Which dining to choose

[mominkaty]

Getting ready to book our first cruise..DH, myself and 17-year old son.

 

Which dining option would you recommend? I'm assuming the early dining will be mostly families with young children. We're leaning towards the late dining, but will that give us time to enjoy our meal and still make evening shows?

 

In reading though other posts, it seems the advantage to choosing an option as opposed to anytime dining is that you are with the same waitstaff each night.

 

Looking forward to your thoughts.

[klmorg]

I would choose Anytime Dining! Had it the last two cruises and will never go back to traditional. You can have the same wait staff if you want. The flexibility of going to dinner when you are hungry & when you are ready with no schedule is so nice. We had better service as well with anytime dining, and never had to wait except one night for less than 5 minutes. Love, love, love it...

[Tbay-eh]

Getting ready to book our first cruise..DH, myself and 17-year old son.

 

Which dining option would you recommend? I'm assuming the early dining will be mostly families with young children. We're leaning towards the late dining, but will that give us time to enjoy our meal and still make evening shows?

 

In reading though other posts, it seems the advantage to choosing an option as opposed to anytime dining is that you are with the same waitstaff each night.

 

Looking forward to your thoughts.

 

I personally liked early dining as it left my evening free and I didn't go to bed on a full stomach. There was plenty of time to get ready after excursions - one of you or the guys can go to the spa showers to speed things along. It is nice to get the same wait staff every night as long as you had good ones - if you had duds - well you are stuck with them too. We are doing anytime dining this cruise coming up - a week tomorrow - woooo hoooo - can't wait.

[tmt218]

I have tried all 3 dining times. Although I haven't tried YTD on Carnival. I have done Anytime dining on Princess and it works the same way as Carnival.

Early seating

PRO'S

Getting to eat early and makes getting through dinner easy.

You have the same wait staff each night

You have room for a midnight snack

You don't feel so full going to bed

Tou don't have to wait to be seated

CON'S--

You may have to rush from port to get ready for dinner

Late Seating--

PRO'S--

You don't have to rush to get to dinner when returning from port

You can stop for sushi or before dinner drinks

You don't have to wait to be seated

You have the same wait staff each night

Con's--

Dinner sometimes runs late

You feel full going to bed

You may be hungry before your actual dining time and if you eat a snack you ruined dinner

Your Time--

PRO'S--

You eat whenever you like

You don't have to rush to get to dinner from port

CON'S--

You may have to wait at busy times

You may not have the same servers but you may ask for someone you like. If they aren't available you may have to wait.

What works for my family the best is YTD. We like to go to dinner when we are ready. My second choice is early seating. Lastly is the late seating. When we had late seating we had horrible tablemates. It made getting through dinner very long. It didn't help they were late every night. Luckily it was only a 3 day cruise. We have late seating on our upcoming cruise 2/19. (Not by choice) I will see how it goes.

HTH

Happy cruising!

Tanya

[RVman]

We have previously done Anytime Dining on two Sprit Class ships and loved it, no wait at all. We cruised on the Dream last week and we had a wait every night with one that lasted an hour.

We received a letter and chocolate strawberries as an apology from Carnival the night we waited an hour. It was no big deal tho, we listened to the young girl that was singing in the atrium while we waited.

Late dining is too late to make the shows, I would go early or anytime dining depending on which ship.

[falkcor]

i'd recommend the anytime dining without question.

 

you can eat around your schedule, instead of planning your schedule around eating.

 

as far as the 'con' of having different wait staff - you can request the same staff if you click with a team. as far as waiting to be seated, that's not typical.

 

i've done it and will not go back to traditional if i can help it :)

[Rosefloater]

The best answer I can provide is by asking the question "what time do you normally eat dinner at home?". For set seating, if you eat around 6, then early dining is best. If you eat around 8, then late dining is best.

 

That being said, I prefer YTD. You can eat when you want, either with other people at your table or not. And you don't have to feel obligated to have a full meal. You can just go in for dessert.

 

Whatever option you choose, just remember try not to go to the dining room from 15 minutes before to 5 minutes after the room opens. For some reason, people like to go and wait there and crowd the entry area. You will get fed even if you are a few minutes late.

[uppitycats]

If the only choices were "early" and "late", we'd choose early. But now that "anytime dining" is offered, in our view there is only one choice..anytime dining.

 

If having the same waitstaff is that important to you, then go at the same time each night and ask to be seated in that section, or specifically identify that waiter, and wait to be seated at his/her table.

[michiganirish]

Since it's your first cruise you may want to have assigned seating, just to see what all of the hooplah is about in the dining room. It is kinda fun and will enhance your first cruise. This being said we've chosen the YTD for our last 3 cruises but like someone already said, we usually eat dinner before 6:30 so had no problem getting into the dining room, if you eat late like the others have said you will probably have to wait. What ever you choose, you will enjoy your time in the MDR.

