Dining... Traditional or Any time? "Weigh-In"

[c-ruisedaddy]

Everyone "Weigh-in" on this question. Pros and Con's on Anytime Vs. Traditional. (:ppun intended)

 

We have done both on other lines but only traditional on Princess. We found that we sometimes passed on shows when we did Anytime dining but we liked being able to choose our dining time.

 

Marty

[BoPippy]

I can't wait for anytime dining(first time)since on late or early seating i always felt rushed and obligated.Now ,i feel laid back and relaxed and not in a hurry and can go on tours,have a snooze,whatever and go for my meal at the time that is convenient with me that will vary from day to day!!!:D

[chrysalis]

Did you see this thread on the front page?

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=935167

[Lauren's_Dad]

Being a bit of a planner by nature, I like knowing that at 6pm every night, I will be able to sit down for dinner with my tablemates and catch up on their day's activities. Also is nice to have the same waiters every night - we always develop a great friendship with them.

[rcacace]

We go on cruises mainly for the food, entertainment, pool & self tours. The rest is so repetitive for us, we hardly bother with other activities. Eating at Anytime gives us the advantage of eating earlier than Traditional & get better seats at the show lounge & also have a table for two so we can eat in privacy. (somewhat) We very rarely feel rushed for dinner since we always eat early at home & although it's obviously not for everyone it works for us. :)

[paul929207]

I prefer Traditional - Second Seating. It lins up well with our normal dinner time at home.

[Druke I]

We prefer Traditional First - we are not night people.

[IKE]

I alway choose "Anytime Dining". We can go when We want to for Our dinner especially if We were off the ship in Port shopping or doing tours. Gives us a chance to relax when We return and not have to rush out for dinner. On several occassions if We like the wait staff at our Table for 2, We reserve that table for every night at time convenient for us. This has worked out well for us too. Its all a matter of what You like. Its your vacation so do what You prefer.

[TonyFred]

We prefer the buffet and ALL THE TIME DINING.

[sackman]

If travelling with my 6-year-old daughter, I prefer traditional first seating. If it's just my wife and me, then we prefer traditional second seating. I enjoy knowing I'll be seated at the same table, with the same table mates, with the same wait staff, at the same time every evening.

[DonnaK]

Being a bit of a planner by nature' date=' I like knowing that at 6pm every night, I will be able to sit down for dinner with my tablemates and catch up on their day's activities. Also is nice to have the same waiters every night - we always develop a great friendship with them.[/quote']

 

My sentiments exactly.

 

We had a bad experience with anytime dining. Long waits (45-60 minutes), poor service, maitre-d was inflexible and did not accept reservations. We would net select a cruise without being guaranteed traditional early dining. (We don't like to eat late b/c it's too uncomofrtable to go to bed on a full stomach).

[LuvTheGoodLife]

Anytime is our preference! Never had a wait, never made a reservation. Met loads of nice people. Never noticed any decline in service compared to Traditional. Last time in Traditional, I got irritated at sitting for a table for 10 in which never more than 4 or 2 (us), showed up on most nights as our other tablemates chose different dining options....

[c-ruisedaddy]

Thanks. Called the TA and changed from Anytime to Traditional-early (waitlisted) will take Traditional-late otherwise.

 

Marty

[WolfpackFan]

We prefer Anytime because we like to eat when we want and also I don't like eating with strangers. For our NE trip in September we will probably eat more meals at Cafe Caribe than in the past. I do not plan on taking any formal clothes this trip.

[Treven]

I've only had "anytime dining", on various cruiselines. I don't care to sit with the same people at the same time with the same waiters every night.

 

Actually I prefer dining alone; I look at dining time as quiet time where I can relax and review the day's activities or read.

[Stormy]

We like anytime dining. We enjoy eating with different folks and like going to dinner when we're ready. The only drawback is that it seems much slower than traditional dining.

[cjpj]

My DH and I have always been traditional, late diners. On our most recent cruise, my husband was ill and unable to make it to dinner for several nights. I felt very comfortable joining our table mates for dinner with out my husband and was able to enjoy my cruise (even though he missed several days). If I had anytime dining, I probably would have been eating in the buffet or feeling awkward going to anytime dining by myself.

Cindy

[Stellaglide]

I enjoy knowing I'll be seated at the same table, with the same table mates, with the same wait staff, at the same time every evening.

 

Isn't it neat how we are all so different. Wife and I scheduled for our first cruise ever and didn't know we had a choice between traditional and anytime. We are strongly considering changing our plans from traditional to anytime for the exact opposite reason as stated above.

