Anytime Dining---Anything but....

[moki'smommy]

OK, just so I am clear....I am booked on a Princess cruise with 8:15 dining. My TA did this; I wasn't asked. Since it was a late booking, I'm guessing it may have been the only thing available.

 

I asked whether we could do "anytime dining" if we got hungry earlier--TA said no. So as I am reading here, Princess does allow us to use anytime dining?

 

Yes, I understand the concept of a late afternoon "healthy snack" and that is what we typically do on other lines that don't have an "anytime" option.

 

I just want to understand what is and is not allowed for our upcoming cruise.

[raider23]

There are a certain number of guests assigned to both traditional and anytime dining. If all the guests who have a reserved dining time showed up at the anytime dining rooms, how would that be fair? You could contact Princess or your travel agent and see if any openings are available for an earlier dining time or ask to at least be put on a waiting list for an opening. The buffet is always an option, though I would rather wait for my dining time to enjoy the experience.

[moki'smommy]

There are a certain number of guests assigned to both traditional and anytime dining. If all the guests who have a reserved dining time showed up at the anytime dining rooms, how would that be fair? You could contact Princess or your travel agent and see if any openings are available for an earlier dining time or ask to at least be put on a waiting list for an opening. The buffet is always an option, though I would rather wait for my dining time to enjoy the experience.

 

I'm not saying anything is fair or not...I was quite comfortable with the fact that we would have 8:15 traditional dining until I read this thread. Now, in this reading, I think I'm seeing that it is allowed for people assigned to traditional to show up at anytime. I'm not saying we would do it if it is allowed. I'm just exploring options.

 

We are doing this as a "try out" cruise prior to a long cruise in 2016. At the moment, I have the long cruise booked on 2 different lines. After our "try out" on Princess, I'll cancel one of the two reservations. Since we are attempting to explore our options, I just want to know what is and is not permitted.

[raider23]

I'm not saying anything is fair or not...I was quite comfortable with the fact that we would have 8:15 traditional dining until I read this thread. Now' date=' in this reading, I think I'm seeing that it is allowed for people assigned to traditional to show up at anytime. I'm not saying we would do it if it is allowed. I'm just exploring options.

 

We are doing this as a "try out" cruise prior to a long cruise in 2016. At the moment, I have the long cruise booked on 2 different lines. After our "try out" on Princess, I'll cancel one of the two reservations. Since we are attempting to explore our options, I just want to know what is and is not permitted.[/quote']

 

Sorry I didn't mean any harm, I was simply stating my opinion on the subject as well as facts. I did not infer that you as an individual would do this. I apologize if I offended you.

[moki'smommy]

No offense taken. Just trying to understand how the system works as a first timer on Princess. We have 30+ cruises on one other line and scattered other cruises on 2 additional lines. Just no Princess yet.

[NC&KY]

OK' date=' just so I am clear....I am booked on a Princess cruise with 8:15 dining. My TA did this; I wasn't asked. Since it was a late booking, I'm guessing it may have been the only thing available.[/quote']

I would find it almost unbelievable that Anytime Dining is sold out. :eek: If your TA won't check, call Princess yourself and ask. And perhaps find a new TA?:confused:

[AKman2495]

No offense taken. Just trying to understand how the system works as a first timer on Princess. We have 30+ cruises on one other line and scattered other cruises on 2 additional lines. Just no Princess yet.

 

Well, the problem is, as you can read, some people have had bad experiences with AT dining, while others have not.

 

One thing that may have helped us getting faster service is that we are always willing to share a table. That will often speed things up a lot.

 

Also, I have found that, at least on longer cruises, the person who seats you gets to know you and tends to take care of the people who will work with him or her.

 

I have found that to be true. There are times, for example, when we have shared a table and she put us at a 10 top with two other people. It took a while to fill up the other places. She apologized for the delay. The next night, she put us at a table that was filled quickly.

 

I know Pam has had problem on almost every cruise. We have had few problem except for one cruising that was due to a large group (over 1,000) who tended to eat together, filling up the ATD umm traditional or not. That has been the exception.

 

All other times have been good.

 

FWIW.

