Carnival Your Time Dining vs. traditional Set Time Dining

[BlerkOne]

3 hours ago, Nic6318 said:

 

The main benefit is YTD is that you can go whenever you want. (as a group, or individuals/couples)

 

 

You can request a table and then join the queue.

[Nic6318]

On 2/21/2024 at 2:50 PM, BlerkOne said:

You can request a table and then join the queue.

 

Hi

 

Yes. You can check in whenever you want (through the app), and go to the dining room when your table is ready. The app lets you see approximately how long the wait would be, so if there is a longer wait time (sometimes on the "elegant nights), you just have to adjust the time you check in. There is no requirement to wait in any sort of line. 

[BlerkOne]

2 minutes ago, Nic6318 said:

 

 There is no requirement to wait in any sort of line. 

Well, the electronic queue. But still a number of people do mill around outside of the entrance. One thing you can do there is ask one of the table carriers how many people are in line ahead of you, periodically.

[dlphn501]

I despise set dining times.  I don't like to be told it's time to eat if I'm not hungry or ready for a meal.  I skip more meals in the MDR due to this.  It takes longer as you are waiting for the rest of the table to show up, although with a big family group, you will probably show up at the same time and/or will know to communicate to the server that so-and-so will not be attending.  I never felt that anytime dining it was more or less formal/fancy/special than set dining, and I have done both.  The ONLY advantage that I have experienced is the serving addressing me by name and asking if I wanted peanut butter with my chocolate melting cake after the first time I asked for it.  It was a nice touch and appreciated, but it would not make me choose set dining.  

The only reason I had set dining on my last cruise with it is because I cruised with my older sister who is very, very adamant that late set dining is the only way to go, and it wasn't worth the argument.

[lennythenose]

On 2/20/2024 at 6:21 PM, SoloAlaska said:

“Freestyle dining” is the thing I dislike from NCL, I wish they had the option for traditional dining.

2 of my first 3 cruises were on NCL. Once they got rid of traditional dining we never consider them anymore. We have had Anytime dining twice due to circumstances and both times, while fine, just reinforced our preference for traditional. Even our (then) young teen boys said the same. I’m glad Carnival still has both options as I certainly understand both preferences. 

[Shidah]

We are the opposite, we have only cruised NCL because of the free style dining.  Trying our first Carnival cruise and already worried it is a mistake.  We are waitlisted for YTD, but the only option we had was late time seating, which for a variety of personal reasons does not work for us.  I have called a few times each week to see if we got off the waitlist, so far no.  This is literally keeping me up at night and makes me really miss NCL.  

[Nic6318]

On 2/25/2024 at 8:11 PM, Shidah said:

We are the opposite, we have only cruised NCL because of the free style dining.  Trying our first Carnival cruise and already worried it is a mistake.  We are waitlisted for YTD, but the only option we had was late time seating, which for a variety of personal reasons does not work for us.  I have called a few times each week to see if we got off the waitlist, so far no.  This is literally keeping me up at night and makes me really miss NCL.  

 

Hi

 

If you don't get the change before, go to the dining room and speak with the maitre d' when you board. Ask the crew when they will be available. There are always many people doing the same. They pretty much can always help you out. 

 

Don't lose sleep over this. 😀

 

have a great cruise

[dacsmom]

I always do MTD, it allows me flexibility and I do not have to be there at a certain time. If I like the table and waitstaff I request it for the week. 

[Tripmode33]

A vote for YTD.

We eat at the same time each evening - early at 5.30, so you would think set time would suit but...

Last year we did four carnival cruises quite close together, two in set dining and two with YTD.  All at early time slot, so we could enjoy the first theatre show.  Without exception we enjoyed YTD much more. Set time felt frantic and crowded and staff overworked. YTD was much more relaxed, much less busy at the early time, and hence staff much more relaxed. We often ended up with same staff each evening.

We were sailing and dining in groups from 2 to six persons.

For our next three booked carnival, we've chosen YTD.

[elcuchio24]

We'd been big fans of YTD for years, but after a couple of set time seatings over the last year, we're finding it nicer to have a set time for the kids and the same wait staff every night to know your preferences, etc. 

[TravelWith FunShips]

I Prefer assign dining, Your Time unless you go when it opens or late, never get seated right away when it's busy

[MistyRo76]

I have never tried Your Time Dining. More often than not, we have a larger group cruising. My last cruise was the smallest group we’ve had in probably 10 years and that was 6 people. We are usually cruising with 10-20 people. So it just doesn’t make sense for us to try to do Your Time Dining as we enjoy eating together to catch up on our days. And trying to seat that many with YTD could be a long wait. And honestly, the late dining time works well for us as we also like to enjoy as much of our day as possible whether on the ship or in port. So I totally don’t mind eating at 8:15 on a cruise! That timing would never work for me at home though! 
 

My sis did YTD once when she was with a group of 6-8 people. She did not love it. She didn’t like having to coordinate a time to eat with everyone. 

[Paelos]

If you're on the larger ships like Mardi Gras, you are pretty much forced into your time dining because of the nature of the different restaurants that are included for dinner. We only went to the MDR once the entire cruise for that reason. However I don't really like it because the service is inconsistent and with YTD the servers don't try to be friendly or get to know you because they know they'll likely never see you the rest of the cruise. 

 

Additionally the waits on the larger ships can be absolutely absurd. 60-75 minutes on formal nights, or for the popular restaurants are not out of the norm. 

