Ins and Outs of Your Time Dining

[kjblovestotravel]

Heading out on Carnival Glory in June with my husband. We have never not picked a specific dining time but opted to this time around. Having never done Your Time Dining before I have no clue how it really works and whether it was a good idea. Any insights would be great....i.e. best time to go, is it only in one dining room, can we sit by ourselves or will we be with others? Thanks for any help.

[riffatsea]

It is like going out to a restaurant at home.

You go to the dining room that is open for Your Time Dining(they'll tell you which) at whatever time you choose.

You walk up to the person in charge of seating and say"2 please"(or say you'd like to sit with others it is YOUR choice)

Then they'll ask for your cabin no. so the wait staff will get credit for serving you, and they show you to a table.

IF you like the staff you can request to be seated in that same area each night. We tend to go early so there is no wait but sometimes if they are crowded they will give you a pager and you wait at the bar nearby to be buzzed.(just like on land)

We like sitting at a table for 2 OR if we meet a couple whose company we enjoy we may arrange to meet them for dinner.

We don't like sitting with random strangers so that's why we like Your Time Dining.

[19snapshot]

I am interested in seeing the responses to this. We are cruising in July. Our three children prefer lido dining. We like the dining room. We like meeting new people and when we choose a dining time, we end up with 3 empty seats at our table. We like having the same wait staff every night and getting to know them too. We have never done your time dining and would love to hear opinions on it.

[sandywitch111]

Wow- I had no idea you could request a table for two! I thought we had to sit with a group of random people like we had to when we dined in the dining room for lunch.

Did they give you a hard time about requesting a table for two?

[elcuchio24]

We love ATD. If it wasn't for ATD we would do the majority of our cruises with NCL. Usually 7ish is the busiest time, but even then have never had to wait more than 5 min. Good, quick service. You can eat with others if you choose or a table just with your party.

[elcuchio24]

Wow- I had no idea you could request a table for two! I thought we had to sit with a group of random people like we had to when we dined in the dining room for lunch.

 

Did they give you a hard time about requesting a table for two?

 

Not at all. That's the whole reason we do ATD. In fact after the first couple nights the hostess just have just a 2-top without asking. Also, you can request a 2-top at lunch as well, just speak up and they will accomodate you.

[tassycatt]

we did YTD on the Glory. You can request a table for 2 but keep in mind the 2 tops are very close together. So its still almost like sitting with others.

 

But with that being said, it is a nice option. We never had a wait but usually went early. Id chose it again.

[tassycatt]

Wow- I had no idea you could request a table for two! I thought we had to sit with a group of random people like we had to when we dined in the dining room for lunch.

Did they give you a hard time about requesting a table for two?

 

nope, no hard time. They will ask if you want a table for 2 or to be seated with others.

[dizkid]

We love anytime dining!

 

1) Different people to sit with each night. We've been on cruises where we've had "the table mates from hell". If we meet someone who also has ATD, we'll meet them for dinner. We've had some very good table mates this way.

 

2) If we decided to skip dinner and eat in the Lido, our tablemates won't be left with empty chairs. Lately, we've taken to eating more in the Lido than in the MDR.

 

3) We chose the time to eat. Then we can go to the early show, or the late show or whatever.

 

4) We can chose a table for two, or opt to share a table with 4 or 6. (See #1).

 

5) If we don't "click" with the wait staff, we will get a different set the next night. If we do "click", we request them and enjoy their company and service.

[G&TQ]

Wen are trying ATD also for the first time this spring. We will be a family of 3. We love to meet others what are the chances of them putting us with another family?

[okgirl]

we did YTD on the Glory. You can request a table for 2 but keep in mind the 2 tops are very close together. So its still almost like sitting with others.

 

But with that being said, it is a nice option. We never had a wait but usually went early. Id chose it again.

 

We always go to the dining room upon embarkation and seek out the 2 tops that are either stand alone tables without close by neighbors or the 2 tops that are at the end of the booth........

 

It's almost impossible to get up from one of those tables that are embedded inbetween other 2 tops and only 8" apart.......I'm sad to admit that I'm not only more than 8" wide.......I'm also more than 8" thick......:o

[Mutumbojimbo]

My wife and I had ATD on our recent Fascination cruise. We were never seated with others, althougth the tables are pretty close together. We were able to request our favorite waitstaff and they let us request a table by the window. We always told them that we would be happy to wait if necessary, but it was never more than a minute or two. Enjoy your cruise!

[futureAG]

I'm glad to hear this! I was wondering about requesting a table for 2. We are doing "your time dinning" for our upcoming cruise. The reason we are doing this is because we want to be able to go when we want not at a set time every night. Also because on our last cruise we missed the first night in the MDR & it seemed to upset our waiter. For the rest of the week he made "jokingly" comments like "ahh… so nice of you to show up tonight" & "I'm glad you took the time to join us" even though he was saying it with a smile, it made me feel a little uncomfortable!

[elcuchio24]

we did YTD on the Glory. You can request a table for 2 but keep in mind the 2 tops are very close together. So its still almost like sitting with others.

 

But with that being said, it is a nice option. We never had a wait but usually went early. Id chose it again.

