Are there any disadvantages to Any Time Dining?

[okgirl]

Does Carnival have separate dining rooms for ATD or are you mixed in the regular dining

rooms? I have only done ATD on Princess where there are separate dining rooms. I'm reading this thread and it sounds like Carnival does not have separate dining rooms.

 

 

It is separated either by level or dining room. Most of the time YTD takes place in the forward dining room if there are two or the upstairs section if there is just one.

 

The wait staff never has both assigned diners and YTD guests it's one or the other.

[musicgal]

There are disadvantages. The waitstaff is less motivated to serve you well- We were seated at different tables each night and served by different teams. Some were great; some not so great. We had a party of seven and got in quickly though. If you are in a party of nine, there should be some large rounds that can accomodate you- that's what we were normally assigned to although our assignments ran the gamut throughout the week.

[redpelican]

It is separated either by level or dining room. Most of the time YTD takes place in the forward dining room if there are two or the upstairs section if there is just one.

 

The wait staff never has both assigned diners and YTD guests it's one or the other.

I hate to disagree with you, but, when we sailed on he Miracle in 2011. our waiter had both ATD and assigned dining. He had a hard time taking care of both and almost neglected us. As a matter of fact, one night his assistant took care of us. I have been in food service in almost every capacity and I really believe the fault did not lie with the server as ,much as they had never been trained to do anything but assigned dining. Your mind set has to be completely different to keep everything going at once. 3 nights we left without ever being offered dessert. As we had a different server every night, the fault was not one in particular. So, that being said, I think we will stick to assigned dining. Love talking and getting to know our table mates!

[dburdan]

Did it once and will never do it again. If I want to stand in line and get a beeper to be called for dinner, I will stay home and go to Outback Steak House.

 

I like having a set time for dinner. It actually makes planning easier. Maybe that's because I am an anal Project Manager who likes schedules. If you are with a large group and want to dine together, it definately makes it easier having a set dining time. That way there is no discussion or arguments as to what time you are dining. You already know.

 

Also, many times you will miss the waitors show and I feel that is one of the special things about cruising and the MDR

[ray98]

None at all....ATD on the last 3 and I will never go back to assigned times. There was no noticeable difference in service and our longest wait was 5 minutes on a day where we chose a 6pm time which always has the biggest rush.

 

You have the ability to make reservations if you need a specific time and there are screens everywhere so you can see how busy each time slot is that update throughout the day. A little planning goes a long way and I love that I can choose to eat dinner when I want just like I do with my other meals. Nothing is worse than a late lunch due to activities when you have the early dinner or an early lunch and the late dinner. Flexibility is awesome.

[cruzzza]

I am signed up for ATD, but thinking about switching to Early. It's been a while since I cruised with regular dining... did they ever make it where you could request a table size? That might be the only reason we'd stick with ATD. We don't want to be seated with anyone else. When we were single, we enjoyed it, but now that we have kids, we prefer it to be just our family.

[marshhawk]

On all of our Carnival cruises we have cruises with friends, and having the assigned dining was great, we did our thing during the day, but got caught up at dinner, making it an important meal. But on our next cruise we chose the ATD, yes we have made friends on our roll call, and will probably share some meals with them, but this time I wanted to try the flexability, so that I can eat later lunches, have a snack when I want, and not have to rush and get ready the minute i get back from doing something on shore. But I am doing this because I am not cruising with friends. I want to make sure that when I do, we do spend time together, as we rarely do the same timeof shore excursions.

[okgirl]

None at all....ATD on the last 3 and I will never go back to assigned times. There was no noticeable difference in service and our longest wait was 5 minutes on a day where we chose a 6pm time which always has the biggest rush.

 

You have the ability to make reservations if you need a specific time and there are screens everywhere so you can see how busy each time slot is that update throughout the day. A little planning goes a long way and I love that I can choose to eat dinner when I want just like I do with my other meals. Nothing is worse than a late lunch due to activities when you have the early dinner or an early lunch and the late dinner. Flexibility is awesome.

