second thoughts about Any Time Dining

[outatouch0]

Party of 2 seniors, 2 adults, and 2 children (ages 5 & 7).

I signed us up for Any Time Dining because I don't want to be on a schedule while on vacation but now I am having second thoughts. Since most of the ship has food on deman somewhere I am thinking it might be a good idea to have an option that will not involve a first come, first severd affair. 

Cany anyone tell me what kind of wait we should expect with the any time option for a party of 6?

How long does dinner usually last from start to finish with the two options?

Other thoughts, suggestions, snide remarks ?

[Splitt44]

We've always done anytime dining with no regrets. Dining time is easily an hour, but probably an hour and half, especially if you go at 5:45. The only time we've ever had to wait for a table was on Christmas Day dinner.  

[Cruise-Crazy]

The longest I’ve waited with YTD was about 10 minutes. There is usually two or three people ahead of me.  Dinning time the same as any other MDR option. 

 

I only do Your Time now. 

[jc4me]

YTD is always our first choice.  Never had a problem, even with larger parties.

[CdrescherRBL152]

I for one can not see the lure of YTD. But we look to do things we don't do at home when on a cruise. And making a reservation or standing inline to get a table for dinner, we can do that any night of the week.

[thesmiths]

Use the Hub APP.

[Hoosierpop]

We usually get our time dining and prefer it. Mostly for the flexibility, and we’ve never had a long wait. With the set time, 8:15 is way too late for us and sometimes, 6:00 is too early depending on when we ate lunch. And if we do have a wait, there is usually something we can do while we wait other than just sit in a waiting area like a restaurant.

[Joebucks]

I don't really care for being on a schedule either, but I hate waiting around even more. Because of schedules, we want to be out of dinner by 7-7:30. love my 6 pm dining. Your table of 6 will always be ready, and you will have a better relationship with your wait team than with YTD.

[Nic6318]

Hi

 

The main drawback for both set dining time and anytime dining are the same for both. 

 

Getting everybody on the same page (ready, willing, and able to go to dinner at the same time). Dining is going to take up the same time with either option. You always have the option of not eating in the MDR with either choice. The only difference with YTD is that you have the added option of eating at a later time in the MDR, and that now brings up the point that you have to get the others in your party to agree on a "different" time, as you would if you were going to go to dinner at a different time every day. Just want to point out, many people do this, having YTD and going to the dining room at 5:45 p.m. every night is the same as the early set time dining. 

 

have a great cruise

[MisterOJ2]

I've done both, and nowadays I just don't care a lot for Your Time Dining - especially with younger children like you have. With traditional seating, the wait staff is much more efficient, because they are taking all tables orders at the same time, delivering appetizers, etc., at the same time. So everything just goes more smoothly and they get you in and out of the dining room in a more orderly fashion.

 

YTD is great if you don't want to have to show up at a particular time, but you have to sacrifice the efficiency of the wait staff. And for me, that's just not worth it.

[SERK]

1 hour ago, Joebucks said:

I don't really care for being on a schedule either, but I hate waiting around even more. Because of schedules, we want to be out of dinner by 7-7:30. love my 6 pm dining. Your table of 6 will always be ready, and you will have a better relationship with your wait team than with YTD.

We are the same way. Plus, we do develop a great relationship with our wait staff and they will have our drinks, etc ready to go when we get there. 

[Florings]

Either option has its pros, depending on what your priorities are:

Set dining time - always the same table and staff.  Always the same time, you can schedule your evening around a set time.

 

Your Time - sometimes, especially if it's a later port days, we just aren't in the mood for changing for dinner.  Or if we had a large lunch, we may want to eat later than normal.  The freedom to eat whenever you desire, or not if you prefer to skip it.

 

I tried YTD once and didn't like it at all.   We went back to early dinner, with a table for 2.  Then we tried YTD the next time and loved it and will always use that option now.

[ctsharpie05]

4 hours ago, outatouch0 said:

Party of 2 seniors, 2 adults, and 2 children (ages 5 & 7).

I signed us up for Any Time Dining because I don't want to be on a schedule while on vacation but now I am having second thoughts. Since most of the ship has food on deman somewhere I am thinking it might be a good idea to have an option that will not involve a first come, first severd affair. 

