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Anytime dining question


alwayslisad
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We are on the Horizon on Saturday.  Yay!!!!

How is anytime dining done on Carnival?  I thought I read that we do not just show up at the dining room and get seated.   Can someone guide me through what I need to do.   Thank you in advance

Edited by alwayslisad
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You may either "show up" and be seated like in any restaurant, or make a reservation...(sort of like "call ahead").....your choice!  If you eat early or late, reservations probably aren't a must.  If you want to eat at the popular time (6:45-7:30 or so), then a reservation is in order.

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I just got off the Horizon last Sunday and had ATD. You can either go to the Java Blue Café on deck 5 and put in a request for table or do it on the Carnival App. I used the App and it worked great. Told you how long the wait was, if any. ATD is served in the aft restaurant on deck 3 or 4, when your table is ready it will notify you and tell you which deck to go to, 3 or 4 along with the table number. Have fun!

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3 hours ago, cb at sea said:

You may either "show up" and be seated like in any restaurant, or make a reservation...(sort of like "call ahead").....your choice!  If you eat early or late, reservations probably aren't a must.  If you want to eat at the popular time (6:45-7:30 or so), then a reservation is in order.

Is this true on all carnival ships or is your information strictly for Horizon? We sail on elation on Monday Nov 19 and have YTD. I handy heard about reservations. Is this trough GS or a special dining number from the room?

Edited by niciediva007
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9 hours ago, niciediva007 said:

Is this true on all carnival ships or is your information strictly for Horizon? We sail on elation on Monday Nov 19 and have YTD. I handy heard about reservations. Is this trough GS or a special dining number from the room?

 

The Horizon is the only ship at this point where you can check in for your TTD on the HUB app.  All other ships, you simply go to the check-in desk or hostess desk (depending on the ship) to check-in and be seated. No Carnival ships make reservations for YTD. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I am confused by the postings on this thread. My wife and I have just booked a cruise for January 2019 on the Horizon, and this is our first time on Carnival, although we have cruised with many other cruise lines before. After booking the cruise, I tried to select our dining option. Only YourTime Dining was listed and that said "Wait Listed" in parenthesis after it. I just now called Carnival to ask about it. They told me two things that I find very confusing:

1. They said that right now we will be waitlisted for YTD. If the waitlisting does not clear, then we will not be able to use YTD. In that case, it looks like our only option will be to eat in the buffet or one of the other restaurants. I am surprised by this, because I thought that YTD is an alternative to regular assigned dining hours and that it can be used by anyone who does not have assigned hours. On other cruise lines such as Royal Caribbean or Holland America, we even had assigned dining and still could show up at AnyTime Dining and eat at other times.

2. Secondly, they said that if the waitlisting does clear and we are given YTD, then we will have to select a time between 5:45 and 9:30 and then show up at that exact time every night. Again, I find this strange, as I thought the point of YTD is to have flexibility in when you eat each night. If some night we arrive late from a shore excursion or we decide to see a show, we could eat at a different time, but Carnival tells me that is not the case.


Can someone please clear up my confusion and tell me what are the real rules?

 

Also, one other question: We have friends traveling on the same cruise as us and we wanted to link the bookings so we could dine together. The Carnival rep on the phone had me choose a secret pin number, and then said I would have to share my booking number and pin number with our friends, they would then have to call Carnival and provide this information to get the linking done. Is this procedure correct? Why would they have me share my pin number that is supposedly to be kept secret?

 

Thanks!

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you got some very bad and incorrect information. There is no such thing as 

6 minutes ago, UPr123 said:

we will have to select a time between 5:45 and 9:30 and then show up at that exact time every night.

 as this. Either you have assigned early, late or YTD. If you are assigned a time you are not happy with, on the first day go to your Maitre'd and asked to be changed to YTD. 

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On 11/14/2018 at 9:53 PM, niciediva007 said:

Is this true on all carnival ships or is your information strictly for Horizon? We sail on elation on Monday Nov 19 and have YTD. I handy heard about reservations. Is this trough GS or a special dining number from the room?

