Confused about Dining on Sapphire

[Desert star]

My family and I are all cruising on the Sapphire in October and really have been unable to get a straight answer from Princess when it comes to their dining plans.

We called once and were told that if we choose "freestyle" type dining we wouldn't be able to dine in the main dining room.

So why wouldn't we just pick "assigned seating" and then dine where we wanted each night?

Another time we call and they say we can eat in the main dining room if we choose "freestyle" type dinning.

Can anyone clear this up for me ?

[Pam in CA]

My family and I are all cruising on the Sapphire in October and really have been unable to get a straight answer from Princess when it comes to their dining plans.

We called once and were told that if we choose "freestyle" type dining we wouldn't be able to dine in the main dining room.

So why wouldn't we just pick "assigned seating" and then dine where we wanted each night?

Another time we call and they say we can eat in the main dining room if we choose "freestyle" type dinning.

Can anyone clear this up for me ?

You were given confusing information: you can chose between Traditional (1st or 2nd seating) or Anytime (the equivalent to Freestyle) dining. There are now three Anytime dining rooms on the Sapphire which means that you can show up at any time (theoretically) and be seated. You can also call and make a reservation for the Anytime dining rooms. The bottom line is that Anytime (Freestyle) dining is in a dining room. The dress code is the same for both Traditional and Anytime dining rooms.

[PrincessAddict]

Just as a reminder, the term "Freestyle Dinning" is a trademark of NCL that people commonly refer to. On Princess it's called Personal Choice Dinning....

:eek: :cool: :eek:

[Desert star]

You can tell I have only been on NCL.

[Pam in CA]

You can tell I have only been on NCL.

Understood. :)

 

One other point, if you pick Traditional (assigned seating), that is where and the time you would eat every night unless you chose to eat in one of the alternative (extra fee) dining rooms, such as the Sterling Steakhouse or Sabbatinis, or in the buffet at night. You can't go back and forth between the Anytime and Traditional dining rooms.

[Desert star]

I guess I was confusing with all my rambling. I guess my basic question is can you you eat in the Traditional "assigned seating" dining room if you pick personal choice dining?

[PrincessAddict]

The answer to your question is NO...unless you officially ask to be switched permantly into Traditional Seating (1st or second) with the Maitre'd...once switched your there for the rest of your cruise unless you would like to go to Sabatini's or Sterling Steak House.

[Jeepers385]

We were on the Sapphire last October and picked the Personal Choice Dining and enjoyed it. We had a choice of 4 restaurants with different themes (Italian, Japanese, Tex Mex and Steak) which were all quite good. They also gave you a menu each night with the choices from the main dining rooms. No we were not allowed to eat in the main dining room but enjoyed all the other themed restaurants. We even went as guests with fellow cruises to Sabatini's which was excellent and the buffet was quite good too.Debbie

[cynbar]

Unfortunately, both Sapphire and Diamond have given up the supplemental menus in the 4 anytime DRs. We were on the Diamond last January and enjoyed this feature, but apparently we were in the minority!! Anyway, now everyone just gets the regular daily menu, no matter which DR you are dining in. I have read here, however, that the themed rooms have specials at times from the old supplemental menus. But the main difference now is just the decor.

[Laurie7]

My husband & I were on the Sapphire June 26-July 3, 2005. I had requested 2nd seating traditional dining; had it confirmed in my Princess travel documents, but when we received out cruise cards it had anytime dining written on them. I stopped at the "special" table they had set up on the first day of the cruise for people with dining questions and asked why I had anytime dining and if I could switch to traditional. They politely informed me that I could not change and that the anytime dining was the better option; even thought that isn't what I wanted:( Matter of fact most all employees gave me the same answer, must be their canned answer.

 

Throughout the remainder of the cruise, I talked with many other guests and they were told the same thing; they wanted traditional but didn't get it. Typically you had to make reservations at least a day ahead of time to get a certain dining room and/or time. Since it was only the two of us, we ended up going down to the dining rooms right away at 5:30-6:00 and they have a certain number of tables saved for walk-up guests. It worked out ok for us but I don't know if it would work as well if you have a larger group. We did see a lot of guests that were told to come back later (in 45min or so) to be seated. Some of these people even had reservations!

 

Not sure why they are taking away the traditional dining times if their guests request them? That was one of our favorite parts of the cruise experience- meeting new friends that you dined with. This cruise experience we were rather secluded. Sometimes, though, they sat you at tables that were merely a foot apart; so it was like you were dining with others yet not. So it was kind of weird, you didn't know if you should strike up a conversation with the other couples or if they wanted privacy!

 

My answer is to offer the type of dining each guest wants and adjust the dining rooms to accommodate:)

[bdjam]

Not sure why they are taking away the traditional dining times if their guests request them? That was one of our favorite parts of the cruise experience- meeting new friends that you dined with.

 

My answer is to offer the type of dining each guest wants and adjust the dining rooms to accommodate:)

If I remember correctly, one of the reasons Princess gave for getting rid of the four themed dining rooms on Diamond and Sapphire was the fact that Traditional Seating was overloaded – and yet those with Traditional reservations were trying to get into the Anytime (by the way, Personal Choice refers to all of the different dining alternatives) Dining Room for the themed food. So, to alleviate the chaos, they changed the menus so they are all the same (but retain some of the themed items) and have made one of the four Anytime Dining rooms a Traditional Seating Dining room.

 

In hindsight, one thing you could have asked is if they would sit you at a table with a standard reservation for the full cruise in the Anytime Dining room – with other passengers in the same situation. Usually, they will accommodate you.

[Desert star]

So they are now serving basicly all the same menu in all the dining rooms?

I was on NCL in Feb and they did the same thing but, I was really looking forward to trying the different types of foods in the different restaurants.

But thank for all the good information.

[chrismch]

We were on the Sapphire in Febuary and loved the specialty restaurants which gave us the choice of the traditional dining menu and the specialty menus. We usually did a mix of both. However, as others have said, it is now all the same menu with just a few specials. We will miss that! Personal choice is great because you get to choose the time each that you want to dine whether it's 5 or 9. However, when you have tradional dining and have great tablemates you really look forward to meeting back with others to see how their day was and compare excursions and shopping!

[KathiSF]

In hindsight, one thing you could have asked is if they would sit you at a table with a standard reservation for the full cruise in the Anytime Dining room – with other passengers in the same situation. Usually, they will accommodate you.

My friend and I were on the Sapphire May from 15 to 22 this year - we had Anytime Dining. Princess allowed us to make a reservation for the first 4 nights without a problem. They said we could book the last nights on day 4. Trouble is they wouldn't let us book it untill day 5. The reservations agent kept saying call back later; we're not ready to take more reservations yet. It was a hassle, finally I went to the purser and they made the reservations for me.

 

It might have been because we were the first cruise of the season and they had a lot of new staff; BUT some of the waiters denied any special food at all in the specialty rooms. More often than not our only dinner choices were the same as in the traditional dining room.

 

The food was great - but it wasn't easy to make a reservation.

[cruzinjudi]

WE are on the Sapphire in Ocober and first we put down personal dining and then we changed it to traditional after reading alot about it. About 3 weeks ago we started out 196 on the waitlist for first seating and now we are 160-so it seems like more and more people are going back to traditonal seating.