Dining Table for 12

[cruisesoon]

We will be going on our 50th wedding anniversary to Alaska next year with family.  We will be on the Sapphire Princess.  I have all the reservations linked and did have confirmed seating for us before the switch over but now it is saying table of 6 with 9 + next to it.  Do they have tables of 12 on the Sapphire? I would really like to get this set up before we leave instead of dealing with it on day of sailing.  There will be a total of 11 and I am being told they just have tables of 6 on the Sapphire. Is that right? 

[paul929207]

You may have difficulty getting details like this until people start cruising and come back with their actual experience

[4cats4me]

3 hours ago, cruisesoon said:

We will be going on our 50th wedding anniversary to Alaska next year with family.  We will be on the Sapphire Princess.  I have all the reservations linked and did have confirmed seating for us before the switch over but now it is saying table of 6 with 9 + next to it.  Do they have tables of 12 on the Sapphire? I would really like to get this set up before we leave instead of dealing with it on day of sailing.  There will be a total of 11 and I am being told they just have tables of 6 on the Sapphire. Is that right

Usually,  with a group of 12 , they would split you into two tables near one another, two sixes or the like, since tables for 10 or 12 are hard to come by. , we’ve traveled with large groups on numerous occasions on many lines and have never seen a table for 12.  

[waltd]

Yes it has been done in the past.   Don't know about the Sapphire.    It really depends on who is running the dining room at the time.    The down side to a table for twelve is  they need extra staff to run the food so you can eat at once.   It cannot be done with just the two servers.    Afraid you will have to wait till you get on board to see if they can get the two tables together.   As others have done  you can always rotate seating during your cruise so you can talk with everyone.   

[pms4104]

21 minutes ago, waltd said:

Yes it has been done in the past.   Don't know about the Sapphire.    It really depends on who is running the dining room at the time.    The down side to a table for twelve is  they need extra staff to run the food so you can eat at once.   It cannot be done with just the two servers.    Afraid you will have to wait till you get on board to see if they can get the two tables together.   As others have done  you can always rotate seating during your cruise so you can talk with everyone.   

Another downside of such a large table is noise ... so often, everyone wants to be heard by everyone ... very disruptive to nearby tables.

[pris993]

Only cruise line I have seen a table for 12 is on Celebrity.  Would guess on Princess you may be easily able to do 2 tables of 6 and have folks rotate between tables over cruise.   Know that is not the answer you want.  If you are working with a TA I would have TA contact the line to check out in advance.  Enjoy your trip. 

[MishelleMcc]

I suspect you will have to talk to maitre d' once on board.  But I would also ask your TA or PCVP to note the request in your booking.

 

A group of us (25+) decided to have dinner together one evening. (Grand Princess Dec 2019)  A day or two before, the guys arranged it in "Anytime Dinning".  We had a set time and abundant wait staff.  It was a perfect evening! Princess will be able to take care of your request.

[Thrak]

8 hours ago, cruisesoon said:

We will be going on our 50th wedding anniversary to Alaska next year with family.  We will be on the Sapphire Princess. 

 

We are also booked on Sapphire Princess next year for our 50th anniversary!  Are you on the May 2nd sailing? (Our actual anniversary will be May 6th.)

[cruisesoon]

10 hours ago, Thrak said:

 

We are also booked on Sapphire Princess next year for our 50th anniversary!  Are you on the May 2nd sailing? (Our actual anniversary will be May 6th.)

No, we will be on the Sapphire Princess next June.

[mjmalino]

Call Princess and ask them to book a table for 12. It cannot be done online, or through a travel agent, but they should be able to help you. 

[Lucky TGO]

We were on 3 cruises with 12 people and always received 2 tables for 6. We were told it will take to long to serve 12 people on one table. I totally agree.

Tony

[Knickearth]

On 6/18/2021 at 12:07 PM, cruisesoon said:

We will be going on our 50th wedding anniversary to Alaska next year with family.  We will be on the Sapphire Princess.  I have all the reservations linked and did have confirmed seating for us before the switch over but now it is saying table of 6 with 9 + next to it.  Do they have tables of 12 on the Sapphire? I would really like to get this set up before we leave instead of dealing with it on day of sailing.  There will be a total of 11 and I am being told they just have tables of 6 on the Sapphire. Is that right? 

