Changing from TD to AD

[tlm]

My Mom and sister are on the Emerald Princess Jan 24. They are booked for late dining (8:30) in the Traditional Dining Room.

 

Two questions:

 

Can they just go to the Anytime Dining when they wish?

 

Is the menu the same in the two dining rooms?

 

 

Thanks for your help

 

Toni

[wineforhealth]

My Mom and sister are on the Emerald Princess Jan 24. They are booked for late dining (8:30) in the Traditional Dining Room.

 

Two questions:

 

Can they just go to the Anytime Dining when they wish?

Yes you should have no problem moving to anytime

 

Is the menu the same in the two dining rooms?

Yes the menu is the same

 

Thanks for your help

 

Toni

 

Have a great cruise

[loveJake]

My Mom and sister are on the Emerald Princess Jan 24. They are booked for late dining (8:30) in the Traditional Dining Room.

 

Two questions:

 

Can they just go to the Anytime Dining when they wish?

 

Yes, as soon as they changed from TD to AD, either before then go or when they board the ship. You can not go back and forth between the 2, you have to go to your assigned dining.

[paul929207]

There ar many people waitlisted for TD. Tell your mother and sister to do them a favor and call Princess or their TA and switch.

 

The menus and the dress code are the same for AD & TD

[Colo Cruiser]

They would need to change to anytime.

[rjack22]

To clarify this. If your sister and mom are assigned to traditional and want to change to Anytime you can do this. But doing so will mean that they will dine in the Anytime dining room for the rest of the cruise after they make the switch. This is easy to arrange.

 

If it were the other way around and they wanted to get into Traditional then it becomes difficult as there is usually a waiting list to get into Traditional.

 

You are assigned either Anytime or Traditional. You are not supposed to flit back and forth at your will. So no, if you are assigned Traditional you are not supposed to pop into Anytime one or two nights because you feel like it.

 

Sometimes your cabin number is checked to get into Anytime, other times it is not. There will be people on here you will tell you that it fine to go back and forth...but it really is unfair to those who are assigned to Anytime dining. Too many people eating in Anytime causes long waits. And if you have been assigned to Traditional you seats go empty in the dining room where you are SUPPOSED to eat.

[cynbar]

As the above poster mentioned, it really isn't fair to just pop into anytime when you have a space available in traditional. Some posters will tell you this is allowed, othertimes traditional diners are turned away from the anytime DRs----there doesn't seem to be any consistency across the fleet. But please, remind your mother and sister that this really lengthens the lines for those who have chosen anytime.

[loveJake]

Just wanted to add that I do think cruise lines are starting to check to make sure people are going to their correct assignments. We have had anytime on every ship when available and most times were not asked to show our room keys. We just got back from a Carnival Dream cruise in December. We were asked our cabin number each night, by the end of the cruise the girl knew us, but still asked our room numbers and went into the computer to check, we had 3 cabins and a party of 8, she wanted all 3 cabins numbers before we were seated.

[paul929207]

Just wanted to add that I do think cruise lines are starting to check to make sure people are going to their correct assignments. We have had anytime on every ship when available and most times were not asked to show our room keys. We just got back from a Carnival Dream cruise in December. We were asked our cabin number each night, by the end of the cruise the girl knew us, but still asked our room numbers and went into the computer to check, we had 3 cabins and a party of 8, she wanted all 3 cabins numbers before we were seated.

Did they turn away TDs sneaking into AD?

[loveJake]

Our table, same one every night, was all the way in the back of the room, so after we were seated we could not see. When we went there really were no lines, we never waited, so I really did not see, nor care. The reason for my post was to try to tell people they may be asked to leave if they do not follow their dining choice.

[chasetf]

..............Can they just go to the Anytime Dining when they wish? ........................Toni

My feelings are: you probably can get away with it but.......

 

First: You have committed (or been assigned TD) so there is a wait staff and probably table mates (unless you have your own table) waiting and expecting you to be there. It has always irritated me waiting for someone to arrive at our table so we can order, who has not let us know they were not going to be there.

 

Second: AD is limited and has its peak times. If a TD ignores their time (see above) they then create more work for the wait staff in AD and make someone else wait for the table they have taken that wasn't planned for them.

 

Third: If you think you might want variable dining hours some night.... sign up for AD. If you cannot commit to eating the same time each night.... sign up for AD.

[awhcruiser]

Shame on TD's for trying to sneak in...

 

Did they turn away TDs sneaking into AD?

[travelbuds]

As the above poster mentioned, it really isn't fair to just pop into anytime .......this really lengthens the lines for those who have chosen anytime.

We have only done the traditional dining and wanted to try anytime dining. If you have anytime dining, how often (and long) do you have to wait for a table? Don't you sign up for a time for each evening? When do you sign up for the times? How far ahead can you sign up for times?

Thank you.

[Tina G]

We have only done the traditional dining and wanted to try anytime dining. If you have anytime dining, how often (and long) do you have to wait for a table? Don't you sign up for a time for each evening? When do you sign up for the times? How far ahead can you sign up for times?

Thank you.

Anytime dining is just like dining in a nice restaurant at home. Certain times are busier, and if you are really in a hurry, choose a less busy time. The first night, anytime is crowded, with everybody trying to eat early. After that, it settles down. We have never had to wait more than a few minutes, except on first night. Expect to share a table with at least two other couples. We think it is fun meeting new people every night.:)

[maddiesky]

My Mom and sister are on the Emerald Princess Jan 24. They are booked for late dining (8:30) in the Traditional Dining Room.

 

Two questions:

 

Can they just go to the Anytime Dining when they wish?

 

Is the menu the same in the two dining rooms?

 

 

Thanks for your help

 

Toni

Ask to change to Anytime. I am in Oshawa too:)

[caribill]

We have only done the traditional dining and wanted to try anytime dining. If you have anytime dining, how often (and long) do you have to wait for a table? Depends on how many others want to eat at the same time. Usually very busy right after the Captain's Welcome Party in the atrium. On the nights we did not have a reservation, the line was not long and we only had to wait one night and it was almost an hour.

 

Don't you sign up for a time for each evening? You do not have to, just show up at the time you want to eat. They do take reservations on most of the ships. Some ships allow reservations during the entire time and some restrict it to the non-busy times.

 

When do you sign up for the times? See your next question. Sometimes you can sign up with the headwaiter, sometimes you need to call the "dine" line.

 

How far ahead can you sign up for times? Some ships require you to sign up each day starting around 8 AM. Some allow you to sign up for the entire (or rest of) cruise.

 

See above