Anytime dining is anything but ... "Anytime"

[PhoneGoddess]

I guess if you don't like anytime, don't sign up for it. I don't take anytime to mean that you can just walk right in any time that you want to eat. It means that you have a choice and can be flexible. Sometimes there is no choice, you get waitlisted for traditional and you never clear the list. Then you are stuck with anytime dining.

 

I would not like traditional dining, because I do not go on vacation to eat with people that I do not know. It may sound unsocial, but I do not want to share a dinner table with strangers. I want to eat with my family (6 of us) and that is it. We always request a table for two, even in the traditional dining room. I would like to think that rather than being unsociable, we're just shy and don't like to dine with people that we do not know. Sharing a table with strangers is just a very strange concept for us.

 

We decided to try anytime dining on the Sapphire and it was terrible. Long lines, 1 hour waits and a lot of very unhappy people. We were stuck with anytime dining on the Crown (never cleared the waitlist) and we had no trouble at all. We never made reservations and we were seated immediately every night at a table for two!:) I think that it just depends on the ship, but we always request traditional dining now.

[PescadoAmarillo]

I would not like traditional dining, because I do not go on vacation to eat with people that I do not know. It may sound unsocial, but I do not want to share a dinner table with strangers. I want to eat with my family (6 of us) and that is it.

 

If that is the only reason you don't want to use traditional dining, then just ask your TA to request a table for 6, and link your reservations. You'll have a table for 6 in traditional dining for just your family.

[Travelbug 2]

If they checked the cruise cards upon entry to the dining rooms, it wouldn't be a problem. But on the Diamond, they never checked ours.

 

On our last trip on the Diamond (Sept' last year) our cards or room # was checked every time, they were very particular. We usually ate around 5.45 and never had a problem. It sounds as though it depends on the dining room staff at the time, it should be consistent on all ships but seemingly it is not!!:confused:

[flvol77]

Anytime dining is great - who wants to be told when they should eat anyway? I certainly don't always eat at a set time of 6 or 8pm at night.

 

You eat when you're hungry.

 

Bottom line is Princess HAS the right concept, but they are not implementing it correctly.

 

1. They should be checking dining cards before traditional diners enter the restaurant

 

2. They shouldn't allow traditional diners to eat at the anytime restaurants. I'll like to hear how many traditional diners actually like the concept if they didn't also have the choice of going to buffet or anytime restaurants.

 

3. They should release the anytime restaurant reservations after 15 minutes - land restaurants do that, why shouldn't they?

 

agree 100% -

 

We love anytime dining! We are trying Carnival and we don't know what time to pick 5:45 or 8:15 - IMO having to pick a time to eat on vacation stinks!!

[skarletohara]

So am I to understand that pax who chose traditional dining are being allowed into the anytime restaurants? I thought that wasn't allowed. Whats the point of having traditional if it is not being used. I have read threads where traditional diners have said many others did not show up. I had assumed they went to the buffet or specialty restaurants. If they are allowed to crowd the anytime dining rooms what is the point of seperating the two?

 

 

No, they're not allowed in the anytime dining rooms, as a general rule.

In fact, it's been reported on these boards quite often if traditional

diners to over to anytime, then their traditional reservation is automatically canceled. For those reporting that the restaurant people

don't check cards, they always have asked for our room number, so

that is the same as checking the card. We've been on 7 Princess cruises

and every single time they've asked for our cabin number.

 

Also, to clear up some confusion, yes, they've turned one of the

four anytime dining rooms into a traditional dining room [Vivaldi]

for the 5:45 sitting only, not the 8 p.m. From 8 p.m. on, the Vivaldi

becomes an anytime venue.

 

As I've posted before, these problems with anytime dining are

on the Sapphire/Diamond, but we've had no problem with anytime

on the Grand class ships.

 

We've also never had to wait an hour because we always make

a reservation. Have been on Sapphire and Diamond 4 times.

I really think they shouldn't take any reservations and simply

seat people as they arrive in the dining room. I think it makes

for great confusion, and it's unfair to those who didn't know

to make reservations. They're the ones waiting the longest.

[Tripmaven]

We have also had the privilege of spending quite a bit of time on the Diamond, using Anytime Dining as our choice over Traditional. Our preference would be to go to dinner "anytime", allowing us the flexibility we hope for on vacation. There is an old saying, however: "If you can't fight them, join them." This applies to the system on the ship.

 

We learned to make a reservation for a time near 6:00p.m. for dinner in any of the dining rooms as soon as we board the ship. We also try to make a reservation for the next three nights which is usually the limit. Certainly, makes it a lot less flexible.

