Anytime or Traditional?

[Cruisin' Chick]

Absolutely, no question, Late Traditional. I've always gotten lucky with good tablemates in Traditional, but the one cruise doing shared tables in Anytime -- yikes!!! It was a kaleidescope of horror, every night starting from scratch ("hi, my name is X, I live in X, I'm a rocket scientist, oh, you sell aluminum siding--how fascinating. Yes I've cruised Princess before, have you?") with a different set of dining companions with whom one had nothing in common on the surface and, of course, no time over the space of just one dinner to determine any more than that. Never again!

 

Am so in agreement with you. After the first night of intros, you can move on to discussing the day's activities you took part in or the things you did in port, after that. Plus, when you get a waitstaff that remembers your preferences, that is so nice. Also, when it comes to waiting for a table, we can do that at any restaurant back home. Don't want to even think about where and when to do dinner on the ship. We ate 14 out of 15 nights in the dining room on our last cruise; the exception was eating in the buffet because our daughter felt iffy (she was okay, just not feeling up to hanging out in the fun zone).

 

We did eat many of our breakfasts and lunches in the Horizon on that cruise, and often shared a table with others. That was great too. But dinner in a traditional dining room is what cruising is all about, imo.

[chrtran]

I haven't cruised in years so I am wondering if what I did the first time I cruised 7 years ago still applies? What I did was reserving Early Traditional. During the first few nights, we tried traditional. Then we tried Any Time, which was very nice because there was table for two next to the window so we can see the sunset.

Is this still allowed?

[zacc]

I think the poll was a fun idea. However I think the final results are going to be misleading. Many will look at final votes cast and draw the conclusion that anytime is preferred two to one. However with the three different choices for traditional it is clear that many are selecting early or late and not clicking on traditional as well. Ex: as of now a total of 71 have selected early or late. However only 46 have selected traditional. I know, probably reading to much into this but it's Wednesday.

[Infi]

Absolutely, no question, Late Traditional. I've always gotten lucky with good tablemates in Traditional, but the one cruise doing shared tables in Anytime -- yikes!!! It was a kaleidescope of horror, every night starting from scratch ("hi, my name is X, I live in X, I'm a rocket scientist, oh, you sell aluminum siding--how fascinating. Yes I've cruised Princess before, have you?") with a different set of dining companions with whom one had nothing in common on the surface and, of course, no time over the space of just one dinner to determine any more than that. Never again!

 

You hit it right on the head! I don't mind that for breakfast and lunch (open seating), but for dinner I want some consistency, both in my tablemates and waitstaff. It's nice to have a conversation that goes beyond the basics and have a waiter who knows you. To me, that is what cruising is all about.

[cruiseryyc]

But dinner in a traditional dining room is what cruising is all about' date=' imo.[/quote']

 

Amen to that!! If I couldn't get late traditional dining, I wouldn't go on a cruise.

[cruisergal 1]

We always do late, traditional. It gives us an opportunity to really get to know a group of people more than just hello, where are you from, yada, yada, yada...Also the waiters get to know your likes and dislikes, and you don't have to keep asking for the same things over and over again! We also like to relax a bit after getting back from a day of island hopping, and the late sitting gives us that opportunity not to rush around too much.

[juggles]

we do anytime as we like to meet new people each night. One night a couple on our table were horrendous, bigotted people and I wondered what it would have been like had we been in Traditional and stuck with them every night

[junglejane]

I voted for Anytime Dining because that is what we have done so far on our past Princess cruises. We eat early so we have never had a problem with waiting. Also, we have hesitated to try Traditional in the past because we cruise with our kids and have always been afraid we would be seated with kid haters. We had a nice experience with traditional dining on our Celebrity cruise last summer, though, so we are trying Early Traditional for our upcoming British Isles cruise. Also, we are attempting to recruit a group of friends for our October cruise on the Sapphire Princess. I'm hoping to get everyone signed up for Early Traditional for that one because Anytime gets more complicated with a larger group (12-14).

 

So if there had been a chance to vote for "It Depends" that would've been my choice. Anytime vs. Traditional isn't a live or die issue for us.:)

 

--Junglejane

[Aquarian]

Late traditional never seems to be available to us because we book our cruise so late. We don't like stopping what we are enjoying to go shower and dress for early seating so Anytime Dining has worked best for us. If we find a waiter and time that is good for us, we reserve that time and table for the rest of the week. We always dine alone. We're just more comfortable with that.

[cruisemom42]

I prefer Anytime because most of the cruises I choose are for the ports and I like to be flexible with dining times. Also, traveling with DS is a crapshoot -- sometimes he'll come to dinner and sometimes he won't. I enjoy meeting and talking to more people; it is fun to recognize various faces around the ship rather than not knowing anyone (or just one set of dinner companions...)

 

One time before Anytime Dining was introduced, we were seated at a table with 3 Japanese-speaking couples (nice but VERY limited English) and one couple who never showed. After 3 nights we asked to be moved but then we were starting from scratch. Another time we were seated with an older British couple who clearly were not comfortable with DS (who was a well-mannered 10-year-old at the time).

[jetsfan]

When my DH and I travel alone, we like late traditional. We have met the most wonderful people and end up doing many things with them. We stay in port until the last minute, come home, nap, and then enjoy drinks on the balcony before dinner. When we cruise with our SIL and BIL, as we are this April, anytime is better. If we want to have private time with them, it is great. If we join others, then it is really east to strike up conversation with a group. It is wonderful to have so many choices, that is why we love cruising. Bon voyage everyone!

[c-ruisedaddy]

Thanks for the input. We decided to put ourselves on Traditional-early (waitlisted) and Traditional-late (if early doesn't pan out)

 

Marty

[FLACRUISER99]

I prefer Anytime also because I hate having to stand in line to wait for the dinning room to open. I am always 20 minutes early and have to wait around or late and have to rush. Sometimes at the spur of the moment I may decide ti go to the Lido and I don't have to feel guilty that I did not tell my table mates. The list goes on and on but Anytime for me.

[Stellaglide]

This has been an interesting read as my wife and I are going on our first cruise in May to Alaska. We have been booked for traditional early seating but are strongly considering changing to anytime.

 

Seems those that really prefer traditional like the fact of getting to know the wait staff and their dinner mates. Some even suggest that can be one of the better parts of the cruise.

 

Having never cruised before and not knowing what to expect, the reasons expressed for traditional dining never occurred to me as being important. However, I can see the merits in their preference.

 

I wonder if one was to break down the results a little more, say traditional vs. anytime and include ones age and point in life (retired vs working) a trend would develop.

 

Just a hunch but I bet older and retired would prefer traditional and younger non-retired would prefer anytime. What say you?

[Tak8]

I like Early traditional. There is something to be said for a wait staff that gets to know you. Likes/Dislikes etc. I also think it makes it easier to plan for shows and other evening activities.

[Cruise38]

As a solo cruiser I prefer late Traditional

[Caribbean Sunsets]

I enjoy the flexibility that Anytime Dining offers.

[Travel-Jen]

This will be our first time doing anytime dining...but honestly, think we will love it! On other cruises, we always did late traditional, because you don't have to rush back to the ship.

 

But, out of the few cruises we've been on, we've only had 2 with good tablemates. Our tablemates on the others were pretty dry, not talkative or interesting, and didn't do much for shore excursions. We were quickly bored, didn't dine much with them anyway.

 

We love the idea of dining alone or with interesting people we've met, but we have control of our own dining, and not having to explain ourselves to anyone. I think if you plan well, you'll make your dinner shows and late activities.