Sailing on Regal - Which MDR for 700+ person group set dining time.

[cr8tiv1]

Hmmmm

 

Royal Class ship has 3500 passengers (give or take) divided by 3 MDRs = 1200 per dining room.  If you average 2 sittings, that comes down to 600 passengers per meal service.  

 

If you take away the aft dining room (which is the largest), that means that everyone else will have to fight with already tight MDRs.  

 

These are just estimations.  I would be very interested in the logistics Princess will work out with this tour group.  Will they really assign the aft dining room for only those 700 passengers to come and go when they want to (Anytime dining?).  How many venues will be close to the other passengers?    I have been on ships with special groups.  Most are well mannered, but private events closed down public spaces.  

[Wishing on a star]

I have never heard of Princess closing, reserving, a dining room at supper for a private group.

Maybe they have.  But I don't think so.

Many other venues have been used.   And sometimes closed off to other paying passengers.

 

Princess absolutely could, if they had the staff, and if the group were to pay private catering rates, reserve a dining room for an event early in the day, before preparations for for the dinner service. 

 

Most people, even those with groups, prefer to be able to explore other options, have some free time on their own.  I really don't know why any group would want to pre-plan and have everyone feel obligated to show up for supper together every night.  Especially such a large group.

 

I am not sure that the poster who started this thread is clear on how the group cruise might work.

Edited November 16, 2022 by Wishing on a star

[Tonsoffun44]

20 hours ago, figmentdj said:

Polka group, I think. Should be lively. We're on the cruise, but not with the group. Any group of that size is bound to make a difference in terms of certain venues and such. Maybe we'll catch a view or a listen. 

Polka group is before us - they get off and our Irish Group gets on 29th.  Asked here because TA handling things hadn't called us back all we were told was "it's being worked on". 

[Tonsoffun44]

3 hours ago, Wishing on a star said:

I have never heard of Princess closing, reserving, a dining room at supper for a private group.

Many other venues have been used.   And sometimes closed off to other paying passengers.

 

That's exactly how it has worked in the past with this group although on other lines - Some go to the buffet others specialty dining but majority are in one dining room with some non- group passengers mixed in (1st seating- when set dining was more standard) with private show in theatre after.  Other venues attempted to be closed off as group pays extra for certain entertainment. 

[Wishing on a star]

I imagine that it might be a bit different this time, as there are no longer any set traditional dining times.

 

If your TA is not one of the travel agents working with this group, then of course, they would have no inside information.   If you have not, I would see if I could contact the person from this group who is in charge of making arrangements.  It could be possible that they are not going to be ready to give out any scheduling until it comes time to travel, or even embarkation.  It would be good, at the very least, if this group could put the info out there that there will be entertainment/events at particular times.   I wouldn't try to second guess.  

 

Is this group specifically suggesting that there will be planned dining in the evening?

 

Another factor is Princess and how they are handling this kind of thing.  I believe the current policy is that those booked on a cruise are able to choose their dining based on loyalty status, with everyone being able to book upon final payment.  Princess might be waiting until some date, after final payment, to look at the situation with dining and decide if they can do anything at that point to accommodate such a large group. 

 

I have heard of people being 'bumped'.   But, I can tell you that there would be a lot of unhappy passengers if all of the sudden they didn't have the dining times they planned on and had reserved weeks and months ago.

 

 

 

[VibeGuy]

Princess has shown complete willingness to consider DMW reservations to be a suggestion.  They’ve closed dining rooms and shifted or deleted reservations with all the care of a toddler with a pair of scissors. 

[Tonsoffun44]

2 hours ago, Wishing on a star said:

I imagine that it might be a bit different this time, as there are no longer any set traditional dining times. Could be different - we'll see 

 

If your TA is not one of the travel agents working with this group, then of course, they would have no inside information.   If you have not, I would see if I could contact the person from this group who is in charge of making arrangements.  It could be possible that they are not going to be ready to give out any scheduling until it comes time to travel, or even embarkation.  TA IS the one working with the group. 

 

Is this group specifically suggesting that there will be planned dining in the evening? YES and those that booked by a certain date "already passed" get 1 specialty dining which we pick when/where. 

 

I have heard of people being 'bumped'.   But, I can tell you that there would be a lot of unhappy passengers if all of the sudden they didn't have the dining times they planned on and had reserved weeks and months ago. Happens Every Cruise we've done with the group. 

 

 

 

 

[Wishing on a star]

Could be....  No personal offense, but count me in with those who would prefer to avoid this sailing!

