Anytime dining doesn’t work!

[Woobstr112G]

On 10/20/2018 at 2:25 PM, paul929207 said:

We were on the same cruise as OP. We made a reservation for 7:30pm most evenings. We were seated every time by 7:35pm.

Why is it right to make standing reservations in ATD?  This is also a big problem.....

 

Bob

[dckmusic]

1 minute ago, Woobstr112G said:

Why is it right to make standing reservations in ATD?  This is also a big problem.....

 

Bob

 

I haven't seen or heard of this happening on the two CB cruises we were on.  

[denamo]

Quite amazing if there is no checking if you have TD or ATD.  I know on Royal Caribbean, where most of our cruising has been done, always asks for your cabin number and look it up in the computer.  At that point, those committing the infraction who simply be told they are ineligible and would have to go to the buffet to eat.

 

On all of the Princess cruises we've been on, we've done ATD.  At various times, we've been given the beeper and told we need to wait.  Never too long.  Seems Princess needs to be firmer in diners being in the correct dining times.

 

[RDC1]

On 10/21/2018 at 6:26 PM, WarEagle76 said:

The Princess description of ATD states “Just like a restaurant at home, Anytime Dining enables guests the freedom to dine when and with whom they wish, at any time between 5:30 PM and 10 PM.”  So the fact that at the end of the day one gets to eat isn’t the issue when their marketing material sets an expectation that it should be when one chooses to dine during that time period. 

Don't know about you but in my town a lot of the restaurants have waits and hand out beepers, so in that aspect Princess Anytime is just like a restaurant at home.

[Nebr.cruiser]

2 hours ago, EastBay Cruisers said:

Pink wrote:

 

 

 

 

 

 

We just got off the Regal last week, and each night, the Head Waiters checked the status of each diner coming in to Anytime Dining.  They did not allow pax assigned to Traditional Dining to take up space during Anytime Dining.  

 

If you book a cruise a year ahead of time so that you can have TD, then you suddenly decide that you will jump in front of Anytime Dining passengers, then you're taking a table away from the Anytime Dining passengers.  If you decide that your TD doesn't work for you on a port day, then you go to Horizon Court, Alfredos, Sabatinis, Crab Shack, Crown Grill, International Cafe, or use free room service.  Endless options for you on a late port day.  But you DON'T suddenly decide to "jump over" ( after you looked at the itinerary a year in advance)   and take advantage of others.  That's what causes the problem. -- EBC 

 

 

That's good news.  I can't suddenly decide to go to TD; TD diners should not be able to eat in Anytime.

[Iamcruzin]

Well it seems like Princess has managed to make a bad dining situation worse over the years. First they add a second early TD time which takes a dining room from AT diners. If what I have read is correct they have compounded the problem by changing the TD times to unreasonably early hours.  They allow TD diners to jump from TD to AT which I'm sure will happen even more with the time change. I have sailed on Celebrity and will be sailing on Royal Caribbean next. Both lines limit the amount of passengers who can book My time dining. So if you want MTD you have to book early. In addition they allow you to prebook reservations for each day pre cruise online through the cruise planner. They also check that the passenger has chosen MY time dining. I have made reservations as well as just walked up at the desired time. I never had more than a 15 minute wait either way. The key is that they limit the passenger count and they don't allow TD to be seated in MTD. Princess has been a free for all ever since they started Anytime dining. People have been complaining on this board  about it for years. They are trying to please everyone by offering so many choices but all they are doing is creating a poor dining experience for everyone.

[floridalover5623]

7 hours ago, dckmusic said:

 

I haven't seen or heard of this happening on the two CB cruises we were on.  

Sometimes this is done very discretely without advertising it openly. People meet with the Maitre D' on the first day & make arrangements for choice seating & fixed times.

Some Maitee D's will accommodate people, some won't. 🤑

[villauk]

On 10/21/2018 at 10:57 PM, Cruise Raider said:

As of last month on the Grand, reservations were not possible.  We asked and were told NO.  And because they changed the traditional dining times for those assigned, those passengers also went to the Anytime Dining and were not turned away, making the lines for AT dining even longer.  

