Anytime Dining on the Coral Princess

[fireflymd]

How does this work? We are signed up for anytime dining as we do not wish to be restricted to set dining times with traditional dining.

 

Is there a separate dining room for Anytime Dining?

[jg21]

When we on the Coral, the anytime DR was the Bordeaux.

[caribill]

Yes, there is a seperate dining room for Anytime.

 

Whether you will have a wait or not when you wish to dine will depend on how many other passengers in Anytime want to be eating at the same time you want to.

[paul929207]

When you are rready to eat, you go to the Anytime Dining Room (Bordeaux mentioned above). You will be asked if you are will to share with others or prefer to eat alone. You are then given the next available table. Sometimes, you are seated immediately, other times there is a short wait. Sometimes they are so busy, it will be a while, so they give you a beeper.

 

We were on the Crown in October for 36 nights. Never waited more than 3 or 4 minutes to be seated, but we always said we would share. Often people wanting a table for two were given a beeper.

[fireflymd]

Thanks, everyone! It's nice to have this information before hand.

[beach_fever_4ever]

Is the anytime dining menu the same as the traditional dining room menu ?

[chrysalis]

Is the anytime dining menu the same as the traditional dining room menu ?

 

Yes, it is.

[caribill]

Is the anytime dining menu the same as the traditional dining room menu ?

 

Yes, it is.

 

And so is the suggested dress code each evening

[Pam in CA]

When I was on the Island Princess (sister ship to the Coral) last September/October, the wait for Anytime dining was apparently so long that every night, people from Anytime were seated at empty tables in the late Traditional dining room. At least 3-4 tables in our section were used this way every night.

Edited February 4, 2013 by Pam in CA

[Jasperdo]

My wife and I have used Anytime Dining on all of our Princess cruises, and I have to say that our experience on the Coral Princess wasn't very good. There is only one Anytime Dining Room on the Coral, the Bordeaux. Problem is, half the Dining Room is occupied with Early Traditional diners until 7:30pm. It made for long lines and very upset passengers. One night we arrived at 5:20pm, 10 minutes before the Dining Room even opened at 5:30pm. The line was already long, and we got the last available Anytime table. Another night we tried a little later. It was even worse. We got there at 6:45pm, were given a pager, and waited in the Atrium for an hour and 15 minutes. People were sitting on the Atrium stairs with pagers. It was a mess. My wife and I really enjoy Anytime Dining, but we had nothing but trouble with it on the Coral Princess, due to the fact that only half the Dining Room is available to Anytime Diners until 7:30pm.

[caribill]

My wife and I have used Anytime Dining on all of our Princess cruises, and I have to say that our experience on the Coral Princess wasn't very good. There is only one Anytime Dining Room on the Coral, the Bordeaux. Problem is, half the Dining Room is occupied with Early Traditional diners until 7:30pm. It made for long lines and very upset passengers.

 

Those in the early traditional dining wanted to eat early, so if there had not been the early traditional added to the schedule, they would have been in line with you also.

 

Princess has no influence on when the anytime passegners choose to dine. It is possible for half the passengers on the ship to decide that their anytime is at the same time.

[Jasperdo]

Those in the early traditional dining wanted to eat early, so if there had not been the early traditional added to the schedule, they would have been in line with you also.

 

Princess has no influence on when the anytime passegners choose to dine. It is possible for half the passengers on the ship to decide that their anytime is at the same time.

I understand what you're saying there. But, in my personal experience with Anytime Dining, there was never a long wait problem for Anytime before Princess started the third early traditional time. Since then, I have experienced lines and long wait times. What the reasons are, I don't know. It might be, like you said, everyone on that cruise wants to eat early. But it does seem odd that it started for us after the third traditional seating was introduced. Before that it was never a problem.

