Swapping to fixed dining Britannia

[Presto2]

Going by our own experience in May and having read a number of reviews since we are beginning we to wonder if we should swap to fixed dining for our cruise in January. If we are unable to book speciality restaurants (we arrive day 2 and probably won't be able to book before) I don't want to spend 2 weeks stressed out or eating in the buffet.

 

We have never done fixed dining before, but are happy to give anything a go. We like to eat late anyway, so are thinking the late sitting. 

 

Just wondering what the chances are of a table for two in the fixed dining restaurant and if anyone else has chosen this option.

 

Thanks

[Selbourne]

I must confess that if we could 100% guarantee a table for 2 we would swap our future bookings to 2nd sitting fixed dining. It would remove a lot of hassle. It’s the fact that whilst it’s likely it’s never guaranteed that deters us.  

[david63]

First off - are you on select fare? If not then you will have to take what is offered and try and change it.

 

The good news is that normally second sitting is the least popular option so you probably would not have a problem getting on that sitting, however a table for two is another matter. Last time I was on Britannia there were not a lot of tables for two - in fact our table for two was a table for four but with just the two of us on it.

[Selbourne]

16 minutes ago, david63 said:

 in fact our table for two was a table for four but with just the two of us on it.

Those are the tables that we like 👍 

[Presto2]

Thanks both. This may be our best option to be honest. We are select fare. 

 

[david63]

1 hour ago, Presto2 said:

Thanks both. This may be our best option to be honest. We are select fare. 

 

Then I think that you can change it in your Cruise Personaliser

[Presto2]

Just now, david63 said:

Then I think that you can change it in your Cruise Personaliser

Thanks will have a think and a look. 

🙂

[terrierjohn]

2 hours ago, Selbourne said:

I must confess that if we could 100% guarantee a table for 2 we would swap our future bookings to 2nd sitting fixed dining. It would remove a lot of hassle. It’s the fact that whilst it’s likely it’s never guaranteed that deters us.  

You could switch to Princess, just turning up at the dining room when you want, and ignoring any pre bookings, you will 99% be taken to a table for 2. We like sharing tables but are having to almost demand they open a shared table for us if we want to share.

[9265359]

3 hours ago, Presto2 said:

Just wondering what the chances are of a table for two in the fixed dining restaurant and if anyone else has chosen this option.

On Britannia at the moment and we were allocated a shared table for eight on second sitting and asked for a table for two, and it was sorted after the first night.

 

If you asked for a table for two on early sitting then you are exceedingly  unlikely to get one due to the popularity of that sitting with the older crowd.

 

But amusingly last night the two tables for eight and the table for six which were next to ours only had one couple on each (they self-amalgamated to one table), as well as a table for four being empty and two tables for two (both of which have only been occupied a couple of times each in the last 12 days).

 

Edited July 19, 2023 by 9265359

[Presto2]

1 minute ago, 9265359 said:

On Britannia at the moment and we were allocated a shared table for eight on second sitting and asked for a table for two, and it was sorted after the first night.

 

But amusingly last night the two tables for eight and the table for six which were next to ours only had one couple on each (they self-amalgamated to one table), as well as a table for four being empty and two tables for two (both of which have only been occupied a couple of times each in the last 12 days).

I'd be worried if we were the only couple left out of 8 of us ---- would get paranoid ?!

[9265359]

32 minutes ago, Presto2 said:

I'd be worried if we were the only couple left out of 8 of us ---- would get paranoid ?!

Yesterday was just the extreme - most other nights there have only been two couples on one of the eights, two couples on the six, and three people on the other eight.

 

The two waiters allocated to those three tables have resorted to polishing the light fittings to occupy themselves as they have so little to do.

[Selbourne]

1 hour ago, terrierjohn said:

You could switch to Princess, just turning up at the dining room when you want, and ignoring any pre bookings, you will 99% be taken to a table for 2. We like sharing tables but are having to almost demand they open a shared table for us if we want to share.

We have a couple of 14 nighters booked next year on Cunard. We like their Club concept, where you have an allocated table which is for your exclusive use for breakfast, lunch and dinner. You can turn up whenever you like within the opening hours for each dining session. No

app. No pager. No queue. No playing the system to get in a queue at a time that you think might result in you eating at roughly the time that you want. No hassle. 
 

As I’ve said elsewhere, the P&O app (at least on Britannia this past 2 weeks) has been fine for those who prefer to dine earlier, whether that be lunch or dinner. For those of us who prefer to dine later, lunches have been fine on port days with less people on the ship but have been tricky on sea days. We’ve not used the MDR much in the evenings other than formal nights, the first two of which were problematic but the second two far less so. We’ve only dined in the MDR on one casual night and that was no problem. 
 

It’s not been a show stopper and most importantly the MDR food has been very good, so we haven’t been put off P&O as we feared we might, but I would probably advise people to go Club dining now to at least remove the hassle in the evening, especially if 2nd sitting suits. 

[Josy1953]

Am I misunderstanding something, if we have booked fixed dining early sitting we are unlikely to get a table for 2 even though that is what we have requested ?

[9265359]

8 minutes ago, Josy1953 said:

Am I misunderstanding something, if we have booked fixed dining early sitting we are unlikely to get a table for 2 even though that is what we have requested ?

Early dining is more popular than late.

 

Tables for two are more popular than sharing tables.

 

There is a limited number of tables for two compared to the number of seats for sharing tables.

 

All that combines to mean that someone who has requested a table for two on early dining will be disappointed.

 

Will that be you? Who knows. I know that other cruise companies have specific rules about table allocations, for example allocating by how early you book, but for P&O - sorry, no idea.

