Club class impact

[foodsvcmgr]

Holland America for several years now has utilized these concepts re: earning of Mariner loyalty status.

Points are awarded not just for the purchase of the cruise but based on dollars of on board spend.

Also bonus points for suites are given only if the initial purchase was for a suite, not for a paid upgrade offer at a reduced fare after final payment.

[bobby3334]

I have enjoyed reading the previous posts immensely since they are so stimulating. I am interested in what approach Princess will take and how thoroughly they have thought their next step. On a September cruise there were over 700 elite; on a December cruise there were over 400 elite. If everyone is elite (the highest with the most perks) then no one is. The only talk on this subject I heard from staff was management was going to create a new highest category (perhaps diamond or pinnacle) and either add perks or subtract them from lower categories. No one was discussing at level previously stated here. In theory I would guess there should be something like a max of 50 in the highest

grade on a ship of 3,000 not 700. I have gained a great deal of insight from your discussion. Thanks. Mike

 

 

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[pablo222]

That's about the time we're going back to the DR to get our dessert after the show. ;)

 

Is there a line at that time?

 

There was one poster here who claimed to go back to the

dining room for desert/coffee/etc. 3-4 times in an evening.

[floridalover5623]

Is there a line at that time?

 

There was one poster here who claimed to go back to the

dining room for desert/coffee/etc. 3-4 times in an evening.

 

3-4 times ! LOL :D

I couldn't handle that many desserts. :p

We usually go back just before they shut down the DR for one of the special desserts that they don't serve in the Horizon.

[Bruinboy]

Wow! Didn't know that you could go back for dessert. Thanks for the tip.

 

 

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[JimAOk1945]

Going back to the MDR just for dessert? I didn't know that either! Great idea for our next Princess cruise! :D

[Kamloops50]

We were on the Ruby in Dec2016. Club dining only took up 20 tables out of the whole dining room. We have found about 36 months ago that the anytime dining started to built a line about 30 minutes before opening. We have started to use traditional dining instead.

 

 

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[floridalover5623]

We were on the Ruby in Dec2016. Club dining only took up 20 tables out of the whole dining room. We have found about 36 months ago that the anytime dining started to built a line about 30 minutes before opening. We have started to use traditional dining instead.

 

 

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I'm thinking it'll be what we do from now on even though we don't really like TD. If there's no room in TD I'll just request a standing designated time & table for AT dining.

[Kamloops50]

To do that you have to make a reservation every morning. That almost impossible I've near had any success. They only allowed about 1/3 to be reserved u less you have a large group that equites more than one table.

 

 

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[floridalover5623]

To do that you have to make a reservation every morning. That almost impossible I've near had any success. They only allowed about 1/3 to be reserved u less you have a large group that equites more than one table.

 

 

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Making daily reservations is a a terrible way to go especially when in port. They don't like to answer the phone until 8 and if you start calling at 7:50 AM the line is busy. At 8 sharp there might bu 30 people ahead of you and if your in a hurry to get off the ship to go places you might not be ready till 8:30 or later.

 

If they don't have any more table space in TD dining room they'll assign you the same table in the AT dining room & just call it traditional dining but you have to see the Maitre D' on the first day to arrange it- not by calling in daily.

Also the Maitre D' only assigns so many tables in that fashion. If you get there late, he'll say it's not possible.

[tsg]

We were on the Ruby last week and had Club Class dining. This was a family cruise and my mother-in-law generously treated everyone to suites. This was our first time sailing in a suite and only our second cruise on Princess so I can't really compare it much to whatever it was like before.

 

Our experience with Club Class dining was positive. We were always seated right away. My estimate is that Club Class was maybe 1/4 of the Da Vinci dining room. We tended to eat later usually between 7:30 and 8:00. I never saw a line on the other side at that late time. I did see lines earlier in the evening, but didn't notice whether they were people waiting to be seated or just waiting for the dining room to open. We sat at the same table each evening and had the same wait staff. I really did not notice a lot of wait staff in the Club Class section. It was not full at that time and once we sat down and started our dinner I didn't really notice the comings and going of the other diners.

 

My husband and I also ate there twice without the rest of the family for lunch.