On all the princess ships I have been on, we were always ten or twelve people.  Altho, they accommodated the ten of us - in very very cramped table they had set up, twelve was even worse.  I don't know about the Sapphire tho.

[skynight]

Comments based on my experience sitting at tables of 8 and 10. Don't ever remember sitting at a table for 12, but if 8 and 10 are any indication then 12 would be even more difficult.

Slow dining. If one person dines slowly then the waiters will wait until that person is finished until the next course is served. A single waiter with assistant will have trouble with timely serving. Communication is generally restricted to just the few people sitting close to you. There are various conversations going on at the same time. Probably better if split, two tables. With a family there are multiple ages and the splits, who sits with whom will naturally occur. Some of your family may not wish to dine in the DR every evening and may select other dining options.

You may wish to consider one meal with the entire family, maybe at a specialty restaurant. There are group tables in these facilities. If you wish to have a large group meal in a MDR then you would have to discuss with the maitre'd once on board. 

[MissP22]

15 minutes ago, skynight said:

Don't ever remember sitting at a table for 12, but if 8 and 10 are any indication then 12 would be even more difficult.

One time were were at a table for 10 & got stuck at the end of the table, which was terrible. Absolutely no allotted table space since the ends of the table are somewhat pointed. 

We arrived earlier one evening to sit in the middle & were criticized for changing seats. Needless to say that was our last time at a large table.

We don't need the aggravation at dinner time.

A table for 2 is so much better.  

[Steelers36]

1 hour ago, MissP22 said:

One time were were at a table for 10 & got stuck at the end of the table, which was terrible. Absolutely no allotted table space since the ends of the table are somewhat pointed. 

We arrived earlier one evening to sit in the middle & were criticized for changing seats. Needless to say that was our last time at a large table.

We don't need the aggravation at dinner time.

A table for 2 is so much better.  

Aside - we were near a large group on a recent cruise at a 10-top and I don't think I have seen anything bigger.  It appeared to be a special setup for this family. 

 

As for you changing seats, well I do not think everyone should be stuck in the same seat each night.

 

When we cruise with our friends at a 4-top, we rotate one-seat clock-wise each night so everyone gets every perspective in turn.  That would be my recommendation for any table to make it both fair and interesting.

 

[skynight]

2 hours ago, MissP22 said:

 

A table for 2 is so much better.  

Some enjoy 2 tops. For the past 15 years or so, since Princess introduced anytime, this is been our choice. We normally request a table to share not larger than 6. This was our preference. We enjoyed meeting different people most evenings. Now it seems ATD is gone, at least for now. 

[MissP22]

12 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

As for you changing seats, well I do not think everyone should be stuck in the same seat each night.

It doesn't bother me that much unless there's something wrong with the location.

[MissP22]

2 minutes ago, skynight said:

Now it seems ATD is gone, at least for now.

I haven't been following this complete thread but if that's true we'll be opting for a table for 2 all the time at the beginning of the cruise. 

I think this will be the most requested option since people will be cautious about contagious COVID. 

[skynight]

There is no current ATD option in the medallion app. It is either select the same time each day or go day by day and select your time(s). The program assigns table size and DR. For our 2022 cruise it assigned table for 4. Don't have any idea how that was determined. Certainly we did not request any table size, and did not see that option. Apparently once on board you can change each day, but I would think reservation times could be limited. I haven't seen any indication of walk up dining in the DR's.

My thinking is that there will be lots of problems with the system and a year from now it will hopefully work differently. Feel a little sorry for the head waiters who will take all the grief and struggle with no shows, late shows, table sizes, DR's, and so on. 

