What did you expect with anytime dining?

[patnolen]

Am I missing something or is Royal Caribbean starting to do freestyle dining? I just returned from AOS and we had set dining times? What's going on that this thread has been started?

[Oville]

We enjoy traditional seating as well. I really like the idea of only going through that awkward first meeting once. If with MTD you may be seated with strangers every night, I would not like that all.

We always opt for late seating and never feel rushed. It works well for us.

 

You don't have to sit with any strangers if you don't want. You choose the table side.

[SherriZ366]

Am I missing something or is Royal Caribbean starting to do freestyle dining? I just returned from AOS and we had set dining times? What's going on that this thread has been started?

RCI is trialing MyTime dining on 3 of its ships: Freedom, Serenade and Brilliance. If successful, it is expected that it would be rolled out fleetwide.

 

If you select MyTime, you must pre-pay your gratuities. You usually get an email from RCI about this before you sail. You can also sign up for MyTime on board. On FOS in Feb., they had either 1/2 or all of deck 5 (the top level) of the dining room set aside for MyTime. There was a separate M'aitre d' station taking changes on deck 5 the first day (in addition to the regular M'aitre D' taking table changes on Deck 4). There was an annoucment about the change in the Day 1 Compass and there were large signs advertising MyTime at the Deck 5 dining room entrance and in the Windjammer. I think the MyTime dining room was open from 5:30 PM to 9 PM for walk-ins and they took reservations also.

[Oville]

Am I missing something or is Royal Caribbean starting to do freestyle dining? I just returned from AOS and we had set dining times? What's going on that this thread has been started?

 

 

RCI has been testing this on three ships, Freedom, Brilliance and Seranade. Rumor has it that it will be fleet wide by year's end, but traditional will still be an option.

 

This tread was started by someone who hasn't tried My Time but based her comments on another person's experience on the Brilliance recently. Somehow that one person grew to "those" on the OP. Most other reviews have not been negative, but clearly reading this thread, folks are concerned that they will lose the traditional option. I think there have been few if any comments made here by people who have actually tried it, me included.

 

That'd just a quick update. Hope it helps.

[iheartbda]

You don't have to sit with any strangers if you don't want. You choose the table side.

 

:D :D :D

[Oville]

 

 

Oops!:o :o :o Z and D are sort of close on the keyboard!;) :D

[SherriZ366]

RCI has been testing this on three ships, Freedom, Brilliance and Seranade. Rumor has it that it will be fleet wide by year's end, but traditional will still be an option.

 

This tread was started by someone who hasn't tried My Time but based her comments on another person's experience on the Brilliance recently. Somehow that one person grew to "those" on the OP. Most other reviews have not been negative, but clearly reading this thread, folks are concerned that they will lose the traditional option. I think there have been few if any comments made here by people who have actually tried it, me included.

 

That'd just a quick update. Hope it helps.

A few weeks ago someone who had tried MyTime dining posted a good analysis. I'm trying to remember his screen name. Not many CCr's have tried it and there is strong support for traditional dining from our board. I've posted on most of the threads dealing with Mytime.

[Oville]

A few weeks ago someone who had tried MyTime dining posted a good analysis. I'm trying to remember his screen name. Not many CCr's have tried it and there is strong support for traditional dining from our board. I've posted on most of the threads dealing with Mytime.

 

Thanks, I've read a few but probably not all. Have you been on a ship that has had it, and if so, did My Time interfer with your dining experience?

 

I know most CCrs are pro traditional which is fine, but the majority cruisers are not CCrs and if there are enough who perfer My Time then so be it. Not everyone goes on a cruise to make new friends with tablemates or wait staff. Hopefully, Royal will do it right so both sides can be happy.

[hooked-on-travel]

We sailed Princess in 05 and did anytime dining. You had to call and make

a reservation every night. Had a different waiter every night. We did not

like it much. I like late seating and knowing I'll have the same waiter every

night. Things might have changed since then but I still love traditional dining.

