Why we like Anytime Dining

[Kerry&LuAnn]

We have always chosen the Anytime Dining option, not just because of the flexibility it affords, but also because it provides an opportunity to meet a wide range of people during our cruise.

 

The dining rooms and menus are the same. And no matter where we sit or who serves us, we have always had consistently good service from the wait staff. Oh sure, having the same waiter for every meal would allow us to make believe we have a personal butler who knows our names and our beverage choices. But that really isn’t what we are looking for in our dining experience.

 

Anytime Dining offers the mystery and excitement of a game of chance: Who will we be dining with tonight? Dinner companions generally come in one of three categories: (1) We really hit it off and will be best friends forever; (2) We enjoyed a fascinating dinner conversation with you; (3) We hope we never run into you again on this cruise! If we stumble into a Category 1 situation, we can always arrange to dine together again. If, however, our tablemates fall into Category 2 or 3, we can simply roll the dice at the next meal and meet some new people. (With the Traditional Dining option of assigned tables, we run the risk of being stuck eating every meal with Category 3 tablemates!) Eating all or most of our meals in the dining room with the Anytime Dining option, over the course of a one-week cruise we can meet over 100 new people! Invariably we will cross paths again during the cruise, and it’s like running into old friends. At the end of the cruise, we have had a wealth of delightful dining experiences – and a lot of interesting stories to share when we get back home.

[shredie]

Nice to hear the good side of the story. You appear to be flexible, so I guess you don't have those long waits some people complain about.

[paul929207]

We have had AD for 100 nights or so on various Princess Cruises. We usually go to dinner about 7:30 and ask for a table for 6. We have never waited more than 5 minutes. We love it.

[-Lew-]

Anytime dining is what prompted us to try Princess back in 2006. Our cruises just wouldn't be the same without it!

 

Lew

[AKman2495]

We do anytime dining for exactly the same reasons. We tend to eat earlier (around 5:30) so we have had little trouble getting in without a wait.

 

Meeting new people and having some great conversation not only works for dinner, but we will eat in the MDR for breakfast and lunch as well notably for the food, but the company too!

[Paula_MacFan]

Same here, we're Anytime all the way! The thought of being stuck with a set dining time every night does not sound like a relaxing vacation to me, but I know many people like it. Plus we don't plan our vacation time around meals -- we eat when we're hungry. Other than reservations for the Crown Grill which we usually do once a cruise, we like to 'go with the flow'. If that means waiting a bit with a pager, or going to Horizon Court, no biggie!

 

Anytime is also one of the reasons we chose Princess when we started cruising.

[OCruisers]

We are also Big fans of ATD! :)

No way would we want to go back to Traditional Dining.

LuLu

Edited December 10, 2014 by OCruisers

[Pam in CA]

You're very lucky. I've had some miserable experiences with AT with long waits (even with a reservation), drunk tablemates, etc. OTOH, I've had some great experiences with Traditional dining and made lifelong friends as a result.

[Happy2cruise]

We do anytime dining because we never know what our schedule will be or what we want/where to eat. Some nights are even quiet with dinner from room service:)

[shredie]

OTOH, I've had some great experiences with Traditional dining and made lifelong friends as a result.

 

That's another reason why I like TD, but since I have never done ATD, I have nothing to compare. All the usual talk about the long waits has been enough to put me off ATD. Nice thing about Princess, though, is we have a choice.

[geoherb]

With the Traditional Dining option of assigned tables, we run the risk of being stuck eating every meal with Category 3 tablemates!

If you don't get along with your tablemates the first night, you can request to change--either to another table or to anytime dining. So far, we've only made a request once after dinner on the first night of a cruise. We ended up at a great table for the rest of the cruise.

 

We booked the specialty restaurant for the first night of a HAL cruise several years ago (back when they offered it for half price on the first night). We went down to the dining room to introduce ourselves to our waiters and tablemates and to let them know, but that we would be there for the rest of the cruise. They did like the idea of eating with us the remainder of the cruise or else they switched over to early seating. Either way, we had four new people at the table the second night. It was one of our best tables ever, which was good since it was an 10-night cruise. We never saw the two couples who switched again, so I don't think they were at second seating anymore.

[Thrak]

We enjoy both. Our last cruise was ATD. Our next cruise is TD. We did have to get a pager one night on our last cruise but the wait wasn't long... we didn't even have time to finish our drinks in the bar before it summoned us to the dining room.

 

We have had to wait in the bar at times when eating at a land-based restaurant as well. We don't really mind as long as we don't have to stand in some long line.