 

I'm happy to try and answer specific questions. It seems the main concern is how it affects ATD and since we weren't hanging around early when it seems most people go to eat, I can't really say.

[St Paul Girl]

We were on the Ruby last week and had Club Class dining. This was a family cruise and my mother-in-law generously treated everyone to suites. This was our first time sailing in a suite and only our second cruise on Princess so I can't really compare it much to whatever it was like before.

 

Our experience with Club Class dining was positive. We were always seated right away. My estimate is that Club Class was maybe 1/4 of the Da Vinci dining room. We tended to eat later usually between 7:30 and 8:00. I never saw a line on the other side at that late time. I did see lines earlier in the evening, but didn't notice whether they were people waiting to be seated or just waiting for the dining room to open. We sat at the same table each evening and had the same wait staff. I really did not notice a lot of wait staff in the Club Class section. It was not full at that time and once we sat down and started our dinner I didn't really notice the comings and going of the other diners.

 

My husband and I also ate there twice without the rest of the family for lunch.

 

I'm happy to try and answer specific questions. It seems the main concern is how it affects ATD and since we weren't hanging around early when it seems most people go to eat, I can't really say.

Can you elaborate on the additional menu items?

Thanks

[cruisincdns]

Many of us have been viewing the various threads on the impact of the club class dining experience on anytime dining and have been waiting for some reports. Well, I decided to go to the review section of CC and read the recent Ruby Princess reviews, and the first thing I noticed was various reports on the poor experience cruisers were having with waiting on anytime dining. And then, I found this cruisers comments:

 

We have cruised multiple times on Princess, but this is the worst cruise experience we've ever had. We opted for Anytime Dining, since Princess instituted "Club Class" which takes over one of the anytime dining rooms from 5:30 - 7:30, everyone else has to use the other anytime dining room. The dining room cannot accommodate all the passengers that want to dine between those hours. You wait in line for 20 minutes just to get a pager with no knowledge of how long you will have to wait. You also have to hang around near the dining room because the pager's frequency does not go very far. Fortunately there is a very nice bar on the other side of the Piazza. I don't know how many table are used by Club Class, but this set up clearly doesn't work when 1 dining room is closed. And, if you think you can make a reservations, think again. You have to call every morning at 8AM, but there is no one ready to answer the phone at that time

 

 

So, from this one person feedback, they have closed one entire dining room?!! Hopefully, this is not correct, but it definitely appears this is having a negative impact on Anytime dining.

 

Doug

 

DW and I were on the Ruby Princess January 28 - February 4, 2017. This was our 20th cruise with Princess. We have always chose Anytime dining. I must say, along with the majority of cruisers who ate at the anytime dining rooms, that this was the worst experience ever in trying to get in for anytime dining at 5pm. The line up was from the dining room door and wrapped all the way around the Atrium/Plaza level to the Internet cafe and longer.

 

 

Only one Anytime dining room available at 5pm with the 2nd anytime dining room not available until 7:30pm. Unacceptable.

 

 

I swear this is a result of the new Club Class. I was talking to some cruisers who were on the Ruby in October and they did not experience the gong show of lining up like we experienced. People start lining up for anytime dining at 4pm. Ridiculous!

 

 

And, the Club Class section of the dining room was mostly empty all the time with the wait staff standing around.

 

 

We we in a mini-suite this cruise and have travelled in full suites in past cruises. I personally do not think that the additional cost of the Club Class is really worth it.

 

 

I do hope Princess reassess their Club Class as you will have seasoned Princess Cruises jumping ship.

 

 

And also, you might as well forget trying to call the dining line to get a reservation in the Anytime dining rooms. The phone line is busy, put on hold, or your call is disconnected. When you do get through about 45 minutes after the dining line opens up, all reservation slots are gone. I feel for the dining line staff. They must get yelled at a lot.

 

 

We are booked on the Emerald in May on an Alaskan cruise out of Vancouver so will be interesting to see how Club Class affects the anytime dining on that ship.

 

 

Paul

[tsg]

Can you elaborate on the additional menu items?