[floatingaway2525]

Getting ready to book our first cruise..DH, myself and 17-year old son.

 

Which dining option would you recommend? I'm assuming the early dining will be mostly families with young children. We're leaning towards the late dining, but will that give us time to enjoy our meal and still make evening shows?

 

In reading though other posts, it seems the advantage to choosing an option as opposed to anytime dining is that you are with the same waitstaff each night.

 

Looking forward to your thoughts.

 

My choice is always late dining now, have tried them all and find that works best for us. You will have time to make the shows, and on some ships your show time will be before dinner. Watch the FunTimes paper that is delivered to your cabin there is a summary in there of each day's activities/shows/nightlife/etc...

I think for a first cruise, either set dining time is the best experience as another poster said, to see and experience the MDR and have a set dining team. Late dining is fewer young children yes, and it's nice to have that extra time after ports.

It's definitely a choice that will depend on how you choose to cruise...Which cruise are you taking? Welcome to our addiction and to CC!!:D

[RWolver672]

I vote for the "Whatever time you normally eat" slot.

[bguppies]

Getting ready to book our first cruise..DH, myself and 17-year old son.

 

Which dining option would you recommend? I'm assuming the early dining will be mostly families with young children. We're leaning towards the late dining, but will that give us time to enjoy our meal and still make evening shows?

 

In reading though other posts, it seems the advantage to choosing an option as opposed to anytime dining is that you are with the same waitstaff each night.

 

Looking forward to your thoughts.

 

You can still have the same waitstaff each night, you just ask for their table when you arrive.

 

Extremely easy.

 

Plus, depending on the itinerary you choose, YTD affords you the flexibility of taking your time after a late day in port, but still not have to wait for the late dining time.

 

Your group of three should have no problem getting a table with YTD most nights.(sometimes a group of 6 or larger might have to wait)

 

Best of luck in whatever choice you eventually make.

 

I know we will never go back to assigned dining.

 

Bill

[Martini Mom]

One of the things that appeals to us about the Anytime Dining is having new tablemates each night. We were stuck with a weird crowd on an previous cruise. We noticed that we liked eating breakfast in the MDR because we could choose the exact time we went and we met new people each day. We like to socialize.:) We chose Anytime Dining for our upcoming cruise.

[ilovetexas]

Getting ready to book our first cruise..DH, myself and 17-year old son.

 

Which dining option would you recommend? I'm assuming the early dining will be mostly families with young children. We're leaning towards the late dining, but will that give us time to enjoy our meal and still make evening shows?

 

In reading though other posts, it seems the advantage to choosing an option as opposed to anytime dining is that you are with the same waitstaff each night.

 

Looking forward to your thoughts.

 

Someone said, and I agree, on your first cruise you should get assigned seating. We've done early and late and it just depends on the cruise. On Carnival, I don't mind late because I can have a sushi snack before dinner if I'm hungry. There are plenty of snacking options for those who don't like sushi, too!

 

We're a party of six, so we have our own table when we travel as a family. However, the two times I've cruised without my kids, we had excellent table mates both times.

 

Often the ships have the main shows two times a night, once during early seating (for late seating guests) and once during late seating (for early diners). There are usually comedians of a more "adult" variety late at night, say 10:30ish. There's always music and dancing going on somewhere, plus there is always at least one late poolside party.

 

It's your first cruise, you can't go wrong. You're going to have fun regardless and you'll be better able to make a decision next time. Trust us, there will be a next time.:D

[Goldiesmom]

I vote for Anytime Dining. We do not like to eat with people we haven't met. We also do not eat all the courses and can eat at our own pace. We also like the choice of eating around our schedule for shows and other activities.

[moonandsun]

Anytime dinning!!!! We have done it on our last 4 cruises and would not go back :D We love going where we are ready. We have NEVER had to wait either. I guess the best thing we like it eating alone, just the two of us.

[Gma&Gpa]

We've done late once, and early the rest of the cruises. Late is just too late to be eating those big meals.

However, on the upcoming cruise 3 of our ports leave at 6:00 PM. I like to be able to be up on the deck for the sailaways - and don't like being rushed to dinner and missing it. So, we have decided to do the Anytime. From everything I've read, I think we'll be happy with it. there's only 4 of us (unless some others decide to sign on) so I don't anticipate any really long waits.

[bluesea4me]

Ok, I have already been questioning our dining times. We decided to go with anytime because we want to see the shows and the early times are earlier than some of the port times. But, now, after reading some posts, it sounds like we will be missing something in the MDR. What will we be missing with ATD?? Is it that big of a deal..whatever it is??:confused:

[Tbay-eh]

Ok, I have already been questioning our dining times. We decided to go with anytime because we want to see the shows and the early times are earlier than some of the port times. But, now, after reading some posts, it sounds like we will be missing something in the MDR. What will we be missing with ATD?? Is it that big of a deal..whatever it is??:confused:

 

As some say - with set time you have the same waiters - good or bad. You may be seated with other cruisers and can establish life long friendships which we have with some or hit some real duds but are stuck with them which we have been. They have the singing etc which some like and some don't. Other than that you aren't really missing too much - with ATD the food is the same, you can ask for same waiters, you can ask to be seated with others and you can hear the singing as you are in the same dining room. We have always done set dining and never really had issues - this time we are doing ATD.

