How to make Anytime Dining work

[ginagirl]

As Anytime Diners, we had no choice but to make reservations for dinner after suffering at the incompetent hands of waiters we had for the first 7 or 8 nights of our 19 day cruise. When we finally had a good waiter, there was no doubt that we would have paid a premium to actually have dinner served to us in the fashion we have always experienced on all of our cruises. Unfortunately, many of the waiters in AD figure they will not see you again. Therefore, they couldn't care less; and believe me, it showed. To fix AD, Princess needs to get after the offending waiters; and passengers will be happy no matter which table they sit at.

[asctony]

As Anytime Diners, we had no choice but to make reservations for dinner after suffering at the incompetent hands of waiters we had for the first 7 or 8 nights of our 19 day cruise. When we finally had a good waiter, there was no doubt that we would have paid a premium to actually have dinner served to us in the fashion we have always experienced on all of our cruises. Unfortunately, many of the waiters in AD figure they will not see you again. Therefore, they couldn't care less; and believe me, it showed. To fix AD, Princess needs to get after the offending waiters; and passengers will be happy no matter which table they sit at.

 

We have never experienced what you have. After over 70 cruises, we can say we have never had such bad experinces as you have noted. What do you think was the reason? The people working onboard can't be that bad if they know they livelyhood is dependent on their service. Did you tell the right people of your problems?

'there was no doubt that we would have paid a premium to actually have dinner served to us in the fashion we have always experienced on all of our cruises.' What other experinces did you have that were what you expected and exceeded your expectations?

Happy Cruising!

[nho9504]

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?

 

People only do that when they found a favorite table - mostly a combo of location and wait stuff, and decide to stick to that table and wait staff.

 

We did exactly that on the 3rd day of our 16day Emerald transatlantic, made reservation for either table 480 or 481 for the balance of our cruise because we like the location and the wait team.

 

You cannot do such with traditional - you are stuck by the table you are assigned, even if you made changes thru the MaitreD when you board - you cannot change it as often as you go with Anytime, because for one thing - everyone is in his/her pigeon hole - to more you the MaitreD may have to move others to give you room.

 

One of the several reasons we keep cruising with Princess is the Anytime Dining, the other is the set up of Horizon Court, despite many here dont like it - we love it.

[nho9504]

As Anytime Diners, we had no choice but to make reservations for dinner after suffering at the incompetent hands of waiters we had for the first 7 or 8 nights of our 19 day cruise. When we finally had a good waiter, there was no doubt that we would have paid a premium to actually have dinner served to us in the fashion we have always experienced on all of our cruises. Unfortunately, many of the waiters in AD figure they will not see you again. Therefore, they couldn't care less; and believe me, it showed. To fix AD, Princess needs to get after the offending waiters; and passengers will be happy no matter which table they sit at.

 

We had not experienced anything like you sounded here, at least not at the DINNER. We did experience something very unprofessional, at LUNCH which as everyone knows, is OPEN SEATING anyway. We filed a complain and we received very sincere apology from our Headwaiter who did not even oversee the section where our Lunch bad experience occurred. The Headwaiter responsible for the offended waiter made a point to stop our table EVERY NIGHT to make sure we were doing OK. The Maitre D had our Headwaiter sent us a dessert wine to make up for the bad experience.

 

Our wait staff at our AD were EXCELLENT. They genuinely cared about our likes and dislikes and often suggested us to have a 3rd dish to just try it because he thought it was good.

[rdsqrl]

I've done Anytime a few times, and like Ginagirl, have had indifferent service, so I'm very wary of Anytime now. To me, the important thing here, however, is to remember to write down the names of those who give inferior service in Anytime, and call them out on a comment card or directly to the maitre d'. Suffering in silence isn't helping the situation improve and will only perpetuate it as new assistant waiters get trained in attitude by senior waiters who have gotten away with subpar service for months and months.

[nho9504]

How long was your cruise? How big was your party? Because I believe these 2 factors may play a part in making reservation.

 

Did you make reservation thru the phone or thru the Headwaiter at the door?

 

Most people who successfully made reservations seemed to make that via the Headwaiter or even the MaitreD. We made it with the Headwaiter on the 1st night for the 2nd night, then 2nd night for the 3rd night, as we walked out the dining room. On the 3rd night we decided we wanted a standing reservation for the balance of the cruise (16day long). We told the Headwaiter we would be happy with either table 480 or 481 between 8 to 8:15. Most of the time we got 480 and a few nights we got 481 - there was a French couple who also made the SAME standing reservation at around the SAME dining time. So there were a few nights we swapped tables. It definitely worked for us.