 

We also did Princess in 05. We had to wait several times. A couple were longer than a 'short' wait.

 

We agree with your post.

 

Having the same waiter helps that waiter to know you. I guess if you are a generic person and have no special needs, it doesn't matter. But on later cruise with our 2 year old, we still had trouble getting our waiter to understand that we needed certain things for our child. (no french fries or she wouldn't eat anything else, etc). I shudder to think how hard it would be to go through that with a different waiter every time.

 

Some say they don't want to sit at an empty table for 8. I understand that, but I'd say don't sign up for one. We've sat at tables for 8 and tables for 2 with assigned seating.

 

Some like options. As someone else said, there are a lot of other places to go that are free style. But I want the option of a set table, waiter and time. That is why they shouldn't take away assigned times completely.

 

I understand that I theoretically could have a reservation for the same time every night. And theoretically with the same waiter. I just have doubts, based on talking to others, of the reality of that theory.

 

The main reason I wouldn't want to do princess again was free style eating/sitting. If RCI started having it, they might loose my patronage. That is, if there is anywhere else to go. I'd give up my diamond level and start over elsewhere for the ability to sit down when I want.

 

And given that our next cruise will be with as a party of 7, how quickly would we be able to sit down? Having some of the area for freestyle seating can make sense. But allow some to have a set place and time. It shouldn't be that hard to let people choose ahead of time and then set it up. Failure to allow this situation is lazy, money grubbing or both on the part of the cruise line(s) (IMO).

 

If you select MyTime, you must pre-pay your gratuities.

 

Yeah, and how easy is it to change the gratuity if your wait staff is horrible? If I'm free style, I want to be able to tip there and then. Not have to use a psychic to figure out if they will be very good in the future. And I'm assuming that this would be prepay for JUST the wait staff, not the whole ship.

 

You don't have to sit with any strangers if you don't want. You choose the table si[z]e.

 

Eh... so then the dining room starts getting full of partially full tables (as a previous poster mentioned). We saw this when we were on princess. OK.. I'm having to wait 30 minutes because you've left 20+% of the chairs empty?

 

So we've tried it and really disliked it. My in-laws tried in and really disliked it. I talked to other people on cruises we've been on with the same negative opinion. Other than people on this thread, I've yet to talk to someone who liked it. (Not that I exactly do an extensive and exhaustive search of the population)

 

<hooked-on-travel's spouse>

[bikn4fn]

Some say they don't want to sit at an empty table for 8. I understand that, but I'd say don't sign up for one. We've sat at tables for 8 and tables for 2 with assigned seating.

 

 

<hooked-on-travel's spouse>

 

Sometimes you don't have total control over sitting at an empty table. We also sign up for a "large" table. On our last cruise (Liberty) we were seated at a table for 8. The first night we were the only ones there. Maybe the other couples went to the WJ, maybe they made other arrangements. The second night one more couple joined us. By the third night the table was full. We later found out that a few of the other couples originally assigned to our table changed to late seating.

[Oville]

We also did Princess in 05. We had to wait several times. A couple were longer than a 'short' wait.

 

We agree with your post.

 

Having the same waiter helps that waiter to know you. I guess if you are a generic person and have no special needs, it doesn't matter. But on later cruise with our 2 year old, we still had trouble getting our waiter to understand that we needed certain things for our child. (no french fries or she wouldn't eat anything else, etc). I shudder to think how hard it would be to go through that with a different waiter every time.

 

Some say they don't want to sit at an empty table for 8. I understand that, but I'd say don't sign up for one. We've sat at tables for 8 and tables for 2 with assigned seating.

 

Some like options. As someone else said, there are a lot of other places to go that are free style. But I want the option of a set table, waiter and time. That is why they shouldn't take away assigned times completely.

 

I understand that I theoretically could have a reservation for the same time every night. And theoretically with the same waiter. I just have doubts, based on talking to others, of the reality of that theory.