[yoyosma]

Just so everyone knows, you can change your dining in the cruise personalizer. Unless the latest IT upgrade took that option away. It doesn't matter if you booked direct or with a TA. It is on the Booking sumary page, select dining preferences. Also from the check-in form.

We have gotten very mixed results and information from Head Waiters and Waiters and Hostesses in the Anytime dining rooms. We like to eat around 7:30 to 8:00 PM. Sometimes at 7:30 there is a long wait, sometimes there is still a long wait at 8:00 pm other times not. We always prefer to share a table but are often told no matter what time no one wants to share. So we wait at a big table. Sometimes we get to share, sometimes not. This has been our experience on Regal/Royal as well as Ruby/Emerald.

 

Also regarding reservations we have been told it is very important for larger parties especially families to be able to reserve ahead of time because it is difficult to accommodate them otherwise. I'm not sure if I agree with that but that is what I have been told. Nothing I can do about it.

 

It is usually easy to change from traditional to anytime dining, just ask the maitre d'. It might be harder to change from anytime to traditional, especially early.

 

I just talked myself into changing to traditional dining for my upcoming cruise. And did so using the personalizer, so it is still working.

Edited November 11, 2015 by yoyosma

[Shelly97060]

OK' date=' just so I am clear....I am booked on a Princess cruise with 8:15 dining. My TA did this; I wasn't asked. Since it was a late booking, I'm guessing it may have been the only thing available.

 

I asked whether we could do "anytime dining" if we got hungry earlier--TA said no. So as I am reading here, Princess does allow us to use anytime dining?

 

Yes, I understand the concept of a late afternoon "healthy snack" and that is what we typically do on other lines that don't have an "anytime" option.

 

I just want to understand what is and is not allowed for our upcoming cruise.[/quote']

 

It sounds like the 8:15 was the only traditional dining left available. I am sure your TA could have your preference changed to anytime if you don't want the late dinner. As for your question- If you have assigned traditional dining then you are not suppose to use the anytime dining room. Your cruise card will have your assigned dining room name, the table number and time on the front. Sometimes the cards are checked sometimes they aren't.

[sunshine nana]

We have chosen our 6 Princess cruises because of itinerary (Alaska, partial Panama Canal, r/t New England, UK (twice) or price (Baltic). We had great service in MDR except Panama Canal. I wrote about watching large groups allowed to enter ahead of others and not being allowed to make a reservation ourselves. I expressed the feeling the the maître d was making his determination based on prior tips. It was quite a long thread. That being said, we had great service on Royal this past July. We had the same wait staff in Anytime every night that really took care of us. I hope you get better service on the Alaska cruise. We did, but it was 2004. We do think that Princess has a long way to go to catch Celebrity when booking suites. We got a survey from Princess asking us if we would pay more for some extra services in mini-suites such as priority tendering, afternoon snacks, etc. that Celebrity has in the smallest suites (Sky).

[JimmyVWine]

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.

Bingo. This isn't complicated. The ship needs to flip each table once per night (thus using it twice) in order to feed everyone. So tables get filled between 5:15-6:00 and then again between 7:00-8:15. They cannot let a table sit empty until 6:30 because it will only be used once. The math doesn't work. People just need to start accepting the fact that Anytime Dining is not "dine at any time without a wait". It is "You don't have to come at the same time every day and eat with the same people." If you want a minimal wait, you arrive at 5:30 or 7:45. At 5:30 you will be seated with the first wave of diners and at 7:30-7:45 you will be seated almost immediately as the first wave will have vacated their tables by then. If you arrive at 6:15 you are going to find the dining room filled and you cannot be seated until someone finishes their meal. Since very few people who were seated at 5:30 will be finished with their meals in 45 minutes, there simply won't be any room for you then. You wait until the first wave wraps up their meal and the staff can clear and reset.