 

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.

[nho9504]

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.

 

Not so, if the persons make reservation are Anytime diners to begin with, AND they always show up on time to claim their table.

 

They are ENTITLED to a table at Anytime Dining room to begin with, and what is wrong that they choose to show up at a fixed time every night for their favorite table?

 

The only time it could be a problem or unfair to others, would be the table stays unoccupied while others cannot use it. However I believe even with a reservation, the Headwaiter gives your table away if you dont show up in 15 minutes of your reservation time.

 

What really hurts the Anytime Diners are those who are Traditional diners go to the Anytime Dining room and take up the tables at Anytime Dining, while their tables sit empty at the Traditional dining room. This is the case you should get mad at, not your fellow Anytime diners who happened to prefer a particular table at a particular time. They are entitled to a table at Anytime dining just as you are. On top of that, for cruisers who dont care to socialize at meal time and prefer Table for Two, reservation becomes mandatory because there are simply not enough Table for Two available when comparing to the Table for 6. In fact, on our recent 16day Emerald, one lady we bumped at the Lunch table, she said her biggest gripe is there is not enough Table for 2 and she would definitely put this on her questionnaire as her complaint.

[asctony]

Not so, if the persons make reservation are Anytime diners to begin with, AND they always show up on time to claim their table.

 

They are ENTITLED to a table at Anytime Dining room to begin with, and what is wrong that they choose to show up at a fixed time every night for their favorite table?

 

The only time it could be a problem or unfair to others, would be the table stays unoccupied while others cannot use it. However I believe even with a reservation, the Headwaiter gives your table away if you dont show up in 15 minutes of your reservation time.

 

What really hurts the Anytime Diners are those who are Traditional diners go to the Anytime Dining room and take up the tables at Anytime Dining, while their tables sit empty at the Traditional dining room. This is the case you should get mad at, not your fellow Anytime diners who happened to prefer a particular table at a particular time. They are entitled to a table at Anytime dining just as you are. On top of that, for cruisers who dont care to socialize at meal time and prefer Table for Two, reservation becomes mandatory because there are simply not enough Table for Two available when comparing to the Table for 6. In fact, on our recent 16day Emerald, one lady we bumped at the Lunch table, she said her biggest gripe is there is not enough Table for 2 and she would definitely put this on her questionnaire as her complaint.

Fully concur with you! Regardless of what anyone thinks of AD, there is always the other side of the coin. The rules are there and if you are not breaking the rules, do what you want to do for AD. If you want Traditional, go for it and stay in Traditional. We like and always choose AD at 8PM Table for 2 and the same staff. Works for us and has always since Princess started AD. Now all the cruise lines are doing their version of AD. I remember when I suggest that HAL do AD, I was flamed and burned. Now HAL has their version of AD and so does RCI.

If it does not work, do you think the cruise lines would not do it?

In AD they have comment cards that are on the table that you can fill out and give to the Headwaiter. We do it everytime we have excellent service and that is frequently. So, if you have bad service, for those that have, fill out the comment card and hand it in. Happy Cruising!

[nabby]

It will be interesting to see how this works out. This is my first time cruising Princess. I do think I see the potential problem here in that Princess seems to be allowing people to make reservations during the prime eating times. For example, if a huge number of people make reservations for 6:30, then those tables will probably just sit there empty until that time - the people walking in at 6:00 will not be able to use them. I think in theory I prefer HAL's method - you can only make reservations the same day, and no reservations between 6:30 and 8:00. When diners are seated on a "first come first serve" basis then it naturally staggers the seating times and makes for a much better flow, especially for the servers/kitchen (since they are not trying to cook and serve 500 entrees at the same time)

 

I'm sure we will survive - but I know I will be dealing with unhappy friends if we go to dinner at 6:30 and are told that we can't get in until after 8:00.

[sbwhite2]

Anytime works for us as DH is diabetic and having dinner around 6p allows us to stay on a schedule for meals as if we were home. Plus, if for some reason he is not feeling well, we do not feel guilty for having room service or buffet. With traditional, if we do not go to dinner, I feel guilty for leaving our table mates/servers wondering if/when we are coming.

[asctony]

It will be interesting to see how this works out. This is my first time cruising Princess. I do think I see the potential problem here in that Princess seems to be allowing people to make reservations during the prime eating times. For example, if a huge number of people make reservations for 6:30, then those tables will probably just sit there empty until that time - the people walking in at 6:00 will not be able to use them. I think in theory I prefer HAL's method - you can only make reservations the same day, and no reservations between 6:30 and 8:00. When diners are seated on a "first come first serve" basis then it naturally staggers the seating times and makes for a much better flow, especially for the servers/kitchen (since they are not trying to cook and serve 500 entrees at the same time)

 

I'm sure we will survive - but I know I will be dealing with unhappy friends if we go to dinner at 6:30 and are told that we can't get in until after 8:00.

