Traditional Dining Vs Anytime Dining

[Wife8]

My husband and I are booked on the Crown 8/16/06 and have requested the Traditional dining. Has anyone done both "traditional" and "anytime" and can offer an opinion as to which they liked better? We will probably eat in the alternative restaurants several times as well.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Alyce

[LonghornKJK]

I've done both on the Grand. Our family of 14 wasn't seated together (presumably due to a travel agent error) in traditional so after two nights, we switched to anytime dining. However, we did get a reservation and had the same wait staff so it was more like traditional than true anytime dining where you show up to eat whenever you want.

 

I can say that the menu and service were the same as in the traditional dining room and, having the reservation, we never had to wait.

[obnurse]

We've done both and really enjoy both equally as much for different reasons. We've been doing anytime dining for the past 3 cruises. Do you like to meet and get to know 4-8 other people and dine with them regularly? Do you like the predictability of dining at the same time every night without a wait? Traditional. Do you like to meet different people every night or perhaps dine alone with your SO? Do you like the flexibility of dining when you want rather than when it's "time"? Anytime. If you're planning to enjoy the alternative dining on numerous occasions, maybe traditional isn't a good fit because maybe you won't have enough dining experiences with your tablemates to really get to know each other. Just a thought. Whatever you choose, the dining experience is so nice that it won't matter which venue you choose....you'll enjoy yourselves!

[ssbeagle]

The only difference I can see in the traditional and anytime dining is that you don't get the parades of baked Alaska in anytime. You can change tables easily in anytime if you don't like the wait staff one night you don't have to sit there again the next. If you find someone you like you can make a reservation for that table every night. We usually do traditional and the nights we go to an alternative restaurant, we usually let our waiter know so he doesn't wait for us to show up before serving the rest of the table.

[billyandted]

We have always used the Anytime Dining.

We do however decide each morning what time we will be eating that particular day & call & make a reservation. The number is listed in the Patter.

That way if we plan to eat in the Alternate Dining areas we don't feel that we need to inform our regular wait staff.

We have never had a problem with this method other than maybe requesting 7pm when only 7:30pm is available which is No Problem at all!!

[Greene]

My husband and I are booked on the Crown 8/16/06 and have requested the Traditional dining. Has anyone done both "traditional" and "anytime" and can offer an opinion as to which they liked better? We will probably eat in the alternative restaurants several times as well.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Alyce

 

Alyce - haven't seen you on the "Roll-Call" for the 8-16-06 Crown - come join us . . . My husband and I are going to give "anytime" dining a try. We booked this cruise kinda late and figured no way were we getting "traditional" early seating..This is our 20th cruise and the first time we're not going "traditional".

[Wife8]

Thanks to everyone who posted a reply. I think we may stick with the Traditional but I am going to show my hubby all your great replies toinight and maybe he will want to change. Sometimes we like to just eat by ourselves and sometimes we like a crowd... depends on how exciting our day was...

And thanks about the roll call... if I can find it I will join... don't really know my way around the Boards as well as I should..

Alyce

[cwestbrook]

We loved being able to walk straight to our table every night without having to wait. Every time we walked by the anytime dining room, there was always a line of people waiting. We ate in there one night when we got onboard after a late excursion and I missed our waiters and table mates.

 

Another thing we liked was 1st seating. At first I thought 5:30 would be too early but we were able to go to both shows every night. The 2nd seating was eating during the 1st show. There are usually two different shows going on with two show times, 8:00 and 10:00.

[janetz]

When we sailed the Carribean Princess las Feb the ship was FULL. For the first time ever we had anytime dinning and loved it! We loved to be able to eat when we wanted to and we never waited once for a table. We went at 7, 7:30, and 8. Got right in. There were 3 of us. :)

[CalTravelers]

Two years ago we tried anytime with our group of 9. We ended up with a fixed reservation for 7:30 with a waiter we really liked. We got to know the waiters and head waiter who gave us special treats - special pasta dishes, prosciutto, etc. This year we were a party of 2 and again picked anytime. Really liked meeting different people each evening - and getting together with CC buddies on 2 nights! What was missing was the special treament from the head waiter as we didn't really get to know anyone on a consistent basis. First time I ever cruised and did not tip the head waiter! Because we had had enough experiences with specialized service we really did not miss it - but it is a nice touch, especially for your first few cruises. Overall we liked the flexibility of anytime. We never had to wait more than 10 minutes for a table. BTW - I had a hard time using the phone reservation system - took over 20-30 minutes to get through.

[sunviking82]

I know anytime dining is the rage, but just can't make myself do it (my wife either). We really love the traditional cruise dining experience, having the same waiter and jr waiter, you can't beat it. Plus they do tend to do a few more little extra then anytime.

 

The only exception was we were going to try anytime next time we were aboard the Sapphire or Diamond since they had the 4 different resturants, but now they are just 4 seperate dining rooms with the same menu, sooo we will stick with traditional dining.

[Nliedel]

I am a traditional girl and thought I would detest anytime dining. We hooked up with some people and really enjoyed anytime dining! It was wonderful to be a little flexible. That said, much of the wonderfulness came from the people I ate with. Who were all fabulous.

[NthernLgts]

The DW and I did both on our last cruise....we switched midstream to be with people who booked later than us and couldnt get 1st seating. Both were wonderful. We never had to wait more than 2 minutes to be seated with anytime dining, with an 8pm standing reservation made midweek. If you happen to get interesting tablemates, traditional is great too. Either way you'll be fine.

[cynbar]

Traditional dining can be great if you have great tablemates, a wonderful waiter and a good location-- but take any of those away, and it can be a long week. Also, these days in traditional,some people only show up occasionally or not at all, which leaves the table feeling a little lonely. With all that said, traditional can be great --- if all of the above work out. In our traditional cruises, some have worked out better than others. We have grown to love anytime because, if you find a good table and waitstaff, you can reserve them for whatever nights you choose. But you are not stuck with a poor experience for the whole cruise.

[Princess Patches]

I have tried traditional and anytime and have settled on first seating traditional. I don't like having to make a reservation or wait in line for the anytime dining. The wait can be up to 20 minutes during the peak 7:00-8:00 hour. If you go early to anytime you usually do not have to wait. I also like traditional because they serve some specialty items, such as flaming desserts and special pastas, that you don't get at anytime dining. As far as being stuck with table mates you don't like I am always traveling with family members and so we have a table of four to ourselves. Finally, I like first seating because you have time for more shows and movies in the evening.

 

If you are uncertain about your choice you should stick with traditional because you can always change after you board the ship to anytime dining but it isn't as easy to do the reverse and switch from anytime to traditional. There is always a waitlist for traditional dining (I am currently on one right now for my Crown sailing).

[MCManders99]

I am going on my 2nd cruise in April aboard the Star and reserved Traditional 1st seating. We put a request for a table for 4 (which is our party). My DH does not want to sit with strangers. Some people see it as unsociable or stuck up but while he's eating he does not like being bothered with conversation. And he would hate to wait on others if they were late. But our first cruise we had a table for 2 (traditional) and loved it every day. We got in, ate, and left. It was perfect. SOme people like the flexibility, others don't. Its all personal preference.