Anytime Dining vs. Scheduled Dining

[dgr231]

Hey everybody,

 

My GF and I are going on our 2nd cruise in September on the Miracle. On our first cruise, we did the late seating for dinner. We have decided this time to try anytime dining. With that said, I have heard both some good and bad about anytime dining (i.e. people getting rushed out, not getting to know your waiters, etc...)

 

I am curious, which do you prefer and why? What are the pros and cons of anytime dining? Any opinions would be greatly appreciated!

[jpg1747]

Hey everybody,

 

My GF and I are going on our 2nd cruise in September on the Miracle. On our first cruise, we did the late seating for dinner. We have decided this time to try anytime dining. With that said, I have heard both some good and bad about anytime dining (i.e. people getting rushed out, not getting to know your waiters, etc...)

 

I am curious, which do you prefer and why? What are the pros and cons of anytime dining? Any opinions would be greatly appreciated!

 

 

I cruise solo and prefer traditional dining so I don't have to go through the process of getting to know new dinner companions every night. It's nice to know who I'll be dining with all week. I also don't want to deal with the hassle of finding a table that will welcome a solo diner. I deal with that enough during breakfast and lunch, although for the most part people are nice about it.

[bigdaddyvoges]

My wife and I love the scheuduled dining (We are both 24). It is nice to know you will see the same smiling faces every day. After the first night we enjoy how they call us by first name, have my wife's drink when we walk in, hand me the wine menu as I am sitting down, and know EXACTLY what dishes to recommend. We just like developing the relationship for the week. However, if you want to feel more "free" then give anytime dining a whirl and see how it goes. You won't get bad service, but if you like the above reasons I mentioned, you guys should stick with scheduled. Good luck and good crusisin!!!

 

Bob

[poobears]

DH and I have only done late night until this cruise. Personally I don't mind having a different wait staff each night. I dont' have any special wants or needs that would require being friends with my waiter to have it ready each night. I think it will be nice to have a varied wait staff and get to know everyone a little bit.

 

Also we like the fact that we can have a table for 2 every night without going to the M'D on the first day and hoping we get our request. This way we get the table we want and we get the time we want, seems like the perfect solution for us. We'll see :)

[SDPadreFan]

We did anytime dining on our Brilliance "Med Cruise" in November and it was perfect for us. We had a standing reservation for the same table, same table mates (part of our CruiseCritic Meet & Greet group), same wait staff. So it was perfect. One night, we wanted to add to our table (2 more guests) so they had to move us to a larger table with a different staff but it was no problem at all. The next night, we were back at our normal table. It couldn't have been any smoother for us. First time we ever really tipped our maitre d' above the normal pittance they get but he was really great and worked with us every night. Hopefully it will be similar on Carnival ships because they have a very good system now on RCCL.

[Skywench]

I look forward to trying anytime dining on a cruise. Personally, I don't want to be tied to a schedule and have to rush back on the ship for dinner at a certain time and I really don't care about eating with the same people and having the same waiters every night. Because of these things, many times I'd rather just have dinner at the buffet.

[doctordi]

Sometimes I travel solo - sometimes I travel with 3 children. If I'm solo then I like the traditional dining as I like to get to know my tablemates. If I'm with the children then flexible dining works best for us.

[momofzeke]

With Anytime dining, you can request the same waiters each night if you want to. You may have to wait a little longer to be seated in their section, but if you find a wait team you really like, you can have them every night just like Traditional dining.

[iamgolden]

I tried the Anytime Dining two weeks ago, and loved it. I cruise with my family and prefer to have our own table for 4. I liked that we can show up anytime between 5:45 and 9:30; on other cruises we sometimes weren't ready for the late dinner seating and had to go buffet. I personally don't mind having a different waitstaff each night, but you can request the same team each night and we did 3 times, and waited only once for 10 mins.

[Upandadam]

Our only experience with anytime dining was on a Princess cruise and although it was okay, we felt that the wait staff didn't try to develop the traditional relationship with the guests like you normally find during the set dining times. Wasn't quite as fun.

[rico]

We did anytime dining on Legend on our last cruise. We really liked it and prefer it over the fixed dining times. We requested the same waiter each night when we showed up. Never had to wait for a table. You could end up waiting for a table just like at a restaurant, but we didn't have that happen. The thing we like best is that when you have a later port departure time, you don't need to give up port time just to get back in time for dinner. Ship's gonna be in Cozumel until 8:00 pm, no problem. Just go to dinner when you're done on shore. With fixed dining you'd have to eat in town, rush back for fixed dinner, or settle for buffet food.

