Early, late or your time dining ? Pros and cons

[S.S.Oceanlover]

As a note, even at set time dining (early or late) you can request a different table if you don't get along with your table mates. Had this problem on our Liberty cruise last year, halfway through dinner I walked over the the Matre'd and requested a new table. Worked out great, new table, better view, much better table mates.

 

While one can request the same dining staff in ATD, it was not meant to be done that way and I have to assume they only allow a few people to do that. Could you imagine if everyone requested the same waiter? That person would be so overworked while the rest just stood around and did nothing.

 

I doubt very seriously that everyone in ATD would request the same waiter.

 

First every person would have to have the same waiter on day one.

 

Why would you request a waiter that you never had?

 

Bill

[steph7021]

I'm torn...have done both for many of the reasons stated here. But; one reason I lean towards late dining is the sunset!! I miss seeing it when we have early. Anytime has really not been an option as we typically sail with a large group.

[Rh2458]

Anytime Dining works best for us. We like the flexibility of being able to have dinner at different times each evening. :)

LuLu

Exactly why we pick anytime dining as well.

[Gtownmom]

I never eat late at home so also never have late dining on a cruise. I can see the advantage of late dining on port days, but it just doesn't work well with me.

 

When we travel with friends/family, we always get early dining. I hate waiting on anyone, and it's just too hard to get everyone on time unless we have fixed dining. When it's just the hubs and me on a cruise, we get anytime dining. We always go early, but some days we want a table for 2, and some days we ask to be seated with others.

[Out to sea!]

I doubt very seriously that everyone in ATD would request the same waiter.

 

First every person would have to have the same waiter on day one.

 

Why would you request a waiter that you never had?

 

Bill

 

I seriously doubt it as well. But that doesn't mean the scenario is possible. People get hit by lightning too, you know. ;)

 

What I'm saying though is that they will not allow everyone on ATD to pick their own wait staff. They will allow some to do so but to allow many to do so would disrupt ATD too greatly.

Edited July 31, 2014 by Out to sea!

[Warm Breezes]

We have done early (before anytime was an option) and anytime. Late has no appeal to us as we rarely eat that late at home. My opinion on early is that we will only do it if we go with another family and can get a table with just our group otherwise we will only book anytime for a few reasons:

 

1. We don't enjoy eating our meals with strangers. We go on cruises to reconnect with each other and not to connect with strangers.We like the flexibility of eating with whom we want and not who we are told to eat with.

 

2. I've noticed over the years that anytime is not a good option with larger groups. Many times they are seen waiting as we get a table right away. With traditional seating this would not be a problem with a larger group. Plus it gives everyone a set meeting time and place for everyone to meet for dinner.

 

3. On CCL we have only had one wait for anytime for approx 15 minutes on Elegant night. We have never experienced the long waits that some complain about.

 

4. We like the flexibility of eating when we are ready and not when we are told when it is just the 2 or 4 of us.

 

5. With anytime if you come across a wait team that you really like you can ask to be seated in the section on other nights. If you have a team that you don't like you can asked to be seated elsewhere. In traditional dining you are stuck with the team you get on the first night whether you like them or not.

[Warm Breezes]

I seriously doubt it as well. But that doesn't mean the scenario is possible. People get hit by lightning too, you know. ;)

 

What I'm saying though is that they will not allow everyone on ATD to pick their own wait staff. They will allow some to do so but to allow many to do so would disrupt ATD too greatly.

 

Actually they will tell you if that section is full and ask if you want to wait for a table to open up or be seated elsewhere. We had this happen to us before.

[mjjden]

Your opinion please !

 

Thanks :-)

 

On the Magic we did Anytime. The first night we enjoyed our waitstaff so much we opted to sit in his section each night.

 

On the Nieuw Amsterdam, we had Anytime and we made reservations for time depending on the port and were at different tables, size and waitstaff.

 

We have also had late.

 

I prefer Anytime as you can customize it to your needs.

[Out to sea!]

In traditional dining you are stuck with the team you get on the first night whether you like them or not.

 

Actually you can request a different table if you'd like. We've done that before (not because of the wait staff but the end result is the same).

[bar1068]

ATD...No Con's all Pro's...

[Rogueperson]

Con can be the lines, but that's about it.

 

On my last cruise on the Independence, they had a huge problem with the lines for open seating breakfast and lunch. These lines lasted the entire breakfast and lunch period.

 

Many people we met had ATD/MTD and they said the lines were horrendous. I'm not sure if it was a management problem, or just a communication problem. They were manually assigning tables with walkie talkies for every body coming in, you would think the dining room was full, but when you came in and sat down, it was quite empty.

 

I've always had late dining. Eating dinner at 6pm, doesn't happen for at home ever. I'm usually home much later, so that's normal for me. Second, I like having the same waitstaff and getting to know the same table mates. Out of 11 cruises, I only had to relocate once because of a conflict between our tablemates. Also, I feel that the waitstaff, if they knew they would be waiting on you for the entirety of the cruise would make a better effort to accommodate you.

