What's Happened to Anytime Dining

[caribill]

Maybe Princess needs to implement Staggered Dining by deck!:eek::D

 

And changing the deck order each evening

[Astro Flyer]

Maybe Princess needs to implement Staggered Dining by deck!:eek::D

 

And changing the deck order each evening

 

Having to wait in the atrium many spend their time in the bar which undoubtedly leads to "staggered" dining. :p

[Putterdude]

Too many who want to eat early is the reason for the problem.

 

I've never understood why AT is selected & then passengers basically want early traditional. it's the demand for early dining that has caused Princess to adjust the MDR schedules to make the first seating in an anytime dining room instead an early traditional seating. This means less AT dining availability but with so many who prefer to eat early having additional early assigned dining has for the most part worked out best.

 

 

Because some people who want first sitting can't get it and show up early for ATD. Still other don't like the regimentation of having to turn up for first sitting but like to dine between 6 & 6:30. That part is pretty simple, but obviously it is putting pressure on the ATD venue with the sharing of TD.

[BballinQT24]

Princess's current policy of overflowing the Early Seating Traditional diners into one of the Anytime dining rooms has created the problem.:(

Go back to limiting Traditional to 1 dining room and the Anytime Dining problem will be solved.;)

 

Exactly.

 

If this was caused by a bunch a people wanting to eat early then this would have been an issue before. The timing of these dining room issues seems to go along with when they added the third traditional dining time. Obviously there are always chances of wait times with anytime dining, but not to such an extreme like it has become.

[generichandle]

I switched from TD to AD on the Diamond. On no day did I wait more than a minute to be seated, occasionally at a two-person table, but more often at a large table with others who were 'catch is as catch can'. I enjoyed it every time. Met some neat folks, including a little lady who has 1200+ day asea. I am envious.

 

I do not have enough experience to know if the set-up on Diamond is the same as elsewhere. Four AD resturaunts and one TD, with an 'early TD' crossover in one. It seemed to work perfectly there. And I was glad to wait till 8:15 on nights when I ate at that particular site; the osse bucco was worth it.

 

I rarely tried to eat before 7:00 after my change, so perhaps it would have been a problem earlier?

 

Doug

[Astro Flyer]

Princess's current policy of overflowing the Early Seating Traditional diners into one of the Anytime dining rooms has created the problem.:(

Go back to limiting Traditional to 1 dining room and the Anytime Dining problem will be solved.;)

 

Because some people who want first sitting can't get it and show up early for ATD. Still other don't like the regimentation of having to turn up for first sitting but like to dine between 6 & 6:30. That part is pretty simple, but obviously it is putting pressure on the ATD venue with the sharing of TD.

Both of these suggestions show the problem...there's more demand for early traditional seating and when that's not available people will tend to do early anytime dining. And by assigning one of the anytime dining rooms to traditional early dining they're making an effort to accommodate all those who want to eat early. With so many desiring to eat at 5:30, I think it's unrealistic to think that there'll be much seating available until after they are done dining which would generally be around 7 o'clock. It's impossible to have enough seating to keep everyone happy to dine early.

 

These two different recommended solutions to the problem show how there isn't a system that can keep everybody happy.

[Putterdude]

 

These two different recommended solutions to the problem show how there isn't a system that can keep everybody happy.

 

That is likely the case...hey I got it, eliminate ATD until after say 8:30 and then have a number of staggered sitting times throughout the evening from 5:30 onward....a bit like staggered embarkation time....that aught to make everyone angry and produce 137 pages of complaints in this forum as people miss the show in the Princess Theatre....but that could be solved with 5 different show times....and on it goes.:D

[Astro Flyer]

That is likely the case...hey I got it, eliminate ATD until after say 8:30 and then have a number of staggered sitting times throughout the evening from 5:30 onward....a bit like staggered embarkation time....that out to make everyone angry and produce 137 pages of complaints in this forum as people miss the show in the Princess Theatre....but that could be solved with 5 different show times....and on it goes.:D

Keeping a good sense of humor is always helpful to me. :D.

 

There will never be a system that works 'best' for everybody so keeping the majority of passengers happy is all Princess can try to do. I choose to adjust my schedule to have the best cruise experience which generally works great for me while avoiding the anger and frustration of some other passengers. :D

[ONT-CA]

...OP: Your observation about AT being very much like two "set" seatings is valid, and logistically, it cannot be any other way. ...

 

Probably the best analogy of the AT dining system that I have heard or read. Well done

[Starlaker]

"Having to wait in the atrium many spend their time in the bar which undoubtedly leads to "staggered" dining. :p "

 

Astro Flyer, Love it! Thanks for the chuckle.

[Astro Flyer]

"Having to wait in the atrium many spend their time in the bar which undoubtedly leads to "staggered" dining. :p "

 

Astro Flyer, Love it! Thanks for the chuckle.

I don't know if Reader's Digest still has a section for "Humor is the Best Medicine" but I agree that humor is the best "medicine"! :D

 

We're discussing taking a cruise that many will never get to experience so I don't sweat the small 'stuff' & let anything ruin a cruise or to get overly upset. And unless it's something life threatening, it's all small 'stuff' to me! ;)

[I_heart_vaca]

I had Anytime on the Sea Princess last week and if you called in the earlier morning - before 9am - you could make a reservation in the Anytime dining room - they booked on the 1/2 hour. Then hey had two lines at the door - reservations and open seating (wait).

 

If not, you could just show up, but like any land based restaurant you might have to wait and they give you a pager that has a range that lets you sit in the bar :). We had this two nights and never waited longer then 20 min. When we ate at off times (7pm) we had 5 min or no wait.