[bowsprit]

Only once while doing traditional dining were we subject to a very nasty couple who arrived late, quarreling in a different language, snarling at the wait staff and ignoring us and the other couple at the table. His wife finally leaned over and said he spoke no english.

My husband excused himself from the table (before she said about the language problem) and told the maitre de that we would need another table for the next night.

 

There was no problem, and the next night and the rest of the cruise we sat with charming people.

 

We also talked to tne other couple and told them what they were doing. They said that they were jumping tables too.

 

A funny footnote. Near the end of the cruise we were in the pool and this man was swimming around. He spotted my waterproof watch and in perfect english.. asked me the time. I told him and then commented on how his grasp of the english language had improved since the first night at the dining table.

 

On the flip side, in the anytime dining we once had the woman from hell and her stepdaughter seated at the table .. it would take too long to tell the whole story .. but there was a lot of her looking at the stepdaughter sideways and making the sign for crazy when the girl was not looking, plus the hand like a gun pointing at her. More talk about the absent husband than we needed..... and on and on. We got out of there as soon as we could

 

oh yes.. and reaching over and sampling food from my poor husbands plate!

 

Bottom line, no matter what type of dining you do, there is always the chance that you will end up in this type of situation. The good thing is that you are not stuck, there is always a solution.

 

Sent from my GT-N8013 using Forums mobile app

[elliair]

We like ATD because we like to sit by ourselves and not have to think about carrying on a conversation with others. We like going to dinner anytime we want and not have to worry about getting to the table at a certain time. We enjoy the flexibility.

[skynight]

We go on cruises for activities, shows, entertainers, live music and dancing, things we don't get very much at home. Dining is secondary. I'm just as happy with a few slices of pizza, a plate at the buffet or a panini at the Int'l Cafe as I am with a 3 course meal. But, pizza or buffet every night adds up to many extra pounds, and DR meals allow you to control calorie intake better. Because our focus is not on dining we have been choosing ATD, since it was first introduced about 10 years ago. ATD allows us to plan dinner around activities rather then the reverse, thus fitting our cruise lifestyle. TD is not better than ATD, and ATD is not better than TD. One is just as good as the other, depending on your 'cruise focus.'

[OCruisers]

Tablemates are like "Blind Dates" ... some are better than others! :D

LuLu

[Cruisin' Chick]

That's another reason why I like TD, but since I have never done ATD, I have nothing to compare. All the usual talk about the long waits has been enough to put me off ATD. Nice thing about Princess, though, is we have a choice.

 

Two years ago we ended up with anytime as we didn't clear the waitlist. Out of 14 nights, half of the time we ended up going to the Horizon for dinner. Not something we would do when we had traditional. A couple of times we were seated with others who had already ordered. Made for a lot of awkwardness. Once we were given a pager (on a formal night) so we had a 20minute wait after getting the pager. But just about every time we went there, we had a line to wait in (while with traditional, the only time you wait upon reaching the dining room is on the first night as each party gets escorted to their table).

 

At one point, my hubby remarked to me that anytime dining seems a bit disorganized and the service rushed.

 

A few weeks later, we were talking about our cruise and he said that anytime dining doesn't feel very special to him and that traditional dining is something unique to cruising.

 

We were so glad to get traditional dining the next time.

[CharlesOK]

ATD for us. On our last 5 TA crossings we have always had ATD. As the clock adjusts we don't feel like eating each day 1 hour earlier than the night before. Meeting new folks and having conversation during dinner is one of our favorite activities. On one of our 7 days, we were matched with a really obnoxious couple in Fixed dining. After the formal night display of chest hair and a massive gold chain we decided to finish the cruise in the Horizon court. ATD handily takes care of these problems. If you don't like to talk and share stories, or just don't care for us in particular, you are not obliged to spend more than 1 night at the same table we are at. We have enjoyed dining with all kinds of people. I can only hope they enjoyed eating with us as well. The only thing I don't quite understand with ATD is the concept of having a standing reservation every night with the same people in the ATD dining room. That makes no sense to me and allowing Fixed diners to come to ATD if the feel like it defeats the purpose and makes the wait longer for those who chose ATD. As the saying goes, "different strokes ,for different folks". JMHO

[golfb4cruzing]

I am too impatient. I want to eat when I want to eat. And really, the food in the MDR isn't anything to rave about. I also don't want to explain our lifes to our tablemates. We did it a couple of cruises and it got old quickly. So I enjoy the buffet and my wife's company. Oh the horror, I know.

[richstowe]

We have always chosen the Anytime Dining option

Oh sure, having the same waiter for every meal would allow us to make believe we have a personal butler who knows our names and our beverage choices.

