"Your Time Dining" Is Broken . . .

[roswellmom]

Why is it that so many people swear by it then? It sort of defeats the purpose to me. I would prefer having a "reservation".

 

What happens if you had planned on seeing a show and you had a 45 minute wait for your table?

 

Sticking to "late" dining. Has worked for "us" for years for a lot of reasons. :o After reading this thread, I would not even give it a shot.

 

It won't work for everyone's schedule but we love it. We always request YTD. We arrive at 6:30 or 6:45 and we've only had to wait once or twice.

[EZcruiserfamily]

Thank you for posting your experience. I've never done YTD and didn't realize the wait to be seated could be quite so long, I figured 20 minutes tops. I don't mind waiting when I go out on a Friday night to a restaurant but I sure don't want to waste my cruise time waiting 40-60 min for a table. I have fixed early seating for my upcoming cruise and think I will keep it. Maybe when I'm not cruising with a child I will try the YTD

[kidz_rn]

As the OP, I am quite amazed at the full spectrum of replies my thread has received -- from "I had the same experience" to "What do you expect?" to "No sympathy for you" -- but the one I agree with most is "I sure don't want to waste my cruise time waiting 40-60 min for a table."

 

As I said in the original post, how difficult would it be for Carnival to implement an ATD reservation system?

 

I also had a good laugh at the poster who suggested ordering Room Service for dinner as an alternative to waiting an hour for a table. Unless I'm in a deluxe suite with a butler, this is not my idea of a fine dining cruise experience! :-)

[Mikel1733]

Then they either need to increase the amount of tables, or decrease the amount of ATD diners.

 

 

Knowing Carnival they will probably offer it for a fee. Front of the line for $Xx.xx

[misstopgun]

Once had to wait one hour to be seated and another one hour for food to arrive. Long dinner to say the least. It was on a first night. Other than that the wait has been tolerable. Read somewhere first nights tend to be the worst.

 

 

 

Brilliant! :D

I don't get that the first night is the worst. Though we may be new on the ship, the waiters do this day in and day out. Why should our first night be a problem for them?

[sail2sea]

I don't get that the first night is the worst. Though we may be new on the ship, the waiters do this day in and day out. Why should our first night be a problem for them?

 

To be honest I don't know. I read it somewhere the first nights are the worst and my only long wait was on a first night. Maybe because people are excited to start their cruises and want a proper dinner? I find that as the cruise goes on, more and more folks skip MDR and go to the buffet.

[misstopgun]

We have chosen ATD our last 4 cruises. Two with 4 persons, two with two persons. To be honest, we probably shouldn't select ATD for a couple of different reasons. 1st, Husband cant do stairs so the middle of the dining room is out. 2nd, husband is to large for a booth so that is also out.

 

So though we have no issues sitting with others, the other two restrictions usually cause us to have to wait.

 

On the Dream our longest wait was 30 minuets. On the Liberty our longest wait was 20 minuetes. On the Valor our longest wait was 10 minutes. On the Legend there was never a wait. I cannot give dining times as they were varied.

 

I guess we can count our blessings since some have such long wait times, and we have restrictions as to where we can sit, and have never had to wait an unreasonable amount of time.

 

I would keep in mind that the longer wait times were always on the first elegant night. If this is important to you, this is the day you would want to find a time that is less peak than others.

[joeyancho]

. . . and needs to be fixed!!

 

Just returned from 5 nights on Glory to Canada, Signed up for "Your Time" dining option, since the fixed MDR dining times were either too early or too late. We showed up between 7:00 and 7:30 most evenings; they gave us one of those flashing beeper pagers, and on two nights the wait was 45 minutes to an hour for a table for two. Unacceptable! Carnival needs to implement a reservation system for flexible time dining, like they have on other cruise lines.

 

Now, about those l-o-n-g buffet lines . . . :-)

 

kidz rn, Don't expect any sympathy here. What ever carnival does wrong, it is all your fault. Expect to get mugged by the cheerleaders.

[ray98]

I have not had a problem with Carnival ATD even on 2 person tables but I must say RC has them beat. The ability to make reservations is great and they have screens all over the ship showing you how busy the dining room is projected to be in 15 minute increments. It allows you to plan a time even last minute to ensure you have as little of a wait as possible.

[hill6]

Is it or if you have a reservation time for any time dining you are really not dining at any time?

 

Go with assigned dining the next time.

[MrPete]

Is it or if you have a reservation time for any time dining you are really not dining at any time?

 

Go with assigned dining the next time.

 

That's the irony.

 

Any Time Dining: Unless We're Busy.

[TriciaEMTB]

That's the irony.

 

Any Time Dining: Unless We're Busy.

 

Like any other restaurant ever.

 

 

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[MrPete]

Like any other restaurant ever.

 

 

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There a section in any land restaurant for any time dining?

[okwriter]

Sorry it was "broken" for you. It has been a great option for me on my last four cruises. Never a wait...great food and service. :)

[TriciaEMTB]

There a section in any land restaurant for any time dining?

 

The entire restaurant.

 

 

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[sra12574]

I'm sorry for those who feel it didnt work well for them . Maybe on thier next cruise assigned time dining would work better for them . Most of these ships were designed when there was 2 seating times early and late . As big as the ships are , there is a limited amount of space for various things in the ship . If you choose to eat at certain times you may have to wait , or you could luck out and get a seat in after a brief wait .

