Fixed Dining Times

[wowzz]

I understand that Iona will not offer "club"/fixed dining options.  Has anyone heard any speculation that fixed dining will also be phased out from the rest of the fleet? 

I would have thought that to do so, would be logistically difficult, but given the growing demand for anytime dining,  I wondered if the rumours on certain FB groups might contain an element of truth.

[Eglesbrech]

The short answer is no, I haven’t heard anything while onboard about any proposed changes. 

 

P&O are taking forward bookings to 2021which still include the choice of club dining so based on that if there was any plan to do it they are certainly not doing it anytime soon. I think people would be quite rightly annoyed if they payed for select, chose club and then it was taken away completely.

 

I also think that some ships would struggle to implement full freedom as they were never designed for it

 

For these reasons I would think the rumours are just that, rumours.

[Harry Peterson]

22 minutes ago, wowzz said:

I understand that Iona will not offer "club"/fixed dining options.  Has anyone heard any speculation that fixed dining will also be phased out from the rest of the fleet? 

I would have thought that to do so, would be logistically difficult, but given the growing demand for anytime dining,  I wondered if the rumours on certain FB groups might contain an element of truth.

I've seen the same suggestions, and I think it's highly likely.  Fixed times for dining are an old-fashioned concept reminiscent of old-style post-war holiday camps, and the younger cruisers P&O are now courting just can't see why when everything else is so free and easy they should be tied down like this.  And I'm very much with them on that.

 

We took to Freedom Dining as soon as it came in, and if it weren't available I'd look elsewhere.

 

Formal nights will probably go the same way, for the same reasons - it doesn't fit with the new generation of cruisers.

[terrierjohn]

It would not worry me if this happened but I know many posters who would consider this a retrograde step, so I am happy for P&O to maintain both.

However I do prefer P&O's freedom dining system which does not offer an online system to pre-book your freedom dining time, and as a result most people just turn up at the time they prefer.  Reading the Independence facecloth page ready for our upcoming cruise there are countless posts advocating that you book your freedom dining time slot in advance to avoid having to queue.  This system really negates all the benefits that I enjoy from a freedom dining option.

[Eglesbrech]

6 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

It would not worry me if this happened but I know many posters who would consider this a retrograde step, so I am happy for P&O to maintain both.

However I do prefer P&O's freedom dining system which does not offer an online system to pre-book your freedom dining time, and as a result most people just turn up at the time they prefer.  Reading the Independence facecloth page ready for our upcoming cruise there are countless posts advocating that you book your freedom dining time slot in advance to avoid having to queue.  This system really negates all the benefits that I enjoy from a freedom dining option.

I would agree, I much prefer the P&O version of freedom. We were on Anthem and because so many people pre book times you really had to or had a long que, as you say it makes it no longer “freedom”.

 

Personally we tend to book freedom so any change would not affect me personally but I know a lot of cruisers would really miss club dining we’re it ever to go. Presumably P&O will regularly review how many people who book select request club / freedom.

 

 

 

[Eglesbrech]

20 minutes ago, Harry Peterson said:

I've seen the same suggestions, and I think it's highly likely.  Fixed times for dining are an old-fashioned concept reminiscent of old-style post-war holiday camps, and the younger cruisers P&O are now courting just can't see why when everything else is so free and easy they should be tied down like this.  And I'm very much with them on that.

 

We took to Freedom Dining as soon as it came in, and if it weren't available I'd look elsewhere.

 

Formal nights will probably go the same way, for the same reasons - it doesn't fit with the new generation of cruisers.

 

Im not saying you may not be right in the longer term with new ships but how would they practically do it on the current ships where the kitchens and dining rooms were designed for working with 2 sittings?

 

The current freedom dining rooms struggle when there is high demand eg formal nights and that is with half the diners in fixed.

 

There are also implications for entertainment venues which were also designed for people coming in two waves.

