(More) Anytime Dining Questions

[hlauburn]

Currently have main seating book, but thinking about changing to Anytime.

 

A few questions...

~ Say we go the first night and we love our wait staff. How do we request them the next day (by name, by table #, by area...?) or does the hostess keep up with where you are seated?

~ I realize we may have to wait (and it might increase if we ask for a certain table), but what's the typical wait time for a party of 4 around 7:00?

~ How does Anytime Dining work with the showtimes??

~ As of right now, all dining times are waitlisted for our sailing. We have FTTF...does that mean we will get some sort of priority on the waitlist? I'm not clear on what the FTTF priority dining is (although I get that it doesn't mean you skip the line! ;))

 

Thanks!!

[vwrestler171]

Yes you can request the same staff every night. I always asked by name, but once or twice I have said the same spot as last night and they put us there.

 

7:00 is a prime time and in November we were waiting about 20-30 min

 

Not sure what you mean by showcases. You choose which time you want to go to dinnerand you can change that to go to any shows/activities you want.

 

FTTF gets some priority on the waitlist, but they come after Diamond and Platinum. If you don't have a time you want, just go talk to the Maitre'd once you are onboard and talk to them, usually they can accommodate your request.

[coevan]

We showed up 8-8:30 every night. Our first server seem in a rush, we wanted a drink before dinner and said we would like to wait for the drink before dinner. He insisted on taking our order and brought the food before the drinks arrived. We were really pissed and called the maitre'd. The third night we found a gem and sat in her section the rest of the cruise. She understood we wanted to finish our cocktail before food was served.

[GUT2407]

We just commented to the fellow on the door, how good the waiters were.

 

We we're then seated with the same crew section every night without asking.

[SMSACE6]

Currently have main seating book, but thinking about changing to Anytime.

 

A few questions...

~ Say we go the first night and we love our wait staff. How do we request them the next day (by name, by table #, by area...?) or does the hostess keep up with where you are seated?

~ I realize we may have to wait (and it might increase if we ask for a certain table), but what's the typical wait time for a party of 4 around 7:00?

~ How does Anytime Dining work with the showtimes??

~ As of right now, all dining times are waitlisted for our sailing. We have FTTF...does that mean we will get some sort of priority on the waitlist? I'm not clear on what the FTTF priority dining is (although I get that it doesn't mean you skip the line! ;))

 

Thanks!!

 

If you like your wait team first night, just make sure you get their names, and when you go back next night you tell the hostess, that you want to sit in their section.

 

I am not sure what the typical wait time is, because I travel solo now, and I go to YTD between 6 and 6.30 and have never had to wait. I see lots of groups or four or more, so don't think your group size will affect you waiting.

 

If I were planning on a show, I would probably go earlier than seven, but the show time will be printed in your fun times. I would allow at least 1 and a half hours for dinner through dessert. It could be less time, or it could be more. Therefore make sure you know what time your show starts, and plan for that amount of time. Also tell your wait team, that you are planning on going to a show at that time. They will usually speed things up for you.

 

Forget about that FttF priority thing, I think it only means if you are dissatisfied with with your time dining, you will get priority in being placed in either early or late fixed time dining, should you wish to change.

 

Best wishes for a great cruise, and enjoy:)

[DallasGuy75219]

~ Say we go the first night and we love our wait staff. How do we request them the next day (by name, by table #, by area...?) or does the hostess keep up with where you are seated?

 

You can ask for them by name.

 

~ I realize we may have to wait (and it might increase if we ask for a certain table), but what's the typical wait time for a party of 4 around 7:00?

 

Between 7:00 and 8:00 seems to be when most people show up for ATD. I would expect a 15-45 minute wait on the first elegant night if you show up at 7:00. Other than that, wait times (if any) vary drastically from ship to ship depending on how good they are at quickly and efficiently getting people seated and turning tables over. Some ships seem to have it down to a science, and on others everything is a cluster****. I've been on some ships where I only had to take a pager on the first elegant night and others where I got a pager every night. There is also probably some variability on the same ship from sailing to sailing depending on passenger demographics (especially the number of children cruising) that determine how many third and fourth berths are taken (and thus the sheer number of people to seat) and how many people eat at the Lido buffet and at pay restaurants.

 

~ How does Anytime Dining work with the showtimes??

 

If there's a show you really want to see and want to eat first, I would give yourself plenty of time to eat because you don't know what the wait for a table will be. Or if there are early and late showtimes, you can go to the early show and eat after; just be aware that others may be doing the same, so there may a rush for ATD tables when the early show lets out.

[Vitamin_Sea]

We only book 6pm dining now. Our table and waiters are there always.

We have done anytime dine in the past. The problem is getting a pager and waiting for a table. No our thing

[Robfromcharlottesville]

I recently cruised on elation out of New Orleans and we had a 2 year old and 4 year old in our party and so we chose to eat as early as possible. We were your time dining so we always got there a few minutes before it started around 5:40 5:35, and we were always first in line. However we often the main dining room around 7:30 and there was frequently a line of about 30 minutes