Which dining time do you prefer, and why?

[LambKnuckles]

EARLY ... Heck, I'm over 60 and it's closer to the early bird special time... ;):rolleyes:

 

But I do book early, so I'm ready for the shows immediately following -- and then still have the night to have some fun -- or turn in early!!!

 

HOWEVER... The late or Your Time Dining is MUCH BETTER to capture the sunsets in the spring, fall, and winter...

 

But I agree with some of the other posters... eat at the same time you eat at home, based on time zone changes. It makes it easier!!

[SadieN]

ATD when traveling with family. Two, three or four people.

Early with our annual group.

 

Many times when traveling with family we will simply eat in the buffet.

[elainmir]

To be honest I've never liked MDR..I hate that it takes 2 Hours to eat a meal...I have fun things planned! To heck with that noise! We have eaten there during the anytime dining...it's just not for us..we like to pick our meal from wherever go finding a hiding place without tons of folks and eat. :D

[mpcaruth]

Without a doubt, your time dining. We had late seating on our first cruise and it was just too late. We had most of our dinners that cruise on the Lido. We had early dining on the next few cruises, and it was just inconvenient to have to keep track of time and STOP what we were doing to go back to cabin and shower and get ready for dinner. We have two kids and we really like to wing it! With your time dining, we have eaten as early as 5:45 on port days when we are starving when we get back on board, to as late as 7:30 on sea days and we eat breakfast and lunch a few hours later than usual.

[bar1068]

We've tried early and late fixed dining times, never again, especially late dining. We prefer ATD..gives us the flexibility we need and want....Especially the flexibility not to go to the MDR at all, which is becoming more of our choice as more and more enjoyable alternate dining choices come available.

[hftmrock]

your time dining... its the best of all worlds

[cb at sea]

We like late seating...we love tablemates, and we eat late at home! Anytime dining doesn't guarantee you tablemates....we eat alone together EVERY night...it's nice to have others to talk to after 40 years!

[Singer4Him]

We did early dining for our first two cruises and had planned to do so on the third, however, we had something unexpected come up and needed to change dining rooms (no fault of Carnival or crew). When we did, they only had the late seating available. We took it and fell in love! We've done late dining ever since.

 

For us, we don't get up super early so we may be late eating breakfast, thus we're late eating lunch so there's no way that we're ready for supper by six-something.

 

We've never had trouble making the late shows after eating the late dinner in the MDR.

[pauleydm]

We pick Any Time Dining because we do not eat in the MDR, so we don't want our table mates waiting on us to show up:)

[nwo4life]

Lido dining for us, Meals take about 20 minutes instead of 90 minutes+.

[Linda the Book Lover]

Hands down YTD for me. The DH and I used to choose late dining before the YTD/ATD came about. We loved it so much we never looked back!

[LuckyZ]

We've never done the Early as we don't like to rush to dinner. Lido deck during the early seating is the best time of day.

 

We have usually always done Late seating but in June, we will try YTD for the first time. I appreciate all of you who posted positive reviews on this option. Makes me feel better about our choice

[Gamecock_Cruiser]

We prefer late. 6pm is to early for us to eat. I also don't like the fact of having to rush back from some ports if we want to eat in the dining room. We had ATD once, but it took away the dining room experience and made it seem to much like eating at restaurants at home.

[OCruisers]

YTD works best for us because there are times when we want to have dinner later or earlier than others. Love the flexibility YTD offers! :)

LuLu

[KPfromCT]

We always do YTD. I don't like to feel rushed coming back from port.

We like to chill out on the balcony and get ready at a leisurely pace.:D

[mclizzy]

I have been on 3 and we always eat at the late time! For us it works so nicely we get to enjoy the pool on the first day while everyone is off getting showers for dinner. There is no rush on port days. On sea days well we head back to our room get some room service, take a nap, and relax before getting showered and ready for dinner/evening activities.