 

We learned to go down to the dining room of choice a few minutes early because the line has formed and you will spend time in the line as people without reservations frequently argue with the maitre de. This usually causes everyone to be late for their reservation. We have watched people argue for 10 minutes or more, only to be given a pager at the end of the discussion.

 

We recommended several times that they have a reservation line and a non reservation line. It could help with this delay. People would still be unhappy, but at least some seating would move things along.

[Kurbanfan]

We will be trying the anytime dining on the Crown this Dec. Someone mentioned the buzzer. How far can you go with the buzzer? Can't you walk around or go to a bar or casino and wait?

[wrongwaywatson]

If that is the only reason you don't want to use traditional dining, then just ask your TA to request a table for 6, and link your reservations. You'll have a table for 6 in traditional dining for just your family.

 

That is what I would do if I had to have traditional, but the anytime has worked wonderful for us. Sometimes we eat at 6:30, sometimes 7, depending on our schedule that day. I prefer having the flexibility. I can't see any benefit at all for our family to switch.

[Juliadlf]

Why is the cruiseline taking reservations if its anytime dining? Sorry, but just not understanding why the need to make reservations. Doesn't that defeat the purpose of the concept of anytime dining?

 

 

Julia

[FLACRUISER99]

I agree the Diamond/Sapphire have their own unique problems. :)

 

We get to experience it again this next week!!!

I also agree with that,never had a problem with Anytime until the Diamond.:eek: :eek:

[wrongwaywatson]

Why is the cruiseline taking reservations if its anytime dining? Sorry, but just not understanding why the need to make reservations. Doesn't that defeat the purpose of the concept of anytime dining?

 

 

Julia

 

I'm no expert, but in my opinion anytime dining is only referring to the fact that you can eat at anytime. I guess i don't understand why someone thinks that you shouldn't take reservations? Obviously, Princess shares the same idea. I'm not trying to be snippy, I just don't understand. Anytime doesn't mean a free for all, first come first serve situation. It just means that you aren't restricted. You are free to make reservations, or free to just show up. I think different people just interpret it differently. I don't see anything contradictory about reservations. All it means is that you aren't restricted to 6:00 or 8:15. You can eat at 6:30, 7:45, 8:10, etc. (in other words - anytime).

[Juliadlf]

I'm no expert, but in my opinion anytime dining is only referring to the fact that you can eat at anytime. I guess i don't understand why someone thinks that you shouldn't take reservations? Obviously, Princess shares the same idea. I'm not trying to be snippy, I just don't understand. Anytime doesn't mean a free for all, first come first serve situation. It just means that you aren't restricted. You are free to make reservations, or free to just show up. I think different people just interpret it differently. I don't see anything contradictory about reservations. All it means is that you aren't restricted to 6:00 or 8:15. You can eat at 6:30, 7:45, 8:10, etc. (in other words - anytime).

 

Thank you for your stated opinion on how you think the Anytime dining is.

 

We shall see when we go this year and change to Anytime and see how the system is. :)

 

Julia

[Nana G]

So sorry to hear about your Anytime dining. We always prefer this and have never encountered any problems EXCEPT on the Diamond!!!!! We were told that reservations were needed. This has never been the case on other ships we have been on. We have sailed since then and still have never had this problem. We will not sail the Diamond again. Seems this problem is isolated to the Diamond. We wrote Princess to no avail. I can't understand why this is not made known as you board the ship. We certainly would have made reservations ahead of time if we had known. 6:00 is usually fine on other ships-no wait. Earliset we could get by 2nd day was 9pm.!!! Needless to say, we saw alot of Horizon Court!

[mike35]

We're big fans of anytime dining. Our only two Princess cruises have been on the Island, and anytime worked perfectly. We found a waitress we loved, and we were able to dine at her table throughout the cruise.

 

We recently sailed on our first Holland America, where anytime dining isn't an option. The experience was horrible! Our first table mates didn't' show up the first night; the second night they appeared, and we were seated with a Russian foursome who spoke almost no English -- papa bear, who weighed around 350 and was in jeans with suspenders (informal night), mama bear, teenage bear, who was sullen and had forgotten how to smile, and baby bear - a 3-year old who was exceptionally precocious and kept running around the adjacent tables. After requesting a change from the maitre 'd, I was informed that the only "openings" were at 5:45 p.m. - way too early, but we had no choice. This time our table mates were much better, but one disappeared, and the other was sick most of the cruise.

