Traditional dinners able to use Anytime dining?

[Colo Cruiser]

A question or two for you Traditionalists.

 

If you are on a table for 8 by choice and there are only 4 or 6 present at the appointed time how long do they wait till they serve you? What do they do if someone who is missing arrives a little after that time?

 

If you have prepaid your gratuities do you Traditional diners still feel it necessary (is it expected) to tip again at the end of the cruise as you have had the same staff all the time? If so, what is the last night non-attendance like?

 

 

You can start whenever you want. There is no set rules etc. IMO

No you are not expected to tip additional on top of auto gratuities.

As stated if you want you can.

[caribill]

As for last night attendance, I haven't noticed any difference, although I haven't specifically watched for any differences.

 

Before the auto-tip was introduced, there would be a large number of empty seats in the traditional dining room the last evening.

[floridalover5623]

I agree 15 min is too long to wait. I would be constantly reminding them that I have to get to a show.

 

 

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It's just easier to sit at a table for 2 & not have to address such problems in the first place. ;)

[SantaFeFan]

It's just easier to sit at a table for 2 & not have to address such problems in the first place. ;)

 

If easy is your goal, then going to the buffet should be even easier since you aren't dependent on someone serving you and the time it takes. :D

 

After being together all day, my wife and I would be bored sitting by ourselves. We enjoy socializing with people.

[elfinmagic]

The correct answer is NO! You can request a change from Trad to anytime but must continue for the duration of the cruise.

[casofilia]

My wife and I are never bored by our own company even after a whole day together; we do enjoy being able to share experiences with others over dinner.

[elfinmagic]

Technically, Princess allows Traditional diners to go to the Anytime dining. As one Hotel Manager said to me, "They will be accommodated." There are times when for medical or port tour reasons people need to eat earlier or later than their assigned time. The vast majority of Traditional diners don't go to Anytime but they can if they want.

 

I prefer to go to the buffet rather than going to Anytime. But it's a personal choice.

 

Sorry Pam wrong answer - just thinl of the logistics mess that would happen

[elfinmagic]

We always do select dining on Celebrity does check to see if you are assigned to select dining and they hold to

 

 

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That is OK however this is a Princess post

[casofilia]

Technically, Princess allows Traditional diners to go to the Anytime dining. As one Hotel Manager said to me, "They will be accommodated."

 

Personally I have no problem with this PROVIDED they are stood to one side till there are no pax who have chosen Anytime Dining still waiting for seating.

[elfinmagic]

Celebrity is supposed to get at least some parts of the RCCL system soon - it's not just about what people signed up for, a key part of the system is that the server (this is tailored to flexible dining) gets a little slip that says things like 'allergic to shellfish, hates tomatoes, has soda card, drinks pepsi', so that when we are seated the server often just brings us 2 pepsis, etc. It also allows them to track usage of venues better, as well as order trends. The ability to screen out reservations, etc, is a potential positive side effect.

 

The question was for Princess not Celebrity or RCCL

[swedish weave]

Technically, Princess allows Traditional diners to go to the Anytime dining. As one Hotel Manager said to me, "They will be accommodated."

 

Personally I have no problem with this PROVIDED they are stood to one side till there are no pax who have chosen Anytime Dining still waiting for seating.

 

They should be accommodated in the order they got in line. That is the only fair way to handle this.

 

As I posted previously, they may not have been assigned their first choice when booking.

[floridalover5623]

If easy is your goal, then going to the buffet should be even easier since you aren't dependent on someone serving you and the time it takes. :D

 

After being together all day, my wife and I would be bored sitting by ourselves. We enjoy socializing with people.

Easy is definitely my main goal UNLESS the main courses in the DR dictate otherwise. In that case we do the DR at 5:30 and the buffet at 10 PM.....just to make sure we didn't miss anything. ;)

Finding others to converse with is easy no matter where you eat.

[iceleven]

They should be accommodated in the order they got in line. That is the only fair way to handle this.

 

As I posted previously, they may not have been assigned their first choice when booking.

 

That may be the case but then it is up to them to go to the dining room and meet with the head waiter and ask to have their assigned time switched to ATD. That way their assigned table can be offered to someone who would have preferred it and not leaving empty seats in that time slot.

 

 

Princess doesn't make this information easy for everyone to understand nor do many travel agents know to inform new cruisers of this. This is why CC is so helpful.

[swedish weave]

That may be the case but then it is up to them to go to the dining room and meet with the head waiter and ask to have their assigned time switched to ATD. That way their assigned table can be offered to someone who would have preferred it and not leaving empty seats in that time slot

Princess doesn't make this information easy for everyone to understand nor do many travel agents know to inform new cruisers of this. This is why CC is so helpful.

