anytime dining VS set time?

[RNsoon2beNP]

Hey everyone, anytime dining is new to me, last time I sailed, it wasnt an option. When I originally booked, i thought ATD would be a great option. But I have read post were there were long wait times on certain ships with ATD. The hubby gets impatient and would rather eat at a buffet every night to avoid long dinner lines.

So those who have done both, whats your preferences, why?

Thanks :)

[SadieN]

If you don't want to wait, do assigned time dining.

 

If you're going to wait in ATD is going to depend on how the other pax are on your cruise. We were on the Miracle in October, November and January. Our first two cruises we had horrendous lines and couldn't even get a shared table. Our January cruise rarely had a wait.

Edited March 12, 2016 by SadieN

[RNsoon2beNP]

Thank you!

[CRocks]

Hey everyone, anytime dining is new to me, last time I sailed, it wasnt an option. When I originally booked, i thought ATD would be a great option. But I have read post were there were long wait times on certain ships with ATD. The hubby gets impatient and would rather eat at a buffet every night to avoid long dinner lines.

So those who have done both, whats your preferences, why?

Thanks :)

 

I've never waited with ATD, but I'm sure it's possible at certain times with certain table requirements. But, I'd damn sure wait an hour in line before I'd eat my dinner in the buffet. There is absolutely no comparison to dinner in the MDR + lido buffet.

[Trumpster]

No way on the buffet.

Would either wait or get a beeper and find a bar and wait.

 

I don't like waiting and still wouldn't do the buffet.

[rufflesmom]

We always do ATD for various reasons. We have found that if you go earlier there isn't usually much of a wait. We like earlier so we can go to shows and get to bed earlier (sorry we are old folks by 11 we turn into pumpkins!). We also tend to wake up earlier, even on vacations.

[Yvonne]

We much prefer anytime dining over assigned seating.

 

We tend to have dinner early, 6:00 or so, and rarely ever have a wait. Most of the time we are seated as soon as we walk up to the podium. Occasionally have had a 5-10 minute wait but that often happens at local restaurants at home too. Once we did wait in line 20 minutes, but it was around 7:00 and on Elegant Night so it was busier then. We love being able to sit with just our family and not have a shared table with others. We don't enjoy making small talk so it's just much more relaxing for us to be at our own table and not have to fret about it.

 

We used to have assigned seating (both early and late) but when anytime dining became available we chose that and have been much happier with it. It's nice to have the flexibility, as with assigned seating when "it's time to go to dinner" you go, whether or not you're hungry, or maybe you're doing something else but have to stop to go to dinner. We didn't enjoy that. With anytime you go when you want to, not when you're told to.

[NavarreCruiser]

For the last 40 or so Carnival cruises we have only done ATD (ever since it was offered). If you go between 5:45 and 6:30 there is rarely a wait except on lobster nights. Times after that it is hit and miss and varies by ship. There have been many times when we were offered a beeper and declined it and ate at the buffet.

[dmdiver]

I think our longest ATD wait was 20-30 minutes on elegant night around 7pm for a party of 6. They gave us a buzzer & we sat in the lounge area & relaxed. No wait any other night. We've done ATD on a lot of cruises, as we like the flexibility. If you like your waitstaff, you can request to be seated with them each night. That could cause you to have to wait, but we did not experience that. All that being said, we tend to eat around 5:45-6pm most nights. Time of evening may make a difference in wait times.

[crusinpsychRN]

I used to do late seating but had a string of really bad table mates so switched to YTD and like being able to decide when and where to eat. I travel solo.

 

Congrats on the near NP. I'm a psych ARNP. What is your field?

[zqvol]

Hey everyone, anytime dining is new to me, last time I sailed, it wasnt an option. When I originally booked, i thought ATD would be a great option. But I have read post were there were long wait times on certain ships with ATD. The hubby gets impatient and would rather eat at a buffet every night to avoid long dinner lines.

So those who have done both, whats your preferences, why?

Thanks :)

 

Have always used ATD since it was introduced. Would never switch back to set time dining. We have never had to wait for a table, but we usually go to dinner around 6:45 and our table size is usually a four top. Larger table might have to wait or if you go later you might have to wait. (There is also a wait the first 10 minutes the dining room is open because they have to get the line seated.)

[OCruisers]

It's very nice to have the flexibility of going to dinner at different times! :)

[TC Cruiser]

We were fans of the late seating so that we could develop a friendship throughout the cruise with other passengers. We had great table mates until one cruise; nobody wanted to talk, one man couldn't hear anyway and two younger single cruises left the table permanently after two nights. We've been anytime dining ever since. The flexibility works out much better for catching entertainment as well.

[coevan]

we are late diners, 8:30-9 and never had a wait, found a great waitress and sat in her station the rest of the cruise. She knew our name and drinks on the second day, awesome.

[MtnDweller]

But I have read post were there were long wait times on certain ships with ATD. The hubby gets impatient and would rather eat at a buffet every night to avoid long dinner lines.

 

We did not have to wait more than 5 minutes to get a table with ATD. I would most certainly do it again.

[vwrestler171]

I always do ATD, it's nice being able to move my dining time if we are in port later and still want to eat in the MDR. I rarely have to wait, but we don't go during peak dining times.

[cruiselovin'momma]

We had ATD and never had to wait at all. But, we did go each night as soon as the DR opened.

[ChristinaTravels30]

I was also wondering about this... We are traveling with my older parents, who wanted the early seating, but it was sold out for our cruise. We opted for the ATD dining instead (which would've been my preference anyways), and then I started reading about the long waits. This thread makes me less worried! Thanks!

[okgirl]

We always choose YTD. We usually arrive around 6:15 and usually sit at the same table every night. Rarely are there more than 8 or 10 people in line before us.

[bbest5216]

We did ATD on the breeze. The only time we had any sort of wait was the first formal night. Even that wait wasn't long. We requested the same wait staff every night as well.

[figdu]

We had late seating on our first cruise, that was the choice of a group of 43, and not what we would have done by ourselves. 8:30 is simply to late for us to eat. By cruise number four ATD was available and that is all we have done since. We have waited 20 minutes one time and are generally in the 5 minute timeframe.

[RaiderCruiser]

Maybe we have been very lucky but on the 4 cruises we have taken and used any time dining, the max we have waited is 5 minutes and that's because we requested the same dining staff. We've requested and rec'd the same staff for the entire trips each time. Many have said if you don't want to wait use fixed time, but I'm not sure that's really true. While we are not in a hurry when we dine, we have found that fixed time dining is about 25-30 minutes longer than anytime.

[Florings]

We had ATD on our last 2 cruises. I like it, don't get me wrong....but I do miss having the same table and the same wait staff. I think the camaraderie at the set time was better. So we are going back to early dining next cruise.

[michele.malarkey]

We are just off the Dream. Only had to wait twice at the YTD but only because we requested a certain waiter. We could have got right in if we would have taken potluck on the waiter.

 

 

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[dmdiver]

We had ATD on our last 2 cruises. I like it, don't get me wrong....but I do miss having the same table and the same wait staff. I think the camaraderie at the set time was better. So we are going back to early dining next cruise.

 

You can request the same table/waitstaff with ATD - just may have a wait. We've done that before on several cruises. I think there was only once that we were told there would be a long wait & we just opted that night only to go with wherever they had an open spot. The rest of the cruise we were back with our favorite waitstaff.