Fixed Seating vs. Anytime Dining?

[hllwdcruiser]

 

We had traditional dining and had the same family table for eight every evening at 5:15 or 5:30. The kids had a blast.

Howard

 

I've seen you post before about the Challah (yes, I lurk a lot on this site!) - I also had no idea that they baked Challah on a daily basis although I knew they did for Friday night services. Maybe they do so for the Kosher folk? Which clearly the grand kids are not, seeing those mussels and shrimp they are devouring!

 

BTW your grandchildren are adorable!

[hllwdcruiser]

When we do ATD we find a waiter we like and stick.

 

They refused to do this for us on the Regal. What's your secret?

[Pam in CA]

We didn't visit the Maitre d as soon as we boarded, we only asked in the evening when we went to dine - do you think we should ask upon boarding?

Yes. That takes the guesswork away.

 

I’ve never been successful calling for a reservation for Anytime dining on the several cruises I’ve had it. I’ve tried calling at 7:30am, 8am, etc. and either couldn’t get through or was told no reservations available for that night.

[molole]

On some nights with late port departures, all the dining rooms will be open seating.

 

If you have a late arriving ship's excursion that will conflict with the start of your dining time, speak to your wait staff who will usually refer you to the head waiter. He will usually make arrangements for you to arrive late (either at your normal table or will give you a table in open dining).

 

Be prepared for the posters that will now appear and go on a tirade about traditional diners in open seating or insist that you eat in the buffet.

 

Thank you Homosassa and Jags fan.

 

The port time runs till 9pm and it will affect both fixed sittings. I wonder if they will just turn that night into defacto anytime.

 

The main problem with open seating is that it seriously disadvantages late traditional diners as the early traditional diners who were late back to the ship are still finishing their meal when the late diners want to dine at their regular time. It was total chaos when we were on Diamond Princess in March.

 

Or maybe they will let us go to the anytime dining room? I certainly wouldn’t want to disturb the fixed timers who dine at scheduled time.

 

Come to think of it, HC will be a good choice coming back after a late day.

[jagsfan]

I prefer traditional dining but they love to make the time too darn early! Our next cruise is on Coral Princess. They offer 5:15, 5:45, or 8:00 PM. I've changed our booking from ATD to TD at 5:45 but am on the wait list. It says #3. We've never done a wait list before. Can anybody tell me how that works and how likely we might be to get the requested time? I absolutely, positively, do not want the 5:15 PM dining time. That's way too early.

 

 

 

I hate to tell you, but when we’re confirmed for 5:45 it turns into 5:15. There’s only the one early and one Kate!

 

 

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[jagsfan]

 

 

 

I always thought it was spelled "hallah." Thanks for the lesson! :)They look delicious.

 

 

You’ll see Hannukah and Chanukah, too. I think the Ch spelling is more authentic.

 

 

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[jagsfan]

Thank you Homosassa and Jags fan.

 

The port time runs till 9pm and it will affect both fixed sittings. I wonder if they will just turn that night into defacto anytime.

 

 

 

Or maybe they will let us go to the anytime dining room? I certainly wouldn’t want to disturb the fixed timers who dine at scheduled time.

 

Come to think of it, HC will be a good choice coming back after a late day.

 

 

 

Sometimes, if a large number of people will be late coming back on board, they will put in the Patter that dinner will be open seating. Like lunch.

 

 

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[Thrak]

I hate to tell you, but when we’re confirmed for 5:45 it turns into 5:15. There’s only the one early and one Kate!

 

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I can't remember back to 2015 but that may be what happened to us last time we sailed on Coral. If that does happen I'll leave it up to my wife as to whether we just bite the bullet or change back to ATD. It really would be great if Princess would stick by what they "guarantee".

[ehogan]

We have always chosen traditional dining...love having the same waiters and not having to wait for a table with Anytime.

 

The last cruise we took with Princess we booked too late to get Traditional and were assigned to Anytime. What a mess! People were lining up an hour ahead to get into the early seating. After the first night we made reservations (tricky because you had to phone first thing and hope you would get through). Apparently most did not know reservations were an option so those in line at the dining room were quite hostile to those with reservations who simply walked in. Never again Anytime!

[satxdiver]

We switched back to TD a couple years ago and picked the 6 PM time slot. We have never received a 6 PM dinner time. We usually get a 5:30 time in the Botticello MDR. The 6 PM TD offer simply does not exist. I wish Princess would correct the error and advertise two times for TD, one early and one late.

