Change in Traditional Dining Times?

[canadarocks]

OP here. It looks like Princess is in the midst of changing things again. Our two cruises in January 2019 now have their 3 traditional dining times listed as : 5:00pm, 5:00pm, and 7:15pm - and no that's not a typo. 

[jennybenny]

7 minutes ago, canadarocks said:

OP here. It looks like Princess is in the midst of changing things again. Our two cruises in January 2019 now have their 3 traditional dining times listed as : 5:00pm, 5:00pm, and 7:15pm - and no that's not a typo. 

Yep, seeing the same on all my cruises, this year and future.

 

I suspect I’ll find out soon enough what this all means for dining times 😊

[OCruisers]

6 minutes ago, canadarocks said:

OP here. It looks like Princess is in the midst of changing things again. Our two cruises in January 2019 now have their 3 traditional dining times listed as : 5:00pm, 5:00pm, and 7:15pm - and no that's not a typo. 

So which did you pick?

Makes me glad we have Club Class Dining.  

[canadarocks]

1 minute ago, OCruisers said:

So which did you pick?

Makes me glad we have Club Class Dining.  

Switched them both to 7:15pm two weeks ago, when I first noticed the changes. With this new development, my guess is that they're going to go to just 2 traditional times (like Holland America). But who knows? 

[OCruisers]

3 minutes ago, canadarocks said:

Switched them both to 7:15pm two weeks ago, when I first noticed the changes. With this new development, my guess is that they're going to go to just 2 traditional times (like Holland America). But who knows? 

At least 7:15 is a decent dining time.  

[Seadog & Sea Hag]

So we will be rocking up to our table 30 minutes late every night. That works too 

[Astro Flyer]

My TA finally received an email from their VP of North America sales 2 weeks after making the changes.

 

Here’s how he explains why the changes were made:  “based on continual guest feedback with a vast majority asking for earlier dining times, we made the decision to adjust our traditional dining times to accommodate the demand for early seating in our Traditional Dining rooms only”.

 

Early TD has been most popular for several years however never heard of anyone who wanted it at 4:45/5:00.  Being confirmed for 6:00 TD and getting it at 5:30 certainly didn’t make me happy.

 

As has been posted the changes are probably an attempt to get passengers to dine later & 7:15 isn’t too bad.  However that comes as the result of an hour earlier early TD dining time which is too early.  It’s merely my opinion but based on CC discussions the vast majority think the new early TD times are too early.

 

They might have to change Afternoon Tea to Lunchtime Tea? 

[LEtue]

I finally saw the 7:15 PM late dining tonight and was able to make the change with no wait list .

My confirmed dining had moved to 5 PM requested and 5 PM confirmed (which I never requested).  Yay!!!!

 

Princess must slowly be moving through the reservations and it just took longer to get to me.......

[Lucky TGO]

1 hour ago, OCruisers said:

So which did you pick?

Makes me glad we have Club Class Dining.  

 

LuLu,

Your right It’s really worth the extra $1,000. for Club Class Dining. 🙄 FUGHEDDABOUDIT.

TONY

[OCruisers]

5 minutes ago, Lucky TGO said:

 

LuLu,

Your right It’s really worth the extra $1,000. for Club Class Dining. 🙄 FUGHEDDABOUDIT.

TONY

Tony  since we always pay LOTS  more for the mini-suite of our choice anyway, now having the CC Dining is a plus and no more expensive than it would have been anyway.  

Edited October 31, 2018 by OCruisers

[Lucky TGO]

31 minutes ago, Seadog & Sea Hag said:

So we will be rocking up to our table 30 minutes late every night. That works too 

 

I totally agree with you. I don’t want to hear it’s not fair to the wait staff. Five o’clock is not fair too the passengers.

Dining at 4:45 pm or 5:00 pm is ridiculous. I hope passengers show up late every night and let’s see what happens.

Tony

[RDC1]

1 hour ago, Seadog & Sea Hag said:

So we will be rocking up to our table 30 minutes late every night. That works too 

I suspect that most diners will show up on time.

 

Are you going to come back and talk about how bad the service is under the new system when you are out of sync with the rest of the diners?

 

Hopefully they will lock the doors after 15 minutes for reasons of efficiency.

Edited October 31, 2018 by RDC1

[RDC1]

20 minutes ago, Lucky TGO said:

 

I totally agree with you. I don’t want to hear it’s not fair to the wait staff. Five o’clock is not fair too the passengers.

Dining at 4:45 pm or 5:00 pm is ridiculous. I hope passengers show up late every night and let’s see what happens.

Tony

There are still other choices  Late TD or Anytime.  Most will tend to show up on time.

[ponygirl]

3 hours ago, frugaltravel said:

Actually travel agents were sent an email earlier today with an apology for not telling them earlier about this change.  This info coming from my TA.

