How to make Anytime Dining work

[terrierjohn]

Just back from Alaska Southbound on the Coral-loved the ship (our new favorite Princess ship) but our only complaint at all which really is very minor, is that the Anytime Dining room really did not operate as smoothly as it should. We always choose Anytime, but it seems of late that they take so many reservations that it is defeating the purpose of "anytime". The Coral had only one Anytime dining room, compared to two on the larger ships which may have contributed to the problem. Those with reservations stood in one line and were seated first-the others like us had a separate line and were seated afterwards at the open tables.

I heartily agree, it seems that far too many people are using anytime dining as a way to choose their own personal traditional dining time. If Princess do read these boards I hope they are taking note of this and hopefully they will reduce the number of reservations they accept. Maybe a good way would be to restrict the number of reservations per cabin/passenger to 1 or 2 per 7 day cruise, in this way passengers could still reserve a specific time for a special occasion or two, without causing problems for the majority of other anytime diners.

[HighLordDave]

I heartily agree, it seems that far too many people are using anytime dining as a way to choose their own personal traditional dining time. If Princess do read these boards I hope they are taking note of this and hopefully they will reduce the number of reservations they accept.

Or maybe that's an indication that customers prefer the traditional seating.

 

We're booked on the Crown in January and were told that we would have to go on the waiting list for the early dinner seating, which I believe is in only one of the dining rooms. It seems to me that if there is that much demand for traditional early/late seating, they should set aside another (or part of another) dining room for people who prefer the fixed dining times.

[EtherlyCC]

I am slightly confused.

If I have requested traditional dining before I cruise, can I change to anytime dining whilst onboard if I wanted to?

 

Can I keep my traditional dining but once or twice do anytime dining?

 

Is the menu the same for dinner in both traditional and anytime dining?

 

I am sailing on Sea Princess, how many anytime dining rooms does it have?

Thanks for any information.

[bhopal21]

I still contend that making reservations defeats the purpose of "anytime" dining! It also causes a problem for those of us who try to use "anytime" the way it is supposed to be used!! Whew....I feel better:)

 

I agree. If I have to wait 10 mins. it is no big deal. I am on vacation and have nothing else to do.:D

 

Mike:)

[bhopal21]

I am slightly confused.

If I have requested traditional dining before I cruise, can I change to anytime dining whilst onboard if I wanted to?

 

Can I keep my traditional dining but once or twice do anytime dining?

 

Is the menu the same for dinner in both traditional and anytime dining?

 

I am sailing on Sea Princess, how many anytime dining rooms does it have?

Thanks for any information.

 

Yes it is easy to change from traditional to anytime; but difficult to do the reverse.

 

No, you should not skip your traditional dining and go to anytime, you should stay with the dining venue that you selected.

 

The menu is the same for both traditional and anytime.

 

I have not been on the Sea Princess, sorry.

 

Mike:)

[crusinpeg]

I am slightly confused.

If I have requested traditional dining before I cruise, can I change to anytime dining whilst onboard if I wanted to?

 

Can I keep my traditional dining but once or twice do anytime dining?

 

Is the menu the same for dinner in both traditional and anytime dining?

 

I am sailing on Sea Princess, how many anytime dining rooms does it have?

Thanks for any information.

 

It is my understanding that once you switch from Traditional to Anytime you CANNOT switch back. It would be very unfair to have Traditional Dining and then try to take up space in Anytime dining

No wonder anytime diners complain about a wait.

Yes the menus are the same,

[Pam in CA]

I am slightly confused.

If I have requested traditional dining before I cruise, can I change to anytime dining whilst onboard if I wanted to? -- NO. It's a one-way switch.

 

Can I keep my traditional dining but once or twice do anytime dining? -- NO. See above; it's not fair to the people doing Anytime dining if you eat in their dining room while your seat remains empty in the Traditional dining room. If you want to eat at a different time, you have several options other than the Anytime dining room. You can choose to eat in one of the specialty restaurants, order the Ultimate Balcony Dinner, order room service or go to the buffet.

 

Is the menu the same for dinner in both traditional and anytime dining? -- Yes, as is the dress code.

 

I am sailing on Sea Princess, how many anytime dining rooms does it have?

The Sea Princess has two dining rooms; one for Anytime, one for Traditional.

[msmoger]

From reading all the many posts debating the merits of Anytime versus Traditional Dining I get the impression that some people feel Anytime works better on some of the larger ships (e.g. Diamond, Sapphire, etc.) than it does on the mid size ships (e.g. Island, Coral, etc.).