[Steelers36]

1 hour ago, skynight said:

There is no current ATD option in the medallion app. It is either select the same time each day or go day by day and select your time(s). The program assigns table size and DR. For our 2022 cruise it assigned table for 4. Don't have any idea how that was determined. Certainly we did not request any table size, and did not see that option. Apparently once on board you can change each day, but I would think reservation times could be limited. I haven't seen any indication of walk up dining in the DR's.

My thinking is that there will be lots of problems with the system and a year from now it will hopefully work differently. Feel a little sorry for the head waiters who will take all the grief and struggle with no shows, late shows, table sizes, DR's, and so on. 

I disagree about the AT statement.  It is there - but like TD, it is not fully realized as we customers would expect and Princess promised.  As you mentioned, you can go day by day selecting a dining time for each evening.  That can be done ahead of time, or once the voyage has begun - space permitting. 

 

You were assigned a 4-top presumably because all of the 2-tops they loaded into the system were already taken for the time you selected.  I am assuming you are a dining party of 2. 

 

And you hit on the huge fail with DMW delivery thus far.  For both picking same time for entire cruise and for individual evenings, they have to build in a table-size choice, along with time choice.  Either combined or as a separate preference.  It is necessary to replicate the experiences. 

 

If they can fix that and release all the inventory, it would be MUCH better and closer to the marketing promises.

 

Even better would be to offer a DR choice as well, but not critical.  Call it a Nice-To-Have. 

 

No idea how they are going to guarantee same table each night.  That is another issue.

[XBGuy]

On 6/18/2021 at 12:07 PM, cruisesoon said:

 I would really like to get this set up before we leave instead of dealing with it on day of sailing. 

 

@cruisesoonIf you do manage to get this set up prior to departure, I would strongly recommend that you meet with the Maitre d' on embarkation day to verifiy that the message was successfully passed to him.  More than once arrangements that were set up prior have not really met expectations.  It is best if you check it out as soon as you can.  If it looks perfect, then great.  If it does not really meet your expection, then that gives you time to try to change it or to advise the others in your party that an adjustment has been required.

 

Regarding the existence or the non-existence of Any Time Dining (ATD), I am of the opinion that ATD is now the default setting.  The Medallion software does allow you to make dining room reservations--or Specialty Restaurant reservations--but there is no requirement to do so.  If you don't make a reservation, you can go to one of the dining rooms at your convenience and you will be accommodated.  If you go at a peak time or have a specific table request, you may have to wait.

[SusieKIslandGirl]

We were part of a large group once and had 2 tables next to each other. It was nicer than 1 large table. Each meal we would switch who we sat with and could then visit with everyone over the course of several meals and could hear what everyone at the table was saying. One large table didn't lend to good conversation.

[oskidunker]

One large table is bad. Do not request this. 

[Thrak]

On 6/19/2021 at 9:49 PM, Lucky TGO said:

We were on 3 cruises with 12 people and always received 2 tables for 6. We were told it will take to long to serve 12 people on one table. I totally agree.

Tony

 

Of course we have been seated at a table for 10... It was a 28 day cruise and, after a short time, we started sitting in different places so we all got to talk with different people. It was kind of cool as a few of us seemed to decide that independently and it just worked out really well. We had a few really interesting dinner companions. There were a couple of single women - one was a retired law professor and the other turned out to be a retired rep for a major wine seller who, after retirement, had built her own home - with her own hands - in the hills that was "off the grid". Very interesting women.

 

There was also a couple with the same first names as my wife's deceased parents. It was surprising. These folks turned out to be freaking awesome. We have since sailed with them again, they are also booked on our May 2nd sailing for next year, and we have met them several times for dinner and conversation when they have traveled south for the winter. They come through a nearby town and we love to meet them. We have also visited (briefly) at their house outside of Vancouver. Truly wonderful people we never would have met if we hadn't been assigned as dinner companions. This is the one reason we worry about changes in dining arrangements. One can meet some truly great folks through traditional dining.

[caribill]

36 minutes ago, Thrak said:

 

 One can meet some truly great folks through traditional dining.

 

Agree 100%.

 

But so far have not seen posted by anyone the option to have traditional dining that would include the same "strangers" at your table each evening.