Fix Anytime Dining

[acp1119]

Oh....thank you for all the explanations. So if I miss my early traditional, since part of the reason is I didn't want to have to wait, I can check ATD and if there is a wait, go to the buffet. But if it is late enough and there is no wait, then I am not inconveniencing any ATD diners and I can get a table there. And yes...I will not be going to ATD at 5:30 and waiting when I already have a table in traditional at that time!!

[acp1119]

I just don't understand why people get themselves all upset over such trivial things. You are on vacation!! Relax!! Consider yourself lucky to be fortunate to afford a cruise. I guess I'm just one of those who smile and always look on the bright side of things. Make a new friend while waiting on line. Have another drink while waiting. There are other choices. Next time do traditional and you will have no wait. At home if I want to go to a popular restaurant sometimes I have to wait or I make a choice to go somewhere else.

 

Chill out, be happy, relax. It's better for your health. And again count your blessings. Lots of people would love to be able to afford a cruise and change places with you on that line!!

 

And so back to my original response.....chill out, have a drink while waiting and talk to your fellow cruisers. Relax!!! But since I have traditional, I'll have a drink before, during and after. Lol Happy Cruising!!!

[shredie]

There are LOTS of reasons they do this...

AND, it's not just a handful of people...It's HUNDREDS of them. We know...we've met them. Most don't even see anything wrong with it. Princess seems to allow it, so why not?

 

 

You have personally met HUNDREDS of TD diners who crash ATD? Okay...:rolleyes: Was this all on one voyage? Did you get their names?

Edited October 3, 2016 by shredie

[pablo222]

...TRUST ME...

 

I'm hearing this a lot, this time of year.

 

Will I be able to vote for you on the first tuesday after the first monday in november?

Edited October 3, 2016 by pablo222

[shredie]

you'll notice there has not been one since 2011 when we discovered Celebrity S class

Why, then, are you here on the Princess board complaining? :confused:

There are certain cruises where on certain nights, TD is abandoned and it is "Anytime For Everyone". I can't say as I recall every experiencing this, but perhaps those who have can chime in as to whether it is a panacea or a nightmare.

 

I have had this experience several times. There is never a wait. Many TDers will just go to their regular table if it's available. This practice usually happens when there is a late departure, so many people are eating on shore.

 

Of course, when we talk of the number of people in the TD dining room versus the number in ATD, we aren't talking about every passenger on the ship. On any given night, the buffet is full of people whose dining room status is irrelevant to this discussion.

[Cruise Junky]

Why, then, are you here on the Princess board complaining? :confused:

 

 

.

 

I didn't complain. I confirmed what Steve wrote as being my experience. You may want to brush up on your reading skills before future posts

[Bruin Steve]

You have personally met HUNDREDS of TD diners who crash ATD? Okay...:rolleyes: Was this all on one voyage? Did you get their names?

 

YES, basically...I didn't need to collect names!

 

I was on the Sapphire Princess and had assigned traditional early dining. The cruise was FULLY BOOKED. Our dining room was about 3/4 empty EVERY NIGHT. We were assigned a table for eight...and the other six NEVER showed up. Not once. Two tables adjacent to us were completely empty every night except one when two people showed up at the next table. We asked where they've been and they told us, flat out, that they kept missing the assigned seating time, so they just went to Anytime Dining--and got seated.

 

We've been in Anytime most cruises since then. And we've been seated with others who have readily admitted to being assigned traditional dining when the subject comes up in conversation.

 

If you really think this does not happen--and in great numbers, you are naive or ignorant.

 

I also take the anytime option on Celebrity and on Royal Caribbean--where they enforce the seating--and have NEVER had a wait.

 

Let me ask you this: How would it hurt YOU if Princess enforced their dinner assignments? If you were right, nobody would be turned away. If I am right, the waits and lines would be decreased. Everyone wins.

[JimmyVWine]

Let me ask you this: How would it hurt YOU if Princess enforced their dinner assignments? If you were right, nobody would be turned away. If I am right, the waits and lines would be decreased. Everyone wins.

Wouldn't impact us one iota. We always call for a reservation on ships that allow it and take 7:30 which is almost always offered. On ships that do not allow reservations, we go to the Transitional MDR 5-10 minutes before the posted transition time and have never been handed a buzzer/beeper and have never waited in a line. I guess we have discovered a workaround that escapes most others and that is to eschew the one and only ATD MDR between 5:00-7:00. Oddly, this really works.

