Which dining time do you prefer, and why?

[Disconnections]

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.?

 

Officially, no. You won't be able to eat there.

 

However, if you talk to the Maitre d' in advance, they may be able to make an accommodation. Keep in mind, your mileage may vary depending on who the Maitre d' is for that sailing.

[tootsiebit]

Anytime dining for us....we like to eat when we want to and also not be forced to sit with strangers...and we always ask for the same waiter's area if they are good and if not we ask to sit at another area and also ask for a table for two ...last cruise we sat at the same table every night with the same wait staff..just like the other dining options except no forced conversation with strangers to ruin our evening.:)

[tootsiebit]

That's what we did. We were both so happy with the wait team on the first night, we asked for their section every night afer.

 

 

By the 3rd night the little girl at the podium didn't even ask, just told us to follow her and she took us to the same table .....hubby and I work different work schedules and we like to have Our time and not have to wonder what kind of tablemates we will have and feel like you have to carry on a conversation if we don't want to....we aren't anti-social by any means, but a few too many not so fun experiences with set dining before ruined us from anything but YTD...and we have never had a wait time longer than about 5-10 minutes, which while on vacation, should not be a big deal...LOL...We love YTD and hope it stays around from now on!!!!

[WindsorFred]

We like YTD. We eat when we're hungry and don't have to follow a "schedule" or someone else's time frame. We typically eat around 6-7 at home but depending on port and energy level we've eaten anywhere from 6-9 when we cruise. Love that!!

 

 

Same here. We started YTD when it was first introduced and love it. Not being tied down to a specific time leaves us free to our own schedule, we get to eat when we want. Since we started YTD we eat more often in the MDR than we ever did with either early or late seating.

[cruzinlisa]

I like anytime for the convenience, but I prefer set time for the service level and having other dining companions. I know that you can technically request the same wait staff, but we have yet to find anyone on anytime dining that goes above the minimum level of taking our order and bringing it to the table in a relatively timely manner (sometimes we do not get that). And we have only been offered the chance to dine with others once.

But, now that we cruise with our DD, we need any time, so that we have flexibilty for those days when she falls asleep at 5:30 or if we want to feed her and send her to camp, then go eat by ourselves. I don't mind eating a little later, but DH doesn't like to eat too late. I personally think the 6 or 6:30 slot is too early if we are leaving from an Eastern port (since it is an hour ahead of us normally). And the 8:15 is too late for us.

[Not_Done_Living]

i never understood the distaste for YTD -- we love it --

 

one day we may want to have dinner at 6 -- so we have dinner at 6 -- the next we are not hungry until 8 -- so we have dinner at 8 --- it's that simple and easy.

 

We have changed our waitstaff only once -- and that was by choice (when our first waiter insulted my wife) the rest of the time we always had the same wait staff and it loved it.

[Vitality08]

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?

 

 

I prefer early. My first 2 cruises I booked late based on a suggestion from a friend. I found myself tired at dinner. On my 3rd cruise I did anytime dine which was fine because I was traveling with 2 other people. Since then I've traveled solo so I do early because as a solo I'd rather have a set dining time to increase the chances of having dinner mates. I don't mind eating alone in the buffet but it seems a bit weird in the dining hall.