 

You must be thinking about your experience on RCCL. There are no screens updating anything regarding how busy each dining room is and on Carnival everything is 1st come 1st serve no reservations allowed except in the Steakhouse or other Specialty restaurants.

[lillian marie]

We also go early and have not had to wait more than a few minutes, even with a party of 8. We have never waited as a couple. We like the flexibility and the fact that we don't have to make small talk with strangers.

[sharecruises]

It seems like there must be, since the early/late dinings are also offered. But, I can't figure out what they would be. To me, it seems like a no-brainer that we would want to choose our own times to dine each evening.

 

Is there limited seating for ATD? Or are the seats not as good?

 

We are traveling in a group of 9. We don't all necessarily have to eat together every night, but I'm sure we will want to do so at least one time. Are one of the dining options better for this type of thing?

 

The only other cruise we were on was NCL. I have their Freestyle dining stuck in my head and can't really figure out why you would want it any other way.

 

Educate me! :)

 

Not everyone likes or wants anytime dining

 

I always travel in a group, and we always have late seating

 

Even on NCL> they are great about it, if you have 20 or more in a group you get your own tables and pick your own time

 

JMO>> the decline in service that people complain about is due to the anytime dining . I would not want to try it with 9 people, but it seems to work for some people in smaller groups or couples etc

[Zoedokey]

I am anticipating a group of 12 or maybe 14 on our next cruise. I'm not sure how they would accomodate us in regular seating or ATD. Will we have two tables? Will we have the same groupings every night?

[Hurricane Girl]

We have our tenth cruise coming up in Sept. We tried the ATD on #8 on the Fascination. It was a 5 night cruise. We sat at the same table on 2 of the 4 nights that we went to the dining room, but never had the same wait staff. We usually look forward to dinner and really enjoy the fact that the waiters get to know us and what we want. That was the first cruise that we've ever skipped a night in the dining room. We went back to assigned dining last cruise and will stick with it from now on.

[lola4795]

Thanks to all of you for giving me the pros and cons here. It almost sounds to me that if you're someone who has been on many cruises with traditional dining that you gave the ATD a chance, but really prefer the traditional way.

 

It seems like those of us who are less experienced cruisers or have only cruised on Norwegian (both are the case with me!) don't really care about the fact that our waiters don't know us and want the flexibility.

 

Does this about sum it up?

[right trip]

We experienced this. Not only did it take longer, but it seemed very disorganized. Tried it once, will go back to traditional dining.

I agree. We did not like it. We had a different waiter every night. They were slower with us than their regular diners and they didn't seem to care about our needs. I won't do it again.

[YoungGangMom]

We have also tried ATD and enjoyed it. Although we did this on a different cruise line, so I can't speak for Carnival until later this Fall. We never had a wait, always had the same table, and never experienced any negative issues. We also had the same staff. Keeping my fingers crossed that we will enjoy the same great service this trip.

[cruiseclues]

We feel that the wait staff is less motivated, also...and like to be able to dine every time without waiting...we usually go with a group...to us the only real advantage is the any time part. :)

[cruzzza]

Thanks to all of you for giving me the pros and cons here. It almost sounds to me that if you're someone who has been on many cruises with traditional dining that you gave the ATD a chance, but really prefer the traditional way.

 

It seems like those of us who are less experienced cruisers or have only cruised on Norwegian (both are the case with me!) don't really care about the fact that our waiters don't know us and want the flexibility.

 

Does this about sum it up?

Yes, I think so. I have always done traditional until we tried ATD. Looking back, I do have some nostalgia for the traditional. We had the same waiters every night with the ATD, but there was something a little more special and personal with the traditional. That's why I was considering switching back to Early seating, even though I have ATD confirmed right now. We had some really great waiters over the years, and I do think they make more effort to please you and take the time to get to know you more. Of course, I'm sure there are great waiters and bad waiters on both options. We did have a horrible waiter once doing the traditional.

