Dining questions

[sjde]

If we choose a set dining time , would we be able to skip it and do anytime dining if that suits us better on a particular night? 
 

Also, should we book specialty dining before getting on the ship? 
TIA

[latebloomer56]

I was told we could not longer request set dining times. We like early seating but now need to reserve through the medallion application which is hit or miss at best. So maybe you will be able to chose a time each day.

Those who have sailed  this year may have an answer for this as well.

[nini]

With the medallion, you can cancel and re-schedule. There is no "Traditional" dining anymore. 

 

You can book Specialty Dining before boarding, but you will be charged immediately. You can not pay with On Board Credit or from a gift of Specialty Dining.

Edited May 10, 2022 by nini
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[sjde]

Thank you. But SHOULD you book ahead- does it fill up?

[wowzz]

29 minutes ago, sjde said:

Thank you. But SHOULD you book ahead- does it fill up?

It depends when you want to eat and on what cruise!

Americans seem to want to eat early, so 17:30 will be busy, Europeans eat later, so 19:30 will be busy.

Eat at 20:30 and the MDR will be half empty.  

[sjde]

Do Europeans with children even eat late? 

[sirclean]

Everything seems to have been computerized for your convenience... so you can pick the time you want to dine, but I dont think that you get the honor of the same waiters or the same table mates. That is too bad, as they quickly learn your preferences and your table mates can become your long term friends.  I will miss that.

 

But you will have a lot of choices! 

[wowzz]

Just now, sjde said:

Do Europeans with children even eat late? 

Well, the Spanish will eat dinner with their children at 21:00 or later.

[riffatsea]

You certainly can get the same table with the same wait staff each night!

You can arrange to sit with others too if you choose

If you skip a night from your set reservation it would be nice to tell the staff

Yes you can change times too if you wish

It is really all any time dining with some of us choosing to reserve tables for the same time eachnight 

[arizonaperson]

2 hours ago, sjde said:

If we choose a set dining time , would we be able to skip it and do anytime dining if that suits us better on a particular night? 
 

Also, should we book specialty dining before getting on the ship? 
TIA

No “ set”  traditional dining for right now on Princess ships. So yes it’s anytime or what Princess is calling Dine my way ,I think.

You go anytime you want within the dining room opening hours. But yes ,you can make a reservation which kind of defeats the purpose of going anytime as you’re describing. 

Yes,  Book  specialty dining before you get on the ship, unless you have lots of onboard credit or a dining voucher from a travel agent or something like that you usually need to wait to get on board to book. Although I would probably join your Roll Call if you have not already and see if there’s any live from the week before your cruise or two weeks before your cruise because some ships have said you can make Crown Grill or Sabatini‘s reservations online/ medallion,but when they’re actually on the ship one of them have been closed the entire cruise. 

[Sea Hag]

26 minutes ago, sirclean said:

Everything seems to have been computerized for your convenience... so you can pick the time you want to dine, but I dont think that you get the honor of the same waiters or the same table mates. That is too bad, as they quickly learn your preferences and your table mates can become your long term friends.  I will miss that.

 

But you will have a lot of choices! 

Sometimes you can still get same time, same table, same waiters. We managed that on the Ruby week before last. We ended up in a sweet spot as far as table and wait staff went, so we asked the waiter on the first night if we could have that table for all nights. He messed around looking things up on the mobile device they all use and said that we could. We already had a table for two at the same location and same time, so for all I know we already had the same table nailed down. 

[sirclean]

I liked to visit with people and get to know them on the cruise.  my travel mates and I would get a table for 8 or 10 (in the good ole days) and get to know the other passengers.  That isnt possible anymore ... to have the same table, same time, same companions (once strangers) for the duration of the trip. 

 

Now every meal is either alone with the people you know, or first meetings all around, every meal. 

 

But Im getting old and cranky! 

 

I remember when my 'clicker" actually "clicked"!  now i get a lot more buttons.  (Im not sure I get better entertainment). 

[Steelers36]

1 hour ago, sirclean said:

Now every meal is either alone with the people you know, or first meetings all around, every meal. 

And this is a huge fail.  I have seen one or two reports from early voyages last year where a group requested the same table.  You would have to organize a group on board that wants to agree to dine together.  Problem is, your sharing table on night 1 could be filled with Anytimers who are going to be looking to dine at a different time the next night.  

 

PCL has completely failed on their promise to keep TD experience.  The ONLY way they can provide this is to go back the way it was and collect requests for TD and table size (to know private or sharing) and then MANUALLY setup the table assignments a few days before embarkation using DEDICATED DR space that has been kept out of the MC App until all those tables are setup by the DRO (Maitre D').  There is at least some half-decent chance - if you go and make the request - to get the TD experience for yourself and or known travel party, but GL with the sharing situation unless PCL changes the approach.  Since I don't see any evidence of them trying to correct this, I am thinking they are just going to forget about it and leave it to guests and the DRO to negotiate on board.  Sad. 

[Steelers36]

3 hours ago, sjde said:

If we choose a set dining time , would we be able to skip it and do anytime dining if that suits us better on a particular night? 
 

Also, should we book specialty dining before getting on the ship? 
TIA

Do not "skip out" on a res you made in DMW in MC App.  Please go in and CANCEL it.  You can always override then and book a different location and time, or you can just be a walk-up and get seated - perhaps with a wait.  Even those with a res may have some wait at peak times.

 

You do not HAVE to book SD ahead of time.  Generally, PCL has never released all table space and times to pre-cruise booking (in old Personalizer).  That said, some folks have posted boarding a ship and finding all slots filled.  As someone mentioned above, due to staffing shortage, some ships have shuttered a SD location on one or more nights.  This obviously creates a crush to the other location, or on another night when the closed location opens again. 

 

I have never pre-booked SD and never had an issue getting location, date, time we wanted when requesting it on embarkation day.  I may have to reconsider that if reports continue to indicate space is tight.

 

[trbarton]

3 hours ago, latebloomer56 said:

I was told we could not longer request set dining times. We like early seating but now need to reserve through the medallion application which is hit or miss at best. So maybe you will be able to chose a time each day.

Those who have sailed  this year may have an answer for this as well.

I’ve been on a number of cruises, the last time in February, & had the same time every night, 5 pm,  No problems. 
 

Here’s myself with the dinning room staff who welcomed me each night. Look 👀 at the smile in her eyes. One reason to cruise. 
 

Tom😀
 

 

Edited May 11, 2022 by trbarton

[Torfamm]

5 hours ago, sjde said:

Thank you. But SHOULD you book ahead- does it fill up?

There can be a wait sometimes, but not everyone minds that. It depends on how flexible you are

[Torfamm]

4 hours ago, sirclean said:

Everything seems to have been computerized for your convenience... so you can pick the time you want to dine, but I dont think that you get the honor of the same waiters or the same table mates. That is too bad, as they quickly learn your preferences and your table mates can become your long term friends.  I will miss that.

 

But you will have a lot of choices! 

I think traditional dining had positives but as more specialty venues were added it has gotten hard to manage the large number of empty seats on any given night. We have asked to be seated at the same table for 2 each night  on our last 3 cruises and they accommodated us on two of them