Change in Traditional Dining Times?

[Gracie115]

Who in the world wants to eat at 4:30-5:00 on a cruise?  We are going on Regal in 2 weeks and the roll call have been screaming about their times being changed.  We're lucky as we are in Club Class.  I would be really unhappy if I was set up for 6:30 or 7PM and suddenly got switched to 5:30....that's nuts and I've never heard of that on any other line.  Celebrity sometimes changes their fixed seating by 15-30 minutes but that's it.....  what is the reasoning behind this?  Is there insufficient staff or something to handle the normal times......it will only wind up dumping everyone into anytime dining that aren't happy with the change and then it will be even more overcrowded than it already is.... weird.

[Woobstr112G]

2 hours ago, abbydancer said:

 

Aren't you in CC dining?  If so, you can show up whenever you want.  And since the CC dining is in an Anytime room, you can show up until the official end of Anytime, which as far as I can guess, might move from 9:30 to 8:30 or 9:00

And I don't know if they told you, but on our Alaska cruise in April, but we ate with your BIL and SIL  and most nights we were the last in the entire room.

Yes, we will be in CC, but I was not sure of the time range with the changes.....

Bob

[PrincessE.]

Did Princess bother to ask passengers about this ridiculous change to tried & true dining times?  What is the reasoning here?   PE.

[capriccio]

43 minutes ago, Gracie115 said:

 I would be really unhappy if I was set up for 6:30 or 7PM and suddenly got switched to 5:30....that's nuts and I've never heard of that on any other line. 

In the 11 years we've been sailing Princess I don't remember traditional dining ever being at 6:30 (too late for first seating) or 7 (too early for second seating). 

[Mary loves to travel]

they did a poor job of communicating this one …. but it does actually make sense.

I keep reading of people wanting Early Traditional, or arriving at Anytime Dining very early (line ups starting at 4:30 pm have been reported a few times) to ensure getting a table when ATD opens at 5 pm.

There was never a wait list for Late Traditional.

So..... moving early to "very early"  aka 4:45 and 5 pm should appeal to those who were lining up at 4:30.   And, for me and likely others, a 7:15 pm dinner time is great!   We moved from our previous Early Traditional (6 pm changed to 5 pm), as 7:15 is a better match.

Hope this does work out, and balances folks out across the dining times better than it has been in the past.   

 

[abbydancer2003]

1 minute ago, Mary loves to travel said:

they did a poor job of communicating this one …. but it does actually make sense.

I keep reading of people wanting Early Traditional, or arriving at Anytime Dining very early (line ups starting at 4:30 pm have been reported a few times) to ensure getting a table when ATD opens at 5 pm.

There was never a wait list for Late Traditional.

So..... moving early to "very early"  aka 4:45 and 5 pm should appeal to those who were lining up at 4:30.   And, for me and likely others, a 7:15 pm dinner time is great!   We moved from our previous Early Traditional (6 pm changed to 5 pm), as 7:15 is a better match.

Hope this does work out, and balances folks out across the dining times better than it has been in the past.   

 

And maybe those who lined up at 4:30 will now line up at 4.  My guess is they line up early so that the can get in before all the tables are taken and they have to wait until someone finishes.  

 

If not, and they really wanted to eat at 4:30  the solution should have been to not change the times in the traditional dining rooms, and just opened anytime earlier.  

 

[Cruise Junky]

1 minute ago, abbydancer said:

And maybe those who lined up at 4:30 will now line up at 4.  My guess is they line up early so that the can get in before all the tables are taken and they have to wait until someone finishes.  

 

If not, and they really wanted to eat at 4:30  the solution should have been to not change the times in the traditional dining rooms, and just opened anytime earlier.  

 

Exactly. Just have anytime open earlier. Perfect solution.  It's laughable that they think their passengers want to eat at 4:45. It's doing nothing for their reputation of now having an older crowd than HAL.

[Hlitner]

11 minutes ago, abbydancer said:

And maybe those who lined up at 4:30 will now line up at 4.  My guess is they line up early so that the can get in before all the tables are taken and they have to wait until someone finishes.  

 

If not, and they really wanted to eat at 4:30  the solution should have been to not change the times in the traditional dining rooms, and just opened anytime earlier.  

 

What on earth are you talking about?  These dining times are for "Traditional" Fixed dining where everyone is assigned to a table!   And there is always the option of doing the Open Dining option and simply going to dinner when you please (similar to Club dining).  So why do those who have early Fixed dining line up even earlier?  We have wondered about that for many years and finally concluded that there are just some obsessive folks who enjoy waiting in queues :).  We see those folks waiting for dinner, waiting in line for lunch (before the MDR is open), or waiting in line wherever this is a line :).

 

Hank

[RDC1]

45 minutes ago, PrincessE. said:

Did Princess bother to ask passengers about this ridiculous change to tried & true dining times?  What is the reasoning here?   PE.

