Your time dining

[pearose]

We have always opted for early dining on all our previous cruises. Once we had late dining and decided not to get it changed and it turned out to just be too late for us. But last time, early dining seemed to stress us out trying to get ready and rush through it to make the shows etc. So this time we are trying out YTD.

 

I would like to hear from those that have used YTD and what they liked/disliked about it? Is there a long wait for a table? Do they seat you with others or can you have a table with just your party. There will be 6 of us traveling together.

 

Thanks for any input!

[Mutumbojimbo]

We've had "Your Time Dining" on most of our sailings. We've enjoyed the flexibility it offers. If you find a team of waiters that you like, you can request to sit with them, we usually do that. We get a table for two or for our family.

 

The only real downside, is that, like a restaurant, sometimes there can be a wait for a table. In that case, you'll be given a pager. If that happens to us, we usually just grab a pre-dinner drink, but outside of Formal night, that's pretty rare.

[chrislo]

We always book YTD because we like the flexibility, that is our number one reason for selecting YTD. Out of 3 cruises we only had 1 long wait and that was the 1st formal night on the Valor (40 min). Other times we have opted to wait in order to sit by the window or with certain waitstaff.

[OCruisers]

We love the flexibility of YTD!

As another poster mentioned, the only time it was crowded were on the Elegant nights ... even then, not a long wait. :)

[swirlfamily405]

I've only been on one cruise (Triumph, July 2015), so I wasn't sure what would be easiest for a family of 5. We chose anytime dining. We usually ate early, and we never waited at all. On formal night, we were one of the first people in the DR and got a beautiful window view table. We often had some of the same servers.

[jocko4279]

I started doing YTD in 2013 and I'll never go back. Can't beat the flexibility of going when you want and eating with whom you'd like to. I waited once maybe 2o minutes. One time out of three cruises.

[vwrestler171]

We always do anytime dining. Nothing better than relaxing and watching sail away at 6 PM instead of rushing to dinner. We can go to dinner after sailaway and still enjoy our meal.

[tianajay]

I've always had your time dining and loved it. Your're able to go to dinner whenever you like which is a plus. I've never had a serious problem besides long lines on lobster night:( it seems as if no matter what time you get there the line is always long, which is a bummer. But overall, I really do like your time dining.

[averysmama]

We just tried it out for the first time and loved it. Never waited and was always seated immediately. We had a party of 2 and always sat at our own table.

[KPfromCT]

We always do anytime dining. Nothing better than relaxing and watching sail away at 6 PM instead of rushing to dinner. We can go to dinner after sailaway and still enjoy our meal.

 

 

This!!!!! :D

 

 

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[DKNE]

We're doing ytd for the first time on our cruise next week. What time is the approximate best time to go for no to little lineups? Thanks .

[Rosefloater]

We're doing ytd for the first time on our cruise next week. What time is the approximate best time to go for no to little lineups? Thanks .

 

In my experience there are usually no lines before 6:30 and after 7:30. If we go during this hour, we usually wait 20-30 minutes, even with 1st available (either shared or our own table).

[JaniceB]

We had your time with a party of 6 and never asked to sit in the same section but were always at the same table except 1 night it was 2 tables over with a different staff. We usually went around the same time 7 to 7:30. We all had suites so don't know if that made a difference.

[cruiseonthebrain]

We love the flexibility of YTD; however, we have experienced a decline in service and increase in the time it takes to get through a meal.

[Bookworm1985]

Personally, I hated it. I am one of those people that just likes the late dining, and having the same table with the same staff each night. I like how people still get the choice. Those that like early/late can still have it, and those that want more flexibility can do YTD.

[bury me at sea]

We have had YTD on last 4 Carnival 7-day cruises. Waited about 45 minutes once, about 10 minutes once, and were seated quickly all other evenings. Loved what we thought of as flexibility and loved being able to ask for same team if/when we gelled with them, and having a new team if we had a less than stellar experience. I enjoyed the experience enough to recommend it.

 

That said for our August Breeze cruise we selected early dining, mostly because we found that we always went early because it fit our own schedule. We are eager to see what the differences are.

Edited April 20, 2016 by bury me at sea

[Rosefloater]

We all had suites so don't know if that made a difference.

 

It doesn't matter your card color or your cabin type to getting seated any faster.

[Yvonne]

I seriously doubt we will ever go back to assigned seating. We absolutely love Your Time Dining. As many others have said, we love the flexibility of being able to go to dinner when WE want to, not when we are TOLD to. You can request the same servers every night, we didn't do that on our last cruise but kind of wished we would have after the cruise was over, as the first night's servers were the best of all that we had. Not that the others were not good, we just enjoyed the friendliness and efficiency of the first team. But, we did have good service from all of them. And we were seated immediately most nights, I think we may have had a 20-minute wait on elegant night but we weren't given a pager, everyone just stayed in line. We had our own table for four, which is what we prefer, but you can always request to be seated at a larger table if that is what you wish to do.

[ChristinaTravels30]

We were supposed to have YTD on our April 2nd Conquest Cruise. Originally we were in YTD and on the wait list for early dining (this is what was displayed in our cruise manager online). We called and asked to be taken off the wait list for early dining, and to just remain in YTD dining. Well, when we arrived at the boat we were in the late seating! My parents are older and did not want to be in the late seating - we were unsuccessful in changing out of the late seating (Carnival went as far as to leave us a note that our request for a dining change to the late seating - LOL - had been granted - on the second day of our cruise). At first we were so incredibly unhappy with Carnival - but then we learned that people in anytime dining were livid as they were waiting over an hour be seated (the lobby would get flooded with people waiting be seated from about 6 to 8). Needless to say, we ended up actually liking the late seating!

[bunchesofun]

We've had "Your Time Dining" on most of our sailings. We've enjoyed the flexibility it offers. If you find a team of waiters that you like, you can request to sit with them, we usually do that. We get a table for two or for our family.

 

The only real downside, is that, like a restaurant, sometimes there can be a wait for a table. In that case, you'll be given a pager. If that happens to us, we usually just grab a pre-dinner drink, but outside of Formal night, that's pretty rare.

 

This was also our experience. The only nights we got a pager was Elegant Night, and our last night but only because we wanted to be seated in a certain area to have the same waitstaff. Other than that it worked like clockwork.

[Taters]

We tried YTD once and didn't care for waiting for a table most nights. We usually don't eat dinner until 8 PM at home, so late seating is perfect for us. I prefer that our table is waiting for us rather than us waiting for a table.