 

The main reason I wouldn't want to do princess again was free style eating/sitting. If RCI started having it, they might loose my patronage. That is, if there is anywhere else to go. I'd give up my diamond level and start over elsewhere for the ability to sit down when I want.

 

And given that our next cruise will be with as a party of 7, how quickly would we be able to sit down? Having some of the area for freestyle seating can make sense. But allow some to have a set place and time. It shouldn't be that hard to let people choose ahead of time and then set it up. Failure to allow this situation is lazy, money grubbing or both on the part of the cruise line(s) (IMO).

 

 

 

Yeah, and how easy is it to change the gratuity if your wait staff is horrible? If I'm free style, I want to be able to tip there and then. Not have to use a psychic to figure out if they will be very good in the future. And I'm assuming that this would be prepay for JUST the wait staff, not the whole ship.

 

 

 

Eh... so then the dining room starts getting full of partially full tables (as a previous poster mentioned). We saw this when we were on princess. OK.. I'm having to wait 30 minutes because you've left 20+% of the chairs empty?

 

So we've tried it and really disliked it. My in-laws tried in and really disliked it. I talked to other people on cruises we've been on with the same negative opinion. Other than people on this thread, I've yet to talk to someone who liked it. (Not that I exactly do an extensive and exhaustive search of the population)

 

<hooked-on-travel's spouse>

 

I haven't read a word about eliminating tradition. During the test phase the majority of the tables have been for traditional. Also, haven't read any complaints about long waits on RCCL. Let's hope they get it right.

 

You haven't spoken to anyone who liked it. How many of these people have tried it on RCCL?

[hooked-on-travel]

I'll add to my spouse's review of our Princess experience...

 

On Princess, you couldn't make a reservation unless it was before 6 or after 8. Between those times you had to just show up and when you were withing 20 minutes of being seated (as estimated) you could come back and get a beeper. It was lousy. If RCL does it so you can make a reservation at the popular times, then good.

 

I agree that I hated training the waiter every night. I was pregnant and had to explain to every dining staff member every night that I was ordering two cartons of milk (yes, milk...they universally had a problem with this) and didn't want any wine (really, hubby ordered a bottle of wine to drink by himself all week...another concept universally difficult to understand.) True, you could ask for the same waiter even without a reservation, but we never found a waiter worth asking for.

 

We didn't ask to try Anytime dining on Princess...we just had to take it. The dining room for traditional is so small and it fills up so fast that we didn't have a prayer getting to the top of the wait list. The thing I'm concerned about is that RCL will take this as a success, roll it out fleet wide, then force people to take My Time just b/c it isn't popular enough and traditional is full. If you have to pre-pay your tips and are forced to take My Time...I have a problem with that. Especially b/c pre-paid tips are for all...not just dining staff. I would have less of a problem if the pre-paid requirement was dining staff only. I've had a terrible room steward before (actually, it was on that same Princess cruise), so no way will I pre-pay.

 

In general, the negatives of Anytime Dining on Princess made going to dinner an annoyance...not the special event that it should be. It's the concept that's flawed. The only way RCL could do it better is by giving everyone their first choice of dinner seating types. Since they can't (without blending dining rooms, which is not likely), it is not a change I welcome.

[SherriZ366]

Thanks, I've read a few but probably not all. Have you been on a ship that has had it, and if so, did My Time interfer with your dining experience?

 

I know most CCrs are pro traditional which is fine, but the majority cruisers are not CCrs and if there are enough who perfer My Time then so be it. Not everyone goes on a cruise to make new friends with tablemates or wait staff. Hopefully, Royal will do it right so both sides can be happy.

As my earlier post indicated, I was on FOS in Feb. and they had MyTime on deck 5 (or maybe half of that deck). All of decks 3 and 4 were traditional. I really did not notice any disruption as I was on deck 3. I think that RCI may be adjusting how much of a deck 5 was MyTime and how much might be traditional based on passengers' requests. If they keep up this type of system if MyTime is rolled out fleet wide, it may work. I hope I can remember the poster's name who actually tried MyTime and posted her impressions of it in his comments or maybe a review. If I remember, I will post her screen name and a link.