 

If it weren't for fixed-seat dining, Crystal would be our favorite cruise line. We find Princess to be a nice compromise, where we can opt for anytime dining and dine when we want with whom we want. Now if they would only do away with formal nights....Whoops - that's for a different thread.

 

Mike

[ancldaca]

Hmmm... Lots of complaints. My sugestion is that if you want true anytime dining then you pay for the priviledge and cruise on ships where every single passenger can be accomodated in the dining room at the same time (open seating). However, being able to cruise the same 7 days at a quarter of the price while being sardined with 2999 other passenger begs the question: what did you expect? That's one of the prices we pay for cheaper fares... You get what you pay for.

 

Please remember that the 7 Majors are mass products and by definition they just can't offer true anytime dining (open seating).

 

It's simple mathematics. Assume that a cruise ship's dining rooms need two seatings so that each passenger can eat and the cruise fare is X. If you want to change that cruise ship to anytime (open) seating you'd only be able to board 1/2 the number of passengers and the cruise line would thus have to charge 2X the fare...

[tvaud]

Anytime dining is great - who wants to be told when they should eat anyway? I certainly don't always eat at a set time of 6 or 8pm at night.

 

2. They shouldn't allow traditional diners to eat at the anytime restaurants. I'll like to hear how many traditional diners actually like the concept if they didn't also have the choice of going to buffet or anytime restaurants.

 

As someone who always chooses traditional dining, I have to say that I don't go to the anytime dining rooms. I don't want to actually. I love traditional dining. I love that I know when I will be having my dinner, with whom I will be eating and that my waiters know my preferences each evening. Also, I will never have to wait to be seated. In traditional, I also get to look forward to the Baked Alaska Parade which is not done in the anytime dining rooms. BTW, I am not a fan of buffets, so I never go. What can I say, I love the traditions of cruising.

[RSWBADGER]

We're big fans of anytime dining. Our only two Princess cruises have been on the Island, and anytime worked perfectly. We found a waitress we loved, and we were able to dine at her table throughout the cruise.

 

We recently sailed on our first Holland America, where anytime dining isn't an option. The experience was horrible! Our first table mates didn't' show up the first night; the second night they appeared, and we were seated with a Russian foursome who spoke almost no English -- papa bear, who weighed around 350 and was in jeans with suspenders (informal night), mama bear, teenage bear, who was sullen and had forgotten how to smile, and baby bear - a 3-year old who was exceptionally precocious and kept running around the adjacent tables. After requesting a change from the maitre 'd, I was informed that the only "openings" were at 5:45 p.m. - way too early, but we had no choice. This time our table mates were much better, but one disappeared, and the other was sick most of the cruise.

 

If it weren't for fixed-seat dining, Crystal would be our favorite cruise line. We find Princess to be a nice compromise, where we can opt for anytime dining and dine when we want with whom we want. Now if they would only do away with formal nights....Whoops - that's for a different thread.

 

Mike

 

The exact reason we cruise with Princess and NCL only, table for two, anytime (almost), and unwanted table guests. :D

[skarletohara]

We have also had the privilege of spending quite a bit of time on the Diamond, using Anytime Dining as our choice over Traditional. Our preference would be to go to dinner "anytime", allowing us the flexibility we hope for on vacation. There is an old saying, however: "If you can't fight them, join them." This applies to the system on the ship.

 

We learned to make a reservation for a time near 6:00p.m. for dinner in any of the dining rooms as soon as we board the ship. We also try to make a reservation for the next three nights which is usually the limit. Certainly, makes it a lot less flexible.

 

We learned to go down to the dining room of choice a few minutes early because the line has formed and you will spend time in the line as people without reservations frequently argue with the maitre de. This usually causes everyone to be late for their reservation. We have watched people argue for 10 minutes or more, only to be given a pager at the end of the discussion.

 

We recommended several times that they have a reservation line and a non reservation line. It could help with this delay. People would still be unhappy, but at least some seating would move things along.

 

 

IMHO, this has been the major problem with the Diamond and the Sapphire. We had reservations one night, and the line was easily

50 people long. We decided to go to the head of the line AFTER asking

several people, "Do you have reservations?" And when all of them

said no, we marched to the head of the line since we DID have a reservation and told the maitre ' d we were ready to be seated for our

8:00 o'clock -- and he was real snooty and did not wish to deal with

us, so we told him they should have two separate lines, one for

those with reservations and one for those without. Well, at about

that time, here came another maitre'd who opened up his little computer

station and then that helped, but it is downright chaotic at times,

even WITH reservations.

 

To me, the situation gets worse with each cruise on the Diamond and

Sapphire.

