"Reserved production show seating" - how did it work out?

[Shawn5]

So with our "Princess Premier" package that we purchased for our upcoming Alaska cruise on the Discovery Princess, we're supposed to get "reserved production show seating." I'm curious as to how this works. Do you need to make a reservation beforehand? Or do you just show up at the theater and they escort you to specific seats? And can you show up after the show starts (maybe because dinner took too long) and sit right down? And where exactly are these "reserved" seats - near the front or way up top?

[Steelers36]

@Shawn5, not sure if you have seen any of the threads discussing Premier inclusions or from some recent live cruise trip reports.  I have taken three things from some recent posts:

 

1. Seating in a theater is a personal thing and some folks will end up thinking another location is better.

 

2. At least a number of times, that section is not filled by the "times up".  May well depend on what the show is that night.  I also think the early shows have higher attendance in general.

 

3. The section will be opened up to anyone before curtain time and I believe I have read mention about 10 minutes prior.  Of course, this may not be consistent across all ships all the time, but definitely those seats are not held for the entire show.

 

[cr8tiv1]

I was recently on the Diamond Princess out of Japan.  The first show was never full.  There were 2 "attendants" standing off to the side.  They removed the covers a few minutes before curtain time.  Absolutely no one showed up while the blue covers were on.  When they were removed, a handful of passengers sat in those seats.

 

It could be that there were fewer Premier packages sold.

It could be that it was a port intensive cruise.

It could be that there were about half new cruisers.

It could have been just the location of the seats.

It could have been that this was a late crowd (I didn't check out 9 PM show).

 

The Princess Theater was never full for any of the earlier shows.

 

Photo was taken around 6:55 for a 7 PM show.

 

It could very well be different on an Alaskan Cruise.  The Diamond was sailing at about 85% capacity.

 

 

 

Edited April 11, 2023 by cr8tiv1

[Caribensun]

Recently on Royal and was early every night and a Cruise Staff member was in the lower section of theatre and every night even right up to show time said wasn’t any reserved seating for Premier, went to Guest Services, no help.  I did put it in my review, why offer it and have us pay for it if not available.

on another note with Premier, I did order just Gelato scoops as didn’t want the over the top sugar specialty deserts and not sure if charged for the Gelato or not at Gelatos.  Personally I did not feel like Premier Package was worth it.  I did dine at the Specialty restaurants and the 2 exercise classes in the Plus Package would be enough as many exercise classes were held during dining hours.  I would rather just pay for Specialty Dining and Exercise classes separately and I don’t enough drink enough for the Plus package.  I didn’t get photos either, photos on the Premier package weren’t working, if you wanted your photo you had to stand for hours going through every photo taken on the ship on the last day.  

[caribill]

1 hour ago, Caribensun said:

Recently on Royal and was early every night and a Cruise Staff member was in the lower section of theatre and every night even right up to show time said wasn’t any reserved seating for Premier, went to Guest Services, no help.

 

Since the reserved area is only for production shows, most nights I would not expect any reserved seating.

 

If not available on the production show evenings, then Princess sold something they could not deliver.

[SKCruiser007]

Recently on Caribbean Princess, there was a section of reserved seats like in the photos from Diamond Princess, above. The seats were held until about five minutes before the show when they were filled with the standing room only folks. 

[Jeter02]

I was recently on the Regal Princess, and compared to my other recent sailings of the Enchanted and Sky, the Regal did not have any of those blue reserved seat covers. That did not exist at all for any of the production or regular guest entertainer shows in the theater. 

 

The sky and Enchanted only had a select few those reserved seat coverings and when I say a select few I mean like a handful only. I'm pretty sure those who did sit in those seats were not even people with the premier package. 

 

You got to keep in mind there's no one inside the theater who is monitoring this anyhow.

[Honolulu Blue]

I'm on the Ruby RIGHT NOW. I went to a show last night. It wasn't a regular production show; I don't think we'll have any of them on this cruise. I didn't see any reserved seats. I'll update if I find them with later shows.

[PacnGoNow]

4 hours ago, Caribensun said:

 I didn’t get photos either, photos on the Premier package weren’t working, if you wanted your photo you had to stand for hours going through every photo taken on the ship on the last day.  

You should be able to see your photos taken on your phone and the TV.  I used the App on my iphone to see them and then went down to the photo dept to puck them up.

[sirclean]

I was on the Ruby last month. The reserved seats were in the lower section, closest to the stage. It was 3 rows worth.  Blue bags on the back of the seats.  Those people seemed to be able to get their seats, and about 5 minutes prior to the show it quickly filled up with gaggles of families with kids (as it was Spring Break). 

[Honolulu Blue]

1 hour ago, sirclean said:

I was on the Ruby last month. The reserved seats were in the lower section, closest to the stage. It was 3 rows worth.  Blue bags on the back of the seats.  Those people seemed to be able to get their seats, and about 5 minutes prior to the show it quickly filled up with gaggles of families with kids (as it was Spring Break). 

Thanks for the heads up. I'm surprised the only held 3 rows worth. In that theater, that's not a whole lot of seats.

 

 

I'm not surprised about the families, as we have quite a few of them on here - even now.