Thanks

 

I wish I had paid more attention. I only remember that on one of the formal nights they offered lobster thermador as the special because I ordered it. The regular menu had lobster tails I believe that night. Sorry, I don't recall what the options were on the other nights.

[caribill]

DW and I were on the Ruby Princess January 28 - February 4, 2017. This was our 20th cruise with Princess. We have always chose Anytime dining. I must say, along with the majority of cruisers who ate at the anytime dining rooms, that this was the worst experience ever in trying to get in for anytime dining at 5pm. The line up was from the dining room door and wrapped all the way around the Atrium/Plaza level to the Internet cafe and longer. Anytime diners idea of when they would like to eat will vary on each cruise. Obviously you were on a cruise where many of the AT diners wanted to eat early.

 

Only one Anytime dining room available at 5pm with the 2nd anytime dining room not available until 7:30pm. Unacceptable. Also obviously all those people in the "extra early traditional" dining room also wanted to eat at an early time. If that room had not been dedicated first to those diners, then they would have been in line early anyway.

 

I swear this is a result of the new Club Class. I was talking to some cruisers who were on the Ruby in October and they did not experience the gong show of lining up like we experienced. People start lining up for anytime dining at 4pm. Ridiculous!

 

 

And, the Club Class section of the dining room was mostly empty all the time with the wait staff standing around. And this is the part of Club Class that can keep others in anytime dining waiting longer to be seated.

 

 

 

see above in red

[abbydancer2003]

 

Only one Anytime dining room available at 5pm with the 2nd anytime dining room not available until 7:30pm. Unacceptable.

 

 

I swear this is a result of the new Club Class. I was talking to some cruisers who were on the Ruby in October and they did not experience the gong show of lining up like we experienced. People start lining up for anytime dining at 4pm. Ridiculous!

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you're saying that the use of one of the anytime rooms for early fixed was a result of Club Class, that's not the case. It's been like that for several years now.

 

 

We usually have late traditional, so I can't really address changes due to Club Class.

[pablo222]

And, the Club Class section of the dining room was mostly empty all the time with the wait staff standing around.

 

That what the club class cruises are paying for -- show up, be seated, and be attended to, with no waiting.

 

 

The waiting didn't disappear, it was just transferred to non-club class anytime diners.

 

 

That's pretty much the way any priority system works.

 

 

When elite cruisers jump the tender line, the plebs in the back wait longer.

[floridalover5623]

DW and I were on the Ruby Princess January 28 - February 4, 2017. This was our 20th cruise with Princess. We have always chose Anytime dining. I must say, along with the majority of cruisers who ate at the anytime dining rooms, that this was the worst experience ever in trying to get in for anytime dining at 5pm. The line up was from the dining room door and wrapped all the way around the Atrium/Plaza level to the Internet cafe and longer.

 

 

Only one Anytime dining room available at 5pm with the 2nd anytime dining room not available until 7:30pm. Unacceptable.

 

 

I swear this is a result of the new Club Class. I was talking to some cruisers who were on the Ruby in October and they did not experience the gong show of lining up like we experienced. People start lining up for anytime dining at 4pm. Ridiculous!

 

 

And, the Club Class section of the dining room was mostly empty all the time with the wait staff standing around.

 

 

We we in a mini-suite this cruise and have travelled in full suites in past cruises. I personally do not think that the additional cost of the Club Class is really worth it.

 

 

I do hope Princess reassess their Club Class as you will have seasoned Princess Cruises jumping ship.

 

 

And also, you might as well forget trying to call the dining line to get a reservation in the Anytime dining rooms. The phone line is busy, put on hold, or your call is disconnected. When you do get through about 45 minutes after the dining line opens up, all reservation slots are gone. I feel for the dining line staff. They must get yelled at a lot.

 

 

We are booked on the Emerald in May on an Alaskan cruise out of Vancouver so will be interesting to see how Club Class affects the anytime dining on that ship.

 

 

Paul

 

Not everyone believes that Club Class is the reason for the delays. We've been on enough cruises to see line ups when the doors open although they've never been as bad as on your trip.