 

A lot of the apprehension on the RCI board has been caused by reports from those who have sailed Princess where traditional dining often has HUGE waitlists or where people have had confirmed traditional but are placed (actually forced) into Any Time when they get on the ship. During our last experience with Princesss in 2002, they were agressively pushing Any Time. We were traditional but felt that the service had suffered with pre-paid tips. We have been exclusively RCI every since then. (we used to alternate)

[Oville]

I'll add to my spouse's review of our Princess experience...

 

On Princess, you couldn't make a reservation unless it was before 6 or after 8. Between those times you had to just show up and when you were withing 20 minutes of being seated (as estimated) you could come back and get a beeper. It was lousy. If RCL does it so you can make a reservation at the popular times, then good.

 

I agree that I hated training the waiter every night. I was pregnant and had to explain to every dining staff member every night that I was ordering two cartons of milk (yes, milk...they universally had a problem with this) and didn't want any wine (really, hubby ordered a bottle of wine to drink by himself all week...another concept universally difficult to understand.) True, you could ask for the same waiter even without a reservation, but we never found a waiter worth asking for.

 

We didn't ask to try Anytime dining on Princess...we just had to take it. The dining room for traditional is so small and it fills up so fast that we didn't have a prayer getting to the top of the wait list. The thing I'm concerned about is that RCL will take this as a success, roll it out fleet wide, then force people to take My Time just b/c it isn't popular enough and traditional is full. If you have to pre-pay your tips and are forced to take My Time...I have a problem with that. Especially b/c pre-paid tips are for all...not just dining staff. I would have less of a problem if the pre-paid requirement was dining staff only. I've had a terrible room steward before (actually, it was on that same Princess cruise), so no way will I pre-pay.

 

In general, the negatives of Anytime Dining on Princess made going to dinner an annoyance...not the special event that it should be. It's the concept that's flawed. The only way RCL could do it better is by giving everyone their first choice of dinner seating types. Since they can't (without blending dining rooms, which is not likely), it is not a change I welcome.

 

My Time has been offered on a limited basis since October and during that period I have only read 2 negative reviews about it, both on the same cruise. One was from a women who had traditional but was reporting on what a nightmare the experience was. Funny thing, others on the same cruise refuted everything she complained about. The other one was a fellow who didn't enjoy. He was the one person the OPer based this thread on.

 

Pre-pay does have it's ups and downs. We usually do but there is the rare individual who doesn't provide great service. We simply don't give these folks any extra tip money.

 

I think you are quite mistaken about the My Time option not being popular. RCCL markets to a younger and more active crowd. They build ships to attract families. I'd be quite surprised if this group overwhelming didn't opt for My Time.

 

I hope you're wrong and RCCL does get this right. It would be great if both Traditional and My Time diners can be satisfied. If it is true that they plan to roll this out fleet wide by years end, let's hope they have ironed out all the wrinkles in their year plus trials.

[SherriZ366]

We also did Princess in 05. We had to wait several times. A couple were longer than a 'short' wait.

 

We agree with your post.

 

Having the same waiter helps that waiter to know you. I guess if you are a generic person and have no special needs, it doesn't matter. But on later cruise with our 2 year old, we still had trouble getting our waiter to understand that we needed certain things for our child. (no french fries or she wouldn't eat anything else, etc). I shudder to think how hard it would be to go through that with a different waiter every time.

 

Some say they don't want to sit at an empty table for 8. I understand that, but I'd say don't sign up for one. We've sat at tables for 8 and tables for 2 with assigned seating.

 

Some like options. As someone else said, there are a lot of other places to go that are free style. But I want the option of a set table, waiter and time. That is why they shouldn't take away assigned times completely.

