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Traditional open seating?


mariakitty
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Actually my friends tried to get the same table at the same time and wasn't able to do so. This was their first-ever cruise so they didn't think to talk to the maitre d about it. Apparently he wasn't a friendly sort anyway! And to be clear I am referring to traditional dining with open seating, not anytime dining.

 

I simply spoke to the head waiter at the door, and advised

him of my plans for the evenings that were open seating,

and everything was perfect.

 

Otherwise, how would they divine your wishes?

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I'm sure the late departures from ports were the reason, but from a passenger standpoint I would still want my reserved table with my waiters regardless. If the itinerary has that many late port departures then the dining schedule should be adjusted accordingly. Just my two cents. :-)

 

That sounds great in theory, however if they adjust the times it would mean that late traditional which is already quite late could be at 10:00 in the evening and there may be early traditional guests who don't want to eat as late as say 7:00. The only option would be to keep the times as is and those who miss their meal time could eat in the buffet or specialty restaurant. To me open dining while not the same experience as traditional at least allows everyone access to the MDR.

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I'm sure the late departures from ports were the reason, but from a passenger standpoint I would still want my reserved table with my waiters regardless. If the itinerary has that many late port departures then the dining schedule should be adjusted accordingly. Just my two cents. :-)

 

On Ruby, we were in Victoria 7:00PM to midnight.

 

I'm not sure how they would adjust the dining schedule beyond what they

have done.

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We would do the same thing, if not, skip the MDR. Open seating is not something we have ever done breakfast - lunch or dinner.

 

If you have allergies, skipping the MDR is not a good option. Pre-ordering in the MDR is by far the best way to make sure you don't have any problems.

 

It is much more difficult to account for allergies in the buffet. The buffet often has a problem with cross-contamination by passengers handling serving utensils, so you cannot rely on anything that does not come directly from the kitchen.

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  • 2 years later...

Does anyone know what is considered late enough in port for Princess to change to open seating for traditional dining? When we've been in port until 10pm, dining has been open (still same time but not at assigned table). My upcoming cruise has 2 nights when we are in port until 7pm, wondering if that will be considered "late" and they'll switch to open seating.

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We had early traditional on the Ruby last September. The last night was open seating, and our waiter told us that if we wanted our regular table we should show up early, as soon as the doors opened. We went down a few minutes early and found the doors were already open. We went in and were able to sit at our normal table. So, that seems to me to work if you have early traditional, but maybe not for later times.

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I have late traditional seating and understand that the ship changes to open seating when the ship is in port late (I noted that in my post when we were in port until 10pm) and I'm fine with open seating. Perhaps I'll reword? Has anyone who had late traditional dining and been at a port until 7pm remember if you had open seating or if it was regular traditional seating??

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I have late traditional seating and understand that the ship changes to open seating when the ship is in port late (I noted that in my post when we were in port until 10pm) and I'm fine with open seating. Perhaps I'll reword? Has anyone who had late traditional dining and been at a port until 7pm remember if you had open seating or if it was regular traditional seating??

 

It certainly can vary by what part of the world you are cruising in. So going with the assumption you are asking about the two upcoming Caribbean cruises listed in your signature, I have been on several with late port calls that still stuck with Traditional Dining times. The only exception in that region seems to be if there is an afternoon/evening call at one of the ABC islands.

 

In Alaska--the original destination of this three year old thread--it seems the ships do open seating a lot more often. On the first leg of my upcoming pair of Alaska cruises the three port calls are Noon-10 PM, 8 AM-9 PM, and 6:30 AM-8:30 PM. With many ship's excursions just returning at all-aboard time.

 

Princess' definition of "more ashore" is a port call lasting until 9 PM or later. Is that hour the criteria used by each ship's dining department to decide whether or not to keep or eschew Traditional Dining for that evening? Your guess is as good as mine...

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It certainly can vary by what part of the world you are cruising in. So going with the assumption you are asking about the two upcoming Caribbean cruises listed in your signature, I have been on several with late port calls that still stuck with Traditional Dining times. The only exception in that region seems to be if there is an afternoon/evening call at one of the ABC islands.

 

In Alaska--the original destination of this three year old thread--it seems the ships do open seating a lot more often. On the first leg of my upcoming pair of Alaska cruises the three port calls are Noon-10 PM, 8 AM-9 PM, and 6:30 AM-8:30 PM. With many ship's excursions just returning at all-aboard time.

 

Princess' definition of "more ashore" is a port call lasting until 9 PM or later. Is that hour the criteria used by each ship's dining department to decide whether or not to keep or eschew Traditional Dining for that evening? Your guess is as good as mine...

