"Your Time Dining" tell me more, tell me more....

[IMKTDQT810]

I am looking for pros and cons from the last time you sailed last. We have NEVER done this before but we are going to try it for our 2022 Magic Cruise. So when you have this as your seating in the dining room what did you like, love or hate about it? Thanks! 

[cruisin from vegas]

Always ...  on any line.  Eat when I want to.  I travel solo and I don’t want to share a table with strangers.  I have never had to wait for a table more than 2 minutes.  If you care about having the same wait staff, it doesn’t work.  I couldn’t care  less.  Works for me

[groundloop]

We've only done your-time once, neither loved nor hated it.  If you arrive just as the dining room is opening there can be a formidable looking line, but it moves quickly and we never had to wait more than 10 minutes or so. 

[Cruising with kiddos]

We LOVE it!  It's not that I don't enjoy meeting new people, but rather that we want to spend time together as a family.  We have used it for a table for 2 all the way up to a table for 12.  We have requested (and received) the same wait staff for the entire cruise as well as a change in staff when we just didn't click with the first staff.  We have gotten seats by the window as well as tables in the center of it all.  I have found that eating early typically results in a very minimal wait in the line, but seated within 5 minutes of the restaurant opening.  We have never tried eating later as early seating works best for us.

 

[stellarose]

we did it on the pride in 2018. hit and miss. sometimes easy to get a table sometimes the wait was crazy long. so in 2019 breeze- we went back to early dining. 

[hurricane0226]

Have done it on the last ten cruises, especially in port, when you get off, and do not have to

rush to the ship for dinner, it is your time, either, early or late, but really never a big wait,

on the Breeze, was just maybe 10 mins or so. but will never do anything but ATD.

[surfone]

would never go back to scheduled dining.  ATD is awesome.  Use the Carnival Hub app and make your dinner reservations,  works well.  I like ATD because of those days we come back from a long day at port we can go back and take our time and nap..etc., and we could wait until 9:30 if we chose,  then the days we had a late breakfast and skipped lunch and were ready to eat by 6.  Convenient and flexible.  

[stellarose]

we waited nearly an hour on the breeze.  it was first time YTD.  back to early seating.

[SRQbeachgirl]

We will never go back to scheduled dining. Whatever time we're ready to eat, we just get on the Carnival Hub app to check in and by the time we get from our cabin to the dining room our table is ready. We have never had to wait. 

 

It's especially nice being able to come back from excursions without having to rush to get to the dining room. We can sit on our balcony with wine while we sail out of port, then get ready for dinner.

[kwokpot]

50 minutes ago, Cruising with kiddos said:

We have requested (and received) the same wait staff for the entire cruise

While they may try to accommodate this, it's not always possible. Reason being since it's not set dining times, the previous occupants of the table you want may not be finished dining the same time every evening. Sometimes if a particular table isn't available you can request a different table with the same servers.

[sanmarcosman]

We never went back to early/late seating once Carnival introduced YTD. The Hub app makes checking in for a table a breeze. 

 

[sanmarcosman]

55 minutes ago, hurricane0226 said:

Have done it on the last ten cruises, especially in port, when you get off, and do not have to

rush to the ship for dinner, it is your time, either, early or late, but really never a big wait,

on the Breeze, was just maybe 10 mins or so. but will never do anything but ATD.

One of the competitors of Carnival has ATD 😉 

[JeanieTheMom]

What I think are the cons:

If you have more than 2 or 3 people, someone has to organize everyone to get together and go to dinner. That person in my life would be me. I don't need that pressure. I'm on vacation. 😆 If I'm with a group, I choose set time.

If you go when all the other ytd people go, there will be a wait. They give you a pager, just like at a restaurant on land.

You don't get the same wait staff unless you want to wait for them. If we find a good team, we request them, and wait if necessary. The range of the pager is the entire ship, so we just go listen to some music and get a drink and wait. Very relaxing.

 

I think everyone has listed the pros.

 

[sanmarcosman]

1 minute ago, JeanieTheMom said:

What I think are the cons:

If you have more than 2 or 3 people, someone has to organize everyone to get together and go to dinner. That person in my life would be me. I don't need that pressure. I'm on vacation. 😆 If I'm with a group, I choose set time.

If you go when all the other ytd people go, there will be a wait. They give you a pager, just like at a restaurant on land.

You don't get the same wait staff unless you want to wait for them. If we find a good team, we request them, and wait if necessary. The range of the pager is the entire ship, so we just go listen to some music and get a drink and wait. Very relaxing.

 

I think everyone has listed the pros.

 

On many ships the Hub App has replaced the use of the pagers, or am I thinking of another cruise line?