 

You will have a problem thinking like that. If you prefer HAL's method, why not stick with HAL? That is what I was told many times when I suggested years ago that HAL should follow Princess' AD. Try it first, then make a judgment. Remember, years ago people thought that electricity was bad, then TV, then Elvis, then the Internet. Live and try something different. You made your first move by trying Princess. Now go with an open mind.

HAL's Eurodam is now putting up Cabanas on the Lido deck and 14 more on another deck and charging for them. Many people are complaining about that. If you don't like it, move on and try something else. But until you tried it, don't pass judgment. Happy Cruising!!

[LoraJ]

I asked in another thread and didn't get an answer so thought I would ask here...

 

For those staying in a full suite, it says we get priority Anytime Dinging reservations. What exactly does that mean?

[Sandytoes]

I asked in another thread and didn't get an answer so thought I would ask here...

 

For those staying in a full suite,

it says we get priority Anytime Dinging reservations.

What exactly does that mean?

You can be in full suite, you can even be at the bottom of the boat.

You can spend thousands for your cruise

or pay low budget discounted fare,

it doesn't matter.

We are all treated equal.

No one is better than the next

when your on a cruise.

Princess Crew members treat every passenger

the same no matter what.

 

To make it easier - the answers - no!

[caribill]

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.

 

It seems based on many postings that some ships allow reservations for more than one day at a time and some ships only allow it for one day.

 

Of those that allow it only for one day, some allow you to make the reservation the night before and some only starting 8 AM the morning of.

 

Princess really needs to make the rules consistent across the fleet.

[caribill]

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.

 

That would be nice if you are given Traditional when that is your preference.

 

However, when you are number 408 on the waitlist for traditional, guess what? You and the people in the other 417 cabins on the wait list will be assigned to anytime.

[LoraJ]

You can be in full suite, you can even be at the bottom of the boat.

You can spend thousands for your cruise

or pay low budget discounted fare,

it doesn't matter.

We are all treated equal.

No one is better than the next

when your on a cruise.

Princess Crew members treat every passenger

the same no matter what.

 

To make it easier - the answers - no!

 

 

So why would this be listed as a service with a suite? And I had one word wrong:

Preferred Anytime Dining reservations

 

 

I take the preferred word to mean something other than just an Anytime Dining reservation.

Not trying to argue or offend, just wondering what they mean by that.

[Sandytoes]

That would be nice if you are given Traditional when that is your preference.

 

However, when you are number 408 on the waitlist for traditional, guess what? You and the people in the other 417 cabins on the wait list will be assigned to anytime.

I was speaking of those who are assigned Traditional dining and change during the cruise.

 

I can see the disappointment for those who prefer Traditional and have to be put on a wait list.

[judyjbest]

So why would this be listed as a service with a suite? And I had one word wrong:

Preferred Anytime Dining reservations

 

 

I take the preferred word to mean something other than just an Anytime Dining reservation.

Not trying to argue or offend, just wondering what they mean by that.

 

During our second Princess cruise, we were traveling with a group, two of which were booked in suites. The rest of us could not reserve a Anytime table for the whole group at any time, but those two couples were able to reserve entire tables at any time in the Anytime Dining Rooms.

[LoraJ]

During our second Princess cruise, we were traveling with a group, two of which were booked in suites. The rest of us could not reserve a Anytime table for the whole group at any time, but those two couples were able to reserve entire tables at any time in the Anytime Dining Rooms.

 

 

Thank you. :)

[cruzinchris]

I posted this earlier today on another thread, but it's germaine to this discussion:

 

While DH and I appreciate the concept and have experienced very few issues with "anytime" dining, I tend to agree with those who suggest that it should mean exactly as the name implies: No reservations. Walk-ins only with possible waiting at peak dining times.

 

By the same token, those who have selected "traditional" dining should not be allowed to dine in "anytime" dining venues other than the alternative restaurants that are available to all passengers (Sabatini's, Sterling Steak House, Crown Grille, etc.), and, of course, Horizon Court and/or Cafe Caribe.

 

DH and I have spoken with a number of waitstaff who have told us that many people who choose "traditional" dining don't ever show up at their assigned tables or come only on formal nights. Likewise, passengers have told us that they spent an entire cruise dining alone at a "traditional" table for 6 or 8 because fellow passengers never came. Sounds a lot like chaise hogging at the pool: Folks want to keep the chairs but aren't necessarily there all the time.

 

What's wrong with this picture? Are these folks having dinner in one of the upcharge venues where Princess is making money, or are these passengers going to the "anytime" dining rooms because it's more convenient for them most of the time? Perhaps a fleetwide policy and consistent enforcement from ship-to-ship would alleviate the dining issues.

 

Long story short: If everyone did what they were supposed to do, both "traditional" and "anytime" dining would work :)

 

Bon Appetit!

Chris

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=794785&page=6

[crusinpeg]

Well Said!!!!!!!!!!

If its really true as I've read on other posts that Princess is reading these boards....then perhaps they should inforce a policy of checking cards at dinner time...if anyone is "traditional" they should not be allowed in "anytime" unless they are willing to make this change for the balance of their cruise. I think this would solve alot of the problems!!!

[Clutterlady]

Thank you Chris, I've been saying the same thing for a long time:)

[judyjbest]

Great discussion! Tables in the traditional dining room on every cruise line are going more and more empty on ships, including those who don't have a version of Anytime Dining. Folks are opting for buffets and room service for a variety of reasons. I think the cruise lines are doing their best to figure out the best way to satisfy their customers.

 

Feeding thousands of guests in a few hours requires a strict schedule to do it right. But, early dining is too early for most folks, and the late dining is too late for most folks. Lots of folks like to eat between 7 - 8 p.m. That's the same struggle land restaurants have.

 

I look forward to seeing the next creative ideas the cruise lines come up with. Perhaps that's the next thread we should start - How To Feed 2,000+ guests in style in only four hours?

[Sandytoes]

So why would this be listed as a service with a suite? And I had one word wrong: Preferred Anytime Dining reservations

 

I take the preferred word to mean something other than just an Anytime Dining reservation.

Not trying to argue or offend, just wondering what they mean by that.

 

Being I never stayed in a suite aboard a cruise ship, I wasn't sure exactly what you were referring to. So I went on Princess site and found this -

 

The renowned Princess service is especially evident in suite accommodations. Passengers don't even need to worry about packing and unpacking, as they can request assistance from their suite steward. Reservations are a snap with preferred Anytime Dining reservations and personal shore excursion reservations. Guests can also choose from an extended room service menu, with extra options for breakfast and any of the day's dining room selections for lunch and dinner.

 

The way I see it you can make reservations but that doesn't mean the rest of us can't.

We have always made reservations and stayed in a balcony cabin.

Princess is accommodating enough to allow all passengers to make reservations.

[4cats4me]

During our second Princess cruise, we were traveling with a group, two of which were booked in suites. The rest of us could not reserve a Anytime table for the whole group at any time, but those two couples were able to reserve entire tables at any time in the Anytime Dining Rooms.

 

Now that is interesting, because a year ago we were in a full suite on the

Golden and they would NOT let us have "Preferred Anytime reservations"

or reserve a table even for just us! That was our 7th Princess cruise,

so I am not a newbie to their anytime dining system, but maybe it

has to do with what ship you're on, because even when I told

the maitre'd that we were in full suite, not a mini, he seemed very

indifferent to our requests. I was polite too.

Also, when I called the DINE line upon embarking the ship, I tried to

explain to the reservations person that we were in a full suite, so

therefore, we qualified for "preferred" anytime dining, but they did not

want to hear that.

 

About day 4 into the cruise, they delivered traditional dining tickets

to our cabin for just the two of us. However, that did nothing to

help us since A, we wanted anytime, and B, we also had my mom and

dad traveling with us in our party. Perhaps if we'd gone to the

traditional dining room we might have learned that the tickets were

for all 4 of us? but that was never made clear, and why did they

wait until day 4 of the cruise to do that anyway?

 

Seriously, I felt there was no special treatment whatsoever for

us having a full suite.

 

What really galled me was when we'd show up to the anytime dining room right at 5;30 or 6 p.m., for example,

and we're all patiently waiting, and then right after opeing the doors they made us all wait, while

lots of people breezed by us on our right-hand side while the maitre'd would tell them, "Just proceed directly

to YOUR table, so it was so obvious that a huge percentge of passengers had "their" tables reserved

especially for them, while the rest of us who showed up right at opening time STILL had to wait.

 

On our first couple princess cruises 5 years ago we had anytime, and it was exactly that, you

showed up -- there was no pre-reserved tables and they gave us a pager, and in those days we

waited maybe 5 to 10 minutes sometimes, and the system worked beautifully.

 

I don't like this half/half thing they've implemented on many of their ships.