Any time dining or Traditional dining?

[dstables]

We sailed last month on Princess and did any time dining and very much enjoyed this option. We were a party of two. We are next sailing on the Miracle sailing out on December 20 and are now a party of ten, 2 families. Some in our party prefer earlier dining and some of us prefer later dining. We would like to dine together and thought that doing any time dining and going to the dining room for 7:30 might be a good compromise as this is not as early as the 6:00 seating or as late as the 8:15 seating and we were thinking that 7:30 might be early enough to avoid the lines that form for the 8:15 seating. On Princess last month they had 3 dining rooms. One for traditional dining and two for any time dining. With having separate dining rooms you were never caught in the lines forming for the traditional dining. Also on Princess when doing any time dining if there was a table location and wait staff that you enjoyed you could ask the maitre d for a standing reservation for that time. Can you do this on Carnival. Will it be difficult to get a table for 10 or two tables for 5 close together at 7:30 on the Miracle? Just hoping not to have to wait a long time to sit our large party. :confused:

[*Mach*]

You might have some problems with your party of 10... Here's what Carnival has to say about the subject...

“Your Time” Open Seating Dining

“Your Time” open seating is offered fleetwide. Guests on “Your Time” open seating may dine any time in the Main Dining Room between 5:45pm and 9:30pm and are able to request any table size or waiter. Guests are seated on a first come, first served basis depending on party size. Pagers are provided if a modest wait time is required so guests may relax elsewhere on the ship until their table is ready; in most cases, guests are accommodated within 20 minutes. Advance table reservations are not accepted on board. All guests must be present before the party is seated.

Since most tables are configured for parties up to 6 guests and many cannot be moved together to make larger tables, parties greater than 8 guests may need to be accommodated at several tables and the wait can sometimes be more than one hour. It is important to advise accordingly as to manage expectations and avoid disappointment once on board. We highly suggest that parties of 8 or more guests choose the traditional assigned seating (6:00pm or 8:15pm) to assure sitting together at one table or several tables close together.

https://www.goccl.com/irman/bookccl/sections/shipboard/DiningOnboard_master.html

[firefly333]

A party of 10 doing anytime will probably best split up if you dont want a wait. 7:30 will still be popular and there is less anytime seating on Carnival than on Princess. Expect to wait if you want to be seated together.

 

Carnival has two dining rooms and part of the middle one is used for anytime.

 

Maybe you all dont have to always eat together and just do it a time or two? Its more meant for a lot of couples as there will be a lot of 2 tops.

[martinchem]

Another option, and especially good if there are children is to consider going to the buffet once or twice.

[flc]

We sailed to Alaska on the Spirit July 2010 ..... We were a party of 4 couples and our TA (Not a Carnival TA) screwed up our booking & dinning time due to a last minute final payment .... there is a long story here so I will just comment on the dinning issue.

 

We were "Forced" into Anytime dinning and was told we would like it......NOT :mad:

 

It was awful.... at least that was our experience. I would never try that again..... just my opinion.

[katiel53]

We love anytime dining, but if we have more than 5 people, we opt for a scheduled dining time. My DH and I don't like to go to early dining, but we have done early when we were on Miracle because on previous cruises with the same people, they went to late to accommodate us.

 

On Dream next Saturday, there are 4 of us. They like early we like late so we are compromising with my time dining. We did this last year on Dream with the same people and totally enjoyed it.

 

I think every time we have gone with a big group (10 or more) of family and friends, because kids were included in the group, we did early. I don't seem to have suffered doing it, but that isn't my choice of dining time.

 

I guess you and your traveling companions either have to agree to be split up or wait a long time. Your other choice is a compromise and go with the majority. Choose early is that's what most want or late if that's what most want.

[Lady_Jag]

I have to agree that with a party of 10, it's best to stick to traditional dining on Carnival. The Miracle has only one dining room, and the lower level of the dining room is dedicated to the traditional dining while the upper level is for Your Time Dining. Check out the deck plans on the Carnival site and notice how few tables there are for 10 or more, especially on the upper level: http://www.carnival.com/Deck_Plan.aspx?shipCode=MI

[peachpitts]

We have chosen any time dining to have more flexibility. Originally we booked late dining not to be rushed at shore excursions and the more I thought about it, the more any time dining made more sense. I switched us to anytime and I'm really happy we did. This way if we decide not to do an excursion, we can eat earlier, or if we do an excursion we have time to shower and change and eat later up to 9:30pm. To me it's a no brainer.:)

[loohoo1]

We just got off the Spirit and had a great time but the only truely disappointing feature of our cruise was the Your Time Dining option. We are a family of 6 and have used this option on RCI and loved it. However, on this cruise, each time we went to the DR, the hostess 1) tried to talk us into taking 2 tables (NO WAY- we are a family with 4 kids!) 2) seemed angry when we did not agree to 2 tables. 6 of our 7 nights, no matter what time we went to the DR, we were given a pager and had to wait b/t 30-38 min (DH wears a stop watch, lol).

 

I will never again use YTD for our family (on Carnival). Perhaps if it is just DH and myself. MIL booked a cruise for 19 of us on the Glory in July and luckily we chose early dining. I know we won't all get seated together at the same table, but at least we won't have to wait.

[dttampa]

We were on a back to back Miracle cruise in February.

 

While we asked for Your time dining, many people were bumped there. Mostly because early dining was full.

 

We had a large group of friends who wanted to dine together. Sometimes as many as 10. It was difficult and confusing. Especially if there were different couples with us each night. The shortest wait we had was 15 min, the longest, more than an hour. Some of the servers were great, others were very poor. We even tried gathering everyone's sail and sign cards and going to the desk early with them, but still the wait was loooong. We finally gave up and either went to the steakhouse or the buffet.

 

The funny thing is, they sent us "we're sorry" plates of fudge and stuff 4 times! I don't want to hear I'm sorry, please just give me a table.

[DEBnGAB]

Our party of 8 had no wait on the Paradise in March with YTD. But in Sept, we may have up to 11 people and will prob switch to set time dining because of the size of party.

[peachpitts]

We just got off the Spirit and had a great time but the only truely disappointing feature of our cruise was the Your Time Dining option. We are a family of 6 and have used this option on RCI and loved it. However, on this cruise, each time we went to the DR, the hostess 1) tried to talk us into taking 2 tables (NO WAY- we are a family with 4 kids!) 2) seemed angry when we did not agree to 2 tables. 6 of our 7 nights, no matter what time we went to the DR, we were given a pager and had to wait b/t 30-38 min (DH wears a stop watch, lol).

 

I will never again use YTD for our family (on Carnival). Perhaps if it is just DH and myself. MIL booked a cruise for 19 of us on the Glory in July and luckily we chose early dining. I know we won't all get seated together at the same table, but at least we won't have to wait.

 

I've heard much more positive than negative reviews on YTD. I think it seems to work best with parties less than 6, so that probably was your trouble. I don't expect any problems using YTD:) with my family of 4 and am really glad we switched to this more flexible time scheduling. I don't want to be locked into a specific time for dining, especially when I'm on vacay.

[serene56]

Anytime dining works well for 2/4 people (sometimes a group of 6.)

For your party size may I suggest a visit to the Matre d the first day--in line early and request a table for your party size for 7:30 for the week?