Thinking of Changing to Anytime Dining....

[turquoisesea]

on the Emerald next month. Can we arrange for the same wait staff and table every night? Our first experience with Anytime was on the CB and the MD assigned us to the same table and time every night. This was perfect! The next year on the Crown they would not allow us to have a standing reservation. So this time I decided to do traditional, but now I am thinking the 6:00 serving is just too early. So...does anyone know if we can get a standing table/reservation on the Emerald if we switch to Anytime Dining?

[oskidunker]

If you go to anytime at 7, you will wait until 8, most of the time. I prefer fixed. No waiting.

[Loonbeam]

This has come up on many threads. Basically it depends on the makeup of the ship (how many anytime diners versus traditional on that run) and how the maitre'd runs their dining operation.

 

While it is possible that you may be able to get a fixed reservation, it is by no means guaranteed, if you want to be sure you will need to choose traditional.

[Rhitson88]

I think the Emerald offers 2 dining rooms for anytime dining so the wait should not be super long. I have heard about 10-15 minutes. I prefer traditional dining myself for the fact you have the same waiter and can build a relationship with them. I do believe that wehen you go in for dinner for Anytime dining you can request to have the same waiter and they will try to accomodate you but there are no guarantees obviously as people have gotten there before you. You should call princess to get a definite answer.

[caribill]

I think the Emerald offers 2 dining rooms for anytime dining so the wait should not be super long. I have heard about 10-15 minutes.

 

You should call princess to get a definite answer.

 

On the Emerald last Dcember our wait for Anytime was between 0 minutes and 45 minutes. Did not matter which dining room the 45 minute time applied as it was the same at either.

 

And you will not get a definite answer by calling Princess. You will have to wait until you board the ship. As others have pointed out, the polcy can vary from ship to ship, from cruise to cruise, and from Matre d' to Matre d'.

[chasetf]

.........And you will not get a definite answer by calling Princess. You will have to wait until you board the ship. As others have pointed out, the polcy can vary from ship to ship, from cruise to cruise, and from Matre d' to Matre d'.

....and to add..... that policy probably varies depending on how full the ship is and how full AD is. If TD is full, then there could be lots of AD space available and they can be flexible. If AD is booked to the max, then they can't.

[1 HappyCruiser]

We had standing reservations in the AT DR on the Emerald in May but I don't think they'll do it for times around 6:30 or later. I questioned them on how long a wait most evenings on the way out (6:15-6:30) and they would always tell me it was around 30 minutes at that time.

[paul929207]

The Maitre 'd on the ship today may allow it, but the one next week or next month may not.

[goose30]

If you go to anytime at 7, you will wait until 8, most of the time. I prefer fixed. No waiting.

 

I have had anytime always go at 7 never had to wait more than 10 mins. 2 or 4 people.

[kywildcatfanone]

on the Emerald next month. Can we arrange for the same wait staff and table every night? Our first experience with Anytime was on the CB and the MD assigned us to the same table and time every night. This was perfect! The next year on the Crown they would not allow us to have a standing reservation. So this time I decided to do traditional, but now I am thinking the 6:00 serving is just too early. So...does anyone know if we can get a standing table/reservation on the Emerald if we switch to Anytime Dining?

 

Yes you should be able to. But, I don't know if they will allow reservations between say 7-8pm. At least our last experience on the Crown, they would not allow reservations during the peak dining time in anytime dining. However, each ship is different, you might not know for sure until you get on board unfortunately.

 

Mike

[CaribbeanIsland]

I would stick with Traditional. We had to wait over 30 minutes frequently for dining times after 6:45. They did not let us make reservations after 6:30 until 8 pm.

[WillW]

When you wait for anytime, do you have to stand there twiddling your thumbs or can you go to the bar and hang out with others who are waiting? I guess you can...but what I mean is will they come to get you and let you know your table is ready?

 

We took anytime since we don't want to work around a "specific" dinner time and would like to be seated at some larger tables to meet new folks. I'm starting to regret that decision. lol

[BoPippy]

When you wait for anytime, do you have to stand there twiddling your thumbs or can you go to the bar and hang out with others who are waiting? I guess you can...but what I mean is will they come to get you and let you know your table is ready?

