Dear Princess Management, I Hope You Read This

[Mike45LC]

1 hour ago, sonomaphil said:

Traditionally diners were a big part of the problem with the Anytime system.  Many, many times I heard Traditional diners practically bragging that if they missed their time or just didn't feel like eating then they'd just go to the Anytime room. That's not how it works.  

 

You are right, that is NOT how it works.   It seems incredibly inconsiderate of anyone to do this.

 

We were on a Princess cruise a few years ago.  We were Traditional Second Seating.  We met a family one evening at the casino and wanted to have dinner with them the next day.  They were Anytime.  We went to our Maitre D and asked if we could dine in Anytime the next day.  He made a phone call and we were approved.   

 

If we were not approved, we could have gone with them to the buffet.

 

[NownZen]

3 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

I think you have that backwards - but there would always have been exceptions. 

 

 

No it is not backwards, we never want TD.

[sonomaphil]

2 hours ago, Mike45LC said:

You are right, that is NOT how it works.   It seems incredibly inconsiderate of anyone to do this.

 

We were on a Princess cruise a few years ago.  We were Traditional Second Seating.  We met a family one evening at the casino and wanted to have dinner with them the next day.  They were Anytime.  We went to our Maitre D and asked if we could dine in Anytime the next day.  He made a phone call and we were approved.   

 

If we were not approved, we could have gone with them to the buffet.

 

I'm sure they let you do that as they are almost always trained to never say no, and that's great.  But what that did was, and I'm generalizing here, you took up a table for 4 in Anytime.  If you had a table for 2 in Traditional, you came over to the "dark side" and there was no accommodation for an Anytime diner to take your table in Traditional.  Your table for 2 in Traditional went empty.  And then people complain about a wait in Anytime but you caused that wait, taking up a table. 

[Mike45LC]

1 hour ago, sonomaphil said:

I'm sure they let you do that as they are almost always trained to never say no, and that's great.  But what that did was, and I'm generalizing here, you took up a table for 4 in Anytime.  If you had a table for 2 in Traditional, you came over to the "dark side" and there was no accommodation for an Anytime diner to take your table in Traditional.  Your table for 2 in Traditional went empty.  And then people complain about a wait in Anytime but you caused that wait, taking up a table. 

The table for 5 (actually 6 or 😎 we took did not cause any overcrowding or wait; the dining room was only about half full.  So you can’t guilt me. 

[cattolica]

You do know princess doesn’t really monitor this board.    This is just a message board.  

[JimmyVWine]

18 hours ago, Kay S said:

Really?  I don't presume that my experience is the only one and the rest of the world is just like me.

I meant that in the micro sense and not the macro.  As in: "I showed up at 7:15 and had to wait 30 minutes for a table" vs. "I also showed up at 7:15 and got seated right away."  We're not talking about "the world" and instead are talking about 2 people who share the same space and time.

[suzyed]

13 hours ago, cattolica said:

You do know princess doesn’t really monitor this board.    This is just a message board.  

I believe they DO monitor them.  Yes, it's a message board.

Edited October 1, 2022 by suzyed

[Ombud]

6 minutes ago, suzyed said:

13 hours ago, cattolica said:

You do know princess doesn’t really monitor this board.    This is just a message board.  

I believe they DO monitor them.  Yes, it's a message board.

I sincerely HOPE they do as a way to monitor sentiment not to propose changes. Don't all large companies watch msg boards? (FB, Twitter, FIRE.org, Cruise Critic)

[suzyed]

2 minutes ago, Ombud said:

I sincerely HOPE they do as a way to monitor sentiment not to propose changes. Don't all large companies watch msg boards? (FB, Twitter, FIRE.org, Cruise Critic)

I know for a fact that NCL does....we were told by one of the Captains, himself.

[Kay S]

53 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

I meant that in the micro sense and not the macro.  As in: "I showed up at 7:15 and had to wait 30 minutes for a table" vs. "I also showed up at 7:15 and got seated right away."  We're not talking about "the world" and instead are talking about 2 people who share the same space and time.

Are we talking about the same ship and same dining room on the same voyage?  One thing I've learned is that the staff in the dining room is the controlling variable, and I have seen all of this.  Even on the same ship.  Oh well, in the greater scheme of things, it doesn't matter much.

[seekatz]

We have not used traditional in 10+ years on any cruise line. I love anytime as some days your in port latter or you want to see a specific show. 2 weeks ago on the Ruby the ship was full, but we were able to still get a table we wanted after the 1 st night for the rest of the cruise at a time that was offered. We have found the head waiters are always willing to work with us. 

[Kay S]

6 minutes ago, seekatz said:

I love anytime as some days your in port latter or you want to see a specific show.

Of course, the old Anytime is gone, too.  But apparently it is easier to replicate on DMW than TD is.

[Wakepatrol]

On 9/30/2022 at 3:42 PM, NownZen said:

I am curious what was so horrible. We would show up, never waited more than a couple of minutes and had dinner. Having the same waiters every night is of no importance to us as it is to some people.

We were on a cruise with traditional dining and had a waitress who was a nuisance and we could not get her to calm down. She new we had had discussions with the MaitreD about her so she was nervous around us. One evening after interrupting us yet again, she spun around a hit a waiter carrying a tray of dinners. I looked across at my wife and the had had a full plate of spaghetti and sauce dropped directly on her head and is was running down her front.  The look on the waitress's face was that she thought she might have to swim home.  I am old and stupid but not so much that I would laugh at my wife's situation. I think my tongue is still healing from biting it.

Why was she a nuisance, getting her to calm down? What does this mean?

[Wakepatrol]

If traditional dining was such a flop why were peoples faces pressed against the glass of the dining room doors at 4:58 

every night like they hadn’t eaten in a month?

