How does anytime dining actually work?

[Poppy01]

Hi

I was hoping that the more experienced cruisers with Princess could give me some advice about anytime dining. We have previously used the fixed time dining so new to anytime. Is it just a case of turning up and getting a table or do you need to reserve? Any tips would be appreciated.

 

Thanks

 

Poppy:)

[pj-atsea]

Well there are two dining rooms for the anytime dining.. One opens half an hour before the other. You just go and hopefully get seated right away. If you go at the opening time they is usually no wait.. They may ask if you want to share a table, if you do, then you may be seated more quickly, especially if there is starting to be a line up. You may be given a pager if you have to wait for a while. I believe you can make a reservation , but for dining before 7pm. It usually isn't needed at that time though. We always take anytime dining and are happy with it. I'm sure I forgot something but others will fill in what I forgot..pj

[partsman_ba]

We aren't very experienced, but we had Anytime on our May cruise. You just show up at the hostess station to be seated. During rush time, you may have to wait for a little while, especially if you want a table for 2 - they hand out those pager/coaster things like Olive Garden if it's going to be longer than a few minutes. Island Princess would only take Anytime reservations for early or late dining, not during rush time. Also, Island only has one Anytime room (and one Traditional.)

[Wormy53]

I have never felt a need to reserve a table. We always do anytime dining, and we usually ask for a 2-top. We have never had more than a 15 minute wait - and I don't mind sitting in a convenient location nearby for that period of time. I think where some are getting a longer wait is when everyone tries to turn up at 7pm. That seems to be the busiest time. We usually go to dinner about 8-8:30. We usually take 1-1 1/2 hrs. I think it is great!! Enjoy your cruise!!:)

[island visitor]

You can just show up and they will ask you if you mind sharing a table or would you prefer to dine alone. If you are willing to share they are normally able to seat you within a short time. We usually travel with another couple and prefer a table for just us four so sometimes we would have a 15 or 20 minute wait, if that long. We have done the traditional on other cuiselines and for us we prefer the anytime dining. Everyone has their own opinion on this subject. I just like the fact that if we are doing something at the time we are suppose to be in the dining room we don't have to stop and rush to get ready.

[Poppy01]

Thanks for your advice. We don't mind sharing a table and actually enjoy meeting other cruisers. We will be sailing on the Sea Princess SFO to Alaska.

[paul929207]

Yes, Anytine Dining works, and usually, quite well.

 

You show up whenever you are ready for dinner. You are asked if you would like to share a table. You are seated at an appropriate table and go from there. Sometimes, more people come to the dining room at one time than can be accommodated quickly. In that case you are given a beeper and as estimate of the wait - usually 10 or 15 minutes, but occasionally longer.

 

You can make reservations if you wish. Some ships do not take reservations for between 6pm and 8pm.

[paul929207]

One thing I forgot to say is that the worst time is right after the Captain's Welcome Party. Many people go straight from the cocktail party to the dining rooms and so there can be a line. The same occurs after the Captain's Circle Party

[FLACRUISER99]

Hi

I was hoping that the more experienced cruisers with Princess could give me some advice about anytime dining. We have previously used the fixed time dining so new to anytime. Is it just a case of turning up and getting a table or do you need to reserve? Any tips would be appreciated.

 

Thanks

 

Poppy:)

It depends what ship you are on. Some, The Star, Caribbean, Emerald, Island, Coral and Grand work great. The Diamond however almost required you to get a reservation, at least when I was on her.

[Caribensun]

Recently off the Sapphire and took anytime dining first time, will never go back now. You can reserve a table and restaurant for your desired time by pressing the dining? button on the phone. You can make reservations several days out I believe it was starting as early as 8am. They will tell you what is availabe for that time and when if it is full.

If you will be dining with others know their names and cabin number or they will not give you the table for 4+. We found the larger tables in better locations and more private.

The tables for 2 were crowded together and not a feeling of being at a nice restaurant. We only met one nice couple willing to talk. If the table for 2 is a real problem ask the waiter/waitress and they will get the

mait r d to try to accomidate you.

[bigmjh]

Our recent experience on the Sapphire ... we like to dine early. The first night we were given a table for 4 (only two of us) near a window with a great wait staff. We were pleased with the location and, after dinner, stopped and asked the maitre'd if we could have the same table each night. He noted it in the computer and each night we had that table and would usually invite various 'friends' we had met to join us. The only thing in doing it this way was that it kind of locked us into using the same dining room each night - rather than trying the various others (I know they have the same basic menu - but the change of scenery is nice).

[AAAAmerican]

Poppy01,

 

 

Like in anything.

Supply and demand rules.

 

Traditional Dining does have a Waiting List usually , for good reason, as it is the most requested/desired.

 

Anytime never has a Waiting List only a WAIT.

 

 

On an Alaskan State Cruise that is different in some ways as having a Later Traditional is usually better as the Daylight now is at maximum. Each day we do loose about one minute..

 

If you do have Traditional Hold on tight, IMHO.

 

As it is worth more than a score of Scottish Pounds or even Euros across the Big Loch.. ...:cool:

 

 

Hi

I was hoping that the more experienced cruisers with Princess could give me some advice about anytime dining. We have previously used the fixed time dining so new to anytime. Is it just a case of turning up and getting a table or do you need to reserve? Any tips would be appreciated.

 

Thanks

 

Poppy:)

[AAAAmerican]

Poppy01,

 

 

Like in anything.

Supply and demand rules.

 

Traditional Dining does have a Waiting List usually , for good reason, as it is the most requested/desired.

 

Anytime never has a Waiting List only a WAIT.

 

 

On an Alaskan State Cruise that is different in some ways as having a Later Traditional is usually better as the Daylight now is at maximum. Each day we do loose about one minute..

