Anytime Dining - Thoughts

[doone]

Looking for everyone’s thoughts and experiences with anytime dining.  I chose this dining for the first time, but have read about long waits for dinner…….has this been everyone’s experience recently?  Wondering if we should look into assigned dining for a better experience, thoughts?????

 

Wondering if this is an issue during popular dining times?  Are there better times where it would be less of an issue?

Edited November 24, 2022 by doone

[oakridger]

I have never waited to get a solo table for anytime dining more than a couple of minutes, but I don't go right when the MDR opens or on the hour.  I may be imagining it but going at non quarter/half hour start times feels like it helps! For example, I enter the MDR at 7:50 not 8:00pm and not 7:30.  Think about it, when you say you will meet someone for dinner (family or companions) do you ever suggest 7:50? 

Who knows? Worth a try. 🤷‍♀️

[Mary229]

I find the advantage to fixed dining is the wait staff gets to know you and that makes for a more pleasant experience.  This would apply only to cruises longer than 10 days.

 

I have had some waits with anytime dining but only at the earliest seating.  I do like it for eating at a reasonable hour which for us is 6:30 to 7.  Early dining is usually very early 5:30ish and for us late dining is a tad too late. 

[MISTER 67]

We are early diners, usually one of the first in line around 5:15 depending on the ships schedule. We never have problems with long lines or long times for the meal itself, usually our meals have taken between 75 and 90 minutes which is a nice pace. We usually have an appetizer, soup, salad, the main course and dessert.

We are sailing Dec 4th on the Nieuw Amsterdam and actually have fixed early sitting on that cruise. I'm reading some posts that some are having long dinner times of over 2 hours, we've been on 68 cruises and 6 in the last year and never had a dinner that took more than 90 minutes. 

[doone]

3 hours ago, oakridger said:

I have never waited to get a solo table for anytime dining more than a couple of minutes, but I don't go right when the MDR opens or on the hour.  I may be imagining it but going at non quarter/half hour start times feels like it helps! For example, I enter the MDR at 7:50 not 8:00pm and not 7:30.  Think about it, when you say you will meet someone for dinner (family or companions) do you ever suggest 7:50? 

Who knows? Worth a try. 🤷‍♀️

I like your strategy.

[doone]

1 hour ago, Mary229 said:

I find the advantage to fixed dining is the wait staff gets to know you and that makes for a more pleasant experience.  This would apply only to cruises longer than 10 days.

 

I have had some waits with anytime dining but only at the earliest seating.  I do like it for eating at a reasonable hour which for us is 6:30 to 7.  Early dining is usually very early 5:30ish and for us late dining is a tad too late. 

I like 7ish as well, one reason we chose anytime dining……

[doone]

1 hour ago, MISTER 67 said:

We are early diners, usually one of the first in line around 5:15 depending on the ships schedule. We never have problems with long lines or long times for the meal itself, usually our meals have taken between 75 and 90 minutes which is a nice pace. We usually have an appetizer, soup, salad, the main course and dessert.

We are sailing Dec 4th on the Nieuw Amsterdam and actually have fixed early sitting on that cruise. I'm reading some posts that some are having long dinner times of over 2 hours, we've been on 68 cruises and 6 in the last year and never had a dinner that took more than 90 minutes. 

I don’t mind a leisurely diner, but I don’t want it to be long waits in between courses…..

[DaveOKC]

While we liked Fixed Early dining for the ease of getting to your table, the servers knowing you and ease of using a wine package, we have been doing Open lately for several reasons.

 

First, we generally do specialty dining several times on our cruise and thus do not like leaving empty spots at the table.  Second, no rush to be exactly on time for dinner (especially true on late port departures and other conflicts).  Third, we like meeting new fellow cruisers almost every night (new people nightly for me to tell my boring stories to!).  Fourth, sometimes we just like to skip a MDR dinner and do not want to inconvenience others.

[daisy-mae]

We have learned that it is possible to reserve ahead for anytime dining once we are on board; on our last cruise on the Zuiderdam we were offered the option of keeping the same table and dining time for the duration of the cruise.

Edited November 24, 2022 by daisy-mae

[CruiserBruce]

Define "long waits" for seating. I have heard of some waits at peak times...15-20 minutes. That can be avoided by not going at peak times.

[Chewbecca]

On Oosterdam currently and there have been waits of up to 30mins for open dining, whereas the fixed dining space is half empty. Seems they may have over sold the Open option and should have ensured more passengers were on fixed. There are many tables for 2 in the fixed dining area so it doesn't have to be sharing. 

 

We don't mind the wait, we pick up a buzzer and go for an aperitif but if you are someone who doesn't like a wait, fixed would be a much better option on this trip & some cruisers are switching.

[doone]

1 hour ago, CruiserBruce said:

Define "long waits" for seating. I have heard of some waits at peak times...15-20 minutes. That can be avoided by not going at peak times.

15-20 minute wait i am fine with, but someone posted, i forget who, that it was 30 minute wait to get to the maitre’d then had another  30 minutes wait for a table…..it just didn’t seem right to me so i thought i would ask for others experiences…..

[MichiganFisherman]

Can you change your online booking for the MDR to one or the other, fixed or open? 

[doone]

14 minutes ago, MichiganFisherman said:

Can you change your online booking for the MDR to one or the other, fixed or open? 

Thinking about it….

[Banditswife]

Not sure if this is true for HAL, but don't you use the Navigator app to schedule your table for open seating dining?  I may be getting CCL & HAL confused, but if I remember correctly - we requested a table through the app.  This made it very convenient for us.  Instead of waiting in line for a table, we were able to enjoy other things on the ship, the app then alerts you when your table is ready.

[CruiseCruiseCruise13]

We’ve never waited more than 2-3 minutes for a table for open seating. But we are later diners around 7-8pm.     
Once you’re onboard you can make reservations at the dining room, they should be able to carry that reservation at least 2-3 nights I believe. 

[Roz]

On my most recent cruise on the Noordam, I went to dinner at 7:30 pm or after and never had a wait.  I didn't ask for a table by myself, but about half the time that ended up happening.  

[MISTER 67]

3 hours ago, doone said:

I like your strategy.

Please delete.

Edited November 24, 2022 by MISTER 67

[MISTER 67]

6 hours ago, oakridger said:

I have never waited to get a solo table for anytime dining more than a couple of minutes, but I don't go right when the MDR opens or on the hour.  I may be imagining it but going at non quarter/half hour start times feels like it helps! For example, I enter the MDR at 7:50 not 8:00pm and not 7:30.  Think about it, when you say you will meet someone for dinner (family or companions) do you ever suggest 7:50? 

Who knows? Worth a try. 🤷‍♀️

Yeah but you just gave away your secret. LOL

[durangoscots]

I have used both. I like the fixed seating on longer cruises. Waiters get to know you. And, if I know ahead that I will miss a night.... I just let wait staff and one of my fellow diners know.... then they don;t wait. On shorter and port intensive cruises I use open and usually don't have to wait long since I am a single and willing to share.