How does My Time Dining work ....

[texasnana]

We are doing my time dining on our upcoming cruise. I was told by a co worker that when I get on the ship I have to go to dining room and request a time? I thought we could dine when we wanted between dining times?

[chrysalis]

your co-worker is wrong, and your assumption was correct

[texasnana]

Thanks

[Loonbeam]

On a side note, on Princess it's called anytime dining. MyTime is RCCL and operates similarly but has online reservation systems both pre and during the cruise which Princess doesn't have.

 

You can either make reservations daily on Princess subject to availability, or show up when you want at the designated AD dining rooms (may have to wait if busy)

[Colo Cruiser]

We are doing my time dining on our upcoming cruise. I was told by a co worker that when I get on the ship I have to go to dining room and request a time? I thought we could dine when we wanted between dining times?

 

 

Dine when you want, some ships allow reservations which IMO defeats the purpose of ATD. :)

[skynight]

If you inform the name of the ship more complete details can be provided. Each class of ship is a little different. Assuming you are a U.S. or Canada based passenger I will mention that the daily on board Hotel Charge of $11.50/pp/day or $12pp/day for mini or full suites covers the tip for waiters in ATD as well as in all DR's.

[Corfe Mixture]

If you inform the name of the ship more complete details can be provided. Each class of ship is a little different. Assuming you are a U.S. or Canada based passenger I will mention that the daily on board Hotel Charge of $11.50/pp/day or $12pp/day for mini or full suites covers the tip for waiters in ATD as well as in all DR's.

 

Folks based outside the US/Canada also pay $11.50 / $12 per day, unless, of course, they opt out of auto tipping

[FritzG]

Dine when you want, some ships allow reservations which IMO defeats the purpose of ATD. :)

 

On the other hand, Anytime Dining is perfect for those who don't want either of the fixed times but want to have the experience of the same wait staff and table every night.

For some reason Princess has been changing the first seating times lately. We have been confirmed for 6pm dining, and it's printed on the cruise card, but when we look at Patters first seating has been changed to 5:45 or even 5:30, both of which are too early. We prefer 6:30, but we settle for 6:00, not 5:45 or earlier.

On the Ruby TA in September dinner was at 5:45; with so many sea days on this itinerary I don't understand why dinner was so early. I asked the maitre d', and the Captain's Circle desk, and they both told me it was controlled by the corporate office. On the TA it was a mess because there were many b2b passengers from the previous cruise, and first seating was at 6:00 on that cruise, and many of them kept showing up at 6:00 for the first few days.

We're seriously considering trying to book a specific table in Anytime Dining on our March b2b's on the Regal so that we can have dinner after 6pm.

Edited January 22, 2015 by FritzG

[skynight]

ships allow reservations which IMO defeats the purpose of ATD. :)

Every Princess cruise I have been on since the inception of ATD has allowed reservations. However the reservations are only for specific times, as an example 5:30, 5:45, 7:30, 7:45.

Princess defines ATD as "*Anytime Dining offers a flexible dining experience – just like a restaurant would – and gives you the freedom to dine with whomever you wish, at your convenience between 5:30 p.m. and 10 p.m. in elegant, upscale venues."

Most fine land restaurants do accept reservations. My observation is that the Princess model is to provide a similar service by accepting reservations, and thus are not defeating the purpose of ATD but are improving the experience for passengers that wish to take this approach.

[Colo Cruiser]

I did not say it wasn't done, I am saying imo its not the way it was intended.

[Lovetocruiseprincess]

Some ships allow standing reservations for the anytime dining throughout the whole trip while other ships will make people call each morning starting around 8AM.

Even making reservations each day, they'll only take them for early & late hours- not for peak dining times like 6:30PM. They'll only take so many reservations & keep a percentage of the tables for those standing in line each night. If you don't mine eating at larger tables the wait isn't usually to long. It's the tables for 2 that will require the longer waits.

[shredie]

I did not say it wasn't done, I am saying imo its not the way it was intended.

 

Maybe we should ask BM. ;):rolleyes::D

[JF - retired RRT]

Another difference from RCCL is that on Princess you don't have to PREPAY the grats when you select AnyTimeDining.

[shepp]

Most fine land restaurants do accept reservations. My observation is that the Princess model is to provide a similar service by accepting reservations, and thus are not defeating the purpose of ATD but are improving the experience for passengers that wish to take this approach.

 

Precisely. I've learned that if I really want to eat at a particular time with a particular number of people and without a wait, I have to call the DINE first thing in the morning. I guess I've been lucky (and also dine late-ish) so even without ressies, I've never had a really long wait.

