Dining Times

[jkeivel11]

I tried searching, but no luck. Has anyone else noticed that Carnival is going to transition to a two sitting dinner instead of four? Has anyone's cruise already gone to this?

 

http://www.carnival.com/CMS/FAQs/Dining_Room_Assigned_Seating.aspx

 

I wonder why they're doing this and if it will cause seating issues? This will be my first cruise as an adult, so I'm just trying to anticipate things.

 

Jen

[*Mach*]

I tried searching, but no luck. Has anyone else noticed that Carnival is going to transition to a two sitting dinner instead of four? Has anyone's cruise already gone to this?

 

http://www.carnival.com/CMS/FAQs/Dining_Room_Assigned_Seating.aspx

 

I wonder why they're doing this and if it will cause seating issues? This will be my first cruise as an adult, so I'm just trying to anticipate things.

 

Jen

 

 

Yep... 6 PM and 8 PM. Some of the staff that have worked it report some slow downs... I'm sure that once they get used to the new flow things will work just fine...

Folks were complaining about the 5:45 seating being too early and the 8:30 being too late...

[elon mom]

I heard that they should all be on this schedule by June 1st. I am also interested to see how it effects service. That's a lot of mouths to feed at one time!!!

[golf43]

I can remember cruising back in the 1980's aboard another cruise line. They only had 2 times for dinner. It worked out fine. When we started cruising with Carnival a few years ago I was amazed at the different dinner times. I always wondered how did they do it. Since they are going to change it to the 2 times I think it will work out ok.

[pe4all]

Just returned from the Freedom 4/19 sailing. We had the 6 p.m. dining time in the Posh dining room. As we had sailed the same ship in December, we had a point of reference with the dining changes. (had Posh 5:45 in Dec.) There was a definite slowing down of service this cruise. Many people were complaining. We usually take around 1 hour to 1 hour 10 min. to dine on Carnival. (we are "fast" eaters - like to get to our next activities) Each dining room service this cruise lasted 1 hr 30 min to 1 hour 45 minutes. The wait staff was frazzled, and very upset, cause they were getting the flack from the guests. Our waiter (Mitchell) said that the kitchen was all backed up from the double amount of orders coming in at the same time. I'm sure this will get better. This was pretty much the only problem we had on our cruise. (except for the amount of smoke in the piano bar)

[cathyz]

Just returned from the Freedom 4/19 sailing. We had the 6 p.m. dining time in the Posh dining room. As we had sailed the same ship in December, we had a point of reference with the dining changes. (had Posh 5:45 in Dec.) There was a definite slowing down of service this cruise. Many people were complaining. We usually take around 1 hour to 1 hour 10 min. to dine on Carnival. (we are "fast" eaters - like to get to our next activities) Each dining room service this cruise lasted 1 hr 30 min to 1 hour 45 minutes. The wait staff was frazzled, and very upset, cause they were getting the flack from the guests. Our waiter (Mitchell) said that the kitchen was all backed up from the double amount of orders coming in at the same time. I'm sure this will get better. This was pretty much the only problem we had on our cruise. (except for the amount of smoke in the piano bar)

I see your next 2 cruises are on Spirit class ships, they have always had only 2 dining times since they have only 1 dining room, so you shouldn't have any problems!

[pe4all]

I am a bit worried about going from the "larger" ships to the "smaller" ships. I was shocked to see only 1 dining room. I hope the ship is not "too small" - but have heard absolutely wonderful things about the Miracle (and Legend), and can't wait to try them. As for the dining "problem" on Freedom - food was pretty good, we were with BIL and his kids, so we managed. The kids were late for the Camp Carnival activities they wanted to get to each night due to the slow service, but we got to see all the dining room entertainment, which the kids (and us) enjoyed!

[cathyz]

I am a bit worried about going from the "larger" ships to the "smaller" ships. I was shocked to see only 1 dining room. I hope the ship is not "too small" - but have heard absolutely wonderful things about the Miracle (and Legend), and can't wait to try them. As for the dining "problem" on Freedom - food was pretty good, we were with BIL and his kids, so we managed. The kids were late for the Camp Carnival activities they wanted to get to each night due to the slow service, but we got to see all the dining room entertainment, which the kids (and us) enjoyed!

The Spirit class ships are by no means small and the layout is great, there are never crowds or bottlenecks or lines which I've heard about on some of the bigger ships with lots more folks. I'm sure you'll have a great time, the Spirit class ships are great!