Anytime or Traditional Dining

[desertskies]

DH and I are cruising in FEB on the Caribbean Princess and was wondering about anytime dining. My TA book us for second seating dining which I am assuming is the traditional dining. I have read and am not sure but if you have traditional dining you can not move to anytime dining unless you get it changed by the maitre'd. Is this correct? So you can't go to traditional dining one night and decide to go to anytime the next without getting you dining assignment changed?

 

Which do you prefer? DH liked the traditional dining so he could dine with the same people all week. It doesn't matter to me personally.

 

Thanks in advance for the advise.

[lois1112]

I personally love traditional dinning. You get to know your tablemates and I always look foward to talking to them at dinner. If I am doing something different one night I go to a specialty resturant or the buffet. I find most people make reservations for the anytime dinning, so it really isn't any different!

[Druke I]

My wife & I prefer 1st seating, Traditional, and aske for a round table for 6, which facilitates conversations.

 

We eat early at home, and 1st fits our patterns (we are not night people).

 

Isn't it wonderful we have so many choices?

[TheParrotHeads]

DH and I are cruising in FEB on the Caribbean Princess and was wondering about anytime dining. My TA book us for second seating dining which I am assuming is the traditional dining. I have read and am not sure but if you have traditional dining you can not move to anytime dining unless you get it changed by the maitre'd. Is this correct? So you can't go to traditional dining one night and decide to go to anytime the next without getting you dining assignment changed?

 

Which do you prefer? DH liked the traditional dining so he could dine with the same people all week. It doesn't matter to me personally.

 

Thanks in advance for the advise.

We, on the other hand, prefer Anytime Dining. As soon as you board you can make a standing reservation for every night. You can even request the same table and server. We like it because 6:30 is often too early for our schedule and 8:30 is too late. Therefore we opt for a nice private table for 2 at 7:30. We never had bad service, poor quality food, or felt rushed when we did Anytime. It gives you the opportunity to dine alone one evening and the following night request a large table, very similar to Traditional seating. DRUKE I is right, it is nice to have so many choices. :)

[madelinerose]

Did your TA just book second, traditional without your input? I would think your TA would have asked your preference and explained traditional vs. anytime to you.

 

We've chosen anytime for our first Princess cruise in September. I'm 99% sure we won't be making reservations for the anytime diningrooms, only for the specialty restaurants. I think we will enjoy the spontaneity of dining when we're ready to dine, rather than dining when we're scheduled to.

 

Hope you make the "right" decision. Enjoy your cruise. ;)

 

DH and I are cruising in FEB on the Caribbean Princess and was wondering about anytime dining. My TA book us for second seating dining which I am assuming is the traditional dining. I have read and am not sure but if you have traditional dining you can not move to anytime dining unless you get it changed by the maitre'd. Is this correct? So you can't go to traditional dining one night and decide to go to anytime the next without getting you dining assignment changed?

 

Which do you prefer? DH liked the traditional dining so he could dine with the same people all week. It doesn't matter to me personally.

 

Thanks in advance for the advise.

[sharpie13]

I have to admit I was skeptical of Anytime Dining at first but with the encouragement of our TA we tried it and really grew to like it. Here are some simple guidelines we found out.

 

First of all, even if you are booked as traditional dining they will let you use the Anytime Dining on a space available basis. Second, there are some easy rules to make Anytime Dining an absolute pleasure:

• Plan ahead--they will let you book a day ahead so if you know your plans for the next day set up your reservations as soon as possible
  
• Can't get a reservation or just forgot? --No problem! Princess only books half of each Anytime Dinning restaurant, the remainder is first come, first serve.
  
• If you are CC Platinum or Diamond, this will help in getting the reservation you wan too.
  
• If you can't get the restaurant you want, don't sweat it. Remember that each of the Anytime Dining restaurants serves the same menu of the day. the only exceptions that each restaurant serves a different special, but they serve that same special each and every night of the cruise

Last Summer on the Diamond we had Anytime Dining and the first two nights we made reservations. After we learned some of the tricks we just showed up and took whatever restaurant was available. We only waited twice for a table, once for 5 minutes the other time for 15.

 

For Alaska with the late port times and midnight sun Anytime Dining was great.

[bishop35]

We prefer late seating, traditional dining. We like to stay up late so after we eat we catch a late show before we call it a night. Early seating would be too rushed for us. We like to spend as much time as possible in port. We don't want to have to hurry back to the ship and get ready fast to make the early seating. We do want the traditional because we like having the same table mates every night, and the same waiters. Having the late seating gives us plenty of time to get ready and then get pictures taken before we get too bloated.:eek: Just my personal opinion.

[FLACRUISER99]

We Love anytime. What can be better then to dine when you want???:confused:

[cynbar]

I have to admit I was skeptical of Anytime Dining at first but with the encouragement of our TA we tried it and really grew to like it. Here are some simple guidelines we found out.