Reasoning : late traditional under used, early traditional in both dining room often full and wait listed, issues with Anytime prior to 7:00.

With changes.  Those that really want early can book the earlier time (dining times have gradually been migrating earlier over the past few years, except for European cruises (Med primarily).  For a percentage the new TD times are too early so they will move to Late TD.  That solves the problem of early TD being over loaded and late traditional being under utilized.

Those that want later then the new late traditional, can eat later using any time.

Early anytime improved because early TD now not over loaded forcing some early diners into Anytime.

Shift may reduce load on mid ship early traditional / late anytime to allow some anytime capacity early, as well as moving up the conversion to full anytime by 45 minutes.  If enough move that dining room may switch to anytime all of the time.

 

The reasoning is to shift use to match capacity and use the spare late TD dining capacity.

Edited October 18, 2018 by RDC1

[JimnKaren]

I am wondering...if lots and lots of passengers showed up at the dining room 15 minutes AFTER the posted time for TD, what would happen? The old way was to allow passengers in up to 15 minutes after the posted time. The new way?

 

Just off Island Princess and we had flex dining (whatever it is called) and twice we were escorted to the fixed-time dining room. Why? Who makes that decision?

 

So, if half the dining room shows up 15 minutes after the posted beginning time, might the powers that be learn something from that?

 

Jim

[abbydancer2003]

3 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

What on earth are you talking about?  These dining times are for "Traditional" Fixed dining where everyone is assigned to a table!   And there is always the option of doing the Open Dining option and simply going to dinner when you please (similar to Club dining).  So why do those who have early Fixed dining line up even earlier?  We have wondered about that for many years and finally concluded that there are just some obsessive folks who enjoy waiting in queues :).  We see those folks waiting for dinner, waiting in line for lunch (before the MDR is open), or waiting in line wherever this is a line :).

 

Hank

What I was talking about was the line for anytime.  I've never seen more than 3-6 people lined up for early traditional.  (At least not in the midship room).

[Cruise Junky]

This has the potential to make Any Time even more of a cluster trying to get a table.  All the disgruntled 4:45 passengers will now go to Any time. 

[knippsel]

Yes. Doesn't it seem like the "problem" is with Anytime Dining?  TD folks don't have to line up.  They just go when it's their time.

After a number of years of Anytime Dining, we finally got fed up with the wait in line, the "look" we get when requesting a table for 2 and then having another long wait,  even though our chosen time was typically 7:45PM - 8:00PM.  Or later.  A TD time of 7:45 suits us just fine.  And it was so nice to have the same staff - and have our wine waiting for us when we sat down. 

The waitstaff loses, too, if more people do Anytime.  We always give our fixed waitstaff a bit of extra tip (and leave the autograts on, of course).

Just wondering how long it will take to get it all sorted.  

[RDC1]

3 minutes ago, JimnKaren said:

I am wondering...if lots and lots of passengers showed up at the dining room 15 minutes AFTER the posted time for TD, what would happen? The old way was to allow passengers in up to 15 minutes after the posted time. The new way?

 

Just off Island Princess and we had flex dining (whatever it is called) and twice we were escorted to the fixed-time dining room. Why? Who makes that decision?

 

So, if half the dining room shows up 15 minutes after the posted beginning time, might the powers that be learn something from that?

 

Jim

The head waiter in charge of anytime makes that decision.  They do so to use available capacity and try and keep waits to a minimum.

 

As far as the other I suspect, from the gradual shift over time, passenger being in front of the dining room doors 15 minutes before they open, the lines at Anytime before they open, that enough people will be happy with the new times.

[Mary loves to travel]

20 minutes ago, abbydancer said:

And maybe those who lined up at 4:30 will now line up at 4.  My guess is they line up early so that the can get in before all the tables are taken and they have to wait until someone finishes.  

 

If not, and they really wanted to eat at 4:30  the solution should have been to not change the times in the traditional dining rooms, and just opened anytime earlier.  

 

hmmm.   I see I left something out of my line of thinking:    folks who were waitlisted for Early TD didn't want Late TD, so signed up for Anytime.      Early Traditional is waaay oversubscribed.   More want it than there is room for.   And the old Late Traditional was too late for many of us.    But, with the new Late Traditional at 7:15, more of us will sign up for Late, freeing up space in Early Traditional, and thus reducing demand on hitting Anytime the minute the doors open.    I hope this is easier to understand.

[RDC1]

10 minutes ago, abbydancer said:

What I was talking about was the line for anytime.  I've never seen more than 3-6 people lined up for early traditional.  (At least not in the midship room).

Not so much line up as gather around the doors. I have usually seen in the stern dining room that people start gathering in the lobby as early as 15 minutes before.  By the time the doors open the lobby there is usually full.  Pretty much same with the mid ships people usually filling the area in front of the doors well before they open.  Usually past the elevator lobby entrance.  Again area totally full when doors open.

