Anytime Dining

[prillacj]

Will be cruising next year on the Oasis. What exactly is anytime dining? Do you like the anytime dining or prefer the early or late seating dining options?

[uppitycats]

Will be cruising next year on the Oasis. What exactly is anytime dining? Do you like the anytime dining or prefer the early or late seating dining options?

 

 

Anytime dining means simply that -- you show up at the dining room (some ships designate specific dining rooms, others have specific areas of the dining room sectioned off)

 

you show up at the dining room when it's open (usually between 5:30 and 9:30 at night, or within a half hour of those times)

 

tell the hostess how many are in your party, and are seated. You can eat just with those you've travelled with, or if you find folks on the cruise (like, on an excursion, or at the bar, or other venue) and want to share a meal with them, you simply tell the hostess how many, and you'll be seated accordingly.

 

Apparently on some ships (I don't know about yours, specifically), you may end up being seated with strangers, but generally you eat with whom you want to eat, unless you specifically ask for something different.

 

Much like a land-based restaurant. You show up, you might have to wait for a few minutes for him/her to identify a table to suit your needs, and you're seated. The waiter comes, hands you a menu, and you start your order. Or if you want, you can make a reservation the day before, or early in the day, for a specific time.

 

You seem to know what traditional dining is -- set dining times, early or late, you have to be there, you eat with strangers (at least they're strangers the first night..after that, you may or may not be comfortable with them), and dinner is served at about the same time to everyone at that seating time.

 

I much prefer the flexible dining. I've experienced both, and the flexible dining is much more to my liking.

[cb at sea]

Most folks who prefer the "anytime" thing like it because they want to be alone....

few MTDer's will request tablemates.

 

If you enjoy having tablemates (we do!!!), stick with traditional. Pick the time closest to when you normally have dinner. We are late eaters, so we do late seating....plus, it gives us a chance to have a few drinks, get a good "buzz" going while seeing that evenings entertainment, before eating!

 

If you like to party it up after you eat, then do early (main) seating!

[LHT28]

We like the anytime dining ..you can eat when you want (within the dining hours)

Different tablemates every night or dine alone the choice is yours.

[Plant]

We enjoy the Anytime option, but we almost always ask to be seated with others. We've met some very interesting and nice people at dinner. The biggest problem is having to introduce yourself over and over :).

 

If we don't feel like dining in the MDR we don't have to notify anyone and if we're just coming in from an excursion we don't have to rush. We do usually have to wait a short while to be seated, but we're in no hurry :cool:.

[Cruisin' Chick]

We have always gone with late dining and I think I would much prefer having traditional dining. IMO, it's what sets dinner on a cruise ship apart from just going into any restaurant back home.

[Canuker]

So, you could leave the dining room after your meal and.....go right back in again, at another table and have seconds!

Or thirds!

Like Mr. Creosote.

 

(Yes, I know you can ask for a second dish anyway.

If my favourite - lamb shanks are the menu, they can't get rid of me!)

[RetireeWannabee]

I dig open seating because I don't want a schedule on vacation. I want to stay in port as long as I wish and get ready for dinner at my own pace and get there when I'm hungry. I won't make a reservation.

 

I also think it is fun to meet different dining companions each night.

 

It's not important to me to have the same wait staff each evening altho some place great value on that relationship.

[Treven]

I always do the anytime dining & prefer eating alone. Many times I'll do dinner in the buffet or one of the speciality restaurants. I don't think the food is much different between the dining rooms & the buffet.

 

Of course the primary differrence is in one venue you are being served & the other you walk through the serving lines. One of the attractions to me is that in the buffet I can see what the dishes look like; if they look appetizing or not.

[pg.]

We have done traditional late, and early seating. We have also done the Anytime dining,, and we LOVE it. We will never go back to having to rush around or wait ,, for dinner,, we dress and get ready and go when WE want to.. we don't mind if we have to wait a bit,, we have found if you go early ( before 7) or late after 8,, then the waits are minimal . We also find that since we are happy to join tables we rarely have to wait at all. We have on occaison sat alone,, but thats if we are with our kids, or the one time the sea was rough and I felt a bit green. LOL

[Sheffie]

We did the MTD (RCI's version) on our last cruise and really liked it. The first night we had a fabulous waiter, and the second night had one who was so-so. On the third night, we asked for the great waiter, and every night after that we were seated in his area. One night we had to wait about 45 minutes to be at his table, but it was worth the wait.

[beachchick]

Most folks who prefer the "anytime" thing like it because they want to be alone....

few MTDer's will request tablemates.

 

If you enjoy having tablemates (we do!!!), stick with traditional. Pick the time closest to when you normally have dinner. We are late eaters, so we do late seating....plus, it gives us a chance to have a few drinks, get a good "buzz" going while seeing that evenings entertainment, before eating!

 

If you like to party it up after you eat, then do early (main) seating!

 

This may be true, but I don't know if it is. Frankly, neither do you unless you've actually polled "most" people who like anytime dining options and they've told you that the main reason is because they want to dine with just their traveling companions (i.e., "alone"). Blanket statements like that are troublesome to me simply because they are not based on any fact, but are based on personal bias and assumptions. I don't presume to know why "most" people who like anytime dining enjoy it. I only know why we do (multiple reasons) and why certain members here do because they've stated why for themselves.

 

IMO (and based on what members here have mentioned over the past few years) some people enjoy anytime dining primarily for that reason. There are many other reasons: Don't want to have a set time so they can dine when they're actually hungry and not when the cruise line tells them to eat (or be "banished" to the buffet, room service, or surcharge venue); couldn't get the dining assignment they prefer/need, so chose anytime dining for a particular cruise; have children and want the flexibility to work around their needs; have a medical condition and need to dine within a time frame that set dining doesn't accomodate; want to have a rest after tiring port days, but don't want to dine as late as the late dining time. No doubt there are many other reasons I haven't listed.

 

prillacj: We prefer anytime options, but set dining isn't horrible. When we have to use assigned dining, we choose the late seating because we usually need to rest before dinner, don't like to be rushed, enjoy a pre-dinner drink and saunter around the ship, and are usually not ready to eat early. I think that cb at sea makes a valid point that if you want to be sure to dine at a large table with many table mates, assigned dining is your best bet to ensure it. It doesn't matter in the slightest what anyone else prefers, you should choose what appeals most to you.

 

beachchick