Confused about dining options on the Caribbean Princess

[schlot]

We have ordered out tickets for the January 26th sailing of the Caribbean Princess and I am a little confused about the dining.

 

I ordered anytime dining for us not knowing exactly when we will be coming back on board from excursions/etc.

 

We sailed on the Ruby before and the only time we ate anywhere besides the Horizon buffet was one night at Sabatini's (I think) with some of my family.

 

First question...is anytime dining only in it's only areas like DaVinci's while traditional is at say Boticelli's?

 

Second question....if the lines are long for anytime dining is there a problem in simply going to the Horizon buffet or international cafe?

 

We both were very pleased with the causal dining of the buffet/cafe but I think it would be good to mix it up a bit, both food and atmosphere.

 

Thanks!

[Pam in CA]

You can eat wherever you want. The only exception is that you can't go to the Traditional dining room. Menus and dress code are exactly the same in all dining rooms. The only difference is whether you have a fixed or flexible dining time.

 

The Anytime dining rooms are mid-ship on decks 5 and 6, the Coral and the Island. If you prefer to eat in the buffet, grill, pizza, International Cafe, Sabatini's or Crown Grill, that's up to you. With Anytime, you are under no obligation to eat in a specific dining room.

[Cruzaholic41]

Second question....if the lines are long for anytime dining is there a problem in simply going to the Horizon buffet or international cafe?

 

We both were very pleased with the causal dining of the buffet/cafe but I think it would be good to mix it up a bit, both food and atmosphere.

 

Yes, and that may very well happen. Princess is notorious for long waits for Anytime Dining. What I recommend is, if you know about what time you want to eat, make a reservation the morning of that day. That's the only time you can do it.

 

I find myself eating in the Horizon often when I'm on Princess.

[Potstech]

Have only had to wait for seating in Anytime dining one time and then was on a formal night with 6 people. All other times were seated as soon as we came to the dining room. We are earlier eaters and like to eat around 6:00.

[RickEk]

Yes, and that may very well happen. Princess is notorious for long waits for Anytime Dining. What I recommend is, if you know about what time you want to eat, make a reservation the morning of that day. That's the only time you can do it.

 

I find myself eating in the Horizon often when I'm on Princess.

 

You know, I've never had to wait long at Anytime Dining. If you go between 6:30pm and 8pm, then yeah, you'll have to wait. Just don't go then... :rolleyes:

[Cruzaholic41]

You know, I've never had to wait long at Anytime Dining. If you go between 6:30pm and 8pm, then yeah, you'll have to wait. Just don't go then... :rolleyes:

 

Exactly. Don't go when you want to. Might as well book early or late fixed seating. :rolleyes:

[SwissDave]

Even when it's busy and have been given a pager, I think the longest i have waited in 17 cruises is 10 minutes.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone. Please excuse tryping orrers.

[peety3]

First question...is anytime dining only in it's only areas like DaVinci's while traditional is at say Boticelli's?

 

Second question....if the lines are long for anytime dining is there a problem in simply going to the Horizon buffet or international cafe?

For your first question, READ THE PRINCESS PATTER. Most likely on the back page, you'll find dining options/times. You'll probably find that one DR is open for breakfast, one DR is open for lunch, and then for dinner you may find a mix of traditional (not for you) and anytime (for you) options are available. On our recent cruise aboard Grand Princess, one DR was traditional early and late, one DR was traditional early and anytime thereafter, and one DR was anytime (with an earlier closing time than the other).

 

For your second question, READ THE PRINCESS PATTER. If it's listed as open with a fee, you should probably make a reservation (call DINE from your cabin), and you must take a cruise card when you go. Otherwise, aside from the traditional dining options, you're welcome to visit anything that's open.

[Mom33]

We eat around 6-6:30 and have never waited to be seated. Sometimes you will see a line, but it keeps moving. :D Bon Appetit!

[schlot]

Great info guys and gals...thanks!

[OCruisers]

We go to Anytime between 7:30 and 9:00 (depending) and have never had to wait long enough to have been given a beeper. :)

LuLu

[schlot]

That's the time range I can see us eating in, so hopefully we will have your luck too.

[DMRick]

Even when it's busy and have been given a pager, I think the longest i have waited in 17 cruises is 10 minutes.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone. Please excuse tryping orrers.

 

 

I'm with you. They always tell us a long time for our wait but it's been about ten minutes. The only time it was longer was formal night at six and we were entertained by the champagne fountain while waiting.

 

 

Sent from my iPod touch using Cruise Critic Forums mobile app

[OCruisers]

That's the time range I can see us eating in, so hopefully we will have your luck too.

 

Probably helps that we're "Easy" -- will share at any size table with any waiter. :D

LuLu

[skynight]

We always select ATD. Don't confuse ATD with dining in all the other available dining venues. ATD refers to the main dining rooms only. Here is what we found over the years.

 

*On the first night, boarding day, ATD can be a little chaotic, especially if you want to dine early. *Tables to share are normally easier to get than tables for two. *Normally more passengers wish to dine early than late, so if your preference is 7:30 or later, no problem. *We look at the Princess Patter each day and determine what shows or other activities we wish to attend. We plan our dining around the activities rather than visa versa. *When necessary we call the dine line in the morning and make a reservation. On some cruises we need to do this most of the time, some cruises never. Depends on the passenger demographic.