Edited October 18, 2018 by RDC1

[capriccio]

14 minutes ago, JimnKaren said:

I am wondering...if lots and lots of passengers showed up at the dining room 15 minutes AFTER the posted time for TD, what would happen? The old way was to allow passengers in up to 15 minutes after the posted time. The new way?

Jim

In my earlier posting about the schedule on the Ruby Princess, it was specifically noted in the embarkation day Patter when the doors would close:

 

Michaelangelo - deck 5 midship (anytime dining): 4:30 - 8:30 pm

 

Botticelli - deck 6 aft (traditional):

• 5:30 (1st seating; door will close at 6 pm)
• 8 pm (second seating)

DaVinci - deck 6 midship:

• traditional dining: 5 pm (doors close at 5:45)
• anytime dining: 7:30 - 9:30 pm

[abbydancer2003]

5 minutes ago, RDC1 said:

Not so much line up as gather around the doors. I have usually seen in the stern dining room that people start gathering in the lobby as early as 15 minutes before.  By the time the doors open the lobby there is usually full.  Pretty much same with the mid ships people usually filling the area in front of the doors well before they open.  Usually past the elevator lobby entrance.  Again area totally full when doors open.

In that case, why did they think that making the times earlier would change anything?  If people know the doors open at 5:30, and they line up at 5:15, once the doors open at 5, they'll line up at 4:45, etc, etc.  In that case, changing the times do nothing.

[RDC1]

13 minutes ago, Cruise Junky said:

This has the potential to make Any Time even more of a cluster trying to get a table.  All the disgruntled 4:45 passengers will now go to Any time. 

However if 4:45 or 5 is too early they won't be going to Anytime when it opens because it will also open at that time.  

Should also free up more anytime capacity in mid ship TD early- AT late if enough people shift out of early traditional

[RDC1]

Just now, abbydancer said:

In that case, why did they think that making the times earlier would change anything?  If people know the doors open at 5:30, and they line up at 5:15, once the doors open at 5, they'll line up at 4:45, etc, etc.  In that case, changing the times do nothing.

No, they will, as demonstrated in these discussion, get a fair percentage to move from early TD to late TD. Shift from over subscribed slot , to the currently under subscribed late TD.

[Cruise Junky]

1 minute ago, RDC1 said:

However if 4:45 or 5 is too early they won't be going to Anytime when it opens because it will also open at that time.  

Should also free up more anytime capacity in mid ship TD early- AT late if enough people shift out of early traditional

No they won't but when the rush is on at 6:30 - 7, they'll still be eating their dinner and taking up tables. 

[RDC1]

Just now, Cruise Junky said:

No they won't but when the rush is on at 6:30 - 7, they'll still be eating their dinner and taking up tables. 

Those that start at 4:30 will be done by 6:30.  The initial use will be more staggered since they open earlier.  Fewer early diners in Anytime, because early traditional will no longer be over subscribed forcing people that wanted early TD into Anytime.  If enough moves from early TD then the mid ship early TD dining room will be under subscribed and provide more Anytime capacity in the 6 to 7 time slot, as well as its full conversion to anytime being moved up to no later than 7:30. 

 

Bottom line is should result in shorted AT waits.

[abbydancer2003]

4 minutes ago, RDC1 said:

No, they will, as demonstrated in these discussion, get a fair percentage to move from early TD to late TD. Shift from over subscribed slot , to the currently under subscribed late TD.

Apples and Oranges.  I agree, that it will probably move some from early to late, so if that's what they're trying to do, we'll see.  

 

But if it's eliminate the waiting at 5:15 (or whatever), it won't do that.

[Cruise Junky]

1 minute ago, RDC1 said:

Those that start at 4:30 will be done by 6:30.  The initial use will be more staggered since they open earlier.  Fewer early diners in Anytime, because early traditional will no longer be over subscribed forcing people that wanted early TD into Anytime.  If enough moves from early TD then the mid ship early TD dining room will be under subscribed and provide more Anytime capacity in the 6 to 7 time slot, as well as its full conversion to anytime being moved up to no later than 7:30. 

 

Bottom line is should result in shorted AT waits.

As we'd already agreed.   No one who actually wants to eat at 4:30 will be wandering over to Anytime, it's the one's that booked early dining expecting  5 or 5:30 that will be wandering over there and taking up space.

[Mary loves to travel]

2 minutes ago, abbydancer said:

Apples and Oranges.  I agree, that it will probably move some from early to late, so if that's what they're trying to do, we'll see.  

 

But if it's eliminate the waiting at 5:15 (or whatever), it won't do that.

I think they're trying to balance the load out across all dining rooms.

I'm having a hard time thinking of another solution, but could be my lack of imagination.   What do you suggest?