 

If this is true, I suppose it has something to do with having more Anytime dining rooms on the larger ships. Is my impression correct?

 

Thanks,

[Sandytoes]

It is my understanding that once you switch from Traditional to Anytime you CANNOT switch back. It would be very unfair to have Traditional Dining and then try to take up space in Anytime dining

No wonder anytime diners complain about a wait.

Yes the menus are the same,

It's not the 'anytime diners' that complain, it's those who do not know how to enjoy the personal choice experience.

 

I have done both Traditional and Anytime and have to say Anytime wins hands down.

 

I also heard that once you switch it is hard to switch back. Why? Maybe someone could answer this.

Could it be, Princess prefers you to stick to your first choice?

:confused:

 

From reading all the many posts debating the merits of Anytime versus Traditional Dining I get the impression that some people feel Anytime works better on some of the larger ships (e.g. Diamond, Sapphire, etc.) than it does on the mid size ships (e.g. Island, Coral, etc.).

 

If this is true, I suppose it has something to do with having more Anytime dining rooms on the larger ships. Is my impression correct?

 

Thanks,

 

When they started Anytime Dining only one dining room was available and two Traditional.

 

Now, as more and more passengers are liking and enjoying this style of dining Princess realized that a change had to be made.

 

So, they now offer two Anytime Dining rooms and only one Traditional.

Other cruise lines notice this and are now following suit.

 

You will see more "open dining" on cruise ships in years to come. I think Traditional is fading out in the sunset, so to speak. ;)

[Pixelator]

we love the flexibility of Princess. before our first cruise last year i was worried a bit about all this like many posters above. it seemed from what i had read then that hardly anyone liked the buffets - but we loved the buffets, understanding that princess has no line through the whole thing (that would make for one very long line!) and that it's just nice to be courteous and considerate of other pax. for anytime dining, we only had a wait one nite - at first formal night, as a previous poster said, right after the captains welcome. so now on our second cruise this august we'll either leave before the end, or make reservations that evening, or maybe eat at the buffet again, or maybe eat later! the flexibility and choices are just great. i believe it is that flexibility for so many people that contributes to princess's making a big ship with 3150+ pax not feel crowded. we enjoyed the variety of eating in our room, by the pool, at a buffet, formal dining room, pizza or beef wellington! cant wait for Aug 15th!

 

Bob

[rickdeni]

We have always had "Anytime Dining" on our Princess Cruises. It is one of the reasons we chose Princess. We usually eat at 7 PM and have never made reservations and have never had to wait unless we wanted a table for 2. If we requested a table for 2 we only waited about 15 minutes. I do prefer to sit with other people and have found "Anytime Dining" is terrific because if I don't like the people I can sit with someone else the next night. Have been on the Diamond, Coral and Sun.

[Go-Bucks!]

I also loved Anytime Dining on my last cruise. My friend and I always sat at a large table with other people and enjoyed meeting them. Only had one sourpuss couple in 7 days of eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner in the dining room - not bad! ;) And the wait staff was good. We often got seated in the same area so we often had the same waiters and they remembered us.

 

I have a question, though, for all you experienced Princess Anytime Diners: when we walked up to the Maitre 'd, he would ask us for our cabin number. We didn't have to show our cruise card, just tell him the cabin number and he wrote it down. Why did they do this? Just curious.

[caribill]

Or maybe that's an indication that customers prefer the traditional seating.

 

We're booked on the Crown in January and were told that we would have to go on the waiting list for the early dinner seating, which I believe is in only one of the dining rooms. It seems to me that if there is that much demand for traditional early/late seating, they should set aside another (or part of another) dining room for people who prefer the fixed dining times.

 

No kidding. We were once number 408 on the waiting list for early traditional dining. At two people to a cabin, that meant 816 people wanted early traditional dining and could not have it.

[Yahtic]

I still contend that making reservations defeats the purpose of "anytime" dining! It also causes a problem for those of us who try to use "anytime" the way it is supposed to be used!! Whew....I feel better:)

 

I fail to follow your logic, the purpose of "anytime" is to allow scheduling of dinner at a time other than the traditional early and late. If one wants some time other than the traditional 6:00 pm and 8:30 pm then "anytime" is the way to go, just because you do not have the foresight to reserve the time you want does not mean that those that do are misusing the system.

 

Our preference is to eat early and "anytime" allows us to eat at 5:30 pm and there is never a wait and we avoid the waitlisting issue for early dining.