 

We never felt rushed in anytime dining. The waiters gave us the same attention as any waiter we've ever had in traditional dining settings. Sometimes we arrived half way through first seating. Those folks would leave and the traditional side of the dining room would change over the tables. The anytime side of the dining room just kept operating like normal.

 

I will say fixed seating is best if you're travelling with a larger group of people. Primarily because you don't have 12 people debating what time you should eat. But other than that situation, we much prefer the anytime dining option.

[Collcoll]

When we found out that Anytime Dining would be available on our July 24th Pride cruise we were so excited. When we booked our cruise it wasn't yet available. The only thing we, as a group, were hesitant about was the dining time and who we'd find as table mates.

 

We are traveling with my sister and her family. She was leaning toward early seating. My DH and I were hoping that they would want to have the later seating. Then anytime dining became an option. Solved all our concerns.

 

Now we don't have to have table mates. (our group of six is perfect. My sister and I live in different states and this provides us with the ability to visit without having stangers involved in our catch up time). And further, now we don't have to worry over the choice between late and early seating. We can go when we are ready to eat.

 

I don't care if I have the same wait staff each night. I don't even mind waiting a bit for the table to open. Just adds to the experience as far as I'm concerned. It's a chance to sit and chat awhile. Afterall, we are on vacation and none of us will perish if we don't get to eat at the exact moment we show up at the dining room.

 

All of my past vacations have been at all inclusive resorts. We would go to different resturants each night, have different wait staff, have to wait a few minutes for a table at times. None of that has every put a damper on our vacation.

 

I can see having to rush to the dining room before we are all ready, having poor wait staff (stuck with them every night of our cruise) or unpleasant table mates -- having the ability to ruin a perfectly nice vacation.

 

I know you can always request a table change. But that can be akward. How do you tell your inappropriate table mates that you prefer not to have their company at dinner when you run into them at the pool?

 

Seems like the best of all possible worlds to me.

 

My DH hated the entire idea of cruising because in his opinion he'd be on a dining schedule set for him, really there was not choice, you only got to request a preferred time, and hope you get it. He said he'd have felt herded in for feeding time with half the ship. Then you have to hope you get fun table mates who would be pleasant to dine with.

 

As I said earlier -- the biggest plus to this for me is now I get my sister, my niece and nephew all to myself. I miss them so much. I'm glad I don't have to share them at diner.

 

Just my two....

[madre2]

OK..I think I have finally found the answer. If my family only wants a table for 4...then the "anytime dining" is the right choice for us. Are you sure they won't try to put us with someone else like they do at breakfast? Not that we don't enjoy other people...but with 2 teenagers who are going in many directions all year long..it is nice to enjoy family dining time for one week of the year! We have always liked scheduled dining, but they just can't guarantee that table for 4.

[SDPadreFan]

When we found out that Anytime Dining would be available on our July 24th Pride cruise we were so excited. When we booked our cruise it wasn't yet available. The only thing we, as a group, were hesitant about was the dining time and who we'd find as table mates.

 

We are traveling with my sister and her family. She was leaning toward early seating. My DH and I were hoping that they would want to have the later seating. Then anytime dining became an option. Solved all our concerns.

 

Now we don't have to have table mates. (our group of six is perfect. My sister and I live in different states and this provides us with the ability to visit without having stangers involved in our catch up time). And further, now we don't have to worry over the choice between late and early seating. We can go when we are ready to eat.

 

I don't care if I have the same wait staff each night. I don't even mind waiting a bit for the table to open. Just adds to the experience as far as I'm concerned. It's a chance to sit and chat awhile. Afterall, we are on vacation and none of us will perish if we don't get to eat at the exact moment we show up at the dining room.

 

All of my past vacations have been at all inclusive resorts. We would go to different resturants each night, have different wait staff, have to wait a few minutes for a table at times. None of that has every put a damper on our vacation.

 

I can see having to rush to the dining room before we are all ready, having poor wait staff (stuck with them every night of our cruise) or unpleasant table mates -- having the ability to ruin a perfectly nice vacation.

 

I know you can always request a table change. But that can be akward. How do you tell your inappropriate table mates that you prefer not to have their company at dinner when you run into them at the pool?

 

Seems like the best of all possible worlds to me.

 

My DH hated the entire idea of cruising because in his opinion he'd be on a dining schedule set for him, really there was not choice, you only got to request a preferred time, and hope you get it. He said he'd have felt herded in for feeding time with half the ship. Then you have to hope you get fun table mates who would be pleasant to dine with.

 

As I said earlier -- the biggest plus to this for me is now I get my sister, my niece and nephew all to myself. I miss them so much. I'm glad I don't have to share them at diner.

 

Just my two....

