Anytime Dining---Anything but....

[Gracie115]

Just off our first Princess cruise on the Regal. Beautiful ship, lovely stateroom, LOVED the Vines lounge and lots of good entertainment....BUT....

 

what is with Princess' "version" of Anytime Dining?

 

It was just abysmal....waiting in a long line, beepers being handed out.....once being seated a 2 1/2 hour dining time with LONG spaces of time with not even beverage service being offered..... that was just the first night....

 

Second night, after a conversation with the Maitre D was slightly better but only because we agreed to arrive at 5:45...far earlier than we wanted...and yet LOTS of empty tables around us for the entire time...

 

Third night, YET another different section and lousy service again....another 2 1/2 hour night....

 

Fourth night, thank goodness we went to Sabatini's which was great...

 

Last night...AGAIN a different section and the worst wait service of all.....took nearly to the end of the entrée course to receive a glass of wine ordered before the appetizer......

 

I don't understand why Princess can't get this right....Celebrity at least understands the value of placing guests in same section(it benefits BOTH the guests and the server) and Royal is BY FAR the best at My Time Dining, with same section and frequently same table and arriving at whatever time we want never a problem on MANY cruises.

 

I've seen other threads here about this issue so I am not alone....why doesn't Princess address this problem? We were not alone in our views, heard comments nearly every night from those at tables around us....

 

The food was good, the ship beautiful...but for dinner to be a trial every night it certainly put a damper on the cruise......

 

Maybe more glasses of wine before dinner would have helped....:eek::D

Edited November 10, 2015 by Gracie115

[NC&KY]

We will be on our first Princess cruise in February/March. We do not like traditional dining because it locks us into a set schedule. So I have followed this and other similar threads with a great deal of interest. What time did you ideally want to eat? For us, it's never before 7:30 and is often after 8:00. Were there lines that late? And did service seem to improve as the evening wore on and the crowds thinned? We never go to the shows, so a slow dinner is fine, but pre-dinner wine not appearing until the entree is served would be intolerable.:rolleyes:

[Orlando Vic]

We prefer anytime dining and often go between 6:45-7:15. We have never had to wait more than five minutes, although joining others at a table will speed things up. If we always insisted on a table for two, it could be a longer wait, but we're flexible.

[cruzsnooze]

A lot of the problem is the mega size of the ship. With so many passengers it's bound to have lines. Having sailed on the Regal last month I can tell you the service at traditional dining was no better then what you experienced in anytime dining.

[khalubear]

We cruise Celebrity and do anytime dining. We book our times before we cruise online. We have had a couple hiccups early on but they seem to have the kinks worked out. If you don't book a time I find you run the risk of going when their is a rush of people. It's like rush hour traffic. We always ask to be in the same area and we never will take a seat where the fixed dining people are.

[Gracie115]

We will be on our first Princess cruise in February/March. We do not like traditional dining because it locks us into a set schedule. So I have followed this and other similar threads with a great deal of interest. What time did you ideally want to eat? For us, it's never before 7:30 and is often after 8:00. Were there lines that late? And did service seem to improve as the evening wore on and the crowds thinned? We never go to the shows, so a slow dinner is fine, but pre-dinner wine not appearing until the entree is served would be intolerable.:rolleyes:

 

Arriving after 8 should be fine.....we were still there most nights after 8 anyway and there were tables open... but then there were tables open throughout the evening.... Can't comment on whether service was better at that hour...would think it depends on who your wait staff is.....

 

When you sit in different station every night it's hard to get a feel for overall service.....as I said in the original post the 1st and last night were really lousy service....the 2nd night was much better and the 3rd somewhere in between.....just so inconsistent....had we had the same wait staff that we had the 2nd night we would have been very happy and would have happily tipped extra ....

[Gracie115]

We cruise Celebrity and do anytime dining. We book our times before we cruise online. We have had a couple hiccups early on but they seem to have the kinks worked out. If you don't book a time I find you run the risk of going when their is a rush of people. It's like rush hour traffic. We always ask to be in the same area and we never will take a seat where the fixed dining people are.

 

Celebrity is much better at it. You CAN'T book anytime or ANY dining on Princess prior to the cruise..... We tried to make reservations first thing once on board but were told the only times left were either 5:45 or after 8:00....:confused:

 

We enjoyed our cruise but Princess version of Anytime Dining is just not up to par.....

[Gracie115]

A lot of the problem is the mega size of the ship. With so many passengers it's bound to have lines. Having sailed on the Regal last month I can tell you the service at traditional dining was no better then what you experienced in anytime dining.

