Queen Anne dining times

[babs135]

Just off the Anne and something happened that I don't recall on any of the other ships.  We were second sitting in the Britannia and the time given for turning up was between 8.15-8.30 pm.  On the second night we arrived at 8 pm fully expecting to join a queue only to be shown to our table and promptly served!  We continued to arrive for 8 o'clock the rest of the cruise as it meant that we didn't have to rush to get to the theatre.

Is this a new 'thing' or just on the Anne?

I must confess that we liked it as the early sitting is far too early and the late sitting can sometimes end up in a bit of a rush.  Open dining is not a particular favourite as we like the comfort of knowing where our table is and who will be serving us.

[exlondoner]

9 minutes ago, babs135 said:

Just off the Anne and something happened that I don't recall on any of the other ships.  We were second sitting in the Britannia and the time given for turning up was between 8.15-8.30 pm.  On the second night we arrived at 8 pm fully expecting to join a queue only to be shown to our table and promptly served!  We continued to arrive for 8 o'clock the rest of the cruise as it meant that we didn't have to rush to get to the theatre.

Is this a new 'thing' or just on the Anne?

I must confess that we liked it as the early sitting is far too early and the late sitting can sometimes end up in a bit of a rush.  Open dining is not a particular favourite as we like the comfort of knowing where our table is and who will be serving us.

That sounds excellent. Personally I should keep very quiet about it or everyone will be doing it! 😀

[Pushpit]

Yes, there does appear to have been some realignment of timings, having a look at QV for this current thread, which shows that the Daily Programme on QV gives the two sitting times as

 

5:30 pm to 6 pm for the first sitting

8 pm to 8:30 pm for the second.

 

And there was a report from QM2 along the same lines too. I think I've seen some 15 minute plus or minus before, so I don't think it's unusual as such. I would imagine the QA Daily Programme would have shown these times too.

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.co.uk/topic/3025014-maybe-somewhat-live-from-the-queen-victoria-trieste-to-barcelona/

 

[esc4p33]

We went for open dining on QA recently. Wish we hadn't. It seems everyone must have booked the better times (better for us anyway) as soon as they stepped on board. We could either book 17:45 or earlier, or 19:45 and later, but nothing in between. Mostly unable to join the virtual queue as it was "full". We prefer eating about 18:30 ish, but ended up block booking 17:45 in the end. Not sure if this is usual, we sailed on QV last year and "open" was truly open, we chose pretty much any time we fancied.

 

Edit: daily prog on QA showed 17:30-17:45 and 20:15-20:30 for timed sittings

Edited September 2 by esc4p33

[Pushpit]

There's no requirement to join the Virtual Queue on Open Dining, it's just an overlaying crowd management system which isn't connected to the allocation of tables. It's also used in some sports stadia and large workplace restaurants (and prisons!). The Front Desk isn't aware of what time you have allocated.  After all some people won't have access to myvoyage. So you don't have to book Open, you turn up. If you use the Virtual Queue it may make for a smoother experience but that's all it is.

[majortom10]

5 minutes ago, Pushpit said:

There's no requirement to join the Virtual Queue on Open Dining, it's just an overlaying crowd management system which isn't connected to the allocation of tables. It's also used in some sports stadia and large workplace restaurants (and prisons!). The Front Desk isn't aware of what time you have allocated.  After all some people won't have access to myvoyage. So you don't have to book Open, you turn up. If you use the Virtual Queue it may make for a smoother experience but that's all it is.

Yes and you turn up and they say they have no tables available and wait is over an hour.That is what happened to us on QA and we were encouraged to pre book a time for whole cruise on the "app".

[Pushpit]

Just now, majortom10 said:

Yes and you turn up and they say they have no tables available and wait is over an hour.That is what happened to us on QA and we were encouraged to pre book a time for whole cruise on the "app".

Was that on the first night? First night in Britannia can be a bit fraught, and usually it gets better the next day. I would expect QA will need a good 6 months of operations to get slick at this, just as the other ships needed that when Open was first introduced there. That said QE seems to have had fewest issues.

