Any time Dining

Going on Regal but I am assuming all ships the same. When do you make reservations for dinner, and do you do it on the television or telephone or in person. If you can only do them for that day, how early in the day can you make them?

Going on Regal but I am assuming all ships the same. When do you make reservations for dinner, and do you do it on the television or telephone or in person. If you can only do them for that day, how early in the day can you make them?

Unfortunately an incorrect assumption. The maitre d' on each ship determines what system is used for ATD reservations (or lack of system as the case may be). And which maitre d' is in charge of ATD can vary from sailing to sailing on each ship.

On my last cruise on Ruby the dine line was open from 6 AM to 5 PM each day. Hopefully someone who has been on Regal very recently will chime in--but whether you can make reservations for any time or just certain times, or can make a reservation for the following night when leaving the dining room, or you find the right person who will make a standing reservation for each night for you, varies from ship to ship, from week to week, even between which of the two anytime MDRs you visit.

If reservations are allowed (varies by who the Maitre d' is), you can call the DINE line to make them.

Sometimes they can be made for the entire voyage with one call, sometimes for just that evening, and sometimes for 2-3 evenings in advance.

They only allow a limited number of reservations, so if you do not call early enough, none may be available for that evening.

Pretty typical cruise line consistent inconsistency.

Every Princess Cruise we have been on has allowed reservations for ATD. Some ships allow you to make a table reservation for the entire cruise. Some allow you to make table reservations for a few nights, even right at the door with the head waiter. You can also call the DINE line each morning, but it is sometimes difficult to get through. Every cruise has set reservation times, for example 5:30, 5:45, 7:30, 7:45. You are not able to just select a time that you want. The DINE line opens early in the morning and the hours are posted in the Princess Patter. On the Royal Princess you could not make reservations via the TV and I assume it is the same on the Regal.

I am assuming you are sailing from a U.S. port. In this market there is a demand for early dining times. By 6pm the DR is mostly full. Since it takes approx. 2 hours to dine the next wave starts around 7:30pm. Generally only one DR is available for ATD in the early time slot. A 2nd DR opens for ATD at 7:30. If you wish to dine late then there is usually no wait since there is double the seating.