Any downsides to anytime dining?

I've been assigned to anytime dining. I've always had a set dining time. Any downsides to anytime dining? Do I have to wait for a table if it's busy? Will I have different servers each night?

Thanks

For my understanding what I've been today when I booked that I'd receive a different waiter. I'm ok with that I enjoy meeting different people. I imagine if it's busy you'l have to wait but I didnt have to for very long on on NCL

Downsides? If you want to eat at 7:00, you may have a bit of a wait. Go early or late and you will most likely go right in. If you like the servers you have on a particular night, you can request them on subsequent nights. We were fixed time diners but have come to enjoy the anytime routine.

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We haven't found a real downside to Anytime except if you like the shows the waiters do you may or may not catch them. I am not certain what time they do them. We usually go right away because we have the kids with us, and only caught two of the shows. As far as waiters, if we liked who we had the first night, I took the little name card off the table so I could remember who we had, and then the following nights we just asked to be seated in "so and so's" section and we never had a problem. But, I suppose is depends on what time you go and how busy they are...you can decide if you want to wait for a table in their section if it is worth it to you.

As others have said, you can request the same servers each night, not a problem. I can't think of any downsides. I can think of plenty of downsides that would make me NOT want fixed dining, none that would make me not want YTD.

i LOVE anytime dinning, never had a problem. The only major downside to it is the location of the checkin desk compare to the dinning room. On most ships, you have to check in on like deck 5 and then go down to the deck 3 for the dinning room. that can be somewhat annoying at times.

Its all personal preference. I personally HATE YTD. I am wait listed for late dining on my next cruise and I am hoping that i can change to late dining once onboard.

We liked YTD, and never experienced a wait when we went to our dining room. I have read that many people do have a wait, especially if you head down at a busy time. I do miss having the same waitstaff every day, but I suppose this could be easily remedied by asking for the same section every night. There may be a wait for something that specific, but there are ways to have a traditional experience at your own convenience.

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i LOVE anytime dinning, never had a problem. The only major downside to it is the location of the checkin desk compare to the dinning room. On most ships, you have to check in on like deck 5 and then go down to the deck 3 for the dinning room. that can be somewhat annoying at times.

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Most ships?

 

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SOME ships. Sunshine and Vista come to mind.

We had YTD on our cruise last month and this was our first time with YTD. It will be what we request from now on though. We had absolutely no downside. Never had to wait for a table and we arrived at multiple times in the evening during the cruise. Now, we do not care to sit with other cruisers, so meeting new people at dinner may be a downside for some, but not us.

We've had YTD multiple times and really like it. The flexibility is wonderful. I'm on vacation. I don't want to be on a schedule! We had the same waiters on the last cruise. The only night we had a wait was on elegant night.

We've ended up with a wait, but that was the exception. Only once we waited long enough that I stepped back up and asked "is there a table ready yet?" and was immediately seated. And that may have been formal night?

An upside was we were once seated at a table we didn't like (high traffic area) so we asked to be seated elsewhere with no problem. It also let us split up if people wanted to go at different times. YTD would be my go-to choice.

One downside might depend on how many people you have. We have a larger group on our upcoming cruise so we did early, just because we don't want to have to keep checking in with everyone about "what time to have dinner" each day. Instead, it's just "See everybody at 6:00!"

We love any time dining. The only night we have to wait more than a few minutes is elegant night, but we just plan accordingly to its so big deal. For our cruise in a couple weeks, we had to chose late dining and got on wait list for any time. So relieved when I saw any time got confirmed. We usually ask for same server a few nights, other wise we enjoy meeting new servers the other nights. I love the flexibility of dining any time we choose. If you are big into seeing the dinner show or theater shows, you'll want to check the times and eat at the right time so your don't miss them. Have fun!

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We have always done YTD, and love it. We usually go early 6:00ish, and have never had a wait. We have also requested the same waitstaff at times, and have been accommodated with a smile.

My personal opinion - I feel like we get better service with set dining. The waiters and their teams are expecting you every night, so they'll pick up your preferences real quick.

I know you can request the same server every night with YTD, but there's no guarantee you're going to get them. I like building the relationship with the servers over the course of the week - some of the most memorable people you'll meet onboard.

Of course you may have to wait, if it's busy! It's like any other restaurant that doesn't have assigned tables!

My personal opinion - I feel like we get better service with set dining. The waiters and their teams are expecting you every night, so they'll pick up your preferences real quick.

 

I know you can request the same server every night with YTD, but there's no guarantee you're going to get them. I like building the relationship with the servers over the course of the week - some of the most memorable people you'll meet onboard.

While I agree with everything stated above, I still prefer YTD. My last cruise on the Splendor is the only time that I was not asked if I had a preference for waitstaff. They automatically determined where we would be seated when we arrived at the desk. If I felt strongly about a particular wait team I probably would have spoken up. I don't believe the service is as well meshed or personal as it is with set dining. The worst YTD experience I've encountered (also on the Splendor but overall a very GOOD cruise) was on the 2nd elegant night. We could wait for a table for 2 or sit at a large table with other passengers. We thought why not - we usually end up visiting with the people sitting on either side of us anyway. Well when you are the first ones at a table for 8 - you do not get to place your order until they find 6 other people who also agree to sit at a table for 8. When one of the couples order several starters and a couple of entree's each, the whole table waits to start the each course. Not a huge deal unless you were hoping to finish in time for a show after dinner.

Why I choose MTD even though some of my most cherished cruise memories were at assigned dining with new friends: I like the main dining room but do not want to commit to a specific time. We have often met people that we liked to visit with during the day and this makes it possible to dine with them in the MDR (one time it was a couple we met in line to get into the dining room:o). I have never had to wait too long and just plan that I may have to wait on elegant night. As others have said, you don't have to worry if you are on an excursion or doing something and then have to decide - cut this short and get dressed for dinner, skip the shower and hope nobody notices (j/k :D), or miss out on my favorite menu:( I am very thankful that both assigned and your time are both available.

When it’s just my wife and I, we love anytime dining. Lots of flexibility. When there is a bigger group of us, we tend to go with set dining. I suppose with anytime, the downside might be the wait. But we have never waited more than 10 minutes for the two of us. Most often, we don’t wait at all.

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Does any one know if you go to a separate sign up area on the Magic?

Can you sign up for a certain time on a daily basis, we enjoy a table for 2

Is YTD in one of the dining rooms on Vista/Horizon? Or both?

YTD is the best change in cruising for us in the past decade. No more dining with strangers and you eat when you are hungry. I just don't have a set schedule on a cruise so I know I'll be ready to eat at a set time nightly.

Can you sign up for a certain time on a daily basis, we enjoy a table for 2

Stick with assigned dinning if you want a certain time and table for 2 (request this before cruise or on boarding day with Maitre'd). YTD is available for whatever time you want (the name indicates the process) and you can ask for a table for 2 when you get there, this being said, depending on the time you want you may have to wait if busy time.

So it is not guaranteed that you will be seated immediately and you cannot reserve a specfic time with YTD. This is more for the flexible cruiser that may or may not choose to eat at same time each night.

I think it all depends. The past two cruises we had YTD and I felt that my service was mediocre and sometimes not really good at all. Sometimes it took a really long time to get our food like we were almost forgotten about. My cruise coming up we chose set dining and hope maybe we will get better service. There really is pros and cons to both YTD and assigned dinner time.

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