 

You may still want to consider having the same wait staff each evening with anytime dining. My experience has been that the wait staff will pay particular attention to younger children whom they see each evening. Your niece and nephew may really enjoy all this repeat attention from the same people each night.

[momofzeke]

OK..I think I have finally found the answer. If my family only wants a table for 4...then the "anytime dining" is the right choice for us. Are you sure they won't try to put us with someone else like they do at breakfast? Not that we don't enjoy other people...but with 2 teenagers who are going in many directions all year long..it is nice to enjoy family dining time for one week of the year! We have always liked scheduled dining, but they just can't guarantee that table for 4.

 

When you arrive for anytime dining, just tell them you want a table for just the 4 of you. They won't try to seat you with other people unless you want to.

 

I am also one who enjoys sitting with just my family at dinner. In 3 cruises, we have always had a table to ourselves in Traditional dining. I was happy it worked out that way.

[loveJake]

Anytime is great for us. Don't like to be rushed at ports, don't like trying to talk each night to strangers, enjoy a table for 2, and don't need to know our waiters. We like to go in, order, eat and leave. Anytime on Princess took half the time. I would rather be sitting on my balcony then in a chair in the dining room.

[zqvol]

We prefer any time. IT is a much more relaxed atmosphere. There is never a rush to finish, like with traditional. We have less than no desire to get to know the wait staff, and honestly in spite of what people say they are too busy to get to know you, though they do make lots of notes so they know what to bring to you each night.

 

We like to go to dinner when we want, with who we want and take as long as we want. That is the beauty of anytime.

[jks336]

i'm curious, on anytime dining then they wouldnt have "formal" nights?

[Kurbanfan]

i'm curious, on anytime dining then they wouldnt have "formal" nights?

 

 

Dress code is the same as traditional......

[mitsybella]

i'm curious, on anytime dining then they wouldnt have "formal" nights?

 

 

you are in the same dining room just a different section of it

[domdombus]

I know on Princess and RCCL boards this topic tends to piss people off....

 

But My travel agent put me at 815pm dinner..... I almost never go to these set dinner things. I just do buffet or whatever.....

 

I am assuming I can just go to the anytime dining anyhow. yes?

 

no need to reply with the "No you chose that and will be taking our seats nonsense"

 

thanks

[DebNJoe]

We never felt rushed in anytime dining. The waiters gave us the same attention as any waiter we've ever had in traditional dining settings. Sometimes we arrived half way through first seating. Those folks would leave and the traditional side of the dining room would change over the tables. The anytime side of the dining room just kept operating like normal.

 

I will say fixed seating is best if you're travelling with a larger group of people. Primarily because you don't have 12 people debating what time you should eat. But other than that situation, we much prefer the anytime dining option.

 

We're trying the anytime option for the first time on the Spirit in July. Personnally, I would rather have different wait staff each night, than to possibly be stuck for a week with ones that are slow and not so good :(

 

I'm wondering how they divide up the sections in the dining room, is it upper level vs. lower lever or one side vs the other? Also, we have 9 people in our group, did you notice if they had any tables in the anytime area that would accommodate that many? :confused:

[mitsybella]

I know on Princess and RCCL boards this topic tends to piss people off....

 

But My travel agent put me at 815pm dinner..... I almost never go to these set dinner things. I just do buffet or whatever.....

 

I am assuming I can just go to the anytime dining anyhow. yes?

 

no need to reply with the "No you chose that and will be taking our seats nonsense"

 

thanks

 

you have to request the anytime dining as your option if it is available on your ship

[dan40]

Hey everybody,

 

My GF and I are going on our 2nd cruise in September on the Miracle. On our first cruise, we did the late seating for dinner. We have decided this time to try anytime dining. With that said, I have heard both some good and bad about anytime dining (i.e. people getting rushed out, not getting to know your waiters, etc...)

 

I am curious, which do you prefer and why? What are the pros and cons of anytime dining? Any opinions would be greatly appreciated!

 

If you have EVER dined out at a decent restaurant on land, and I'm sure you have. Then you already know everything there is to know about anytime dining. You make a res. or you wait for a table, just like on land. I'll keep traditional, why have any cruise experience duplicate a land experience if you can avoid it?

[jondirk]

If you have EVER dined out at a decent restaurant on land, and I'm sure you have. Then you already know everything there is to know about anytime dining. You make a res. or you wait for a table, just like on land. I'll keep traditional, why have any cruise experience duplicate a land experience if you can avoid it?

 

That's like saying "Why have vanilla when you can have chocolate?" Well, because maybe I PREFER to have a table to myself and eat when I want (like on land) and because I DON'T want to share my meal with strangers (liek on land).

 

It all comes down to preference, I enjoy the "land" restaurant dining experience.