Should we choose Anytime Dining or Traditional?

[Alli Cruiser]

We have always done second-seating traditional but are considering anytime for our upcoming Med cruise. Question: When sitting with other people at a large table, do they try and coordinate all courses together or are some eating their entree or enjoying dessert while others are getting their appetizer? I wondered how this was coordinated with numbers of people coming in at different times. Thanks

[jagsfan]

I think they fill the tables like they do for open seating lunch......people are arriving at

the table pretty close to the same time. That way, everyone orders together.

On QE2 we had an assigned table but could arrive any time over a 2 hours period.

That did result in 2 people eating their soup while someone else ordered, and then eating

their entrees while the last couple ate their salad. It wound up with the earliest couple

sitting and talking till everyone was finished, which was fun for us, but gave us really

long dinners.

[PhoneGoddess]

The poster also believes all solo travelers are sad and pathetic. :rolleyes: I have learned to mostly ignore her comments as they are usually antithetical to mine.

 

(P.S. I choose Anytime Dining for its flexibility since my main reason for cruising is the ports and I like to stay ashore as long as possible; don't want to worry about rushing back to the ship for dinner. And yes, I almost always share a table with others.....)

 

Uh oh! I've traveled solo too! I need help. :(

 

You're right, that's another good reason to choose anytime dining. I don't like to be rushed either. I'm on a cruise to relax. I didn't like anytime dining the first time that I tried it. I experienced long lines and long waits. But the last couple of times that I had it, it worked really well and I think that I'll stick with it.

 

Isn't it great to have choices? ;)

 

To the OP, I would suggest opting for traditional and see if you like it. If not, you can always change to anytime. Have a great cruise!

[Happybywater]

Traditional is for folks who like to have tablemates and good conversation! Anytime is generally chosen by those who like to be alone and don't want to converse while eating.

 

We have used both Traditional and Anytime dining. With Traditional, you get to dine with the same group of people for the whole cruise. With Anytime, you can get to dine with different people every night, or you can dine as a twosome if you wish.

 

We have been lucky with both styles of dining. But we were more unlucky with Traditional dining. We had a table of 8 where there was only 1 night on a 7 night cruise where everyone was there, and a couple of nights when we were the only ones there!

 

We are just back from the Grand Princess. We had one night when we dined on a table for two and the rest of the time we were on a table of 6 or 8 people, and we had interesting discussions on all these nights.

 

We also switched between the two anytime dining rooms. Its your choice which one you go to on any particular night. We did have one evening where we had to wait 40 minutes for a table in the dining room we wanted that night (we did not try the other one because we were not in a rush).

[Bowie MeMe]

We had always had traditional early seating and we liked it very much. Then on a few cruise lines had "open seating" or something much closer to anytime dining and found it had some very good points -- going when you wanted and choosing if you wanted only your immediate party or wanted to share a table. We found that on some days when we had been on "tourist duty" for 9 hours and were dead tired -- just wanted the 3 of us who can chow down about as fast as servers could plop it on the table:p. Then we went back to traditional for 2 cruises and found that our luck had run out and our tablemates were not only pushy they were right down mean to the servers and made them so upset they could hardly serve and meals took forever while the "perfect" dish was perfected. The next cruise was 15 days and THAT is way too long to be at the table 3 hours a day with folks not of your choosing. Conversation was pleasant but by the 2nd week all topics of mutual interest had been beaten to death. Next cruise will do Anytime and if we meet great people that we want to eat with we will just arrange to meet at the door. Easy peasy best of both worlds.

[Tamara2cruise]

Traditional is for folks who like to have tablemates and good conversation! Anytime is generally chosen by those who like to be alone and don't want to converse while eating.

 

We switched to Anytime after discovering that if one or two of your tablemates are, hmmm, shall we say prone to making statements like the one above, you will be "enjoying" them for the entire cruise.

 

We enjoy Anytime for the opportunity to meet new people every night, the ability to remain flexible about when we eat so we don't have to cut a port visit short or miss a sailaway, and to enjoy the occasional romantic table for two.:)

[FolsomMike]

I'm glad to see I'm not alone. :) To elaborate, though, my wife and I did have a great time on a river cruise last year sharing a table for three meals a day with an elderly British couple, a German lady and her grand daughter, all of whom were a delight. As others have said, the nice thing about Anytime is that we can choose to dine with new people and decide after one meal if we'd like to spend more time with them (and vice versa). I wonder if a cruise line has ever considered offering a "match service" where cruisers could choose to dine with others with like minded values and interests ? Just a thought. ;)

[Kruising Katt]

We have tried both and prefer Traditional. Our experience was that the

service was better in Traditional and, although we liked meeting new people each night in Anytime, the same "get acquainted" conversation each night got rather old. Our last cruise was 14 days and we had 3 other couples at our table. They were all good company and the waiter and his assistant were wonderful. Each night's dinner was one of the highlights of the cruise.