 

First of all, even if you are booked as traditional dining they will let you use the Anytime Dining on a space available basis. Second, there are some easy rules to make Anytime Dining an absolute pleasure:

• Plan ahead--they will let you book a day ahead so if you know your plans for the next day set up your reservations as soon as possible
  
• Can't get a reservation or just forgot? --No problem! Princess only books half of each Anytime Dinning restaurant, the remainder is first come, first serve.
  
• If you are CC Platinum or Diamond, this will help in getting the reservation you wan too.
  
• If you can't get the restaurant you want, don't sweat it. Remember that each of the Anytime Dining restaurants serves the same menu of the day. the only exceptions that each restaurant serves a different special, but they serve that same special each and every night of the cruise

Last Summer on the Diamond we had Anytime Dining and the first two nights we made reservations. After we learned some of the tricks we just showed up and took whatever restaurant was available. We only waited twice for a table, once for 5 minutes the other time for 15.

 

For Alaska with the late port times and midnight sun Anytime Dining was great.

Not everyone who has traditional dining can go to the anytime DRs--- many posters here have reported that cruise cards were being checked at the door, with traditional diners being turned away. Also, it really doesn;t seem fair to the people who sign up for anytime dining to have their wait times extended because traditional diners are taking up spots (I know the above poster says "on a space available basis" but I'm not sure how anyone can predict when a line will form). However, you can switch to anytime once on the ship -- you just can't go back and forth. Personally, my family loved the flexibility of anytime dining, we never make reservations and we have never waited more than 5-10 minutes for a table. Also, only the Diamond and the Sapphire have specials which are not on the regular nightly menu -- you won't find that on the CB. Have a great cruise, whichever you pick!!

[chasetf]

DH and I are cruising in FEB on the Caribbean Princess and was wondering about anytime dining. My TA book us for second seating dining which I am assuming is the traditional dining. I have read and am not sure but if you have traditional dining you can not move to anytime dining unless you get it changed by the maitre'd. Is this correct? So you can't go to traditional dining one night and decide to go to anytime the next without getting you dining assignment changed?

 

Which do you prefer? DH liked the traditional dining so he could dine with the same people all week. It doesn't matter to me personally. Thanks in advance for the advise.

We like late traditional because we enjoy walking into the dining room and have the staff recognize us and know what we like and want. We also enjoy meeting new people and sharing experiences. What have met folks from all over the world.

 

Our routine is to be up on deck during sailaway. We like having a drink as we depart a port (now down getting ready for dinner). We also like being able to linger and dinner and enjoy our coffee and extended conversation with our table mates before heading to the late show.

 

As far as switching around, I hope they do not allow it. It is not fair to the anytimer's having their dining room(s) crowded because someone wanted to go with a different time. So... I hope they check cards...;)

[cruzbabe]

We love Anytime dining because I can plan my day and evening however I want and am not bound to be at the dining room at a certain time if my excursion is running longer or if I have somthing better to do.

[Stevesan]

DH and I are cruising in FEB on the Caribbean Princess and was wondering about anytime dining. My TA book us for second seating dining which I am assuming is the traditional dining. I have read and am not sure but if you have traditional dining you can not move to anytime dining unless you get it changed by the maitre'd. Is this correct? So you can't go to traditional dining one night and decide to go to anytime the next without getting you dining assignment changed?

 

Which do you prefer? DH liked the traditional dining so he could dine with the same people all week. It doesn't matter to me personally.

 

Thanks in advance for the advise.

 

Try traditional the first night or two. If you don't like it, see the Maitre d' to switch to Anytime. If you switch, however, you can't go back to traditional.

[sunshine3360]

We are on a Crown Princess cruise in Jan. and we asked for early dining. We are 66 on the wait list. So some people do prefer the main seating.We were surprised by the wait list. We enjoy the celebrations they have on the seatings and having the same service staff. If we are going to run late we'll just make a reservation at a specialty restuarant.

[SailAways]

We are on a Crown Princess cruise in Jan. and we asked for early dining. We are 66 on the wait list. So some people do prefer the main seating.We were surprised by the wait list. We enjoy the celebrations they have on the seatings and having the same service staff. If we are going to run late we'll just make a reservation at a specialty restuarant.

 

I'm new to Princess. We have elected Anytime dining for our Sun trip next Spring.

 

We have previously done Freestyle Dining with NCL, which suited us fine.

 

What do you mean by 66 on the wait list? I'm sorry if this is a naive question, but it sounds like a long wait list to me.

 

Thanks for your help.

[sunshine3360]

I thought it was long too, but on another thread I saw people at 300-400 waiting to get on. I'm so surprised by the wait list length. I thought every one was loving the optinal dining. Either I' m wrong , or people are sighing up "just in case".