Pet Peeve of the Day: Why do some past cruisers seem to give out bad information?!

[tracyanns]

We are taking my in-laws on their first cruise in a few months. Friends of theirs have cruised 2 times before and keep telling them crap that is not true! It is driving me nuts because they then call us to ask us about this or that!!!

 

So, the latest example....

 

We have all booked Any Time Dining...they are booked with us and have late dining...

 

They are telling them that even though they have late dining they can still eat with us. I have told them no like 3 times but when tells them this they keep saying, yes, they can.

 

Now, I have cruised CCL a few times but only done the ATD 3 times...has something changed that I don't know about? I thought if you had assigned you had to do that time and couldn't do the ATD?

 

I am not talking about the steakhouse or the buffet or going to the maitre'd to have it all changed...

 

Can assigned seaters eat with the ATD diners?

[big_duck]

You are correct. They may not.

 

That doesn't mean the Hostess won't let something pass. I wouldn't want to count on it though.

[sunlovingirl]

I keep going through the same thing. My mom (who has cruised before, but is new to ATD) keeps telling everyone in our wedding party that we are all going to get a big table together every night (there are literally 20 of us going together on this cruise/honeymoon cruise/wedding cruise of ours....

 

We specifically got ATD to be able to go when we want, and eat with whomever we want, but we cannot all 20 fit together (nor do we want to)... *facepalm*

[golfadj]

Many people just make stuff up as they go along.

[pyropoodle]

also, depending on what ship you go on, Anytime dining may be in a completely different dining room than your seating.

[Bookbug53]

We are taking my in-laws on their first cruise in a few months. Friends of theirs have cruised 2 times before and keep telling them crap that is not true! It is driving me nuts because they then call us to ask us about this or that!!!

 

So, the latest example....

 

We have all booked Any Time Dining...they are booked with us and have late dining...

 

They are telling them that even though they have late dining they can still eat with us. I have told them no like 3 times but when tells them this they keep saying, yes, they can.

 

Now, I have cruised CCL a few times but only done the ATD 3 times...has something changed that I don't know about? I thought if you had assigned you had to do that time and couldn't do the ATD?

 

I am not talking about the steakhouse or the buffet or going to the maitre'd to have it all changed...

 

Can assigned seaters eat with the ATD diners?

 

 

I want to know this as well. We have tried both early and late seatings and have found at times that it is either too early or too late depending on time in ports, excursions, etc. We do not particularly care for the buffet and love going to the diningroom. We usually ask for a table for two as soon as we board. We like the privacy and if we are a few minutes late we do not hold anyone up. Exactly how does the wait staff in the ATD venue know that you are not signed up for ATD?

[joepeka]

I want to know this as well. We have tried both early and late seatings and have found at times that it is either too early or too late depending on time in ports, excursions, etc. We do not particularly care for the buffet and love going to the diningroom. We usually ask for a table for two as soon as we board. We like the privacy and if we are a few minutes late we do not hold anyone up. Exactly how does the wait staff in the ATD venue know that you are not signed up for ATD?

We used YTD on our last cruise and the maitre 'd at the front podium always asked for your cabin number, put it into the computer and it printed out a slip of paper (presumeably with our names and table assignment) and handed it to another person to show us to our table. So, they do check to make sure you're signed up for YTD.

[Hunwolf]

Some people make it us as they go along (like a previous poster mentioned).

 

Others were able to slide by or get rules bent for them that may not exactly be normal from ship to ship.

 

And others may just not remember (honestly) correctly.

[cruisercrazy69]

Maybe the ones who give out bad info are emulating JH LOL

[JeanieTheMom]

also, depending on what ship you go on, Anytime dining may be in a completely different dining room than your seating.

 

And if not in a different dining room, at least in a different section that is specifically dedicated to Any Time Dining. In that section, the wait staff only serve people who have chosen Any Time Dining.

 

op - If your in-laws don't believe you, they will find out the first night that you were right all along. :D

[maxandmolly]

I did ATD on the Fascination. I *think* we were seated in a section specially designated for ATD, as diners were all in various stages of their meals. On the other side of the railing, everyone seemed to be in the same 'place' in their meal.

But don't quote me on that. :p

[jimjamxx]

I want to know this as well. We have tried both early and late seatings and have found at times that it is either too early or too late depending on time in ports, excursions, etc. We do not particularly care for the buffet and love going to the diningroom. We usually ask for a table for two as soon as we board. We like the privacy and if we are a few minutes late we do not hold anyone up. Exactly how does the wait staff in the ATD venue know that you are not signed up for ATD?

 

Your Sail n Sign card will have your dining location and time if it is fixed dining time. If it is YTD it will read,

for example my last cruise in Feb/2012 on Conquest,

 

Dining: Renoir Deck 3

Table: 777 Your Time Dining

 

They ask to see your card when you enter the YTD dining room.

Hope that helps.

jimmyjames

[chipq]

When you approach the hostess stand as you enter the MDR and they will ask for your cabin number. They must check for the dining assignment because I have ssen a guy turned away from ATD who seemed to have totally missed his early seating.

