Jump to content

show times regal princess


gillyg
 Share

Recommended Posts

We are sailing for the 1st time with Princess June 2020, our TA asked us what dining we wanted. We opted for 7.15 sitting but are now wondering if this would be too late for the theatre shows. Whether freedom dining would suit us better?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, gillyg said:

We are sailing for the 1st time with Princess June 2020, our TA asked us what dining we wanted. We opted for 7.15 sitting but are now wondering if this would be too late for the theatre shows. Whether freedom dining would suit us better?

 

Welcome, you're going to love the Regal, our favorite ship. In looking over some Patters (the ship's daily "newspaper") from our most recent trips, the Theater shows were generally 8PM and 10PM, and IIRC they typically run 30-45 minutes. Both start times and duration can vary, however. If you had a 7:15PM dinner time, it would be cutting it fine to make the 8PM show, though still possible. Keep in mind that the Theater fills up early, and in our experience, getting our preferred seats means showing up a good 30 minutes before. There are almost always seats available almost up to start time, but they won't be very good and you may be separated. Obviously, making the late show would be no problem. Enjoy your trip ;o)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On our last cruise (August 2019) , we were on Caribbean Princess. Fixed dining for us was 7:15pm. Going to the shows was pretty awful. Show times 6:30 (for late diners) and 8:30 for early diners.

We had absolutely no choice and had to go to the 6:30 show. Problem , it was stated in Patter for late diners. However, early diners showed up too (ate at 5pm), anytime diners, buffet eaters as well as for the intended late diners. If you didn't get to the theatre at 5:30pm, no seats left in about 15 minutes (45 minutes before show began).After dinner, no show for us. Game shows began in Explorers lounge but when we exited dinner at 9PM, no seats left for us.

In all , not a good planning on Princess part. If late diners had a 9:30 or 10:00PM show, would have been much nicer. First time on any Princess ship we had this problem. Adding to the problem was the Cruise Director Marcos. On the wake show every morning he made sure to say, come at least an hour early for the early show or no seats. One night he said better get there at least an hour early and guess what people showed up 1 1/2 hr early . No seats left by 5:30. I blame him a lot.Entertainment Director should have been fired for how everything was planned.  

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, tailspintom said:

You should be fine in attending the early show in the theater before your dinner. At times I have seen them add a third show that would be available after late seating. Each ship's Cruise Director seems to have the latitude to schedule showings.

Since Princess changed the TD time slots, they don't have major shows before late seating.  Shows are scheduled to follow dinner time slots.  Your note would have been applicable back when late dining was 8pm or later.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, gillyg said:

We are sailing for the 1st time with Princess June 2020, our TA asked us what dining we wanted. We opted for 7.15 sitting but are now wondering if this would be too late for the theatre shows. Whether freedom dining would suit us better?

With 7:15 traditional dining you will not be able to make early theater shows.  Dining normally takes between 90 minutes and two hours. Rule of thumb, the larger the table the longer it takes. Tables for two are usually quicker. It's hard to comment on dining times and what people enjoy or do not enjoy. Our experience and our preference is Anytime Dining. This gives us the flexibility to plan our dining around the evening activities and not the other way around. On the Regal there will be theater shows, and additionally on some evenings there will also be shows, usually comics, singers, in the Vista Lounge. The Vista Lounge is smaller, thus you have to arrive earlier, especially for a good comic.

With anytime dining you have to get a feeling regarding the best times to arrive at the DR. It does change based on the passengers. Normally if you arrive around 5:30 or after 7:30 you can get seated fairly quickly. The matire'd will generally allow reservations for anytime dining. You have to call the dining line each morning. The phone line opens at 8am. Anytime dining seems to always be chaotic on boarding day evening. We generally skip the DR on that evening and head to the World Market Place buffet, one of the largest and best in the fleet.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

24 minutes ago, skynight said:

  Dining normally takes between 90 minutes and two hours. Rule of thumb, the larger the table the longer it takes. Tables for two are usually quicker. It's hard to comment on dining times and what people enjoy or do not enjoy. Our experience and our preference is Anytime Dining. This gives us the flexibility to plan our dining around the evening activities and not the other way around.

 

On our last cruise (Island in February) every dinner in the MDR was at least 90 minutes.  The one time we got a table for two it took two hours.  We do anytime dining as well for the flexibility.

 

However, the long dining times makes it difficult to make shows.  We are on Regal starting Saturday.  If the buffet is as good as people say I could see us blowing off the MDR some nights.  There are better things to do than sit for 90-120 minutes waiting to eat a meal that is good, but not great. 

 

 

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, steelers36 said:

Since Princess changed the TD time slots, they don't have major shows before late seating.  Shows are scheduled to follow dinner time slots.  Your note would have been applicable back when late dining was 8pm or later.