[sirclean]

While 3 rows may not have been a lot of seats, it was more than sufficient!  There were a lot of empty seats until they moved the blue seat covers!  (Then the mad dash started with the Large Family Crowds.)

 

Im not sure that Plus is worth the expense, and the Premium is not for me, so Im glad that they only had 3 rows reserved, especially when even 3 rows was not filling up. Im glad that they are not removing more seats from the rest of us.  (I also complained when they introduced Club Class eating... it was crowded enough in the MDR before they removed that capacity, which often sat empty while lines formed for those of us in Cattle Class.)

[coo359a2]

When we were on the Regal Princess last month, there was an Officer with a tablet (maybe iPad) standing by the reserved seats in the main theater when there was a production show.  The Officer with his tablet was also in the Vista Lounge  at the front row seats when we had a comedian that they knew would have a standing room only show.

[Guest ldtr]

14 hours ago, Caribensun said:

Recently on Royal and was early every night and a Cruise Staff member was in the lower section of theatre and every night even right up to show time said wasn’t any reserved seating for Premier, went to Guest Services, no help.  I did put it in my review, why offer it and have us pay for it if not available.

on another note with Premier, I did order just Gelato scoops as didn’t want the over the top sugar specialty deserts and not sure if charged for the Gelato or not at Gelatos.  Personally I did not feel like Premier Package was worth it.  I did dine at the Specialty restaurants and the 2 exercise classes in the Plus Package would be enough as many exercise classes were held during dining hours.  I would rather just pay for Specialty Dining and Exercise classes separately and I don’t enough drink enough for the Plus package.  I didn’t get photos either, photos on the Premier package weren’t working, if you wanted your photo you had to stand for hours going through every photo taken on the ship on the last day.  

From what I recall the reserved seating is only for production shows, not all shows in the theater.

[jwattle]

On 4/11/2023 at 9:13 AM, sirclean said:

While 3 rows may not have been a lot of seats, it was more than sufficient!  There were a lot of empty seats until they moved the blue seat covers!  (Then the mad dash started with the Large Family Crowds.)

 

Im not sure that Plus is worth the expense, and the Premium is not for me, so Im glad that they only had 3 rows reserved, especially when even 3 rows was not filling up. Im glad that they are not removing more seats from the rest of us.  (I also complained when they introduced Club Class eating... it was crowded enough in the MDR before they removed that capacity, which often sat empty while lines formed for those of us in Cattle Class.)

Not sure what time you eat or which ships, but in Club Class it's always been full or close to it while we're eating there.

[MissP22]

23 hours ago, coo359a2 said:

The Officer with his tablet was also in the Vista Lounge  at the front row seats when we had a comedian that they knew would have a standing room only show.

So you're saying that there now reserving seats for all performances in both the Visa and main theater? 

[coo359a2]

No, I said it was for one comedian show that they were expecting a standing room only show. It was the same Officer with his tablet  standing up front by the first row that was also standing in the Theater by the reserved seats. Never saw any Officer at any other show in the Vista Lounge.   Sorry if I wasn’t clearer in stating that it was only for one show. 

[MissP22]

11 hours ago, coo359a2 said:

No, I said it was for one comedian show that they were expecting a standing room only show. It was the same Officer with his tablet  standing up front by the first row that was also standing in the Theater by the reserved seats. Never saw any Officer at any other show in the Vista Lounge.   Sorry if I wasn’t clearer in stating that it was only for one show. 

Thanks.

I was getting concerned since the Vista lounge doesn't have that many seats to begin with and reserving many of them would almost close it off to just about everyone.  

[PMGS247]

Fresh off the Discovery.  I did notice a small amount of the blue covers but it was a VERY small amount and not necessarily in any particularly desirable location. 

 

The only specific location I remember was the very last/top row of seats on the sides.  I suppose those are desirable in the sense that no one's behind you (other than the few handicapped seats) and it's an easy exit, but if you're envisioning them blocking some sort of dead center/scientifically perfect combination of distance/elevation and/or prime front row seats, that's not the case.

 

Seems a pretty thin window between when comparable seating is readily available and when the covers lift and it's no longer reserved.  Doesn't seem a huge benefit.

 

I've had the same benefit on Royal under The Key program.  I feel like it was a little more noticeable there just because more of the shows were a "hot ticket" and the reserved seating was more clearly the most desirable seats in addition to being held until just before show time in a venue that fills up much faster.

[Cruise4Jesus]

Just got off the Ruby and these were 2 rows blocked off on the rear of the bottom section. Personally I would not choose the particular location on my own. We didn't believe they were a good location at all, but everyone has their own preferences. Covers were taken off about 5 minutes prior to show time.

[Honolulu Blue]

50 minutes ago, Cruise4Jesus said:

Just got off the Ruby and these were 2 rows blocked off on the rear of the bottom section. Personally I would not choose the particular location on my own. We didn't believe they were a good location at all, but everyone has their own preferences. Covers were taken off about 5 minutes prior to show time.

I'm also just off the Ruby and I never saw any rows blocked off. Then again, I would have either been on top of them or in front of them. It would have been easy for me to miss.