 

 

http://luv2cruise.blogspor.com

[cmecruise1962]

On the Valor, they would allow people to go to Your Time Dining after a certain hour (8PM maybe?) and although we were assigned YTD, they allowed us to go "check out" late dining for a night to see if we wanted to change. We did. YTD was way too slow and we kept getting seated at tables for 2 even though we said we would like a larger table. We would have had to wait until more people came looking to share a table...and it just did not happen that much.

[golfadj]

If they allowed regular diners into anytime believe the servers in anytime would wind up working for nothing as the tips would go to the regular waitstaff.

[mississauga]

It may not be that they are purposely giving wrong info but just that they think they know. We met up with a couple with over 25 Carnival cruises and they had assigned early and we had YTD. They wanted to have dinner with us the first night and insisted they could come to the YTD dining room. When they gave their cabin #, the hostess told them since they had assigned dining they could not be seated in YTD. Now they know...lol.

 

If you have a dining option that you are not happy with, you can ask for a change and they will try to accommodate you. However, whatever you are assigned, you cannot change from one dining option to another when it suits you.

[JPEvans]

If they allowed regular diners into anytime believe the servers in anytime would wind up working for nothing as the tips would go to the regular waitstaff.

 

I thought the tips were all pooled together and evenly

divided. And I thought they started the auto tips because

of the many dining options on today's ships.

[RWolver672]

Did you ask your in-laws what cruise line their friends cruised on. Possibly the line that they were on did it that way. Carnival doesn't allow it though, as others have already said.

[crewsweeper]

On the Liberty, in April, I tried to tell my DW and a friend she met on board that DW and I could not eat YTD with DF as we had late seating assigned. However, upon showing up at around 6:15P and at first being told NO by the hostess, DW and DF appealed to the maitre d' and we were seated.

 

So it is possible to get into YTD if you have assigned dining. It's up to the maitre d' to permit this and probably depends on the layout and occupancy limits of various MDRs. The Liberty sent most assigned dining to the Silver dining room and some assigned diners to the Golden, where all the YTD diners were sent. It's a two deck dining room so there are a number of tables available. On the Dream last year and the year before, YTD was in a dining room with only a relativey small space for YTD and seemingly lines every night at peak times. So I doubt an assigned diner would have been able to have been seated for YTD.

[big_duck]

On the Liberty, in April, I tried to tell my DW and a friend she met on board that DW and I could not eat YTD with DF as we had late seating assigned. However, upon showing up at around 6:15P and at first being told NO by the hostess, DW and DF appealed to the maitre d' and we were seated.

 

Like every other Carnival answer ... no, unless circumstances dictate otherwise.

[golfadj]

Like every other Carnival answer ... no, unless circumstances dictate otherwise.

 

How true

[tracyanns]

On the Liberty, in April, I tried to tell my DW and a friend she met on board that DW and I could not eat YTD with DF as we had late seating assigned. However, upon showing up at around 6:15P and at first being told NO by the hostess, DW and DF appealed to the maitre d' and we were seated.

 

So it is possible to get into YTD if you have assigned dining. It's up to the maitre d' to permit this and probably depends on the layout and occupancy limits of various MDRs. The Liberty sent most assigned dining to the Silver dining room and some assigned diners to the Golden, where all the YTD diners were sent. It's a two deck dining room so there are a number of tables available. On the Dream last year and the year before, YTD was in a dining room with only a relativey small space for YTD and seemingly lines every night at peak times. So I doubt an assigned diner would have been able to have been seated for YTD.

 

I figured if you go with another couple maybe they would let you, but we already have a party of 8 so I know they have limited larger tables and it would be much more of an inconvenience to make it 10...

 

We are sailing on the Miracle, which we have sailed on before, and the ATD is on a different floor so thinking it will be harder to try to sneak by.

 

I understand that people just THINK they know, but don't keep arguing unless you know you are right...pretty sure they cruised CCL once and NCL once, so 2 cruises and they are an expert. I know they have never sailed the Miracle...

 

I also plan on mentioning to the hostess and/or maitre'd that if they ask, the answer shall remain at no...if they wanted ATD they should have booked it...

[Aftastic]

Being a longtime lurker of these forums, I do not believe the misinformation is intentional. For example, in a thread I just recently read, the original poster asked a question, and one of the respondents replied with what they experienced on their cruise five years ago. As many of us have experienced with Carnival, things change fast, and what one may have experienced just a few months ago may no longer be the case.

 

Also, many people are under the assumption that since Carnival is a company that owns a large fleet of cruise ships, that the rules, policies, and procedures are the same for every ship. However, that is not the case. Something as simple as the process for tendering can vary from ship to ship.

 

Then of course you have the people that report back that they had an experience that was different then the rules, policies, or procedures and what the large majority experience. A good example of that would be someone who uses the drink coupons and the bartender/server did not charge them for the excess cost.

[jaxonboy]

snip...

 

 

I also plan on mentioning to the hostess and/or maitre'd that if they ask, the answer shall remain at no...if they wanted ATD they should have booked it...

 

Reminds me of a gate worker at DFW recently, the flight was about 2/3 full and she was still enforcing the carry on limits with a passion. She caused a departure delay with all of the commotion.

[tjcaparas]

I was able to do YTD once when I was assigned for late dining...but haven't tried it since then.