[Cuizer2]

And the fact is that some people come back late from a shore excursion, missing their regularly scheduled traditional dining if they are dining early. This has happened to us more than once. It's nice having the anytime dining available to us.

 

That is what the buffet is for.

[pablo222]

I was on the Sapphire Princess and had assigned traditional early dining. The cruise was FULLY BOOKED. Our dining room was about 3/4 empty EVERY NIGHT. We were assigned a table for eight...and the other six NEVER showed up. Not once.

 

I was on emerald, and a large section of the dining room

was not even set up for second seating. People simply

wanted to eat at 5:00pm rather and 8:00pm, and were not

bullied into accepting late traditional, and defaulted to

anytime.

 

(I quite enjoyed the excellent service of a half-full station,

with a fantastic waitress 'Na' from Thailand)

 

I assume most of those people went to anytime -- which shouldn't

be a problem, as they never signed up for traditional.

 

Additionally, Princess allows one to change from traditional to anytime

with one day notice.

 

And, some number of diners must use the buffet and speciality resturants

every night, as I see people in those venues.

 

So, unless you were the maitre d', I don't know how you can look

around the traditional dining room, see some number of empty seats

and pronounce -- those people are crashing the anytime dining room.

Edited October 3, 2016 by pablo222

[JimmyVWine]

So, unless you were the maitre d', I don't know how you can look around the traditional dining room, see some number of empty seats and pronounce -- those people are crashing the anytime dining room.

I guess some passengers have to poke around.

 

Whadja say your cabin number was again?

[Cuizer2]

All that would be needed is a mark on the card. Instead of being a solid color it could have a white stripe, or a black stripe, or a stripe of the same color as the card, only darker or lighter. Then it would be easy to tell if someone was in anytime or traditional.

[shredie]

All that would be needed is a mark on the card. Instead of being a solid color it could have a white stripe, or a black stripe, or a stripe of the same color as the card, only darker or lighter. Then it would be easy to tell if someone was in anytime or traditional.

 

There is a mark on the card, the table number or the ATD designation. All the appropriate people need to do is look at the card. Granted, it's difficult now for the ATD police to tell who is or is not in the right line, but they don't need to know because they have already made up their minds and no amount of logic will convince them otherwise. It's HUUUUUUUNDREDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Thrak]

Wow. This is as long as a formal night thread! :rolleyes:

[Cuizer2]

There is a mark on the card, the table number or the ATD designation. All the appropriate people need to do is look at the card. Granted, it's difficult now for the ATD police to tell who is or is not in the right line, but they don't need to know because they have already made up their minds and no amount of logic will convince them otherwise. It's HUUUUUUUNDREDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I'll take a look at my cards. Normally I go for traditional, but on the last one, and perhaps my second one, I was anytime. On my next one I'm traditional. Not sure about the one after that. I like traditional late, not sure what my friend likes, I'll have to check.

[cruzsnooze]

Just remembered that the new CLUB CLASS will impact the AT dinning room even more.

If they use the TD dining room for club class then those seats will force more passengers into AD. If they use the AT dining room they have to hold seats for passengers in club class who are getting seated immediately.

Edited October 3, 2016 by cruzsnooze

[floridalover5623]

Just remembered that the new CLUB CLASS will impact the AT dinning room even more.

If they use the TD dining room for club class then those seats will force more passengers into AD. If they use the AT dining room they have to hold seats for passengers in club class who are getting seated immediately.

 

I'll bet they'll reduce the number of dining reservations to cover the CLUB CLASS open seating people.

I suspect that means they have to hold reserved seating throughout the evening for those people which translates into even longer delays.

[Murphey]

Just remembered that the new CLUB CLASS will impact the AT dinning room even more.

If they use the TD dining room for club class then those seats will force more passengers into AD. If they use the AT dining room they have to hold seats for passengers in club class who are getting seated immediately.

 

They will not use the aft TD dining room for CC, there is no separate entrance.

[shredie]

I'll bet they'll reduce the number of dining reservations to cover the CLUB CLASS open seating people.

I suspect that means they have to hold reserved seating throughout the evening for those people which translates into even longer delays.

 

Both of those things could happen.

