Information from Princess re COVID

[Aus Traveller]

We have had hits and misses with traditional dining as well. Tables where the others don't turn up and don't let anyone know that they aren't coming haven't been good.

 

Anytime has the advantage of not feeling you are keeping people waiting if you are ten minutes later than you would like to be. I hate keeping people waiting. We found with ATD that the tables would be filled in a few minutes - not having to wait 15 minutes for the slow coaches. We would often have so,e of the same companions because we were choosing the same time to go to dinner.

 

I will discuss it and decide what we will do. I am inclined to book a time but certainly not 5pm! That was the other problem with traditional - ridiculously early or ridiculously late.🙂

[OzKiwiJJ]

36 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

We haven't been on a ship as large as 3,500 pax. The only Princess ship we have been on operating out of the US in fairly recent years if the Grand Princess. Emerald and Golden are large, but I don't think they are as large as you mention.

 

If people were going to dinner at 5pm, I would time my arrival for when the first seating has finished dinner.

We had Traditional dining on Royal in the Med so didn't notice any queues as that was in a different restaurant. 

 

On Majestic to Tasmania we just chose to dine around 7:30pm a couple of times but the MDR wasn't managed well, they seemed reluctant to seat us even though there were empty tables, and the foid quality was poor, so we went to the speciality restaurants more.

[Cruising in time]

14 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

Thanks 'Cruising in Time'. I will have a look at the ship's layout to see which dining room will suit us best. Are the bookings for a particular table (like TD) or is it like Anytime but at a particular time? I know that sounds strange, but you might know what I mean.🙂

I’ve just noticed you can also share your dinner booking with friends and add guests.

[Tikibird]

My main concern would be what happens if you book a share table and then one of the others comes up positive at some point.  I wouldn't want to get quarantined for getting unlucky at the wrong table.  We always go Anytime or buffet (pre-Covid) and usually a private table. 

[NSWP]

10 hours ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

We had Traditional dining on Royal in the Med so didn't notice any queues as that was in a different restaurant. 

 

On Majestic to Tasmania we just chose to dine around 7:30pm a couple of times but the MDR wasn't managed well, they seemed reluctant to seat us even though there were empty tables, and the foid quality was poor, so we went to the speciality restaurants more.

The cruiselines love people to go to the speciality restaurants, ye olde cover charge $$$$.   

 

On another note...Have you ever noticed how many ship's officers and senior staff dine in those speciality restuanrts, I have seen many, they are not stupid, they know where the good tucker is. On Princess..Crown Grill and Sabatinis is where the brass like to hang out.

[OzKiwiJJ]

3 hours ago, NSWP said:

The cruiselines love people to go to the speciality restaurants, ye olde cover charge $$$$.   

 

On another note...Have you ever noticed how many ship's officers and senior staff dine in those speciality restuanrts, I have seen many, they are not stupid, they know where the good tucker is. On Princess..Crown Grill and Sabatinis is where the brass like to hang out.

The cover charges usually aren't too bad but on that Majestic cruise they were higher than usual. Harmony was great, very interesting and unusual Chinese food but it looks like they've westernised the menu a fair bit for the US market since then. La Mer was a big disappointment, poor service and I had to send one course back and get something different as it was cold and overcooked. We might give it a second try on our next Majestic cruise though, in case it was just a bad night. By now Majestic should be used to western passengers - the cruise we did previously was right at the start of her first season here and I don't think the crew were prepared for Aussies.

 

 

Edited April 27, 2022 by OzKiwiJJ

[arxcards]

18 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

The cover charges usually aren't too bad but on that Majestic cruise they were higher than usual. Harmony was great, very interesting and unusual Chinese food but it looks like they've westernised the menu a fair bit for the US market since then. La Mer was a big disappointment, poor service and I had to send one course back and get something different as it was cold and overcooked. We might give it a second try on our next Majestic cruise though, in case it was just a bad night. By now Majestic should be used to western passengers - the cruise we did previously was right at the start of her first season here and I don't think the crew were prepared for Aussies.