When eating in the MDR a meal will often last an hour or more . If you have good timing you might not have to wait , if you have bad timing well you could be waiting a long time . Whenever I had anytime dining I never saw tables empty for long so at least the MDR tries to get people seated promptly .

 

It works for some people and it doesnt work for others , in some cases it may be a ship to ship isssue or itinerary that causes problems. Read peoples trip reviews if they are finding some issues with certain nights take thier info and make informed choices as to how you want to dine that evening .

[MrPete]

The entire restaurant.

 

 

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So land restaurants don't do this.

[kyrisong1]

We did YTD on the Miracle last October and only had to wait 2 times, both were less than 10 minutes. We asked for same waitstaff everytime, I believe we showed up around 7 to 730 each night

We didn't think it was broken at all.

But I think I would adjust the time I came to dinner if it was a rush every night at those times. Also might just depend on the staff who seats, ours were great!!

 

Carole

[Chrisp414]

On the Victory recently we had atd. We got the beeper a few nights. The first night the wait was around 45 minutes. At the Outback by my house I have waited longer than that many times. In fact I get handed a beeper at just about every restaurant I go to on a Friday or Saturday night around here so it was par for the course for us.

 

[We just went to the bar and relaxed and had a couple of drinks. Carnival sent a tray of candy to our room the next morning with an apology and we had never complained about that wait to anyone. The next nights the waits were in the 15-20 minute range and the last three nights no wait at all. I would much prefer having a drink at the bar waiting for my own table to sitting for two hours making small talk with people I don't want to. We enjoyed having a drink or two before dinner and chatting anyway. It was very relaxing. We did notice a lot of people in the line that seemed very upset about waiting though. In fact their "vibe" was kind of disturbing to tell you the truth. They should just relax a bit I thought.]

 

 

 

We don;t mind if we have to wait a bit either - like having a drink before dinner and like eating between 7:00 and 8:00 p.m. also.

[Thoth]

I usually get a dinner reservation for 6PM, it is called traditional seating.

This flexiable/anytime stuff has never been appealing to me.

[kidz_rn]

Originally Posted by hill6:

If you have a reservation time for any time dining, you are really not dining at any time.

 

 

 

If you have a reservation for any time dining, it becomes MY TIME DINING!! :-)

[TriciaEMTB]

So land restaurants don't do this.

 

Sure they do. You come whenever you want and you're seated based on availability. If you want the flexibility of going whenever you want like you have on land then you're going to wait like on land until a table becomes available.

 

If you don't want to wait then a fixed dining time is right for you.

 

 

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[sra12574]

I usually get a dinner reservation for 6PM, it is called traditional seating.

This flexiable/anytime stuff has never been appealing to me.

 

That works good for you . so thats great . I usually eat early myself but having the option to eat later if I choose is great . My next cruise I have a port that is open till 8pm . I'm sure I'll be back on ship by 7 but I doubt that I would be back in time for my usual time. If I have to wait so be it . Its nice having the option rather then resorting to going to the buffet or order room service . they might be good choices but its nice to have options.

 

On a side note as far as the having a a set seat time vs. anytime dining at 6pm . When I have gone on cruises or people that I know have been on cruises and had anytime dining they never waited more then the initial line to the hostess . so basically if you go at the start of dining in the MDR you wont really have a wait at all .

The problems come when the MDR is at capacity , then you have to wait .

[MMOMOM]

Well, we signed up for YTD for our cruise on the Freedom next month, so it will be interesting to see how it works. I too have seen many posts where people said they didn't have to wait. We signed up for it this time because our last cruise (we booked last minute) didn't have anymore available. That was Oasis, so we opted for the late seating mainly because the early one just makes it too rushed for us. By the time we get back from port, we like to relax a while and get ready leisurely. Problem on the Oasis was we ATE SO MUCH and dinner was so late by the time we finished we were bloated and exhausted!! Especially if we were attending a show later. We did MTD on Holland a year ago and it worked great. They had a different dining room for the MTD people ... don't know if it works that way on all their ships/cruises, but that's the way it was on the Eurodam and we never had to wait. They asked us if we wanted to be seated alone or with someone ... depending on what we had planned we chose (sometimes takes longer with others at the table) but mostly we just said, whatever you have is fine. I also think on both RCCI and Holland you get the opportunity to make a reservation for a particular time. Not sure is that is only with suite guests or not. I think once when we had a particular thing we wanted to do, we requested a time, but otherwise, we just took what came along and it all worked. Also, I think if you go earlier as opposed to later it may be better? I don't know, but we'll see what happens and I'm sure it will all be fine. :)

[Thoth]

That works good for you . so thats great . I usually eat early myself but having the option to eat later if I choose is great . My next cruise I have a port that is open till 8pm . I'm sure I'll be back on ship by 7 but I doubt that I would be back in time for my usual time. If I have to wait so be it . Its nice having the option rather then resorting to going to the buffet or order room service . they might be good choices but its nice to have options.

 

On a side note as far as the having a a set seat time vs. anytime dining at 6pm . When I have gone on cruises or people that I know have been on cruises and had anytime dining they never waited more then the initial line to the hostess . so basically if you go at the start of dining in the MDR you wont really have a wait at all .

The problems come when the MDR is at capacity , then you have to wait .

What seems to work for me is being on the 6PM fixed seating, but on port days they can "fit me in" if the need arises.