Anytime vs. Traditional Dining

[leavitt1]

Hello all,

 

My husband and I just booked our first cruise--the Grand Princess departing 1/19. We asked for the late dinner seating in traditional dining, but now I'm worried that this will severely limit our ability to see live shows and MUTS. Can anyone tell me if this is a valid concern? Are the shows repeated at different times during the week? Should we just switch to Anytime Dining? I've been told that the benefits of Traditional Dining are same wait staff, same tablemates, better menu options on certain days. Yet I keep seeing people saying that Anytime Dining is wonderful... Help!

 

BTW, my dh thinks I'm becoming addicted to this site and overly cruise obsessed, but I just love all the great information that all of you provide. Thanks for making this such a great experience.

 

Michelle

[ggprincess2004]

With the late seating, you should be able to see most of the shows. Princess schedules early shows so the late seating passengers can attend, and later shows for the early seating passengers. That being said, they do that with some, but not all of the entertainment. And if the entertainment is very important to you, then I do recommend that you give the anytime dining a try.

My DH and I prefer the anytime dining option. Menus are identical, there is nothing that differs beyond the Baked Alaska parade (I really do not enjoy Baked Alaska anyway, IMHO it is a misuse of both cake and ice cream, but others may really love it). We have found that service at dinner most of the time is still wonderful. In addition, we typically a waiter early in the cruise that we enjoy, and reserve their table each evening thereafter for dinner. You can request a specific table in the anytime dining rooms - and you will usually get it. You can make reservations for a table in anytime dining as well. Usually they will accept reservations for the 5:30 to 6 timeframe, and from 8 or 8:15 or 8:30 on, depending on the ship and the evening. You might not find your "waiter" for the cruise at dinner early on, you might find him or her at breakfast or lunch in the dining room. Just ask them where they are in the evening.

About cruise obsessed, I applaud you for doing the research and homework. Having lots of info before boarding can make the entire experience better and fuller. This board is full of the cruise addicted, and nobody here wants a 12 step program for treatment, so be warned.;) You might be hooked on this board now, you will likely be addicted to cruising and not want to disembark at the end of your first cruise.

Definitely consider purchasing some future cruise credits from the future cruise sales rep on board. This is a legitimate benefit of being aboard, in my opinion. They are fully refundable and you have the ability to reserve your future cruises for a mere $100 per person, using the future cruise credits.

The Grand Princess was our first experience with Princess, and we find this line to offer the kind of experience we want in a vacation, from the itineraries to the design of the ship, to the ambience on board, it just is a fit for us. I hope you will find the same to be true for you, but everyone has different preferences, and different aspects of the cruise that "make the experience" for them. So, if you prefer a livlier or more sedate, or more luxurious experience, there are lots of other lines to choose from. We just happen to love the Princess experience, and hope that you will as well.

 

Hope you have joined the roll call for your cruise.

 

With the Western Caribbean itinerary, which is one of our favorites for a warm weather week long getaway, our favorite things to do are swim with the stingrays in Grand Cayman, getting there on either the Cockatoo or Allura catamarans. We also are fanatics about the Royal Dolphin Swim in Chankanaab on Cozumel. You can check some of my previous posts for commentary on each of these excursions. We've done each of them numerous times. However, if you haven't been to Cozumel before and seen the Mayan ruins on the Yucatan, that is also something you might want to do. We did that long ago, and have seen lots of the ruins, which we find to be quite interesting.

 

Whatever you do, have a fantastic first cruise - bon voyage!:) :)

[-Lew-]

IMHO traditional dining does in fact limit your enjoyment in so many ways. Late seating will overlap certain entertainment. With anytime dining you can plan your dining to take advantage of more entertainment options.

 

You will have the same menu options with anytime dining...it's the same menu. If you like your waiter, you can request him or even make a reservation for a specific time and table in the dining room.

 

There have been many, many posts about traditional and anytime dining. You would be best served by doing a search or just paging through the posts to fine more information.

 

Lew

[leavitt1]

Thank you both for your quick response. I'm going to speak to DH about it, but I think that we are going to choose to switch to Anytime dining. I've never had baked alaska, but I don't feel particularly compelled to do so.

 

Michelle

[Desert Cruizers]

I believe one of the most wonderful things about cruising, is that it offers you many choices to suit your personal needs and likes. Many enjoy Traditional, others anytime dining, it really comes down to your personal preferance. Speaking for ourselves, we prefer to eat early, get to the shows by 8 then it is not to late to enjoy the Piano in the Atrium on Princess, one word sums it up, ( Reliable ) RCCL fan also.

[negc]

When we have had traditional dining we never found it to interfere with our ability to see the shows. The shows are pretty much scheduled around the traditional dining schedule. If you choose anytime dining, you can hope that you will be able to get a table for a time that will allow you to see the shows that you want, but if you choose to dine at certain hours of the evening, they won't allow you to make reservations, and should you walk up and expect to be seated immediately, you might up with a beeper and a wait for your table.Anytime dining does not guarantee that you will be able to eat when and where you want. Check out the entertainment schedule and see what times you would want to dine. I suspect that you might find you will be replicating traditional dining when you do.:)

The only real complaint that I have heard from traditional diners, is that the people who take anytime dining tend to get to the theater quite early and fill it up so that few seats are left for those in traditional dining.