[kennicott]

Wouldn't impact us one iota. We always call for a reservation on ships that allow it and take 7:30 which is almost always offered. On ships that do not allow reservations, we go to the Transitional MDR 5-10 minutes before the posted transition time and have never been handed a buzzer/beeper and have never waited in a line. I guess we have discovered a workaround that escapes most others and that is to eschew the one and only ATD MDR between 5:00-7:00. Oddly, this really works.

 

This is generally the practice we have fallen into as well, with one big exception. Since we prefer to eat diner around 6:15, the single AT-MDR has proven not workable for us, as we have been averaging around 40 minute wait times when we try that. So we only use the MDRs for about 10% to 15% of our dinners. Furthermore, as I’ve mentioned before, it is not so much the wait time that is so unappealing about these ordeals at those times but the turmoil and mayhem, all the pushing and shoving in the lines and once in the MDR the confusion from the kitchen and among the wait staff.

 

So, we use the other venues, namely the specialties, we usually make reservations but sometimes not, regardless of reservations, we almost always walk right in and get seated. Makes for a great cruise experience.

 

Some posters like to emphasize wait times at shore based restaurants as rationale for having to put up with long waits for dinner on the cruise lines. I don’t buy that cop out. We eat out a lot at the higher end restaurants, we make reservations and never have to wait. But I suppose if we headed over to a non-reservation local eatery franchise for a national food chain at 6:00 PM on Friday night we would have to wait.

 

When we do decide to try the MDR we do what you do, head for the “transitional” MDR a little before they open the doors for ATD. Doing that we usually eat between 7:20 and 8:00.

 

As has been thoroughly discussed here is that the problem originates because most folk prefer to eat between 6:00 and 6:30, which the vessel's MDRs cannot accommodate very well. You have provided one solution where the “transitional” dining room could be put to more effective use by going with a 50/50 split at the start of the evening. I mentioned before where the wait staff coordinated very well between the three MDRs one time and made it work. But using the existing facilities more efficiently takes more staff time and improved managerial techniques which translates into a reduction in profit margins.

[Thrak]

I just hope they don't dink around with my TD time. We're booked for 6:00 TD for 28 days. On a 17 day cruise last year they moved us from our chosen (confirmed) time to 5:15 dining. Yikes! If they do that for this next cruise I will be having a conversation with the matre d. I do NOT want to have 5:15 dining for 28 days. It's waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too early!!!

 

If that happens and we can't get our 6:00 time back I will switch us to ATD and become "part of the problem".

[Murphey]

I just hope they don't dink around with my TD time. We're booked for 6:00 TD for 28 days. On a 17 day cruise last year they moved us from our chosen (confirmed) time to 5:15 dining. Yikes! If they do that for this next cruise I will be having a conversation with the matre d. I do NOT want to have 5:15 dining for 28 days. It's waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too early!!!

 

If that happens and we can't get our 6:00 time back I will switch us to ATD and become "part of the problem".

 

This is what happened to us on our last cruise in August. We were confirmed for 6 pm TD. On board that turned our to be 5:15. Way too early...and yes, 45 minutes makes a difference. Met with the Maître D and he arranged for us to have a table at 7:00 each night. Obviously it was in the AT dining room. I guess we were bad. But, there were always empty tables all around us.

[Cruisin' Chick]

Would love to see some "real" data on the issue and not just anecdotes. Personally I dislike anytime dining and choose a 6 pm traditional time if it's available. If we are late then we eat elsewhere --just not in anytime.

My bugaboo about dining room options is how the time one is confirmed for sometimes becomes something else once onboard and the requested table for two is not available at all in that dining room. Would be easy for Princess to create accurate options on their website for each ship.

 

It would be nice if Princess would set the sitting times and stick with them. A few cruises ago, it took a few tries to find out when late traditional time was for that sailing. we asked our cabin steward and he wasn't sure. The desk directory didn't help. finally had to call the front desk, which was pretty busy. Apparently it was at a different time that the previous cruise.

 

we did book early traditional for our last cruise as there was a waitlist for late traditional -- we were that desperate to avoid getting anytime again. On the first afternoon, I went to the head waiter station and put in a request to get moved to late traditional which was granted for the second evening. so it's not just early dining that is popular...it depends on the demographics. But I can see hubby suggesting we get the early seating the next time (whenever that is) because he has switched his schedule to eating dinner early at home (it's not even 6pm and he's now eating his dessert).

