Should I switch from traditional to anytime dining?

[Luxuriate]

We have Princess traditional dinner right now. Second seating.

 

My husband and I are pretty "old school" cruisers". We've been cruising together for almost 10 years....long before our little boy was born.

 

We are trying Princess for the first time. We really like meeting new people at dinner. We've been Celebrity cruisers for a long time, so far. We really like having conversations day-in and day-out with our dinner companions.

 

We just don't know what do do now. Our son is turning 4 years-old the first day of our Princess cruise. We don't think he is ready for a full dinner conversation every night BUT we still want to get to know our fellow cruisers.

 

Should be go to "any-time dining" or should we see what happens and stick with "traditional". I am sooooo confused????? What do you suggest for Princess dining?

 

Cheryl

[zacc]

My wife and I just got off the Crown Princess several weeks ago. We had late traditional(which we always have) and one of the couples at our table had a small child. The enrolled him in the youth program. They would feed him before their dinner time so that they were with him when he ate. Then they dropped him at the youth center so they could have a relaxed dinner and share adult conversation. It worked out great for everyone....the boy loved the youth program, the parents enjoyed having some adult time, and the rest of the table appreciated not having a tired unhappy child at the table.

[Toto2Kansas]

Personally, late seating for a 4 year old can really put a strain on dinner and dinner conversation with others he is not used to being around. Unless your son is used to sitting through dinner for 90 minutes to two hours that late into the evening, it could be tough.

Most children of that age we have seen at first seating, but rarely a child of that age at late seating traditional.

Just keep in mind, since you have a child with you, it is possible they would sit you at a smaller table also, which would really put a damper on getting to know your tablemates.

 

Anytime dining you could also ask to be seated with other families bringing small children. That could be a real plus for the little guy to make a friend.

[Colo Cruiser]

I like to be stuck with late traditional now.

 

We had done anytime since its inception but now are back to trad. ;)

[minniemom]

We are waitlisted for early traditional dinning. But are scheduled for late dinning. That is too late for DH. He doesn't sleep well, if he eats too late. And he goes to bed pretty early... So what do you think the chances are for requesting the early seating? First time on Princess, so I am not sure because it is so much bigger than the other ships we have been on, what are chances are??

[Putterdude]

We are waitlisted for early traditional dinning. But are scheduled for late dinning. That is too late for DH. He doesn't sleep well, if he eats too late. And he goes to bed pretty early... So what do you think the chances are for requesting the early seating? First time on Princess, so I am not sure because it is so much bigger than the other ships we have been on, what are chances are??

 

It will depend entirely upon where you are on the list. However that shouldn't preclude you from going to see the matre'd as soon as you get onboard and request a change...sometimes it works. Otherwise maybe you should try AD, we do it and quite like it.

[sunsetbeachgal]

This is a very tricky question...personally we like Anytime Dining, but on our last cruise we experienced very uneven service levels in the Anytime dining-some servers are great and others painfully slow and unattentive.

 

Be aware that you can get a "standing reservation" in the anytime dining rooms should you not be able to switch to earlier traditional seating, and they should be able to help you with this if you are willing to dine early. I'm sure the service levels will be better with the little one if you elect to have the same wait staff throughout.

 

Good luck!

[willysgrandma]

Why don't you try Anytime Dining? If you meet people you enjoy eating with, you can make a standing reservation for dinner with them or if you don't want to go that far, arrange to meet at a set time for dinner each night.

 

We love Anytime DIning because we can eat with different people every night. We make lots of new friends that way. It is also easier on a 4 year old being able to eat earlier.

 

I have never found the service at Anytime to be any worse than at traditional dining.

[DeltaOne]

We really like having conversations day-in and day-out with our dinner companions.

If your child can tolerate eating late, stick with traditional dining (given that you like the day to day dinner conversations). Perhaps a 4 or 5 pm snack will let your son wait to eat late. You can always switch to Anytime if necessary, but once you give up your traditional seating it'll be gone.

[Whimsy]

I would suggest sticking to traditional dining for the first few nights to see how it goes. If it doesn't seem to be working you can then change to anytime dining.

 

Perhaps you will find yourself at a table with other children and parents in the same situation. It seems to me that they know what they are doing when assigning tables to cruisers. You can easily switch from traditional to anytime but difficult to get from anytime to traditional.

[Shelly97060]

Anytime dining works great with kids! We love it because we can look at the activities in the kids club and once we know which activities they really want to participate in, we can figure dinner out around that.

 

Sometimes we all eat together, sometimes they want to eat with the kids club ( they do that a couple of nights), sometimes they just want the buffet and we sit with them while they eat and then drop them off at kids club and go have adult time.

 

We love the flexibility ( which is important with kids). Which ever way you go, have a wonderful vacation.:)

[yaletown605]

Just because you are have Anytime Dining, it does not mean you are stcuked by yourself. During our two cruises on Princess, we met nice people during daytime activities or tours. We get along with time so well, we ended up having dinner with them for several nights. Anytime dining gives that flexibilty. We still end up meeting lots of people but on our own terms. we found people we liked instead of being assigned.

[chasetf]

My personal feeling is late traditional is way to late for a 4 yr old to wait to eat and too late for them to be up. All the children we raised, plus grandkids..... they never would make it that long and that late.

 

But only you know your 4 yr old. ;) None of us do. But you do seem concerned enough that you would not subject a tired sleepy 4 yr old on your tablemates and the rest of the dining room

[jwave]

I vote with the person who said use the children's program. We did that on our Alaskan cruise when our daughter was 3 1/2. She LOVED it, esp. in the evening. They play, show a movie, and relax with the kids. You get an adult dinner, she did not have to. She did join us two nights (we were early seating though) for dinner, so she could she what it was like and because the waiters spoiled her so, but 2 hours was a lot to expect for her patience level. And one night we did not go to the dining room but instead had dinner in the buffet with her and then went swimming.

[Cruisin' Chick]

My wife and I just got off the Crown Princess several weeks ago. We had late traditional(which we always have) and one of the couples at our table had a small child. The enrolled him in the youth program. They would feed him before their dinner time so that they were with him when he ate. Then they dropped him at the youth center so they could have a relaxed dinner and share adult conversation. It worked out great for everyone....the boy loved the youth program, the parents enjoyed having some adult time, and the rest of the table appreciated not having a tired unhappy child at the table.

 

We have always gotten late traditional, even after becoming parents. When little, we kept our girl busy (crayons worked nicely) and then she would join in whenever the waiters did their little parades. She was five by the time we started going on Princess and late traditional still worked as she tended to be a night owl anyway.

 

The last two cruises she decided she wanted to go to the fun zone as soon as it opened in the evening, so we would get her a hot dog or pizza outside or take her to the Horizon court, drop her off at 7pm and then get ready for dinner. The only time she needed to go to the dining room was on the first night when there's not any kids' activities.