Curious about Anytime Dining complaints

[mjmalino]

We have done AT on two out of 3 of our past cruises and will do so again on our upcoming one. My only complaint, which I am hoping they have stopped since our last cruise is that there would be people who had Traditional dining who would miss their early seating and show up and, in some cases, demand to be sat in AT on certain nights to suit their schedule. Or who decided that they didn't want to wait some evenings for their late seating and go to AT early.

 

 

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[kendon]

As I've been reading up on reviews leading up to our cruise this month I've come across several complaints regarding a wait time with the anytime dining. This perplexes me as it doesn't seem any different than a restaurant in the "real world". If I went to Red Lobster at 6pm chances are high I would be waiting for a table.

 

The way it seems to me is that traditional dining is the equivalent of having a guaranteed reservation.

 

Anytime dining is like walking into a restaurant and waiting for a table, the more specific the request, the longer the wait (window seat vs the wall or 2 seat table vs community table)

 

And if you want fast food, sit where you want than it's the Horizon for buffet.

 

So I'm curious if I'm missing something or if there are other reasons why so many people have complained about having at wait for a table with anytime dining?

 

I'm with you on your curiosity why waiting for a table in the dining room is such an issue. Anywhere you go on land during the busy hours/weekends it's the same thing. Have a cocktail/mocktail or people watch. What's the hurry? OR...choose fixed dining.:)

[kendon]

Wait, I will add that making reservations for anytime irritates me to no end.

 

I have found that there was never a wait for anytime dining perhaps because there were so many dining options that there was always room in the dining room.

[Pam in CA]

IMHO, the biggest issue with Princess' Anytime dining is that they allow anyone with Traditional dining to get in line for a table. There's no control and nothing is said.

 

I've done Anytime dining three times now and two out of the three times had extremely long waits (45 minutes to over an hour), even with a reservation for the same time every night. On the Sapphire in January, we were seated within 10-15 minutes but were not allowed to call ahead and make a reservation. Even when I called before 8am, I was told no reservations at any time that night. I disliked the wait service no matter which table we were at. The waitstaff all seemed rushed, impersonal and couldn't have cared less that we were even there. We were just two more faces to feed. :( Totally unlike our experience six weeks later on the Sapphire with Traditional dining.

 

I'll do Anytime if I have to and probably will on the Royal in September but it's definitely not my first choice.

[kendon]

Wait, I will add that making reservations for anytime irritates me to no end.

 

I have found that there was never a wait for anytime dining perhaps because there were so many dining options that there was always room in the dining room.

 

Correction: I meant to say that on the ROYAL there weren't waiting issues.

[Mom33]

Thats good to know! Welcome back. :)

 

 

Thanks Colo Cruiser....I wish I was still on her :D

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

The first night long lines ..

[liketraveling]

And that would not really be anytime would it.

 

We found that we could be seated with little or no wait at 7:30 ... but that really isn't anytime.

 

This is what it looks like at 6:30

 

 

I just got off the grand. This is what it looked like the first two days at 6:30.

 

After that we got right in or the wait was about 5 minutes.

 

When the waiter takes your order, they ask for the cabin number.

[golfb4cruzing]

I confess to zero patience. More than 5 - 10 minutes and we'll go to Horizon. I don't find the Dining Rooms all that and a piece of cheese anyways. We had to wait almost 45 minutes once and then told the ATD dining room was upstairs. The wait was for it to open. Since then I don't wait.

[greenie082756]

DH and I did anytime dining on our 14 day cruise on the Golden. Only one night did we not eat in the MDR. We always looked @ the entertainment for the night and that helped us decide when we would go eat. Always shared ( met some fantastic people) and never waited no matter what time we went which was usually 6 - 7pm. It worked out so well that we're doing it again on our next cruise.:D

[pablo222]

Wait, I will add that making reservations for anytime irritates me to no end.