 

 

Pretty much why we avoided Majestic then, as the ship was built for Princess to get a hook in the Chinese market, and some of the reviews from her first season here were quite disparaging. We looked ahead for Regal and then Royal, and were disappointed when Royal was cancelled and we were bumped onto Regal.

 

It they can keep the US passengers reasonably happy now, it should be a breeze when she returns.

[losfp]

We sailed on Majestic in 2018/19 - I believe her first season out of Sydney.It was great - a tad big for our tastes, but good enough. The MDR food was fine, and we enjoyed Harmony and the Balcony dining for our anniversary dinner. Didn't try the other specialty restaurants.  Going again in Jan 2023 - Interested to see what changes they've made since she's been sailing out of Alaska and whatnot over the last couple of years.

[OzKiwiJJ]

40 minutes ago, losfp said:

We sailed on Majestic in 2018/19 - I believe her first season out of Sydney.It was great - a tad big for our tastes, but good enough. The MDR food was fine, and we enjoyed Harmony and the Balcony dining for our anniversary dinner. Didn't try the other specialty restaurants.  Going again in Jan 2023 - Interested to see what changes they've made since she's been sailing out of Alaska and whatnot over the last couple of years.

Our cruise on her was 18th Nov 2018, so very early in that season. It may have even been the first cruise after she repositioned. We'd cruised on Royal the previous year so knew what to expect from that sized ship, however the Majestic cruise was our first time trying Anytime dining. It really was shambolic. I think the Chinese cruises only had Traditional dining so the waiters were struggling with Anytime, and also the galleys with overcooked food or long gaps between courses. As for wine service, don't get me started. We ordered wine by the bottle, the first glasses were poured, the bottles diappeared onto the waiters station and then the waiters got tied up doing other things. The only time we had good wine service was on the last night when we lucked into two excellent waiters.

[arxcards]

54 minutes ago, arxcards said:

We looked ahead for Regal and then Royal, and were disappointed when Royal was cancelled and we were bumped onto Regal.

I should have typed being bumped onto Majestic. All good though. Out of 11 nights there will be at least 1 Crown Grill, likely a U.B. dining, a few nights in the MDR and a chance to try out the others that will be new too us. Any day that starts with eggs benny and ends with creme brule is usually a pretty good one

[OzKiwiJJ]

3 minutes ago, arxcards said:

I should have typed being bumped onto Majestic. All good though. Out of 11 nights there will be at least 1 Crown Grill, likely a U.B. dining, a few nights in the MDR and a chance to try out the others that will be new too us. Any day that starts with eggs benny and ends with creme brule is usually a pretty good one

Do try Harmony, even dumbed down for western tastes the menu is still interesting and the duck salad is to die for.

 

The pizzeria was excellent too.

 

The balconies on that class of ship are very small but we managed to have a U.B. dinner on Royal without too much trouble. 

[Cbtours]

20 hours ago, Elorac123 said:

I have chosen my check in time on the ap but I can’t see ever getting to the “green lane “ as I can’t seem to complete the wearable medallion section

has anyone else been able to do this

Cheers Carole 

we can't do medallion order eithr but def got green lane for june 16 cruise

[arxcards]

17 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

Do try Harmony, even dumbed down for western tastes the menu is still interesting and the duck salad is to die for.

 

The pizzeria was excellent too.

 

The balconies on that class of ship are very small but we managed to have a U.B. dinner on Royal without too much trouble. 

We have a mini, so I hope there is enough space. The last one we did was during Sun Princess' first season here, so we are well overdue for one.

[kenexx]

4 minutes ago, arxcards said:

We have a mini, so I hope there is enough space. The last one we did was during Sun Princess' first season here, so we are well overdue for one.

We had a full suite on Majestic and had to do the balcony dinner in the suite. The balconies are a disgrace on these Royal class ships.   Much prefer Grand class or the Coral.  