Cany anyone tell me what kind of wait we should expect with the any time option for a party of 6?

How long does dinner usually last from start to finish with the two options?

Other thoughts, suggestions, snide remarks ?

We sailed on the Magic in July. We had a 5 minute wait 1 or 2 nights and no waits the other nights. Dinner could be quick (30 minutes) or as long as you would like. You can also request the same servers. We are the same as you...hate schedules on vacation and it worked great for us. (so many trips to Disney with so many reservation times ruined it for us).

[mommyof3texans]

Just got off a 5 day on the Dream and loved YTD. With the Hub App, you just request a table and it will tell you when your table is ready and what table number to go to. No need to wait in line to be seated. I found dinner to be just as efficient with YTD as I have in the past with pre-assigned dining times. The only waiting is if you arrive before the doors open at 5:45.

 

You do order appetizers and main course at the same time though they are brought out separately. I did not find it took long at all to get through dinner. 

[bury me at sea]

After trying both we unanimously settled on early dining.  We are most often a group of four.  We generally go our own ways or split up different ways during the day.  After trial and error we agreed it is easier to plan around a 6:00 dinner than to get together everyday to plan what time to meet for dinner that evening.

 

Your mileage of course may vary.

 

Whatever you choose, happy sailing.

[pjhootch]

We have done both.  I find that how long the wait takes for YTD varies some from ship to ship- but is very rarely more than 10 minutes at the outside.  You no longer need to wait in line since you can use the hub app. 

 

When my husband and I sail alone we now stick with YTD.  We can sit with just the two of us and not feel the need to make small talk with other folks.   We enjoy dinner more that way.  I do believe the meals take longer with YTD because the wait staff is busy working tables at different places in their meals.  Service can be a bit hit or miss, although we find they all try very hard.  We like the movies on deck- and find if we do early or late seating we always miss the start of a movie that we want to see.

 

When we travel with our grown kids (no grandkids though) we have a standard dinner time.  That way everyone knows what time dinner is every night and where to go.  We can all just meet at the table at the correct time.  Sometimes we will be at a table with other people (we are a family of five and have been at tables with other families of four or five) and other times it is just the five of us.  The waiters are more attentive and the meal usually moves along  a little faster.

 

 

[Joebucks]

3 hours ago, Nic6318 said:

Getting everybody on the same page (ready, willing, and able to go to dinner at the same time). Dining is going to take up the same time with either option. You always have the option of not eating in the MDR with either choice. The only difference with YTD is that you have the added option of eating at a later time in the MDR, and that now brings up the point that you have to get the others in your party to agree on a "different" time, as you would if you were going to go to dinner at a different time every day. Just want to point out, many people do this, having YTD and going to the dining room at 5:45 p.m. every night is the same as the early set time dining.

 

This is a great point that rarely gets brought up. If you've traveled with groups of people. You know the frustration and effort involved with trying to co-ordinate events each night. When the time is flexible, others are even more likely to delay. When there is a hard time, there is little room for deviation.

 

From 5-6, we rarely have anything going on. By then, we are usually already back from port or done with lido for the day, and showered. It's time to get dinner out of the way with our crew, and then enjoy the night.

[teknoge3k]

We always do YTD and wouldn't want anything else. We always use the same wait staff so we have a good relationship with them by the end of our voyage. It's nice because we go when we're hungry, not at a set time. We don't eat at a set time at home. We've never had a wait, and it's nice because on night 1 we tell our wait staff we don't want some long drawn out process and they oblige. We're typically out of the MDR in about 45 minutes. That's with appetizers, entree and a dessert. 

[Organized Chaos]

9 hours ago, outatouch0 said:

Party of 2 seniors, 2 adults, and 2 children (ages 5 & 7).

I signed us up for Any Time Dining because I don't want to be on a schedule while on vacation but now I am having second thoughts. Since most of the ship has food on deman somewhere I am thinking it might be a good idea to have an option that will not involve a first come, first severd affair. 

Cany anyone tell me what kind of wait we should expect with the any time option for a party of 6?

How long does dinner usually last from start to finish with the two options?

Other thoughts, suggestions, snide remarks ?

