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Your time dining or traditional?

Arizonagirl14

By Arizonagirl14,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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Arizonagirl14

Arizonagirl14

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So we are sailing on the Valor in December. I have reserved Yourtime dining but keep wondering if it is the right decision. We have always had traditional in the past. What's everyone's thoughts regarding the choices? We like to do the shows in the evening and tend to enjoy eating earlier than later.

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GTO-Girl

GTO-Girl

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So we are sailing on the Valor in December. I have reserved Yourtime dining but keep wondering if it is the right decision. We have always had traditional in the past. What's everyone's thoughts regarding the choices? We like to do the shows in the evening and tend to enjoy eating earlier than later.

 

We always do YTD because we don't like to be locked into a specific time. We are always able to get our table for two and if we enjoy our servers we request to sit in the same area each night.

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champagne123

champagne123

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So we are sailing on the Valor in December. I have reserved Yourtime dining but keep wondering if it is the right decision. We have always had traditional in the past. What's everyone's thoughts regarding the choices? We like to do the shows in the evening and tend to enjoy eating earlier than later.

 

I know exactly how you feel. We went on our first NCL cruise last September on the Breakaway. They do not have Your Time Dining....Sooo for the first time, we had Anytime Dining.

 

LOVED LOVED LOVED it. Will never go back. No stress of getting to the dining room on time.....revolved our diner hour around shows and getting off the beach....it was WONDERFUL. No stress.

 

I see some people post that there may be a "wait" at the door (never happened to us), but if it did...who cares? Would rather wait a few minutes for a table than being stressed and rushed to get to the dining room. YOU WILL LOVE IT.:):):)

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tink77

tink77

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We just did anytime dining and will NEVER do it again! We ended up only eating in the dining room 4x's (one of those times was brunch though, so only 3 nights for dinner). Out of the 3 nights for dinner, our orders were messed up on 2 different nights with appetizers brought out that we didn't order and never came back around except to take the plates.....not once asked why we weren't eating. Often had issues even getting refills on drinks, at one point one waiter spilt water all over the table when attempting to pour it and laughed about it.

 

We ordered a special cake, they lost the order and finally found it....there went the "surprise" portion since we had to ask in front of our daughter about it.

 

The pro's....we never had to wait for a table.....and on Carnival Fascination--request Boris and Happy--we had them the last night we ate in the MDR and they are GREAT, wish we had them the previous 2 nights!

 

For us.....the benefit of arriving when we wanted wasn't worth losing the experience of the set dining and your waiters knowing you personally and everyone eating at the same time!

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JillySue

JillySue

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We tried it on the Miracle last week. Hated it. Asked to be moved to late seating. It appeared that our time was the same as everyone else! Waited over 30 min for a table and the bar they opened up for us to wait at only had 1 bartender. He couldn't keep up and kept serving the same 3 people over and over anyway.

 

We moved to late seating and never looked back. It was nice having the same waiter (lemons and extra butter waiting on our table for us every night!) and the same companions. We never felt stressed about being there on time, the only drawback was that the adult comedy was taking place at 9, so we had to miss one of the comedians entirely, where those in early seating could see both.

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Tebsaunt

Tebsaunt

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I prefer the traditional dining. I did your time dining once and didn't care for it. I like having the same table and same waiters for the whole cruise ~ yes, you can request the same waiter every night on your time dining but it just wasn't the same experience. This is just my preference ~ lots of people like your time dining, it's just not my top choice.

 

 

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Sixtytwo

Sixtytwo

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We'll weigh in after our Conquest journey in 7 days. Have always done traditional seating as we really like the "traditional" approach. But, this time we chose to do YTD and don't expect it to be an issue. Fingers crossed! :rolleyes:

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WLHyatt

WLHyatt

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We prefer traditional dining. We do the steakhouse and other things for the times we want to eat at a table for two. We enjoy meeting other cruisers and the service has always been better at the traditional dining. It really is up to personal preference.

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VASOXFANN

VASOXFANN

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I've done both but prefer traditional. It's fun meeting new people. It's not fun waiting in line for a table. If we're running late from an excursion, napping, or just don't feel like doing the MDR some night, we'll just hit the buffet or order room service.

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Arizonagirl14

Arizonagirl14

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Thanks for the feedback. I am still weighing our options! The last two times we had traditional, our experiences were not great. On our Alaskan cruise we were at a table for 6, one couple never showed; the other couple came 2 times, one of those being our steakhouse night. So we had this huge table to ourselves! I should have asked to be moved to other one, but did not. One night another solo couple moved over to our table and that was more fun.

 

The other cruise, we were at a table for 4 and the couple only came on the next to the last night.

 

I will keep reading the responses, but just as with everything else, it's all based on an individual's perspective.

 

 

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Surrealistic

Surrealistic

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We've been doing YTD for the last few cruises, and liked it, but I think I want to go back to late dining............ & here's why: we meet fewer people, we get a small table for two usually not "where the action is", & we have had to wait. The wait I haven't minded so much........you can always sit in the lounge, have a drink, or whatever. Last cruise, we made an attempt to sit with others, (they will offer that option if dining is full), but one dinner does not create the same relationship as tablemates for a week. The tables we are seated at are not as "fun friendly?" as assigned dining............usually not where the waiters are dancing, if that's important to you. Whatever dining options you choose, have a great cruise!

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portocaller

portocaller

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I prefer traditional. My sister had to wait once 45 minutes for a table on anytime and while that only happened once in many cruises for her it would make me very grumpy. For me though, I just prefer to have the same wait staff and I think traditional is better timed for the evening entertainment which we love.

 

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bar1068

bar1068

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ATD all the way, all the time, is definitely our dining time of choice. We've had good luck with it now on 7 of our last 8 cruises. Wait times have not been an issue, we could care less who serves us as long as we get served, plus we get to miss those silly "shows" by the wait staff if we "time" it right. Last cruise I was coerced into doing the traditional late seating...never again...I'll do the Lido buffet or pizza or the deli before I do the late seating again.

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bunchesofun

bunchesofun

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We just did anytime dining and will NEVER do it again! We ended up only eating in the dining room 4x's (one of those times was brunch though, so only 3 nights for dinner). Out of the 3 nights for dinner, our orders were messed up on 2 different nights with appetizers brought out that we didn't order and never came back around except to take the plates.....not once asked why we weren't eating. Often had issues even getting refills on drinks, at one point one waiter spilt water all over the table when attempting to pour it and laughed about it.

 

We ordered a special cake, they lost the order and finally found it....there went the "surprise" portion since we had to ask in front of our daughter about it.

 

The pro's....we never had to wait for a table.....and on Carnival Fascination--request Boris and Happy--we had them the last night we ate in the MDR and they are GREAT, wish we had them the previous 2 nights!

 

For us.....the benefit of arriving when we wanted wasn't worth losing the experience of the set dining and your waiters knowing you personally and everyone eating at the same time!

 

Sounds more like a poor wait staff rather than YTD problem.

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