I know some like to eat at 6 PM and some at 7 PM, yet others prefer 8 PM.  We would have loved to eat at 6 PM, but that wasn't ever possible as we couldn't make a reservation so would have to show up at 5 PM, which is way too early for us.  If we went at 7 PM, we missed the show and my DH can't eat as late as 8 PM. This used to work in the past but they've created chaos and it is no longer a pleasure to dine in the MDR on a cruise, at least, not on a Princess cruise.  

 

 

We called every morning and booked AT for 7.15 on The Grand back in August; there were seven in our party, hence reserving to ensure a large table was available.

[Woobstr112G]

16 hours ago, Omega1 said:

......and that’s what we do.

In addition to prohibiting TD’ers from jumping back/forth to ATD, Princess also needs to do away with Standing Reservations fleet wide.  Then it would be true ATD without the headache of seeing a que despite empty tables due to standing reservations.....

 

Bob

[Omega1]

43 minutes ago, Woobstr112G said:

Princess also needs to do away with Standing Reservations fleet wide.  Then it would be true ATD without the headache of seeing a que despite empty tables due to standing reservations.....

 

Bob

Princess allow it, we do it! 

Edited October 23, 2018 by Omega1

[lstone19]

17 hours ago, A&B In Il said:

If you sign up for TD you should go to TD, and if your schedule for that day does not allow you to make your dining time then go to the Horizon Court, or get some pizza, a hamburger or a hot dog by the pool. If you know in advance that you can't make your TD time book a specialty restaurant.

 

Or, discuss it with your headwaiter (as we did once) and get the OK to go to ATD late when there is no wait and tables are going begging. In that case, there was a "once only" show at 8:15 we wanted to see that conflicted with our 8:00 late TD. Talked to Headwaiter who said not a problem so long as we went to ATD after the show (about 9:00). So we did and still enjoyed a MDR dinner without any impact on ATD guests.

[Iamcruzin]

Having to the call the dine line is just a backwards system in the world of technology. You should be able to prebook your reservations online before the cruise. Those who book early will have the best choice and those who weren't pro active will have to settle for what's left. Taking the reservations over the phone willy nilly is part of the problem. If you are walking into a dining room with empty tables that are set and ready to go and there is a line of people with pagers waiting an hour to be seated then it ain't working. Before they roll out this ocean medallion they should get a better handle on the dining experience. It doesn't make any sense to try to advance the technology for anticipating your wants and needs and still be in the dark ages trying to run the main dining room.

[Daniel A]

13 hours ago, EastBay Cruisers said:

Pink wrote:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you book a cruise a year ahead of time so that you can have TD, then you suddenly decide that you will jump in front of Anytime Dining passengers, then you're taking a table away from the Anytime Dining passengers.  If you decide that your TD doesn't work for you on a port day, then you go to Horizon Court,  Endless options for you on a late port day.  But you DON'T suddenly decide to "jump over" ( after you looked at the itinerary a year in advance)   and take advantage of others.  That's what causes the problem. -- EBC 

 

 

 

DW and I always select ATD when booking our cruises.  We take most of our meals in the buffet and we did a MDR once.  We don't add to your wait lines.  Why does everybody here think it's ok to send the TD people to get in my queue and take away my table in the buffet?  That's not right either.  It's not like people who use their ATD to eat in a MDR are special and paid more for their meals than those of us who prefer to eat in the buffet.  As long as we're making up onerous rules, nobody who eats in a MDR either TD or ATD should be allowed to eat a burger or get pizza at poolside.  That will reduce my wait in line for those items. 

 

Now that we have that settled, what are we going to do about those inconsiderate people who go willy nilly from one swimming pool to another?

[kruisey]

OK I have been reading through this post on ATD.

Those requesting table for 2.

There are not that many tables for two in dining rooms of cruise ships.If you shared you will have a better chance of getting in at your time.

Traditional dining might be the better choice ,there again if the few tables are already booked ......you always have the share option.

There is often 3000 passengers on a cruise it would not be practical or sensible to have many tables for 2.

That's my logical conclusion,or is it?