 

We always do Your Time Dining. Mainly for the flexibility. We don't know when we'll want dinner from night to night. Depending on the activities we want to attend, we might want to go earlier or later. Not to mention the fact that we may not be hungry for early dining, what with the possibility of having a late lunch or snacking during the day. YTD works out so much better for us.

 

There's usually 3 or 4 of us and a vast majority of the time we get seated right away. A few years ago, we were part of a party of 5 and had the same experience...we were almost always seated right away. Once in a while, we'd have a 5-10 min. wait. With that said, our longest waits almost always fall on the last night of the cruise and they're usually about 30 minutes. Everyone seems to want to get one last MDR meal in, so it's busy.

 

Dinner usually lasts an hour to an hour and a half. With the reduction in wait staff in the last year or two, sometimes they feel like they can drag on too long. We missed one of the early Playlist shows last year because they took forever. Earlier this month, the same thing almost happened. We skipped dessert to make the show.

 

If you're on a ship that allows you to check in for YTD through the HUB app, and at least one of your uses a smartphone, you can do that. That way you don't have to wait at the MDR, it'll alert you when a table is ready and you have, I think, 10 minutes to get there.

Edited December 30, 2019 by Organized Chaos

[grandmarnnurse]

8 hours ago, Cruise-Crazy said:

The longest I’ve waited with YTD was about 10 minutes. There is usually two or three people ahead of me.  Dinning time the same as any other MDR option. 

 

I only do Your Time now. 

We’ve had the same experience. After trying YTD, I’d never go back, and am a big proponent to making the whole ship YTD, so that there’s never a worry that your dinner choice would be rejected. I know, the haters are out there, ready to flame me for this, but really, when you think about all the people that get upset when their dining choice isnt accepted, if everyone had YTD, and just went when they wanted to, there would never be an issue. Yes, you may need to wait a bit for a table sometimes, but you do at most restaurants. Get a cocktail at the bar while you wait. 

[bury me at sea]

1 hour ago, grandmarnnurse said:

We’ve had the same experience. After trying YTD, I’d never go back, and am a big proponent to making the whole ship YTD, so that there’s never a worry that your dinner choice would be rejected. I know, the haters are out there, ready to flame me for this, but really, when you think about all the people that get upset when their dining choice isnt accepted, if everyone had YTD, and just went when they wanted to, there would never be an issue. Yes, you may need to wait a bit for a table sometimes, but you do at most restaurants. Get a cocktail at the bar while you wait. 

 

Wow.

[coevan]

Wow, what?  I agree love YTD.

[grandmarnnurse]

47 minutes ago, coevan said:

Wow, what?  I agree love YTD.

Precisely! Who knows what that “wow” was all about. Some people are just so afraid of change, even when it’s really for the better. But mark my words, flexible dining is what the majority of cruisers want, and cruise lines listen. Sometime in the future, that may be all you see.  You can still eat at your preferred time, and you can request a certain waiter, if they are available. So, there is no “wow” in any of that. If Carnival wants to keep assigned dining, along with YTD, then they need to always honor a passengers request for their chosen style and time. The last thing I want on a cruise is to be told when I have to eat, or worse, sit with a bunch of strangers. I know, many enjoy that, but certainly not my cup of tea. I find it awkward. And uncomfortable. We prefer a table just for our party, something easily accomplished each time I step up to the hostess for YTD. 

[bury me at sea]

1 hour ago, coevan said:

Wow, what?  I agree love YTD.

Wow, I am glad Carnival offers YTD for those who want it.

 

Wow, why wish Carnival didn't also offer set dining for those who prefer it?

[grandmarnnurse]

17 minutes ago, bury me at sea said:

Wow, I am glad Carnival offers YTD for those who want it.

 

Wow, why wish Carnival didn't also offer set dining for those who prefer it?

As I said, it’s because they have a habit of not always granting people their dinner choice, and giving one that you did not choose. If it was all YTD, this would not happen. But if they could keep assigned dining AND YTD, and honor everyone’s choice, then that would be fine. It’s just not what usually happens. If everyone was YTD, then they could just go when they choose. Now do you understand what I was trying to say? I just don’t think it’s right to deny someone’s choice. If they can’t honor it, make it all flexible.