[Susie51]

In Mar. 2007 on the Diamond there were 4 dining rooms for anytime and one for traditional. Each Anytime dining room had a theme and a special entree served only in that dining room. DH and I made reservations at different times depending on our activities for the day. We were able to choose the time and the dining room. There are quite a few tables for two.

[happy cruzer]

I too had to figure out how to make Anytime Dining work.

 

What I found was:

 

Ask the Maitre D how his dining room works. I. E. Does he take reservations? What times have waits? etc. He usually will give you good advice.

 

Twice we were adviced that if we came when the dining room opened or after 8:00 we could get any size table without a wait. And they only took reservations for a table for two at those two times. So we really had our choice or early or late dining if we did not want to wait for a table. If we went at 7:00, we waited until the early diners finished their dinner, then we got a table usually around 7:45 at the earliest. I think most of the stories of long waits are folks who want 7 to 7:30 at a certain size table.

 

Also we could request a service team, when we made our reservation for the next night at opening or at 8:00.

 

So my advice is go early or go late, find a service team you like and get seated in their section. If you have any problems, talk to the Maitre D for his advice.

 

You can get it to work and the dining experience is very nice.:)

[terrierjohn]

Or maybe that's an indication that customers prefer the traditional seating.

 

We're booked on the Crown in January and were told that we would have to go on the waiting list for the early dinner seating, which I believe is in only one of the dining rooms. It seems to me that if there is that much demand for traditional early/late seating, they should set aside another (or part of another) dining room for people who prefer the fixed dining times.

Check out this Poll thread that I initiated a couple of months back;

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=757368&page=3

You will note that Anytime had 40% more votes than both Traditional seatings combined, and that first seating was less popular than late seating.

I cannot understand why you are on a waitlist for first seating, maybe there are a lot of first time Princess cruisers on your sailing who don't yet realise how much better PC is; but I would expect that if you see the maitre d' on your first day, he will probably be able to find you a trad. seating.

Although I am not sure what happens on the 3 dining room grand class ships I can confirm that one of the 4 PC dining rooms on Sapphire and Diamond is allocated to Trad early seating and only reverts to pc at about 8:15.

[YellowDog]

Booked my 7/12 southbound cruise 3 weeks out as part of a flash promotion. Got Anytime Dining - didn't seem like I had a choice at that time. The flexibility appeals to me - but having different wait staff every night doesn't. On these boards I get very mixed reviews of Anytime Dining. Since I didn't really have a choice, does anyone have any suggestions on how to make Anytime Dining work well for us? Are there times that are better to show up so that you don't have a wait? Do the Anytime Diners get the worst tables? I haven't cruised in 20 years so I'm basically a first time cruiser in this area.

 

 

We never had a problem, and I have had groups or 2,4, and 6. Never waited more than 15 minutes and that was only once. Best tip...eat early or late. If you go between 6-7 you may have a slight wiat but never more than a typical restaurant on a Friday night. Go around 8 and you will walk right in.

[late seating]

I don't read these boards very often but when I do there always seems to be a new thread about anytime dining. And, there is always two camps:

 

1. Find a table you like; find a waiter you like; find a time you like: dinner companions you like, etc and make a standing reservation every night of the cruise for the same time & table. To do it any other way and leave the above reasons to chance is for suckers (my words).

 

2. All of the above reasons erk the true anytime diners because they go against the grain and purpose of ANYTIME dining. And, the major reason for having to wait for a table is because of the #1's.

 

There is, obviously something good to be said for both camps. Princess has allowed anytime dining to evolve from the original "ANYTIME" concept and are probably not about to step in and make changes. So, in my opinion we need to accept the way anytime dining is now, deal with it and end the debate.

 

By the way, for what it's worth, I am in the #2 camp.

[choochella]

Curiously, for those who do Anytime dining, why reserve for the same time every night at the same table? How is that any different from doing the traditional dining?

 

Ditto. We love anytime dining, and love the flexibility of eating when we want. I don't think people should be permitted to make reservations for the same table, same time every night. If that's the case, do traditional.

 

Now, I agree that sometimes you need a reservation if you have met a bunch of people that you would like to dine with. But, it should only be for one or two nights.

 

If the reservations keep continuing, then the waits will only get longer for the rest of us IMHO.

[Sandytoes]

Ditto. We love anytime dining, and love the flexibility of eating when we want.

 

I don't think people should be permitted to make reservations for the same table, same time every night. If that's the case, do traditional.

Well, for our entire cruise, we have made reservations - same table - same time which worked in our favor.

