5:15pm dining time?

First time on Princess...I am trying to determine whether we want the 5:15pm seating or not...some things to consider:

• I love the sunset and it will be going down ~7pm each night...I read somewhere that dinner takes 2 hours?! Could it take less? Is the sunset in Alaska likely to be fogged in?
  
• My partner has a severe allergy so we will prefer traditional seating as we will have the same waiter each night, etc.
  
• This is for an Alaska cruise in September...
  
• There is only one port (Ketchikan) where we will still be in port (until 7pm) at 5:15pm...also the Glacier Bay day goes until 7:30pm...
  
• Other port days start as early as 6am--and we tend to be early to bed in general
  

Any/all thoughts will be appreciated!

ALSO: Just want to express gratitude for all of your informative posts and pics...what a great online community! These message boards have been so helpful in all of my planning to date!!!

If you want to see the sunset and you are not finished eating, you can leave the dining room for a few minutes to see it and then return. (just be sure that the waitstaff knows you are not finished yet)

Alternatively, you can tell your waitstaff what time you want to be finished with dinner and he/she will serve at a rate that you will be finished in time to see the sunset.

If you go to dinner at 5:15 pm. I really don't think it will take you more then 1:20 minutes. I don't think there will be that many people there at that time.

So the service will be fast. Tell you waiter you want to get out early.

Tony

First time on Princess...I am trying to determine whether we want the 5:15pm seating or not...some things to consider:

• I love the sunset and it will be going down ~7pm each night...I read somewhere that dinner takes 2 hours?! Could it take less? Is the sunset in Alaska likely to be fogged in?
  
• My partner has a severe allergy so we will prefer traditional seating as we will have the same waiter each night, etc.
  
• This is for an Alaska cruise in September...
  
• There is only one port (Ketchikan) where we will still be in port (until 7pm) at 5:15pm...also the Glacier Bay day goes until 7:30pm...
  
• Other port days start as early as 6am--and we tend to be early to bed in general
  

 

Any/all thoughts wu ill be appreciated!

 

ALSO: Just want to express gratitude for all of your informative posts and pics...what a great online community! These message boards have been so helpful in all of my planning to date!!!

Sunset in Alaska in Sept varies from about 8;45-9pm in early September down to about 7:30-7:45 by end of September. Taking an early set dining time of 5:15 will see you done with dinner by 7:15-7:30 at the latest... Sunsets can vary wildly in how much colors you'll see based on cloud and sea conditions....so who knows. Personally, we'd not take such an early time given the need to be back onboard and dressed for dinner so early - ie add in at least 30 minutes prior for cleaning up and dressing for dinner and you're looking at 4:45 or earlier to get ready for dinner! You're missing a big part of the day, especially for ports! Maybe consider the second early seating time, or anytime dining and speak carefully with the maitre'd about dietary issues - they may let you make a standing reservation in anytime, so you'd have same dining staff etc..

If you do take traditional dining and are late in port or Glacier Bay, buffet, room service, International Cafe, or specialty restaurants are all options.

Lots to see and do in Alaska, good luck!!

Have a great sailing....

First time on Princess...I am trying to determine whether we want the 5:15pm seating or not...some things to consider:

• I love the sunset and it will be going down ~7pm each night...I read somewhere that dinner takes 2 hours?! Could it take less? Is the sunset in Alaska likely to be fogged in?
  
• My partner has a severe allergy so we will prefer traditional seating as we will have the same waiter each night, etc.
  
• This is for an Alaska cruise in September...
  
• There is only one port (Ketchikan) where we will still be in port (until 7pm) at 5:15pm...also the Glacier Bay day goes until 7:30pm...
  
• Other port days start as early as 6am--and we tend to be early to bed in general
  

 

Any/all thoughts will be appreciated!

 

ALSO: Just want to express gratitude for all of your informative posts and pics...what a great online community! These message boards have been so helpful in all of my planning to date!!!

Alaskan cruises are only 7 or 8 nights, why not choose anytime dining and enjoy the outdoors until you're ready to eat?