 

To go back to your question, I would just make a guess that most passengers prefer the two dining rooms that are off the Piazza.  I would think that these would be the most fully reserved.   It would seem that if Princess did want to open up group space in one of the dining rooms for a large group, the first thought would be to take that group and put them in the on lower Aft dining room.   As one other person mentioned.

 

[reedprincess]

7 hours ago, Tonsoffun44 said:

Polka group is before us - they get off and our Irish Group gets on 29th.  Asked here because TA handling things hadn't called us back all we were told was "it's being worked on". 

That's because, it is being worked on. Final info won't be ready yet as they're still taking bookings for the cruise itself sans the charter group itself, and the charter group is still taking bookings.  There won't be a final answer until much closer to sailing.  

If the entire group is scheduled to dine together at a specific time, it'll almost certainly be Allegro, aft ..

However, I strongly doubt that'll be the case with such a large group on a line that doesn't do traditional dining anyways... 

 

[Arizona Wildcat]

I was part of a group of 550 on Princess some years ago.  The room block had rooms for our group mostly together.  For dinner people selected there own time to dine except the final night.  MDR was booked for our group at 7pm.  We also had areas set up for group seminars during sea days and a 4pm cocktail party in a dining room on boarding day.

Except for the antique car they hoisted on board and the final night dinner you never would have known we were on board.

[Tonsoffun44]

6 hours ago, Wishing on a star said:

Could be....  No personal offense, but count me in with those who would prefer to avoid this sailing

 

None taken.  I'd try and avoid such sailings too if I weren't part of the group - sailing before us Polka group. For Me that's a NO THANKS!!!  A few years ago on MSC we had our group + a slightly smaller group + non-group passengers. Many of which were TICKED Off. Didn't blame them at all - should be told of such groups being onboard especially if they could/probably will change the activities schedule.  One reason I love this site - find out about such things. 

Personally didn't expect this question to get so many replies. Thought it would be 2-3 just saying which venue was biggest or as some said call the TA. Personally find posting questions here to be faster and sometimes more accurate then asking TA or even the Cruise customer service people. Customer service told me things I know are false even before stepping foot on our first princess cruise. 

[cr8tiv1]

32 minutes ago, Tonsoffun44 said:

None taken.  I'd try and avoid such sailings too if I weren't part of the group - sailing before us Polka group. For Me that's a NO THANKS!!!  A few years ago on MSC we had our group + a slightly smaller group + non-group passengers. Many of which were TICKED Off. Didn't blame them at all - should be told of such groups being onboard especially if they could/probably will change the activities schedule.  One reason I love this site - find out about such things. 

Personally didn't expect this question to get so many replies. Thought it would be 2-3 just saying which venue was biggest or as some said call the TA. Personally find posting questions here to be faster and sometimes more accurate then asking TA or even the Cruise customer service people. Customer service told me things I know are false even before stepping foot on our first princess cruise. 

 

Please return after your cruise to give us the low-down on dining arrangements.  Thank you for returning to acknowledge everyone's posts.

 

Have a fun time.

[Tonsoffun44]

On 11/17/2022 at 2:04 AM, cr8tiv1 said:

 

Please return after your cruise to give us the low-down on dining arrangements.  Thank you for returning to acknowledge everyone's posts.

 

Have a fun time.

Won't be until Feb but will do - Not into internet while on vacation unless it's an emergency issue so won't be a "LIVE FROM" coming from us.  

[Tonsoffun44]

OP Here - Split up the large group between Symphony/Allegro- so some non-group could also get in. Had our seating at 5pm.  First time on Princess and must say -Slowest service we've ever had on a ship. Seemed like the kitchen couldn't keep up with that many at once that early. 

[Mary loves to travel]

The dining rooms aren’t normally that full with everyone arriving at once.   
 

Yet another reminder to avoid group cruises unless one is part of the group 😉

[suekel]

I was on this cruise last week.  The group was unnoticable except at dining.  They closed the Symphony and Allegro Dining rooms until 7:45 which made trying to dine earlier in the Concerto a nightmare.  People were really really unhappy.  I complained on board (no response) and also in my survey.  The group was 900 people.  After 2 nights of long lines and extremely slow service, we ended up going to the Symphony dining room around 8.  The waiters were better and the dining room was quiet.  If you wanted to go to a show, you were out of luck unless you had a 5:00 reservation in Concerto and got in line by 4:30.  And that's if you were lucky.