New to Princess - Dining/Cabin Questions

[Mark O]

My wife and I are frequent cruisers but new to Princess.  We're planning on booking the Sun Princess 10-Day Grand Western Mediterranean in March.  We've pretty much decided to take the Princess Premier pricing option as it seems to be a good value.  I realize that the Sun Princess is a new ship, but I'd appreciate if the experienced Princess cruisers can help answer a few questions:

 

Should we expect to arrive at the main dining room and be seated? 

 

Will we need reservations for the main dining room?  When can reservations be made?

 

If we have reservations for the main dining room, would we expect to arrive and be seated or would there likely be a wait?  If a wait, what is typical?

 

When can we make reservations for specialty restaurants?  Is there typically a wait for a table?

 

We're thinking of booking a Deluxe Balcony, maybe stateroom 11403.  We prefer to be nowhere near a smoking section.  Does this look like a good choice?

 

Any other tips are much appreciated.

 

Thanks so much.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[LACruiser88]

Below are links to a couple of recent threads that are on topic...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 2, 2023 by LACruiser88

[walkingsoon]

"Should we expect to arrive at the main dining room and be seated? "

 

Generally the host/hostess greets you at the door and sends you off with one of the waiters to guide you to your table. Later on in the cruise, if you have a static reservation time and have arranged with the headwaiter for a specific table, you can saunter in to 'your' table on your own.

 

"Will we need reservations for the main dining room?  When can reservations be made?"

 

No. You don't need to make reservations. According to their "Dine My Way" program, you can make reservations or you can simply show up without a reservation. If you choose to go without a reservation, you'll probably have to go to a specific dining room and there might be separate lines for those with and those without. That's how they've been doing it on the other smaller ships anyway. You should be able to make reservations using their phone app (good luck with that) as soon as you pay. Once onboard you can use your stateroom TV or a public monitor to make or change reservations.

 

"If we have reservations for the main dining room, would we expect to arrive and be seated or would there likely be a wait?  If a wait, what is typical?"

 

My recent experience on the last few cruises with a 5:40 reservation is that I've shown up, checked in with the hostess and been on my way to the table in a couple minutes, the slight delay allowing for them to scan my medallion. I've also observed while leaving at 6:45 to 7:00 there is often a crowded lobby with fair sized lines clamoring to get in, though even the bad looking lines are probably less than ten minutes. What's unknown at this point is how well organized the Sun's new crew will be. Sometimes new ships take a while to get their act together. Also, the biggest problems I've encountered have been on the biggest ships. This one is huge. The old Sun was wonderful and their traditional dining was great. This Sun has over two and half times the number of passengers. Fwiw, the wait times I've seen on Princess are pretty similar to those on NCL.

 

"When can we make reservations for specialty restaurants?  Is there typically a wait for a table?"

 

Same as for the MDR.

 

"We're thinking of booking a Deluxe Balcony, maybe stateroom 11403.  We prefer to be nowhere near a smoking section.  Does this look like a good choice?" 

 

That looks like a fine, fine choice! It's a couple of decks up from the ?promenade? deck and thus probably away from wherever they're going to put their smoking area. The Princess Deluxe balcony rooms are a reasonable value as a compromise between regular balconies and mini suites and that one looks like it might have a nice balcony. Hard to say though from the Princess website and cruisedeckplans.com understandably doesn't have photos yet.

 

Enjoy your cruise,

 

walkingsoon

 

 

 

 

[Mark O]

Thanks, walkingsoon, for the comprehensive reply. We haven't cruised since the pandemic, and everything we've read about quality and service on some of the other lines has been worrisome, so we are looking forward to experiencing Princess's new ship.  

[skynight]

MDRs are open for breakfast and dinner each day and lunch on sea days. Breakfast and lunch are walk in, no reservations.  You can make evening dining reservations in the dining section of the Princess App. Become familiar with the app. You can make the reservations once you have paid for the cruise. There is also a web version of the app on the Princess web site. You can also make specialty dining reservations in the app. Believe these can be made anytime after you book the cruise. Specialty dining reservations made pre-cruise require payment at the time of the reservation. If you book a Reserve Class mini suite or a full suite then you are entitled to a special dining area with upgraded service. Reserve Class dining is walk in at any time with prompt seating. The Sun's MDRs are on decks 6,7 & 8 aft. No one has been on board, and thus no experience with this new DR set up.