 

I have found that there was never a wait for anytime dining

 

If 'there was never a wait', why would you care whether

reservations were allowed?

 

How much better than 'never a wait' could it be if no

reservations were allowed?

[UpcountryTravelers]

Interesting comment on the Sapphire above. Also the only time we have had a serious wait for service in ATD was on the Sapphire (out of 12 Princess cruises). Another reason the Sapphire is our least favorite Princess ship. Fortunately, there are many other wonderful Princess ships to choose from (and the Sapphire wasn't bad, just our least favorite).

[Paula_MacFan]

I confess to zero patience. More than 5 - 10 minutes and we'll go to Horizon. I don't find the Dining Rooms all that and a piece of cheese anyways.

 

That made me laugh:) We feel the same way. I never understood the big deal about the dining room and don't plan my vacation days around it.

[ldubs]

It should be obvious that a lot has to do with timing...People who show up right when the dining room opens likely never endure a wait--because all of the tables are available and waiting. Of course, if I wanted to eat at 6:00 pm every night, I'd just request traditional dining. Likewise, people that show up toward the end of the dining hours also rarely find a wait...people have left and the crowd is thinning out...tables are available.

 

Show up between 7:00 and 7:30 and you're more likely to find you have a wait. Tables have filled up and no one who came between 6:00 and 7:00 is anywhere close to finishing dinner and freeing the table.

 

Other factors have slight influences. Depending on the itinerary and hours in port, there may be some effect on when people show up to the dining room...Say you are in a popular tourism port and the ship doesn't set sail until 7:30 pm, then more people are getting in late and and showing up at dinner a little later. Another factor might be the number of kids on board. People with younger kids tend to want to eat a bit earlier. Supply and demand. Also, the show schedule or other scheduled events may influence when people get to the main dining room.

 

But, basically, some people, perhaps those who consistently eat early, never experience waits or other problems. Those who tend to show up at 7:00-7:30 may often experience those issues...

 

What you say makes sense. Just not my experience.

 

Take care.

[octoberdana]

Hubby does not like to wait, this makes me think maybe we'd be better off taking a traditional dining slot, although we would hate to miss a show or something because we are eating dinner. He eats very lightly at dinner anyway, so maybe we'll sign up for Traditional and then hit the buffet if it conflicts with our schedule for the evening.

[as19111]

We had anytime dining for our first 8 cruises. We never had any issues with long wait times until 2011. That's when they added a second early traditional seating and used part of the anytime dining room. Suddenly, seating became a problem. Reservations were only permitted before 5:30 or after 8 pm...with exceptions granted for large family groups or language barriers.

 

On cruise #9, the Ocean Princess only had traditional dining. We found our tablemates delightful and really enjoyed getting to know the waitstaff. On our most recent cruise, we decided to try traditional again. Once again, we really enjoyed our tablemates. However, we did miss three evenings and felt guilty for not being at dinner which never happens with AD. We never went to AD on that cruise. We would still prefer AD if the wait time was better managed.

 

Why is waiting an issue for some of us? Sometimes it's our own medical needs or timing of medications. I would like to return to AD someday because I just like the flexibility it provides but I've reached the age where life is too short to spend it waiting in lines! We enjoy meeting so very many people in the dining rooms, too...we always share a table for dinner but we are not very social at breakfast.

 

It is my observation that the demographics of the cruise may drive the wait times. In the Baltics and the Med, many on the ship were late diners (after 8) by their culture/custom. In the Caribbean, lots more folks wanted to dine at 7 because that's a good vacation dining time.

 

So, part of it is port and part of it is process and part of it is demographics.

[as19111]

Hubby does not like to wait, this makes me think maybe we'd be better off taking a traditional dining slot, although we would hate to miss a show or something because we are eating dinner. He eats very lightly at dinner anyway, so maybe we'll sign up for Traditional and then hit the buffet if it conflicts with our schedule for the evening.