 

I understand that I theoretically could have a reservation for the same time every night. And theoretically with the same waiter. I just have doubts, based on talking to others, of the reality of that theory.

 

The main reason I wouldn't want to do princess again was free style eating/sitting. If RCI started having it, they might loose my patronage. That is, if there is anywhere else to go. I'd give up my diamond level and start over elsewhere for the ability to sit down when I want.

 

And given that our next cruise will be with as a party of 7, how quickly would we be able to sit down? Having some of the area for freestyle seating can make sense. But allow some to have a set place and time. It shouldn't be that hard to let people choose ahead of time and then set it up. Failure to allow this situation is lazy, money grubbing or both on the part of the cruise line(s) (IMO).

 

 

 

Yeah, and how easy is it to change the gratuity if your wait staff is horrible? If I'm free style, I want to be able to tip there and then. Not have to use a psychic to figure out if they will be very good in the future. And I'm assuming that this would be prepay for JUST the wait staff, not the whole ship.

 

 

 

Eh... so then the dining room starts getting full of partially full tables (as a previous poster mentioned). We saw this when we were on princess. OK.. I'm having to wait 30 minutes because you've left 20+% of the chairs empty?

 

So we've tried it and really disliked it. My in-laws tried in and really disliked it. I talked to other people on cruises we've been on with the same negative opinion. Other than people on this thread, I've yet to talk to someone who liked it. (Not that I exactly do an extensive and exhaustive search of the population)

 

<hooked-on-travel's spouse>

To answer your question about pre-paid tips, I really don't know if you can adjust if you are in MyTime. Some folks actually make a reservation and request and get the same waiter each night but others coming at random times may have different wait staff.

 

I too am a strong supporter of Traditional and hope that RCI never eliminates it. I also hope that if MyTime is rolled out fleet wide that RCI will show the flexibility it seems to be showing in the trial (ie. adjusting the dinign room space to fit the number of cruisers who want each type of dining rather than confining traditional to one dining room as Princess does.)

[iheartbda]

I think RCCL wants to attract those who would otherwise opt for freestyle dining. From a business stand point there is nothing wrong with that. However, if people are choosing RCCL BECAUSE of set dining times, then MY Time should only be an option.

 

Hopefully, they are doing the test runs to see how it works and what people really want and like others have said, they'll get it right.

 

All the people who love freestyle will tell you that it absolutely DOES work, they've either gotten right in or never had but a few minutes wait. They'll tell you that if you don't want to make reservations for a surcharge restaurant you can go to the main dining room anytime and get in. They'll also tell you that the service does not suffer.

 

I've been reading about freestyle on another board to get a feel how to handle it since DH and I will be going on NCL's Majesty. Even though she is small and not the best setup for freestyle I'm led to believe it will be no problem.

 

If RCCL takes it's time with MY Time Dining, sees what works, offers it as an OPTION, maybe everyone can be happy.

[Oville]

I think RCCL wants to attract those who would otherwise opt for freestyle dining. From a business stand point there is nothing wrong with that. However, if people are choosing RCCL BECAUSE of set dining times, then MY Time should only be an option.

 

Hopefully, they are doing the test runs to see how it works and what people really want and like others have said, they'll get it right.

 

All the people who love freestyle will tell you that it absolutely DOES work, they've either gotten right in or never had but a few minutes wait. They'll tell you that if you don't want to make reservations for a surcharge restaurant you can go to the main dining room anytime and get in. They'll also tell you that the service does not suffer.

 

I've been reading about freestyle on another board to get a feel how to handle it since DH and I will be going on NCL's Majesty. Even though she is small and not the best setup for freestyle I'm led to believe it will be no problem.

 

If RCCL takes it's time with MY Time Dining, sees what works, offers it as an OPTION, maybe everyone can be happy.

 

FYI, we took a NCL cruise earlier this year and free style worked perfectly. Other then the dining room you can make reservations 2 days in advance. We were on the Jewel which was designed for free style.