[TigerB]

11 minutes ago, Josy1953 said:

Am I misunderstanding something, if we have booked fixed dining early sitting we are unlikely to get a table for 2 even though that is what we have requested ?

 

That's the gist of it, as I understand it. 

We do not like sharing tables and prefer to eat early, but are put off from fixed dining because we could not guarantee being placed on a table for two.

[Presto2]

If you go for fixed dining (is that Club Dining on P&O?) can you swap to freedom dining if they don't give you a table for 2? 

(I think I already know the answer to this one)

[TigerB]

1 minute ago, Presto2 said:

If you go for fixed dining (is that Club Dining on P&O?) can you swap to freedom dining if they don't give you a table for 2? 

(I think I already know the answer to this one)

 

Like you, I expect the answer is a big fat no. That said, what can they do if you vote with your feet and thereafter try and get a table in the freedom dining MDR as a walk-in or using the app? Do you think they would have someone there at the desk barring you entry, or put a block on you using the app to make a reservation? 🤔

[Presto2]

3 minutes ago, TigerB said:

 

Like you, I expect the answer is a big fat no. That said, what can they do if you vote with your feet and thereafter try and get a table in the freedom dining MDR as a walk-in or using the app? Do you think they would have someone there at the desk barring you entry, or put a block on you using the app to make a reservation? 🤔

They do take your cabin number and will know who is classed a FD and who is fixed dining I imagine?

[Selbourne]

38 minutes ago, Josy1953 said:

Am I misunderstanding something, if we have booked fixed dining early sitting we are unlikely to get a table for 2 even though that is what we have requested ?

Hopefully you will be fine, and I think most people are, but table size with fixed dining is always a preference and never guaranteed 

[Presto2]

5 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

Hopefully you will be fine, and I think most people are, but table size with fixed dining is always a preference and never guaranteed 

Just read your comment re Club dining on Cunard. That really interests us and have wandered over to the Cunard website for a look. Looks lovely. Something to look at for the future. Thank you 🙂

[Selbourne]

19 minutes ago, Presto2 said:

If you go for fixed dining (is that Club Dining on P&O?) can you swap to freedom dining if they don't give you a table for 2? 

(I think I already know the answer to this one)

If they can I think the answer would be yes, but we have been on cruises where there are signs outside the freedom dining restaurants on the first few nights saying that Freedom is full and they cannot accommodate requests to change. I’m sure that if someone was to complain though, they would let you swap.
 

This is our dilemma. We love the flexibility of freedom (well, the flexibility that it used to have) but we have to have a table for 2 nowadays. We would book 2nd sitting fixed now if we could 100% guarantee a table for 2, but we can’t. This is the biggest reason that we are now trying Cunard, as we can have fully flexible dining with none of the worry before the cruise or hassle during it. 

[9265359]

40 minutes ago, Presto2 said:

If you go for fixed dining (is that Club Dining on P&O?) can you swap to freedom dining if they don't give you a table for 2? 

(I think I already know the answer to this one)

On cruises I have done in the past the answer was a ‘no’ because Freedom was full - it had been chosen by the ‘Select’ passengers and the ‘Saver’ passengers had been allocated fixed. 

 

35 minutes ago, TigerB said:

 

Like you, I expect the answer is a big fat no. That said, what can they do if you vote with your feet and thereafter try and get a table in the freedom dining MDR as a walk-in or using the app? Do you think they would have someone there at the desk barring you entry, or put a block on you using the app to make a reservation? 🤔

If you are on fixed dining then the queue for the Freedom restaurants does not appear in the app in the evening, and I am sure if you walked up and gave your cabin number they would know. 
 

Would they turn you away - maybe not if it was a one-off and they were not busy, but I can’t see them tolerating it every night - and particularly if you wanted a coveted table for two. 

[david63]

1 hour ago, Josy1953 said:

Am I misunderstanding something, if we have booked fixed dining early sitting we are unlikely to get a table for 2 even though that is what we have requested ?

It depends. I believe that the earlier you book the more likely it is that you would get a table for two and I also believe that suite passengers get priority - but I could be wrong on both counts.

[Selbourne]

Relevant to this thread and @Presto2 concerns, but here’s a sneak preview of a paragraph from my ‘Live on Britannia’ thread that I have still got to finalise for today;

 

“Whilst we have managed to get into all the speciality restaurants that we wanted to (thanks to early boarding) one thing that we have noticed is that even though every restaurant has been sold out, and some passengers will have been unable to make bookings, we have noticed at least one table of officers dining in every one of them during every visit. This surely cannot be right? Call me old fashioned, but customers should always come first. If a restaurant is sold out then surely the staff should be bumped to make way for more passengers?”

[Presto2]

22 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

Relevant to this thread and @Presto2 concerns, but here’s a sneak preview of a paragraph from my ‘Live on Britannia’ thread that I have still got to finalise for today;

 

“Whilst we have managed to get into all the speciality restaurants that we wanted to (thanks to early boarding) one thing that we have noticed is that even though every restaurant has been sold out, and some passengers will have been unable to make bookings, we have noticed at least one table of officers dining in every one of them during every visit. This surely cannot be right? Call me old fashioned, but customers should always come first. If a restaurant is sold out then surely the staff should be bumped to make way for more passengers?”

That's where they go then -- in May, other than the first welcome night, we didn't see an officer anywhere .... If our beloved Capt Willard is at HQ I hope he sees this as this was not his style at all. We saw him so many times we had to apologise in case he thought we were stalking him. And he went to eat with the crew ............