 

Also the company has been phenomenal in the pm dining! It's usually just my husband and I and we get seated in the middle of the MDR with a bunch of couples that always become our good friends by the end of the trip :)

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[Fla Senior]

We've always done early dining, prefer to eat early so I can have a late night pizza and ice cream ;)

 

Service has gotten slower over the years mostly due to the maitre'd's refusal to close the dining room doors after 20 minutes or so as they did many years ago. I hate to see so many people waltzing in 30 minutes + after assigned time. I know I'm off subject but assigned dining would be more efficient if this was enforced.

[momof4boys]

Our group of 2 families like early seating. We have always loved this because with 13-18 people there doesn't have to be any discussion about when should we eat. We just know to meet at 5:50 at the entrance to the MDR. Cuts down on arguing!

[cccer]

Early, we like to play blackjack well into the night and it is easier to get on a table when the late dinner people leave.

[WAHMto5]

We only go ATD now and love it! We had it a couple weeks ago on the Glory for a party of 8 of us and never waited all week. I love being able to eat at no specific time;)

[Whimsy88]

We love traditional late dining. Love that the pools empty out around 5 PM. For us that is the perfect time to be there! We usually eat at 7:30 or 8 PM at home, so an 8:15 dining time is perfect for us. We tried anytime dining once, but hated waiting around for a table every night. With an assigned table, everyone knows where and when to meet up in the evening.

 

Ditto. Also, with late dining, you have plenty of time to get back after port days and clean up. We've tried all 3 and went back to late dining this cruise because we missed it. It's not like there is any shortage of snacks around if you're hungry before your dining time!;)

 

However, that's the beauty of a cruise and 3 dining choices - you do what works for you!

[TPFKAH]

We've always had early seating, and no problems getting to any shows.

 

This upcoming cruise on the Liberty, we are waitlisted for early seating. We've never done late seating, and I now hear that many folks complain about not being able to make it to the shows afterwards. Nor have we ever tried anytime dining. What is the earliest time you can arrive with this option? What are the drawbacks to this arrangement?

 

We did late once and did not like it. Yes, we had more time to get ready, and had a longer afternoon, but we were starving by the time the meal was served, felt too tired by the time the show played, and then never hungry by the time the midnight buffet opened. Obviously, it's been a while since we had late dinner. Early is fine for us, as it mirrors most closely what we do at home.

[Rogueperson]

Late dining for me. One of these days, I will try Anytime Dining. 5:45 - 6:00 for dinner is too early for me. I generally don't get home until after 7, so dinner for me is generally at 8 anyways.

 

Also, I like the consistency of having the same wait staff every night. Since i prefer to eat late, I'm not guaranteed to get the same waitstaff every night if i request them, which to me, will affect the service that consistent wait staff offers me.

 

This is totally anecdotal, but on my last cruise, we ended up going to a show earmarked for early dining as we went to a specialty restaurant instead of the MDR. 30 minutes before the show, the theater was packed for the show that night. All other nights, we went to the show earmarked for late seating dining, we always found more room in that show. I think the combination of early seating dining/early dining is more popular for many cruises, and if you want a seat in the shows, late seating shows seem less populated in those.

[pudy68]

Thank you for all the great replies! If we don't end up getting into our early dining preference, then we will ask for YTD.

 

By the way, if we have early seating but end up missing it for whatever reason, will they allow us to eat in the MDR as an YTD, or will we have to eat in the Lido/Guy's/Blue Iguana, etc.?

[lovestocruise19]

This is a great thread! DH and I have always gone with early on our past five cruises, but on the Freedom repo in February we are going to try YTD for the first time.

 

I'm actually excited about it for many of the reasons mentioned here. DH told me that it will work better for sea days for sure because we usually sleep in on sea days and then end up eating a late lunch and sometimes he wasn't that hungry at 6 p.m. I'm also excited about the prospect of being able to watch sunset. Not to mention the fact that we've never enjoyed a full sail-away because we've always had to rush off to early dining.