Anytime dinning still available?

[aprilsp88]

Hi,

 

Is anytime dinning still available? Can we walk in without a reservation? Consider the ship is not full, I would think it shouldn't be too difficult to get a seat?

 

Thanks,

April

[Steelers36]

LOL - this is funny.  Why?  There is a lot of discussion that TD is dead or dying and it's all like AT.  Yes, you can be a walk-up and get seated.  There has been zero difficulties reported this Fall since many voyages are operating at lower capacity.  You can use MC App to pre-book a table same-day or earlier.  You can do same thing using cabin TV functionality.  (PS - it is "dining" - I am not sure what I presume are auto-spellers coming up with the double "n" often).

[Sea Hag]

My understanding is that you can show up without a reservation, but you may have to wait a bit. Or not. Probably depends a lot on what time you like your dinner.

[Rick&Jeannie]

 

In reality, AnyTime Dining is basically *all* you do now.  As said above, you can just do a walk-up...you may need to wait a short time.  But given that you can schedule your time with 20 minute slots you (in effect) have AnyTime Dining.

[nocl]

Just got off the Majestic.  With Medallion you can make your reservation for whenever you want.  Same time different times, you can change it at any time as long as the table size and type (private vs shared) is available.  

 

At the start of the cruise most had reservations, but a significant number also just walked up.  By the end almost all were using reservations and very few were just walking up.

 

This cruise was only 42% occupancy so even though one of the dining rooms was being used for ships staff and not available for passengers there did not seem to be much problem with getting the reservations you wanted. even if made the same day.

 

The reservation system and the ease of it makes it a bit different than the old any time system.

[Sox Fan Cruiser]

To me, booking a table through Dine My Way even on the same day is not anytime dinning. I get a pre dinner cocktail and sometimes if the band is good or we meet other guests and are talking, my dinner time is later than I expected. I still do not want a set time. 
 

Right now with the capacity levels it’s not a big deal and true anytime dinning doesn’t really have a wait. But I am very curious what it will look like when ships are full again. It may be a while before we really know. 

[Steelers36]

9 minutes ago, Sox Fan Cruiser said:

To me, booking a table through Dine My Way even on the same day is not anytime dining. I get a pre dinner cocktail and sometimes if the band is good or we meet other guests and are talking, my dinner time is later than I expected. I still do not want a set time. 
 

Right now with the capacity levels it’s not a big deal and true anytime dining doesn’t really have a wait. But I am very curious what it will look like when ships are full again. It may be a while before we really know. 

When the ships are fuller, all three dining rooms will be open.  Should be okay like before - especially if walking up out of prime-time.

[Mike45LC]

I will try to schedule all of my dinners for the same time every night (7:20 sounds good) before I board, to duplicate the Traditional Dining experience.   The only time I have not had Traditional was when they were fully booked for Second Seating and I was forced into Anytime.  A ten minute wait in line to get handed a pager, followed by a long wait to get paged that a table was ready -- not my idea of fun, not my idea of a luxury vacation.  Oh, on Celebrity, Aqua class is kind of like Club Class, because of the Blu Restaurant, so the non-scheduled dinner time was acceptable.

 

I understand that somewhere on the Medallion application we can specify something about our preferred pace of dining, so that the dinner does not take 2 hours, with 20 minutes "wasted" between courses.  That is always frustrating, especially if some of our tablemates order every course.  

 

I do not see this change to "Dine Princess's Way" as being good for me.

 

[Steelers36]

23 minutes ago, Mike45LC said:

I will try to schedule all of my dinners for the same time every night (7:20 sounds good) before I board, to duplicate the Traditional Dining experience.   The only time I have not had Traditional was when they were fully booked for Second Seating and I was forced into Anytime.  A ten minute wait in line to get handed a pager, followed by a long wait to get paged that a table was ready -- not my idea of fun, not my idea of a luxury vacation.  Oh, on Celebrity, Aqua class is kind of like Club Class, because of the Blu Restaurant, so the non-scheduled dinner time was acceptable.