 

We took anytime since we don't want to work around a "specific" dinner time and would like to be seated at some larger tables to meet new folks. I'm starting to regret that decision. lol

 

They give u a pager and u go to a bar near by,have a drink,relax and talk a bit and presto,before u know it the pager is buzzing and off u go.

[Iamcruzin]

When you wait for anytime, do you have to stand there twiddling your thumbs or can you go to the bar and hang out with others who are waiting? I guess you can...but what I mean is will they come to get you and let you know your table is ready?

 

We took anytime since we don't want to work around a "specific" dinner time and would like to be seated at some larger tables to meet new folks. I'm starting to regret that decision. lol

 

I have never had to wait for a table at anytime dining as long as I was willing to sit with a large group. On our last sailing (I guess the ship wasn't full) It was faster to take a table for 2 on some nights rather than to have to wait for a large table to fill up. At home we have such random schedules with work and our kids are older and not around much so many nights my dinner is eating a sandwich over the kitchen sink. We look forward to eating with others at a large table. We eat anytime between 7:00 and 8:30 just depends what's going on during the day. From what I have read on these boards if you have to wait they give you a beeper like you would get in a restaurant at home. There were many nights that I would have welcomed a wait so I could just sit at Crooners before dinner and enjoy a Martini with a plate of olives but it never happened.

[1 HappyCruiser]

I have had anytime always go at 7 never had to wait more than 10 mins. 2 or 4 people.

 

You've been very lucky.

 

They give u a pager and u go to a bar near by,have a drink,relax and talk a bit and presto,before u know it the pager is buzzing and off u go.

 

Sometimes I wonder if they don't drag their feet seating people to increase liquor sales. ;)

[waterbug1]

I have had anytime always go at 7 never had to wait more than 10 mins. 2 or 4 people.

 

Agree.

[califgary]

We prefer traditional just so you do get that personalized service, however one cruise we had to take anytime and after the first evening (we liked the wait staff), although I had to call every morning at 8AM to make our dinner reservation, I asked for that specific table number. All but one time, we got that table, but we do eat early so usually were the first ones at dinner.

[WillW]

Great! I'm glad that they have the pager style of alert. Even if we don't get a big table with others, it's good to know that there are other activities that you can do while you wait.

[Barbie075]

We have dined Anytime for our last three cruises and there is only one time that we had a wait of more than 10 minutes. We used the pager that time and it worked fine fromthe bar.

 

We have also requested to get the same table around the same time the next evening and never had a problem. In fact we would ask as we were leaving the dining room and everytime they would let us just walk in and go to that table. Very nice. But as everyone has said it depends on the ship and the staff. But I denitely do not like the traditional and haveing to have dinner at the same time every night, especially when travelling where we are doing a lot of tours that end at 5-6PM. Just my opinion! Each to his own.

[turquoisesea]

Thank you everyone for your input. I think I will keep Traditional for now, but will check with the Matre d' when we get on the ship. Maybe they will want our Traditional time seats for someone on the very long wait-list! :D

[Whoo]

Thank you everyone for your input. I think I will keep Traditional for now, but will check with the Matre d' when we get on the ship. Maybe they will want our Traditional time seats for someone on the very long wait-list! :D

 

Good plan - there are good reasons as to why there are usually long wait-lists for traditional dining......;)

[califgary]

Good plan - there are good reasons as to why there are usually long wait-lists for traditional dining......;)

 

Here Here! One of the main reasons why I drive my spouse crazy because Im planning cruises 18 months in advance is to get the traditional seating time we like (and choice cabin!).

[Pam in CA]

I have had anytime always go at 7 never had to wait more than 10 mins. 2 or 4 people.

You've been very lucky.

 

They give u a pager and u go to a bar near by,have a drink,relax and talk a bit and presto,before u know it the pager is buzzing and off u go.

That's only if you go to the Anytime dining room on deck 5. If you go to the one on deck 6, you'll either need to go down a deck or hang around the hallway outside the dining room. I don't know if the pagers work if you're a deck away.

[AUNTIE24]

First time cruiser we have anytime dinning what time shoud we plan to eat if we want to go to the early show. Thanks 31 days till Alaska:)

[kalstar16]

Norwegian freestyle is the best. We ate when we wanted, seldom a wait longer than 10-15 minutes, and what's best is that if we wanted, we could have eaten at the same restaurant every night at the same time. Free Style is easy. I have trouble with Princess.