Those that say CC hasn't slowed down the wait times are all the people dining in CC- understandable. I wish they had tried it both ways on different nights to get a taste of the difference. :rolleyes:

[RDC1]

DW and I were on the Ruby Princess January 28 - February 4, 2017. This was our 20th cruise with Princess. We have always chose Anytime dining. I must say, along with the majority of cruisers who ate at the anytime dining rooms, that this was the worst experience ever in trying to get in for anytime dining at 5pm. The line up was from the dining room door and wrapped all the way around the Atrium/Plaza level to the Internet cafe and longer.

 

 

Only one Anytime dining room available at 5pm with the 2nd anytime dining room not available until 7:30pm. Unacceptable.

 

 

I swear this is a result of the new Club Class. I was talking to some cruisers who were on the Ruby in October and they did not experience the gong show of lining up like we experienced. People start lining up for anytime dining at 4pm. Ridiculous!

 

 

And, the Club Class section of the dining room was mostly empty all the time with the wait staff standing around.

 

 

We we in a mini-suite this cruise and have travelled in full suites in past cruises. I personally do not think that the additional cost of the Club Class is really worth it.

 

 

I do hope Princess reassess their Club Class as you will have seasoned Princess Cruises jumping ship.

 

 

And also, you might as well forget trying to call the dining line to get a reservation in the Anytime dining rooms. The phone line is busy, put on hold, or your call is disconnected. When you do get through about 45 minutes after the dining line opens up, all reservation slots are gone. I feel for the dining line staff. They must get yelled at a lot.

 

 

We are booked on the Emerald in May on an Alaskan cruise out of Vancouver so will be interesting to see how Club Class affects the anytime dining on that ship.

 

 

Paul

 

 

 

Not the impact of club class. I have been on three Princess ships since club class was implemented. In all three cases club class was in the dining room in the middle on deck 6. This is the dining room that is early TD and late anytime. The Club class used a relatively small portion of that dining room (maybe 20% at most).

 

 

As such club class does not negatively impact the early anytime dining room capacity (people have been lining up there about 30 minutes before it opens on every Princess ship I have been on for the last few years (12 over 3 years).

 

 

You do have a small reduction in early TD capacity due to those tables moved to Club Class.

 

 

So the absolute worst impact that Club Class might have on early anytime is that due to the reduced early TD tables, a few people might choose anytime if they cannot get into early TD. That is a pretty small number of people compared to dining capacity.

 

 

As much as I dislike the entire Club Class concept, it does not appear to have much of an impact. I might think differently if I was unable to get early TD, which is what I always get. Tried AT once, about 3 years ago, went back to TD after experiencing the early lines.

 

I have a good idea of the lines because I usually sit in the Piazza on deck five prior to dinner, where I can see the lines for early AT prior to opening. Have seen the lines grow past the IC prior to doors opening on some cruises.

Edited February 15, 2017 by RDC1

[Kamloops50]

We noticed lines starting for anytime about two years ago . Normally was about three groups. The next cruise the line extended to the IC. We now do traditional to bypass the line.

 

 

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[NavyVeteran]

DW and I were on the Ruby Princess January 28 - February 4, 2017. This was our 20th cruise with Princess. We have always chose Anytime dining. I must say, along with the majority of cruisers who ate at the anytime dining rooms, that this was the worst experience ever in trying to get in for anytime dining at 5pm. The line up was from the dining room door and wrapped all the way around the Atrium/Plaza level to the Internet cafe and longer.

 

Only one Anytime dining room available at 5pm with the 2nd anytime dining room not available until 7:30pm. Unacceptable.

 

I swear this is a result of the new Club Class. I was talking to some cruisers who were on the Ruby in October and they did not experience the gong show of lining up like we experienced. People start lining up for anytime dining at 4pm. Ridiculous!

 

 

 

Princess has had only one dining room available for anytime dining until about 7:30 pm for several years now. This is definitely not a result of the new Club Class. They have two dining rooms reserved for early traditional dining because of the large number of people who want early dining.

 

 

When Princess used to have only one traditional dining room for early dining, a lot of people who wanted early traditional dining could not get it. Most of these people would then have been in line for anytime dining during the early period, so the anytime dining lines would not have been any better.

 

 

Princess does not have enough seats in the dining room to seat everyone at the same time. If most of the passengers want to eat before 7:00 pm, then some will have to wait. There is absolutely nothing Princess can do about that.