 

I understand that somewhere on the Medallion application we can specify something about our preferred pace of dining, so that the dinner does not take 2 hours, with 20 minutes "wasted" between courses.  That is always frustrating, especially if some of our tablemates order every course.  

 

I do not see this change to "Dine Princess's Way" as being good for me.

 

I would suggest letting your waiters know about your preferred dining pace.  I seriously doubt they are checking the App.

[Cuedon]

Based on Grand with approximately 1600 (~55%) occupancy, 2 MDR open:

 

Walk-in shared table is easy most of the time. Walk-in private table is pretty much impossible before 8PM.

 

Reservations for shared table are always available. Reservation for private table day-of is difficult (rarely available before 7:40); earliest reservation for a private table, as far as 5 days out, was 6:40.

 

If you let them know you're on a tight schedule, dining can get almost absurdly fast-- three-course meal, plus drinks, in 17 minutes once. (I was aiming for <30min.)

[nocl]

2 minutes ago, Cuedon said:

Based on Grand with approximately 1600 (~55%) occupancy, 2 MDR open:

 

Walk-in shared table is easy most of the time. Walk-in private table is pretty much impossible before 8PM.

 

Reservations for shared table are always available. Reservation for private table day-of is difficult (rarely available before 7:40); earliest reservation for a private table, as far as 5 days out, was 6:40.

 

If you let them know you're on a tight schedule, dining can get almost absurdly fast-- three-course meal, plus drinks, in 17 minutes once. (I was aiming for <30min.)

On Majestic with 42% capacity and 2 MDR open I got 5 pm (we like getting done early and catching the early show before going to other entertainment). private table for two with no problem. Booked most nights prior to cruise, but did cancel on specialty restaurant and waited until the day before to reserve MDR got the same table without any problem.

[Steelers36]

43 minutes ago, nocl said:

On Majestic with 42% capacity and 2 MDR open I got 5 pm (we like getting done early and catching the early show before going to other entertainment). private table for two with no problem. Booked most nights prior to cruise, but did cancel on specialty restaurant and waited until the day before to reserve MDR got the same table without any problem.

How did you know in the App you were getting the same table?  Or, did you?  Perhaps at the door, you mentioned the table number?  Just asking because certainly pre-cruise, DMW never indicates a table number - or size for that matter.  

 

Which does lead me to ask how does a guest find out their assigned table number on board?  Is it ever in the App or only revealed at the DR reception?

[nocl]

1 minute ago, Steelers36 said:

How did you know in the App you were getting the same table?  Or, did you?  Perhaps at the door, you mentioned the table number?  Just asking because certainly pre-cruise, DMW never indicates a table number - or size for that matter.  

 

Which does lead me to ask how does a guest find out their assigned table number on board?  Is it ever in the App or only revealed at the DR reception?

Only at the DR reception.   Since we had the same time booked they put us in the same table each night.  On the one night where I needed to make a new reservation I stopped by the Head Waiter on the way out the night before to let them know that I had just made a reservation for the following night and wanted the same table.

[Steelers36]

6 minutes ago, nocl said:

Only at the DR reception.   Since we had the same time booked they put us in the same table each night.  On the one night where I needed to make a new reservation I stopped by the Head Waiter on the way out the night before to let them know that I had just made a reservation for the following night and wanted the same table.

Gotcha.

[leck57]

3 hours ago, Sox Fan Cruiser said:

To me, booking a table through Dine My Way even on the same day is not anytime dinning. I get a pre dinner cocktail and sometimes if the band is good or we meet other guests and are talking, my dinner time is later than I expected. I still do not want a set time. 
 

 

With you all the way there. My idea of a holiday is having dinner is when I am ready, not clock watching about what time we must be ready for dinner.

That's just us, and I know others like to have set times for various reasons.