[jillmom2]

Since you have a small group, I would choose anytime dining if you want it to be just the three of you. If you want to be seated with a larger group, and meet other people, choose either early or late fixed dining at the time you prefer to eat.

 

My family of 4 did anytime dining with princess and we never had to wait..ever. but we tended to go before 7 p.m. ( I did see people waiting when we would be on the way out of the dining room)

 

We liked that we could go a bit later than the early dining time ..but earlier than late dining which we thought was a bit too late in the evening as we would rather eat earlier and enjoy the evening entertainment and maybe grab a snack later. The one time I had late dining we sometimes did not finish until 10 p.m. or after... too late for me.

[wdwfan22]

I haven't tried anytime dining yet. It sounds really good from reading this thread. We usually travel with extended family. The reason we like to pick a set dining time (we like early) is that it forces our teenagers - and other adults in our group - who tend to always be late to everything, to be ready on time. I can just see if we had anytime that I would be ready a half hour or more before some in our group and wait.

 

I know i could just tell them to be ready or those who aren't ready will get left behind, but in reality, we all want to eat together. So it just saves hassle for us!

[KentuckyKat]

We loved the set dining times on our prior cruises. We always had early dining and requested the largest table so we could meet new people. One night we missed our assigned time and had to go to anytime and it just seemed so borning -- like eating out at home. Some of our absolute fondest memories have been the people at our tables. I don't think I'd like ATD because we would not make those meaningful friendships. (But then again we have not had any dud companions . . . yet . . .knock-on-wood).

 

For our upcoming cruise, I selected late dining because of the sushi bar. My DH is going to be soooo excited about the sushi (not available on our prior cruises) that I didn't want anything to interfere with that. I understand the sushi bar on the Fantasy does not open until 5:30 so it would be too close to the early seating. We also missed every sail away with early dining, so late may be a better option there too. Also, we have always had a real hard time staying awake for the midnight buffet when we had 4 hours to kill after dinner. With late dining I am hoping we will stay up later. Maybe?

 

I am a little worried about my selection, but I think it will be the best option for us this time.

 

Thanks for this post - I like reading other people's ideas on this issue. And good luck to the OP - you can't go wrong, but I would suggest assigned dining for a first cruise!

[ncovert]

Getting ready to book our first cruise..DH, myself and 17-year old son.

 

Which dining option would you recommend? I'm assuming the early dining will be mostly families with young children. We're leaning towards the late dining, but will that give us time to enjoy our meal and still make evening shows?

 

In reading though other posts, it seems the advantage to choosing an option as opposed to anytime dining is that you are with the same waitstaff each night.

 

Looking forward to your thoughts.

 

Late seating is fare to late for us so we always try to get early dining. When do you usually eat? You will see the shows regardless of which time you choose as they have the same show scheduled for both. It sounds like you know the pros and cons and really you should choose the time that works for you and your preference.

[enveno1]

I would recommend picking a time early or late for your first cruise so you can get the experience of the traditional main dining room. We chose early for our 1st cruise and hated it because we had to leave early from port and rush back to shower and dress. We recently sailed with family last year and tried to tell them to choose late; they didn't listen. They were not happy and the Maitre D was not able to switch them to late with us. If you choose late, you won't miss the shows. They will be scheduled around your dinner time. When we get back from port we are hungry but we snack at the buffet on the lido or take advantage of the deli, fish and chips, burrito bar, or mongolian bar. With that said, we usually eat dinner at home around 7:30pm so late best suites us. Now, as many others have posted your time dinning is a great option because it's on your schedule. Our 7th cruise is coming up in July and we are sticking with late dining as we enjoy a great dinner and then hitting up the comedy shows and clubs at night. Just pick the time YOU prefer to eat (you won't miss anything) and have a great cruise!

[ladytravlr2]

I have always chosen late dining, and have been very happy with it. I never have had bad dining companions (been lucky I suppose). I enjoy getting to know the dining room staff for our table, after the first night all of the table mates and our table staff are like one big happy family. Well, not really, but it's fun!

 

I might try the Anytime dining some day, but so far I have been happy with Late.

 

I never wanted to have to hurry and get ready for dinner after being on an excursion that day on land, or stopping my "at sea fun" early to get ready for dinner.

 

With having Late dining you can leisurely get ready, also can see a show after dinner, browse around the ship or go to the casino until wee hours of the morning.