 

well.....that's not what I wanted to hear.....we had already thought we might try traditional if we sailed on Princess again...but not if its not any better than Anytime...:eek:

[WISH84]

Just off our first Princess cruise on the Regal. Beautiful ship, lovely stateroom, LOVED the Vines lounge and lots of good entertainment....BUT....

 

what is with Princess' "version" of Anytime Dining?

 

It was just abysmal....waiting in a long line, beepers being handed out.....once being seated a 2 1/2 hour dining time with LONG spaces of time with not even beverage service being offered..... that was just the first night....

 

Second night, after a conversation with the Maitre D was slightly better but only because we agreed to arrive at 5:45...far earlier than we wanted...and yet LOTS of empty tables around us for the entire time...

 

Third night, YET another different section and lousy service again....another 2 1/2 hour night....

 

Fourth night, thank goodness we went to Sabatini's which was great...

 

Last night...AGAIN a different section and the worst wait service of all.....took nearly to the end of the entrée course to receive a glass of wine ordered before the appetizer......

 

I don't understand why Princess can't get this right....Celebrity at least understands the value of placing guests in same section(it benefits BOTH the guests and the server) and Royal is BY FAR the best at My Time Dining, with same section and frequently same table and arriving at whatever time we want never a problem on MANY cruises.

 

I've seen other threads here about this issue so I am not alone....why doesn't Princess address this problem? We were not alone in our views, heard comments nearly every night from those at tables around us....

 

The food was good, the ship beautiful...but for dinner to be a trial every night it certainly put a damper on the cruise......

 

Maybe more glasses of wine before dinner would have helped....:eek::D

 

I also would be interested in knowing what time you wanted to eat compared to what time you actually ate.

 

It appears to me by reading your post that the problem was more about service rather than the Anytime Dining. If each night you were seated fairly soon after arrival (you mentioned on the one night there were long lines and beepers were being passed out.. but how long did you actually wait to get a table) then as someone just posted.. service in the Assigned dining room was just as bad.

 

You may have experienced similar service issues regardless of which option you chose.

 

I noticed on someone's thread that is currently on the Regal that he was very impressed with some bartender's but was sad to learn they would not be on the second leg of his journey (the portion he is currently on) and that got me wondering.. since the ship just came from Europe, spent a few weeks traveling from NYC to Canada and just recently repositioned herself to Florida.. have they (the ship) gone through a major changeover in staffing and everyone (the staff) is still trying to learn their roll. Could be one explanation for the service issues some have reported.

 

All other reviews I have read about the ship specifically praised the staff for their excellent service and friendly nature.

[pcur]

We've had ATD on our 2 Princess cruises, one being for 28 nights. No matter what cruise line we are on, and we've done the equivalent of ATD on RCCL, Celebrity, and Princess, we eat after 8pm and request the same table or section every night. We've had to wait 10 minutes maximum in 35 nights on Princess.

 

We always ask for a table for 2, request that waiter if we like the service, and eat late.

 

I've also read the recent threads about ATD, and I've noticed the long lines and slow service are during the 6-7:30 dinner hour when a majority of passengers want to eat dinner. Fewer crowds and faster service later in the evening.

Edited November 10, 2015 by pcur

[Gracie115]

I also would be interested in knowing what time you wanted to eat compared to what time you actually ate.

 

It appears to me by reading your post that the problem was more about service rather than the Anytime Dining. If each night you were seated fairly soon after arrival (you mentioned on the one night there were long lines and beepers were being passed out.. but how long did you actually wait to get a table) then as someone just posted.. service in the Assigned dining room was just as bad.

 

You may have experienced similar service issues regardless of which option you chose.

 

I noticed on someone's thread that is currently on the Regal that he was very impressed with some bartender's but was sad to learn they would not be on the second leg of his journey (the portion he is currently on) and that got me wondering.. since the ship just came from Europe, spent a few weeks traveling from NYC to Canada and just recently repositioned herself to Florida.. have they (the ship) gone through a major changeover in staffing and everyone (the staff) is still trying to learn their roll. Could be one explanation for the service issues some have reported.

 

All other reviews I have read about the ship specifically praised the staff for their excellent service and friendly nature.

 

We've had ATD on our 2 Princess cruises, one being for 28 nights. No matter what cruise line we are on, and we've done the equivalent of ATD on RCCL, Celebrity, and Princess, we eat after 8pm and request the same table or section every night. We've had to wait 10 minutes maximum in 35 nights on Princess.

 

We always ask for a table for 2, request that waiter if we like the service, and eat late.

 

I've also read the recent threads about ATD, and I've noticed the long lines and slow service are during the 6-7:30 dinner hour when a majority of passengers want to eat dinner. Fewer crowds and faster service later in the evening.

