Anytime dining

[mnkauf]

I saw some negative comments about how long Anytime dining was taking and curious how you go about changing your dining plan.  

[1kaper]

21 minutes ago, mnkauf said:

I saw some negative comments about how long Anytime dining was taking and curious how you go about changing your dining plan.  

It did take awhile on our cruise the end of March. 

If you are on board yet if you go to your cruise manager there should be an option to change it in there. 

[Lee Cruiser]

29 minutes ago, mnkauf said:

I saw some negative comments about how long Anytime dining was taking and curious how you go about changing your dining plan.  

On our January Valor cruise, it didn't take long at all.  We were in and out in less than an hour each night, but one and that was because we were talking to another family a lot.  It was about the same back in September on Sunrise.

[ray98]

I have seen complaints on ATD and set time in regards to length of service.  Carnival is simply having problems reaching the standards of old as capacity increases.  The last cruise I was on in March on the Spirit the MDR was simply a mess no matter what version of dining you had.

[1kaper]

Just now, Lee Cruiser said:

On our January Valor cruise, it didn't take long at all.  We were in and out in less than an hour each night, but one and that was because we were talking to another family a lot.  It was about the same back in September on Sunrise.

Lucky.  We were on Dream.  
It took awhile when we checked in to get a table and dinner itself took FOREVER. 

[groundloop]

37 minutes ago, mnkauf said:

I saw some negative comments about how long Anytime dining was taking and curious how you go about changing your dining plan.  

 

I'm sure you can find negative comments regarding just about anything under the sun, some people just like to complain.

 

I've been on cruises where standard dining took F-O-R-E-V-E-R, it just depends on your server team and the galley.  The best server team I've ever had was in your-time dining.  I think some of the problems I've encountered were with team members that hadn't been on board very long and were still getting up to speed, but of course that could happen with either fixed time dining or your-time dining.

 

I like the convenience of your-time dining, you can plan dining around other activities instead of planning your activities around dining.

Edited April 19, 2022 by groundloop

[Lee Cruiser]

2 minutes ago, 1kaper said:

Lucky.  We were on Dream.  
It took awhile when we checked in to get a table and dinner itself took FOREVER. 

Granted, we did go as soon as it opened each night at 5:30, so that could make a difference.

[cruisin from vegas]

I was on Panorama in February, never waited at all.  But that’s was at about 50% capacity…. They are very understaffed now for full capacity.  Visas for bringing on new crew are taking forever 

[MisterOJ2]

6 minutes ago, Lee Cruiser said:

Granted, we did go as soon as it opened each night at 5:30, so that could make a difference.

 

That's what we always used to do when we would do YTD. Then we were like, "We always go right at early dining time, why don't we just do that?" And when we did, we were amazed at how much more efficient standard dining was.

[Wolfshair]

We have done anytime dining ever since they have offered it. It has been rare that we have had a bad time getting seated. There have been some waits but we go to a bar, get a drink, watch [people some and then there we are. Our service is usually as good as ever and we continue to do it, so I guess that says we are satisfied.

[airlink diva]

Just got off the Pride Sunday morning.

The wait was really short.  I was given often estimate of 10 minutes.  However, it was often around five minutes.

I was traveling solo and there is the option to share a table, but I never did.

The longest wait for a table was last sea day brunch, it was about close to 20 minutes when I went to eat.  No biggie but people were rumbling

Even at the times like 6 p.m. and 7 p.m., short wait time.

[wemjam]

We returned from the Sunrise 2 weeks ago and using the hub ap it was great.  We requested our time for dining and always was notified within like 10 minutes a table was ready.  Our service was speedy for all services.  We ate in the dining room pretty much every meal except one evening at Cucina Del Capitano and one at the Steakhouse.  All the rest of the time was main dining when open for breakfast/dinner/brunch.

 

Sooooo much better than it used to be.  Lining up and waiting for tables outside the restaurant, or even so far as being handed pagers to wait 30 minutes or more.  And service is soooo much quicker now in my opinon than it used to be.  I swear you would be at dinner for an hour and a half or more (regardless of YTD or Set Time)!  We have done YTD ever since it came out and wouldn't change.  How do I know know now when I am going to feel like eating?  Maybe I had a really late lunch or was on an excursion and wanted a nap when I got back so wanted to eat later.  At home we eat at a set time pretty much, but on vacation there are just too many variables!  Sometimes we eat at 5:30 sometimes it 7:30!

[1kaper]

1 hour ago, wemjam said:

We returned from the Sunrise 2 weeks ago and using the hub ap it was great.  We requested our time for dining and always was notified within like 10 minutes a table was ready.  Our service was speedy for all services.  We ate in the dining room pretty much every meal except one evening at Cucina Del Capitano and one at the Steakhouse.  All the rest of the time was main dining when open for breakfast/dinner/brunch.

 

Sooooo much better than it used to be.  Lining up and waiting for tables outside the restaurant, or even so far as being handed pagers to wait 30 minutes or more.  And service is soooo much quicker now in my opinon than it used to be.  I swear you would be at dinner for an hour and a half or more (regardless of YTD or Set Time)!  We have done YTD ever since it came out and wouldn't change.  How do I know know now when I am going to feel like eating?  Maybe I had a really late lunch or was on an excursion and wanted a nap when I got back so wanted to eat later.  At home we eat at a set time pretty much, but on vacation there are just too many variables!  Sometimes we eat at 5:30 sometimes it 7:30!

When it works it’s awesome. 
 

We didn’t end up eating on elegant night because the app wouldn’t let us check in. Then we waited in line for awhile to check in in person only to be told it would be over an hour wait. We opted to eat at the buffet. 
 

happened another day during breakfast or brunch. Can’t recall. 

[Pellaz]

15 hours ago, groundloop said:

I've been on cruises where standard dining took F-O-R-E-V-E-R, it just depends on your server team and the galley.  

 

On our cruise on Carnival Liberty (many years ago now), our 6 pm dining lasted until 8 (they brought out our desserts at 7:55), on the first night.   The maitre'd even came on the PA in the MDR and harangued the staff since they were taking so long.  And one of our tablemates wanted to order alcohol and was completely ignored by the bar server.  

 

Everything food-wise on that cruise seemed to be problematical.  Normally when you get chocolate covered strawberries sent to your room (in this case, they sent them free since I did the BtF tour), they're wearing "tuxedos" made of dark and white chocolate.  On THAT cruise, they just slopped some chocolate over the strawberries and called it a day.  😮  

 

 

 

15 hours ago, groundloop said:

I like the convenience of your-time dining, you can plan dining around other activities instead of planning your activities around dining.

 

Absolutely.  I've had YTD on my last 7 Carnival cruises and have NO intention of changing that.  

[HarborHermit]

I would also like to add my two cents worth about your time dining. When I cruised on the Breeze in December and February all I had to do was tap on the app to let them know that I was ready to dine, and I didn't have to be at the main dining room entrance to do that. The app would go off and tell me the table number when my table was ready. I could tap on the app from the comfort of my cabin or anywhere else on the ship, and then start strolling to the dining room. They overestimated the wait time of couple of times though, and a 10 minute wait was actually 3 or 4 minutes. The leisurely stroll turned into a mad dash then. 

[nydney1]

We used it on our Spring Break trip in March. There were 4 of us and the wait was about 10-15 minutes at 6:30. We simply checked in from the room and headed down when we got the announcement.

 

Service was good, not as personal as it used to but was still enjoyable.