[Blue Darter]

I am amazed at those who complianed that anytime dining turned into " their time" dining. What did you really expect? I mean if you chose to go to any land based restaurant and expect to be seated immediately and you went at peak times, you would expect a wait, so why should this be different? I am sure you will not be the only people who also ask for that time. Like any reservation system, first come first served, and then if someone stays longer than expected, there is another delay. Did you ever go to the doctor and get in exactly when your appointment was set for?

 

 

What did I expect from MyTime dining on our Brilliance (3/24) Panama Canal cruise? OK, I'll tell ya.

 

Courteous and attentive service - check

An opportunity to make nightly reservations that fit our schedule (and the entertainment schedule) - check

The same quality/choice of food that "traditional" diners enjoy - check

The choice to have the same servers each night (we didn't but others did) - check

Any size table size (from 2 to 10) - check

The ability to "pace" our dinner to fit our schedule - check

A chance to be served by (4) different pairs of wait staff and the enjoyment of interacting (by name) with each of them, whether they were serving us that night or not - check

The ability to meet more people that we would have at traditional - check

The ability to eat dinner at a reasonable hour and not at five-freaking-thirty - check

The opportunity to eat when we chose to and still be seated almost instantaneously (we had reservations each night) - check

 

Think that about covers it. I can't imagine that things could have worked any smoother than they did during this cruise. They only used about 2/3 of the port side of the 5th deck (i.e. roughly 1/4 of the entire 5th deck dining area)to take care of MyTime diners. It certainly appears that they could expand or shrink that footprint (based on the number of folks requesting MyTime) without affecting traditional seating at all.

 

It is my intense desire that RCI makes MyTime a permanent fixture on every ship. In other words....MyTime ROCKS!!

 

Andy

[u2cruiser]

Our anytime experience on Princess in Feb (our first ever cruise) was great. We had a table for 2 at either of the 2 anytime restaurants on 4 nights, without a reservation. I have to say we didn't wait once. We were very surprised by the amount of tables for 2 and about the spaciousness. 2 nights we reserved a table for 4 to eat with friends at a set time. We were asked whether there was a particular area or waiter we wished for. The service was fantastic in both restaurants. The food was delicious, but very similar in style in each restaurant. Unfinished wine could be retrieved in either restaurant regardless of where you left it.

 

We are just back from the Navigator, traditional early seating. We were a group of 13 and it was booked for us as a conference. We were hurried every night and had to squeeze past the waiting second sitting people on our way out. Our waitstaff was rude, sarcastic and impatient. The food was only ok.

 

We will definitely be choosing anytime dining next time.

[nerysj]

What did I expect from MyTime dining on our Brilliance (3/24) Panama Canal cruise? OK, I'll tell ya.

 

Courteous and attentive service - check

An opportunity to make nightly reservations that fit our schedule (and the entertainment schedule) - check

The same quality/choice of food that "traditional" diners enjoy - check

The choice to have the same servers each night (we didn't but others did) - check

Any size table size (from 2 to 10) - check

The ability to "pace" our dinner to fit our schedule - check

A chance to be served by (4) different pairs of wait staff and the enjoyment of interacting (by name) with each of them, whether they were serving us that night or not - check

The ability to meet more people that we would have at traditional - check

The ability to eat dinner at a reasonable hour and not at five-freaking-thirty - check

The opportunity to eat when we chose to and still be seated almost instantaneously (we had reservations each night) - check

 

Think that about covers it. I can't imagine that things could have worked any smoother than they did during this cruise. They only used about 2/3 of the port side of the 5th deck (i.e. roughly 1/4 of the entire 5th deck dining area)to take care of MyTime diners. It certainly appears that they could expand or shrink that footprint (based on the number of folks requesting MyTime) without affecting traditional seating at all.

 

It is my intense desire that RCI makes MyTime a permanent fixture on every ship. In other words....MyTime ROCKS!!

