"MY DINING" - anytime dining option on Carnival

[dagtoking1]

We are booked on Carnival Imagination in a few weeks and selected their anytime dining option which was never available on any other Carnival Cruise we have taken. I was wondering what experience other people have had with this on Carnival; we love it on NCL and Princess. Usually we just go with "late seating" on Carnival so this will be the first time we are trying it...anyone?

[Wyattcruiser]

If you loved it on NCL and Princess you will love it on Carnival. It is the same as Princess.......you show up when you want and tell them how many people are in your party.....I have found it much more efficient then traditional and the waiters seem more relaxed and friendlier....

Edited November 5, 2010 by Wyattcruiser

[tak81288]

It has worked great for me. We like the flexiblity of showing up to the dining room when want and being able to be seated with just our party.

 

It was just like eating at a restaurant back home, but we never had to wait.

 

Enjoy!

[moran4carnival]

We are trying this for the first time on the Valor in July. I hope it works out...

[PJK]

We loved the anytime dining. There was 10 of us and we never had to wait for a table.

[cruisingreena]

we used anytime dining on our last cruise on the liberty, there was two of us. We never waited went right in, i prefer this and will always use it, that way i dont have to rush back from an excursion or hurry to dinner for a certain time, i love the freedom of going when im ready

[Traveler353]

I took advantage of it on the Triumph last month. Loved it. Being able to eat at a time that suited me was perfect. Being a solo passenger I just walk in and was seated immediately every night, no waiting. I have it scheduled for both legs of my B2B on Elation in December. When I booked the second leg I was wait-listed for about 10 minutes and then received an e-mail informing me that because I was Platinum I was assigned the dining period of my choice and was given a confirmation for "Your Time Dining".

[CRUISE0825]

We just got back from the Triumph and we did the anytime dining. We usually do the late seating but wanted the flexibility this time. The service is much better with the regular assigned time dining. We had a different wait staff every night and our orders were only right on the last night. Most of the wait staff were not as friendly as they have been on our past Carnival cruises. We will still probably do the anytime dining on the next cruise because of the flexibility.

[riffatsea]

We had any time dining on the Spirit and won't cruise any other way now! You can ask for the same wait staff each night.

We had great service and by the 2nd night they knew our names and what we needed!

[Terri102066]

I also have never did the anytime dinning on Carnival but have on Princess, but will be doing it in Dec. I think there is good and bad in everything. Good is you can go when you like and not be as restricted also before when I have sailed on Princess we met friends on the boat that we would like to have dinner with and with anytime dinning you can do this. The bad is that you don't have the opportunity to become friends with your tablemates and may not get to meet interesting people that you would have if you were sitting with them every night. I also have never had tablemates from hell which I know some people have experienced. Several of the people that I have been tablemates with have become my friends over the years and still either talk or actually cruise with several times. Go with a positive attitude and you will enjoy it.

[Unknotted]

The first time we did the anytime dining I was a little worried that they would lose track of us because they had a bottle of wine that we had purchased. But every night without fail, our server (no matter which one we had) would mention our wine and ask if we wanted some of it.

 

I wouldn't ask for any other kind of dining now. On our last Carnival cruise we got stuck with assigned seating and the first night I asked if it could be changed. The next day we got a note from the MD saying we had been changed to anytime.

[bguppies]

We did it for the first time on our last Fascination cruise 2 months ago.

 

Best thing Carnival has done to improve the cruising experience.

 

We will definitely only book cruise using this dining option after this.

 

Unfortunately our Fascination cruise next week, we had opted for assigned dining, due to MIL needing a gluten free diet.

But after seeing how wonderfully smooth and well run, the anytime dining was, we got home and called immediately to change to anytime dining on next week's cruise.

Even though it was more than 2 months in advance, anytime dining was already completely booked.

 

So apparently Carnival needs to increase the tables available to seat the amount of anytime dining requests.

(there was a line of people wanting to change to anytime dining the first couple of nights on our last cruise also.)

 

Clearly Carnival needs to find a better way to more accurately gauge the demand for this dining option.

 

Far too many cruisers have no idea about this option nor the differences between the two, until they are onboard and watching the people with anytime dining funneling into the dining room, while they wait outside for their assigned time to come.

 

Personally I'd just make one dining room assigned and one dining room anytime.

