Stricter dining policy causes anger amongst guests

There have been mixed reactions to this news which was revealed in the last few days. I’d love to know what you think about this.

Carnival have announced new rules being implemented for their dining room.

They’ll begin testing the new rules on two of their ships, Carnival Glory and Carnival Conquest.  Guests who have opted for traditional dining with an early or late sitting will be the only ones affected. The new policy will see guests turned away if they arrive for dinner 30 minutes or more late for their assigned dining time.  Instead, they’ll be politely turned away and asked to dine in the buffet restaurant on Lido Deck.

Carnival have said that the reason for this is due to latecomers causing delays to other guests meals and disrupting the dining experience.  The waiters in the dining room need to try to serve everyone the same course at the same time but this can prove very difficult when guests arrive late for their sitting.  Guests have be known to arrive 45 minutes to an hour late for their sitting which causes disruption and difficulties for the waiters.

Passengers on the Anytime dining option will not be affected but Carnival have said that although the new rules will only be implemented on two ships for now, they hope to roll it out to the rest of the fleet shortly after the testing period according to John Heald at Carnival.

At the moment, Carnival haven’t stated whether they plan to roll it out to other Carnival brands like P&O, Cunard, Princess etc but if it works well, they may well do so.

What do you think? Have you been affected by latecomers to the dining table? Or have you arrived late and think this new rule is unacceptable?

I’d love to hear your thoughts.