Our experience with Anytime Dining

[bear17]

Just off the Island Princess. We chose Anytime Dining given our great experience with it on Celebrity last spring. On Princess, Anytime Dining is so OVERBOOKED that most nights you have to show up, put in your name, take a buzzer and hang around for 45 minutes waiting to be buzzed. On the formal photo nights, when standing around you are jockeying for space with all those backdrops and folks waiting for photos. I think some people were able to make reservations if they called between certain hours... we never did figure that one out. Anyway, after the third night we BEGGED to be switched to Traditional Dining and got late sitting and were so much happier.

 

Celebrity only sells so many Anytime slots and you have to pre-pay the gratutities as an added way of limiting those opting for Anytime. After the slots are sold, the remaining guests must take traditional seating. That meant that we NEVER waited longer than it took the maitre d' to walk back to the desk and pick up the next set of diners. It was just so civilized!!

[chrysalis]

Guess you could have caught up on your sleep while waiting for a table:D

 

Sounds like you will be sticking with Celebrity in the future.

[Pia1913]

Guess you could have caught up on your sleep while waiting for a table:D

 

Sounds like you will be sticking with Celebrity in the future.

 

LOL. My thoughts exactly, though you beat me to it. ;)

[RickEk]

And yes, if you go during "prime time" you will wait. Go a bit earlier or a bit later and there is no wait at all... :rolleyes:

[Nomsayin]

Sometimes, we have been seated promptly, and others not so much. Perhaps it should be called Anytime Waiting;)

[BuzzBuzzen]

or the " when will i eat" sweepstakes :)

[cantwaitfornextcruise]

Guess you could have caught up on your sleep while waiting for a table:D

 

Sounds like you will be sticking with Celebrity in the future.

 

LOL. My thoughts exactly, though you beat me to it. ;)

 

LOL I'll try anytime might loose some weight this next cruise

[Griller]

We were 28 days on Coral P recently and only had to wait twice for a table for Anytime, Christmas Day and New Years Eve.

 

So we weren't unhappy.

 

Some ships and sets of passengers it works better than others.

[shepp]

Funny, because when I was on a sold-out cruise on the Island, I switched from late traditional to anytime, and never had more than a minute's wait. Guess it's the luck of the draw..

[Treven]

I've never had to wait with anytime dining.:), but then I do wait in line waiting for the doors to open - generally at 5:30. I'll then eat in the buffet for a small meal about 9 or so, so my blood sugar isn't too far out of sorts.

[hubofhockey]

My experience is that if you arrive around 6:30, there is no wait. If you arrive 7:00 or later, you wait.

[Carolyn R]

Since Princess instituted 5:30 early traditional dining in one of the anytime dining rooms, long waits are very common for anytime dining before 7:30. Allowing reservations in the one anytime dining room between 5:30 and 7:30 also adds to the problem.

[KirkNC]

My experience is that if you arrive around 6:30, there is no wait. If you arrive 7:00 or later, you wait.

 

I think that is the key.

[Simply Sam]

For me you are on a cruise to relax and take whatever comes...if you want a set time then go traditional if you want flexibility than go with anytime (my choice) We have never had trouble with anytime and have met some interesting people as a result of being willing to share a table. To each their own I guess (never have been given a buzzer and we go at different times each night):)

[dolphinmar]

I've probably said this before on another thread, but what works for us with Anytime Dining, is to go to one of the bars close by, order a drink and then my DH goes to the desk and gets the buzzer. We never wait more than 30 minutes. If they can seat us right away, my husband comes back to get me and we carry our cocktails/wine with us to our table.

 

Works most of the time!

[swedish weave]

We just returned from a 14 day to Hawaii on the Golden, and at most had to wait five minutes once or twice. The Donatelli dining room converts to anytime at 7:30pm, and we had no waiting at all there.

[Pam in CA]

IMHO, the Princess Anytime dining is very poorly managed. As long as they allow those from Traditional to be seated any time they want, things won't improve. I've done Anytime twice and had long waits both times, even getting to the dining room quite late (about 8:30pm.) I've also been on quite a few cruises where the Maitre d' seated Anytime passengers at empty Traditional tables because the waits were over 45 minutes. Some cruises, they did that every night. When I asked, the Maitre d' said that the waits were awful. :(

 

On HAL, if you have Traditional and want to eat in their Open seating, you have to request it ahead of time, are given a sticker to add to your card which shows the change, and it's a one-way, permanent switch.

[RickEk]

By the by... we had Anytime dining on our last cruise on the Sapphire Princess and never had to wait... granted, we had arranged a table for two for the entire voyage, but there were empty tables around us every night...

[Hlitner]

We have done anytime dining on Princess many times (on many ships) and never wait more then a few minutes. Since we prefer to dine around 8 or 8:15 we miss the rush of the early diners. We also prefer to share large tables and this also helps reduce any waiting time. Those wanting tables for 2 (without a reservation) or with other specific requests (such as location, waiter, etc) are usually the ones waiting.

 

Hank

[lor74]

We just got off the Island and had no problem with the anytime dinning...but we made our reservations at 8am. We chose the times we wanted after looking at the days patter and seeing what the entertainment options were.

[Loonbeam]

It does depend on the MD/Headwaiters. On the Island, cards were checked if you did not have a reservation (where they had your cabin # already) and what a surprise, the waits were minimal most days...

 

IMHO, the Princess Anytime dining is very poorly managed. As long as they allow those from Traditional to be seated any time they want, things won't improve. I've done Anytime twice and had long waits both times, even getting to the dining room quite late (about 8:30pm.) I've also been on quite a few cruises where the Maitre d' seated Anytime passengers at empty Traditional tables because the waits were over 45 minutes. Some cruises, they did that every night. When I asked, the Maitre d' said that the waits were awful. :(

 

On HAL, if you have Traditional and want to eat in their Open seating, you have to request it ahead of time, are given a sticker to add to your card which shows the change, and it's a one-way, permanent switch.

[canmark]

I wonder if the size of the group matters? When I was on Ruby Princess last summer, we usually had a group of 8 or more people and never had to wait more than 5 minutes. One time, though, there was just 4 of us, and we had to wait 15-20 minutes (which we did at the nearby bar). Perhaps there are fewer tables for 2/4, and thus small groups would have to wait longer than groups of 8/10, for whom there are plenty of large tables.

[srpilo]

Guess you could have caught up on your sleep while waiting for a table:D

 

Sounds like you will be sticking with Celebrity in the future.

 

 

:D:D:D

 

 

 

Yep

Srpilo

[Cruisin' Chick]

We only had one real wait for the days we did go to the MDR as we always went with the share a table option, once we did get to the beginning of the line. We just didn't care for anytime dining for so many other reasons.

[ONT-CA]

Provided you are able to wait until after 7:30 pm, you can obtain the same table for each and every evening after having made arrangements with the table captain and his right hand. We arranged to have the same table and simply walked into the dining room at the allotted time with a smile and a nod from the table captain.