Flexible Dining: Does it Belong on Carnival?

[dan40]

Agreed. However the the biggest champion for freestyle around here is always right and everyone else is always wrong, so expect a response.

 

If it wasn't for traditional dining we never would have met the 3 wonderful couples we met last week.

 

Hold it! I thot is wuz me dat wuz allweeze riat.

How come nobuddy tole me?

 

Dan

[KroozNut]

Would someone like to borrow my Platinum pass......cause I'm choosin flexible:D :p

 

Excellent... that leaves at least one more 'traditonal' slot for us purists to fight over! ;)

[batoutofhell]

Carnival Platinum cruisers, 10th Carnival cruise on, get to choose their dining over other cruisers.

 

Dan

Oh, well that's a relief. :D Does that mean we get our requests satisfied first, or we're first to get changed if our request doesn't get met (priority wait list)? Sorry for all the questions. :p

[Kurbanfan]

Excellent... that leaves at least one more 'traditonal' slot for us purists to fight over! ;)

 

Actually there is 6 in our group that are willing to give it up.....

Or if you don't score traditional you can eat in the Lido buffet, same time, same table every night:D

[scperk]

We sailed on NCL Pearl for the first time this past January and the alleged "freestyle" dining was the worst. We ate in the buffett 5 of the 9 nights on our cruise because the wait for a table at every restaurant was minimum 45 mins. When we did actually eat at one of the restaurants we found the waitstaff to be unattentive and a few times just rude. This experience alone was enough to keep from sailing NCL ever again.

 

We are sailing on the Miracle this September and can't wait. It is our first Carnival cruise and we've heard such great things about the food and service!

I was on the Pearl last fall and I had the most horrible service I have ever expierenced...and the Italian restaurant was only half full, I too ate at the buffet most nights.....I waited 35 minutes for my entree after i got my soup......You will like the Miracle, I sailed her in Feb and am on the Spirit in October.....Dennis

[indiaksue]

I think they should have both. My DH and I prefer Princess for mostly anytime dining. We like to dress up and go to dinner but sit together just the 2 of us. We don't want to settle for the Lido Buffet we want to be served. We just don't want to be tied down to a time. We don't stay up really late so we do not like late seating but we also don't want to miss the sunset or have to come back from excursions early to eat so we don't like early seating either. By having both everyone can be happy.

[KroozNut]

Actually there is 6 in our group that are willing to give it up.....

 

Cool, and I truly admire folks (especially ladies) that are willing to give it up so easily! :D

 

Or if you don't score traditional you can eat in the Lido buffet, same time, same table every night:D

 

Nah, that's okay; we're very confident that Carnival be able to accomodate our request for a late seating, large round table near a window for our upcoming sailing on the Spirit.. <knocking on wood> ;)

 

Besides, the chances are slim to none of getting the same table in the Lido buffet every night.. :)

[bob brown]

I prefer the traditional dining. I feel that the buffet, or one of the specialty restaurants, are sufficient for those that want more flexibility.

 

I also believe that the move toward flexible dining, is an opening opportunity for cruiselines to eventually limit or even eliminate meals as all-inclusive with the fare. They may only offer the buffet (or not even that), and encourage spending for meals in the better restaurants on board. All part of the 'conspiracy' to lure passengers on board with rock-bottom fares, than recoup via more and more on board spending. Even now, more and more of the services and venues on board are for additional charge.

[dan40]

I prefer the traditional dining. I feel that the buffet, or one of the specialty restaurants, are sufficient for those that want more flexibility.

 

I also believe that the move toward flexible dining, is an opening opportunity for cruiselines to eventually limit or even eliminate meals as all-inclusive with the fare. They may only offer the buffet (or not even that), and encourage spending for meals in the better restaurants on board. All part of the 'conspiracy' to lure passengers on board with rock-bottom fares, than recoup via more and more on board spending. Even now, more and more of the services and venues on board are for additional charge.

 

The concept of low fares with all meals extra already exists with many cruiselines operating in other countries. Has for years.

 

Cruising since the 70's, I have seen many changes. Biggest change is in price. Cruising today is 3 to 5 TIMES cheaper than it used to be. So I have to pay for a Coke now. Happy to do it. Just going back to 1990, NEVER has my S&S bill equaled my cruise fare. So all the nickel and diming has not come close to the old cost of a cruise. And now cruises are on fabulous ships, unimaginable in the old days. We do not have it so bad.

 

As long as they keep the choice of traditional, I could not care less if they also offer flexible dining times.

 

Dan

[GottaLuvCruising]

I prefer the traditional dining. I feel that the buffet, or one of the specialty restaurants, are sufficient for those that want more flexibility.

 

 

I would enjoy the option of dining room service at flexible times. Personal Choice on Princess is awesome and would like to see something similar on Carnival along with traditional dining (as I'm not interested in limiting others' choices). But you have decided that buffet food or paying extra for meals is "sufficient" for us??? Sheesh....

[Chrislynn55]

We love "Freestyle" dining on NCL. It's one of the reasons we prefer that line. It would be great to see Carnival go that way.

[jpg1747]

I think there should be traditional dining, anytime dining, specialty dining, room service dining and buffet dining. That way I'll be sure to get the time and table I want at late traditional, which is what I prefer.

[GoinCruisin]

I breezed through this... and I'm sure it's been discussed in one of the threads.. but how does tipping work with flexible? I'm guessing you have different servers each night... what if you have poor service one night and excellent another, do you have to go and individually adjust each night? Or do you just have to take cash in each night and tip as services are rendered?

