Anytime dining disadvantages????

[valtandc]

I can't figure out why I would go with an early seating vs anytime dining? I can only think of one......that you would have different staff servers each night.....but is this really a big deal......

[Mekamax]

Actually you can request the same servers each night if you want. We have done this before. The only disadvantage I have seen at all is that you don't get a variety of bread rolls to choose from at dinner - just white ones... :) You don't get to meet dinner mates that you might like and become friends with.... We really like eating when we want and when we meet people around the ship and want to have dinner with them we can so it is great for us. Debbie

[Tbay-eh]

I can't figure out why I would go with an early seating vs anytime dining? I can only think of one......that you would have different staff servers each night.....but is this really a big deal......

 

Many people will say they like having the same wait staff each night (but can end up with a dud as well) because their drink will be waiting for them etc. What if you don't make it that evening - late getting back from an excursion, ill, fall asleep etc. are you charged for that drink being there and you are not. If you like your wait staff at your time dining you can request to sit in their area - may have a bit of a wait though. Sometimes I'm just not hungry at that time or super hungry and ate already. It is an individual call.

[tef43]

We have found the level of service for YTD to be lacking, vs main or late seating.

 

Your mileage may vary.

[zqvol]

I can't figure out why I would go with an early seating vs anytime dining? I can only think of one......that you would have different staff servers each night.....but is this really a big deal......

 

There is no disadvantage and if you want the same wait staff each night all you have to do is ask.

[KroozLov'r]

I can't figure out why I would go with an early seating vs anytime dining? I can only think of one......that you would have different staff servers each night.....but is this really a big deal......

 

You can request the same servers every night, but there could be a wait. We tried anytime dining once, we ended up going to dinner within the same 15 minute time frame every night.

[eas2225]

We like the early seating because we always travel with a combination of family and friends, so even though we like to do different things during the day, we all meet for dinner to discuss our day and plan our evening.

[timh111]

We did the "Your Time Dining" on the Dream this past April. It was the 1st time we had done this in the prior 7 cruises. At the onset, we didn't like the idea of having a different server for each seating. On the 2nd nite, we were seated at "Conrad's" (waiter) table and for the rest of the cruise requested him only. The only draw back to that was if all his tables were full, they gave us a pager and paged us when one of his tables became available. The longest wait we had was 15 minutes. But Conrad was GREAT, it was more than worth the wait.

[SASA13]

We were on the Miracle this month, and we lucked out in having a fantastic wait staff on the first evening ( Osden and crew ). Every night after that, we requested Osden, and the maximum wait time we had was 20 minutes on one of the formal nights. The only thing I noticed ( which was not a disadvantage to me ) is that Mario the Maitre'd never made his way up to the second level of the dining room ( which is where the your time dining was). We loved the your time dining, and will do it

from now on.

[cabrioclo]

in my experience...my-time-dining was great and were able to get the same server by requesting them even if we arrived on different times of the nite. one nite we didnt want to wait the 10 mins to get our requested server so we tried another server. one nite the maitre d came over to us to see how things were going and told us the my-time-dining servers are handpicked (i assumed this means they are the best). did i mention Mele' from Macedonia on this board before? he was great! ask for him on the Miracle (he was going on vaca on 9/12). looking back now we should have waited that 10 minutes the one nite we cheated on him!

[uppitycats]

You're probably only going to get responses from those of us who love anytime dining, but...

 

I can't think of any DISadvantages at all. Sometimes there is a slight wait, but as the others have reported, in my experience it hasn't been more than 10-15 minutes. Usually we've been seated immediately.

 

We don't like the concept of the "waiter is my friend", and "knows what I want before I get to the table" -- as WE don't always know what we want before we sit down and decide! So having our drinks there, or coffee poured, or any of the rest of it (which happens with traditional dining) has not been an advantage to us when we've had to endure that.

 

Nor has it been an advantage to have to make small talk every night with table mates with whom we might not have anything in common, or not be able to communicate with (we don't speak their language..our bad, for sure, but still it's a problem), or frankly just don't like. (And I'll be the first to acknowledge that it may well be us that are the bad guys, here!).

 

 

As for meeting up with a group -- you can still do that with anytime dining. Just agree as a group when you're going to eat dinner, the first to show up tells the hostess how many will be at the table, and you're on your way. Not a big deal at all.

 

And with any luck at all, we avoid the "dancing waiters" thing, and the unctous maitre'D coming round for a tip, when he's done nothing for us to earn it.

[A&Jfamily]

I can't figure out why I would go with an early seating vs anytime dining? I can only think of one......that you would have different staff servers each night.....but is this really a big deal......

 

 

For my kids, it wasn't a "big deal," but they both agreed they liked having the same staff each night. I know other posters have had no problem doing that, but the larger your party, the harder it is. We had waits of 30 min and 1 hr when we tried to seat the 5 of us - can't imagine what it would have been if we insisted on having the same staff!

 

Since we didn't have the same staff, it was impossible to provide an extra tip for service well done at the end of the cruise.

 

And we do like the "predictability" of having the same staff. I am able to tell them the first night that the boys would like milk with dinner, and when they were younger, a fruit plate, ready to snack on to ward off hunger. If we are not going to be there one night, we simply tell them.

 

I can understand liking the flexibility if you are just a couple, but with families, I prefer the traditional dining.

