Best time to eat YTD?

[coevan]

Best time to eat YTD?

 

When you are hungry, best thing about YTD

[skrufy]

On 10/7/2019 at 8:58 AM, Eli_6 said:

I was reading the review on this page of the cruiser who said they had to wait an hour-and-a-half to be seated for your time dining.  I don't know if that is accurate or an exaggeration, but this has me concerned for my upcoming cruise.  This will be our first time doing anytime/your time dining.  We couldn't even get on the wait list for the early dining and there was a wait list for the late which, really, is just too late for us anyway between children who usually eat about 5:30-6 pm and retirees who are used to eating dinner at 5-5:30 pm.  

 

We have a party of 8 and I know we may not be able to sit together; but my bigger concern is that because this is a Christmas cruise, it will probably be a full ship. (Already, few available rooms.) 

 

So...is there a time people have found that is best for YTD?  Is going early when they first open better or waiting a bit?

 

Also, how long does dinner service typically take for you frequent cruisers? In the past, I never felt like it was excessive, but on my last cruise on the Vista, dinner service was taking so incredibly long that we stopped going to the main dining room (Reflections) the last couple of nights because of it.  (This was also when the Vista was pretty new so may have still been working out the kinks.)

Our experience with YTD. We are two and dine around 7pm each night.  We do not ask for special tables, and the usual wait is about 5-10 minutes on most nights. On elegant nights the line gets a little longer, the wait is sometimes around 20 minutes. Once we had about a 45 minute wait. For a group of 8, you might have a short wait for a table together. The wait time is hard to predict not knowing when people will decide to dine. The hub app should make waiting a little less.

[SadieN]

On 10/14/2019 at 3:06 AM, ray98 said:

I would call BS on the 1 1/2 hour claim.  I have a dozen cruises using YTD and the majority of the time are seated immediately.  The longest we ever waited was around 20 minutes on elegant night but we expected it because that it is when the biggest rush happens.

over 50 cruises with Carnival, usually on the same ships because we sail out of Ca almost exclusively.  Been doing ATD since it began.  Once the three of us had to wait over an hour, once two of us waited almost two hours.  Not too sure what the issue was the first time, the second was because the Hostess Computer broke down  45 minutes for a beeper, another 45 to be paged. The line to get a beeper wrapped around the walkway to the elevators on the Imagination.  Our usual wait time is anywhere from nothing to 30 minutes.

When traveling with any group larger than 4, assigned dining is the only way to go.

[mikenbon]

We were a group of 10, 2 yrs ago, on the Carnival Conquest, and we went for dinner at 5:45 when it opened. We were seated immediately. Our wait staff were so enjoyable that we requested the same table each evening.

[BNBR]

I prefer to eat all year long.

[jaowel]

We’ve always had YTD on our cruises and the only time we waited longer than 30 min was when we went after 6:30pm. We try to get down there around 5:30-5:45pm and usually got seated right away. 

[Djptcp]

DH and I always go at 5:45pm and get a table for two. When we leave the dining room about 7pm there are always many people waiting to get in. I don't do waiting in lines, so while going when the dining room opens is probably earlier than we normally eat at a restaurant, it beats going later when there is a crowd waiting. Bonus is getting to the casino earlier each night 🙂 

[Lee Cruiser]

On 10/7/2019 at 8:58 AM, Eli_6 said:

I was reading the review on this page of the cruiser who said they had to wait an hour-and-a-half to be seated for your time dining.  I don't know if that is accurate or an exaggeration, but this has me concerned for my upcoming cruise.  This will be our first time doing anytime/your time dining.  We couldn't even get on the wait list for the early dining and there was a wait list for the late which, really, is just too late for us anyway between children who usually eat about 5:30-6 pm and retirees who are used to eating dinner at 5-5:30 pm.  

 

We have a party of 8 and I know we may not be able to sit together; but my bigger concern is that because this is a Christmas cruise, it will probably be a full ship. (Already, few available rooms.) 

 

So...is there a time people have found that is best for YTD?  Is going early when they first open better or waiting a bit?

 

Also, how long does dinner service typically take for you frequent cruisers? In the past, I never felt like it was excessive, but on my last cruise on the Vista, dinner service was taking so incredibly long that we stopped going to the main dining room (Reflections) the last couple of nights because of it.  (This was also when the Vista was pretty new so may have still been working out the kinks.)

We were on the Magic a few weeks ago.  We prefer to eat as early as possible.  The YTD dining room opened at 5:30, but you could start requesting your table via the HUB app at 5:25.  We went on each day at 5:25 to request our table and we were seated as soon as we got to the dining room at 5:30.  Didn't have to wait on any of the four nights we ate in the dining room (we ate on the Lido both elegant nights).  Love being able to request your table on the HUB app.  It is so much better than going and standing in line.

[Lee Cruiser]

On 10/14/2019 at 4:58 AM, geoffrywillhardt said:

I would love to use the app but we always ask for a table next to the window and usually get it considering we go right away at 5:30. Any idea where they start to seat people with the app. When we go it seems like they start by the windows and fill in.

On the Magic last month we requested our table each night at 5:25 (dining room opened at 5:30) on the app and we were seated by a window every night.  So it appears they do start the seating around the windows.  Don't know this for sure, but your chances of getting a window may actually be improved by using the app as soon as it starts rather than going and waiting in line to request your table.

[trummy]

We usually go about 6:30. On one cruise we didn't go until about 8:00. We still had the same wait staff as before. Our waiter told us that our son had been in about 2 hours earlier. All of a sudden our son showed up and joined us. His YTD turned into 2 times dining.