 

In my past experience, they have still continued with the same traditional dining times but I'm asking about switching from traditional seating to open seating within the same traditional dining times.

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Although I agree with the IP that traditional dining is, well, traditional. I always use TD but it seems that many do not take it seriously. On our last cruise on the Crown I would guess that TD was at least a quarter empty every night. And that was at the early time that always fills up first. It is such a waste of space and it must create a nightmare for the distribution of gratuities.

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In my past experience, they have still continued with the same traditional dining times but I'm asking about switching from traditional seating to open seating within the same traditional dining times.

 

I thought that that was exactly what I answered. The whole topic of this thread is whether or not Traditional Dining is replaced on certain days by open seating based on how late the ship is in port. Even if my answer could be interpreted in a different context--why would you read it any other way in the first place :confused:

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I thought that that was exactly what I answered. The whole topic of this thread is whether or not Traditional Dining is replaced on certain days by open seating based on how late the ship is in port. Even if my answer could be interpreted in a different context--why would you read it any other way in the first place :confused:

 

Because you said "I have been on several with late port calls that still stuck with Traditional Dining times" so I was pointing out that I was asking about the type of seating on those days (same table or open tables) during traditional dining, not the times.The point of the thread is the changing of the seating within the traditional dining times when late at a port.

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Because you said "I have been on several with late port calls that still stuck with Traditional Dining times" so I was pointing out that I was asking about the type of seating on those days (same table or open tables) during traditional dining, not the times.The point of the thread is the changing of the seating within the traditional dining times when late at a port.

 

I'm sorry for the confusion.

 

Let me rephrase.

 

"I have been on several with late port calls that still stuck with Traditional Dining times FOR THE EVENING(S) OF THOSE LATE PORT CALLS"

 

Better now?

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I'm sorry for the confusion.

 

Let me rephrase.

 

"I have been on several with late port calls that still stuck with Traditional Dining times FOR THE EVENING(S) THE SHIP WAS IN PORT LATE"

 

Better now?

I don't think you understand what I'm asking. I know we stick with the same traditional dining times when we are late in port. But in the past what has happened is when I show up at my designated time, I am brought to a different table than my normally assigned table and with different dining companions. So my original question was does anyone know how late we have to be in a port thst is late enough for Princess to switch to this different type of seating during our regular traditional dining time?

 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Forums mobile app

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I know we stick with the same traditional dining times when we are late in port. But in the past what has happened is when I show up at my designated time, I am brought to a different table than my normally assigned table and with different dining companions.

 

 

If on a late port night you were escorted to a different table with different wait staff than your Traditional Dining assignment, then the ship elected to have Anytime Dining for all that night--NOT stick with Traditional Dining times. Perhaps the word "times" is what is throwing you off.

 

As for what is the criteria for whether or not Traditional Dining is still held on specific nights with a late port departure--that is up to each ships dining room management. I offered one hypothesis in the final paragraph of my first response. But the correct answer is that you have no way of knowing until you read the Princess Patter for the day in question. Just do that so you will not be surprised on any night you are not seated at your regular table.

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I agree this is not my favorite. Anytime the ship has a late departure from any port, they do open seating, as many people are out and about exploring off the ship. I am one of those regardless who always make it to my traditional seating time, as I always work my excursion around my dinner. Since I always do early seating at 5:30 I have no problem getting my normal table as I am always one of the first n the dinning room.

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Apparently there's no set departure time that triggers the maître d' to change from fixed traditional dining to anytime dining. On our British isles cruise last summer, we had three nights out of 12 that changed from traditional to anytime dining. The ship actually left some other ports later than it did on one of those three nights.

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Apparently there's no set departure time that triggers the maître d' to change from fixed traditional dining to anytime dining. On our British isles cruise last summer, we had three nights out of 12 that changed from traditional to anytime dining. The ship actually left some other ports later than it did on one of those three nights.

 

From my experiences, it still has not been anytime dining. We still showed up at our assigned times. Our tables have just been assigned differently. VERY big difference from anytime dining.

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From my experiences, it still has not been anytime dining. We still showed up at our assigned times. Our tables have just been assigned differently. VERY big difference from anytime dining.
On our cruise, the traditional dining room was turned into anytime. We did not have to wait for our second seating time to go. On one of the nights, we did not get to sit in our normal waiters' section but were next to it. We ate with another couple. One time we had our regular table and regular waiters with our other tablemates. And the third time, we showed up with our tablemates but there were already people at "our" table. Our waiters moved other tables together so that all of us could eat together in their section.
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