FLEXIBLE SEATING - my review of open dining on the 8.31.08 sailing of the Legend

[xntric1]

I am not sure how Carnival handles tipping for the flexible dining room. I did not leave a tip on the table, nor did I increase or decrease my automatic tips. I figured that it was an issue that Carnival had already adressed.

 

If we decided to give a waiter (or other Carnival employee) an additional tip, we always give them cash, in person, at the end of our cruise.

[CEWayfarer]

Actually, that's an interesting point that I hadn't considered...

We have always tipped our servers extra in addition to the pre-paid gratuities, if they go above and beyond cursory service, which they always have done.

I guess if we don't have the same server every night and the service is good, we'll just leave a little extra on the table, like we would in the 'real world'.

(note to self: bring more cash!!).

[Kurbanfan]

I am not sure how Carnival handles tipping for the flexible dining room. I did not leave a tip on the table, nor did I increase or decrease my automatic tips. I figured that it was an issue that Carnival had already adressed.

 

If we decided to give a waiter (or other Carnival employee) an additional tip, we always give them cash, in person, at the end of our cruise.

 

I believe on Princess where they have had personal choice dining in effect for a while now........the automated tips are pooled. It is not broken down like on Carnival. So maybe that's what they are doing with the anytime on Carnival......

[mj]

My husband and I opted for "Open Dining" for our cruise last week on the Legend. Though the experience was not flawless, we do hope the choice will be available on our next cruise.

For those of you not familiar with "Open Dining", Carnival is doing an experiment on the Legend and soon to be expanded to another ship (Liberty?). In addition to the early and late fixed table seating, you can choose the Open Dining option. With this, you show up at any time between 5:45 PM and 9:15 PM (or similar times - I may be off slightly on the times) or you can call up till 4 PM and make a reservation. When making a reservation you can request a particular waiter and or table.

 

The first night we went down to dinner about 15-20 minutes after the Legend cleared the Sunshine Bridge. Having cruise out of Tampa before, we did not watch the passing. When we arrived (we didn't make reservations) we were told the wait would be about 10-15 minutes and were given a pager. We went to the bar outside of the dining room and enjoyed a drink. The seas were quite rough that night (Gustav) and it was interesting watching people try to walk a straight path. Our pager went off after about 30 minutes. We went back to the hostess stand and the two of us were seated at a table for four. We were not sure at that point if we would be having others join our table. We did not. We had a friendly and efficient wait team. We were pleased with our service.

 

Night two: we had been in Key West that day, it was an itinerary change due to the hurricane. We went down about 7:30. We were told we would have about a 15 minute wait. Once again we enjoyed a drink prior to dinner. The pager went off about 25-30 minutes later. We were seated in the same general area as the night previous, but had a different wait staff. Again, they were friendly and did a good job.

 

The third evening was our first "elegant" dinner. I called about 3:30 and made reservations for 8 PM. I did not request a certain server or table. We were seated immediately upon our arrival. Again, in the same general area, but we had another waiter. He got a lower grade that the two previous waitstaff groups. He never introduced himself or his assistant to us. There was no effort on his part to "connect' to us. We did not really lack for anything service-wise, but his personality was somewhat off.

 

Night four we went down, without reservations, about 7:15 PM. We had a long excursion in Cozumel and were looking forward to an early evening. Many of the tables appeared to be set and empty, but we again were told it would be about a 10-15 minute wait. It was at least 30 minutes. Once called we were seated at the same table we had the first night, with the same servers as the first night. They recognized us and called us by name. Again they were friendly and efficient.

 

Night five, we had reservations with others from our CC Roll Call. We left the reservation setting to others. They had a waiter they really liked and wanted to be seated in his section. We had a group of 7, but they were not able to accommodate all of us at the same table. They gave us 2 tables, back to back. We had the 'desired' waiter, the other table had another waiter. The requested waiter was excellent. He and the assistant were very personable and he went out of his way to make us feel welcomed to his section. I can understand why our friends requested him as their server each evening.