[OzKiwiJJ]

6 minutes ago, arxcards said:

We have a mini, so I hope there is enough space. The last one we did was during Sun Princess' first season here, so we are well overdue for one.

The minisuite balconies are no different to regular balconies but there is just enough room for the table they set up for the dinner.

[OzKiwiJJ]

1 minute ago, kenexx said:

We had a full suite on Majestic and had to do the balcony dinner in the suite. The balconies are a disgrace on these Royal class ships.   Much prefer Grand class or the Coral.  

We managed OK on Royal but, yes, those small balconies are annoying as is the lack of a proper promenade deck.

[Aus Traveller]

We had the UBD on a balcony on the Sun Princess. The balcony was 1.1 metres wide. We used to joke that if we took more than two or three steps outside the door, we could go over the rail.

[losfp]

We had the balcony dining on a regular balcony stateroom last time - worked well enough IMO.

 

For our Jan cruise though we have a forward facing balcony on Lido. That one looks MASSIVE but if she's underway at the time we do balcony dining, I think all our dishes will be flying 😄  😄 

[OzKiwiJJ]

Just now, Aus Traveller said:

We had the UBD on a balcony on the Sun Princess. The balcony was 1.1 metres wide. We used to joke that if we took more than two or three steps outside the door, we could go over the rail.

Then don't go on a Royal class ship. The balconies on those make the Sun class balconies seem big by comparison. But I'm sure the balcony we had on Sun was wider than 1.1 metres, we could sit comfortably facing straight out to sea with plenty of leg room whereas on the Royal ships you have to sit at an angle to get leg room.

[Aus Traveller]

2 minutes ago, losfp said:

We had the balcony dining on a regular balcony stateroom last time - worked well enough IMO.

 

For our Jan cruise though we have a forward facing balcony on Lido. That one looks MASSIVE but if she's underway at the time we do balcony dining, I think all our dishes will be flying 😄  😄 

I don't think you can use the balcony on the forward-facing rooms when the ship is under way.

[arxcards]

3 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

I don't think you can use the balcony on the forward-facing rooms when the ship is under way.

Correct. Would love one of those balconies, but not much fun if you can only use them in port

[Aus Traveller]

3 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

Then don't go on a Royal class ship. The balconies on those make the Sun class balconies seem big by comparison. But I'm sure the balcony we had on Sun was wider than 1.1 metres, we could sit comfortably facing straight out to sea with plenty of leg room whereas on the Royal ships you have to sit at an angle to get leg room.

Maybe your cabin was on a different deck. We measured the width of our balcony because it was so small. The 1.1m quoted is going from a memory from several years ago 🤣 . I just asked my husband and he felt the measurement was 1.1m. He said "Two steps and you're over the side". We were in Caribe deck.

[losfp]

From what I've read, they don't physically lock them and you can go out there but obviously depending on the wind it may not be very comfortable! I'm hoping we can pop out there while she is cruising slowly through fiordlands.  We're not massive users of the balcony when the ship is underway in any case, so if I can pop out for short periods, I'll be happy.

 

Definitely won't risk booking balcony dining there though!!! 😄 

[OzKiwiJJ]

22 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

Maybe your cabin was on a different deck. We measured the width of our balcony because it was so small. The 1.1m quoted is going from a memory from several years ago 🤣 . I just asked my husband and he felt the measurement was 1.1m. He said "Two steps and you're over the side". We were in Caribe deck.

We were on Baja but I'm certain the balconies were the same size. 

 

I just looked it up and most ships had 5ft balconies so 1.524 metres. The Royal class ships have 4 ft / 1.2192m balconies. The famous Grand class Caribe balconies are 9ft / 2.7432m. Luxury indeed!

 

 

Edited April 27, 2022 by OzKiwiJJ

[CDaze71]

How did this OP get so off topic. Every time I get a notification pop up I view it just in case I'm missing more information about the new covid protocols.