 

If you don't like the one's that are closer together, just ask for an out of the way 2-top. There are plenty near the rails. Seriously, they will do everything they can to make sure you have the table you want, you just have to ASK.

[familycruzr]

Our family did not like your time dining. We tried it because the friends we were cruising with did not want an assigned dining time. We had a group of 12, 6 adults and 6 kids, so we usually had to wait. Several times they were able to seat 7 and 5 right away, but we wanted 6 and 6. The first night was the only night the 2 tables were next to each other. For 2, I think it would be easier to be seated.

 

It wasn't the wait that we did not like. We missed having the same waiters every night. My kids missed having the set time every night. They liked knowing exactly what time they needed to be at dinner instead having to check with us each day for the dinner time. Because we usually ate around 7 or so, they kids always left before dessert to get to circle C and club O2. On the next cruise, we are back to early seating.

[blondietink]

We are a family of 4 and have done ATD on both our cruises. We love it! We always have gotten what we requested (booth, near a window, etc) and since our first waiter was great we requested the same waiter each time. No problem! It has worked our really great, especially on port days .... sometimes we were extremely hungry after snorkeling all day and we wanted to eat right at 6, or other days when we had a snack before the lido closed at lunch, we ate later. Or there was an activity we wanted to participate in so we ate before or after the activity. We will never do anything but ATD!

[PegNRay]

Wen are trying ATD also for the first time this spring. We will be a family of 3. We love to meet others what are the chances of them putting us with another family?

 

If you let them know they will try to accomodate you. Last year on the Miracle there seemed to be a few tables that had a different group every night. We were a family of three and were at our own table by request every night

[MSRussell]

I have had early dining, late dining, and my next cruise is anytime dining. I am really looking forward to it, going Solo and living alone, I am not on a fixed schedule for eating.

 

It will be great just to go to the Salad Bar for dinner, or just take a nap in the middle of the afternoon, when I wake up, I can either go to the MDR for dinner, or if I'm too late, there is also Pizza.

 

As someone else said, the avoidance of bad table mates is a plus. One time, a woman sat across from the table from me, and it was awkward, as I couldn't hear what she was saying, so it was a little uncomfortable for me, as I am sure it was for her.

Melanie

[sailaway4]

Last time on the Glory we had YTD. We tend to eat dinner early so had no problem getting a table. Had the best wait staff ever,even let my dh have a Diet Coke off my soda card,we didn't even ask.

[Cyn7]

My DD and I did YTD on our Ecstasy cruise and I liked it much better than the set time I had on the Legend.

 

Like everyone else has stated you can request whatever kind of table you want.

Our first night of YTD we got a great waiter and his assistants were awesome. The second night we requested to be seated with them again, after that, the Maitre'D seated us with them the rest of the cruise.

 

Our upcoming cruise we will be YTD as well. I liked being able to go to dinner when I wanted to instead of having to worry about keeping my table mates waiting if I were to run late.

[lillian marie]

We've done anytime on the last 5 cruises and we'll never go back to reg. dining. We just love the flexability and the fact we can get our own table.

[my2monkees]

I've only been on 2 cruises (leaving for my 3rd) in 40 some days. I have only used ATD and absolutely love it. There have been a few times my mom and I were seated with others and some times we were seated alone. Both times we loved the wait staff we got and requested them throughout the entire cruise and had no problems doing this. I like the flexibility on when I want to eat depending on what we are doing

[legalwife]

Love, love, love anytime dining.

 

Keep in mind that if you like table for two, which we do, but you show up and there is a wait and you don't have time, just tell them you will sit at large table that night. Does not mean you always have to, just if you are in a hurry and don't want to wait for a table for two. You can go back to that next time.

 

Most of the time, the longest wait will be for those with several people in their party.

[nessz79]

We have had ATD for the past 3 cruises and loved it. We wouldn't go back to a set time. We have traveled just the 2 of us and also with our kids and in-laws with a party of 6. Either way, we had great service, could sit with just us (no awkward conversation w/ strangers), and could go anytime we wanted to.

 

We never arrived past 7 and usually arrived between 5:45 (when it starts) and 6:45. We have never had to wait as a result of getting there early, including when it was 6 of us.

 

If you have preferred servers, you can request them each time, or you can request to have someone new if you didn't have the best experience.

[nzdisneymom]

Count us among the happy YTDiners! We sailed on the Dream last week (our first family Carnival cruise) and enjoyed having the flexibility of when to go. We also liked not feeling like we needed to tell our servers that we wouldn't be there on elegant night so they wouldn't think there was something wrong with their service when we didn't show up.

 

For our week-long cruise, we ate in the YTD dining room only three times - Saturday (embarkation), Wednesday (Roatan day), and Friday (last night). We went at 6 p.m., 6 p.m., and 5:45 p.m. as we wanted to make it to a 7:30 comedy performance. We sat at a 4-top next to a 4-top the first night, at a booth on the second time (which seats VERY low), and at a 4-top by itself on the last time. We had different servers each time but excellent service from all. And enjoyed the food. The other nights we chose to eat at the buffet or the grill (early, before it closed at 6 p.m.).

 

We agreed that we would always choose YTD for any future Carnival cruises when available and discussed how we'd like it if Disney offered that as we cruise with them more regularly.