pearose Posted April 19, 2016 #1 Share Posted April 19, 2016 We have always opted for early dining on all our previous cruises. Once we had late dining and decided not to get it changed and it turned out to just be too late for us. But last time, early dining seemed to stress us out trying to get ready and rush through it to make the shows etc. So this time we are trying out YTD. I would like to hear from those that have used YTD and what they liked/disliked about it? Is there a long wait for a table? Do they seat you with others or can you have a table with just your party. There will be 6 of us traveling together. Thanks for any input! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mutumbojimbo Posted April 19, 2016 #2 Share Posted April 19, 2016 We've had "Your Time Dining" on most of our sailings. We've enjoyed the flexibility it offers. If you find a team of waiters that you like, you can request to sit with them, we usually do that. We get a table for two or for our family. The only real downside, is that, like a restaurant, sometimes there can be a wait for a table. In that case, you'll be given a pager. If that happens to us, we usually just grab a pre-dinner drink, but outside of Formal night, that's pretty rare. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrislo Posted April 19, 2016 #3 Share Posted April 19, 2016 We always book YTD because we like the flexibility, that is our number one reason for selecting YTD. Out of 3 cruises we only had 1 long wait and that was the 1st formal night on the Valor (40 min). Other times we have opted to wait in order to sit by the window or with certain waitstaff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OCruisers Posted April 19, 2016 #4 Share Posted April 19, 2016 We love the flexibility of YTD! As another poster mentioned, the only time it was crowded were on the Elegant nights ... even then, not a long wait. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swirlfamily405 Posted April 19, 2016 #5 Share Posted April 19, 2016 I've only been on one cruise (Triumph, July 2015), so I wasn't sure what would be easiest for a family of 5. We chose anytime dining. We usually ate early, and we never waited at all. On formal night, we were one of the first people in the DR and got a beautiful window view table. We often had some of the same servers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jocko4279 Posted April 19, 2016 #6 Share Posted April 19, 2016 I started doing YTD in 2013 and I'll never go back. Can't beat the flexibility of going when you want and eating with whom you'd like to. I waited once maybe 2o minutes. One time out of three cruises. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vwrestler171 Posted April 20, 2016 #7 Share Posted April 20, 2016 We always do anytime dining. Nothing better than relaxing and watching sail away at 6 PM instead of rushing to dinner. We can go to dinner after sailaway and still enjoy our meal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tianajay Posted April 20, 2016 #8 Share Posted April 20, 2016 I've always had your time dining and loved it. Your're able to go to dinner whenever you like which is a plus. I've never had a serious problem besides long lines on lobster night:( it seems as if no matter what time you get there the line is always long, which is a bummer. But overall, I really do like your time dining. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
averysmama Posted April 20, 2016 #9 Share Posted April 20, 2016 We just tried it out for the first time and loved it. Never waited and was always seated immediately. We had a party of 2 and always sat at our own table. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KPfromCT Posted April 20, 2016 #10 Share Posted April 20, 2016 We always do anytime dining. Nothing better than relaxing and watching sail away at 6 PM instead of rushing to dinner. We can go to dinner after sailaway and still enjoy our meal. This!!!!! :D Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DKNE Posted April 20, 2016 #11 Share Posted April 20, 2016 We're doing ytd for the first time on our cruise next week. What time is the approximate best time to go for no to little lineups? Thanks . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosefloater Posted April 20, 2016 #12 Share Posted April 20, 2016 We're doing ytd for the first time on our cruise next week. What time is the approximate best time to go for no to little lineups? Thanks . In my experience there are usually no lines before 6:30 and after 7:30. If we go during this hour, we usually wait 20-30 minutes, even with 1st available (either shared or our own table). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JaniceB Posted April 20, 2016 #13 Share Posted April 20, 2016 We had your time with a party of 6 and never asked to sit in the same section but were always at the same table except 1 night it was 2 tables over with a different staff. We usually went around the same time 7 to 7:30. We all had suites so don't know if that made a difference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruiseonthebrain Posted April 20, 2016 #14 Share Posted April 20, 2016 We love the flexibility of YTD; however, we have experienced a decline in service and increase in the time it takes to get through a meal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bookworm1985 Posted April 20, 2016 #15 Share Posted April 20, 2016 Personally, I hated it. I am one of those people that just likes the late dining, and having the same table with the same staff each night. I like how people still get the choice. Those that like early/late can still have it, and those that want more flexibility can do YTD. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bury me at sea Posted April 20, 2016 #16 Share Posted April 20, 2016 (edited) We have had YTD on last 4 Carnival 7-day cruises. Waited about 45 minutes once, about 10 minutes once, and were seated quickly all other evenings. Loved what we thought of as flexibility and loved being able to ask for same team if/when we gelled with them, and having a new team if we had a less than stellar experience. I enjoyed the experience enough to recommend it. That said for our August Breeze cruise we selected early dining, mostly because we found that we always went early because it fit our own schedule. We are eager to see what the differences are. Edited April 20, 2016 by bury me at sea Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosefloater Posted April 21, 2016 #17 Share Posted April 21, 2016 We all had suites so don't know if that made a difference. It doesn't matter your card color or your cabin type to getting seated any faster. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yvonne Posted April 21, 2016 #18 Share Posted April 21, 2016 I seriously doubt we will ever go back to assigned seating. We absolutely love Your Time Dining. As many others have said, we love the flexibility of being able to go to dinner when WE want to, not when we are TOLD to. You can request the same servers every night, we didn't do that on our last cruise but kind of wished we would have after the cruise was over, as the first night's servers were the best of all that we had. Not that the others were not good, we just enjoyed the friendliness and efficiency of the first team. But, we did have good service from all of them. And we were seated immediately most nights, I think we may have had a 20-minute wait on elegant night but we weren't given a pager, everyone just stayed in line. We had our own table for four, which is what we prefer, but you can always request to be seated at a larger table if that is what you wish to do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChristinaTravels30 Posted April 21, 2016 #19 Share Posted April 21, 2016 We were supposed to have YTD on our April 2nd Conquest Cruise. Originally we were in YTD and on the wait list for early dining (this is what was displayed in our cruise manager online). We called and asked to be taken off the wait list for early dining, and to just remain in YTD dining. Well, when we arrived at the boat we were in the late seating! My parents are older and did not want to be in the late seating - we were unsuccessful in changing out of the late seating (Carnival went as far as to leave us a note that our request for a dining change to the late seating - LOL - had been granted - on the second day of our cruise). At first we were so incredibly unhappy with Carnival - but then we learned that people in anytime dining were livid as they were waiting over an hour be seated (the lobby would get flooded with people waiting be seated from about 6 to 8). Needless to say, we ended up actually liking the late seating! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bunchesofun Posted April 21, 2016 #20 Share Posted April 21, 2016 We've had "Your Time Dining" on most of our sailings. We've enjoyed the flexibility it offers. If you find a team of waiters that you like, you can request to sit with them, we usually do that. We get a table for two or for our family. The only real downside, is that, like a restaurant, sometimes there can be a wait for a table. In that case, you'll be given a pager. If that happens to us, we usually just grab a pre-dinner drink, but outside of Formal night, that's pretty rare. This was also our experience. The only nights we got a pager was Elegant Night, and our last night but only because we wanted to be seated in a certain area to have the same waitstaff. Other than that it worked like clockwork. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taters Posted April 21, 2016 #21 Share Posted April 21, 2016 We tried YTD once and didn't care for waiting for a table most nights. We usually don't eat dinner until 8 PM at home, so late seating is perfect for us. I prefer that our table is waiting for us rather than us waiting for a table. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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