 

[the english lady]

I will go along with while they still have Arcadia and Aurora they will keep the fixed dining. I think when Iona comes on line that is when they will start changing things "due to customer feedback"

We were once asked who we thought Pandos biggest competitor was. we were all saying RC,Celebrity etc. No we were informed it was the family who currently get on a plane for 2 weeks in the sun. They are the ones they want to tap into. So no fixed dining and I guess no formal nights on the big ships (ventura etc) with in a year, "due to customer feedback"

I am hoping that while they still have Arcadia and Aurora they will still have enough of us cruisers who like fixed dining and formal nights to keep going.

About a year ago someoneone suggested 2 different selling bases...pando traditional and pando resort. I am sure you can work out which would be which.

[silkworms]

I do think you need to set your dining preferences as to which ship you are on.

We love freedom on Azura and Ventura because they have the capacity to deal

with people all turning up around 7.00 pm.  But we never go freedom on Arcadia or Oceana because of previous horrendous long queues. So this works fine for us.

 

We are on Iona next year and look forward to all freedom hoping that the extra number of dining rooms will easily cope.

 

Terri

[Spike11]

1 hour ago, Eglesbrech said:

 

Im not saying you may not be right in the longer term with new ships but how would they practically do it on the current ships where the kitchens and dining rooms were designed for working with 2 sittings?

 

The current freedom dining rooms struggle when there is high demand eg formal nights and that is with half the diners in fixed.

 

There are also implications for entertainment venues which were also designed for people coming in two waves.

 

I would have thought that it would be quite easy to reconfigure the kitchens. In any case the fixed dining rooms are often used for lunch which is run on a freedom dining basis. 

I agree that freedom dining struggles to cope at certain times - times at which there are likely to to free spaces in the fixed dining rooms. On Arcadia when I looked downstairs from upstairs nearly every table had free spaces on them . If you free up these spaces you might alleviate the problem!

Having said all this, if there are sufficient number who still want fixed dining then I think that hey should be catered for.

[jeanlyon]

We have opted for freedom dining on Aurora in October.  This will be our first experience of it.  The only ridiculous queues I saw on her in April were at 5.15!!!!  Snaking all the way round to the atrium area.  I presume there are no queues at, say 8 pm?

[Eglesbrech]

7 minutes ago, jeanlyon said:

We have opted for freedom dining on Aurora in October.  This will be our first experience of it.  The only ridiculous queues I saw on her in April were at 5.15!!!!  Snaking all the way round to the atrium area.  I presume there are no queues at, say 8 pm?

We tend to eat later and on Aurora we have not had many queues, usually pretty efficient (we have had long queues on bigger ships).

[Dinglebert]

Just off Ventura with freedom dining.  We were a table of four and tend to eat a bit earlier to catch first show at 8.30 in the Arena.  There was only one occasion when we turned up at 6.15 and had to wait an hour to get a table.  They send you off with a pager.  Our dining room opened at 6pm and often queues from 5.45.

 

I enjoy freedom dining but prefer RCI version of it where you can book a table ahead for the full week.

[Harry Peterson]

39 minutes ago, Dinglebert said:

Just off Ventura with freedom dining.  We were a table of four and tend to eat a bit earlier to catch first show at 8.30 in the Arena.  There was only one occasion when we turned up at 6.15 and had to wait an hour to get a table.  They send you off with a pager.  Our dining room opened at 6pm and often queues from 5.45.

 

I enjoy freedom dining but prefer RCI version of it where you can book a table ahead for the full week.

Never had any problems on Ventura or Azura, or even had to use a pager. Always in pretty quickly.

 

Just two of us though, happy to sit anywhere except on a table for 10, so that probably makes a difference.

[P-L-B]

1 hour ago, Dinglebert said:

Just off Ventura with freedom dining.  We were a table of four and tend to eat a bit earlier to catch first show at 8.30 in the Arena.  There was only one occasion when we turned up at 6.15 and had to wait an hour to get a table.  They send you off with a pager.  Our dining room opened at 6pm and often queues from 5.45.

