traditional or anytime dining

[kathy-ann]

Hi Thanks for all the brilliant information on this site. I'm on the Island Princess leaving Vancouver on 14 May (only 9 weeks to go!) - my first cruise and I can't wait.

 

What I want to know is whether traditional or anytime dining is best. If you book traditional, does that mean that you have to be in that dining room every night for dinner so you can't try other restaurants?

[NancyIL]

If you have traditional dining, you have an assigned dining time at a particular table in the same dining room - but you don't have to eat there. You can eat at the buffet or one of the specialty restaurants (additional charge). I like traditional dining, but we're giving Anytime Dining a try for our Alaska cruise on the Coral Princess.

[sandiego1]

We have traditional on the Diamond this June. If we want to do Anytime once or twice during the cruise, is that allowed? We prefer a sit-down dinner instead of the buffet but may want to eat earlier or later on certain days because of the excursions are booking.

 

We don't typically go to the speciality restaurants because of the extra cost involved.

[stired]

We have traditional on the Diamond this June. If we want to do Anytime once or twice during the cruise, is that allowed? We prefer a sit-down dinner instead of the buffet but may want to eat earlier or later on certain days because of the excursions are booking.

 

We don't typically go to the speciality restaurants because of the extra cost involved.

 

No, it is not allowed for "traditional" diners to do "anytime" dining. As stated before, you can make reservations at the Speciality restaurants or you can eat at the buffet. You must choose one or the other.

[MVPinBoynton]

We really enjoyed anytime dining on last year's Diamond cruise. We changed when we didn't care for our waiter and our CC friends were doing anytime. I didn't think I would like it as much as we did, but it was nice for a change. For our upcoming Grand cruise, we are scheduling our traditional seating, since it is easy to switch to anytime but difficult to go the other way.

[fti]

We did anytime dining last summer in AK and it worked great - especially considering the various port times. Next fall we are doing traditional dining in the Caribbean but the port times are all until 5-6pm - pretty consistent. I think anytime dining works great in AK.

[GORDONCHICK]

I didn't really care for PC dining in the Caribbean, but I think it would work out really well for Alaska. I'm really a traditional diner at heart, but when I go to Alaska, I want to experience all that I can - even if I had to eat in the buffet (shudder the thought!!!) every night.

[Chat Noir]

GORDONCHICK

This post was written without any advertising intended or implied. Any advertising in this post may be added by the website managment and is likely not to be a view or opinion shared or endorsed by the original poster.

GORDONCHICK

:) :p :D TOO Funny!

You mean, you're not a 'DOVE' girl?

 

Back to the question :) . I like the Anytime Dining for Alaska. We usually ended up eating fairly late for AD, and that worked out much nicer than trying to get to traditional dining (as we had the year before) at a fixed time. Also, if we didn't want to eat in the dining room, we didn't have to worry about tablemates waiting for us to arrive.

[GORDONCHICK]

GORDONCHICK

This post was written without any advertising intended or implied. Any advertising in this post may be added by the website managment and is likely not to be a view or opinion shared or endorsed by the original poster.

GORDONCHICK

 

:) :p :D TOO Funny!

You mean, you're not a 'DOVE' girl?

 

Back to the question :) . I like the Anytime Dining for Alaska. We usually ended up eating fairly late for AD, and that worked out much nicer than trying to get to traditional dining (as we had the year before) at a fixed time. Also, if we didn't want to eat in the dining room, we didn't have to worry about tablemates waiting for us to arrive.

 

I borrowed it from RI-Sailor because I thought it was very clever, and I agree with it!!

[MVPinBoynton]

GORDONCHICK,

That is just hilarious. Thanks for brightening my day. Now if I can just stop laughing, I will be able to get some work done.

[kathy-ann]

Thanks everyone for your replies, it's much appreciated. However, I'm still confused!

 

No, it is not allowed for "traditional" diners to do "anytime" dining. As stated before, you can make reservations at the Speciality restaurants or you can eat at the buffet. You must choose one or the other.

Does this mean we have to eat at the same place and time every night? I understand we can change this arrangement prior to boarding but want to know if we can leave it asit is and still be flexible.

[MVPinBoynton]

If you have traditional dining and want to use anytime, you have to give up your traditional seating. When you check in to the anytime restaurant, they check your dining choice on the computer and will not seat you if you have traditional. If you still want to eat there, they can cancel your traditional on the spot and seat you; but then your traditional seating can be given to someone on the waiting list.

[fafy]

Are you saying we give up the traditional for the rest of the cruise or just that one meal?

 

Also, are these rules the same for every ship? We're on the Serenade of the Seas.

 

Thanks!

Fafy

[MVPinBoynton]

You would give it up for the rest of the cruise, unless you got back on the waiting list for traditional and got a seating.

[MVPinBoynton]

Of course if there wasn't a waiting list, I would assume you could easily switch back the next day. But since we didn't switch back, I don't know that answer for sure.

[unccruzer]

We did anytime dining on our last cruise. We asked to be seated at large tables and met a lot of intersting people that way.

[fti]

Gordonchick, I like your idea.

 

John

[Alaska05]

Are you saying we give up the traditional for the rest of the cruise or just that one meal?

 

Also, are these rules the same for every ship? We're on the Serenade of the Seas.

 

Thanks!

Fafy

 

This is on Princess ships which have the choice of Traditional seating (early or late seating, same time, table & tablemates each night) or Anytime (you choose time, if you want to eat with just your group or be seated with others). Traditional dining and Anytime are in different dining rooms, but same menu, decor, etc. With Anytime dining there may be a wait for a table at peak times.

 

Anytime dining works particularly well in Alaska and that is what I've always done -- 3rd time this summer.