 

After the first night we arrived at 5:45 as suggested by the MaitreD.....yes...we were seated quickly .... and then aside from the 2nd night just had poor service........

 

On Royal and Celebrity we would always arrive between 6:15 and 7PM and always were seated in same section with no wait....AND we were able to make reservations each night for the next night......Princess simply would not take ANY reservations between 6 & 7:30...

 

The rest of the staff on the ship was fine....stateroom attendant one of the best we have ever had.....bar staff in Vines and other lounges fine....but Anytime Dining left much to be desired.

 

We don't want to eat at 8 and later and on this cruise because one of the 4 of us is diabetic he could not wait that long.....

[Linerguy]

We were on the 10nt prior to the OP's 5nt cruise, and only had to wait for a table for two once, and that was at the Symphony Dining Room, which was open from 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. We waited, maybe, ten minutes. We arrived at about 7ish – peak time. The Concerto Dining Room was open from 7:45 p.m. to 10 p.m., and we usually went right about when it opened, and we never had to wait.

 

Service the entire cruise was spot-on.

[pcur]

We don't want to eat at 8 and later and on this cruise because one of the 4 of us is diabetic he could not wait that long.....

 

What we do is go to the buffet around 6pm when it opens (pretty much on any ship/any line we are sailing on), and get a protein snack as an appetizer. The buffets have very nice cold cuts or appetizers.

 

Plus, we also noted that Princess and HAL don't like to take reservations in ATD. That's why we have a snack around 6-ish and then dinner after 8pm on all our cruises. We just avoid almost all the hassles. Plus the dining room is not crowded later, and no children.

 

I'm not trying to push what we do on anyone; it's just this works for us on pretty much any cruise line.

Edited November 10, 2015 by pcur

[Gracie115]

What we do is go to the buffet around 6pm when it opens (pretty much on any ship/any line we are sailing on), and get a protein snack as an appetizer. The buffets have very nice cold cuts or appetizers.

 

Plus, we also noted that Princess and HAL don't like to take reservations in ATD. That's why we have a snack around 6-ish and then dinner after 8pm on all our cruises. We just avoid almost all the hassles. Plus the dining room is not crowded later, and no children.

 

I'm not trying to push what we do on anyone; it's just this works for us on pretty much any cruise line.

 

I appreciate what you are saying....and am sure it would work and probably be more pleasant in a quieter atmosphere in the MDR but we just don't like eating that late....we are early risers...so a heavy meal just before bed just doesn't work for us.... but happy for you that you found a way that works for you....

 

and again, we liked the ship and pretty much everything else....but the anytime dining wasn't fun...we will find a way to make Princess work though when we find an itinerary we like....and possibly on one of the smaller ships it will be easier...we plan to sail on Princess to Alaska in 2017!!:)

[sonomaphil]

What we do is go to the buffet around 6pm when it opens (pretty much on any ship/any line we are sailing on), and get a protein snack as an appetizer. The buffets have very nice cold cuts or appetizers.

 

Plus, we also noted that Princess and HAL don't like to take reservations in ATD. That's why we have a snack around 6-ish and then dinner after 8pm on all our cruises. We just avoid almost all the hassles. Plus the dining room is not crowded later, and no children.

 

I'm not trying to push what we do on anyone; it's just this works for us on pretty much any cruise line.

 

Almost the same pattern with us except we usually are in Vines at 6 and have the Tapas and Sushi. We eat last at home so nothing new for us.

[AKman2495]

We were on the Royal in September and had no problems with anytime. Yes, we had slow service the first formal night and the head waiter came by to check up on things and we told him what was going on and he immediately took care of the problem.

 

Out of 14 nights, we ate in the MDR 13 of them and we had a beeper only on one night. Other times, we were seated fairly quickly. We ate typically between 5:30 and 6. One night we did go to the early show and ate around 7:30 with no problem.

 

We moved around, but we had the same table more than once.

 

If I wanted to eat at the same table with the same waitstaff at the same time every night, I would choose Traditional dining. So the idea that they should structure anytime dining like that makes no sense to me.

 

While others may disagree, I find anytime dining works well-if you don't show up between 6:30 and 7:30. Then you'll have to wait.

 

To that I say DUH...It's like showing up at a popular land based restaurant at those times and finding it will be a 1 hour wait!

 

If you go at peak times, expect to wait. What can I say....

 

Otherwise, we like anytime dining. It works for us.