 

[Iamcruzin]

42 minutes ago, Daniel A said:

 

  Why does everybody here think it's ok to send the TD people to get in my queue and take away my table in the buffet?  That's not right either. 

Simple answer. The buffet and specialty restaurants are open to everyone at any time. TD and ATD are selected and should only be offered to those who chose those precise dining experiences.

[Iamcruzin]

9 minutes ago, kruisey said:

OK I have been reading through this post on ATD.

Those requesting table for 2.

There are not that many tables for two in dining rooms of cruise ships.If you shared you will have a better chance of getting in at your time.

Traditional dining might be the better choice ,there again if the few tables are already booked ......you always have the share option.

There is often 3000 passengers on a cruise it would not be practical or sensible to have many tables for 2.

That's my logical conclusion,or is it?

 

There isn't any problem getting a table for 2 on Celebrity or Royal Caribbean. It's probably more difficult to get a larger table if you are traveling with a large party. On Princess I know to tell them that I will take what ever size table comes first if I am eating at a peak time.

[kruisey]

6 minutes ago, Iamcruzin said:

There isn't any problem getting a table for 2 on Celebrity or Royal Caribbean. It's probably more difficult to get a larger table if you are traveling with a large party. On Princess I know to tell them that I will take what ever size table comes first if I am eating at a peak time.

Very sensible of you at PEAK TIMES.

[Tedferg]

Iamcruzin I just realized the difference between 'Anytime' and 'MyTime'.  I guess 'MyTime' does mean you can choose and schedule a time and so the ability to pre-reserve on line makes sense. Initially I thought they were just different names for the same thing. I do object to Anytime allowing reservations if it causes tables to sit empty prior to the reserved time. However if there are always tables open due to staff loading and those tables are used for reservations, then I suppose they are not adding to the number of people waiting with a buzzer.

Hope you all can follow my rambling, finally makes sense to me 🙂

 

BTW on our one cruise with Celebrity we never got to share a table, even though we would have preferred it - always table for two. We always just turned up at random times. Does Celebrity have Traditional Dining ?

 

Seems to makes sense for Princess to do away with Traditional but allow pre-reservations online to create a 'Traditional' effect for those who want same time, same table, same people.

[Cruise Raider]

5 hours ago, villauk said:

 

 

We called every morning and booked AT for 7.15 on The Grand back in August; there were seven in our party, hence reserving to ensure a large table was available.

I think it depends on who is at the door to seat people.  We saw one of the guys that was at the door in the past but unfortunately, this time he was working the floor and didn't want to step on the toes of the guy working the door.  The guy at the door had been helpful on a past cruise but this time, his favorite word for us was NO, can't do it.  It really had a negative effect on our cruise.  We've always bragged about how accommodating the staff has been on this particular ship, and, for the most part, the others were great.  This was just such a sticking point on this sailing, though.  It really had a negative effect on our dining experience.  If we encounter it again, we will go to the buffet but then look to going back to cruising more with Celebrity and less with Princess.  

BTW, happy for you that you were able to make a reservation.  7:15 doesn't work for my DH due to a medical issue, though ... if it did, we'd just choose to be assigned to traditional dining.  

[villauk]

Just now, Cruise Raider said:

I think it depends on who is at the door to seat people.  We saw one of the guys that was at the door in the past but unfortunately, this time he was working the floor and didn't want to step on the toes of the guy working the door.  The guy at the door had been helpful on a past cruise but this time, his favorite word for us was NO, can't do it.  It really had a negative effect on our cruise.  We've always bragged about how accommodating the staff has been on this particular ship, and, for the most part, the others were great.  This was just such a sticking point on this sailing, though.  It really had a negative effect on our dining experience.  If we encounter it again, we will go to the buffet but then look to going back to cruising more with Celebrity and less with Princess.  

BTW, happy for you that you were able to make a reservation.  7:15 doesn't work for my DH due to a medical issue, though ... if it did, we'd just choose to be assigned to traditional dining.  

 

Yes, I notice the new ‘late’ seating time is now 7.15pm. It was 8.15 when we booked, hence us going for AT. As you say, it probably depends on who’s on the door. I do prefer the X way of being able to book times for AT pre-cruise, mainly as there are always seven in our party and it makes it easier for everyone involved  (staff and us) regarding accommodating a large family 😉. 

