Anytime Dining - post covid

[cellfree]

Any thoughts on what Anytime Dining will look like when cruising starts again? Perhaps cruisers will have to make a reservation prior to dining daily to avoid the congestion when Anytime Dining opens up every evening. 

[Cruiseboy06]

1 minute ago, cellfree said:

Any thoughts on what Anytime Dining will look like when cruising starts again? Perhaps cruisers will have to make a reservation prior to dining daily to avoid the congestion when Anytime Dining opens up every evening. 

like other restaurants!!!!!!!!!!

[joeyancho]

I doubt anyone,  including the cruise line,   know what cruising will look like until closer to sailing.  There are just too many variables.  

[xDisconnections]

3 hours ago, Cruiseboy06 said:

like other restaurants!!!!!!!!!!

What makes you so sure?

[ray98]

You will have to wait and see.  Some of the speculations made on here are simply not feasible in the real world unless you drastically, and I mean drastically, cut capacity.  Lets not pretend the lines were not stretched to the limit at every meal time, both in space and time allotment.  It was a lesson in controlled chaos.  There is simply no way they can serve anywhere near that amount of guests during a meal time taking the drastic measure some are claiming are on the horizon.

 

Everything on a cruise ship involves funneling guests into groups, it is literally how they are designed.  There are only so many common areas, so many bars, so much entertainment.  

[joeyancho]

10 minutes ago, ray98 said:

You will have to wait and see.  Some of the speculations made on here are simply not feasible in the real world unless you drastically, and I mean drastically, cut capacity.  Lets not pretend the lines were not stretched to the limit at every meal time, both in space and time allotment.  It was a lesson in controlled chaos.  There is simply no way they can serve anywhere near that amount of guests during a meal time taking the drastic measure some are claiming are on the horizon.

 

Everything on a cruise ship involves funneling guests into groups, it is literally how they are designed.  There are only so many common areas, so many bars, so much entertainment.  

Exactly!   Social distancing in the dining rooms is just not possible with a full ship. 

[ray98]

1 minute ago, joeyancho said:

Exactly!   Social distancing in the dining rooms is just not possible with a full ship. 

 

Yup.  They don't have the space to take away a good portion of the tables and there aren't enough 'reservation slots' to keep the guests spread out and still feed everyone during the meal period.

 

This isn't a land based restaurant where they simply serve to their capacity and hang the closed sign up at the end of the night.  The lines have to feed everyone 3 times a day and they have to do so within the traditional meal times.

[rs45thompson]

9 hours ago, joeyancho said:

Exactly!   Social distancing in the dining rooms is just not possible with a full ship. 

I thought they were going to do reduced sailings, no?

[joeyancho]

5 minutes ago, rs45thompson said:

I thought they were going to do reduced sailings, no?

My opinion only,  they will only do reduced sailings as far as they are forced to.   You don't make any money sailing empty.  The cruise lines have a huge debt to pay off.  

[crewsweeper]

3 minutes ago, joeyancho said:

My opinion only,  they will only do reduced sailings as far as they are forced to.   You don't make any money sailing empty.  The cruise lines have a huge debt to pay off.  

I would agree up to a point.  Reduced sailings will come from the direction of the CDC.  But if several months of sailing pass by and few if any quarantines arise, like dry land establishments, the capacity will increase. 

Anytime time will most like involve advanced reservations at set times, but different from the Our time Dining of 6 and 8:30 or what ever.  Probably staggered 15 to 20 minutes apart  and probably limiting groups to 4 per table.  Doubtful, IMO, that the ship will permit you to just walk up and get a buzzer.  

[bumorgan]

Breakfast starts at 3am then every hour through 9am. Lunch starts 9:30 every hour through 2pm. Dinner starts 3pm every 90 minutes through 1am. Suggest you reserve very early to get prime time seating😷😁

[glrounds]

Require proof of Covid vaccinations and this all goes away.

[pc_load_letter]

12 hours ago, joeyancho said:

Exactly!   Social distancing in the dining rooms is just not possible with a full ship. 

 

It's fairly obvious that ships will run at 50% capacity for at least into next year. 

 

 

[marshhawk]

I was thinking  that they may do away with Your time dining for the first year or so once they start cruising.  If they really mean to socially distance us, table for 8 would be tables of 4, and they can speed up food delivery  and have three dining times.  You are around less people when you know what table to go to after the first night.  You are not standing in a line, stuffed in the library, or hanging out in the atrium.  You enter, you order, you eat, you leave.  That late dinner might be really late......

 

Will the MDR start serving lunch again to cut down on lines at the buffet, Guys, pizza, etc?  Back to the way it used to be, before the cruise line started cutting back?  Will breakfast be a timed breakfast at the same table you had dinner at? (think cruising before it became a vacation, and more of a mode of travel)?  Will the willy nilly of open seating for brunch be a thing of the past? Along with brunch?   If i know that no one can get on board without being vaccinated, I don't mind sharing a table at all.

[BlerkOne]

Plexiglass

 

[BlerkOne]

I think check in and be notified via the app.