 

Back when we did ATD we liked to go to the IC area, sit sipping a cool libation and watch the pax line up for the early time. The line usually was quite long winding around the piazza.

[keithm]

We prefer fixed time as we like to interact with the staff. On our Jan. Oceania trip, there was only "anytime" dining, which while fine, really didn't allow for much interaction with the staff. They don't get to know your likes & dislikes & you really just can't have much in the way of small talk. It's just we like interacting with staff & hearing a bit about their families & such.

[Redingle]

After getting used to Freestyle dining on NCL we took Anytime on a Princess cruise, in comparison an abomination. We did Traditional on the next Princess cruise, not too bad.

Can you please expand on that We have done several NCL freestyle and this is our first Princess. first book traditional late seating but changed to anytime...did I make a mistake and should I change back?

[oskidunker]

Princess anytime is really 5:30 or 8pm. long waits with pager many reported. Some like it and claim no wait. Its not for me. i tried it once

 

 

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[casofilia]

I did both on different ships last northern summer. We were lucky to get a two top for the Traditional Dining on the second cruise and really enjoyed that as we enjoy each other's company, I don't know how long we would have lasted if we had finished up with a table for 8.

On the first cruise we had Anytime Dining and, as "oskidunker" says, never again. For a two top there was invariably a wait, they start lining up at 5pm for a 5.30 start!!!!

If we "bit the bullet" and agreed to share it was invariably a table for 8 and while the company was usually reasonable there were always problems. 3 other pairs who drank at a different rate and took the server away from serving to get the drinks, no wine waiters. People who wanted 2 starters, or even 3, which meant everyone else had to wait till they had finished those before mains would be delivered. Don't get me started about those who wanted two mains!!! Then try getting coffee or tea to go WITH desserts.

It got so bad that one night it took nearly 3 hours to get through a meal. It was VERY common for one or two couples to leave BEFORE getting dessert and coffee/tea so they could get to the show on time.

[casofilia]

first book traditional late seating but changed to anytime...did I make a mistake and should I change back?

One problem; you would not get your original booking place back!!! You would probably finish up at the end of a waitlist.

[Redingle]

first book traditional late seating but changed to anytime...did I make a mistake and should I change back?

One problem; you would not get your original booking place back!!! You would probably finish up at the end of a waitlist.

 

 

 

Just was able to change back to late traditional. Still unsure which is better but I think we may enjoy the consistency of service ...

 

 

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[arctickitty]

~ when you have the same waitstaff for fixed seating, especially on the Royal Class ships, is the service noticeably better than Anytime?

 

My experience is that it depends. Lots of people on here say that food is subjective; I say that service is subjective. My husband and I tend to prefer a quieter, less intrusive style of serving that we have come to term as "more classical." We are young people but tend to prefer servers who seem to have more experience. With Anytime dining, you never know what/who you are going to get. We have had servers who whisked everything in and out and with that made us feel special. We have had servers who push hard sells on all kinds of things we are not interested in. There have been some communication challenges here and there. My most recent cruise, our party of 4 tried Traditional Dining. Although our waiter/assistant were not the most experiences and tried to sell us things from time to time, we saw their pluses and minuses right away...and then knew what to expect every other time. While we felt that our waiter was going through the motions and not really understanding quality serving, we at least knew what his rhythm was going to be like. The second night we 4 conferred and hatched a plan...you are supposed to get what you want on a cruise, right? So, to speed things up we asked for all of our appetizers to be delivered all at once. This gave us more flexibility to eat our apps in the orders we wanted without having to explain it, got us in and out faster, and kept the waitstaff away from us for longer. So that worked for us. The other part that worked for us was that 2 of us like to eat a lot of vegetables and after I asked for steamed vegetables as an add-on the first night, the waiter remembered this and asked every night if we wanted extra veggies. Him asking us was nice because then we didn't forget, didn't try looking for him later, and didn't wait or not have all the veggies we wanted. I had never seen the point before of staff knowing your preferences. The final thing that worked well for us was that the assistant waiter gathered that we liked tea, a lot, and brought us pots of both mint and chamomile tea in the pause between entree and dessert. This was great because we always drank it, and again kept us waiting for it later, and gave us time for the tea to start cooling off. In the end, I liked the ask once and then our rhythm was set, even though we didn't care for the waiters as individuals. We took a vote at the end of the cruise and each of the 4 of us voted that we'd do TD again.