A comment on allergies. My wife is lactose intolerant and allergic to shellfish. The first evening, we ask for the head waiter. He bring the menus for the first two nights and helps my wife order things safe for her. We eat in the same MDR each night with AT. THe headwaiter comes over, verifies my wife's order for that night and bring the menu for the next night.

If you want to see the sunset and you are not finished eating, you can leave the dining room for a few minutes to see it and then return. (just be sure that the waitstaff knows you are not finished yet)

Alternatively, you can tell your waitstaff what time you want to be finished with dinner and he/she will serve at a rate that you will be finished in time to see the sunset.

Your can't be serious. Leave the table to do something else while people are waiting at the door to be seated ! :eek:

Very inconsiderate.

If seeing the sunset is that important just not go to the dining room that night, view the sunset & go to the buffet. Problem solved.

Your can't be serious. Leave the table to do something else while people are waiting at the door to be seated ! :eek:

Very inconsiderate.

If seeing the sunset is that important just not go to the dining room that night, view the sunset & go to the buffet. Problem solved.

OP is talking about traditional dining so no one is waiting to be seated at his table. Are you also opposed to people leaving the dining room to visit the rest room?

Maybe there is a way to ask for a table where you can view the sunset while eating your dinner. Never hurts to ask, all they can say is no.

DH needs a special diet and we always have anytime dining on the Princess ships that offer it (not on Pacific). Sometimes we have the same table and waiters at a set time; however, this was not allowed on our last cruise. Either way, we had no problem with his diet being accommodated.

We always go to dinner after watching the sunset. However, in Alaska that could be a bit late. Since we usually get a table for two, dinner doesn't usually take longer than we want it to, say 90 mins.

This may help with the sunset times.

http://www.alaska.org/weather/daylight-hours

I have not cruised Princess to Alaska, but on other Princess cruises where the port departure is after the early traditional eating, the dining has been changed for everyone to anytime dining for that port. If the early traditional passenger still wants to show up at the early set time and be at their regular table it is not a problem. You can also opt to come in late to your seating and still be seated at your table.

If you wish to eat after the time of the early traditional seating, it will depend if the dining room has reverted to the set late seating. In that case, you may have to go to the anytime dining room.

If you go to dinner at 5:15 pm. I really don't think it will take you more then 1:20 minutes. I don't think there will be that many people there at that time.

So the service will be fast. Tell you waiter you want to get out early.

Tony

5:15 will be the midshipman dinning room on deck 6. It usually has a wait list. So it will be full. More people sign up for early traditional than late traditional. Not sure where you are getting the idea that there won't be many people dining then

OP is talking about traditional dining so no one is waiting to be seated at his table. Are you also opposed to people leaving the dining room to visit the rest room?

Absolutely not but to make other people wait 10 or 15 minutes until your enjoy a sunset seems over the top whether it's TD or AT.

Also bear in mind that Alaska is mountainous, even along the coast. So if you are in the Inside Passage, there will be mountains all around you. The "sunset time" will be the time that the sun dips below the true horizon. But from your perspective on the ship, you might lose the sun much earlier.

Thank you!! All very helpful and much appreciated! There is certainly a lot to consider.

On our last Princess cruise this year, the TD time was listed as 5:15 online, but on the ship it was actually 5:30... don't know if that will be the case for you. Happy cruising!

I wouldn't eat that early. It means eat an early breakfast and lunch and forget afternoon tea at 3:30 Pm.

I wouldn't eat that early. It means eat an early breakfast and lunch and forget afternoon tea at 3:30 Pm.

Keep in mind that New York is three hours ahead of Vancouver and four hours ahead of Juneau. If a passenger is coming from the east coast, a 7:30 dinner time is 10:30-11:30 "stomach time" for at least the first couple of days.

We always choose the early traditional dining, because we like the idea of having the entire evening free afterwards. Eating in the MDR is part of the experience for us, and we like having the same table/waitstaff every night. To each his/her own - many people prefer anytime dining, for equally valid reasons.