[WestCoastCruzinator]

I'm glad to see I'm not alone. :) To elaborate, though, my wife and I did have a great time on a river cruise last year sharing a table for three meals a day with an elderly British couple, a German lady and her grand daughter, all of whom were a delight. As others have said, the nice thing about Anytime is that we can choose to dine with new people and decide after one meal if we'd like to spend more time with them (and vice versa). I wonder if a cruise line has ever considered offering a "match service" where cruisers could choose to dine with others with like minded values and interests ? Just a thought. ;)

 

I think cruise lines would think they have enough drama with peoples dining requests to be moved to different tables, switching from traditional to anytime, vice versa and a hoard of other things to make it any more complicated than it already is.

[kenexx]

Traditional is for folks who like to have tablemates and good conversation! Anytime is generally chosen by those who like to be alone and don't want to converse while eating.

 

Yes, who don't want to converse with people just like you honey!! :rolleyes:

[Boytjie]

Traditional is for folks who like to have tablemates and good conversation! Anytime is generally chosen by those who like to be alone and don't want to converse while eating.

 

What?! :confused: :eek:

[jcscv]

I will be traveling by myself in August (yes, a sad pathetic person :p ) and chose the Anytime dining. My question, do they seat you at tables with larger groups of people, if requested, or is it just kind of seat you wherever, even by myself? I was hoping for the larger table to meet people, but just want to be prepared if not.

[caribill]

I will be traveling by myself in August (yes, a sad pathetic person :p ) and chose the Anytime dining. My question, do they seat you at tables with larger groups of people, if requested, or is it just kind of seat you wherever, even by myself? I was hoping for the larger table to meet people, but just want to be prepared if not.

 

They ask you when you enter the dining room if you would like to share a table. Thus, you can always be seated with others.

[Mysteryreader]

Our TA may have given us some misinformation. We're signed up for trad. She said on port days that we think we're going to be back late, we can make a timed reservation for anytime. If this isn't true as above posts indicate, what do trad people do when returning late?

 

M/R

[O2B@Cagain]

This is one of those decisions one must make when selecting a cruise. Inside or ocean-view? Balcony or mini-suite? Port side or starboard? Traditional or Anytime?

 

When you read through the posts, you will find some that reflect your feelings. For me, I didn't want to commit to the same time and the same people every night. Yes, it would be nice to have the same wait staff and your cocktail of choice waiting for you, but what if you get tablemates you really can't abide? I enjoyed the lottery of sharing a table and meeting lots of other people, even if it was only for a single meal. I also liked the flexibility of asking for a table for two occasionally, and did not mind waiting. In the future, I might try traditional, just to see what it is like, but so far anytime has worked great?

[paul929207]

[quote name='Mysteryreader']Our TA may have given us some misinformation. We're signed up for trad. She said on port days that we think we're going to be back late, we can make a timed reservation for anytime. If this isn't true as above posts indicate, what do trad people do when returning late?

M/R[/QUOTE]
If you miss your traditional time, you cannot make a reservation for anytime dining. You can go to the buffet, specialty restaurants, etc. or order from room service which has a limited menu unless you have a full suite

[caribill]

[quote name='Mysteryreader']Our TA may have given us some misinformation. We're signed up for trad. She said on port days that we think we're going to be back late, we can make a timed reservation for anytime. If this isn't true as above posts indicate, what do trad people do when returning late?

M/R[/quote]

The evening before we ask the Matre d' or headwaiter in our traditional dining room if it would be OK to do anytime the next evening since we would not be back in time for the fixed seating.

[jcscv]

Other advise I was given by my travel agent for Anytime Dining is that if you find a group of people you want to eat with again, just arrange to meet outside the dining room and go in as a group to be seated. So that way you can get the benefit of eating with the same people like Traditional Dining, but just in case, you have other options :)

[Whoo]

[quote name='cb at sea']Traditional is for folks who like to have tablemates and good conversation! Anytime is generally chosen by those who like to be alone and don't want to converse while eating.[/QUOTE]

We have chosen Anytime Dining in the past, in order to meet more people and have fun conversations!!

[luvs2travl]

[quote name='Whoo']We have chosen Anytime Dining in the past, in order to meet more people and have fun conversations!![/quote]

Exactly! And also because we are not locked into a specific dining time that may cause us to have to rush back from shore excursions, on-board activities,etc. We LOVE meeting and talking with as many people as possible on board and have made great friends all over the US and Canada thanks to cruising. In fact, we are sailing in August with a couple we met on a previous cruise. We have requested a table for two for only one special occasion - on our anniversary date.

We just LOVE the freedom of "Anytime Dining" and are definitely NOT anti-social. :) It's also fantastic for those traveling with children. It gives families the latitude they so often seek to accomodate the needs of the kids.

Smooth Sailing to everyone!

[Doug R.]

[quote name='cb at sea']Traditional is for folks who like to have tablemates and good conversation! Anytime is generally chosen by those who like to be alone and don't want to converse while eating.[/quote]

:mad:You may be one of the most frequent posters here but you are so far off target here. We have had many great conversations during dinner and have had anytime dining on all our Princess cruises. Please do not try to sway the opinion of someone making a sincere inquiry by offering an major untruth to support your obvious preference for traditional. If you can't offer a legitimate reason for traditional, don't come up with a bogus reason.