[spongerob]

We've tried it both ways and prefer the late traditional seating. We have found that having a set dining time doesn't cramp our style in any way. And we've made some great friends. Either way, you aren't making a "wrong" choice. Which choice is better really depends on the individual.

[-Lew-]

Either way, you aren't making a "wrong" choice. Which choice is better really depends on the individual.

Well said...

[sunsetbeachgal]

We always do Personal Choice, and we also enjoy finishing dinner in plenty of time to take a walk and then go to the show. The only time we have missed or nearly missed a show is when we opted to sit at a shared table, and had slow service. If you are put at a large shared table, the waiter won't take the order for the table until the table is completely filled. Therefore we usually go on the early side and ask for a table for two, so we can set our own timing, rather than being at the disposal of our tablemates or the waiter.

[CrusinAgain]

Sometimes you are not interested in the main show in the theater but want to see the one time show in the smaller lounge. Having a late dinner you would miss it. I found that my having traditional dining that many nights we ended up at the buffet just because we wanted to see a show and the dining time we had just did not coincide. Many of the Princess cruisers who have a lot of Princess cruises under their belt have seen the theater shows they they don't go unless a new one is finally out. One you seen a show on one Princess cruise it will be on all them for quite awhile - I think someone said at least 3 years.

 

Just get to anytime dining by 6 p.m. and there is no wait and you will make it in time to grab a seat at the show. Some shows in the other lounges start at 9 p.m. and with late dining you would miss it and especially get to the shows 20-30 minutes ahead of time to get a seat.

[Griff4AU]

Different strokes....

 

I won't cruise again without Anytime Dining, or something equivalent. We have enjoyed getting to know different people each night, and have the flexibility of eating when we want depending on our excursion and the entertainment schedule. On nights you know you'll want to eat at the 'popular' time (7:00ish), make a reservation. simple.

 

And yet I have had some say that they hated anytime dining and wouldn't do it ever again. Personally I think's it's a huge benefit on excursion / port intensive itineraries.

[ldoc31]

Since this is your first cruise why don't you try your traditional dining for the first few days and if it isn't working then switch to anytime. It really is a unique part of cruising.

[Another ship trip]

Did first 14 years of cruising with Traditional. We were often rushed to get to dinner after ports and grumpy trying to get three people showered and dressed in time. Have done anytime about 8 cruises now and Much Prefer it. Did a Carnival two years ago and they only have traditional. I only ate in the dining room twice the whole week because Idid NOTwant to eat at the time we were assigned most nights.

ANYTIME DINING MAKES CRUISING WORK ON MY SCHEDULE, NOT THIERS!

[mhugcat]

We have first sitting traditional dining which I believe is at 6pm. Do we have to inform anyone if we are not going to be in the dining room one night as we have say booked for 'Crown Gill' or 'Sabatinin's'.

 

Also what is the latest that you can turn up for first sitting as we may have a late trip booked. Will the other people on our table be waiting for us, before they can have their meal !!

 

 

Thanks

[willysgrandma]

Thank you both for your quick response. I'm going to speak to DH about it, but I think that we are going to choose to switch to Anytime dining. I've never had baked alaska, but I don't feel particularly compelled to do so.

 

Michelle

 

We opt for Anytime Dining and didn't miss the Baked Alaska. To me, all those thing just mean longer time sitting at the table - I'd rather eat and go.

[lynn21]

Different strokes....

 

I won't cruise again without Anytime Dining, or something equivalent. We have enjoyed getting to know different people each night, and have the flexibility of eating when we want depending on our excursion and the entertainment schedule. On nights you know you'll want to eat at the 'popular' time (7:00ish), make a reservation. simple.

 

And yet I have had some say that they hated anytime dining and wouldn't do it ever again. Personally I think's it's a huge benefit on excursion / port intensive itineraries.

 

I agree. We`re just off the Emerald in the Med and we too would have to think very seriously about a cruise with traditional seating only. Anytime dining is wonderful. Sometimes we sat by ourselves but got talking to our neighbours. Other times we were on a table for 8 or 10 and that was just as enjoyable. It doesn`t matter that you don`t have the same wait staff each night -they are all very helpful and will do anything for you. It`s still possible to order a special for the following night. You can book a table but only at certain times. We usually ate between 7.30 and 8.30 and only had a problem once when it was the night of the Captain`s Circle cocktail party and it was 9.15 before we were seated. I would suggest booking on cocktail party nights.

 

To me the greatest benefits were that eating was quicker than on traditional (about one and a half hours instead of over 2 hours) and you had a full choice of entertainment. We never went to a production show but enjoyed the individual acts or piano bars every night.

[Stevesan]

We have first sitting traditional dining which I believe is at 6pm. Do we have to inform anyone if we are not going to be in the dining room one night as we have say booked for 'Crown Gill' or 'Sabatinin's'.

 

Also what is the latest that you can turn up for first sitting as we may have a late trip booked. Will the other people on our table be waiting for us, before they can have their meal !!

 

Thanks

 

You don't have to, but it is the courteous thing to do. Either tell your waiter or a fellow diner in advance so they won't delay service anticipating your arrival.

[Ebonybombshell]

Can someone please explain the whole basked Alaska thing?

 

Thank you.....

[romancing_the_sea]

We, also, love Anytime Dining because we cherish flexibility. And we've met some wonderful people that way, also. We used to schedule our dining around the shows but, over time, we've discovered the shows aren't that big of a draw and we'd rather linger over dinner and/or go to a lounge afterwards or take a romantic stroll on the deck.