Edited June 21, 2021 by sanmarcosman

[IntrepidFromDC]

Reading all the positive opinions on YTD, maybe we should give it another try.  We did once and the waiting was painful.  Looooonnnngg line just to get the pager to buzz, then another 20-40 minutes waiting for the buzz to be seated, and had to wait within a certain distance of the restaurant entrance.  When I go to a restaurant I'm hungry.  I don't want to wait 30-50 minutes to get seated.  Every night, whether we came at 7 or 8.

Edited June 21, 2021 by IntrepidFromDC

[travelplus]

I love YTD

[CJHAN]

I like the ability to eat when I want in the MDR. I also like that I can sit basically alone with my wife and not interact with others if we choose not too.

[CJHAN]

8 hours ago, IntrepidFromDC said:

Reading all the positive opinions on YTD, maybe we should give it another try.  We did once and the waiting was painful.  Looooonnnngg line just to get the pager to buzz, then another 20-40 minutes waiting for the buzz to be seated, and had to wait within a certain distance of the restaurant entrance.  When I go to a restaurant I'm hungry.  I don't want to wait 30-50 minutes to get seated.  Every night, whether we came at 7 or 8.

That’s interesting. We have never had to wait. Are you normally a larger party?

[LadyMac72]

I love it.  I like to eat early and BF likes to eat late.  So he goes with me and gets a shrimp cocktail while I eat and I go with him and get an extra dessert while he eats.  

[ColeThornton]

It's really nice to have your own table so you don't have to get stuck with the people who post on here that make you think "Dear Lord, could you imagine having to sit for dinner every night with that idiot".  lol

[asalligo]

I love YTD and the only negatives I can think of for some people are positives for me. If you like meeting new people on a cruise and eating with those people each night in the MDR, then of course that is gone and I do not.

 

Then the wait staff, they will not be the same each night. This I also love. I know it is an unpopular opinion, but I do not need my waiter to introduce himself and tell me where he is from and how many kids he has and how long he has worked on the ship and know me by name. Just never been comfortable with pretending this relationship is more than it is.  I also do not eat in the MDR every night and that often made me feel like I was leaving my table mates and wait staff hanging even if I called. 

[ledges1]

15 minutes ago, asalligo said:

I love YTD and the only negatives I can think of for some people are positives for me. If you like meeting new people on a cruise and eating with those people each night in the MDR, then of course that is gone and I do not.

 

Then the wait staff, they will not be the same each night. This I also love. I know it is an unpopular opinion, but I do not need my waiter to introduce himself and tell me where he is from and how many kids he has and how long he has worked on the ship and know me by name. Just never been comfortable with pretending this relationship is more than it is.  I also do not eat in the MDR every night and that often made me feel like I was leaving my table mates and wait staff hanging even if I called. 

I use ytd. Sometimes I do not eat in the MDR. Why, sometimes I have eaten so much, I am not hungry. Sometimes the menu is not appealing. I have been on numerous cruises and find that the food is good, but not great. My wife and I can chit chat with the people around our table, without eating with the same people every night.  Usually with any large table of strangers, there are some you like better than others. YTD avoids these issues.

[kwokpot]

21 minutes ago, asalligo said:

I love YTD and the only negatives I can think of for some people are positives for me. If you like meeting new people on a cruise and eating with those people each night in the MDR, then of course that is gone and I do not.

 

Then the wait staff, they will not be the same each night. This I also love. I know it is an unpopular opinion, but I do not need my waiter to introduce himself and tell me where he is from and how many kids he has and how long he has worked on the ship and know me by name. Just never been comfortable with pretending this relationship is more than it is.  I also do not eat in the MDR every night and that often made me feel like I was leaving my table mates and wait staff hanging even if I called. 

Oh you mean you're not the type to bring gifts from a dollar store for your cabin attendant?😏

[JeanieTheMom]

11 hours ago, sanmarcosman said:

On many ships the Hub App has replaced the use of the pagers, or am I thinking of another cruise line?

Even better! 😊

[Qchell]

We've never chosen Early/Late - always YTD.  We just never know from day to day when we are going to be ready for dinner nor what we are going to feel like eating.  Our last cruise I think we ate in the MDR maybe two (2) nights.  With YTD there is no necessity to let our table/dining room know that we are choosing to eat somewhere else that evening so that are table mates are not waiting on us, we just don't go.  

We've gone with groups from 2-12 and the biggest I have had to wait was maybe 10 minutes.  Now, on the Sunshine in particular, I have seen pretty long lines for YTD, and we just opted for another venue or to grab a drink at the Alchemy Bar and wait for the line to go down before we got in line.  
 

With regard to meeting new people at dinner, we have had a few times where we were asked if we were open to sitting with other people and we have always had a pleasant time and enjoyed meeting new people.  But its nice to have the option of just sitting with my husband too and not have to sit with others every evening.