Traditional vs. Anytime Dining

[Jezzieone]

**Newbie Alert**

 

I went to the new cruisers page to see if this was covered and they had directed someone else to post on their cruise lines board so here I am. I apologize if this is hiding somewhere here already.

 

So, what are the pro's and con's of each? With TD do you have to option to go anywhere to eat if you feel like it or are you locked into a specific dining room/table/time? If you do ATD are you able to go to one of the dining rooms and get the menu that is being served there or are you locked into the buffet? I have seen all these posts where people talk about the lobster dinner and the fettuccine in the parmigiana bowl and I am wondering if you can get those regardless of the meal plan you sign up for. What would you recommend for first time cruisers? :cool:

[highheel girl]

**Newbie Alert**

 

I went to the new cruisers page to see if this was covered and they had directed someone else to post on their cruise lines board so here I am. I apologize if this is hiding somewhere here already.

 

So, what are the pro's and con's of each? With TD do you have to option to go anywhere to eat if you feel like it or are you locked into a specific dining room/table/time? If you do ATD are you able to go to one of the dining rooms and get the menu that is being served there or are you locked into the buffet? I have seen all these posts where people talk about the lobster dinner and the fettuccine in the parmigiana bowl and I am wondering if you can get those regardless of the meal plan you sign up for. What would you recommend for first time cruisers? :cool:

 

 

Welcome to Cruise Critic.....If you choose TD then you really should not do AT. You are locked into either early or late seating. If you need more flexibility then I would suggest booking AT from the start.

There are many that want TD but it gets full fast and if you leave your TD table to eat elsewhere then your seats are empty.

You can still do TD and go to one of the specialty restaurants, just let your headwaiter know if possible when you will be absent from the table.

Menus are the same in all the main restaurants.

You can do the buffet anytime. It has nothing to sdo with your dining time.

TD you get to know your waitstaff for the entire cruise.

You can get the fettucini alfredo anytime in any of the main restaurants. Its always available.

[Astro Flyer]

**Newbie Alert**

 

I went to the new cruisers page to see if this was covered and they had directed someone else to post on their cruise lines board so here I am. I apologize if this is hiding somewhere here already.

 

So, what are the pro's and con's of each? With TD do you have to option to go anywhere to eat if you feel like it or are you locked into a specific dining room/table/time? If you do ATD are you able to go to one of the dining rooms and get the menu that is being served there or are you locked into the buffet? I have seen all these posts where people talk about the lobster dinner and the fettuccine in the parmigiana bowl and I am wondering if you can get those regardless of the meal plan you sign up for. What would you recommend for first time cruisers? :cool:

• TD: Assigned to the dining room used for TD either early (around 6:00) or late (around 8:00) & have the same tablemates & servers at the same table each night; if you don't want to eat at that time, you can dine at the buffet, specialty restaurant or the grill for burgers, hot dogs, etc, get a slice of pizza, sandwiches from the International Cafe or from the room service menu.
  
• ATD: Go to the AT dining room (some ships have more than one) when you want to eat & if busy will be given a pager until your table is ready. Generally the later you dine the less crowded or eat at any of the other alternatives listed above
  

Menu is the same in all of the dining rooms whether ATD or TD.

 

Not knowing what ship you're sailing, I won't go into the variations based on ship but for the most part these are your options. Not knowing your desires it's hard to give a recommendation for a 1st time cruiser. I always had TD until some recent cruises where we have used ATD...if varies for us depending upon the length of the cruise, destination & ship.

 

There are so many options you'll never go hungry! :D

 

Princess has a downloadable PDF file brochure...Cruise Answer Book...that will answer many of your questions about your cruise:

 

https://book.princess.com/images/cc/brochure/Princess_Cruise_Answer_Book.pdf

[Kamloops50]

**Newbie Alert**

 

I went to the new cruisers page to see if this was covered and they had directed someone else to post on their cruise lines board so here I am. I apologize if this is hiding somewhere here already.

 

So, what are the pro's and con's of each? With TD do you have to option to go anywhere to eat if you feel like it or are you locked into a specific dining room/table/time? If you do ATD are you able to go to one of the dining rooms and get the menu that is being served there or are you locked into the buffet? I have seen all these posts where people talk about the lobster dinner and the fettuccine in the parmigiana bowl and I am wondering if you can get those regardless of the meal plan you sign up for. What would you recommend for first time cruisers? :cool:

 

All the dining Rooms have the same menu at the same time. The Horizon Court has part of the Main Dining Room menu as well. The only thing Lobster isn't service in the Horizon court on Lobster night. They post the Dinner menu just before lunch is being served. This way you can see what is being served that night in all the MDR's.

