Traditional dinners able to use Anytime dining?

[casofilia]

In my opinion, most of those claims are figments of the posters' imaginations. I've never, not once, headed to AD if I've missed my dining time, but since we TD diners are always accused as such I'm thinking about trying it and encouraging every other TD diner to do the same.

 

 

Shame on you.

[casofilia]

AD OR TD but not EITHER AD or TD. You make a choice then keep to it!! If you miss your time in TD go elsewhere but NOT to AD.

[floridalover5623]

AD OR TD but not EITHER AD or TD. You make a choice then keep to it!! If you miss your time in TD go elsewhere but NOT to AD.

But the thing of it is- Princess allows it even if it's not a one time thing. It's understandable if someone arrives back late from a tour & does it once but there are some that do it almost consistently every night and think noting of it. Last time we were in TD there were always lot of people missing from night to night. I really don't believe they were at the buffet, Specialty dining or eating pizza.

[CA Dave]

We started cruising a few years ago when AD and fee restaurants weren't a thing so everyone had TD or the buffet/grill/pizza if you couldn't make your table time. The dining room was more of an event and people made the effort to make it, and on time. We've had some great tables in the past but, now, I think true TD has been diluted by the fee restaurants and lax administration of TD using AD at their whim. Our last two cruises with TD felt like AD with the others at the table regularly not showing up. I don't see it getting better so we are choosing AD on our 15 day canal cruise next year.

 

dz

[iceleven]

Yes, there are people who abuse this and yet there are many who simply are not aware of the rules and how their choices affect others. Yes, there are instructions and info written somewhere on the Princess site but who reads all the details? I suspect many, if not most, cruisers are still pretty new to cruising.

 

It would be helpful, and educational, if the cabin card was always presented upon arrival for ATD. If the person has not already prearranged for a reservation they should then be offered a CHOICE of dining elsewhere or joining a separate line to wait for an available table AFTER those already in that ATD line have been seated. Those who do not have ATD and asked to stand aside can then also be handed a note explaining how the system works. This way they cannot say they were turned away but simply given choices.

 

I want to believe that our fellow cruisers are not intentionally being self-centered but simply do not understand why this sort of switching back and forth have repercussions and impacts the dining experience for others and that they may have absolutely no awareness of.

[juniper berries]

There is another side to this i know for a fact that AD dinners are accommodated in the TD.We had late seating on 2 different cruises and on one cruise there was a lineup to get into the TD dinning room after the late seating had started. I had to walk by these people and just about set upon because i was able to just walk right in. I had gone to get my husband a coffee from the IC. The second time was last year we where by a table for 2 and it was not being used so someone was seated there after 9pm. So should we who TD complain about the people from AD using our dining room I think not why not just pack some patience and remember that we have gone away to relax.

[dtb55]

Good idea. I think I'll sign up for TD next cruise & go to AT dining every night. If enough people do this they'll be actually be forced to make people use the correct dining room, and not just on the first night or two. :D

 

 

 

That's a good point. I might actually be helping the AD cause.

 

 

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[dtb55]

It would be helpful, and educational, if the cabin card was always presented upon arrival for ATD. If the person has not already prearranged for a reservation they should then be offered a CHOICE of dining elsewhere or joining a separate line to wait for an available table AFTER those already in that ATD line have been seated. Those who do not have ATD and asked to stand aside can then also be handed a note explaining how the system works. This way they cannot say they were turned away but simply given choices.

 

 

 

I want to believe that our fellow cruisers are not intentionally being self-centered but simply do not understand why this sort of switching back and forth have repercussions and impacts the dining experience for others and that they may have absolutely no awareness of.

 

 

 

Can you imagine how that would delay entry into the ATD?

 

Maybe one of those scanners the airport uses for boarding passes would work. We can scan our cards as we enter the DR and the system can make a loud noise for those interlopers from TD.

 

Personally, I think the bigger problem is allowing reservations in AT.

 

 

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[dtb55]

Shame on you.

 

 

 

Take a joke much? [emoji849]

 

 

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[SantaFeFan]

Take a joke much? [emoji849]

 

I got your joke. But then again, I don't have a stick up my you-know-where. :cool:

[dtb55]

I got your joke. But then again, I don't have a stick up my you-know-where. :cool:

 

 

 

Thank you.

 

 

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[Potstech]

There is another side to this i know for a fact that AD dinners are accommodated in the TD.We had late seating on 2 different cruises and on one cruise there was a lineup to get into the TD dinning room after the late seating had started. I had to walk by these people and just about set upon because i was able to just walk right in. I had gone to get my husband a coffee from the IC. The second time was last year we where by a table for 2 and it was not being used so someone was seated there after 9pm. So should we who TD complain about the people from AD using our dining room I think not why not just pack some patience and remember that we have gone away to relax.

 

We have always used ATD even though there are lines sometime. On at least 3 occasions we have been sent to the TD room as there were empty seats there even whole tables empty. Where did all the TD people go too. All times it was an At Sea day and non formal.