 

It was true on Vista, that they told me I MUST check on on deck 5 nightly which turned out to not be strictly true. But we did it the first 4 nights.

 

Probably because these ships have two any time dining rooms and other ships only have one, they have a central point where they prefer you to check in to not overload a waiter.

 

You also can check in if you downloaded the Hub App, and do it on the app. I dont know how the app tells you when your table is assigned though, we just went up to deck 5 and checked in.

Edited by firefly333
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1 hour ago, UPr123 said:

I am confused by the postings on this thread. My wife and I have just booked a cruise for January 2019 on the Horizon, and this is our first time on Carnival, although we have cruised with many other cruise lines before. After booking the cruise, I tried to select our dining option. Only YourTime Dining was listed and that said "Wait Listed" in parenthesis after it. I just now called Carnival to ask about it. They told me two things that I find very confusing:

1. They said that right now we will be waitlisted for YTD. If the waitlisting does not clear, then we will not be able to use YTD. In that case, it looks like our only option will be to eat in the buffet or one of the other restaurants. I am surprised by this, because I thought that YTD is an alternative to regular assigned dining hours and that it can be used by anyone who does not have assigned hours. On other cruise lines such as Royal Caribbean or Holland America, we even had assigned dining and still could show up at AnyTime Dining and eat at other times.

2. Secondly, they said that if the waitlisting does clear and we are given YTD, then we will have to select a time between 5:45 and 9:30 and then show up at that exact time every night. Again, I find this strange, as I thought the point of YTD is to have flexibility in when you eat each night. If some night we arrive late from a shore excursion or we decide to see a show, we could eat at a different time, but Carnival tells me that is not the case.


Can someone please clear up my confusion and tell me what are the real rules?

 

 

Carnival has two any time dining rooms so your chances of not clearing the wait list for anytime Id say are slim and none. You will for sure get it (even those of us who didnt want it got it because of the extra dining room added). They told us anytime was more popular but there were always tons of empty tables.

 

I will add besides checking in on deck 5 or the hub app, if you find a waiter/waitress you like and get her card, then like we did the last 3 nights, we went directly to deck 3 to that desk and checked in and handed them her card where we wanted to sit. You do not get to pick a time. I found ONE lady who was allowed who was diamond and in a motorized chair, no one else was allowed to pick a time, and I asked about it. I was told no, just come here and check in.

 

Whomever told you gave you some iffy info. anytime means any time you want to eat between those hours. And they would not even allow me ot pick a set time. I actually requested early and got anytime, as did 3 others I talked to who also wanted early. They are shuffling everyone to the extra dining room of any time on horizon and vista.

 

The place to check in on deck 5 is kinda near the aft, next to the coffee bar, but the dining rooms for any time arre in the aft on deck 3 and 4. Kinda a pain. We did a lot of walking but i liked the sky ride so I guess that made up for some other things.

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On 11/24/2018 at 1:28 PM, firefly333 said:

 

It was true on Vista, that they told me I MUST check on on deck 5 nightly which turned out to not be strictly true. But we did it the first 4 nights.

 

So did you go straight to your dining room to check in?  We sail on the Vista December 9, and I am also confused about the anytime dining process for this ship - so different than what we are used to.  I'm reading conflicting posts re: the process.  Also, could you or could you not use the HUB app to check in for dinner?  I've also read conflicting posts re: this process as well.  Thank you!

Edited by LHARTWICK
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On 11/15/2018 at 7:31 AM, Schoifmom said:

 

The Horizon is the only ship at this point where you can check in for your TTD on the HUB app.  All other ships, you simply go to the check-in desk or hostess desk (depending on the ship) to check-in and be seated. No Carnival ships make reservations for YTD. 

