makes dinner later.

 

We are slow eaters, so sharing a table was hard on the rest of the diners as they had to wait or on us as we had to inhale our food. We choose to wait for a 2 top.   If there's a wait, we grab a drink, which takes about the time we have to wait or go window shopping.  Very casual people, so we're willing to go with the flow.  

 

I don't want to be locked into a dining time. 

 

[Oak City Man]

1 hour ago, justafem said:

We choose any time.  Never know if we're going to be hungry early or late.  Never know if we're going to see an early show or late.  Never know if we're going to skip the dining room all together and go specialty or if we'll hit Alfredo's or the buffet.  Also with the platinum lounge, if there are certain items we want to nosh on, it makes dinner later.

 

We are slow eaters, so sharing a table was hard on the rest of the diners as they had to wait or on us as we had to inhale our food. We choose to wait for a 2 top.   If there's a wait, we grab a drink, which takes about the time we have to wait or go window shopping.  Very casual people, so we're willing to go with the flow.  

 

I don't want to be locked into a dining time. 

 

 

This is what we do as well.  I like the flexibility of ATD.  It sounds like the solution is to go early or late and avoid the 6-7 time frame.  Or just hit Alfredos or Crown Grill, which is our go to on at least one formal night.  No dressing up for us.

 

As for slow eaters you would have to eat like a sloth to hold up the table on our last cruise on Regal.  The service was quite slow.  Dinner took at least 90 minutes.  One night it was 2 hours.

[Times Prince]

4 hours ago, Cruise Raider said:

They used to do a pretty good job with the Anytime Dining on Princess ... but since they moved up their traditional dining times, not all that many people seem happy and just decide to use the Anytime Dining rooms even though they are assigned to traditional.  Since Princess caught wind of this, they are (inconsistently) telling the traditional diners that show up in the anytime dining room lines, that they have to wait until until after 7:30.  What happens now is that it is nearly impossible to get a table anytime around 6:15 anymore ... anywhere on the ship. 

 

This is exactly what has happened to us when we CHOOSE Anytime Dining.  Basically there is a large crowd who start their dinner around 5 - 5:30 and that takes all the tables until about 7:30.   Then there is nothing to do but wait - or seek other dining opportunities.
On Royal Princess I recommend Alfredo's and the Horizon Court which has great food.

 

[Baby_Bear]

Quick question...we are booked on the Caribbean princess in May. We usually eat dinner at home between 7:30 to 8:30 (that means we will start eating within that one hour time frame, not how long it takes to eat). Based on the feedback here, we should be ok if we go down at 7:30, right? Or should we plan for 8? We are in a mini suite but dont have Club Class dining. We are 2 of us and prefer the 2-tops. 

 

Alternatively- is it possible to call the dining room in the morning and book a time? IIRC, we did do that on Royal Princess, but that was in 2017 and in Europe, so not sure if we can do that here. 

[caribill]

2 hours ago, Baby_Bear said:

Quick question...we are booked on the Caribbean princess in May. We usually eat dinner at home between 7:30 to 8:30 (that means we will start eating within that one hour time frame, not how long it takes to eat). Based on the feedback here, we should be ok if we go down at 7:30, right? Or should we plan for 8? We are in a mini suite but dont have Club Class dining. We are 2 of us and prefer the 2-tops.   If you like to eat at that time. why not just sign up for late seating and request a table for two. If you board and find you did not get assigned to a table for two, you can ask top be switched (for the rest of the cruise) to Anytime.

 

Alternatively- is it possible to call the dining room in the morning and book a time? IIRC, we did do that on Royal Princess, but that was in 2017 and in Europe, so not sure if we can do that here. Policy for this varies by ship and who is the Maitre d'

 

See above in red

[FM]

Wow.  Did not realize or it just slipped past me that 5 pm is the start time for TD and ATD - that is early!  We love to try new cruise ships so when I learned of the new Sky Princess last August, decided we had to come back and check out how Princess has evolved over the past decade plus since we last cruised with them.  