The email from Princess to TA's was actually sent after my post and obviously much later than everyone's post. My intent in posting though was simply to clarify the new dining times, not to berate Princess for not having advised anyone.

[caribill]

4 hours ago, canadarocks said:

Switched them both to 7:15pm two weeks ago, when I first noticed the changes.

 

So far, reports from people currently on ships say that the late dining time has been 7:45, not 7:15.

[Seadog & Sea Hag]

4 hours ago, RDC1 said:

I suspect that most diners will show up on time.

 

Are you going to come back and talk about how bad the service is under the new system when you are out of sync with the rest of the diners?

 

Hopefully they will lock the doors after 15 minutes for reasons of efficiency.

I will be as late as possible then and I have been on 15 cruises and never complained about the service so don’t hold your breathe 

[chamima]

Got this from a TA we sometimes use:

 

Our letter from Princess:

First, our top priority is to create the best possible experience for our guests. And based on continual guest feedback with a vast majority asking for earlier dining times, we made the decision to adjust our traditional dining times to accommodate the demand for early seating in our Traditional Dining rooms only. The changes we made are as follows:
• New Traditional Dining times are:
- 5 pm First Seating
- 7:15 pm Second Seating
• Anytime Dining will remain from 5 pm onwards

Although this is now our standard, each ship will retain the flexibility to adjust dining times as needed based on their destination, passenger demographics and seasonal guest demand. In general, we experience a much higher demand for early dining in all destinations other than Europe and South America. Guests will be able to see any changes through the Cruise Personalizer and their Travel Agent.

I hope this helps clarify why the changes were made. We apologize for not doing a better job of letting you and your clients know about them in advance. If you hae any questions, you call 1-800-PRINCESS.

[happy cruzer]

We will take the 5:00 time and see how it works out.  If it is too early then we will talk to the matri d and see what can be done.  Being flexible helps when traveling.  We were just on another line where the main dining room was open from 7 to 9, and we made that work.

[oskidunker]

Switched to 7:15 on Norway cruise next July .  Had early trading but 5 pm wont work for us. 7:15 is later than I like but will try it

[Wishing on a star]

 

 

 "each ship will retain the flexibility to adjust dining times as needed based on their destination, passenger demographics and seasonal guest demand."

Thank you for mentioning this!   And, I think many more frequent cruisers know that the exact time(s) might vary from what is posted once they see the actual dining schedules onboard.

 

I am waiting until the Regal sails the Caribbean a time or two, and hope for feedback on how they are handling this!!!

 

I wouldn't mind 7:15 so much...  But if they move the shows forward too,  and continue with the problems with getting a seat in the (small for the ship) Theater...  Then it will be ATD for us.   I prefer to dine in one of the more mid-ship MDRs, and not. have to 'hike' to the back, from our more forward cabin while dressed and in heels!

 

[LEtue]

Just got a call from Princess regarding my email that I sent Monday.  I wanted to clarify if all future sailings would be changing and what the times would be.  It seems they got a lot of negative feedback on the 4:45 PM so the the TD schedule is now 5:00 PM and 7:15 PM.  It certainly was nice to get a personal phone call and in just 2 days!

 

I am not sailing until November 3, 2019 on the Sky Princess and I saw the change in my Personalizer last night and changed to 7:15 PM.   

[Mapu]

1 hour ago, LEtue said:

Just got a call from Princess regarding my email that I sent Monday.  I wanted to clarify if all future sailings would be changing and what the times would be.  It seems they got a lot of negative feedback on the 4:45 PM so the the TD schedule is now 5:00 PM and 7:15 PM.  It certainly was nice to get a personal phone call and in just 2 days!

 

I am not sailing until November 3, 2019 on the Sky Princess and I saw the change in my Personalizer last night and changed to 7:15 PM.   

We will see if it changes again before you sail.

[lorri111]

Just checked my personaliser - we had been moved into 4.45 slot for both our cruises but now this has been changed to 5.00 - looks like there are two seatings at 5.00 rather than one at 4.45 and one at 5.00. Looks like Princess was listening.

[BIGADORF]

I sent a email to customer relations the other day voicing my opinion about them changing my TD dining time to 5:00 pm. I received a phone call today from Princess and I just wanted them to know that I was not in favor of the earlier time. Perhaps if they receive enough emails, they will understand that a large portion of the Early TD cruisers are not happy with the changes. I know that I was never asked my opinion of what the time should be. Was anybody here on Cruisecritic ever asked for their input in these changes? I am a strong believer that “silence is approval “  I realize that ATD is an option, but in the past I have enjoyed TD with the same people every night. I realize that the early TD is only 30 minutes, but it was nice being able to take my time getting ready for dinner and possibly watching the ship leave the dock.

If you are unhappy with the change, write to Princess. If not then you really can’t complain.

[skennedy25]

Dining times are going to be decided per ship and based on clientele and itinerary