 

If your BGL is out of whack nip upto the horizontal court or IC or grill and grab something to tide you over.

 

As for your last sentence, plenty of other places to go.

 

we often will have an afternoon nosh to tide us over for a 8pm dinner seating.

[Cuizer2]

(it's not even 6pm and he's now eating his dessert).

 

Any video or pictures? :confused:

[Cruisin' Chick]

Sigh - time for a reality check..

 

1> Yes, TD diners do skip their assigned times and show up for AD. I've personally been told by individuals they have done it, and there are more than enough other claims and statements to move it beyond the realm of anecdotal only...

 

2> Ah, but the big question? How many? Guess what, we'll never know, because Princess is the only one who would and they don't check, plus I suspect it varies greatly by itinerary and port/sea day..

 

3> But if they check cards, all the problems would go away! No, no they wouldn't. But that doesn't mean it wouldn't help. If only 100 TD diners were turned away during peak time, that's 100 AD diners who will get in faster, reducing average wait time for AD folks who are playing by the rules. There's a difference between reducing wait time to zero and just reducing wait time..

 

4> They should be able to sit me immediately. They should, when the room opens. However, once that room is full, no more tables will appear until people start to get up. So, once the room is full, there is going to be at least 45 mins before more people can get in, regardless of the TD/AD situation (but again, the TD situation will make this worse because more people are waiting for limited spots). So, if you arrive at that time period, you have to have reasonable expectations.

 

5> RCCL/Celebrity/Brand X does it better. On this one I will agree, but not just because of TD enforcement. RCCL/Celebrity have invested a not inconsiderable sum of IT resources into their dining systems. These not only help with load balancing, but also speed up service times. In addition, many of the RCCL dining venues are multi-tiered or multi-venued and they can change the allocation of space for a given cruise. Also, RCCLs system, especially on newer ships, is oriented towards AD like dining as the standard and TD as the lesser used option.

 

6> Reservations screw up the system! They do, but not as bad as people tend to think, because at least its the same pool of people. When it becomes a problem is when the MD, instead of using a call-ahead seating model, permits mock TD in the AD rooms, which means tables are being used less efficiently because they may have to remain empty for a period (call-ahead seating means you don't get an assigned table, you get the first available one at or after your booked time)

 

7> Staffing! It's no secret Princess has cut back on MDR staffing (as have many lines). When you reduce staffing, you increase service time, which decreases table availability, which increases wait times!

 

So... there's no one way to 'fix' the issues with AD. But there are certainly ways to mitigate them, such as...

 

1> increase staffing in the MDRs.

2> make space more flexible in future designs

3> enforce the rules (and if you wish to accommodate make a simple rule change. TD diners will only be accommodated in the AD rooms when no AD diners are waiting for a table, and any walkup ADs will be given preference)

 

or you could get really creative and..

 

Eliminate TD and AD dining rooms. Instead, spread traditional dining throughout all venues on the ship at assigned tables. With a little software help, this would give the MDs and Headwaiters maximum flexibility (for example, if someone doesn't show up after 15 mins for a TD assignment, AD diners can be seated there, no wasted space. And you could offer more TD times...

 

Nothing will solve all the problems but to discourage any solution because it might help only a little is just wrongheaded..

 

I still contend from looking around the traditional dining rooms I've been in on my cruises is that there aren't vastly empty tables. I have had tablemates who say that the next night they're eating in a specialty restaurant or that in a late port visit (most of the time our sailings have left by 4 or 5pm so not always applicable), they're eating in port.

 

I think in many cases, if there are td'ers crashing the ATDs, it's because they have been told by their TA it's okay. I hope if Princess starts checking cards (and I keep saying on these threads it's fine with me if they did as I won't be trying to crash the ATDs anyway), diners in that situation will inform their TA after the cruise that it isn't the case.

 

to me, if traditional dining goes away, then it's not "personal choice dining" as far as I'm concerned. there's been plenty of other t.d. diners posting on this thread. and obviously, given that there's usually waitlists on most, if not all, sailings, that there is a demand for t.d. Just think, an additional seating for traditional (the early early seating) was added about four or five years ago. Reducing the space for traditional dining probably won't solve the problem for anytime diners if on a specific cruise, they decide to eat at the same time, but it would certainly make those who couldn't clear the waitlist not very happy at all.