[sharecruises]

I am anticipating a group of 12 or maybe 14 on our next cruise. I'm not sure how they would accomodate us in regular seating or ATD. Will we have two tables? Will we have the same groupings every night?

 

Most likely 2 tables of 6 or 2 tables of 8 or whatever

 

JMO with that many people pick a time early or late and link them all together, you will have same waiter/assistants

Usually you can move around "within" the group... "visit" with everyone in the group, and the waiters are cool with that, especially with a group this size

 

Having a set dining time also is great for the group to have fun with the "showtime" and celebrate any birthday's or other special events...

"your" waiter or assistant will also snap a group picture of all of you (I never bother with the ship photogs LOL)

 

It is nice for the "group" to have a set place/time for all to gather for dinner...trying to get anytime with this many people would be a total cluster JMO

 

Have fun!

[sharecruises]

We have also tried ATD and enjoyed it. Although we did this on a different cruise line, so I can't speak for Carnival until later this Fall. We never had a wait, always had the same table, and never experienced any negative issues. We also had the same staff. Keeping my fingers crossed that we will enjoy the same great service this trip.

 

Well...if it was a different cruise line your experience might be different here..

not sure what this has to do with the question really

 

While some on Carnival MAY get the same table and same wait staff that hardly seems to be the norm

 

IF that is important to you the answer is simple...choose set dining time :)

[fergusonvt]

We did ATD one time and won't do it again. We were never sat with the same server twice and the tables were in the middle of the isle. To be fair, this was a very crowded ship, but the waiters catered to the regular diners. I think you may find it hard to all eat all together as I know they assign those large tables to the other diners. I really think it all depends on the ship and the help and what you are expecting. Either way you choose, I'm sure you will have a wondeful cruise!

 

I think some ships have a separate dining from for ATD. That is what my Carnival rep told me when I booked the cruise.

[Ksea1961]

We feel that the wait staff is less motivated, also...and like to be able to dine every time without waiting...we usually go with a group...to us the only real advantage is the any time part. :)

 

Have to disagree. We never had to wait more than 5 minutes. We had different waiters each time, but the next day, while they were working the buffet, they all greeted us by name and asked about our trip and offered to find us a table and get us coffee, tea, etc. I was amazed. Such great people.

[saq wine guy]

We feel that the wait staff is less motivated, also...and like to be able to dine every time without waiting...we usually go with a group...to us the only real advantage is the any time part. :)

i beg to differ about your time wait staff on carnival. it is way more complexe to serve a stagered dinner time crowd as you may be serving salad, another tables main course,and still another tables coffee at the same time. the staff is working all the time and therfore do not have as much time to chat. carnival only puts their most efficient people in those situations(as all hotels or restaurants do).we have had good service in the past in fixed times,but also excellent service in ytd. we enjoy the dinning on a cruise and like to take our time(as in,an aperitif then,entree,then salad,main course....then once the wine is done a good glass of cointreau to go with my coffee).in fixed time it is more like a wedding(everone eat salad-then now it is time the main course).as one maitre-d told me once when i complained (ever so politely)" most cruisers rate service on how fast the next plate comes to table." ps the longest i have waited for ytd was 30 minutes on formal night on the legend(you just have your ceasar or bloody while you wait in the bar...harmless)

[<3 2 Cruise]

We prefer ATD. We usually travel alone, or with one other couple, and prefer sitting at an individual table, just like in a restaurant. I'm not too concerned with the wait staff learning my life history, and we usually get placed in the same general area and see the same faces frequently.

 

Although, I will add, on our last cruise, our table for 2 was always in a line with several other tables for 2 that were so close, you had no choice but to talk to your neighbors. The placement is designed to seat 2 or 8.

 

We usually eat early, and never had a wait.