Any talk of RCI offering Anytime Dining?

[Philly Ken]

While i happen to love the RCI ships and events, I also love the Princess Anytime Dining concept (I haven't been on any of the Norwegian ships that offer it). It would be great to see RCI offer that as a dining option. I hate having to keep to a schedule when i'm on vaca. I've had nothing but great experiences on the 2 Princess cruises my wife and were on that offered it. I'll admit I was skeptical about the concept at first, but we ended up meeting more people that way and never had to wait more than 10 minutes for a table.

[grangermom]

I am with you on that! I am a huge RCI fan, but have been perusing the Princess website recently just because of the dining options. I'm sure there are some major logistical issues to deal with, as far as the cruise line is concerned. I can't begin to imagine how it would all work, but I sure would love it. :)

[AdamKnows]

I personally like the scheduled seating times that RCCL has. If you want anytime dining you can always go to the windjammer.

[zotzer]

I hope they don't change it!!!! I like the personalized service of an assigned waitstaff. A change like that would probably be a deal breaker for me.

 

Does Windjammer count as anytime dining? :)

Tracy

[grangermom]

Is it possible to have scheduled dining like it is now, and have another dining room with anytime dining? (Does NCL do that?) I understand that the Windjammer is always open, but we all know that that food isn't quite up to par with the dining room.

[Honey's Gal]

One of the main reasons we cruise with RCI is because we LIKE the traditional dining. I do not like the anytime dining on NCL and would truly not like to see it on RCI.

 

Sorry, JMHO:;)

[perkyblue]

I hope not! The traditional dining is part of what I look forward to about the whole cruise experience. I like having the option of Portofino's and Windjammer, and I eat there occassionally, but I really enjoy dining with other passengers and having the same waiters throughout the cruise. I will never sail NCL because of their freestyle dining. If that's how Princess does things too, then I'll avoid them as well. I like cruising because it's such a unique experience. I don't want to dine the same way on vacation that I do when I go out to a restaurant here at home.

[kkorman]

Why not offer both and make everyone happy. I will choose Princess over RCI specifically for Personal Choice. And eating at the buffet is in no way the same as having the choice to eat dinner when you want. THe beauty of PC dining is if you find someone you like you keep them... you are not FORCED to be with anyone.

[Cruise_Couple]

We prefer assigned seating times and although our cruise experience is somewhat limited, we prefer the "traditional" aspect of the 2 seatings for dinner. There is always the Windjammer, Portofino's, Chops Grille, Seavue Café, Johnny Rockets or room service for those who do not want to be limited on a particular day. I think RCCL should keep this as something that singles them out from the other cruise lines.

[kkorman]

We prefer assigned seating times and although our cruise experience is somewhat limited, we prefer the "traditional" aspect of the 2 seatings for dinner. There is always the Windjammer, Portofino's, Chops Grille, Seavue Café, Johnny Rockets or room service for those who do not want to be limited on a particular day. I think RCCL should keep this as something that singles them out from the other cruise lines.

 

Actually it keeps them the same... Only Princess and NCL do the nontraditional in the mass market group.

 

Most people do not want to abolish the traditional, just give me the choice of not doing traditional. Most ships in the RCI fleet have 2 floors, why not have one traditiona dn one open seating. Any why should I have to pay a charge for my dinner, or eat a buffet because I want to eat at 7:30. I do not understand why people like to be told when they have to eat, with whom they have to eat, and this is the server you have to eat. Another negative is with all the other options now available on cruise lines for food, you often get half empty tables at dinner time. Why not fill them with new people to meet?

[nanfromatlanta]

We much prefer the traditional dining experience and the personalization of the wait staff. This is one of the many reasons we are loyal RCCL customers.

 

Hope they dont change it.

[perkyblue]

I read on another thread that the PC dining on Princess is not working well. People posted that they had very long waits in order to do the anytime dining and that the only times that did not have a wait were either very early or very late. And some people who request traditional dining aren't able to get it, and there's a waiting list for it. (This is all 3rd-party information. I have never been on anything but RCCL so far.)

[Jesseer]

We have done both the traditional and the anytime dining and my vote would have to go for the traditional. When we had personal choice the 1st couple of days we changed around and then found a waiter we liked and made a standing reservation for the table every night. We did miss being in the main dining room and missing out on the baked Alaska "show" as they don't do it in the anytime dining. I would agree that they could take 1 dining room and make it anytime for those that do want it and the other for traditional as this is the way it was on our Princess cruise.

[zuscruiserz]

We love RCI's traditional late seating dining. This gives us ability to enjoy the day, and still have time to get dressed for dinner with the new friends we've made (waiters, tablemates, etc.). It is a much more comfortable dining room experience, and easier to start chatting with people you have come to know throughout the week. Anytime dining seems much less personal and friendly (have only sailed Princess once, but I know what I like!). JMO;) .

[kkorman]

I read on another thread that the PC dining on Princess is not working well. People posted that they had very long waits in order to do the anytime dining and that the only times that did not have a wait were either very early or very late. And some people who request traditional dining aren't able to get it, and there's a waiting list for it. (This is all 3rd-party information. I have never been on anything but RCCL so far.)

 

Having sailed with Personal choice for over 100 nights, I can say that have waited exactly 1 night. I waited less than 10 minutes and it was because I wanted a table for 8. This includes eating at peak times. And any other waits I have heard of are less than what people with traditional diners wait for when the doors are closed to the dining room and all are crowded in front of them.

