My Time Dining

[Cruise Junky]

If you tried NCL or Princess anytime dining you would know why we equate anytime dining to mediocrity. Long waits poor service

 

While I agree with you on NCL, the only time we've ever waited on Princess was for a table by the window while passing through the straights of messina. Other than that, we've always been seated promptly. You can make a reservation for anytime dining if you want to, you don't have to just "show up".

 

And let's face it, NCL food is just crap, I don't think anytime dining has anything to do with it.

[ECCruise]

If you tried NCL or Princess anytime dining you would know why we equate anytime dining to mediocrity. Long waits poor service

 

60+ nights on Princess in the last year or so, anytime every night, longest wait, 15 minutes. At least 95% of the time walked in and sat down. In fact, on virtually every one of those nights, they knew our preferred time and we had a 2 top on the window. About as far from mediocrity as you can get.

[gkm]

Joan, I think Royal Caribbean has gone about the MTD the right way. For now, they only have it in a small portion in the upper part of the diningroom. We couldn't tell the difference from the traditional dining as far as service or food. On the cruise we were on, the late seating wasn't until 9:30, way too late for us, especially if we were in port the next day and had an excursion planned. Also, the dress code was followed.

 

For cruises when early seating is too early or late seating is too late, I think MTD is the perfect compromise. Our wait staff was excellent and we had the same table every night with adjustable time depending on activities of the day.

 

Garry

[hcat]

Much more likely is that it would be modeled after the My Time Dining program that RCI has started on its ships and which, so far at least, has avoided the problems that plagued (and continue to plague) Princess' and NCL's models. Reaction from those of us who have tried My Time Dining has been almost uniformly positive and seems to indicate that both traditional and flexible dining options can be offered on the same ship and coexist successfully.

 

Those who enjoy MTD may enjoy Royal more than X...since traditional dining is one of the hallmarks of the Celebrity experience.. But I am sure we will lose on this one--- & maybe move over to Cunard when it happens.

[Bridge Maven]

Traditional dining works well for people who don't mind eating very early or very late and enjoy devoting two full hours to dinner every night. It is also good for people who take the same basic itinerary over and over again and aren't concerned about getting back to the ship in time for dinner. If Celebrity still had a small fleet, they probably would not have any problem filling their ships without adding a my time dining option. I have a feeling, though, that they realize that when they made the decision to significantly increase in their number of cabins, they would no longer be able to fill them without considering other options.

[A Sixth?]

If you tried NCL or Princess anytime dining you would know why we equate anytime dining to mediocrity. Long waits poor service

 

Funny :rolleyes: My experience on those two was exactly the opposite. Particularly on Princess the dining room service and food was the best. The new NCL 2.0o is a huge improvement and I also have to give them two thumbs up. RCI for me was the big let down and the most disappointing dining experience we've had in years.

 

I'm still willing to give celebrity a try and if Mytime dining is available for our January cruise I'm taking it.

[Cruise Junky]

The point I was trying to make is that it's nice to have choices. For some reason there seems to be a continual drum beat by some to make sure that all ships and cruiselines are exactly the same. The reason many luxury cruiselines have MTD is because they have smaller ships and they charge considerably more. It's much easier to do it well. It's nice to have this option, isn't it. Trying to serve thousands of people well this way is almost impossible. That's why you almost always see large gatherings served banquet style.

 

HAL seems to be doing it just fine. Same setup as Celebrity, similar size ships, one dining room. They're dedicted one floor to anytime and one floor to fixed time.

[nerysj]

Funny :rolleyes: My experience on those two was exactly the opposite. Particularly on Princess the dining room service and food was the best. The new NCL 2.0o is a huge improvement and I also have to give them two thumbs up. RCI for me was the big let down and the most disappointing dining experience we've had in years.

 

I'm still willing to give celebrity a try and if Mytime dining is available for our January cruise I'm taking it.

 

 

Ditto.........Princess did a fantastic job for us with MTD and their food was superb....RCL food was mediocre (very) and was far less efficient than Princess........but I for one would welcome the addition of anytime dining for our X Constellation cruise in July 09.

[AtlantaCruiser72]

Ditto.........Princess did a fantastic job for us with MTD and their food was superb....RCL food was mediocre (very) and was far less efficient than Princess........but I for one would welcome the addition of anytime dining for our X Constellation cruise in July 09.

 

I know some will flame me for this, but I have always found the MDR food on RCCL to be mediocre at best. I have yet to have a memorable MDR meal with them. Of all the cruises I have been on I would put them at the bottom of the list for MDR food quality, taste, and presentation. Fortunately there are many aspects of the RCL product to keep me coming back - beautiful interior design, great entertainment and friendly service.

 

I rate mass-market/premium cruise lines as follows for MDR food:

1. Celebrity

2. HAL

3. Princess

4. Carnival

5. Royal Caribbean

(I left NCL out as I have not sailed with them since Freestyle cruising began.)

