anytime dining

[jillmom2]

Im not sure if this is a question or not..but I am just curious, with anytime dining...I thought it was created for the convenience of showing up to dinner anytime you wanted from say 5-10 p.m. without being locked into a fixed traditional time. You went to anytime dining when you were ready and asked for a table that fit the size of your party.

 

Why do people make reservations for anytime dining?... do cruise lines allow it? and if so why? ..I thought it was supposed to be first come first served? Why do people make so many demands on anytime dining...same sections, same waiters? etc. I thought the whole idea is that it is FLEXIBLE, why should you assume that you can have a fixed time reservation in an anytime restaurant and that they should save you a table at a certain time?..if they do that, they might as well add another traditional fixed seating...if you want all of those things go with the traditional dining.

 

Why do they assume they can go to anytime if they chose traditional, but didn't feel like going that night or missed their time? If you missed your dining time then go to the buffet, that is what it is there for or go to a pay restaurant , if you can get a reservation. Before you cruise, you choose early, late or anytime dining as your choice and then stick with it...no you shouldn't be allowed to switch..you had plenty of time to make your choice before you booked your cruise and you should know your dining habits well enough to make an informed choice going in...

 

Am I misunderstanding anytime dining or do some people just feel rules don't apply to them??

[mrpayroll]

I don't think Carnival allows for making a reservation for Anytime. ( some others do ) I also thought it was those that liked to be spontanious with their dining times. From a lot of posts, it seems like they go the Same time and sit in the Same section using the Same waitstaff. I think a lot of people use it so they can sit by themselves.

[my2monkees]

I've done anytime 3x now in the last year and half. The 1st 2 times we actually asked for the same waitstaff (we really liked them) but we never went at the same time. It all varied on what we were doing. This last time (a week ago) we had different waitstaff each night. Again we went at different times depending on how hungry we were or what we were doing. I liked having the same waitstaff but this time didn't connect with anyone waitstaff so we just went with whomever was available. I would not like traditional as I don't want to be on that much of a schedule.

[4spring]

In terms of trying to change from a set dining time to anytime dining - keep in mind that sometimes the anytime dining is booked up when you make your cruise reservation, so you might end up in a time slot that doesn't work for you. Your pvp will tell you to try to change it once you get on the ship.

I've never heard of reservations with anytime dining.

I also know that you don't always get to sit by yourself or your group in anytime dining. If all they have open at the time you go down for dinner is seating with other people, they'll give you the choice to wait or to sit with others. Sitting with others can be a great way to meet people, or it can be a less than great experience if you are seated with a complainer. Overall though we've had pretty good luck.

[Riley's Mom]

The main reason we always opt for Anytime Dining is so we can sit by

ourselves and not with strangers.

I know, I know...many of you love to sit with strangers at dinner time

but it completely stresses me. I feel like I have to keep a conversation going and be interested in their conversations, etc.

I am on a cruise to relax and enjoy my time on the ship.

 

I applaud Carnival for anytime dining. We always arrive around 6:00pm and are seated at a table by ourselves and ask for the same wait staff each night. So far, we have always been able to sit at the same table and wait staff each night.

 

Just my opinion...not meant to offend anyone.

[obnancy]

I think the poster misunderstands anytime dining. It is for people who have chosen and reserved it at the time of booking the cruise. If people are forced into late or early seating, they can ask the Maitre' D if they can switch to anytime on the first day of the cruise. They may or may not be accomodated.

 

Yes, the point is to be FLEXIBLE as poster pointed out. However, if I like the staff I get the first night, I can choose to request there section again. If available it will be offered to me, if not, you are given the option to sit somewhere else or wait for a table in their section to open up.

 

You can choose who you want to sit with. We choose to share and also choose to sit alone a couple of times. If you make friends on the cruise, it makes it very easy to have dinner with them, if they are also on anytime dining.

[jillmom2]

I had anytime dining on the Caribbean Princess when it was just my family of 4 and it worked great for us...we went when we wanted and always only was seated at a table for 4 ..just us...never was asked if we wanted to sit with others. It was just what I expected it to be and it worked out perfectly. The other times I cruised, on Disney and Carnival Glory the first time, it was not avail. I had late on Disney (which I thought was too late) and early on the Glory which was fine...still again only seated with our own party size ...Second time on the Glory anytime was available, but we chose early traditional because we had a group of 12 and it was easier to just have a fixed time and a table ready for all of us...too complicated for anytime. That way everyone knew what time dinner was and when to show up...( we had high school kids on spring break and it was the only time we all got together )

 

Anytime does work and it is great...I just think people try to manipulate it to suite themselves and get upset when it doesn't go their way. For a family of 4 or couples...anytime is great...def. not for large groups though..

[kicia]

There are always so many requests for tables for two that I think that is one reason why anytime dining was created. The other is that some people feel that early dining time is too early but late dining is too late. With anytime they can eat at 7 or whatever fits their schedule.

[live2cruise2011]

Yes we had anytime dining on the triumph this last cruise it worked great as it allowed us to go when we wanted and if the kids wanted to eat earlier or later than us they could do that they did not have to wait for us or us for them. on our 2nd week we had friends join us on board and so somenights we had 2 some we had 6 but yes we did always have the same waitstaff he was awesome why should we have to give up good service just because we don't want to schedule our dinner months in advance.

[BubMunkeyBles]

I'm not too picky. But I would end up eating at the buffet if we had late dining (we're usually 6pm eaters). I don't mind early dining but I didn't like how the show times sometime are too close and there would be no seats left. Also with ports where we leave later its nice not to have to rush to a 6pm dinner when we got back on at 6 and are hot and sweatty. I love anytime dining. One cruise we had to request it because it was full and it worked out.

[love2relax]

We choose anytime for the flexibility of arrival time and so that we can sit by ourselves. I don't see how requesting wait staff that we like is any different than asking to be seated with waitstaff we like in any land-based restaurant.

[Banditswife]

We've done anytime dining on our past few cruises. It worked out well for us. We have never tried to make reservations for a certain time- we just wait for a table. We've never waited more than 5 minutes for a table. We have never requested a certain wait staff either, but we are usually seated in the same section meaning we have same wait staff. Honestly, for us it doesn't matter who waits on us or where we sit, we just want decent service & have gotten it. We love the flexibility of having dinner when we want it.

 

On another note, I think with all the cutbacks cruiselines are having to make the level of service is not what it used to be. The servers are required to serve more tables w/ less help. They are doing the best they can, but are overworked. I know I would not want to do their job. So as long as our server is pleasant & efficient-I am happy.

[newbieMom]

We've done late dining the last two cruises, and really loved being to get to know our wait staff and see the entertainment (which our wait team always managed to include our kids in...so cute!) This time, we'd like to try anythime with the knowledge that we can request an area or wait staff if we're willing to wait....but what about the entertainment? I'm guessing it's just hit or miss? Any experience with that? Is there a good time to go to see the early dining entertainment even though we'd be at the begining of our meal? And what about shows? If you eat in between (like we probably would most nights...does it screw you up for the shows?