 

So it was quite interesting to read everyone's dining experiences aboard Princess cruises, especially about ATD and TD.  Certainly wasn't expecting to read about line-ups before 5 pm - lol.  From the look of things, we'll probably stick with our usual 'early or first' seating times even though we are ATD.  It's just going to be a tad weird (for us) though just to stay in one 'regular' dining room for a 10 night voyage without doing some specialty dining - lol.  But with such an early start, the evening entertainment shows aboard Princess must start earlier then - correct?  

 

 

[Cruise Raider]

17 hours ago, Oak City Man said:

 

This is what we do as well.  I like the flexibility of ATD.  It sounds like the solution is to go early or late and avoid the 6-7 time frame.  Or just hit Alfredos or Crown Grill, which is our go to on at least one formal night.  No dressing up for us.

 

 

Alfredos?  Yes!!  The Crown Grill ... we've been hard pressed into getting a 6:00 or 6:30 there, too.  They seem to have gone to only allowing reservations for the same two basic traditional dining times:  5:00 PM or 7:30 PM.  

There was nothing available in between ... even if you were the first one there to make a reservation ... at least not on the ships I've been on.  

 

[JF - retired RRT]

58 minutes ago, FM said:

But with such an early start, the evening entertainment shows aboard Princess must start earlier then - correct?  

 

Not really. Early diners are supposed to go to the late show.

Late diners are supposed to go to the early show.

YMMV

[snowskier]

22 hours ago, voljeep said:

I hope Princess is indeed enforcing that if you sign up for TD,  that you can't get into AT before 7:30pm

 

Just off the Royal and not a chance this happened. Still a significant number of people with TD that waltzed into AT whenever they wanted. Every time we sat at a shared table, at least half the people were proud of the fact that they had TD as a backup if there was a wait for AT.  It wasn't after 7:30 -- 

[Cruise Raider]

20 minutes ago, snowskier said:

 

Just off the Royal and not a chance this happened. Still a significant number of people with TD that waltzed into AT whenever they wanted. Every time we sat at a shared table, at least half the people were proud of the fact that they had TD as a backup if there was a wait for AT.  It wasn't after 7:30 -- 

 

Ugh!!  What if everyone assigned to anytime dining just showed up to the traditional dining area and demanded to be seated.  Princess does a lot of things well ... screwing up the whole dining situation is not one of them! 

[Mike45LC]

10 hours ago, caribill said:

If you like to eat at that time. why not just sign up for late seating and request a table for two. If you board and find you did not get assigned to a table for two, you can ask top be switched (for the rest of the cruise) to Anytime.

Carabill, ever since Princess made Early Seating into a late lunch instead of a dinner, the Second Seating Traditional gets filled up quickly, and they cannot accommodate all of the passengers who request Second Seating.  We got "wait listed", which just meant "no", and we were assigned into Anytime against our will.

 

[Oak City Man]

2 hours ago, Cruise Raider said:

 

Alfredos?  Yes!!  The Crown Grill ... we've been hard pressed into getting a 6:00 or 6:30 there, too.  They seem to have gone to only allowing reservations for the same two basic traditional dining times:  5:00 PM or 7:30 PM.  

There was nothing available in between ... even if you were the first one there to make a reservation ... at least not on the ships I've been on.  

 

 

This is not my experience.  Last September we were on Regal and I walked up and asked for a table at CG without a reservation.  The MD made a show of how busy they were. I said no problem and started to leave.  He stopped me and left.  He came back a few minutes later and seated us at a table for 2.  In fact, the table next to us was empty as well and remained so till the end of our meal.  So maybe they were not so busy after all.

 

This seems to be ship and even time specific.  This was probably the third time I have gotten a table at a specialty restaurant without a reservation.  Once we went to Sabatini's on a formal night around  6-6:30 and the place was half empty.

 

 

Edited January 29, 2020 by Oak City Man
Clarity