[NavyPanda]

3 hours ago, babs135 said:

Just off the Anne and something happened that I don't recall on any of the other ships.  We were second sitting in the Britannia and the time given for turning up was between 8.15-8.30 pm.  On the second night we arrived at 8 pm fully expecting to join a queue only to be shown to our table and promptly served!  We continued to arrive for 8 o'clock the rest of the cruise as it meant that we didn't have to rush to get to the theatre.

Is this a new 'thing' or just on the Anne?

I must confess that we liked it as the early sitting is far too early and the late sitting can sometimes end up in a bit of a rush.  Open dining is not a particular favourite as we like the comfort of knowing where our table is and who will be serving us.

I think they just open the doors when ready. Recently on Queen Anne and the doors would often open at 5:20pm and they would take orders before 5:30pm for those sitting at tables for two. It makes sense from their perspective as they can spread the workload over a longer period of time.  

[Bell Boy]

8 hours ago, babs135 said:

Just off the Anne and something happened that I don't recall on any of the other ships.  We were second sitting in the Britannia and the time given for turning up was between 8.15-8.30 pm.  On the second night we arrived at 8 pm fully expecting to join a queue only to be shown to our table and promptly served!  We continued to arrive for 8 o'clock the rest of the cruise as it meant that we didn't have to rush to get to the theatre.

Is this a new 'thing' or just on the Anne?

I must confess that we liked it as the early sitting is far too early and the late sitting can sometimes end up in a bit of a rush.  Open dining is not a particular favourite as we like the comfort of knowing where our table is and who will be serving us.

Nothing New, I have just disembarked from QM2 ( 30th Aug round trip Transatlantic) fixed dining for late sitting was scheduled for 8.30-8.45pm 

Often the restaurant was ready to receive guests at 8.20/8.25pm. It all boils down to if first sitting guests have managed to leave the restaurant well in time and table waiters have had ample time to re set the tables . I assume when the maitre'd is satisfied then the doors are opened wide .   

[majortom10]

8 hours ago, Pushpit said:

Was that on the first night? First night in Britannia can be a bit fraught, and usually it gets better the next day. I would expect QA will need a good 6 months of operations to get slick at this, just as the other ships needed that when Open was first introduced there. That said QE seems to have had fewest issues.

No it wasn't first night. The first night we had a card in our stateroom stating a time a table had been booked for us even though on Open dining. The excuse they have was because of a football match something to do with England. But fail to see reasoning because our time meant we were fortunate enough to miss the whole match but they wouldn't know I don't like football.

[mrjohnson]

I thought I'd add our QA dining experience to the thread. 

 

We're on board currently ( Norwegian fjords). 

 

The first 2 nights we did open seating upstairs,  and were really disappointed.  It was super busy, with a queue to enter at 745. The waiter was so busy he didn't introduce himself or chat, and the wine steward was rarely sighted. I managed to get only one glass out of my white wine bottle each night. My wife ordered a cocktail and it never turned up.

 

We shifted to the 815 downstairs sitting last night and it was chalk and cheese. The waiter was joking with us ( we had him serve one of our friends double portions of everything). The wine waiter was there from the start and found our bottles from upstairs,  also arranged the cocktail promptly. 

 

I was amazed at the different pace and atmosphere  downstairs.  That had been my only real complaint about the cruise so far - so very happy now.

[Host Hattie]

Thanks for posting your experience @mrjohnson. Did you have any difficulty changing from Open to fixed ? 

[mrjohnson]

1 hour ago, Host Hattie said:

Thanks for posting your experience @mrjohnson. Did you have any difficulty changing from Open to fixed ? 

No problem,  just went and asked at the Britannia front desk - gave us a table for 6 without issue.  

Edited September 4 by mrjohnson

[Host Hattie]

1 hour ago, mrjohnson said:

No problem,  just went and asked at the Britannia front desk - gave us a table for 6 without issue.  

That's good news, thank you. 

I hope you enjoy the rest of your cruise.