 

The next night, six, was our second elegant dining evening. Again, we did not make reservations. We went down around 8 PM and were told we had about a 15 minute wait. Of course, by this time, we realized that meant 30-ish minutes. Just right to have a leisurely drink in the bar, finish it and long enough to start wondering if you had time for another before your pager would go off. We were seated in the section of our second night waitstaff's area. She greeted us warmly and welcomed us back. It was a table for two this time. The only night we were seated at a two-top table.

 

The final night, we again had reservations made by our friends, in 'their waiters' area. Conrado is a true asset to Carnival.

 

We liked the "Open Dining" option. Yes, it has some 'warts', but it fit our style well. The approximate 30 minute wait each night was okay with us. I would have preferred a more accurate disclosure of the true wait time and anything longer that the 30 minutes would have been excessive. We did not mind having time for a drink prior to being seated. We enjoyed chatting with Adam, one of the bar/dining room waiters each evening. We could have easily made reservations each night. However, what suited us so with the flexible dining is not having to be ready for dinner at a precise time. We got dressed for dinner when we wanted to, at our own pace. We actually enjoyed the pre-dinner drink. Also, we did not have children to keep occupied while waiting for our table. It was nice having the option to dine with friends when we desired. Something we did miss about this choice was meeting tablemates. On most of our cruises, we have enjoyed our tablemates. (Yes, we have had tablemates from hell and most of that cruise we dined outside of the regular dining room.) At the end of our cruise we were given a separate comment card for the "Open Dining". We made the suggestion that when checking in with the hostess, we would have liked the option of private dining or mixed dining.

 

We hope Carnival expands this option across the fleet. We do not wish to see assigned seating go away, but adding this as an option is a definite plus to us.

 

 

Thanks for the review. I will stick to the traditonal dining on the Liberty in November. Sounds like Carnival is still working the bugs out of the system. Tried Princess's opening dining a few years back and 6 out of 7 nights were seated for a table for two around 7pm. Only had to wait 10 minutes the one night we had to wait. It just may take Carnival some time to get it running smoothly.

[Ted]

We were also on the same cruise, and, other than the first night, our experience generally involved shorter waits than those described by the original poster.We ate in the regular dining room 5 of the 7 nights. We always requested tables for two, but were seated by ourselves at four-tops all but once.

 

On Sunday night, we were told 20-25 minutes, but it was actually about 30. We took full advantage of the time flexibility, eating at greatly varied times. On two occasions, we were able to be seated immediately. The two other tmes, we were told 20-25 minutes (apparently the standard response), but were actually buzzed in less than 10. We had different servers nightly, but service was quite good.

 

We have also enjoyed open dining on other lines, and were very satisfied with the overall experience. I hope it is again available next year when we cruise on Pride out of Baltimore. We were informed that open dining would definitely be expanded fleet-wide.

 

On a separate related dining matter, we ate in the almost deserted supper club one evening. We have always thought the food to be first rate in Carnival's supper clubs. However, each of the three prior times we found the service to be very amateurish although enthusiastic (fawning does not equate to good service). For the first time on Legend, we found very professional service to equal the level of the food, always there when needed, but not intrusive. We thought the meal was well worth the $30 per person, plus an additional gratuity.

[IB4cruise]

Thanks for the review. It was very informative. I am very pleased to see flexible dining offered, and I hope it stays around.

 

I have a question I am sure someone can answer: If you are booked for traditional dining, can you change to open dining for the remainder of the cruise - even after the first night? What about changing from open dining to traditional?

 

thanks for your help! :)

[Elaine515]

Thanks for the review. It was very informative. I am very pleased to see flexible dining offered, and I hope it stays around.

 

I have a question I am sure someone can answer: If you are booked for traditional dining, can you change to open dining for the remainder of the cruise - even after the first night? What about changing from open dining to traditional?

 

thanks for your help! :)

 

 

 

I also have almost the same question. We always book the early dining mainly because we cruise with my parents who have to eat early but we always eat later at home and really hate eating early. So, if we do tell Carnival that we want the early seating, but choose not to go one or two nights, can we just walk into the flexible dining room without a problem? Or, does your card indicate which dining choice you made?