[reedprincess]

well.....that's not what I wanted to hear.....we had already thought we might try traditional if we sailed on Princess again...but not if its not any better than Anytime...:eek:

 

We were in the 10 night repo just before th OPs saiking and we're at traditional dining -and our service was excellent. After one night, the waiters knew preferences of our large table -diet Cokes were waiting for two of the diners in arrival, lemons for water for two others, extra breadsticks for one of us, extra sauce came out for one diner every night without having to ask and so in. Dinner took two hours plus for us every night, but only because we enjoyed each other's company so much we lingered over dessert and coffee -the service was timely and efficient every night.

Lots and lots if crew were ending their contract after the 10 nighter, it's quite possible the influx of new crew coupled with a short cruise could account for some of the service issues. We had zero problems and had a wonderful cruise.

[CI66774]

Wow - never been on the Regal but been on the Royal three times and never, once, had to wait for dinner (had Anytime each time). It could be me and my daughter went early (around 5:30-6:00) because she wanted to go to the kid's club.

[cb at sea]

Always stop at a bar and BRING a drink with you to dinner.....at least, you'll have something while you wait for more!

[birdiebill]

One of the reasons no reservations are allowed between 6:15 (or so) and 7:30 is that particular reserved table is going to sit vacant from 5:30 to the time of the reservation. Then, assuming that the reservation is for 7:00 and the meal lasts one and a half to two hours, that table will be vacant the rest of the night after the reserved group is finished. If the table is filled between 5:30 and 6:00, then it is available again by 7:30 to 8:00. With the number of passengers greatly exceeding the number of tables in the main dining rooms, it makes no sense to have any table available only once during the dinner hour.

[Pam in CA]

It's not the size of the ship. After all, there've been long waits for Anytime dining since I first tried it on the Grand in 2001. I've done AT at least five times on a variety of ships and sizes, gone early, late and once made reservations for the same table at the same time... and had similar experiences on all: long waits.

 

Factors are: itinerary, entertainment times, passenger mix, allowing reservations, Traditional diners allowed into AT, and the Maitre d'. You can have two people on the same ship at the same time with opposite experiences. As long as Princess allows reservations and Traditional diners into AT, there will always be problems. It's fixable but Princess hasn't done anything to improve Anytime in the over fourteen years it's been available.

[iceleven]

What we do is go to the buffet around 6pm when it opens (pretty much on any ship/any line we are sailing on), and get a protein snack as an appetizer. The buffets have very nice cold cuts or appetizers.

 

Plus, we also noted that Princess and HAL don't like to take reservations in ATD. That's why we have a snack around 6-ish and then dinner after 8pm on all our cruises. We just avoid almost all the hassles. Plus the dining room is not crowded later, and no children.

 

I'm not trying to push what we do on anyone; it's just this works for us on pretty much any cruise line.

 

We've done the same but will also use the IC for a snack when feeling a bit peckish but not wanting to go to dinner early. I suspect this could also help those who are diabetic and cannot wait for a late dinner.

[Gracie115]

maybe Traditional diners being allowed into Anytime is part of the problem. I know on the Royal ships I've been on that is not something that happens normally and we've always said they had the best Anytime options.

 

From what I understand Celebrity, since the inception of Luminae, the all suite restaurant earlier this year, that this has become somewhat of an issue too with suite guests that want to dine with non suite taking up spaces in the Anytime section. I don't know this for a fact because our Celebrity cruise this year was not in Anytime dining.....

 

For us it was more about the inferior service on 3 out of 4 nights on the Regal...anyone can wait a few minutes without an issue I would think, although I did not expect that.

 

We will try again when we book Alaska for our next Princess cruise...

[iceleven]

It's not the size of the ship. After all, there've been long waits for Anytime dining since I first tried it on the Grand in 2001. I've done AT at least five times on a variety of ships and sizes, gone early, late and once made reservations for the same table at the same time... and had similar experiences on all: long waits.

 

Factors are: itinerary, entertainment times, passenger mix, allowing reservations, Traditional diners allowed into AT, and the Maitre d'. You can have two people on the same ship at the same time with opposite experiences. As long as Princess allows reservations and Traditional diners into AT, there will always be problems. It's fixable but Princess hasn't done anything to improve Anytime in the over fourteen years it's been available.

 

This is key to the problem. Thank you, Pam, for addressing this with such accuracy.

[OCruisers]

As long as Princess allows reservations and Traditional diners into AT, there will always be problems. It's fixable but Princess hasn't done anything to improve Anytime in the over fourteen years it's been available.

 

Totally agree, Pam! As long a Princess allows TD into AT and allows reservations, there will be a problem. :mad:

 

Fortunately, we tend to have dinner later and will share at any wait station so have never had to wait.

But because of seeing the lines when we've walked past earlier ... if we want to have dinner in the MDR earlier, I do call DINE Line for reservations. Wish I didn't have to do this. :(

 

LuLu