 

One night we were so fed up we went over to the other dining room

where they were happy to let us right in

 

I think the only way to avoid this would be to go right at 5:45 when the

DR opens up -- OR at 8:45 p.m.

[Chuck1j]

The only time we have experienced any wait times at all was when we showd up with no reservations and asked for a table for two at 8:00 PM. Learned our lesson, either make a reservation in advance if your want to have a spacific seating or go in between regular seating times and ask to be seated at a large table. Most of the time we will be seated with anywhere from 4 to 6 others, no problem, no waiting. We have been doing anytime dinning since they first started love it.:)

[willysgrandma]

We were on the Crown in November, had Anytime Dining, made no reservations and never waited - not once.

[mike35]

Woven throughout this thread is the rationale for traditional that goes "the waiter knows my preferences". Could someone please explain to me what preferences these posters are referring to? Maybe I have simple tastes when it comes to what I expect of a waiter, but if he/she brings and refills my choice of beverage, sets the proper flatware, brings my food choices in the proper order, clears my dishes when they're empty, and offers the dessert menu, I'm a happy camper. Are there some "preferences" that I'm missing??

 

And at the risk of sounding like a curmudgeon, after experiencing one "Baked Alaska Parade", with what barely passes for true baked Alaska, I really don't miss them in my "Anytime Dining" venue.

 

Mike

[chasetf]

......On the Coral I walked into the restaurant, after being told of a 30 to 45 minutes wait for a table, (any size) and counted five empty tables within sight, when querying this I was told they had been booked. Four of them were still empty after we were seated.

.......3. They should release the anytime restaurant reservations after 15 minutes - land restaurants do that, why shouldn't they?

We had a standing 8pm reservation in Anytime. Someone at 7:45 might have seen the table empty... but we were not late for our reservation.

 

So just because it is empty for a while does not mean the folks are late.

 

But I do agree.... If the folks are late (15 minutes is more than generous) then they should go to the back of the line.

[Trigger69]

We had a standing 8pm reservation in Anytime. Someone at 7:45 might have seen the table empty... but we were not late for our reservation.

 

So just because it is empty for a while does not mean the folks are late.

 

The poster didn't say empty tables were from late arrivals, only that the reservation should be lifted if 15 minutes past reservation time... I agree with this personally and that other rules should be better enforced to keep a smoother flow in the dining rooms.

 

lol... i posted b4 you edited and fully reading the previous post, pretty much adding what I posted. Now i'm editing with my apologies

[PTC]

Several threads are being posted about the situation. We have never seen any information given by Princess that reservations for Anytime dining are recommended or required. If you have that information, please post it.:cool:

 

We believe that everyone who wants anytime should go down to the dining room and wait like everyone else does. Princess staff are spending too much time taking reservations and arguing with clients. They really do have better things to do with their time. We don't wait and we don't make reservations because we are not anti-social.

 

Loose your table after not showing after 15 minutes is not the solution. How many people will just decide not to show thinking there table will be given to someone else.???And the poor souls who had to stand in line waiting because someone forgot to cancel? Eliminating reservations is the solution. First come, first serve and if you want a set time, go to the specialty restaurants or choose traditional.

If we wanted to have an experience like we have at home where we have to call the restaurant to make reservations at a set time then we'd be doing land vacations or staying home.

 

Perhaps the solution with Princess is to have several traditional dining times staggerd over several hours. I think that's the solution.

 

PTC

[Pam in CA]

Woven throughout this thread is the rationale for traditional that goes "the waiter knows my preferences". Could someone please explain to me what preferences these posters are referring to? Maybe I have simple tastes when it comes to what I expect of a waiter, but if he/she brings and refills my choice of beverage, sets the proper flatware, brings my food choices in the proper order, clears my dishes when they're empty, and offers the dessert menu, I'm a happy camper. Are there some "preferences" that I'm missing??

For the most part, I like traditional because: a) you can just walk in; b) after the first night, my waitstaff knows to have iced tea ready and waiting; c) they get to know my tastes and suggest things on the menu or even specially-prepared dishes that we might like; d) they bring little special extras to the table, such as on our recent Golden cruise, our waiter had a mini-antipasto waiting for us when we were seated; e) we asked for crepes Suzette for one evening and the waitstaff arranged for crepes for everyone in his area; f) our waiters knew we liked to be done in time for the evening's entertainment so he made sure we were done in plenty of time, adjusting according to the time of the entertainment which varied every night by up to half an hour. It's things like the above that will keep me coming to traditional dining. You might get one or two in Anytime but not all of those.