Anytime Dining---Anything but....

[ms.sunburn]

I don't know that tipping the MaitreD will get you decent service but based on a few posts here it may HELP getting a table at Anytime Dining at the time you want in a station you want......just repeating what was said a few posts back.....

 

Not poking at you at all, in fact I agree with everything you've stated. I had a lousy experience with AT dining on the same voyage. I just don't agree with the view that greasing somebody's palms is the way a legitimate business should operate. I also think it shouldn't be called anytime dining if it's not. Advising people to only eat before 5:30 or after 8:00 is not anytime dining.

 

If Princess continues to cling to traditional service at the expense of anytime dining they're eventually going to get trumped by more open minded cruise lines.

 

Looking forward to some fresh ideas from Virgin Cruises & other cruise lines like Norwegian who are willing to try new things. I'm done with the status quo.

[Gracie115]

Not poking at you at all, in fact I agree with everything you've stated. I had a lousy experience with AT dining on the same voyage. I just don't agree with the view that greasing somebody's palms is the way a legitimate business should operate. I also think it shouldn't be called anytime dining if it's not. Advising people to only eat before 5:30 or after 8:00 is not anytime dining.

n.

 

And I agree with you....as I said when the first person mentioned pretipping the MaitreD to get a table where and when you wanted, we just didn't think of that...have never pretipped a maître d before.....

 

And no matter what anyone says, you're ALSO right that it's NOT anytime dining when you are relegated to either VERY early or VERY late in order to avoid lines..... Other cruiselines know how to do it....and after reading all the posts on this thread it REALLY does come down to Princess allowing those not ASSIGNED to Anytime to use that venue..... it will never be right until they FIX that.... and apparently there is just no interest in doing that.... so NOW I know for any future cruises with Princess....

[OCruisers]

Even with its downfalls (which have never been a huge problem for us) we still prefer Anytime. :)

[Elevatorman]

It seems to me that an understanding of what the Maître d can do for you and what the perks of his job are is an interesting subject. Coming from New York it is a fact of life that if you want a reservation in a popular restaurant you must tip the Maître d. On a cruise ship many of the Maître ds come from European training, tips are expected. You can turn a "sorry we have no table for you" into "yes sir and madam follow me" with a $20. Just hand it over and say We would appreciate anything you can do for us. It's a win win.

[Gracie115]

It seems to me that an understanding of what the Maître d can do for you and what the perks of his job are is an interesting subject. Coming from New York it is a fact of life that if you want a reservation in a popular restaurant you must tip the Maître d. On a cruise ship many of the Maître ds come from European training, tips are expected. You can turn a "sorry we have no table for you" into "yes sir and madam follow me" with a $20. Just hand it over and say We would appreciate anything you can do for us. It's a win win.

 

I understand your argument....however.....it should NOT be necessary and would NOT be necessary if the dining system on the Princess ships were operated properly....never been necessary on Royal or Celebrity to bribe a maître d for a table and time..... tips came AFTER the fact....BUT as they say...on Princess it apparently IS what it IS....and I understand why you do what you do...and we will most likely do the same if we choose to sail on Princess again...

Edited November 14, 2015 by Gracie115

[birdiebill]

Two things I want to comment on. First, traditional dining should be called fixed dining because when you choose traditional, you choose a fixed time period that can be early (5:30 or 5:45 perhaps 6:00 depending on the ship) or late (after 7:30). You are "fixed" to that time and to the assigned table and waitstaff.

 

Anytime dining is a misnomer. It should be called flexible or "limited flexible". We have the flexibility to dine either early OR late and are not restricted to the same time every night. If I try to dine between 6:45 and 7:30, I know that tables are filled from those that arrived early, and I have to wait until tables clear. Accordingly, we choose to arrive close to when the dining room opens and are willing to share.

 

Second, we are assigned to traditional or fixed dining based on our request and space available for that time slot. If all traditional spots have been filled, then the automatic default is "anytime" (limited flexible). Or we can choose anytime which means we were not "assigned" to it. For those of us who have been on several or many Princess cruises, we are aware of the pitfalls of each and choose accordingly on the cruise personalizer when we book the cruise.

[Going Coastal]

We have not had trouble with ATD on Princess, but on Celebrity the hostess does check the cabin number on her computer as we check in, and reminds those that have traditional dining where and at what time their reservation is. This seems to cut down on repeat 'mistakes'.

[caribill]

What Royal Caribbean says about their version of anytime (My Time Dining):

 

"To ensure quick seating, we encourage guests to place a reservation for each evening. If you're already booked and have chosen the My Time Dining option, you can easily pre-reserve specific days and times online. Seating can also be reserved while onboard. Maximum of 10 guests per reservation."

[caribill]

Really? That's what it takes to get decent service on Princess?

 

No. The Maitre d' will be glad to handle any request that is within the ship's rules without expecting a tip.

 

By the way, a number of these posts have referred to Maitre d' when they really were dealing with headwaiters. There is only one Maitre d' on the ship. And he will not be at the entrance to all three dining rooms at the same time.

[Gracie115]

By the way, a number of these posts have referred to Maitre d' when they really were dealing with headwaiters. There is only one Maitre d' on the ship. And he will not be at the entrance to all three dining rooms at the same time.

 

This may be true on Princess, it is NOT true on Celebrity where each dining room, the MDR, Blu, Murano's etc....has it's own MaitreD...

[Gracie115]

What Royal Caribbean says about their version of anytime (My Time Dining):

 

"To ensure quick seating, we encourage guests to place a reservation for each evening. If you're already booked and have chosen the My Time Dining option, you can easily pre-reserve specific days and times online. Seating can also be reserved while onboard. Maximum of 10 guests per reservation."

 

And yet...we've never made reservations and never had to wait....and we always arrive between 6:15-6:30....

 

The difference as others have pointed out is that Royal does NOT allow those in traditional dining to eat in their My Time Dining section...

[ms.sunburn]

The tone of this thread suggests that these are issues that should be resolved by the customer.

 

Princess has a problem with their Anytime Dining. I've experienced it myself and I've seen enough posts on this site to support that.

 

Why not hold Princess accountable instead of suggesting the passenger change to accommodate the business?

 

Perhaps we (Anytime Diners) are in the minority and if that's the case Princess won't notice the hit to the bottom line when we go elsewhere for better service.

[baldercash]

The only power a cruiser can wield once on board is their daily gratuities.

If you get messed over by the waitstaff go visit the Customer service counter and explain to them in detail why you do not want your tips to be paid to the wait staff and Head waiter and have the payments stopped.

Trust me this will get the Hotel and Restaurants managers attention and you will get a visit from at least the Maitre d to discuss the issue.

If people were to cut their gratuities due to poor access to the AT dinning room as the reason for the stoppage Princess would take note as the wait staff would be up in arms and the managers would be held to account by the Maitre d who would be grilled by the Hotel and Restaurant manager.

The difference between how RCI manages their AT dinning room and Princess is glaring with Royal Caribbean you need to book AT and prepay your gratuities and they cannot be canceled. With Princess AT dinning is assigned to all cruisers once the regular dinning is full it gets the overflow and as a poster has all ready given the break out on seating the dinning rooms can not accommodate the number of pax that sail the same as the theater cannot accommodate the pax on the ship thus the three short shows in an attempt to meet the need.

[ms.sunburn]

The only power a cruiser can wield once on board is their daily gratuities.

If you get messed over by the waitstaff go visit the Customer service counter and explain to them in detail why you do not want your tips to be paid to the wait staff and Head waiter and have the payments stopped.

Trust me this will get the Hotel and Restaurants managers attention and you will get a visit from at least the Maitre d to discuss the issue.

If people were to cut their gratuities due to poor access to the AT dinning room as the reason for the stoppage Princess would take note as the wait staff would be up in arms and the managers would be held to account by the Maitre d who would be grilled by the Hotel and Restaurant manager.

 

That's a good suggestion. I hadn't actually thought of that. But it was clear to me the servers were (for the most part) doing their best. I wouldn't like to penalize them. I'm sure they don't make a lot to begin with.

[Woobstr112G]

People hate for us to say this ... but, honestly, it is always helpful to "$hake hands". :D

 

LuLu

 

Agreed.....:):D:)

 

Bob

[Renmar]

We tipped the Maître d $20 on the first night and requested 6pm seating and the same table. We got exactly that every evening.

 

People hate for us to say this ... but, honestly, it is always helpful to "$hake hands". :D

 

LuLu

 

I wonder if the Maitre'd shares those tips & $ handshakes with the rest of the staff.;)

 

Theo

[baldercash]

That's a good suggestion. I hadn't actually thought of that. But it was clear to me the servers were (for the most part) doing their best. I wouldn't like to penalize them. I'm sure they don't make a lot to begin with.

 

I agree the servers do a good job but this puts the managements feet to the fire.

We actually did this once as wait times were ridiculous. I documented my complaint at guest services and the crew member broke out laughing as what had happened was so ludicrous but he said it was not uncommon. We moved on by deciding we would eat dinner at the buffet and had a wonderful time made friends with the staff and handed out cash envelopes on the final night.

The Maitre d had a difficult time tracking us down as our room phone did not work for the length of the cruise. He finally found us at the buffet one evening, how he found us by sight impressed us. He offered us a fixed dinning time and table in AT but we declined as we were enjoying our time at the buffet each evening. We did accept his offer for a complementary dinner.

We also assured our room steward that we would tip him in cash.

Edited November 14, 2015 by baldercash

[oskidunker]

Service has declined due to the fact that waiters have more tables. Last April on the Star to mexico it was terrible so for the first time I removed some of the tips. Complaining did no good.

[jbobst]

This is a very interesting thread. We have about given up on anytime dining ourselves. As someone already mentioned, the names are totally misleading. Traditional should be called fixed or set dining, and anytime is really just variable dining between early and late (or something like that). Why is dinner such a problem where as breakfast and lunch are really not an issue? On a sea day, there are just as many people eating breakfast and lunch. And, only one dining room is even open for those meals on a sea day. Dinners in the dining room just take so long and are so dragged out. Service so often is very slow and it's no wonder the tables can't be turned around for the next set of passengers. I think if I was Princess management, I would try a small dining room venue where the meal options are under an hour or less. Where they don't stand on so much formality and just bring your food promptly even if everyone is not finished with the first appetizer yet. Obviously many of you like the long dinners and they need to keep those for the majority, but it would be nice to have an "express" dinner option. Kind of like the 10 items or less checkout lines at grocery stores. Maybe even have a section of buffet partitioned off for sit down service, but with a quick table turn over (just an idea). Then again, if they just saw what was successful with other cruise lines and implemented those things (like checking your cruise card to make sure this is where you are supposed to eat), then maybe anytime would work better.

 

Personally, I've pretty much given up on regular dining rooms on Princess for dinner. If we ate late, it would never be a problem, but my wife is an early to bed and an early dinner person. So our options are now either the specialty restaurants, buffet, or maybe one late dinner in the dining room depending on how our day unfolds. That seems to work for us, and just takes the stress of the crowds and long wait for the early dining times.

 

And it seems like even when we book a cruise months and months in advance, early traditional isn't even available as an option.

[FritzG]

Dinner in the mdr doesn't have to take a long time although that doesn't bother us at all.

 

On our Royal TA this past September a couple at a table near ours was out of the dining room in 30 minutes every single night. When they got to the table their appetizer/salad was already at the table; entrees and desserts followed quickly after that. We had barely placed our orders and eaten our first roll by the time they were done eating and leaving. The problem was that it really threw the wait staff off their normal schedule. Our poor server had to do a lot of things that her assistant should have been doing because he was running to the kitchen to serve them.

[margeg]

Dinner in the mdr doesn't have to take a long time although that doesn't bother us at all.

 

On our Royal TA this past September a couple at a table near ours was out of the dining room in 30 minutes every single night. When they got to the table their appetizer/salad was already at the table; entrees and desserts followed quickly after that. We had barely placed our orders and eaten our first roll by the time they were done eating and leaving. The problem was that it really threw the wait staff off their normal schedule. Our poor server had to do a lot of things that her assistant should have been doing because he was running to the kitchen to serve them.

 

I don't understand what you mean by throwing the wait staff off schedule?

Are you talking about anytime dining? If you are at a table for two in anytime dining your table would have individual service. Your time eating should not have to affect any diners at another table. Am I missing something???

marge

[FritzG]

I don't understand what you mean by throwing the wait staff off schedule?

Are you talking about anytime dining? If you are at a table for two in anytime dining your table would have individual service. Your time eating should not have to affect any diners at another table. Am I missing something???

marge

 

In the MDR the servers generally take the orders from all of their tables around the same time. In the meantime the assistant is doing jobs such as taking drink orders. Then the asst. goes to get the orders and usually brings all of the salads and appetizers for all of the tables. With this couple eating so quickly our asst. was usually getting their entrees or another course when drink orders should have been taken. Often our server would have to go to the galley to pick up the other orders, too. Our server's section was always getting our dinners much later than surrounding sections. We had the same server and asst. on the previous leg of our cruise, and service was more organized and much faster. She kept apologizing, but it wasn't her fault.