 

We like variety and experinencing different things, if we knew we were going to sit at the same table, with the same table mates, with the same wait staff, at the same time every evening for 7 or more nights we would get bored. Seems kind of like going to the same resturant, with the same people, sitting at the same table, at the same time in your hometown.

[lovespositano]

Isn't it neat how we are all so different. Wife and I scheduled for our first cruise ever and didn't know we had a choice between traditional and anytime. We are strongly considering changing our plans from traditional to anytime for the exact opposite reason as stated above.

 

We like variety and experinencing different things, if we knew we were going to sit at the same table, with the same table mates, with the same wait staff, at the same time every evening for 7 or more nights we would get bored. Seems kind of like going to the same resturant, with the same people, sitting at the same table, at the same time in your hometown.

We love Anytime - full flexibility. Isn't it great we all like different things, and oftentimes for different reasons!! On Princess there's something for everybody, and that's what makes it our favorite cruiseline!!

[Auntiejo]

Our everyday life is one big schedule so for us the anytime dining is the only way to go. The best part of vacation for us is NO SCHEDULE!

 

We might go to dinner at 7, we might go at 8:30 - every night is different based on how we feel and what we did during the day, how late we ate lunch, etc....we love the flexibility.

[ukbballfan]

Isn't it neat how we are all so different. Wife and I scheduled for our first cruise ever and didn't know we had a choice between traditional and anytime. We are strongly considering changing our plans from traditional to anytime for the exact opposite reason as stated above.

 

We like variety and experinencing different things, if we knew we were going to sit at the same table, with the same table mates, with the same wait staff, at the same time every evening for 7 or more nights we would get bored. Seems kind of like going to the same resturant, with the same people, sitting at the same table, at the same time in your hometown.

 

I agree that its a crapshoot as far as your tablemates go. But having those same people dine with you night after night allows you to uncover some very interesting people. I'm not a real forward person so it takes me a couple of days to get to know my tablemates. Sometimes you find out you really don't want to know anymore, but more often then not you find some very intriguing stories. We met a great couple from England last month and for the first couple of night had some smalltalk. By the last night we really didn't want to part company and have made arrangements to stay at their home in Liverpool for a night when we go to Europe next summer. Besides that, after a couple of nights with the same waitstaff... I don't have to ask for my 3 shrimp cocktails...they just magically appear!

[Seal]

We only take traditional dining if there isn't any other option--always the largest table possible--got to find some good folks in the mix--we also choose late

 

If given a choice Anytime is it for us--the only thing that I caqn figure why so many want to have a mandatory dinner time is that they must eat at the same time each evening--can't imagine that being a daily situation--unless you hve small children and must eat at the time that works best for them--i'm an adult now--no kids to be concerned with--we can eat when we choose--probably the only good thing about growing older..

 

Nancy:D

[Hatsoff389]

My wife and I enjoy traditional dining, late seating, table for two. The reason we enjoy traditional dining is because we love having the same waiters every night. They are your waiters, and know what you like basically after the first night at dinner. The crew members we remember most on all of our cruises have always been waiters. My wife and I still talk about some of our past waiters from time to time. We have done the freestyle dining on NCL many times, but always had different waiters. In our experience, we have found the service to be much better while having the same waiters.

[SuperLarz]

We just returned from our first cruise, and we loved Anytime Dining! Only once did we choose to sit with other guests, the rest of the time we had a table for 2. (It was our anniversary week and we were enjoying the intimate alone time!)

We only had to wait for a table once, and that was only for about 10 minutes. We also realized that we didn't want to eat in the dining room every night, and we had the flexibility to eat in the buffet, or on the pool deck, or in Sabatini's and we didn't have to "alert" anyone that we would be gone.

 

I really liked being able to choose if and when we wanted to go to the dining room. And though I love meeting new people, after a busy day in port it was nice to unwind during dinner with my husband and not have to be "on" for a group of strangers.

[SandG]

Put me down as one more vote for anytime, especially if there is a varied port schedule. The reason is because I love to watch us go in and out of ports, so early is too early and late is too late: If we eat traditional early, we miss leaving the ports and often have to rush back from them early. With traditional late, we have to go to bed right after eating because we get up early in the morning.

 

We did "anytime" last summer and had a wait only one night. That's because we usually tried to eat just a little earlier than the peak time, and the one time we had a wait was a day when we were in port later than usual. I heard one of the reasons that anytime dining gets crowded at times, is because the early diners are sometimes late getting back from port or some other reason, so they eat in the anytime restaurant that night.