[bob278]

I think there is room for some compromise here. Those who prefer the traditional dining like the continuity of table mates and wait staff. Those who prefer flexible dining like the ability to eat at other than standard times. I don't know why the two choices can't coexist as RCL is trying to do.

 

But it is a fact that some people have to compromise for the cause of tradition. They don't like to start dinner at 6:00 don't like finishing around 10:30 or so. So I think the cruiselines that are looking to attract as many people as possible may be forced to address that.

 

Our Radiance cruise MTD worked very well. On the first night we explained to the head waiter that we were a group of 8 who wanted to eat together at the same time every night and have the same wait staff. He said no problem and we picked 7:30 which was very nice for allowing us time after being ashore and one of the two nightly shows was almost always scheduled for a time we could attend it we wanted to. One day the captain told us we would be sailing by a magnificent glacier about 7:30 so we called and changed our time to 8:00 so we could be outside taking pictures. Once again, no problem. The service was excellent as was the food. In fact, other than the fact that we weren't eating at the traditional time and tables around us were at slightly different stages of dinner, I couldn't tell the difference. The ship was only about 70% full so that may have helped, but it worked wonderfully for us.

 

But one possible alternative that would keep the dining basically traditional might be to schedule 4 seatings. I haven't cruised on one like that, but I have heard of RCL doing it in Europe. They simply split the dining room into 2 sections. Section one had seatings at 6:00 and 8:30. Section two was 6:30 and 9:00 (or maybe 7:00 and 9:30). With a little tweaking and scheduling of major nighttime activities, I think that could work and satisfy all but those who really want to eat on their own, variable schedule.

[negc]

I think there is room for some compromise here. Those who prefer the traditional dining like the continuity of table mates and wait staff. Those who prefer flexible dining like the ability to eat at other than standard times. I don't know why the two choices can't coexist as RCL is trying to do.

 

But it is a fact that some people have to compromise for the cause of tradition. They don't like to start dinner at 6:00 don't like finishing around 10:30 or so. So I think the cruiselines that are looking to attract as many people as possible may be forced to address that.

 

Our Radiance cruise MTD worked very well. On the first night we explained to the head waiter that we were a group of 8 who wanted to eat together at the same time every night and have the same wait staff. He said no problem and we picked 7:30 which was very nice for allowing us time after being ashore and one of the two nightly shows was almost always scheduled for a time we could attend it we wanted to. One day the captain told us we would be sailing by a magnificent glacier about 7:30 so we called and changed our time to 8:00 so we could be outside taking pictures. Once again, no problem. The service was excellent as was the food. In fact, other than the fact that we weren't eating at the traditional time and tables around us were at slightly different stages of dinner, I couldn't tell the difference. The ship was only about 70% full so that may have helped, but it worked wonderfully for us.

 

But one possible alternative that would keep the dining basically traditional might be to schedule 4 seatings. I haven't cruised on one like that, but I have heard of RCL doing it in Europe. They simply split the dining room into 2 sections. Section one had seatings at 6:00 and 8:30. Section two was 6:30 and 9:00 (or maybe 7:00 and 9:30). With a little tweaking and scheduling of major nighttime activities, I think that could work and satisfy all but those who really want to eat on their own, variable schedule.

 

We experienced that on Legend of the Seas out of Santo Domingo last year and it seemed to work reasonably well. However, I believe that the current MTD system being rolled out by RCI works even better and allows passengers a wider variety of dining times than the four dining times system does.:)

[negc]

Haven't been on RCI in years so how does the MTD work? Princess has 2 separate dining rooms for traditional and Any time dining.

Actually, in our experience, the newer Princess ships have multiple dining rooms but limit traditional dining to only one of them regardless of how the requests break out for traditional as opposed to Personal Choice dining. This is where their system breaks down since it frequently results in long waiting lists for traditional dining and often, those who requested traditional (even months in advance of the sailing date) are forced to dine in one to the several rooms designated as Personal Choice dining rooms. On the Sapphire Princess, we found that the tables for two consisted of a long bench on one side of four small tables with your dining partner sitting opposite you. The four tables were so close together that there was just enough room for the waiter to pass between them to serve your meals, and the server sometimes addressed all four parties of two as if they were all at a table for eight. It was not the romantic or intimate dining experience that one might expect when thinking about a table for two. In MTD on RCI, which is just being introduced and is still limiting participation in the program, has real tables for two (many by the windows) as well as a variety of other table sizes. It is now taking up only a portion of one deck but it could easily be expanded or contracted to match the needs of each individual cruise. Princess' major problem with their system has been their inflexibility and their apparent refusal to adapt their dining room setups to match the requirements for each cruise.:)

[lauralou2]

We have just booked our first Celebrity Cruise and the only down side for us was the only option for dining is the traditional so we will be delighted if my time happens before April next year , we don't all like the same things in life and having tried it on other ships its the way to go for us but we accept its not for everyone J and T

[jackdiamond]

We will be on the Equinox later in AQ; and, I believe that we will be happy with traditional dining.