 

One difference is that land-based restaurants can be entirely booked up for a time slot, or even for a night. Since Princess limits reservations, there's always space, even if it entails a bit of a wait. In my experience, the system works rather well.

[texasnana]

Thank you all. Never sailed Princess so sorry for the dinning name was wrong. Also I don't understand this statement on a previous post:

 

Another difference from RCCL is that on Princess you don't have to PREPAY the grats when you select AnyTimeDining

 

Do that mean we tip each night? I would prefer to just have the grats added to my account as I have onboard credit.

[Colo Cruiser]

Maybe we should ask BM. ;):rolleyes::D

 

 

 

HaHahahahahaha, I am sure its coming. :rolleyes:

[Colo Cruiser]

Thank you all. Never sailed Princess so sorry for the dinning name was wrong. Also I don't understand this statement on a previous post:

 

Another difference from RCCL is that on Princess you don't have to PREPAY the grats when you select AnyTimeDining

 

Do that mean we tip each night? I would prefer to just have the grats added to my account as I have onboard credit.

 

 

No prepay, the auto tip is charged each day to your shipboard account, no hassle. ;)

Edited January 22, 2015 by Colo Cruiser

[cruzisme]

We dd not find the atd experience on this ship well run at all.

Had to call each morning and could not reserve for a time such as 6 pm or 6:30

Thought that was weird.

When I asked I could do 5:30 or after 7:30 only.

I don't feel it worked well at all.

Prefer HAL system with atd and we never had a problem reserving for the time we wanted.

Only on the Grand did we have this issue.

[Loonbeam]

There is a fairly simple reason they don't usually take reservations for 6 or 6:30, and its physics, technically the fluid dynamics of crowds.

 

The MDR opens at 5 in most cases. From 5:00 to around 5:45 people are streaming in, filling most of the available seats if not all. It takes between 90 minutes to 2 hours to eat, which means the first arrivals will not be getting up until 6:30 at the earliest, and those tables need to be cleared.

 

This means from 6:00-7:00 there will be no available tables (unless some are deliberately left empty, which will only increase the 5:00 backlog), so no reason to take reservations they will not be able to accomodate.

 

We dd not find the atd experience on this ship well run at all.

Had to call each morning and could not reserve for a time such as 6 pm or 6:30

Thought that was weird.

When I asked I could do 5:30 or after 7:30 only.

I don't feel it worked well at all.

Prefer HAL system with atd and we never had a problem reserving for the time we wanted.

Only on the Grand did we have this issue.

[cruzisme]

Thats what my DH told me too but I don't see why other cruise lines can have atd and it works for their staff etc. maybe they keep empty tables? Then no backlog like on Princess and their use of pagers.

[caribill]

Thats what my DH told me too but I don't see why other cruise lines can have atd and it works for their staff etc. maybe they keep empty tables? Then no backlog like on Princess and their use of pagers.

 

Royal Caribbean limits the number of people assigned to MTD (their version of Anytime). Once the limit is reached, others wanting MTD are assigned to Traditional fixed seating. This allows RCCL to better control supply of MTD tables vs. demand for them.

 

Princess, on the other hand, does not limit the number of people who can sign up for Anytime and, if traditional get filled, will assign others who want traditional to Anytime.

[MauiLvrs]

Since Princess limits reservations, there's always space, even if it entails a bit of a wait.

If there is always space there wound not be any wait :confused:

 

All ATD does is let you vary between early and late seating as for the most part you can not for the most part seat at 6:30-7:30 :eek:

[Loonbeam]

Princess' main problem here is ship/dining room design. A lot of other lines use larger MDRs that can be reconfigured a bit easier based on demand. The other thing that Princess could do better is not let TD diners in AD without special permission. Technology would help as well.

 

That said, I was just on NCL and they had the same policy for the same reason. And on RCCL have gotten pagers at peak times. A lot just depends on the passenger makeup and itinerary. I have also been on Princess when 6:00 was walk-in and 7:30 was a 45 min wait.

 

Thats what my DH told me too but I don't see why other cruise lines can have atd and it works for their staff etc. maybe they keep empty tables? Then no backlog like on Princess and their use of pagers.

[SadieN]

A bigger problem than reservations is allowing assigned time diners who've missed their dining time to use anytime dining that evening. Ran into this on the Golden last year.

[Colo Cruiser]

A bigger problem than reservations is allowing assigned time diners who've missed their dining time to use anytime dining that evening. Ran into this on the Golden last year.

 

 

And of course the ones that make a res in AT and don't show up for that either .