 

I am sure there were bumps when it first came online, but it is a significant change. It works well now.

 

As for traditional dining, while you might not get it up front, many people will switch over to personal choice once they see how convienient it is.

 

So many people say they do not like this option and only will do traditional dining and they have not even tried it.

[kkorman]

We love RCI's traditional late seating dining. This gives us ability to enjoy the day, and still have time to get dressed for dinner with the new friends we've made (waiters, tablemates, etc.). It is a much more comfortable dining room experience, and easier to start chatting with people you have come to know throughout the week. Anytime dining seems much less personal and friendly (have only sailed Princess once, but I know what I like!). JMO;) .

 

But, you can eat dinner with friends you have made on board rather than ones that RCI randomly chooses for you? Or you pick a server you like and have them for the whole week.

[madforcruising]

Anther strong vote for traditional over here. I have no experience with Princess, but hated the NCL Freestyle concept. I don´t say I would never cruise NCL again but Freestyle is a very strong argument against them.

As I said I´ve no experience with Princess but read many many posts about the concept not working too well either and long waitlists for traditional on Princess.

 

Anyway to RCCL don´t repair something that´s not broken. For all Freestyle / Anytime lovers there are cruise lines that offer this. RCCL please stay traditional.

[Philly Ken]

if a ship had 2 dining rooms, they could offer both. on our last Princess cruise we ended up at a table of 8 with a group of 6 that were having a high school reunion of sorts...they really didn't want anything to do with anyone else and just wanted to reminise amongst themselves. so...we ended up in the Anytime Dining room. The service was just as good, the food was just as good and we had better company.

 

my wife and i are planning another cruise and would really like to consider an RCI ship, however, i really think we may end up back on Princess for the Anytime dining...its just more convenient. if only RCI would consider the concept and offer both options.

[madforcruising]

Actually it keeps them the same... Only Princess and NCL do the nontraditional in the mass market group.

 

Most people do not want to abolish the traditional, just give me the choice of not doing traditional. Most ships in the RCI fleet have 2 floors, why not have one traditiona dn one open seating. Any why should I have to pay a charge for my dinner, or eat a buffet because I want to eat at 7:30. I do not understand why people like to be told when they have to eat, with whom they have to eat, and this is the server you have to eat. Another negative is with all the other options now available on cruise lines for food, you often get half empty tables at dinner time. Why not fill them with new people to meet?

 

No need to understand it, just accept it that many people like it the way it is done on RCCL and don´t want to have it changed, just like others (including me) accept but don´t understand how one can like Freestyle or anytime dining and I´m not asking for it to be changed on the cruise lines that offer it.

[BaumD]

After being on 15 RCCL cruises I recently was on Princess and got "stuck" with anytime dining. I was very apprehensive. My concern was unfounded. We never had to wait, the service was excellent, we got to meet a lot of new and interesting people. Also the service seemed to go faster as there weren't 50 waiters all trying to serve the entree at exactly the same time. I think it evens out the flow thru the kitchen not having to have 1500 salads, entrees and deserts all ready at the same time.

[grangermom]

Madforcruising - You bring up a good point, in that you wouldn't ask other cruise lines (Princess and NCL) to change their dining options because you don't like it. You would just sail with RCI. I think it's time for me to start looking at Princess. I've heard they're very similar except for the dining.

[dalwhitt]

I tried NCL and their bogus Freestyle Dining and absolutely hated it (along with the cruise line). Besides the food not being very good, the wait was horrible. If I have to make a reservation the day before, then I may as well have traditional dining.

 

I've been on one Princess ship - Sapphire Princess - and stuck with traditional dining. I did hear a few complaints about the anytime dining option and people who tried to switch to traditional after the cruise began.

 

I'll stick with traditional ... for the rest of my cruising days.

[zuscruiserz]

kkorman - the closest friends we've made on a cruise HAVE BEEN our tablemates. And (just think) we wouldn't even have met them if we hadn't been seated with them!!! Plus, on the 6 cruises I've been on with RCI, we've always liked our waiters, they go out of their way to make it a pleasant dining experience. I wouldn't like to "shop around" for a waiter I like - what if it took 5 days to find one?!? Again, JMO:D .

 

I think on this topic we can all agree to disagree (pleasantly).

[phrique]

We went on an NCL cruise for our honeymoon and really liked the freestyle dining concept. We only had to wait one time, and that was a short wait anyway (10 minutes maybe, on formal night). In fact, when we booked our Voyager cruise we weren't overly excited about the traditional dining concept, but it turned out just fine as well (although we only shared a table for four with another married couple who have been friends with us for years).

 

Having the option would be nice, but either way works for me. The food, we found, was generally better on RCCL, but I'm not sure that has much at all to do with the dining setup.

[madforcruising]

kkorman - the closest friends we've made on a cruise HAVE BEEN our tablemates. And (just think) we wouldn't even have met them if we hadn't been seated with them!!! Plus, on the 6 cruises I've been on with RCI, we've always liked our waiters, they go out of their way to make it a pleasant dining experience. I wouldn't like to "shop around" for a waiter I like - what if it took 5 days to find one?!? Again, JMO:D .

 

I think on this topic we can all agree to disagree (pleasantly).

 

Agree with everything you said!!!