[Working 2 Cruise]

Exactly. Don't go when you want to. Might as well book early or late fixed seating. :rolleyes:

 

Why are you so negative? People are looking for information, not bashing.

 

The longest wait we have had for a table for 2 in 8 cruises was 10 minutes... and that wasn't the norm.

[Coveguy4]

We never had much of a wait for anytime dining except when we had a party of 12+ cruisers and had to be split in 2 tables next to eachother. When traveling with 2,3,4 or 6 the wait was under 10 minutes at most, usually 2 or 3....

[WisCruiser2]

We've generally gone around 7:00 & have never had to wait once we've gotten to the door (well, maybe a couple minutes...) but we always say we'll share a table. If you want a table for 2, then you may have a wait.

[Colo Cruiser]

I agree, if there is a wait its usually not long. ;)

[rdsqrl]

. . . *Normally more passengers wish to dine early than late, so if your preference is 7:30 or later, no problem. . .

Well, I'm going to strongly disagree with you here. I prefer to dine late and the times I've done Anytime, I had a long [enough time to order and drink most of a martini] to very-long [30+ min.] wait each and every night, arriving at the dining room entrance between 7.45 and 8.30. Share or no share. So you can't declare as fact that 7.30 and later is no problem, unless you mean that there's one tiny sweet spot between 7.30 and 7.44 when all is well.

[ar1950]

Well, I'm going to strongly disagree with you here. I prefer to dine late and the times I've done Anytime, I had a long [enough time to order and drink most of a martini] to very-long [30+ min.] wait each and every night, arriving at the dining room entrance between 7.45 and 8.30. Share or no share. So you can't declare as fact that 7.30 and later is no problem, unless you mean that there's one tiny sweet spot between 7.30 and 7.44 when all is well.

 

Not trying to contradict your experience, but, it must depend on the ship, the itinerary, or the passenger mix. I only say that because only one time (on the Grand 10 years ago) have we ever had a wait longer than 5 or so minutes. We have done anytime dining on every one of our Princess cruises except on the old Regal. We have never paid much attention to the time we go, anywhere from six to nine, so maybe we are just lucky with the times that we go.

 

YMMV :cool:

[caribill]

Not trying to contradict your experience, but, it must depend on the ship, the itinerary, or the passenger mix. I only say that because only one time (on the Grand 10 years ago) have we ever had a wait longer than 5 or so minutes. We have done anytime dining on every one of our Princess cruises except on the old Regal. We have never paid much attention to the time we go, anywhere from six to nine, so maybe we are just lucky with the times that we go.

 

 

The passenger mix may be the largest factor.

 

On one cruise, most may prefer to eat as soon as the dining room opens. On another cruise, most may prefer to wait until 7:30 or later. Or in the ideal situation, they will spread themselves out through the evening.

[MauiLvrs]

If you go between 6:30pm and 8pm, then yeah, you'll have to wait. Just don't go then... :rolleyes:

If one doesn't want to go then ... then they'd just book traditional :rolleyes:

 

... unless you mean that there's one tiny sweet spot between 7.30 and 7.44 when all is well.

That is the way it seems to us... at which point traditional is the best option.

 

But it OK if a bunch of people keep booking ATD ... that way we can always get traditional. ;)

[peety3]

Think about the ship and some basic logistics, and you'll get a sense of what to expect.

 

Our first cruise was aboard the Coral, which has two DRs. Princess needs to offer an early and late traditional seating to appease the TD folks, so one DR is TD. They need to offer a range of anytime options, not just 7:45 on, so one DR is AD. Simple.

 

Our second cruise was aboard the Sapphire, which has one full-size DR and four half-size DRs (they split the second and third full-size DRs into halfsies), such that the four half DRs each has a theme (and a themed dish available nightly). Passengers would probably revolt if TD took over one of the themed DRs, so Princess put TD in the full-size DR and AT in the four half-size DRs. Simple.

 

Our recent cruise was aboard the Grand, which has three full-size DRs. They need to offer early and late TD, so automatically one DR is TD (Botticelli, 6 Aft). If only 1/3 of the passengers request TD, we'd be done (1 out of 3 DRs as TD), but apparently about half of the passengers requested TD, so the only suitable option is to take over a second DR for more early seating TD (has to be nothing, early, or late; otherwise they'd have to kick out tons of anytimers to prep for TD), then open it up to anytime as the early seating is done. Presumably they could have made that DR completely TD, had 2/3 of the ship requested it, leaving the third DR for AT.

 

Because the Grand's DaVinci DR was split between TD and AT, they would not accept AT reservations after 5:00 that were before 8:00. We didn't like it, but it makes sense in the big picture because they needed Michelangelo for dynamic AT seating while it was the only DR for AT. Once 8:00 rolled around, they had double the AT capacity and could hold a table open to service reservations.

[caribill]

If one doesn't want to go then ... then they'd just book traditional :rolleyes:

 

 

 

Often traditional is full and the passenger finds himself/herself involuntarily in anytime.