[DryCreek]

My wife and I have the "Your Time" dining option for our Ecstasy 11/27 cruise. When you have this option, are you seated at one dining room versus the other, or are both the Wind Song and Wind Star divided into scheduled and unscheduled sections?

 

If you would like to see the dancing waiter show, what time should you arrive at the dining room? I guess if we find it annoying then we could also choose to miss it after that night - since we know what time it occurs.

[valtandc]

For my kids, it wasn't a "big deal," but they both agreed they liked having the same staff each night. I know other posters have had no problem doing that, but the larger your party, the harder it is. We had waits of 30 min and 1 hr when we tried to seat the 5 of us - can't imagine what it would have been if we insisted on having the same staff!

 

Since we didn't have the same staff, it was impossible to provide an extra tip for service well done at the end of the cruise.

 

And we do like the "predictability" of having the same staff. I am able to tell them the first night that the boys would like milk with dinner, and when they were younger, a fruit plate, ready to snack on to ward off hunger. If we are not going to be there one night, we simply tell them.

 

I can understand liking the flexibility if you are just a couple, but with families, I prefer the traditional dining.

 

some great points by those for and against. thanks. thinking we have a party of 7. and an elderly diner who can't stand waiting for a long time and kids who might like same waiter.....

[tulsacubfan]

I don't think there are really advantages or disadvantages either way you go. Personal preference comes into play more than advantage/disadvantage.

 

I didn't know about the bread choice though....that could be a disadvantage for us in that we prefer the variety of bread :)

[gtalum]

We did our first Carnival anytime dining cruise this month, and I can't think of a single disadvantage. I guess if the ship is packed there might be a wait, but we never had one. I'm happy to go get a drink for a half hour anyway.

 

We had a choice of breads each night.

 

I don't like set dining times, I don't like the fake "friendship" from the waiters, and I don't care if we get seated with other cruisers. We just want to eat when we want. :D

 

It's perfect for us.

[Lib0007]

Why would this section of the dining room not have access to all types of bread?? I will be trying YTD on my next cruise. I am one that likes to attend all the shows . . so I will still have to time dinner around this - so it might not be very different than having a set dinner time for me.

[MaiTaiMary]

We had the same wait staff and table every night when we had anytime dining. The longest we ever had to wait was about 10 minutes.

[stevenr597]

I can't figure out why I would go with an early seating vs anytime dining? I can only think of one......that you would have different staff servers each night.....but is this really a big deal......

 

My wife and I are Platinum Level cruisers and took a cruise on the MS Carnival Freedom this past June. We had initially selected late seating, but after Carnival messed up our table assigned we elected to switch to Anytime Dining.

 

Pluses:

1) We were able to eat as early or as late as we would have wished

2) If most cases we were able to select what part of the dining room we wished to be seated.

3) We were able to select the size of the table.

4) In most cases the wait was relatively brief

 

Negetives:

1) On two instances we did have a very long major (not a major problem)

2) Some of the waiter were excellent, but on at least 3 nights the staff left much to be desired. It appeared that they were simple going through the motions with little if any knowledge as to how to properly serve.

3) By the end of the cruise, by process of natural selection, many of us had figured out which waiters to ask for and which to avoid. This did lead to a progressively longer wait as by the end of the cruise.

 

Summary:

Anytime dining is a major plus. But especially on the Freedom, Carnival has a lot of work to iron out the bugs.

[CrymeLord]

I find that in general if you have the same wait staff every night the level of service is higher because they want to get a nice tip at the end of the cruise. I did anytime dining this cruise on NCL and I certainly noticed a different level of service.

 

And with assigned seating you get a chance to get to know some other people (if you aren't a people person). Last cruise I became friends with two couples. This time I didn't meet a soul.

 

That said I don't know what I prefer.

[S.S.Oceanlover]

We have found the level of service for YTD to be lacking, vs main or late seating.

 

Your mileage may vary.

 

True. I prefer the lido.:)

 

Bill

[S.S.Oceanlover]

I don't think there are really advantages or disadvantages either way you go. Personal preference comes into play more than advantage/disadvantage.

 

I didn't know about the bread choice though....that could be a disadvantage for us in that we prefer the variety of bread :)

 

That wasn't our experience on the Valor a couple weeks ago. They put the basket of bread on the table and it had assorted rolls/bread in it.

 

With traditional do they still come around with the basket and ask you what you would like?

 

Bill

[mateome]

We prefer assigned late dining because it helps us avoid one of the most annoying discussions of any vacation - when do you want to go eat? (second only to where/what do you want to eat, which isn't an issue because we only eat dinner in the MDR). Everyone knows from day 1 what time dinner is and snacks/naps/showers according to that time. Not having to have that discussion really relieves stress for me on vacation!

[drosphot]

The only disadvantage I have seen at all is that you don't get a variety of bread rolls to choose from at dinner - just white ones...

 

Really? :confused: What's the reasoning behind this? Can I request (and get) some wheat rolls. That's a weird exception for ATD, they are getting food from the same galley, right?

[valtandc]

We prefer assigned late dining because it helps us avoid one of the most annoying discussions of any vacation - when do you want to go eat? (second only to where/what do you want to eat, which isn't an issue because we only eat dinner in the MDR). Everyone knows from day 1 what time dinner is and snacks/naps/showers according to that time. Not having to have that discussion really relieves stress for me on vacation!

 

wow...what a great point....i never would think of this as being a hassle if you asked me......but its always a hassle in my family. especially with a group of 7......then some are lagging.......others ready now......so we all know what time dinner is.