Our family of 5, (mom, dad, and three teenagers) are leaving for our cruise (sapphire, mexico) on the 29th of april. I am not sure what to do about the dining option. Not sure to go with the assigned seating or the flexible seating. We do want to make a family meal together every evening a particular priority. I have only cruised with Royal Carribean in the recent past, and they have assigned seating for dinner. I like the idea of ordering from the menu, having the same waiter every nite, etc. But the flexible arrangent sounds like it could be a positive too.(We would probably not go to any of the restaurant that charge extra)
Any recomendations? I am not sure I really understand the complete picture on the options - I have read the pamphlet they sent but still not really clear on how that works. We are not really too thrilled about the formal nights either...just more work than we really want to mess with.
Any recomendations?
Our family of 5, (mom, dad, and three teenagers) are leaving for our cruise (sapphire, mexico) on the 29th of april. I am not sure what to do about the dining option. Not sure to go with the assigned seating or the flexible seating. We do want to make a family meal together every evening a particular priority. I have only cruised with Royal Carribean in the recent past, and they have assigned seating for dinner. I like the idea of ordering from the menu, having the same waiter every nite, etc. But the flexible arrangent sounds like it could be a positive too.(We would probably not go to any of the restaurant that charge extra)
Any recomendations? I am not sure I really understand the complete picture on the options - I have read the pamphlet they sent but still not really clear on how that works. We are not really too thrilled about the formal nights either...just more work than we really want to mess with.
Any recomendations?
Take the Traditional dining. You will have an assigned table. If one night you don't feel like going to your assigned table you have the option to go to the "Anytime" dining room.
Okay, I see. That helps thank you. Do I understand correctly then, that on the formal nights we could choose to go somewhere that did not require formal dress? Or is it that we would be in the same dining room, just showing up when we want rather than a specific time and we would need to dress anyway?
Thanks in advance!
The "Traditional" dining and the "Anytime" dining are separate sit down dining rooms. There will also be the buffet offered up on the Lido which would be casual.
On formal nights, unless you are going to the buffet, you will need to dress. Cocktail dresses for women and a coat and tie for men with dress slacks. The "anytime" dining is a great option. We did that last year, and shared a table with different interesting people each evening. We have normally done traditional dining, but could not get late seating last year and tried the anytime. With a group as large as yours, you probably would be at your own table. You still get to order off the same menu as the traditional dining room. It is no less formal than traditional dining, no jeans, no shorts, no t-shirts, etc. The buffet is available every evening as well. Enjoy your cruise.
I say go with the traditional seating then you know when you are expected, where your table is, who your waiter will be, etc. If you don't want to dress up on the formal nights you can always skip dinner in the dining room that night and eat in the more casual buffet or the personal choice dining room. They do expect you to be formally dressed if you are eating in the traditional dining room on those nights.
We had a large group (about 12 of us) last summer on the Grand Princess and we chose "anytime" dining. We were able to make a reservation with the maitre'd when we finished diner for the following night and have the same table/waiter every night, but we were able to vary the time of the meal, earlier for days at sea, later for days we were in port. Other than choosing what time you want to eat, the menu & dress code are identical to the people in the assigned seating dining room. The one drawback to open dining is that if you arive at a popular time and the tables are filled, you will have to wait a few minutes for a table to clear, just like eating at a populer land restaurant. I didn't have to wait, so I don't know how long the wait may be.
When we booked our cruise this summer, I insisted on open dining so we don't have to rush to get back to the ship for dinner. We can relax & change at our pace, then go up for a nice dinner.
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