First time on Princess...I am trying to determine whether we want the 5:15pm seating or not...some things to consider:

• I love the sunset and it will be going down ~7pm each night...I read somewhere that dinner takes 2 hours?! Could it take less? Is the sunset in Alaska likely to be fogged in?
  
• Other port days start as early as 6am--and we tend to be early to bed in general
  

Any/all thoughts will be appreciated!

Don't expect too much that you will get the TD dining you request. In any case, you can tell the waiter your preferred serving time. How long your dinner takes will depend on you then

I don't understand where the 5:15 PM "traditional" early seating for the MDR comes from: Here is what Princess has to say about that on their current website:

"Our Anytime Dining option – a Princess original – allows you the freedom to eat with whomever you wish, and whenever you like – just as you would at a fine restaurant – between 5:30 p.m. and 10 p.m. You can have a table for two one evening and join a group for a festive meal the next. The choice is yours."

"The classic cruise experience, our Traditional Dining option allows you to dine at the same time, either 6:30 p.m. or 8:30 p.m. in our upscale main dining rooms. You'll be seated at the same table and enjoy the same tablemates and wait staff throughout your voyage."

Over the last year we have been on three Princess cruises for about two months total. We don't do "traditional" anymore but prefer "anytime", however, that has gotten to be a problem so we only do dinner in the MDR about 15% of the time, we use the other venues including specialties a lot. Having said that we board the Pacific Princess in 5 weeks and they don't offer "anytime". So we are in the early traditional at 6:00 P.M. at a table for two. Late seating is 8:00 P.M. on that ship.

Part of the reason we have been having MDR problems are the huge waits. We like to eat around 6:15 PM but have been subject to almost 45 minute average waits when we go at that time. Princess has three MDRs on the Regal and Royal. One dining room is relegated to "traditional" only, another is closed to "anytime" until about 7:00 P.M. when it then opens for "anytime", the third is used for "anytime" all the time. The problem is that a long line forms for the "anytime" MDR around 5:00 PM.

It appears to me, based on "Roll Call" listings that almost 75% of the guests prefer "anytime". So, during our preferred time at 6:00 PM, 66% of the MDR space is relegated to "traditional" only, or for 33% of the guests.

We have no problem using the specialties and other eateries on these larger ships, so we enjoy the cruises regardless of MDR problems. However, we are going to assess the traditional concept again on this forthcoming cruise. If we can get a table for two in "traditional" on future cruises we might go that route again. Since we prefer long voyages getting stuck with a bunch of squirrely table-mates for a long stretch isn't an option that we look forward to. Been there done that on many a prior cruise.

I don't understand where the 5:15 PM "traditional" early seating for the MDR comes from: Here is what Princess has to say about that on their current website:

What the website says and what your cruise card says can be (and often are) different. A 5:30 TD time can be anything else when you board, 5:15, 5:45. It's a pet peeve of all TD diners.

In midsummer Alaska really doesn't have a sunset per-se. We go to Hawaii in the winter and really see sunsets there because the sky is pretty light one minute, then suddenly, dark. The reason for that is in the northern latitudes the sun hardly drops much below the horizon around solstice time. Above the arctic circle for a period of days, it never sets. Pilots are aware of this because of "official twilight" and "official darkness" which governs the rules they have to fly under. So in the summer we are in twilight conditions almost all the time in the evenings and at night. Here is a pretty good explanation:

"Twilight, is the illumination of the Earth's lower atmosphere when the Sun itself is not directly visible because it is below the horizon. Twilight is produced by sunlight scattering in the upper atmosphere, illuminating the lower atmosphere so that the surface of the Earth is neither completely lit nor completely dark. The word twilight is also used to denote the periods of time when this illumination occurs.The further the Sun is below the horizon, the dimmer the twilight (other things such as atmospheric conditions being equal). When the Sun reaches 18 degrees below the horizon, the twilight's brightness is nearly zero, and evening twilight becomes nightime. When the Sun again reaches 18 degrees below the horizon, nightime becomes morning twilight."

If a meal is taking 2 hours, that's YOUR choice. We are in and out in 75-90 minutes normally.