 

On smaller ships waits are less of an issues, but I enjoy the consistent staff and true cruising feel of set dining. I also like to eat early and so do tons of cruisers with families and older groups so those times would get jammed up if I was on YTD.

[hawkinsh]

On 2/21/2024 at 10:31 AM, Nic6318 said:

 

Hi

 

Welcome to cruise critic.

 

I think one of the questions you ask first is, are you expecting to eat as a group everyday?

 

The main benefit of the set time dining is that after your first evening you just show up at your table every night at the same time. If you don't make it, you have the buffet.

The main benefit is YTD is that you can go whenever you want. (as a group, or individuals/couples)

 

If some of your tablemate aren't going to join you any given day, then they would not have another option for dining in the MDR that day. 

 

If you don't want the flexibility of YTD the opt for set time. If all you want is to go with your friends every night and you have YTD, then at some time during the day, you just have to ask, when do you want to go for dinner, and one of your group signs you all in about 15 mins. beforehand. 

 

hope this helps

 

I am newer to this and your post raised questions for me.  I will be part of a group of 12 spread across 4 cabins.  I had planned to, and we are currently signed up for Early Dining, to use this as a daily "catch-up time" where all would gather. 

 

However, I know that on some nights part of the group will do something like ChaBang.  I just assumed they could still come at 5:30 and hang out, maybe end do apps or something, then just que up for specialty at 7:30 then it opens up.  Am I wrong about this ability?

[elcuchio24]

1 hour ago, hawkinsh said:

I am newer to this and your post raised questions for me.  I will be part of a group of 12 spread across 4 cabins.  I had planned to, and we are currently signed up for Early Dining, to use this as a daily "catch-up time" where all would gather. 

 

However, I know that on some nights part of the group will do something like ChaBang.  I just assumed they could still come at 5:30 and hang out, maybe end do apps or something, then just que up for specialty at 7:30 then it opens up.  Am I wrong about this ability?

 

absolutely fine to do this. just let the servers know. 

[DukeASUGirl]

On 2/19/2024 at 3:38 PM, SoloAlaska said:

If anyone has food intolerances or allergies I highly recommend set dinning. Having to explain it every night is a pain plus there is more risk that someone won’t understand. 

Which is why when I've done YTD with food allergies, they've allowed us to make a standing reservation assigned to the same waitstaff every night. I simply went to the maitre d' on the first day and told them our preferred time, and they assigned a particular table as thought it was Set Dining, but it was during the YTD hours. Best of both worlds.

[bdeluca03]

Personally, I'd go with YTD over Set Dining Times due to a variety of factors including:

 

• Enjoying Speciality Dining vs. MDR each night
• Ability to Pick/Choose Dining Time with Entertainment Schedule, Port Schedule, etc.

 

However, if you prefer the same table guests or same wait staff each night - Set Dining might be a better bet.

[JonathanFlorida]

On 2/20/2024 at 2:36 PM, Butterbean1000 said:

You can request the same servers each night.  It was fortunate you got automatically got them. 

How do you go about requesting the same servers when you have YTD?

[jsglow]

27 minutes ago, JonathanFlorida said:

How do you go about requesting the same servers when you have YTD?

You need to make the request with the hostess at the entrance. There's not a way on the App.

[Illbcruzn4life]

On 2/25/2024 at 8:11 PM, Shidah said:

We are the opposite, we have only cruised NCL because of the free style dining.  Trying our first Carnival cruise and already worried it is a mistake.  We are waitlisted for YTD, but the only option we had was late time seating, which for a variety of personal reasons does not work for us.  I have called a few times each week to see if we got off the waitlist, so far no.  This is literally keeping me up at night and makes me really miss NCL.  

if it doesn't get changed before you cruise go see the maitre'd when you board the ship. Odds are you'll get the change you want.

[JonathanFlorida]

39 minutes ago, jsglow said:

You need to make the request with the hostess at the entrance. There's not a way on the App.

TYVM !

[Shidah]

We got ours changed no issues when on board.  I was worried for nothing, all worked out fine.

[AllgoodOnTheRoad]

On 2/28/2024 at 1:06 PM, dacsmom said:

I always do MTD, it allows me flexibility and I do not have to be there at a certain time. If I like the table and waitstaff I request it for the week. 

This is the true beauty of YTD. If you like your table and server on night one, just ask to make that your table and crew for the week. If you do not, try again tomorrow night. 

 

 

[angelsfort]

On 2/28/2024 at 4:11 PM, elcuchio24 said:

We'd been big fans of YTD for years, but after a couple of set time seatings over the last year, we're finding it nicer to have a set time for the kids and the same wait staff every night to know your preferences, etc. 

 

Unfortunately it doesn't always work out that way...  we had Set time dining on our last cruise and were the only ones at our table (of 10 people, 5 couples) that arrived on time every night.  You'd think our servers would have remembered our names, at least!   They did not - called me "Nicole" for the entire cruise even though I corrected them the first couple of times.  They also did not remember that we had the Bottomless bubbles package and that I got a Mug Root beer and that my boyfriend got a Pepsi with every meal - we had to ask for them every night.

I know that part of the issue was with our table mates - they showed up 30-45 minutes late every night for dinner, which threw off the servers I'm sure!  

[JMAE]

8 hours ago, angelsfort said:

I know that part of the issue was with our table mates - they showed up 30-45 minutes late every night for dinner, which threw off the servers I'm sure!  

I thought the rule was after 30 minutes, guests would be turned away.  I have seen it done in the past and to be fair to the guests that arrive on time and their staff it should continue.