[Pam in CA]

You know, I read comments about long lines, beepers, etc. and think back to when Anytime was first introduced on the Grand in 2001. Long lines, beepers, etc. Those have been around since the beginning. Absolutely nothing new. They might be new to someone's experience but overall, as long as Traditional diners are allowed in Anytime and people are able to make a reservation, there'll be long lines and beepers.

[paul929207]

I don't know if Reader's Digest still has a section for "Humor is the Best Medicine" but I agree that humor is the best "medicine"! :D

 

We're discussing taking a cruise that many will never get to experience so I don't sweat the small 'stuff' & let anything ruin a cruise or to get overly upset. And unless it's something life threatening, it's all small 'stuff' to me! ;)

Great way to look at life.

[Astro Flyer]

Great way to look at life.

Thanks Paul...and I'm quite certain that you & many others on CC feel the same way. :)

[Matcodixon]

Thanks Paul...and I'm quite certain that you & many others on CC feel the same way. :)

 

I've had TD on some cruises and anytime on our Alaska cruise. I prefer TD for several reasons, which I won't go into those again. Anytime sometimes involved a waiting period, depending on when I chose to show up. It did not take long for me to figure out what time was the best time to go to not have to wait for a table. Problem solved.. I never had to wait and never went hungry!:D

 

Ps anyone that goes hungry on a cruise ship has another problem. :eek:

[gertz]

Maybe a result of Too many people.:eek:

[snowman]

This will work every time. If you are in a full suite and are Elite you can eat any time you want. We have done this lots of time and it never has failed. If it does order in your suite off the DR menu on your balcony or in your own DR.

[1 HappyCruiser]

This will work every time. If you are in a full suite and are Elite you can eat any time you want. We have done this lots of time and it never has failed. If it does order in your suite off the DR menu on your balcony or in your own DR.

 

Anyone can order off the menu for cabin service but eating in the cabin just doesn't cut it.

[capriccio]

Anyone can order off the menu for cabin service but eating in the cabin just doesn't cut it.

 

Suites can order off the MDR menu (not the room service menu). We ate dinner on our aft balcony a week ago as the sun was setting when we sailed out of San Francisco - it was breathtaking (and the food - while delivered all at the same time - wasn't bad either :p). Truly memorable.

[snowman]

Anyone can order off the menu for cabin service but eating in the cabin just doesn't cut it.

Not off the DR menu you cant and what can be better than sitting on your balcony having a great meal and a nice bottle of wine.

[grandmaa]

I don't know if Reader's Digest still has a section for "Humor is the Best Medicine" but I agree that humor is the best "medicine"! :D

 

We're discussing taking a cruise that many will never get to experience so I don't sweat the small 'stuff' & let anything ruin a cruise or to get overly upset. And unless it's something life threatening, it's all small 'stuff' to me! ;)

 

We agree with you..we are on vacation and consider ourselves very lucky indeed. Yours is a healthier way to look at this issue..with so much to do on the ship we have learned to not put eating at the top of our activities.

[Redwing55]

I'm not a frequent cruiser, but from the comments and our experience on 3 cruises, it looks like the issue may be one on the Emerald, Ruby, etc ships.

 

We had no problem with the Sapphire or Emerald a few years ago. But this last March (12) we had some issues on the Emerald. I think this was also mentioned on another thread. It appears the problem is that on the Emerald, they have added a Traditional early seating that was used for AT dining. I would have thought it wouldn't matter, but in reality, it clearly puts a bind on anyone trying to eat early. Our Sapphire and earlier Emerald, didn't have that earlier TD in of the front Drooms.

 

On our March cruise, one couldn't even set a reserv. for most nights with AT until late. As was mentioned before, if the chairs are full with the "first" wave of AT diners, AT dang near turns into traditional.

 

My preference is to open back up that dining room for AT. This may result in having some passengers not being able to sign up for the early TD seating. That shouldn't be too much of an issue. One can still get the early AT seating.

 

Some may ask why people want AT anyway. Honestly, most of the time we tend to eat early. But there are some port days when it doesn't work that well, and we'd prefer to eat later. Sure the Buffet is available, but that's why we liked AT- if gave us a chance to be flexible. Also, we had a group of us and there may be a night or two when a couple wants to eat at a different time- for whatever the reason. TD won't allow that. Clearly there is a demand for AT dining as so many do sign up for it. So, Princess, let's open up the early TD seating and just make that AT.

[jpthomas27]

We were on the Emerald last fall and had no problem, also the Ruby a few years ago with no issues. If we were willing to share a table we would be seated right away, if we wanted a table for two (which we did) we waited about 10-15 minutes, just fine to realx and get a pre-dinner drink. I never thought this was a big deal. We are on the Island this fall, hopefully we have a good experience.

 

People should keep in mind that nowhere in the term "Anytime Dinning" does it suggest that you will be seated immidiately upon demanding so. I find unreasonable for anyone to think that any restaurant could accomodate 3000 passengers at exactly the time and and in exactly the configuration that they wanted. And then the next night read the minds of those 300o passengers to know how they would all decide to do it all over again.

 

It does seem as though using part of an AT dinning room for the early seating has made things a little worse, but in addition I believe that passengers themselves are also making this experience harder than it should be, and unfortunately Princess is allowing it so they certainly own this problem ultimately. First, reservations should not be taken. People make reservations, tables are held and then they show up at different times and are still seated while others wait because they resrved a table but didn't use it at the time they reserved it for. Second, traditional diners decide not to go to thier assigned dinning room and instead invade the anytime dinning room, essntially occupying two tables at once. Diners of traditional dinning rooms should be denied access to the AT dinning room. You miss your time, the buffet is open for your convinience. Next time respect your fellow passengers and show up on time... or choose AT dinning for your next cruise.

[Smokeyham]

So, if I am reading all of this correctly, if we want Any Time dining, then it is better to go later (say 7:00 PM or later) to have less of a wait?