 

The shows are now timed to accommodate early and late traditional seatings. So the traditional early seating is unable to go to the early show and vice versa.

[kendon]

If 'there was never a wait', why would you care whether

reservations were allowed?

 

How much better than 'never a wait' could it be if no

reservations were allowed?

 

I corrected my statement to read that there was never a wait on the ROYAL, just two comments down from the original. There were issues on the other ships regarding reservations in anytime pouring in ahead of us.

 

Sorry you didn't see my correction.

[wrongwaywatson]

We have always had Anytime Dining and have enjoyed it. When we have travelled with friends and children, that was our only rule - everyone joined in at dinner. The rest of the day, you did what you wanted. We changed our dining time each night to fit what activities we wanted to do for the evening.

 

When it is just DH and I (as in 4/12/14 CB) we only eat in the Anytime Dining room once - s I can get a Love Boat Dream :) We eat in the Crown Grill one night and the buffets the other nights.

 

We have never done Traditional Dining and don't really have a desire to. I guess it is because we are both sales reps and have to talk to people all of the time in our jobs. On vacation, I don't want to have to talk to other people, unless I want to. It's my downtime. I love people, and I love to talk, I think we just need some downtime to recharge.

[Colo Cruiser]

We have always had Anytime Dining and have enjoyed it. When we have travelled with friends and children, that was our only rule - everyone joined in at dinner. The rest of the day, you did what you wanted. We changed our dining time each night to fit what activities we wanted to do for the evening.

 

When it is just DH and I (as in 4/12/14 CB) we only eat in the Anytime Dining room once - s I can get a Love Boat Dream :) We eat in the Crown Grill one night and the buffets the other nights.

 

We have never done Traditional Dining and don't really have a desire to. I guess it is because we are both sales reps and have to talk to people all of the time in our jobs. On vacation, I don't want to have to talk to other people, unless I want to. It's my downtime. I love people, and I love to talk, I think we just need some downtime to recharge.

 

You don't have to talk with anyone in traditional if you don't want to. You can request the same setup there as you do in anytime.

We had traditional until anytime came out. Now its nice to have the flexability. :)

[birdiebill]

My wife and I have done anytime dining on our four cruises. We eat early and usually will share a large table. On our last cruise we liked our table for ten and the waiter we had. So by getting to the dining room when it opened we could ask to share a table and ask for the table by number. We did get to know our waiter very well and also got to meet different people.

 

Even though we are not overly sociable there were two other couples who also asked to share the same table. Service was good and the meals enjoyable. We did ask for a table for two on one night since that was our 44th anniversary. And we were late returning from a tour one night and were seated elsewhere. It was no big deal to us.

 

On our first cruise we usually asked for a table for two and always got one. However the tables for two on the Diamond at that time were so close to each other, that it was like being seated at tables for four or six.

 

We are concerned if we chose TD that we would not get early seating and/or that we would be seated with people we were not compatible.

[shredie]

.

 

We have never done Traditional Dining and don't really have a desire to. I guess it is because we are both sales reps and have to talk to people all of the time in our jobs. On vacation, I don't want to have to talk to other people, unless I want to. It's my downtime. I love people, and I love to talk, I think we just need some downtime to recharge.

 

That's wise. More than once we've been seated Traditional with people who did not want to talk to us (or anyone) and it's awkward for the table, I think. Once we had a man announce at introductions that he was "obnoxious" and then went on to prove it by insulting the wait staff and his wife and glaring at anyone else at the table who spoke to him. Thankfully, after four days (of a ten-day cruise) he and the poor wife disappeared from the table. It's times like that I'm glad there is another option for dining. However, most of the time we really enjoy Traditional and have had some really fun table mates.

[billco]

We generally like to eat at 6:00 at table for 2- we prefer just to eat dinner by ourselves---just too tired at end of the day to make conversations with anyone.

We prefer just to eat dinner by ourselves, too. Unfortunately, they don't have tables for one.