 

Here's another pro for for set time dining (early or late). Dinner is a set time. One less thing for you to worry about, and its easy to plan around. All cruises that i've been on schedule their shows around the dinner times.

[ItsAllAboutTheSass]

When we started cruising, we were doing early dining. Then we started to feel ryshed after coming back from port as well as felt rushed to get the next seating in. Then we moved to late dining and felt like that was just to late to eat a big meal. ATD seems to be a great option for us. The wait times don't seem that bad.

[Out to sea!]

ATD...No Con's all Pro's...

 

Depending on each person, that statement is either true or false. Maybe no cons to you, several cons to me which is why I prefer traditional early dining and have never done ATD (except on NCL where there is no traditional dining.........and I missed it).

[hftmrock]

Actually you can request a different table if you'd like. We've done that before (not because of the wait staff but the end result is the same).

 

you can request it but they dont always allow it to happen. If they can, they will but there are some who have had a problem switching.

 

just like you mentioned that you dont think they would allow 'everyone' to make a request to one wait staff (about as likely as lightning hitting you), I have heard stories of the ships staff not honoring a request to be moved because there was nothing available to move them to.

[Out to sea!]

you can request it but they dont always allow it to happen. If they can, they will but there are some who have had a problem switching.

 

just like you mentioned that you dont think they would allow 'everyone' to make a request to one wait staff (about as likely as lightning hitting you), I have heard stories of the ships staff not honoring a request to be moved because there was nothing available to move them to.

 

That is absolutely true. It is possible they have no table to move your party to (especially if it is a large party). In that case, if I just couldn't stand my wait staff or table mates and couldn't move to another table, the buffet, pizza station, sandwich station, and room service are always available at no additional charge. If I want to splurge, the specialty restaurants are another option. But out of 13 cruises, I have only felt the need to move twice (poor table location on 1 and lousy table mates on the other).

Edited July 31, 2014 by Out to sea!

[asalligo]

I prefer early dining. I like to eat and then enjoy my evening entertainment. My issue with your time dining is that I do not want to change wait staff and tables nightly or worry about that in any way. I also find that I am almost always ready to eat by 6pm, so why bother.

[gemsm]

Your opinion please !

 

Thanks :-)

 

If I had to choose a seating I would choose early but I much prefer anytime dining so I can eat when I get hungry

[zumbaguy]

Early dining for us. Honestly, if Guy's burgers were open during dinner time I would probably eat those for dinner at least twice. :cool:

[kelkel2]

We prefer anytime dining because we don't do schedules well when we are not at work. I'm a nurses' assistant and I work 12 hour shifts and I'm used to eating late because by the time I actually get home its close to 8pm but honestly on cruises if I wait to eat that late I feel like I am missing out on entertainment that I want to see. So usually we will plan our dinner accordingly. Sometimes being early and sometimes being late!

[Out to sea!]

Early dining for us. Honestly, if Guy's burgers were open during dinner time I would probably eat those for dinner at least twice. :cool:

 

Completely agree! Maybe someone should mention this to John Heald. :)

[momof3cruisers]

Prior to the option of Anytime, we always liked late seating. We took our time in ports or at the pool, often had a late afternoon nap and then dinner worked well. However, my husband is quite an introvert and so dinner time with a bunch of table mates was always draining for him. ATD works better for us because we can be seated by ourselves. We also like just showing up when we feel like it, especially now with bringing our kids.

[UncleInci]

Pre kids we did late dining and enjoyed meeting new people. Post kids - early dining and generally a table to ourselves. With larger groups (about half our cruises) having the fixed dining time makes it easier to herd all the cats together....

[KLag]

ATD all the way - it's often just myself and my husband cruising, and we prefer a table for two (the idea of sitting at a 10-top and making awkward small talk with people gives us both cold sweats, we're just not extroverts).

 

We've never had an issue with a table location, we actually enjoy the variety a different nightly table affords.

 

As for having the same server each night, we have little to no "preferences" that need to be carried over nightly, and every server we've had has been stellar.

 

But mostly, we enjoy not having to work around the ship's clock for meals - being able to just say "Hungry? Lets go to dinner" whenever we feel like is wonderful. We've done anything from 6pm to 8:45pm and love the flexibility. Sometimes you just have too many burgers at the outdoor grill in the afternoon :-p

[Cruise, J.D.]

I like YTD, but it is the only one where I have received sub par service.

 

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[TanIslandGirl]

We have done early seating, late seating & this last cruise we tried Anytime Dining. First night we went to the Steak House & each evening after that to the Anytime Dining designated dining room. Our experience was that if you were not seated by 6:45 you would have about a 30-45 minute wait. We enjoyed our wait staff team & requested their section each night. Each night we were sat at the same table. After trying Anytime Dining I think we will stick with early seating.