[fireflymd]

My wife and I have used Anytime Dining on all of our Princess cruises, and I have to say that our experience on the Coral Princess wasn't very good. There is only one Anytime Dining Room on the Coral, the Bordeaux. Problem is, half the Dining Room is occupied with Early Traditional diners until 7:30pm. It made for long lines and very upset passengers. One night we arrived at 5:20pm, 10 minutes before the Dining Room even opened at 5:30pm. The line was already long, and we got the last available Anytime table. Another night we tried a little later. It was even worse. We got there at 6:45pm, were given a pager, and waited in the Atrium for an hour and 15 minutes. People were sitting on the Atrium stairs with pagers. It was a mess. My wife and I really enjoy Anytime Dining, but we had nothing but trouble with it on the Coral Princess, due to the fact that only half the Dining Room is available to Anytime Diners until 7:30pm.

 

That's good to know--we'll likely shoot for 8 pm then to avoid the crush.

[Pam in CA]

I understand what you're saying there. But, in my personal experience with Anytime Dining, there was never a long wait problem for Anytime before Princess started the third early traditional time. Since then, I have experienced lines and long wait times.

I don't think that had much to do with it because as Bill says, those people would be in line anyway. Perhaps you were lucky. I've experienced very long waits (often 45 minutes or longer) for seating in Anytime going back to when the Grand introduced Anytime dining in 2001. Had a similar experience with Anytime on the CB a few years later, even with a standing reservation at 8pm at the same table every night. I've got Anytime on my upcoming KP cruise next week so I'm interested in seeing if it's any better. Edited February 5, 2013 by Pam in CA

[peachykiehn]

That's good to know--we'll likely shoot for 8 pm then to avoid the crush.

If you don't mind eating at 8:00 you can also call the dine line in the morning and make a reservation. They do not take reservations before 7:30. Just got off the Coral in early December and never had a wait but we needed a table for six.

[Jasperdo]

I don't think that had much to do with it because as Bill says, those people would be in line anyway. Perhaps you were lucky. I've experienced very long waits (often 45 minutes or longer) for seating in Anytime going back to when the Grand introduced Anytime dining in 2001. Had a similar experience with Anytime on the CB a few years later, even with a standing reservation at 8pm at the same table every night. I've got Anytime on my upcoming KP cruise next week so I'm interested in seeing if it's any better.

Maybe I was just lucky in my early cruises. But, at least in my case, I never had any kind of a wait before the third traditional seating was started. Since then I've had waits as long as an hour and 15 minutes. I'm curious how your Anytime experience turns out on the KP.

[shredie]

When we on the Coral, the anytime DR was the Bordeaux.

 

On the Coral in October, there was always a line outside the Anytime dining room. Since we had late traditional upstairs, this did not affect us. But I do remember feeling a bit sorry for all those hungry people. Of course, it's not the same, but the buffet is open if the wait is too long for the dining room. Refresh my memory: isn't there the Cafe Caribe also on the Coral at dinner time?

[AKman2495]

I guess it depends on the cruise because we were on the Coral at the end of Sept/early Oct and never had to wait for a seat in anytime. We did most often share. We also varied dining times, but we mostly ate before 6 pm.

[bsblady01]

we are planning to do anytime dining when we go to alaska in 2015

[Jasperdo]

Refresh my memory: isn't there the Cafe Caribe also on the Coral at dinner time?

The Coral does not have a cafe Caribe, only the Horizon Court Buffet. But, at dinner they do have a station that prepared things like made to order steaks and Mongolian BBQ. It varied from night to night, but there was always something being made there every evening.

[Laurelicious]

When we were on the Star to Hawaii, we used anytime dining. Yes there was a long line. It took less than 10 minutes to get a table. No big deal. It's the same wait you'd have at a restaurant at home waiting for a table to open up. We like to eat early and were usually there at 5:30. Really it was not a problem. We liked it because we didn't have to rush back from shore to a set time to eat, we could take a nap and eat later, we had a lot of different people to dine with, those we liked we made arrangements to sit with again. Those who spent the meal loudly talking about making Murica great again, we didn't have to ever eat with again.

[pms4104]

This thread is SIX years old ... today's experiences may be different

 

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