 

Andy

 

Couldn't agree more - on Princess Emerald last year - it worked like clockwork (and Traditional STILL available) for those who prefer the rigidity of set times.

[Merion_Mom]

Our anytime experience on Princess in Feb (our first ever cruise) was great. We had a table for 2 at either of the 2 anytime restaurants on 4 nights, without a reservation. I have to say we didn't wait once. We were very surprised by the amount of tables for 2 and about the spaciousness. 2 nights we reserved a table for 4 to eat with friends at a set time. We were asked whether there was a particular area or waiter we wished for. The service was fantastic in both restaurants. The food was delicious, but very similar in style in each restaurant. Unfinished wine could be retrieved in either restaurant regardless of where you left it.

What time did you eat?

[The Big Booper]

Our anytime experience on Princess in Feb (our first ever cruise) was great. We had a table for 2 at either of the 2 anytime restaurants on 4 nights, without a reservation. I have to say we didn't wait once. We were very surprised by the amount of tables for 2 and about the spaciousness. 2 nights we reserved a table for 4 to eat with friends at a set time. We were asked whether there was a particular area or waiter we wished for. The service was fantastic in both restaurants. The food was delicious, but very similar in style in each restaurant. Unfinished wine could be retrieved in either restaurant regardless of where you left it.

 

We are just back from the Navigator, traditional early seating. We were a group of 13 and it was booked for us as a conference. We were hurried every night and had to squeeze past the waiting second sitting people on our way out. Our waitstaff was rude, sarcastic and impatient. The food was only ok.

 

We will definitely be choosing anytime dining next time.

 

Try putting your conference group of 13 on a freestyle/anytime/mytime ship before you start comparing dining setups. Or try going on a traditional dining ship with just the two of you.

 

Then you can compare.

[Cindy]

As my earlier post indicated, I was on FOS in Feb. and they had MyTime on deck 5 (or maybe half of that deck). All of decks 3 and 4 were traditional. I really did not notice any disruption as I was on deck 3. I think that RCI may be adjusting how much of a deck 5 was MyTime and how much might be traditional based on passengers' requests. If they keep up this type of system if MyTime is rolled out fleet wide, it may work.

 

A lot of the apprehension on the RCI board has been caused by reports from those who have sailed Princess where traditional dining often has HUGE waitlists or where people have had confirmed traditional but are placed (actually forced) into Any Time when they get on the ship. During our last experience with Princesss in 2002, they were agressively pushing Any Time.

 

Think that about covers it. I can't imagine that things could have worked any smoother than they did during this cruise. They only used about 2/3 of the port side of the 5th deck (i.e. roughly 1/4 of the entire 5th deck dining area)to take care of MyTime diners. It certainly appears that they could expand or shrink that footprint (based on the number of folks requesting MyTime) without affecting traditional seating at all.

 

Andy

 

It seems like Royal Caribbean is trying to be flexible and responsive to the requests of the passengers and just may be able to make both systems work.

Sherri, you are absolutely right about a lot of the apprehension coming from people who have experienced Anytime on Princess. Princess is very inflexible with the designation of dining space as Anytime or Traditional. The waitlists for Traditional number in the hundreds on many sailings. Combine that with passengers getting forced into Anytime even with a confirmed dinner seating, and it's understandable why folks who have experienced the Princess system are apprehensive.

[u2cruiser]

What time did you eat?

 

Around 8 to 8.30 each evening.

[u2cruiser]

Try putting your conference group of 13 on a freestyle/anytime/mytime ship before you start comparing dining setups. Or try going on a traditional dining ship with just the two of you.

 

Then you can compare.

 

That's a fair point. Seating 13 is not like seating 2 in anytime and I expect we would have had to reserve a table.

 

The timing of both sittings on the 5 day Med on Navigator were between 6.45 and 7.15 1st, 9 and 9.30 2nd. Too early and too late for us.