If we were running late, there wasn't a problem changing the time and our table was still available for us. Table was reserved until we arrived.

 

 

Now, I agree that sometimes you need a reservation if you have met a bunch of people that you would like to dine with. But, it should only be for one or two nights.

 

If the reservations keep continuing, then the wait will only get longer for the rest of us IMHO.

I agree with you about having to wait longer for an Anytime table in the near future.

More and more Traditional diners are making the switch while on board because they see how convenient it is to use.

 

Maybe Princess should set limits to the use -

allowing Traditional diners to use the Anytime dining room once during the cruise or not at all.

[BillyMetz]

One last question, maybe, about Anytime Dinning. I understand that on the formal nights dinners are expected to dress up in the Anytime Dinning rooms as well. Is that correct? And if so, if you don't want to do that you can just go to the buffett or whatever.

[nabby]

One last question, maybe, about Anytime Dinning. I understand that on the formal nights dinners are expected to dress up in the Anytime Dinning rooms as well. Is that correct? And if so, if you don't want to do that you can just go to the buffett or whatever.

 

Yes, you are correct.

[bburns]

Dining early as a strategy to manage any time dining did not work for us.

 

In our recent May cruise, after having problems getting into anytime dining the 1st day, I resorted to reservations. They wouldn't allow us to make reservations until 8am each day and reservations could only be made for that day. I called right at 8am, was put on hold for quite some time, and then once the live person finally answered, was told all tables were taken until 8:15pm. This happened on more than one day.

 

We went to the dining room at 5:30 (when it opened) and were turned away until 8:15pm (even though we could see open tables) because we didn't have reservations. To be able to see the show, we had no choice but to go to the buffet. It was formal night. Do you think the buffet was serving lobster? No. So, Princess turns me away from Anytime dining and then won't serve me the same meal, which I paid for.

 

I'm curious about the people who wrote in that say they make a standing reservation for the same table each night at the beginning of the cruise. How? Princess said reservations can't be done more than a day at a time.

 

I see people here who indicate they book the same table for the entire cruise at the beginning of the cruise, so has anytime dining turned into a under the table maneuver with the head waiter & maitre'd?

 

Its just all wrong. Make anytime dining really any time. 1st come, 1st served (unless you have an extreme case like the lady with the medical condition). As I said, I've sailed with Princess alot. Anytime dining started out good (when they didn't do reservations), but its been going downhill and now, ugghh.

[Sandytoes]

Sorry to hear about your experience using Anytime dining.

 

This is the first time I'm hearing that Princess said reservations can't be done more than a day at a time. :confused:

 

I just hope when I cruise in August, I'll be allowed to make reservations.

 

For the fact, as I stated in previous posts,

it's not fair for all the Anytime diners to wait for a table because Traditional diners decides to use the AT dining rooms.

I think this is where the problem lies and not that it's going downhill.

If it was, Princess would revert back to the old dining "Early or Late"

Plus, if it was the case, no other cruise line would copy Princess'es open dining option.

 

When you first book your cruise you're asked dining preference.

If you choose Traditional that is where you should have to eat

and not have an option to switch any ol' time you feel like it.

Messing it up for those who prefer Anytime Dining.

 

 

Dining early as a strategy to manage any time dining did not work for us.

 

In our recent May cruise, after having problems getting into anytime dining the 1st day, I resorted to reservations. They wouldn't allow us to make reservations until 8am each day and reservations could only be made for that day. I called right at 8am, was put on hold for quite some time, and then once the live person finally answered, was told all tables were taken until 8:15pm. This happened on more than one day.

 

We went to the dining room at 5:30 (when it opened) and were turned away until 8:15pm (even though we could see open tables) because we didn't have reservations. To be able to see the show, we had no choice but to go to the buffet. It was formal night. Do you think the buffet was serving lobster? No. So, Princess turns me away from Anytime dining and then won't serve me the same meal, which I paid for.

 

I'm curious about the people who wrote in that say they make a standing reservation for the same table each night at the beginning of the cruise. How? Princess said reservations can't be done more than a day at a time.

 

I see people here who indicate they book the same table for the entire cruise at the beginning of the cruise, so has anytime dining turned into a under the table maneuver with the head waiter & maitre'd?

 

Its just all wrong. Make anytime dining really any time. 1st come, 1st served (unless you have an extreme case like the lady with the medical condition). As I said, I've sailed with Princess alot. Anytime dining started out good (when they didn't do reservations), but its been going downhill and now, ugghh.