Edited November 11, 2015 by JimmyVWine

[Gracie115]

Bingo. This isn't complicated. The ship needs to flip each table once per night (thus using it twice) in order to feed everyone. So tables get filled between 5:15-6:00 and then again between 7:00-8:15. They cannot let a table sit empty until 6:30 because it will only be used once. The math doesn't work. People just need to start accepting the fact that Anytime Dining is not "dine at any time without a wait". It is "You don't have to come at the same time every day and eat with the same people." If you want a minimal wait, you arrive at 5:30 or 7:45. At 5:30 you will be seated with the first wave of diners and at 7:30-7:45 you will be seated almost immediately as the first wave will have vacated their tables by then. If you arrive at 6:15 you are going to find the dining room filled and you cannot be seated until someone finishes their meal. Since very few people who were seated at 5:30 will be finished with their meals in 45 minutes, there simply won't be any room for you then. You wait until the first wave wraps up their meal and the staff can clear and reset.

 

Which would be all true EXCEPT that every night we were in the MDR there were tables sitting empty and I'm not talking about one or two tables...the last night half the section we were in was empty the entire time, we arrived at 5:45 that evening.....but at that time or 6:00 or all the way till 8:30 on the other nights there were empty tables when we would depart SO they do NOT have a philosophy of turning every table twice.... at least it sure didn't look like it to me....

[JimmyVWine]

Which would be all true EXCEPT that every night we were in the MDR there were tables sitting empty and I'm not talking about one or two tables...the last night half the section we were in was empty the entire time, we arrived at 5:45 that evening.....but at that time or 6:00 or all the way till 8:30 on the other nights there were empty tables when we would depart SO they do NOT have a philosophy of turning every table twice.... at least it sure didn't look like it to me....

If there were empty tables, then there would be no wait. So I am not sure what you are complaining about. Had you showed up at 6:00 on one of those nights when there were empty tables at 6:00, you would have been seated right away. Instead, you arrived at 5:45 and we're seated without a wait. Seems like a non-issue.

Edited November 11, 2015 by JimmyVWine

[moki'smommy]

It sounds like the 8:15 was the only traditional dining left available. I am sure your TA could have your preference changed to anytime if you don't want the late dinner. As for your question- If you have assigned traditional dining then you are not suppose to use the anytime dining room. Your cruise card will have your assigned dining room name, the table number and time on the front. Sometimes the cards are checked sometimes they aren't.

 

Thank you! This is the question I needed an answer to--eat at the traditional scheduled time or go to the buffet.

[Gracie115]

If there were empty tables, then there would be no wait. So I am not sure what you are complaining about. Had you showed up at 6:00 on one of those nights when there were empty tables at 6:00, you would have been seated right away. Instead, you arrived at 5:45 and we're seated without a wait. Seems like a non-issue.

 

As I said in my original post the service on all but one night was pretty mediocre, the last night, down right bad.....and his section was not busy as I just said.

 

Aside from that we were told to come at 5:45 or expect to wait if after 6:00, which we have never had to do on other lines. If Princess is INDEED allowing those from traditional dining to sit in Anytime than that would explain the lines that were forming after 6PM.... We prefer to eat at around 6:30 PM, but were told by 2 different Maitre D's that we would have to wait if we came then.....

 

If we LIKED arriving at 5:45 we WOULD have no complaint but we don't and that combined with inferior service all but one night would be what my issue is....

 

But I don't want to start a fight. We found the rest of the ship lovely, the attendant in our stateroom was great, the staff at Vines wonderful.....Anytime Dining....well...not so much....too bad

[OCruisers]

Just so everyone knows, you can change your dining in the cruise personalizer..

 

Per above ..... Happily, you can just change it to Anytime Dining yourself on your personalizer!

No Problem! :D

 

LuLu

[piper28]

As I said in my original post the service on all but one night was pretty mediocre, the last night, down right bad.....and his section was not busy as I just said.

 

Out of curiosity, since you made comments that you like being in the same section with the same waiter from night to night, even in an anytime dining, after you had the night with the better service, did you ask whether you could be seated in that section again the next night? I've always found them pretty accomodating if we had a request for a particular waiter if there was a table available in his/her section, but I wouldn't expect them to keep track from night to night where I was seated before and try to seat me in the same section again unless I specifically requested it.