[Jezzieone]

A bit more information. We will be on a 10 day RT to Alaska from SF. It will be myself and my mother. I know we leave port one day at 8 PM and another at 9 PM. I am guessing if we did TD we would basically be out of luck for food on those nights if we chose to hang out in port late.

[Astro Flyer]

A bit more information. We will be on a 10 day RT to Alaska from SF. It will be myself and my mother. I know we leave port one day at 8 PM and another at 9 PM. I am guessing if we did TD we would basically be out of luck for food on those nights if we chose to hang out in port late.

I don't know how it would work on your cruise however I've seen them make all restaurants ATD when the ship is in port late. If they keep the TD/ATD schedule & you have TD, you won't be able to eat in the dining room if you miss your assigned time. However all of those other dining options are available including the buffet, grill, pizza, room service, speciatly restaurants, etc. & never a reason to go hungry.

[happiness is cruising]

HI

most times you have to be on board 1/2 hour prior to sailing so for 8pm..dining you could still be at your TD table and for the later sailing you said 8pm ...you could go to AT that night or to the buffet...there are choice...also if you are planning on NOT being at your assigned table at TD you should tell your head waiter and your tablemates

 

Enjoy your cruise ...you will NOT go hungry and have a great time

 

Ann

[reney313]

The Anytime Dining and Traditional Dining are all "main dining room restaurants". They have the same menu, etc. The only difference is with TD you are assigned 1 time to eat and at the same table with the same people every night.

 

With Both Anytime and Traditional, you can go to the specialty restaurants, buffet, grill, room service, etc.

 

The only difference in the two is that anytime allows you to go, well...anytime!

 

While I enjoy Traditional to be able to be with the same waitstaff and meet new people that I dine with every night, for the Alaska itinerary, I definitely preferred Anytime dining. And to be honest, I think I now prefer it regardless. We are doing TD for an upcoming family cruise so that we can ensure everyone knows what time to meet for dinner ;)

 

Reasons I prefer ATD on Alaska...and most really:

 

1. Port times were late. ATD really allowed me to still get the quality experience and I didn't have to rush back to the ship to get ready for my "dinner time". Before Anytime dining, we would have to choose between "dinner" and staying in port. This is resolved now and so so so so nice!

2. No worries of upsetting others. With all the new specialty options and the increase in the buffet experience, sometimes we would decide last minute to try a different place to eat other the main dining room. Since we did not tell our "table mates" the night before we always felt guilty the next night. I am one that really is so worn out by the last night that I often really just want to grab a quick bite or have room service while I unwind, knowing I have to disembark. With the old way of traditional dining and tips, it was assumed since I didn't show up the last night that I didn't tip (even though I would get down there and tip them during the evening at some point). Anyway, ATD has really taken away all of that stress of perception to others.

3. On some ships, there are more than 1 ATD room vs. only 1 traditional dining room. I like the variety.

4. Sometimes I just want to rest or drink a little and not rush. Or eat a late lunch, or whatever. ATD again has resolved that problem so if I still want the full dinner experience I can.

 

I guess i love Anytime Dining...and after only 1 princess cruise I can tell you they do it well!

[Mississippian]

This is just my view. Traditional dining is supposed to have better service, but I've had it twice and really haven't been that impressed. I think they use more break-in waiters on traditional, particularly assistants, and then move the really good ones to anytime dining.

 

If you do anytime dining you may have to wait a few minutes for a table. OMG, are you dead yet? Just kidding, but some people act like it's just the end of the world that they have to wait a few minutes at the busiest times.

 

I've just found the quality of the service to be better with anytime dining. That's what we have on our upcoming Med cruise, and I'm glad, and the previous two have been traditional and I'm ended up being irritated.

[Cruisin' Chick]

On our Alaskan cruise, only one port was at night. We got back to the ship about the time for our seating and were planning to go to the Horizon (which is not a problem for us). We passed by our dining room and noticed the door was still open and the head waiter noticed us and waved us in.

