Anytime vs. Traditional Dining on Princess?

[mtnhappy]

Which do you recommend: Anytime or Traditional Dining on Princess?

 

Do they both provide the same menus/meals? Is the only difference that you sit with others for the Traditional Dining?

 

Thanks!

[NancyIL]

We did Anytime Dining on our Coral Princess Alaska cruise in 2007, and I chose it again for our Golden Princess cruise in May. We opted to be seated with others at a larger table rather than wait for a table for two, and it was great to meet many new people that way. The menus are the same as for traditional dining.

 

Last year we cruised to Alaska on HAL, and I chose traditional dining rather than As You Wish dining. I still prefer traditional dining - even in Alaska.

[Assateague Island Princes]

Just the opposite here - we prefer Anytime dining on HAL for Alaska. Port intensive days made for eating whenever we felt like it - maybe after a brief nap, drink on our verandah, or hot shower - then off to the Dining Room, or the Lido even so we could eat on our schedule and not feel rushed in any way. Sometimes room service for a spectacular dinner on our balcony was our choice - sitting out there in your jammies and robe, eating wonderful food and watching the scenery glide by was THE best! Enjoy!:p

[weronique05]

Dining preferences can certainly be very personal, but I would recommend that you consider anytime dining if:

a. You want to go eat when you are ready and not have to worry about getting back from an excursion or even if you are taking a nap!

b. You don't mind meeting new table mates. We always ask to sit at first available tables and have met some very nice and interesting people that way. Some we have enjoyed one dinner with and several we have met later in the cruise and sat together again.

c. You are flexible enough to take a pager and go listen to the entertainment in the plaza or have a drink while you wait perhaps 15 minutes.

d. You want to have the ability to arrange dinner with new friends you may meet on an excursion or on the deck.

e. You don't mind the fact that the waiter has to ask you what you drink or what your favorite dessert might be.

 

The menu is the same as traditional seating.

 

Enjoy

 

Judy

[Woodmnky]

We will be doing Anytime Dining for Alaska for many of the above reasons. With the late port times and long excursions, we want to be able to eat when we are ready and do not want to have to always look at the clock. We have always had good experience with Anytime Dining.

[leahsdad]

We enjoyed anytime dining on our Coral cruise last spring--some nites we sat by ourselves --others we joined larger tables and met some great folks--its really a matter of persoal preference

Paul

[whale-watcher]

Flexibility is great for Alaska...some evenings you might want to linger out on deck enjoying the scenery, and others you might choose to dine early. We became BIG fans of anytime dining on our first alaska cruise a few years ago. Our last cruise (on the Tahitian Princess) offered only traditional dining; we were fortunate to end up with a table next to one of the panoramic aft windows, so were were able dine and watch for wildlife at the same time. We opted for second seating (early seating really cuts into excursion and scenery/wildlife viewing time).

[mtnhappy]

Thanks everyone for your input. I think we will stick with Anytime Dining.

[Budget Queen]

I too did anytime dining with Princess, and still managed to skip several meals. :) Just an extremely low priority for me.

[buhockey]

How about attire in Anytime dining? Do formal nights in Traditional dining, also apply to the Anytime dining option?

[can786]

How about attire in Anytime dining? Do formal nights in Traditional dining, also apply to the Anytime dining option?

 

Just as the menu is the same in Traditional vs. Anytime dining, so is the dress code. There is always the buffet for those who do not care to dress up.

[neecee23]

Everything is the same with anytime dining, menus, formal night, etc. The only thing that is different is that you go when you want, and you sit at a different table each time. You can make a reservation for a specific table and time, if you wish. While I do like traditional dining, I found anytime dining to be very freeing.

[SJDMD]

Having done Traditional dining on 3 previous cruises, we chose to stay with this option for our upcoming Alaska cruise. With our family, I find it best to have a scheduled meal time. There's less debating and possible disagreement that way. We know what time dinner is and we plan it in our schedule. We are traveling with a party of 7 this time so I think a scheduled time is even more important. Also, even with 4 or 5 of us, we've asked and received our own table in Traditional dining both on Disney and Royal Caribbean.

[MercedMike]

We have used anytime dining on Princess for quite a while and basically like it. Sadly I have to say that our last cruise on Sapphire Princess was quite a different experience. The reservation process is terribly messed up, and the walk up process is also very bad. Basically, unless you want to go at 5:30 or 8:30 you will have up to an hour wait, even if you are willing to share a table. It essentially worked out to Traditional dining, because they would tell you that the people who came in before 6 were still at the tables and wouldn't be done until 8. If you made a reservation for any time in between there it was not honored and you still had to wait.

 

I hope it is only on Sapphire that this is so messed up. Last year on Coral Princess the process worked very well and we enjoyed it.

[sherryf]

It essentially worked out to Traditional dining, because they would tell you that the people who came in before 6 were still at the tables and wouldn't be done until 8.

 

It was taking people over 2 hours to eat dinner?!?! I've read that it's more like 1.5 hours for dinner. Most people that come in around 5 - 5:30 should be done by 7. I can see that it might be hard to get a table at 6 - 6:30, but I'd think that tables would start freeing up around 7, not 8.

[kooljamming]

I hope it is only on Sapphire that this is so messed up. Last year on Coral Princess the process worked very well and we enjoyed it.

 

We were on Sapphire Princess in February and had to wait once (formal night) for dining, regardless of when we ate. We waited for about 20 minutes but used the time for pics. My only issue was that we were only offered table for 2. We really wanted to share with a large group. I guess on each sailing things change.

[gertz]

We have always had 1st seating at a table for 6 but sometimes for 8. Same waiters, same table mates, get to the shows on time. Sorta just fits our lifestyle and gets us to bed at a decent hour.:D

Ever wonder why 1st seating is always wait listed?

Jack

for the redneck

[tetleytea]

We did Traditional, second seating and were very pleased. The late seating meant it didn't conflict with any of the port times (i.e. the gangplank was always up by dinnertime). But then again, we cheated a couple times and went to the Anytime Dining anyway. Our ship wasn't fully booked, so we could get away with it. We never waited in line for more than 60 seconds even once. I liked Princess' choice of anytime vs. traditional far more than Norwegian's anytime-only. With enough people siphoned off onto traditional dining, that made the lines a lot shorter for the anytime dining folks. Of course, for us they were all short--we weren't sailing a full ship.

[psyfi]

We did Anytime on the Emerald f10 day southern caribbean or the first time and loved it. On our previous cruise we never saw a sunset because we were always eating at that time. We liked not being on schedule. We never had to wait more than 5 minutes for a table and never made "reservations". Sometimes we sat alone, other times at a larger table. It was a little annoying to keep doing the introduction piece over and over again but we met a lot more nice people and the trade off was definately worth it.

[NancyIL]

I just got back from my 2nd Princess Alaska cruise with Anytime Dining. We usually ate fairly early in the dining room, and we never had a wait to join a table. When we got back to the ship later than the usual dining time, we ate in the buffet. There were a couple of nights where I just didn't feel like changing out of my jeans, and the buffet was perfectly acceptable.

[LoriPhil]

We had 2nd seating traditional when we were traveling with our friends and it was wonderful. We go with Anytime on cruises where it's just the two of us - many options and you get the opportunity to meet new people.

[georoc01]

I prefer the anytime dining for the reasons above.

 

My sister is a fussy eater with many restrictions and likes having the same waiter every night as you get with traditional dining so she doesn't have to go through the same questions every night.

 

So I agree, its a matter of personal preference.