[zdcatc12]

1 minute ago, BlerkOne said:

Plexiglass

 

That won't be needed. In Texas, most restaurants don't even have those anymore even without everyone vaccinated. I think it will be all tables of two and four and if you have a bigger party than that, they will put tables together. Vaccination as a requirement to cruise, of course.

[cruisingguy007]

Too popular, not going anywhere. Having a set dinner time is not relaxing and only older passengers with early bed times enjoy eating dinner early. They will find a way to make it work. Some dividers and upgrading the air filtration may be enough. They may also need to turn over passengers a bit faster so expect those dishes to come out faster and more ordering everything (starters, mains, and dessert) at the outset. Many restaurants are already putting hard 90 min limits on diners in order to churn customers and have some consistent numbers/patterns. No more long drawn out dinners, enjoy your food but go hangout somewhere else to chat and have after dinner drinks.      

Edited March 18, 2021 by cruisingguy007

[scpirate]

You will have to eat your grill cheese and potato chips in your cabin..they will slide your tray under the door.drink water from the tap.kind of like prison.dont ask how I know.i just do.

[Tiger0613]

53 minutes ago, cruisingguy007 said:

Having a set dinner time is not relaxing and only older passengers with early bed times enjoy eating dinner early.

I didn't know 13 was old.

 

I'm 32, I stay up late, and I have always had assigned dining.  I have had early dining on 9 cruises and late dining on 2 cruises.  I went on my first cruise when I was 13.

 

I choose early dining when it is available because I usually get bored in the afternoon, and I can only take the boredom for so long.  I have run out of patience by 5:30pm.  I don't drink, do trivia, or play bingo.  I only go to the casino for a couple hours on the last night.

 

It is very much relaxing.  I like not having to stand in any line for any amount of time.  I go in about 5 minutes after the dining room opens.  I don't have to deal with the people that crowd the space outside the doors.  I already know what I want to eat because I looked at the menu for the entire cruise in the app not long after boarding the ship.  I can get in and out in 60 - 75 minutes.  I don't stick around for the musical numbers.  I make sure to ask them to bring my dessert early.  I got tired of melted ice cream.

[cruisingguy007]

9 minutes ago, Tiger0613 said:

I didn't know 13 was old.

 

I'm 32, I stay up late, and I have always had assigned dining.  I have had early dining on 9 cruises and late dining on 2 cruises.  I went on my first cruise when I was 13.

 

I choose early dining when it is available because I usually get bored in the afternoon, and I can only take the boredom for so long.  I have run out of patience by 5:30pm.  I don't drink, do trivia, or play bingo.  I only go to the casino for a couple hours on the last night.

 

It is very much relaxing.  I like not having to stand in any line for any amount of time.  I go in about 5 minutes after the dining room opens.  I don't have to deal with the people that crowd the space outside the doors.  I already know what I want to eat because I looked at the menu for the entire cruise in the app not long after boarding the ship.  I can get in and out in 60 - 75 minutes.  I don't stick around for the musical numbers.  I make sure to ask them to bring my dessert early.  I got tired of melted ice cream.

 

Sounds very contradictory and like cruising is something you have to endure but hey, whatever floats your boat! Different strokes for different folks! 

[DallasGuy75219]

1 hour ago, cruisingguy007 said:

They may also need to turn over passengers a bit faster so expect those dishes to come out faster and more ordering everything (starters, mains, and dessert) at the outset. Many restaurants are already putting hard 90 min limits on diners in order to churn customers and have some consistent numbers/patterns.  

 

Then they'll have to hire more crew than pre-pandemic... cooks, waiters, or both.  Team waiters and assistant waiters spend an insane amount of time waiting for food in the galley instead of actually serving passengers, leaving the headwaiter in the dining room overwhelmed trying to tend to all the passengers in their section.

 

It shouldn't be that difficult with a finite number of dishes served each night and a dedicated station for each dish... it's not like a restaurant with a full cooked-to-order menu.  In my experience dinners run long waiting for food to come from the galley, not due to passengers lingering or dilly-dallying.

[miataman19]

According to my contacts at Carnival in Miami the CDC will (most likely) require limited capacity. Now what that means is up to interpretation. My PVP is telling me the same thing. Looks like 50% capacity to start. I'm booked in August 2021. That's starting to look a little iffy right now, we'll see. I've already made my reservations in The Steakhouse each night so I don't have to deal with the MDR.  

[DANCING GRANDMOMMY]

On 3/16/2021 at 7:05 PM, cellfree said:

Any thoughts on what Anytime Dining will look like when cruising starts again? Perhaps cruisers will have to make a reservation prior to dining daily to avoid the congestion when Anytime Dining opens up every evening. 

When we were on the Panorama there was a booth where you made reservation. I have also been told that that can now be done on the Hub. Just call and tell them your ready and they will let you know when. 

 

[kwokpot]

4 minutes ago, DANCING GRANDMOMMY said:

When we were on the Panorama there was a booth where you made reservation. I have also been told that that can now be done on the Hub. Just call and tell them your ready and they will let you know when. 

 

You can make Your Time Dining reservations on the Smartphone app from Anywhere on the ship. It will send you a text msg that your table is ready. It's so easy and civilized. USually we'll do it while we are getting dressed in our cabin.  The app tells you about how long the wait is even before you put in a request.