[casofilia]

So should we who TD complain about the people from AD using our dining room

Yes, every time. Princess MUST introduce room card checking and enforce the cruisers choice of dining type.

[SantaFeFan]

AD OR TD but not EITHER AD or TD. You make a choice then keep to it!! If you miss your time in TD go elsewhere but NOT to AD.

 

So should we who TD complain about the people from AD using our dining room

 

Yes, every time. Princess MUST introduce room card checking and enforce the cruisers choice of dining type.

 

You do realize that this is a cruise we are talking about and not a military academy, right? :rolleyes:

[casofilia]

Indeed, but there are polite ways of behaving so that you do not inconvenience others. If you have made a choice, keep to it so others can keep to their choice too without your alteration of your choice impinging on them.

[Loonbeam]

It's worth noting that this is exactly what many of the other mass market lines do... On RCCL, NCL, etc, they swipe one persons card at every seating (there are other reasons like allergy and preference tracking as well).

 

 

 

It would be helpful, and educational, if the cabin card was always presented upon arrival for ATD. If the person has not already prearranged for a reservation they should then be offered a CHOICE of dining elsewhere or joining a separate line to wait for an available table AFTER those already in that ATD line have been seated. Those who do not have ATD and asked to stand aside can then also be handed a note explaining how the system works. This way they cannot say they were turned away but simply given choices.

 

[Loonbeam]

If someone notified the Headwaiter in advance they would be dining in specialty for example (or chef's table, room service, etc..) they open those seats to AD as schedule works. Also, if people opt out of TD for rest of cruise those seats are made available.

 

 

We have always used ATD even though there are lines sometime. On at least 3 occasions we have been sent to the TD room as there were empty seats there even whole tables empty. Where did all the TD people go too. All times it was an At Sea day and non formal.

[grandmaC123]

We like traditional dining , because we get the same table the same waiters , the same people every night . U get to know the people at ur table

 

 

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[SantaFeFan]

It's worth noting that this is exactly what many of the other mass market lines do... On RCCL, NCL, etc, they swipe one persons card at every seating (there are other reasons like allergy and preference tracking as well).

 

Not all of them. We have never had to show our card on any Celebrity cruise we have taken. Seems that some cruise lines do a better job of treating their passengers like adults than others. Or perhaps those cruise lines do a better job of attracting adults than other cruise lines.

[Homosassa]

And then there were the couple at our early traditional seating table that showed up twenty minutes late one evening.

 

We were in the mid ship MDR that had the second MDR the next deck down that was used for ATD.

 

The couple had been chatting in the elevator and missed the right deck for the MDR. They got off with other passengers and just walked into the MDR and sat down at our table. However, after about ten minutes, they realized the waiters were different and none of the rest of us were at the table.

 

Very red faced, they rushed out and needed to talk their way past the maitre d' to be allowed late into our seating.

[Loonbeam]

Celebrity is supposed to get at least some parts of the RCCL system soon - it's not just about what people signed up for, a key part of the system is that the server (this is tailored to flexible dining) gets a little slip that says things like 'allergic to shellfish, hates tomatoes, has soda card, drinks pepsi', so that when we are seated the server often just brings us 2 pepsis, etc. It also allows them to track usage of venues better, as well as order trends. The ability to screen out reservations, etc, is a potential positive side effect.

 

Not all of them. We have never had to show our card on any Celebrity cruise we have taken. Seems that some cruise lines do a better job of treating their passengers like adults than others. Or perhaps those cruise lines do a better job of attracting adults than other cruise lines.

[floridalover5623]

We like traditional dining , because we get the same table the same waiters , the same people every night . U get to know the people at ur table

 

 

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So what difference does it all make in the end. You still get the same food, meet different people and maybe get a better waiter at another table.

[SantaFeFan]

Celebrity is supposed to get at least some parts of the RCCL system soon - it's not just about what people signed up for, a key part of the system is that the server (this is tailored to flexible dining) gets a little slip that says things like 'allergic to shellfish, hates tomatoes, has soda card, drinks pepsi', so that when we are seated the server often just brings us 2 pepsis, etc. .....

 

And we have always had that personalized service on every cruise line we have sailed on without the reliance of such technology. Something that doesn't need "fixing", IMHO.

[GlamorousGirl]

There are plenty of other options if they miss their appointed time. It's not the anytime diners' fault they missed it either, so it makes no sense to negatively impact them through no fault of their own when other options are available. If these people didn't want to have to get there at a set time (or use an alternative venue) then they should not have reserved traditional. Furthermore, anytime diners can't just up and decide they want traditional and show up for that and "be accommodated" so it shouldn't work the other way around, either.

[SantaFeFan]

The proliferation of "class systems" now being rolled out on many cruise lines has apparently reached Princess. This "stay out of my dining room if you aren't booked here" attitude is akin to a class system. The concept that ATD diners should not be allowed in TD and TD diners should not be allowed in ATD certainly has a class system tone to it - "You stay where you belong. Don't even think of coming into my area". WOW! Sad to see people so wound up about such a trivial matter. :rolleyes: