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Anytime dining


Jeff1192
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Wee going on a regal princess cruise and we're wondering on the pros and cons of the anytime dining. We think we'd prefer the being able to eat whenever we want but are concerned about possible wait times when not having a reserved time. What do you guys think?

 

Thanks

 

Jeff

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I just got off the Regal yesterday. There were 5 of us and we had Anytime dining. We went to dinner around 6pm most evenings. Twice we made reservations but the rest of the time we just went there. We never waiting more than a couple of minutes to be seated.

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It can depend on the demographics of any particular cruise, and the time you show up....later is usually better for avoiding lines, and sharing a table with others offers quick seating also.

 

Love the flex that anytime offers

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Wee going on a regal princess cruise and we're wondering on the pros and cons of the anytime dining. We think we'd prefer the being able to eat whenever we want but are concerned about possible wait times when not having a reserved time. What do you guys think?

 

Thanks

 

Jeff

 

Can only say that we had the same thoughts, but opted for Anytime (we cruise in april).

But this brings up another question: If you opt for the Traditional(fixed-time) dining, can you wander in to the Anytime DR to eat? (and vice-versa, I suppose) Do they keep lists of names or cabin numbers? How do they know who's who?

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Can only say that we had the same thoughts, but opted for Anytime (we cruise in april).

But this brings up another question: If you opt for the Traditional(fixed-time) dining, can you wander in to the Anytime DR to eat? (and vice-versa, I suppose) Do they keep lists of names or cabin numbers? How do they know who's who?

 

No, you can't wander back and forth...you end up using twice the number of chairs....and that itself causes line-ups. If you head over to Anytime, you are committed to do that for your entire cruise.

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Can only say that we had the same thoughts, but opted for Anytime (we cruise in april).

But this brings up another question: If you opt for the Traditional(fixed-time) dining, can you wander in to the Anytime DR to eat? (and vice-versa, I suppose) Do they keep lists of names or cabin numbers? How do they know who's who?

 

Your cruise card identifies you dining arrangement, and at the door way of anytime, they often ask to see your card.

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Can only say that we had the same thoughts, but opted for Anytime (we cruise in april).

But this brings up another question: If you opt for the Traditional(fixed-time) dining, can you wander in to the Anytime DR to eat? (and vice-versa, I suppose) Do they keep lists of names or cabin numbers? How do they know who's who?

 

No, you can't wander back and forth...you end up using twice the number of chairs....and that itself causes line-ups. If you head over to Anytime, you are committed to do that for your entire cruise.

Once when there was a delay at the Regal's anytime dining rooms they escorted us to an available table in the traditional dining room.

 

As said the demographics is a factor but also the itinerary. We've had anytime dining during 6 weeks of cruising on the Regal & Royal. They were longer cruises with many sea days and when arriving at the Symphony between 5:30 and 6:00 we were immediately seated but noticed it was full thereafter. Then when the Concerto opened for anytime dining at 7:30 there were no delays.

 

Another thing we experienced was that more passengers went to the right side entrance which is the only entrance available on most Princess ships. The Regal & Royal are the only Princess ships we've sailed that also have entrances on the left side of the AT dining rooms. Going to the left side entrance was always our quickest option to be seated on our Regal & Royal cruises.

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The complaints I hear about from people with anytime dining are about wait times between 6 and 8. If you show up earlier or later, there's usually not a wait. The one time we had anytime dining, we learned on the first night to avoid going during those times if we did not want to wait. The only problem with going later in the evening is that we always ended up at a table by ourselves since no one else going at that time was requesting to share a table.

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The Horizon Court was so nice on the Regal on our Med cruise in 2014 that we only ate in the DR on one formal night. At about 6:30 almost half of the DR was empty. I would expect this to be very different on a Caribbean cruise where most of the Americans want to eat early.

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