 

If you do have Traditional Hold on tight, IMHO.

 

As it is worth more than a score of Scottish Pounds or even Euros across the Big Loch.. ...:cool:

 

 

Hi

I was hoping that the more experienced cruisers with Princess could give me some advice about anytime dining. We have previously used the fixed time dining so new to anytime. Is it just a case of turning up and getting a table or do you need to reserve? Any tips would be appreciated.

 

Thanks

 

Poppy:)

[isleptwell]

I returned from the Diamond Princess a week ago and had anytime dining. Because we had early mornings planned each day, we wanted dining reservations for an early dinner so we could make it to the early shows. The first time we reserved, they let us have a 6:00 reservation. After that, they only offered 5:30, 5:45, and then 8:00. There were no reservations in between. I don't know if there were later ones because I was not interested in them.

 

So we made reservations for 5:45 and they said they would hold reservations for 15 minutes. We arrived between 5:45 and 5:55. The day we arrived at 5:55, they were turning away the whole long line of people who did not have a reservation, but they were sending them to the Savoy, another anytime dining room that did have space.

 

The tables for two we had on the Diamond were grouped in groups of three and were quite close together. In every instance, the diners treated them almost as though we were all sitting together. Everyone introduced themselves immediately and we all talked together.

 

The only exception was the 2nd night when we were sitting at the middle table and there was a very glum looking couple on our left. We spent most of dinner talking to the people on our right and interpreted the left couple's expressions as wanting to be left alone. After the people on our right left, the left-hand couple introduced themselves to us and we had a lovely talk. It turned out this was their first cruise (ours too) and they had not known how to join in our our conversation. We felt terrible for leaving them out, and after that, we introduced ourselves to people on both sides of us when we were the middle table.

 

We got smart part-way through the cruise and started asking the host to seat us at a shared table. They never asked us first (as other posters said was the case for them). Asking for a shared table always threw the hosts for a loop because we had made a reservation for two. One time they said we were getting the last possible table that could be shared. Another time, they said no, but then found one for us. Whenever we forgot to ask, they seated us at tables for two.

 

On our anniversary night, we saw a couple we had dined with before standing in line to be seated. We asked the host if we could share a table with them, and they accommodated us because the other couple also had reservations. Otherwise, they could not.

 

Another night, we wanted to sit with with two people who had not made a reservation. This was the night the restaurant was sending everyone without a reservation to the Savoy. I ran to the Savoy to get a table for all four of us there, with the plan that I would return to the rest to let them know if I succeeded. In the meantime, my husband was initially told by the original dining room that they could not seat all four of us because of our friends' lack of a reservation, but by the time I returned to the group, the original dining room had found space for us. But when the host looked us up in the computer, she found the reservation I'd arranged with the Savoy. So we were all happy to go to the Savoy and had a lovely dinner there.

 

On the first day of the cruise, they let me make a reservation for the first night and the next two nights. After that, we could only make a reservation for the next night. There is a button on the cabin's phone for dining services and that is how you make a reservation.

[Poppy01]

Thanks for your advice but I have another question :)

 

On our first cruise with Princess, which was on October last year, we got married on the the first formal night and had our meal at Sabantini's. We were fixed dining on the first sitting.

 

What happens on the first formal night and how does this work with anytime dining?

[paul929207]

Thanks for your advice but I have another question :)

 

On our first cruise with Princess, which was on October last year, we got married on the the first formal night and had our meal at Sabantini's. We were fixed dining on the first sitting.

 

What happens on the first formal night and how does this work with anytime dining?

Not sure what you mean by "What happens on the first..."?

 

Formal nights are the same in Traditional and Anytime Dining.

[Kentchikan]

We have had Anytime Dining on several ships and just got back from an Alaskan cruise on the Sea Princess. Anytime dining has always worked well for us as described on this thread with very little, if any waiting. On this cruise it was not so. The first night there were waits up to an hour and a half. The Maitre d' said it would get better but there were long lines throughout the cruise. The Maitre d' switched us to a great table with a great waiter at the late (8 o'clock) seating. It worked better for us than trying to fight the lines every night. We just realigned our happy hour and all was well.

Part of the problem is that people with fixed dining use anytime dining and cruise cards aren't always checked to make sure that people are on anytime dining so it overloads the anytime dining room.

[paul929207]

It is bad enough that they let TD people into AD when there is little or no wait, but to let them in when there is a hour or longer wait is ridiculous.

[OldJerseycruiser]

We used to always book Traditional Dining, but decided on our last cruise to NZ/AUS in February on Diamond, to try Anytime. We thought it was great as we could be up on deck for late Sailaways some days and others go to eat early if we were feeling tired after a long day. Perfect!

[jenjens1023]

We were on the Diamond and NEVER had to wait for a table. We usually went to dinner between 7:30 and 8 and asked to share a table (there were three of us). On the second formal night we were told there were no tables available in the dining room we had chosen. We said we would just go to another dining room. We were four steps away when the matre d' ran up to us and said "Your daughter is so beautiful tonight it would be a shame not to have her in our dining room!" Golly gee, they had a table for us! (She did look really nice)

[Colo Cruiser]

We are not a fan of the 4 anytime rooms on the Sapphire/Diamond. :(

Always wait time issues.

[scmexico]

We are not a fan of the 4 anytime rooms on the Sapphire/Diamond. :(

Always wait time issues.

 

Do you ever do AT dining?

[Colo Cruiser]

Do you ever do AT dining?

 

Not anymore....

 

We did it Religiously since its inception, then 2 years ago we switched back to traditional, too many people making reservations and defeating the intentions of anytime. :(