 

I thought you’d have been in the CC area as haven’t you been booking the window suites of late? It is awkward if you have to adhere to dining times due to medical reasons and then can’t be seated in a reasonable timeframe.

[floridalover5623]

1 hour ago, Daniel A said:

 

 

Now that we have that settled, what are we going to do about those inconsiderate people who go willy nilly from one swimming pool to another?

As long as they don't leave stuff on multiple chairs to reserve them. 

[Cruise Raider]

14 minutes ago, villauk said:

 

Yes, I notice the new ‘late’ seating time is now 7.15pm. It was 8.15 when we booked, hence us going for AT. As you say, it probably depends on who’s on the door. I do prefer the X way of being able to book times for AT pre-cruise, mainly as there are always seven in our party and it makes it easier for everyone involved  (staff and us) regarding accommodating a large family 😉. 

 

I thought you’d have been in the CC area as haven’t you been booking the window suites of late? It is awkward if you have to adhere to dining times due to medical reasons and then can’t be seated in a reasonable timeframe.

That makes sense for a family of 7 ... not always a table large enough to accommodate that many without a wait.  

We only tried CC once and maybe that just spoiled us to no end.  It's funny that the guy that treated us so wonderfully in CC was the same guy at the door that really didn't make us feel very welcomed at the MDR.  Maybe he was just having a bad couple of weeks.  

We have CC dining on our next sailing on the Grand, though so this won't be an issue on that sailing.  But, we don't have it on our upcoming cruise on the Royal so the buffet and outdoor venues may be more inviting if we only encounter long lines at the anytime dining.  I'm told the buffet on the Royal class ships is far superior to those on the Grand class so we won't plan for a lot of dressing up for the MDR for that sailing.  

I do miss that X does not have a lot of choices when it comes to west coast sailings.  They have a couple coming up but then gone again and we had already booked with Princess during that time frame.   

[EastBay Cruisers]

3 hours ago, Daniel A said:

 

DW and I always select ATD when booking our cruises.  We take most of our meals in the buffet and we did a MDR once.  We don't add to your wait lines.  Why does everybody here think it's ok to send the TD people to get in my queue and take away my table in the buffet?  That's not right either.  It's not like people who use their ATD to eat in a MDR are special and paid more for their meals than those of us who prefer to eat in the buffet.  As long as we're making up onerous rules, nobody who eats in a MDR either TD or ATD should be allowed to eat a burger or get pizza at poolside.  That will reduce my wait in line for those items. 

 

Now that we have that settled, what are we going to do about those inconsiderate people who go willy nilly from one swimming pool to another?

Daniel,

 

If you select Anytime Dining when booking, then you are not the problem. Guests who are assigned Anytime Dining are not the problem.  

 

Guests who are assigned Traditional Dining, then "jump over" unexpectedly to A.D. create the problem. That's what the conversation is about.

 

 

[Daniel A]

4 minutes ago, EastBay Cruisers said:

Daniel,

 

If you select Anytime Dining when booking, then you are not the problem. Guests who are assigned Anytime Dining are not the problem.  

 

Guests who are assigned Traditional Dining, then "jump over" unexpectedly to A.D. create the problem. That's what the conversation is about.

 

 

 

Eastbay-

I think you may have missed the point. 

 

If TD diners who cannot make their pre-reserved accommodations is causing the problem, why must they only be referred to the buffet?  Do the anytime dining PAX who prefer to eat in the MDR occupy an elevated position that no one else may eat in their MDR?  Why is the buffet the other option?  Where do the rules say TD diners are allowed to eat at the buffet and take away my dinner table because they are not allowed to eat in the exclusive ATD MDR?

 

My basic point is that we are all in the same 'boat'.  Can't we all get along?

[Daniel A]

2 hours ago, floridalover5623 said:

As long as they don't leave stuff on multiple chairs to reserve them. 

 

They have to.  Who will hold their pool spots for hours while they stand in line waiting to be fed???