 

I was on Vista nov 11 to 18 and i watched one of the gals at the deck 5 checkin desk explain to someone how to check in on the Hub App. You definetely could use hub app on my cruise to check in for any time dining

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4 hours ago, LHARTWICK said:

So did you go straight to your dining room to check in?  We sail on the Vista December 9, and I am also confused about the anytime dining process for this ship - so different than what we are used to.  I'm reading conflicting posts re: the process.  Also, could you or could you not use the HUB app to check in for dinner?  I've also read conflicting posts re: this process as well.  Thank you!

 

Check in is deck 5 next to the coffee bar on Vista. or the hubb app. OK  I went to get my card for vista 11/11 to 11/18 cruise. it says on my card after my name DINING YOUR TIME DINING CHECK IN, next line Deck 5, JavaBlue Cafe 5:30 - 9:30 pm.

 

there are two dining room and we were not assigned to a particular one.

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  • 3 weeks later...

We just returned from Vista yesterday (loved it!!!). I can confirm that you do NOT need to go to deck 5 to check in.  Just use the Carnival Hub app to request a table.  It will then tell you your table number when your table is ready (never waited more than literally 3 minutes for a table confirmation - just refresh that screen until it confirms).  You then proceed directly to your dining room and they will show you to your table.  No more lines!  Love this new system!  Make sure you download the app prior to boarding.  I heard some people say once the ship sailed, they were not able to download the app.

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My question relates to the Horizon where many of the tables for 2 are arranged next to each other, almost like a table for 10! Has anyone had experience with trying to get a table next to a window or away from the 5 tables for 2 completely? Would it be better to go to Deck 5 and ask as opposed to checking in on the app? 

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I would think you'd need to ask at the check-in desk on Deck 5 re: a table by the window or other type.  If you use the app, it's just luck of the draw.  Most of the tables next to the windows are 4+ or larger from what I could tell. If there are only 2 of you and you use the app to check in, you will be assigned to a table for 2.  One night we had a table for 2 away from everyone else.  The other nights we had a table for 2 that were right up against other tables, so you're pretty much obligated to visiting to those around you.  They are literally about 6 inches apart. 

 

On a similar note, I had one of the best steaks (filet mignon) I've ever had on the 2nd formal night.  It was even better than the steak I had at the 555 Steakhouse the first night.  The lady next to me said it was also the best steak she had ever had. It was amazing!!!  Stunned by how good it was since they are cooking steaks for a lot of people at one time.

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Maplemoose:  No place on app for special requests that I noticed.  It just goes by number of people then finds a table to match I believe.

 

lulu croozer:  There is a box you can check if you are willing to share a table with others, so if you check that box, you may be placed at a larger table with other people.  I didn't check the box, and we always were at a table for 2, even if we were inches from the next table.

 

During nights when the dining room wasn't very busy, such as on port days, you might be able to request a specific table once you get to the dining room.  I think on the night of the Cozumel port day for example, there were very few people in the dining room.  Lots of empty tables and choices. The staff in the dining room keeps track of open tables via an iPad, and I guess that information is then relayed to the check-in system.  It really does seem far more efficient than going to the dining room, requesting a table and waiting in line, especially on busy nights.  We were very pleased with it compared to our experience in the past on any cruise line for Your Time Dining.

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4 minutes ago, stellarose said:

now there may be times when you come for anytime and they are not able to seat your right away. we had a party of 6 and sometimes it was 10 minutes to close to an hour.  we did anytime bc we thought it would be more flexible. 

 

I can definitely see that happening on formal nights, as all dining rooms are pretty full on those nights.

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On 12/17/2018 at 12:57 PM, LHARTWICK said:

We just returned from Vista yesterday (loved it!!!). I can confirm that you do NOT need to go to deck 5 to check in.  Just use the Carnival Hub app to request a table.  It will then tell you your table number when your table is ready (never waited more than literally 3 minutes for a table confirmation - just refresh that screen until it confirms).  You then proceed directly to your dining room and they will show you to your table.  No more lines!  Love this new system!  Make sure you download the app prior to boarding.  I heard some people say once the ship sailed, they were not able to download the app.

what time was this that you had no wait?   Before 7?    after 8:30?    

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