[dan40]

I think there should be traditional dining, anytime dining, specialty dining, room service dining and buffet dining. That way I'll be sure to get the time and table I want at late traditional, which is what I prefer.

 

That is exactly the plan that Carnival is doing. Their room service menu is very limited, but all the other venues will still be available. An extra choice of flexible dining [not "Anytime" that term is for NCL only] is being added, nothing is being taken away.

 

Dan

[bguppies]

Bring it on.....

 

I hate being locked into an exact time every night, no matter what your port times, etc are...

 

Usually wind up at the buffett every night by the end of the cruise.

 

Be nice to have the option of the dining room when WE want to eat.

 

Bill

[GottaLuvCruising]

I breezed through this... and I'm sure it's been discussed in one of the threads.. but how does tipping work with flexible? I'm guessing you have different servers each night... what if you have poor service one night and excellent another, do you have to go and individually adjust each night? Or do you just have to take cash in each night and tip as services are rendered?

 

Gratuities are automatically applied to your shipboard folio and have been for some time. They are split among servers and you don't have to worry about it. With flexible dining, you could bring some cash with you each evening in case service is outstanding. I've sailed Carnival 12 times and never had poor service. I realize there are some people who like to whine about service, but to dispute (adjust) the small amount charged is really pathetic.

[Mikel1733]

I breezed through this... and I'm sure it's been discussed in one of the threads.. but how does tipping work with flexible? I'm guessing you have different servers each night... what if you have poor service one night and excellent another, do you have to go and individually adjust each night? Or do you just have to take cash in each night and tip as services are rendered?

 

I've wondered the exact same thing. I wouldn't think tips would be as generous when you don't have the same waiter and don't get to know them a little bit. When we've eaten in the dining room at lunch time I can't say we've ever had a waiter that was that friendly or outgoing in any way.

[KroozNut]

[not "Anytime" that term is for NCL only]Dan

 

Dan,

 

Feel free to correct me here, but I'm pretty sure that NCL refers to their version as 'Freestyle Dining'..

[GoinCruisin]

Gratuities are automatically applied to your shipboard folio and have been for some time. They are split among servers and you don't have to worry about it. With flexible dining, you could bring some cash with you each evening in case service is outstanding. I've sailed Carnival 12 times and never had poor service. I realize there are some people who like to whine about service, but to dispute (adjust) the small amount charged is really pathetic.

 

I think you missed the point. I know how gratuities are done now, and generally, at the end of the cruise I give my servers an extra tip to share among themselves. The thing I love about cruising is I don't have to worry about carrying cash around every night and I do my additional tipping at the end of the cruise... with this method of dining, I would need to carry cash (which means carrying a purse :p) which for me, would be an inconvenience. But I agree with Mikel, people probably won't be compelled to tip more since the main reason I do is I get great service all week, get to know the team and they deserve it with the extra attention. I would imagine most people will just leave the tips as is. And I agree, there are people out there that whine about things, but I have never, nor would I ever, adjust the tips down... I'm a very generous tipper, and this was just a question I had. Thank you for attempting to answer it, but I would still like to hear what people have actually done with anytime dining and additional gratuities, and if the cruiselines make it easier than carrying cash around. Thanks!

[bcs819]

If I have to wait for dinner, I won't cruise anymore. I have to deal with waiting in line on land...why go on a cruise then? We tried the Anytime dining on Princess and the "Freestyle" on NCL - both sucked....

[big_duck]

As long as they keep the choice of traditional, I could not care less if they also offer flexible dining times.

 

I would change the first part of your statement to "As long as they keep the choice of traditional, for all that want it." I would agree.

 

Seems to be the biggest problem on Princess and HAL.

[Spyder59]

I don't know what the debate is all about. The cruises that offer anytime dining also offer traditional dining, so it is your choice as to what you want to do.

I have been on 2 Princess cruises and enjoyed the anytime dining. On one of the cruises we made a reservation for the same table each night because we enjoyed the service of the waiter we had. The matre de got to know us and each night when we got to the dining room he said "your table is ready". Making a reservation is as easy as picking up any house phone at anytime during the day. So Happy Dining!!! We tipped our favorite waiter at the end of the cruise and he said he had to put it in the tip pool.

Richard

[bcs819]

I don't know what the debate is all about. The cruises that offer anytime dining also offer traditional dining,

 

Yes, but there are NO tables for 2 in traditional on Princess. So if you're traveling as a couple, you have ZERO percent of enjoying traditional dining the same way on Princess as on Carnival - which has plenty of tables for 2...

[dan40]

I would change the first part of your statement to "As long as they keep the choice of traditional, for all that want it." I would agree.

 

Seems to be the biggest problem on Princess and HAL.

 

Not sure what you mean. Having both is the biggest problem for traditional, or having both is the biggest problem for personal choice? My guess is that seldom will a cruise be split 50/50 so the late bookers without some level of past guest status will be SOL one way or the other. I have experienced a Princess cruise where there was overflow of traditional diners. They reserved a section of the personal choice dining room for the overflow traditional diners. Doesn't exactly work well, but is probably more workable than vice versa. Hard to give over a section of the traditional dining room to flexible diners.

 

Dan

[Kurbanfan]

If I have to wait for dinner, I won't cruise anymore. I have to deal with waiting in line on land...why go on a cruise then? We tried the Anytime dining on Princess and the "Freestyle" on NCL - both sucked....

 

Then you need to stick with traditional.........