 

 

On my next cruise, DW and I will be in Club Class - taking up two seats during the early dining period. On our last cruise, we had anytime dining, and we would sometimes make a reservation for 6:30 pm - taking up two seats during the early dining period. On an earlier cruise, we had early traditional dining - taking up two seats during the early dining period. I all of these cases, we took up two seats during the early dining period - our use of Club Class during our next cruise will take no more room than our use of early traditional or anytime on our previous cruises.

 

 

There has often been a line for anytime dining from whenever the one dining room fills up until the first people leave around 7:30 pm. This has been happening for several years (well before the start of Club Class) - particularly on North American cruises where most people want to eat early. Since Princess does not have room the seat more people during this early dining period, this will not change.

 

 

On my last cruise, we often had a wait. We got our pager and went to Vines for some wine while waiting. No problem. We could have avoided the wait be eating after 7:30 pm, or we could have avoided the wait by making a reservation. But we didn't bother most nights, because waiting at Vines was quite pleasant.

[JudithLynne]

I agree with Paul’s remarks.

We have completed 23 cruises with Princess. When the CCprogram became available, my husband was adamant that we book it on our nextcruise in Oct. (Star Princess Pacific coastal.) He felt very strongly that it was worth the extra that we would pay toavoid the long standing wait to get into ATD and then not being able to get atable for two. His other compelling reasonis that he loves the Platinum, Elite cocktail hour and does not want to leavethat occasion early just to get into a long line. I could have gone either way, but he was soset on CC that we are going to give it a try.

We will be going on our 8th HAL cruise thissummer. We have never had a problem withdining wait lines on that cruise line nor on Celebrity……….

Judith

[Nickoli G]

You absolutely will not be disappointed we were on the Ruby in January and it was by far the best meal experience we have had in a long time. We booked only one specialty restaurant early on the first day but could have canceled it and it would have. Even alright with me. You will love it!

 

 

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[Lucky TGO]

I think some would argue that the bugs have not been worked out of ATD. This is how Princess operates since a certain official whose initials may or may not be J.S. (;):)) took over: try it first to see if we can get away with it and then take it back when people complain. Remember charging for Alfredo's on the Royal (Regal?), a charge sprung on the passengers only after they had boarded the ship? Then there's the prepay excursions, etc. If people don't complain, they will saddle us with any number of bad ideas just to see how far they can take the nickel and diming.

I also agree with you on this one!!!

Tony

[seafish]

Recent did Regal B2B in Club Class. Being Elite the CC amenities were not that important to us but the added wine set-up was a nice touch - however for other cruisers the total CC package may be very attractive despite the cost. For us the new Club Class dining venue was in a word Fantastic! On Regal CC dining entrance was on deck 6 Concerto MDR starboard side - the same entrance used for Anytime Dining. There was no fancy curtains or CC wall emblem - as previously reported on some ships - just a simple floor stand sign Club Class Dining with an arrow to the right - so the Anytime line was on the left & CC Dining on the right. It appears Princess corporate was right about this program being rolled-out on a ship-by-ship basis.The CC dining area was immediately to the right when entering and consisted of seating for about 50 - with about 16 bench/seat (well spaced apart) tables for two, a few chair tables for two and some tables for 4 and 6 that of course be re-arranged as needed. At no time did we observe the CC (anytime) dining area more than 1/2 full. The CC hostess and wait staff were outstandingly friendly attentive professionals - not so much the head waiter. As previously mentioned the menus were the same as the MDR but did offer special breakfast & dinner preparations. Fortunately we were seated for dinner at the same corner window table for two the entire B2B with the same excellent wait staff & never a wait - perfect! Breakfast & most days lunch was also available - not just on sea days - but on embarkation/turnaround days Club Class breakfast & lunch was in Allegro. About the Concerto Anytime lines - mostly long sometimes reaching back to the Photo Shop area - but the line usually moved quickly. In our opinion despite being Elite with most all of the CC amenities - the Club Class experience was fantastic and well worth the extra bucks - so much so that we just changed over to CC for future cruises. Any questions - be glad to help best I can.