Dining Speeds In The Specialty Restaurants on Sky Princess

[Sea Green]

Hello,

 

When should we book the Crown Grill and Sabatinis on Sky Princess in order to also make the 09:30 theatre show without rushing? Is the service there fast or slow?  

 

We are Princess Premium so I have read something about reserved theatre seats too.  

[Cruise Raider]

Sabatini’s does tend to be quicker than the Crown Grill and two people at a table are quicker than having 4 or more.  
They reserve seats in the theater for up to 15 minutes right before the production shows only and then they are released.  
 

so, I’d make a reservation for 6:30 PM and no later than 6:50 PM to have a nice dinner and still get seats at the 9:30 show for the Crown Grill.  You’d probably get away with a 7:00 PM dinner at Sabatini’s. 
 

[UKWildcatCruiser]

My experience was Crown Grill was faster than Sabatini's but I'm sure it just depends on the time and how busy the dining room is at the time.  I would allow 2 and 1/2 hours for all dinners on Sky (which is way too long in my opinion).

[lx200gps]

35 minutes ago, Cruise Raider said:

Sabatini’s does tend to be quicker than the Crown Grill and two people at a table are quicker than having 4 or more.  
They reserve seats in the theater for up to 15 minutes right before the production shows only and then they are released.  
 

so, I’d make a reservation for 6:30 PM and no later than 6:50 PM to have a nice dinner and still get seats at the 9:30 show for the Crown Grill.  You’d probably get away with a 7:00 PM dinner at Sabatini’s. 
 

We were on the Sky in November, and again a few weeks ago and we ate in Sabatini's, four times in those two weeks. Service in Sabatini's was VERY slow each time, to the point where one night we missed the early theater show, despite sitting down at 5:30. On one of those meals, we didn't even see the waiter until we'd been seated for half an hour.  We also ate in the CG four times and service speed was pretty much pre-pandemic normal, as was service in the Bistro. Food quality in the Bistro was top notch, Sabatini's and CG was hit and miss.

[lx200gps]

27 minutes ago, lx200gps said:

We were on the Sky in November, and again a few weeks ago and we ate in Sabatini's, four times in those two weeks. Service in Sabatini's was VERY slow each time, to the point where one night we missed the early theater show, despite sitting down at 5:30. On one of those meals, we didn't even see the waiter until we'd been seated for half an hour.  We also ate in the CG four times and service speed was pretty much pre-pandemic normal, as was service in the Bistro. Food quality in the Bistro was top notch, Sabatini's and CG was hit and miss.

Further to my comment above, I should point out that we never made it clear to them that we were on a schedule, such as having to meet a showtime. Had we done so, no doubt they would have expedited things.

[memoak]

1 hour ago, lx200gps said:

Further to my comment above, I should point out that we never made it clear to them that we were on a schedule, such as having to meet a showtime. Had we done so, no doubt they would have expedited things.

It will also depend on how many courses you order. For me an appetizer a pasta and dessert is plenty of food for me but some folks may want soup and salad and a main course as well

[wowzz]

2 hours ago, lx200gps said:

despite sitting down at 5:30.

Perhaps they didn't expect anyone to want to eat dinner in the afternoon !

[memoak]

2 hours ago, wowzz said:

Perhaps they didn't expect anyone to want to eat dinner in the afternoon !

There has always been a line to get into the MDR by 5 for years. Have no idea how people can eat that early. We don’t eat before 7:30 even at home

[Cruise Raider]

18 hours ago, memoak said:

There has always been a line to get into the MDR by 5 for years. Have no idea how people can eat that early. We don’t eat before 7:30 even at home

It’s funny you mention that as we were just talking about it earlier today.  
When we were first married and went on cruises, we’d pick the late seating.  On some cruises, that was 8:30 PM .. just perfect!  Then, anytime dining became the thing and we’d sometimes go to dinner after 9:00 PM, as they were just starting to close things down.  
Fast forward a couple of decades and we find ourselves eating earlier and earlier.  On cruises, we may go anywhere from 5:30 PM to 6:30 PM but if it were up to my DH, he’d want to eat at 5:00 PM every evening.  I compromise, he compromises and we are both happy.  
And, if we have a big or late lunch, we usually just skip dinner.  It’s actually healthier for us to not eat a large or late dinner.  

[memoak]

1 hour ago, Cruise Raider said:

It’s funny you mention that as we were just talking about it earlier today.  
When we were first married and went on cruises, we’d pick the late seating.  On some cruises, that was 8:30 PM .. just perfect!  Then, anytime dining became the thing and we’d sometimes go to dinner after 9:00 PM, as they were just starting to close things down.  
Fast forward a couple of decades and we find ourselves eating earlier and earlier.  On cruises, we may go anywhere from 5:30 PM to 6:30 PM but if it were up to my DH, he’d want to eat at 5:00 PM every evening.  I compromise, he compromises and we are both happy.  
And, if we have a big or late lunch, we usually just skip dinner.  It’s actually healthier for us to not eat a large or late dinner.  

We are late night casino players so 7:30 is our go to dinner time. Lunch for us is usually something small almost never a MDR thing

[wowzz]

We normally have to ask our servers to slow down. 

We like 15 to 20 minutes between courses.  Dinner is something to be savoured, not a scramble. 

[Cruise Raider]

Just now, wowzz said:

We normally have to ask our servers to slow down. 

We like 15 to 20 minutes between courses.  Dinner is something to be savoured, not a scramble. 

 We enjoy that as well.  Dinner is an experience … not just something to do because we are bored. 
There was one time on the Grand, though, when we were unsure if they even remembered that we were there.  The waiter took the bread and butter away .. ended up clearing the whole table.  I think he forgot we had only gotten our first course.  
He apologized profusely later on.  I don’t mind two or three hours for a nice meal … but we were two hours in and still hadn’t even get our soup or salad.  Sometimes, you get somebody new … we take the stance that everybody is allowed to make a mistake, though.  It was all made right when we returned a couple of days later.  

[wowzz]

5 minutes ago, Cruise Raider said:

 We enjoy that as well.  Dinner is an experience … not just something to do because we are bored. 
There was one time on the Grand, though, when we were unsure if they even remembered that we were there.  The waiter took the bread and butter away .. ended up clearing the whole table.  I think he forgot we had only gotten our first course.  
He apologized profusely later on.  I don’t mind two or three hours for a nice meal … but we were two hours in and still hadn’t even get our soup or salad.  Sometimes, you get somebody new … we take the stance that everybody is allowed to make a mistake, though.  It was all made right when we returned a couple of days later.  

Great attitude !

I hope you had some wine to see you through your "exile".

[Cruise Raider]

21 hours ago, wowzz said:

Great attitude !

I hope you had some wine to see you through your "exile".

 

You know we did!!  haha

[Sea Green]

Thanks all. Looks like its best to stick with our current 7:10 bookings then