Anytime Dining With Party of Eight?

[StillPooh]

Possible, or too big a PITA to be worth trying?

 

I agreed to early traditional dining as a concession to the rest of our party who don't want to eat at 8:15. But they have never done Anytime Dining, so I don't think they even considered it.

 

My worry is that our itinerary is crazy port intensive. At three of our stops the ship won't even depart until after that dining time. And none of the other three couples want to do formal nights. So chances are good that table will be empty half the time and we'll end up eating in the buffet.

 

Hubby and I have done ATD with just the 2 of us, but I don't know how well it would work with a group. Opinions?

[cdngrl]

we did 8 in anytime. most of the days i would call in the morning to make a reservation for the time we wanted to eat in the evening. and it was no problem. we never had to wait even.

[StillPooh]

most of the days i would call in the morning to make a reservation for the time we wanted to eat in the evening. and it was no problem. we never had to wait even.

My ATD experience was on Carnival, and they didn't take reservations.

 

I wonder how hard it would be to convince my in-laws to change?

[Pam in CA]

There aren't a lot of tables for eight in Anytime dining so unless you're among the first in line (which defeats the purpose of not wanting to eat early), you'll have to wait for a large table to empty. Unless you make a reservation, you will most likely wait for a table. Even with a reservation, there might be a wait. If you're off the ship early, you might leave too early to make a reservation.

 

My recommendation is to leave your dining as it is and see how it goes. Check the ATD room to see if there are lines at about the time you want to eat. You can always switch once you're on the ship but if you change now, you'll never get Traditional back.

[StillPooh]

My recommendation is to leave your dining as it is and see how it goes. Check the ATD room to see if there are lines at about the time you want to eat. You can always switch once you're on the ship but if you change now, you'll never get Traditional back.

That's my thinking, too. Plus I can't imagine the hassle of trying to get 4 couples to agree on a reservation time! Guess we may just end up eating at the buffet night or two.

 

I appreciate the advice. We've never cruised with a group before, so this will be interesting!

[ibethenanya]

That's my thinking, too. Plus I can't imagine the hassle of trying to get 4 couples to agree on a reservation time! Guess we may just end up eating at the buffet night or two.

 

I appreciate the advice. We've never cruised with a group before, so this will be interesting!

 

If you know you will not be in the MDR on a particular night, you might want to let your waiter know the night before so he doesn't hold others up waiting for you. (i.e. you have a tour that you know will not get back in time for you to go to your seating) If you discover that your group is not going to use the Traditional Dining please let them know so they can give your table to others who want a set time and will use it. We have been on cruises where a table is empty each night of the cruise because no one had bothered to cancel. We were on one 30 day TA and the only time our table mates wanted to show up were on formal nights. We asked to be moved to another table instead of having the two of us alone at a table for 8.

[StillPooh]

We have been on cruises where a table is empty each night of the cruise because no one had bothered to cancel. We were on one 30 day TA and the only time our table mates wanted to show up were on formal nights. We asked to be moved to another table instead of having the two of us alone at a table for 8.

 

That will be DH and me on the formal nights! Nobody else in our party wants to have to dress up. :rolleyes:

 

I certainly will notify the waitstaff if we know for certain we won't be back in time for dinner. However, if we are in port and having fun I am not going to want to rush back. I'll just let them know the first night- if we're not there, don't wait for us!

[bermuda triangle]

We had a party of 8 in anytime and wound up with a 6 pm reservation every night!!

Laura

[paul929207]

Is there anyone in your party that is bad about showing up late? With TD, the waiters take orders and serve. Some maitre 'd will close the doors. With AD everyone else stands and waits for the slowpoke.

[StillPooh]

Is there anyone in your party that is bad about showing up late?

We've never traveled with them before, so I really couldn't say.

[Wild Bill]

We are a party of 8 traveling together for the first time, and we are going to try ATD. I don't think we will make reservations, since that would defeat the reason we are trying ATD, we won't know when we will want to eat dinner, until that evening.

We are crusing at a non busy time in November, and I guess if we have to wait, we will just have to hope it isn't too long of a wait. :)

[Coolmama_1]

We have done ATD with a party of 6 on 3 different cruises. While we did tend to eat early, we never had to wait. You could just see how your group wants to set up meals. You could also make reservations for either the Crown Grill or Sabatinis

[StillPooh]

You could just see how your group wants to set up meals.

They wanted early traditional dining, which is what we agreed to. I'm just wondering if I should try and get them to switch.

 

We'll be eating breakfast on our own, as we have a suite and so can go to Sabatinis. Lunches will likely be in port.

[Pam in CA]

That will be DH and me on the formal nights! Nobody else in our party wants to have to dress up. :rolleyes:

 

I certainly will notify the waitstaff if we know for certain we won't be back in time for dinner. However, if we are in port and having fun I am not going to want to rush back. I'll just let them know the first night- if we're not there, don't wait for us!