[caribill]

Aside from that we were told to come at 5:45 or expect to wait if after 6:00, which we have never had to do on other lines. If Princess is INDEED allowing those from traditional dining to sit in Anytime than that would explain the lines that were forming after 6PM.... We prefer to eat at around 6:30 PM, but were told by 2 different Maitre D's that we would have to wait if we came then.....

 

 

On the ships with three dining rooms, one is early and late traditional, one is early traditional and then anytime, and oine is anytime the entire evening.

 

Assuming the three traditional dining sessions are full, that is about 1350 passengers.

 

On a ship with 3100 passengers, that leaves 1750 potential anytime diners (although each evening some will eat in a specialty restaurant, in the buffet, etc.).

 

So without any traditional diners trying to sneak into an anytime dining room, that is potentially over 1000 passengers who might want to eat in an anytime dining room at the same time you want to. There will be lines.

 

With Princess, there is no limit to the number of passengers who select the anytime option when booking the cruise. Plus, if the traditional time someone wants is full, Princess will assign you to anytime even though you did not want it.

 

With RCCL and Carnival, they limit the number of passengers assigned to anytime and once that limit is reached, assign anyone else wanting anytime to traditional even though they did not want that.

Edited November 12, 2015 by caribill

[Gracie115]

With RCCL and Carnival, they limit the number of passengers assigned to anytime and once that limit is reached, assign anyone else wanting anytime to traditional even though they did not want that.

 

And that's WHY on Royal (I don't know about Carnival) we never had waits no matter what time we arrived for dinner....

[Gracie115]

Out of curiosity, since you made comments that you like being in the same section with the same waiter from night to night, even in an anytime dining, after you had the night with the better service, did you ask whether you could be seated in that section again the next night? I've always found them pretty accomodating if we had a request for a particular waiter if there was a table available in his/her section, but I wouldn't expect them to keep track from night to night where I was seated before and try to seat me in the same section again unless I specifically requested it.

 

No we didn't....and that's on us....it was just such "organized chaos" at the check in line that we just followed the Maitre D.... on the third night we had a tour of the entire dining room before they finally seated us a table at the rear on the other side at the farthest point from the entrance...and traded us off to 2 other MaitreD's before we had that table....:eek:

 

But you're right we should have asked for the section we had the 2nd night.

[satxdiver]

TD for the early time always fills up long before the ship sails as everyone seems to want that time slot. The late TD always has openings. The same is true of ATD in that many if not most pax want to eat around 6 pm. The MDR cannot handle that many pax at one time. They fill the tables so that any one waiter station is not overwhelmed with new diners so you will see some tables empty. We always wait until 7 pm or after and don't usually have a problem but then we always agree to sit at the group tables. One problem with group tables is if someone eats slowly making all the rest wait between courses or if one or more order many courses.

 

I have been on CCL and RCL and have found the same results in that 6 - 7 pm is the most desired dining hour and crowds form at that time. One point about CCL though is that it seems on the few cruises we have done, a lot more pax choose to eat in the buffet than I have seen on PCL meaning less load for the MDR.

[Woobstr112G]

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.

 

Pam;

 

Spot on comments.....:):):)

 

Bob

[dcrow72]

We are on the current Regal sailing. Same thing. No drinks no food slow service in anytime. Always had anytime. Never experienced this type of poor service.

[FritzG]

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

 

This is definitely a big part of the problem. If someone at the door would check the cruise cards every night and send passengers to the correct dining room I think it would go a long way to solving the problem. There seems to be a feeling that it's fine to book a TD table and then go to Anytime as often as you wish. That creates lots of empty spots in the TD dining room and lines at Anytime. We prefer TD, and we hate seeing empty tables night after night and two people sitting alone at a table for 6 or 8.

[PrincessLuver]

This is definitely a big part of the problem. If someone at the door would check the cruise cards every night and send passengers to the correct dining room I think it would go a long way to solving the problem. There seems to be a feeling that it's fine to book a TD table and then go to Anytime as often as you wish. That creates lots of empty spots in the TD dining room and lines at Anytime. We prefer TD, and we hate seeing empty tables night after night and two people sitting alone at a table for 6 or 8.

 

Bingo!! :D