[sloopsailor]

9 minutes ago, Wakepatrol said:

If traditional dining was such a flop why were peoples faces pressed against the glass of the dining room doors at 4:58 

every night like they hadn’t eaten in a month?

 

There will always be people who have to be first in line, no matter what is going on. Even with Dine My Way some people arrive before the doors open. With Traditional Dining, the vast majority of people weren't waiting for the doors to open. So your comment is not at all relevant to the TD vs DMW debate. 

 

Edited October 1, 2022 by sloopsailor

[Wakepatrol]

15 minutes ago, sloopsailor said:

 

There will always be people who have to be first in line, no matter what is going on. Even with Dine My Way some people arrive before the doors open. With Traditional Dining, the vast majority of people weren't waiting for the doors to open. So your comment is not at all relevant to the TD vs DMW debate. 

 

The line was out the door and halfway up the stairs. Are you telling me I didn’t see this?

[sloopsailor]

1 minute ago, Wakepatrol said:

The line was out the door and halfway up the stairs. Are you telling me I didn’t see this?

 

Not saying you didn't see anything. I am telling you that most people were NOT waiting for the doors to open. Considering how large the dining rooms are, if everyone was waiting in line, it would stretch out half the length of the ship, not just up a flight of stairs. 

[Mike45LC]

2 hours ago, Kay S said:

Of course, the old Anytime is gone, too.  But apparently it is easier to replicate on DMW than TD is.

I thought DMW and Anytime were the same, just a name change.  How do they differ?

[Kay S]

27 minutes ago, Mike45LC said:

I thought DMW and Anytime were the same, just a name change.  How do they differ?

Not greatly, but DMW requires you make a reservation in the MDR and Anytime was just show up with no reservation needed.  The Princess website make a point about DMW replacing both Traditional and Anytime.

[Wakepatrol]

1 hour ago, sloopsailor said:

 

Not saying you didn't see anything. I am telling you that most people were NOT waiting for the doors to open. Considering how large the dining rooms are, if everyone was waiting in line, it would stretch out half the length of the ship, not just up a flight of stairs. 

What are hundreds of people waiting outside the dining room at 4:58 waiting for, a full body stone massage?

Edited October 1, 2022 by Wakepatrol

[mom says]

1 hour ago, Kay S said:

Not greatly, but DMW requires you make a reservation in the MDR and Anytime was just show up with no reservation needed.  The Princess website make a point about DMW replacing both Traditional and Anytime.

Actually,  they strongly recommend reservations. But the DMW FAQS says:" you are welcome to walk up to any if our dining venues, and we'll  be happy to seat you based on space available". Of course at the most popular dining times, that may well require a wait.

[PTMary]

35 minutes ago, Wakepatrol said:

What are hundreds of people waiting outside the dining room at 4:58 waiting for, a full body stone massage?

 

We traveled with a couple who liked to enter the dining room right when it opened when traditional dining was the norm, and we would sometimes join them waiting at the doors if we all had a drink together in one of the lounges. I never - repeat - NEVER saw "hundreds" of people waiting to enter. Two or three dozens, perhaps, by absolutely not "hundreds". 

 

And I would guess that the people who arrived early wanted to pick their favorite chairs at their assigned table. On a cruise for just the two of us, we shared a table that was located in a corner with six other people who always arrived before us - they might have been waiting before the doors opened as you have observed. We spent every dinner during the entire cruise staring at these six people and the blank wall behind them. Never once did any of them offer to switch places so we could look out towards the dining room at least one time. And they pretty much kept their conversations between the six of them. In retrospect, I wish we had arrived before opening at least once to score the better seats. Unfortunately, I often take too much time getting ready, and we always arrived after everyone else.

 

I am so happy that traditional dining has gone the way of the dinosaurs! No more of those bad table problems!

[SantaFeFan]

3 hours ago, Wakepatrol said:

If traditional dining was such a flop why were peoples faces pressed against the glass of the dining room doors at 4:58 

every night like they hadn’t eaten in a month?

 

2 hours ago, Wakepatrol said:

The line was out the door and halfway up the stairs. Are you telling me I didn’t see this?

 

How do you know that there were hundreds of people waiting "out the door and up the stairs" every night at 4:48? You had to have been one of those hundreds every night to know that. 😇

[Kay S]

51 minutes ago, PTMary said:

 

 

I am so happy that traditional dining has gone the way of the dinosaurs! No more of those bad table problems!

Regardless of the numbers of people at the windows or up the stairs or the number of people who never liked TD in the first place, the fact remains that there are still people on this board who liked it and are sorry to see it go.  The only recourse now is to switch to lines that still offer TD (and yes, they do exist) but I still feel sad for the OP who wished the Princess he knew and loved had not eliminated something he valued.  I am, frankly, surprised by the number of responses here that celebrate his disappointment.  I have seen very few "sorry for you but I prefer the new way" but more "my way is better, get over yourself."  OP, I am very sorry you have lost something you valued, and I will not celebrate your misery.  The goodwill we used to see on Princess ships is apparently a thing of the past.  

 

This will now devolve into a chorus of TD foes telling us we are wrong for not agreeing with them.

[NownZen]

5 hours ago, Wakepatrol said:

Why was she a nuisance, getting her to calm down? What does this mean?

Every five minutes she came by and started by saying "I do not mean to interrupt you..." Which she obviously just had. She was always slow and did not get servings right. We were always the last to leave the dining room. I cannot eat sweets and she refused to believe that and always brought some cookies or ice cream or such. It was a 21 day cruise and she did not understand that a good server keeps and eye on you but only appears when needed.