For those who don't want to do formal night, they're missing probably the best dinners of the cruise. You can look dressed up without being dressed up to enjoy the experience. I wear a long, black t-shirt dress with a wrap. Easy to pack and comfortable. My sister wears black pants, black t-shirt and a shawl. My BIL used to wear a lightweight, comfortable madras jacket with dress pants and shirt, with his black high-tops. He never wore dress shoes, even back in the "good old days" in the early 90s when formal was formal. Your friends would be fine with slacks and a lightweight jacket. The point is that you can be dressed comfortably, but nicely, and have a wonderful dinner without feeling out of place.

[chipmaster]

We've done AT with parties of 11, squeezed in on a table.

 

Early is many times to early for port intensive and late sailings, late is often too late for the next day. AT is perfect!

 

But the number of tables for large parties are limited and if your large party don't all come right on time can a problem. We've generally done standing reservations or daily call in and reservation, usually no problem as long as you do before 6pm. Large diverse parties always a challenge as everyone has a different style and concept of time sometimes too!

 

This past cruise they were more difficult and didn't let us do standing reservations, had to call in first thing, YMMV.

[StillPooh]

The point is that you can be dressed comfortably, but nicely, and have a wonderful dinner without feeling out of place.

Feel free to tell my father-in-law that. Cause I ain't gonna! :eek:

 

We've generally done standing reservations or daily call in and reservation, usually no problem as long as you do before 6pm.

Then you might as well just do early TD, IMO, and save yourself the trouble!

[Nebr.cruiser]

We've done Anytime dining with nine, on RCI. However, seven of us were kids. We came about six every night and after the first night (which I reserved) they were ready for us with the same large round table each night.

 

But, #1, we didn't have any late port times and #2 the kids wanted to eat early so they could do activities, but we didn't want to be have to eat at 5:45, just in case we couldn't get all nine of us ready in time.

 

I think you should do Anytime dining and don't worry about trying to get all eight to eat at the same time unless it works out for a particular night. Decide the night before or some time during the day, based on when you plan to get back to the ship and what evening activities people want to do.

 

It does seem like an oxymoron to have reservations for Anytime dining (we've never had much of a wait), but sometimes it works best with a large group.

 

Try to get the reluctant ones to try Formal Night! You don't have to do ball gowns and tuxes. But, on Princess I often find the night time buffet has really great selections.

[OPSnorkeler]

We did Anytime Dining with 10 last cruise. Each evening I took a poll of how many would want to eat in the MDR the next night, then I called for a reservation in the morning. It worked very well. We never waited in line. But you need someone who is willing to take the responsibility for making the reservation each day.

[ColoRockiesFan]

We had 10 of us for Anytime Dining on the Golden to Alaska in July 2010. It worked fine. We'd either call for a reservation or just show up. Never had to wait more than 15 minutes.

[boomerone]

I organized a Panama Canal cruise on the Coral for a total of 12 good friends. As part of our usual cruise planning I always get a feel for the dining room layouts (looking at the DR deck plan) and target a couple of tables I think would be good ones. As soon as I boarded in Ft. Lauderdale I went first to the dining room to confirm the tables (by number) I wanted to try to get (plus two backup ideas) then I went to the Maitre'd who was hanging out in Sabatini's making changes to dining times. After a short wait I managed to arrange a standing reservation for 12 of us using two 6 person tables adjacent to each other (my first choice with both tables right next to windows) at 6pm in the ATDR. We had the same waiter for 2 weeks and we swapped seats each evening amongst ourselves. The stag and doe tables were fun on a couple of occasions. The waiters had no trouble remembering us after the second night when we didn't sit with our spouses (raised a few eyebrows on that one). They laughed about our "arrangement"! If one of the couples was not going to dine with the group we always gave the head waiter in our section a heads up the evening before and it made no difference as we kept our assigned tables. One night we all dined at the Bayou Cafe (again with a heads up to the head waiter) and the next night we went back to our assigned tables in the MDR. Great service from the Maitre'd's and waiters (and the good food!) on all of our cruises is one of the many reasons we keep coming back to Princess. On our Bayou Cafe evening we invited the Captain's Circle hostess, Joy Casaru, the future cruise lady, and the Captain to join us. Joy and the future cruise lady joined us and the Captain sent his regrets but sent a couple of bottles of wine as an apology. Joy arranged for a group photo (no charge) and we had a great evening. another reason to keep sailing with Princess. Great memories!

[cdngrl]

We did Anytime Dining with 10 last cruise. Each evening I took a poll of how many would want to eat in the MDR the next night, then I called for a reservation in the morning. It worked very well. We never waited in line. But you need someone who is willing to take the responsibility for making the reservation each day.

that's how it worked for us too. we (I) checked what excursions/ activities were happening the next day, we (I) decided what time and how many of us wanted to eat and we (I) would call for a reservation the next morning. sometimes if it would only be only 5 of us having dinner we (I) didn't reserve.

guess who was 'in charge'? ;)