Early/Late/Your Time Dining

[elcuchio24]

I've always chosen early over late, but had the chance to get YTD on our last cruise.

 

Early over late seems like a no-brainer to me. Do people really wait until 8:00 pm to eat dinner in real life? That would leave me with two options, either starve for two hours, or get into poor eating habits, which probably also includes a lot of wasted food at dinner.

 

I loved the YTD. When you're at one of the conventional seatings, you're stuck on their schedule, which means you're in for a 90-100 minute meal and have no way of getting out of it. Our YTD waiters were very quick. We probably got in and out closer to 45 or 50 minutes.

 

In addition, the YTD waiters didn't seem to feel the need to go through the charade of "getting to know you". It is interesting how the service can be equally good without all the personal chit-chat that seems to be necessary when a waiter is focussed on generating extra tips.

 

The YTD flexibility is great. You don't have to design your day or evening around your meal time. It is much closer to when you're on a regular vacation and you just go out to eat (or cook a meal) when you feel like it.

 

But I think one of the forgotten bonuses is that if you want to, you can time your meal so that it doesn't overlap any of the song-and-dance routines!

 

I agree totally. The very same reasons some people like traditional seating (getting to know their servers backgrounds, etc) is the very reason we like NOT having tradtitional dining. I appriciate fast and freindly service, but I have as much interest in the servers' home country and favorite activities as I do with the server at a local restaurant. We just don't feel the need to spend time building up that relationship, although to some passengers it seems very important.

 

We've found the service at YTD to be as good or better, and certainly faster, that traditional times. Plus the reduced chit chat, magic tricks, and dance routines are a huge plus for us.

[kingoftheicedragons]

We prefer early dining. We had late dining on our Baja Mexico cruise, and that didn't work out very well for us.

[AdoptAtty]

We will be a party of 7 and the kids (teens/young adults) have always loved getting to know the wait staff. I wonder what kind of waits we would face doing YTD AND requesting the same wait staff? Cruising on the Paradise June 21-25 out of Tampa.

[WAHMto5]

We always try to get the "anytime" when possible. Especially on vacation, we enjoy not having to be somewhere at a specific time;)

[Kato27]

Not sure getting other opinions on this will work for most people. Totally personal preference--we like early dining so we choose early dining--simple as that. :)

I agree, personal choice, what works for one may not work for another:)

[klmorg]

I don't need someone else to make my decision, but it's nice hearing others' points of view and hearing pros and cons that I may not have thought about.

 

Good answer:)

[rferr]

Your time dining for us. If CCL didn't have that option, we'd go back to cruising NCL full time;)

 

Us too.

[misstopgun]

We have tried ATD our last three cruises and like the flexibility. Unfortunatly, we have not been as lucky as some posting here finding a service team we liked the first or second night.

 

On our first experience, the team on the second night was terrific and we requested them each night after. On the second, no one really stood out but we somehow were seated with the same team each night though we didn't request them. The third, we gave up after the third night and stopped going to the DR.

 

Each time there was a wait on elegant night though not to long.

 

We will probably still go with ATD dining and have that time on our fall cruise just because it still gives us more choice and we are not rushed. If hungry we go earlier, if busy, we go later. It's only food after all, and they serve the same menu on every cruise so we know what we are missing if we choose not to go. If we choose not to go we will not go hungry with the other options available. You can't beat a BLT or Rueban from room service.

 

The one difference it has made is I no longer order the wine package because I don't know how many nights we will eat in the DR and don't want wine left over to fly back home with.

 

Evening dining aside, one thing I would recomend is breakfast in the the dining room. It avoids the long lines on the lido and you can still get your omlette or fried eggs without the rest of your food getting cold while waiting in line. Lunch is also seved on sea days.

[Mustanggirl]

We tried your time dining this past month on our freedom cruise and hated it. We stopped going and went to the buffet instead. The idea of table for 2 is misleading considering the next table for 2 is literally 3 inches away, so you end up having to talk to the other couple or appear rude. On royal caribbean their my time dining is fantastic, a table for 2 is exactly that a table for 2. So we will be going back to early seating with Carnival. Carnival really screwed this one up.

[taillon]

We like early dining best and have no problems cutting any fun short. We go to dinner and then have time for the evening shows. Late dining just leaves me too full to go to sleep later! lol

[Banditswife]

I agree that we don't wish to get to know our servers personally any more than we would in a land based restaurant. I like to avoid the chit chat & dancing wait staff. I do think the meal takes longer between courses in ATD. I also think they seat you with the same server even if you don't request them. This has been a drawback for us, we'd actually rather have different servers.

[ccruisequeen]

What is your preference?

What do you see as the advantages/disadvantages of it?

 

When traveling with others-Early, because we're older & like to go to bed after the early show.

 

With Family-Anytime, because I'm on medication & like to keep to a schedule. Also, we can skip MDR if there's nothing good on the menu that night.

[rnvattes]

What is your preference?

What do you see as the advantages/disadvantages of it?

 

It depends on who I'm traveling with.

 

Kids or large group with varied ages? Early seating. Allows the large group to know what time to meet up for dinner, exactly where, and no problems being seated together. Lets the very old or very young in the group get to bed early.

 

Large group of people, all about my age? Late seating. Allows for pre-dinner relaxation and drinks. Allows all members of the group to know what time to meet up for dinner and exactly where. No problems being seated together. Lets us get revved up for a late night out on the ship having fun

 

Me and my hubs, just us two? YTD. We can eat whenever we want, at a table for just us. Never have waited more than 10 minutes. Found a wait staff team we loved and requested to be seated with them each night after we found them. Down side? Our first wait staff was all business and we felt rushed by them; not very personal service but that might have just been that team, or even that one night.