 

Since the cruise line employees decide who gets seated, these discussions are pointless.

[Chief02]

I honestly have not read the responses past the first page, so I don't know where this thread went. I just went to the last page and hit Post Reply.

 

Anyway, here is my $ .02.

 

I do not care for party crashers. We have signed up for ATD since it's inception. It has never occurred to us that if we felt hungry well prior to our personal / usual ATD dining time window to go to TD and ask if the 5:45 seating has any no-shows or simply ask them to seat us, regardless.

 

There is something called the buffet for the TD diners that miss their early spot, as well as 2 other restaurants and the IC. In fact, if we do not care for the wait in ATD, we inquire at the CG / Sab's or do the buffet / IC ourselves. I would never think of inconveniencing other passengers in an area that I did not subscribe to.

 

Also, when we actually do have reservations in ATD and cannot attend them (which happened only twice back in the day due to an illness at the time), DH canceled as much in advance as possible, and in person because the Dining Line was closed by then. Truly, I believe that ATD is not a flexible right to those that did not sign up for it.

 

It's just a matter of consideration.

[floridalover5623]

 

It has never occurred to us that if we felt hungry well prior to our personal / usual ATD dining time window to go to TD and ask if the 5:45 seating has any no-shows or simply ask them to seat us, regardless.

 

I'd almost bet they'll fine a couple of empty seats for you if you ask nicely. Just tell them you've never experienced TD & want to see what it's like for your next cruise on Princess. ;)

[mrs and mrs]

Since the cruise line employees decide who gets seated, these discussions are pointless.

 

Bingo, but lets not let that fact,:) stop people from puffing their chests out.:p

[Chief02]

I'd almost bet they'll fine a couple of empty seats for you if you ask nicely. Just tell them you've never experienced TD & want to see what it's like for your next cruise on Princess. ;)

 

Love that, but I think we would show up well after5:45, especially after we thought that the appetizers were served. Once seated,we would say, "What's another couple of minutes of your time? It'svacation".

 

I don't know if they shut the doors at TD seating time anymore,but what goes around should come around.

[Chief02]

Love that, but I think we would show up well after5:45, especially after we thought that the appetizers were served. Once seated,we would say, "What's another couple of minutes of your time? It'svacation".

I don't know if they shut the doors at TD seating time anymore,but what goes around should come around.

 

Oops, I forgot to mention that we would be crashing a table in TD that probably seats 6-8 (do they even do tables for 2?) that would have to wait for us to "catch up" to their already started dinner schedule.

[upwarduk]

Oops, I forgot to mention that we would be crashing a table in TD that probably seats 6-8 (do they even do tables for 2?) that would have to wait for us to "catch up" to their already started dinner schedule.

 

Plenty of tables for 2, by they were close to the next table.

[casofilia]

Plenty of tables for 2, by they were close to the next table

 

Probably done this way so they can join two together to make a larger table if necessary.

[pablo222]

Technically, Princess allows Traditional diners to go to the Anytime dining. As one Hotel Manager said to me, "They will be accommodated."

 

Personally I have no problem with this PROVIDED they are stood to one side till there are no pax who have chosen Anytime Dining still waiting for seating.

 

Not to be rude, but I don't think princess cares if you have a problem or not.

 

Their goal is to make their customers happy.

If someone presents themselves at the anytime dining room, princess will try to accomodate them and make them happy.

 

This isn't the DMV where they are looking to make your visit as unpleasant as possible.

Although, it sounds like that is how many posters would like cruises to be run.

[red_summer]

A slightly off topic question: I have been on the waiting list for TD for a while now (like #50) for my end of July cruise. Is there any way to get off the waiting list or I have to settle for ATD?

[Colo Cruiser]

A slightly off topic question: I have been on the waiting list for TD for a while now (like #50) for my end of July cruise. Is there any way to get off the waiting list or I have to settle for ATD?

 

 

On embarkation day there will be a time/place listed in the Princess Patter newsletter to meet with the Maitre d for just these type of issues. It's usually held in one of the DR's between 2p and 3:30p. So if you don't clear the waitlist by the time you board then see the MD. Get there early there can be a long line.

[Kinkacruiser]

On the first two nights of a cruise the cruise card will be checked when entering an AT dining room and anyone with a TD assignment directed to the correct dining room. This is mainly done because many passengers truly do not know which dining room to go to.

 

After the first two evenings it is assumed that passengers do know which dining room to go to and Princess, rightly or wrongly, assumes that all passengers will go to the assigned dining room if in TD.

 

Possibly when the Medallions are introduced the greeter at the AT dining rooms will automatically be notified if a TD diner is trying to access the AT room.

...and hopefully the medallion will have an alarm beeper, even if this does cause some embarrassment.