 

Bill

Edited November 5, 2010 by bguppies

[Terri102066]

traveler353, which cruises will you be on in Dec. We will be on the Elation on Dec 9. If you are on that cruise maybe we can anytime dine together. LOL

 

If you are on that cruise and have not yet check out the roll call please do and post over there.

[Nana & Poppa P]

We are booked on Carnival Imagination in a few weeks and selected their anytime dining option which was never available on any other Carnival Cruise we have taken. I was wondering what experience other people have had with this on Carnival; we love it on NCL and Princess. Usually we just go with "late seating" on Carnival so this will be the first time we are trying it...anyone?

 

Done it three times now will not do anything else again. Love it!!!!:)

[carribbeanmic]

I had been assigned late seating on my last cruise. Two of us at a table for eight. Every single night different people were at our table. Same wait staff. I complained to no avail. Sorry my mistake, that was on Princess. I hope my next cruise with Carnival, late seating will not be the same.Mic.

[gargoyle999]

Best thing Carnival has done to improve the cruising experience.

 

So apparently Carnival needs to increase the tables available to seat the amount of anytime dining requests.

(there was a line of people wanting to change to anytime dining the first couple of nights on our last cruise also.)

 

Clearly Carnival needs to find a better way to more accurately gauge the demand for this dining option.

 

Agreed, Agreed, Agreed! :)

 

We are sailing on the Imagination in 9 days and the only seating waitlisted is Your Time. Sailing on the Miracle right after and late seating still available but Your Time waitlisted.

 

It is becoming a more popular option so I hope Carnival adjusts accordingly. They did the right thing by adding it as an option, hopefully the available seating keeps up with demand.

[SueG]

I have had it on my last four cruises. I would not cruise if it was not available. I have had excellent service each time.

[camorelli]

We just had it for the first time on Liberty a few weeks ago. We loved it! The only wait we had was first elegant night, for about 10 minutes, and I say that was because we came down a bit later than the other nights. We requested the same team every night. They were great! We loved that we could get a table for 4 if our kids joined us or a table for 2 if our kids went to camp dinner instead. It's the way for us from now on!

[LaurieHoffman]

We are doing this for the first time in July on the Dream. I understand the basic concept but does this mean we will never be seated with any other guests - only our family? Or do we have a choice to sit with others who arrive at the same time?

[lillian marie]

We really like anytime dining. You can dine as a couple or at a table to meet other cruisers. It's all up to you and there's the flexible time part of it that's really nice. We'll never do regular dining again.

[PorkChopKid]

We (wife & I) signed up for Your Time Dining aboard Carnival Miracle. We ate ALL of our diners in the MDR. Never had to wait but we were always willing to sit with other people. Beginning of the week we sat with a different couple each evening. Towards the end of the cruise we were placed at a table for two. Frankly, we really enjoyed meeting other people. I remember one evening in particular where a couple in front of us in line wanted a table for two and were told there was a 45 minute wait. They were given a pager and waited in the lounge. We didn't mind sitting with someone else were seated without a wait.

BTW, assigned seating times were 6 and 8 so we made it a point NOT to show up at those times. Typically we arrived around 6:30-7:00. It also looked as if a section of the MDR was set asside for the Your Time Dining crowd.

Edited November 7, 2010 by PorkChopKid

[lizie1155]

We are doing the "Your time " option for the first time and like that there are so many positive reviews about this option. Just knowing that we don't need to run back from an excursion or wake up for a nap to run to dinner is awesome!:)

[askimdog]

Yes, it was a typo, and when we did use the MDR twice, we ate at 5:45, not 4:45. We book a year or more in advance, so we do claim a time early, but even last cruise, booking over a year out we had no choice for early and got anytime, which was fine. We linked with other family who got early, we were left out oddly? Nothing they could do but say sorry. But, we only used MDR twice preferring buffet.

[lbfluffy]

We love it. We would usually show up around 7 pm. Perfect for us, and found the service awesome.

[Bear-n-Babe]

We did the anytime/mytime dining on the Sensation. The only night that we had a wait was formal night, and that was also the night that they had (man-made) Christmas Snow cascading down through the center lobby just outside the Dining Room.

 

What we liked best about this dining choice was that we did not have to rush back from what we were doing to make it to a specific time. We got there when we were ready, and it seemed like the wife and daughter took a long time to get ready for dinner on a couple nights. We would have never made the early dining time on two of our three nights, and the late seating was too late for us.