MDR Dining lines

[MissP22]

9 minutes ago, SargassoPirate said:

Do you eat with the Seinfeld's? 😂

Yep, at Del Boca Vista. Dinner at 5PM. Late snack at 7.

[satxdiver]

PCL should bring back TD in at least one MDR for those that want it.  Now that we are sexy senior citizens it would be a blessing.  We used MTD when it first came out but in recent years we have gone back to an approximation to TD and would like it reinstituted.  

[Steelers36]

4 hours ago, antsp said:

Why doesn't Princess bring back traditional dining like so many passengers want

There is no need to do so because a guest can (for the most part) get the TD experience by requesting it of DR Mgr's.  IMO, it is even better since you can have some flexibility on the start time which wasn't always possible before.  I realize I have read posts where the CC member failed to get what they wanted, but the majority I read do get that same table and same waiters and that is 95% of TD.

 

The one thing that is almost impossible is to get a large sharing table with the same guests every night.  If you want that, you pretty much need to assemble your own group - either ahead of time, or on first night.  Even so, many folks who did sharing before DMW, would report other guests at the table wouldn't show up, or came late, etc, which also spoiled the experience.  There are also folks who like to share and prefer that the guests do change as they may not be happy stuck with same group every night.

[Steelers36]

2 hours ago, satxdiver said:

PCL should bring back TD in at least one MDR for those that want it.  Now that we are sexy senior citizens it would be a blessing.  We used MTD when it first came out but in recent years we have gone back to an approximation to TD and would like it reinstituted.  

Hear you, but check my post #28.  I have been quite happy with what we got last Fall on two different ships.  For our foursome (two couples), it was just like pre-DMW.

Edited November 5, 2023 by Steelers36

[Jimmys Chippy]

We had 7:30pm reservations every night for the MDR on Sky back in July, there was a lengthy queue every time we showed up so after four nights we decided just to turn up at 8:00pm as a walk up, got straight in every time. I know we selected a peak time for dining but if you can’t seat people at the time they requested there really is no point in offering the Dine Your Way option.

[ldubs]

21 hours ago, EricJ said:

The lines were bad today on Emerald with both passengers and crew getting short tempered. E.g., 5:40 reservation seated at 6:15. Crew blamed passengers for all coming at once and blamed corporate giving out reservations. It seemed to not matter at all whether you had a reservation. Both lines led to the same person, who served both lines equally. They kept yelling "Only sharing tables."  They didn't care what you had reserved. Other cruise lines manage the main dining room much better.

 

Yikes, that is no good.   We just got off Crown.  The were lines for our 7 PM time slot, but never a very long wait, maybe 10 minutes at the longest.  The reservation line received obvious priority.  What I found interesting was there were always a lot of empty tables.  I didn't count, but it was a pretty healthy percentage of the total. 

[ldubs]

10 hours ago, antsp said:

Why doesn't Princess bring back traditional dining like so many passengers want

 

Or, even better, the choice between traditional and anytime seating. 

[Hlitner]

On 11/3/2023 at 3:29 PM, Dive Girl said:

Our reservations were between 6 and 630pm. It was a horrible experience. 

There are times when folks need to make "adjustments" to their own schedules if they want to avoid queues.  On some cruises (especially with many from North America) where there is a big MDR demand around the opening time (usually 5:30). So, if you show-up at 6-6:30, the MDRs can be near capacity due to all the early diners.  You either need to go around opening time, or wait to around 7-7:30 when some of the initial diners finish.   I also wonder if you were waiting for a 2 top (dine alone).  When we are on Princess we always mention the hosts (at the desk) that we are happy to share larger tables.  We seldom have more than a 5 minute wait....with or without reservations.

 

Hank