 

Another question that I have seen posted... do you tip extra or is the pre-paid tips also for the flexible dining room staff, and if you do leave a couple of extra $$$$$$s on the table, who gets to keep it?

[dan40]

Thanks for the review. It was very informative. I am very pleased to see flexible dining offered, and I hope it stays around.

 

I have a question I am sure someone can answer: If you are booked for traditional dining, can you change to open dining for the remainder of the cruise - even after the first night? What about changing from open dining to traditional?

 

thanks for your help! :)

 

My guess is that cruises with a 50/50 split of trad/open will be rare. So if its 55% traditional to 45% open and you wish to change to open, it would be no problem. But going to traditional under the same conditions might not be possible.

Some cruises will be heavily weighted in favor of one over the other to the point that even the requests at booking will not be accommodated.

Dinner seating could turn out to be a major Platinum benny.

 

Dan

[dan40]

I also have almost the same question. We always book the early dining mainly because we cruise with my parents who have to eat early but we always eat later at home and really hate eating early. So, if we do tell Carnival that we want the early seating, but choose not to go one or two nights, can we just walk into the flexible dining room without a problem? Or, does your card indicate which dining choice you made?

 

Another question that I have seen posted... do you tip extra or is the pre-paid tips also for the flexible dining room staff, and if you do leave a couple of extra $$$$$$s on the table, who gets to keep it?

 

Your card will be marked as to your seating type. You are not allowed to switch back and forth. You may be able to change for the remainder of the cruise, but NOT nightly.

Tips are in the auto-tip, if you want to tip xtra to a waiter, hand them the money.

 

Dan

[denb]

At home we eat around 7:00, I have had 5:45, way too early.. This time I have 8:00. Seems late but will see how it goes..

Hmmmm?? Your reply was related to Miracle, which sails in the Caribbean. Your location lists S. Texas. 8:00pm in the Caribbean is 7:00pm in Texas. :confused: Or did I miss the joke? ;)

[blackrose602]

I'm certainly glad that this option exists for those who prefer it, but I fervently hope that open dining never replaces traditional. The entire dining room experience is one of the biggest cruise highlights for me, from the camaraderie that develops with our tablemates (we always request a big table) to the interactions with our wait team. I would never want to give that up. I also love that things are timed so that we can linger over dessert, have a quick smoke, then head to the evening show.

 

By the way, I'm in my early 30s and often cruise with my father in his mid 50s. Neither of us are club hoppers, but we much prefer late seating. That gives us plenty of time to enjoy port, return to the ship for a small late afternoon snack, and still have time to shower and dress for dinner. I've never been able to understand how 8:30 is "too late" on a ship full of food, but different strokes for different folks :)

 

I'm glad that Carnival is adding new choices, as we all have our own preferences. Just don't do away with my beloved traditional late seating please!!

[SnorkelBabe]

Hmmmm?? Your reply was related to Miracle, which sails in the Caribbean. Your location lists S. Texas. 8:00pm in the Caribbean is 7:00pm in Texas. :confused: Or did I miss the joke? ;)

Since those of us coming from more western time zones have to adjust for other activities, excursions and meals, it doesn't matter what time it is at home, if it's 8:00 ship time, it's 8:00.

[bthorn1108]

Doesn't that defeat the purpose of flexible dining:confused: If you make a reservation you have to be there at a specific time...same as traditional.

I don't think they should allow reservations for anytime/flexible dining......I think that just messes things up.......

If you can't be flexible then traditional is the way to go.......

 

That is not necessarily the case. We prefer to have dinner around 7:00, so this gives us that option. Before it was 6:00 or 8:00, one's to early, the other to late.

[bthorn1108]

Doesn't that defeat the purpose of flexible dining:confused: If you make a reservation you have to be there at a specific time...same as traditional.

I don't think they should allow reservations for anytime/flexible dining......I think that just messes things up.......

If you can't be flexible then traditional is the way to go.......

 

That is not necessarily the case. We prefer to have dinner around 7:00, so this gives us that option. Before it was 6:00 or 8:00, one's to early, the other to late.