 

You made me spit up my coffee. :mad: Thanx :D

[shredie]

I am too impatient. I want to eat when I want to eat. And really, the food in the MDR isn't anything to rave about. I also don't want to explain our lifes to our tablemates. We did it a couple of cruises and it got old quickly. So I enjoy the buffet and my wife's company. Oh the horror, I know.

 

On the ships with Cafe Caribe, sometimes the food is better than the MDR, especially on theme nights.

[love2relax]

We prefer ATD at a table for 2 so that we don't have to wait for table mates that order multiple courses. We only order one course, & an occasional dessert. Even at a table for 2 in TD we had to wait while they served multiple courses to the tables around us. We would rather spend our time doing other things on the ship in the evening instead of spending so much time in the DR. Sometimes we go to the buffet, but it doesn't have the options that the DR has. Even with the long lines, we would never go back to TD.

[Tuscan]

DH and I always do ATD and request a Table for Two. Although we tend to enjoy our quiet dinners together, we have met some lovely people over the years and have had many engaging conversations between tables, given the fact that some are placed rather closely together.

 

In fact, here's a quick story: On the CB Princess Veterans Cruise in 11/13, DH and I had a table for 2 in the MDR and, to make a long story short, the gentlemen who was then seated (with his wife) at the table for 2 next to us tried to strike up a conversation. At first, DH was polite but not quite willing to be fully engaged, but he fell right into the conversation as the gentleman persisted and subsequently revealed what turned out to be the similar location and dates of service that were shared by the two. As it turned out, the gentleman was the Anesthesiologist who attended to my husband's surgery when he was shot in the Michelin Rubber Plantation in Vietnam. They have remained in touch ever since.

 

So, even at tables for 2, lifelong friends can be made. :)

 

For this, and other similar reasons, we just love ATD for dinner. We just deal with the lines, if any, and even if we have a reservation. We're on vacation! :)

[baldercash]

I agree with Pam we have had some issues with AT and would prefer to avoid it mostly.

We enjoy the opportunity to meet people and really get to know them over the course of a cruise not the repetitive two hours of exchanged personal and travel history.

I can understand why at times it can be an advantage but for the most part it is in place as a convince for the ship.

 

On our Nov cruise on Caribbean Princess we were given a beeper and asked to wait as we had requested a table for four. They wanted us to join a larger table but we had just met long time friends aboard, we had a fixed dinning time and they did not, we wanted to dine together and catch up so we insisted on a table for four.

We sat at the coffee lounge area with our beeper and an eye on the door. We sat for twenty minutes and observed at least thirty people arrive and be seated and only two couples leave. Our table mate went up and gave the reception person an earful and we were suddenly seated.

We entered a dinning room about half full and passed at least four tables for four to get to our assigned table. We observed couples sitting at tables for four and four people sitting at tables for six.

To say the least we were put off by this and next time I will not be as compliant when handed a beeper.

 

On Royal Caribbean and Celebrity one must prepay gratuities to use their anytime dinning option they consider it a perk. On Princess it is more punitive as we have been denied fixed time dinning on three past cruises.

We stopped cruising NCL when they removed fixed time dinning and now that RC is moving towards a similar dining arrangement we will take that into consideration when booking.

The motivation for these lines to eliminate fixed dining is reduced cost through reduced staffing.

 

We have meet couples that we stay in touch with and have booked other cruises and land vacations together with, visited their homes and have had them visit us.

This bond and camaraderie has only been formed while spending two weeks or longer at a shared nightly table.

You may not share vacations with those you meet but if you and they are avid cruisers you will likely meet them on other cruises and have an instant rapport so time well spent in longer socializing.

[Mackenzie1]

You're very lucky. I've had some miserable experiences with AT with long waits (even with a reservation), drunk tablemates, etc. OTOH, I've had some great experiences with Traditional dining and made lifelong friends as a result.

 

I like traditional dining because you get to know a group of people better than you do with Any Time dining. With Any Time dining, you meet new people every night, but you never see them again. I do have one funny traditional dining story, though--on one cruise we were seated with a very obnoxious diner who spent the whole time talking about himself. No one could say anything because it just wasn't as important as what he had to say. After we requested a table change for the next night, those of us at the first table were quite surprised to find us all sitting together at our new table, but with another obnoxious talker! As it turned out, everyone at the second table had requested a table change because the second table also had an obnoxious talker! We still enjoyed the cruise very much, though, because the other diners at our table were wonderful.

Edited December 14, 2014 by Mackenzie1