Well then, I stand corrected.  We typically do anytime after attending the first show if it is of interest. I must have lost touch with still another aspect of my leisure. Regards. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, tailspintom said:

Well then, I stand corrected.  We typically do anytime after attending the first show if it is of interest. I must have lost touch with still another aspect of my leisure. Regards. 

On our recent cruises with the new dining times, the first show was usually around 8:00pm with some earlier times of about 7:30pm or 7:45pm.  I think perhaps on one of the two cruises, they fit in three shows (but each was shorter than normal).

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

When we were on the Regal and had late dining, the show was before dinner.

With the now earlier dining times, the way they schedule the shows have changed. Unfortunately doesn't appear to be the same on all ships. Up to the Entertainment director for scheduling. As I mentioned in a previous post, the schedule on Caribbean Princess was really screwed up.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, san diego sue said:

On our last cruise (August 2019) , we were on Caribbean Princess. Fixed dining for us was 7:15pm. Going to the shows was pretty awful. Show times 6:30 (for late diners) and 8:30 for early diners.

We had absolutely no choice and had to go to the 6:30 show. Problem , it was stated in Patter for late diners. However, early diners showed up too (ate at 5pm), anytime diners, buffet eaters as well as for the intended late diners. If you didn't get to the theatre at 5:30pm, no seats left in about 15 minutes (45 minutes before show began).After dinner, no show for us. Game shows began in Explorers lounge but when we exited dinner at 9PM, no seats left for us.

In all , not a good planning on Princess part. If late diners had a 9:30 or 10:00PM show, would have been much nicer. First time on any Princess ship we had this problem. Adding to the problem was the Cruise Director Marcos. On the wake show every morning he made sure to say, come at least an hour early for the early show or no seats. One night he said better get there at least an hour early and guess what people showed up 1 1/2 hr early . No seats left by 5:30. I blame him a lot.Entertainment Director should have been fired for how everything was planned.  

We are currently on the Caribbean Princess and the situation is the same other than second seating is at 7:30.qq it is totally awful. The hotel director claims it is because of the demographics and wanting to fill both shows. It is really untenable. The theater is not large enough to accommodate all passengers in two shows so the theater is guaranteed to be filled; a late show needs to be added. And you are correct that when you get out of the dining room at 9 there are no seats in any entertainment venue. This is not the first time we are on this ship but it is the first time shows have been scheduled this way. Captain’s Circle Parties tonight are at 4:45 and 7 pm. Utterly ridiculous!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We were on the Regal Baltic completed last week. Many of the above comments are very accurate re: seating in Theatre. We prefer Anytime Dining and most often would go to the big production shows before eating. The shows in the Theatre were at 8 and 10. 

After getting no seat at one of the first shows (we hurried there from Sabatini’s at 7:30)

we learned to arrive very early.   The Beatle maniacs were on board (great show by the way!) and the place was 90% full at 7:30.  For some of the shows they did have a “simulcast” in the Vista lounge. 

And yes, one should plan at least 1 hr (if you skip dessert) in Main DR and that’s cutting it close.  It is frustrating to get there 30-45 min early but if it’s a show you really want to see...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, Mapu said:

We are currently on the Caribbean Princess and the situation is the same other than second seating is at 7:30.qq it is totally awful. The hotel director claims it is because of the demographics and wanting to fill both shows. It is really untenable. The theater is not large enough to accommodate all passengers in two shows so the theater is guaranteed to be filled; a late show needs to be added. And you are correct that when you get out of the dining room at 9 there are no seats in any entertainment venue. This is not the first time we are on this ship but it is the first time shows have been scheduled this way. Captain’s Circle Parties tonight are at 4:45 and 7 pm. Utterly ridiculous!

Same with us for Captain's circle party. We eat late so were forced to attend the early 4:45 party if we wanted to go to it.

And our dinner was at 7:15 so no going to the later one. I think the Entertainment Director is at fault as that person schedules the shows. So that also affected the Circle parties schedule. No other ship has this stupid schedule with the shows. We have been on the Emerald as well as the Royal this year and went to the shows after dinner (9:30 ).Normally we like to lounge in our cabin until getting ready for our late dinner. I won't sail on the Caribbean Princess again for sure. Sad because it is a nice ship and being recently redone, feels new.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, steelers36 said:

Find it hard to believe the ED's and CD's don't meet periodically and discuss things, etc.  Why would the CB be going "rogue" from the other ships like this I wonder?  Entertainment should have adjusted to realities of new dine times.

According to the Hotel Director, Peter Hollister,  they wanted to make sure the theater was filled claiming the “demographics “ of the population dictated the need to adjust the showtimes.

problem is the theater would be filled no matter what because it will not accommodate the population with two shows. Those that have dinner at 5 don’t like waiting until 8:30 for a show so they are not happy either. The 7:15 dinner seating was fully booked long before the sailing so that should have been a clue to the “demographics “ onboard. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share

  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...