 

I enjoy freedom dining but prefer RCI version of it where you can book a table ahead for the full week.

Could you explain how that works.

If you book a table does that mean you can turn up knowing that it is available to you at any time?

If not and you book the table every night at the same time isn't this similar to the existing club dining arrangement?

Edited July 16, 2019 by P-L-B

[Harry Peterson]

2 minutes ago, P-L-B said:

If not and you book the table every night at the same time isn't this similar to the existing club dining arrangement?

Very different, in that there are two fixed dining times with Club, and many different potential dining times with RCI.

[Eglesbrech]

3 minutes ago, Harry Peterson said:

Very different, in that there are two fixed dining times with Club, and many different potential dining times with RCI.

Yes there are but only if you get in and book them quickly, otherwise queues.

[P-L-B]

2 minutes ago, Harry Peterson said:

Very different, in that there are two fixed dining times with Club, and many different potential dining times with RCI.

Thanks for the clarification.

So does that mean you have to stipulate a particular time for your table when booking and that remains the fixed time for the whole week.

[Eglesbrech]

1 minute ago, P-L-B said:

Thanks for the clarification.

So does that mean you have to stipulate a particular time for your table when booking and that remains the fixed time for the whole week.

No. You can book 6pm one night and 9.30 the next.

[P-L-B]

1 minute ago, Eglesbrech said:

No. You can book 6pm one night and 9.30 the next.

Ok, I must admit that sounds a very flexible system. 

[terrierjohn]

4 minutes ago, P-L-B said:

Ok, I must admit that sounds a very flexible system. 

Not really the flexibility I prefer is to decide the time I want to dine as late aspossible, not several days or weeks beforehand.

[Eglesbrech]

6 minutes ago, P-L-B said:

Ok, I must admit that sounds a very flexible system. 

It is but only if you can get booked. If you book the cruise early enough then it is fine.

 

My issue is that you then don’t have the flexibility each day to just decide that you want to spend an extra hour in the sun, or watch an early show. That is what is “flexible” to me and IMO P&O do that better but just of course my opinion.

[P-L-B]

7 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

Not really the flexibility I prefer is to decide the time I want to dine as late aspossible, not several days or weeks beforehand.

I agree and I have now changed my mind.

Unfortunately not so good or as flexible as I first thought.

[P-L-B]

9 minutes ago, Eglesbrech said:

It is but only if you can get booked. If you book the cruise early enough then it is fine.

 

My issue is that you then don’t have the flexibility each day to just decide that you want to spend an extra hour in the sun, or watch an early show. That is what is “flexible” to me and IMO P&O do that better but just of course my opinion.

I agree and didn't realise the limitations.

[Eglesbrech]

5 minutes ago, P-L-B said:

I agree and didn't realise the limitations.

You can just queue up as you do on P&O but as so many people pre book there are fewer tables.

 

We ended up with a spreadsheet to figure out what dining time we needed to fit in with the the book able shows!

[Bazrat]

On 7/16/2019 at 9:36 AM, the english lady said:

I will go along with while they still have Arcadia and Aurora they will keep the fixed dining. I think when Iona comes on line that is when they will start changing things "due to customer feedback"

We were once asked who we thought Pandos biggest competitor was. we were all saying RC,Celebrity etc. No we were informed it was the family who currently get on a plane for 2 weeks in the sun. They are the ones they want to tap into. So no fixed dining and I guess no formal nights on the big ships (ventura etc) with in a year, "due to customer feedback"

I am hoping that while they still have Arcadia and Aurora they will still have enough of us cruisers who like fixed dining and formal nights to keep going.

About a year ago someoneone suggested 2 different selling bases...pando traditional and pando resort. I am sure you can work out which would be which.

I totally agree some on here would like the pando resort option,as for us our kids are grown up flown the nest so it’s our time,hence we prefer adults only cruising with formal nights and fixed dining.