 

We would never consider going to an AT dining room when on t.d. Not fair to those on that type of dining as it might cause lines if traditional diners crash their dining room.

 

We had AT on our last cruise (because we never cleared the waitlist for late traditional) and didn't care for it at all. Just not the same for us.

[dotty52]

I love anytime dining , nice to have the freedom to go when you feel like it ,and I love meeting new people every night at dinner , if you meet new friends and they are doing anytime dining you can still arrange to meet at a set time to have dinner together , still great service and same menus as TD or if you wish can have a table on your own.

[lv2cruiseanywhere]

**Newbie Alert**

 

I went to the new cruisers page to see if this was covered and they had directed someone else to post on their cruise lines board so here I am. I apologize if this is hiding somewhere here already.

 

So, what are the pro's and con's of each? With TD do you have to option to go anywhere to eat if you feel like it or are you locked into a specific dining room/table/time? If you do ATD are you able to go to one of the dining rooms and get the menu that is being served there or are you locked into the buffet? I have seen all these posts where people talk about the lobster dinner and the fettuccine in the parmigiana bowl and I am wondering if you can get those regardless of the meal plan you sign up for. What would you recommend for first time cruisers? :cool:

 

We prefer late Traditional Dining and have done it for most of our cruises. If we are in port it's nice to have time to rest, change clothes, have a glass of wine, etc. before dinner. I don't want to "rush" to dinner when we get back to the ship later.

 

Also, when you go to late TD your show is usually after dinner. The late shows in the Princess Theatre are not as crowded as the early shows and we have always found seats available.

 

Another reason we like late TD is "Afternoon Tea" which is served every day (except embarkation) from 3:30 to 4:30. If you have early TD, it's too early to enjoy Afternoon Tea as well. Also, if we return late from shore, Afternoon Tea is good for a late lunch. They serve sandwiches, sweets, scones, etc. along with tea (or another drink). My DH loves the scones.

 

As others have noted, we like it when the Waiters get to know us and have our drinks and dinner recommendations ready. It just suits us.

[Matcodixon]

All of our cruises except our last one to Alaska were TD dining. For Alaska we tried ATD for the first time.

 

I prefer TD for the following reasons: We were able to meet and get to know some great table mates. Same for our waitstaff. They got to know what we liked and were amazing. We normally eat at the same time each evening at home as well.

 

What I did not like about ATD was never knowing our waitstaff or who we would be sitting with each night. We often had to wait with a buzzer.

 

For our upcoming Med cruise we have reserved late TD. Some of the port days are long with much walking and most likely some hot days. This allows us to get back, take a shower and change with time for a glass of wine before dinner.

[shepp]

3. On some ships, there are more than 1 ATD room vs. only 1 traditional dining room. I like the variety.

 

On virtually all the ships (the Sapphire's the only exception that springs to mind), the MDRs are essentially identical except for the location, name, and pictures on the wall. Not much variety there.

 

Just to chime in, I prefer the structure and convenience of traditional, and generally the assigned-tablemates situation has worked out well. The time we had ATD, the ability to eat with newfound friends was tempered by the task of arranging to meet up and get a table (and there's always breakfast, lunch, and tea if I want to arrange to dine with particular folks).

 

But it's impossible, as someone else said, to tell the OP which would be better for them without being psychic.

[lafngas]

If you are TD please don't try to do ATD just because of late port times. Totally unfair to crowd out us ATD.

I love ATD-have done many TD cruises on several lines and if you get stuck with a bad table- and we have several times-you have to endure these people all week.

We met a wonderful couple our second night on a 12 night cruise on ATD and we dined with them the rest of the cruise in ATD at a table of 4. It was great.

We are not that concerned about "bonding" with wait staff-we would rather find great table mates and enjoy their company as we wish.

Just a plug for why ATD works for us.

[Tak8]

I like traditional because of the time, I tend to do early 6:00pm eating, and the wait staff gets to know your likes/dislikes. On those nights when I need a later dinner time because of being in port late, I go to Crown Grill or Sabatini's. Works well for me.

[caribill]

On virtually all the ships (the Sapphire's the only exception that springs to mind), the MDRs are essentially identical except for the location, name, and pictures on the wall. Not much variety there.

 

 

The Diamond is like the Sapphire and also has four different Anytime dining rooms. However, the dress code and menus are identical in all except that each anytime room has an additional specialty dish which is available every evening.