4/13/24: Princess Rolls Out Fleetwide Dining Revolution

[Arizona Wildcat]

1 hour ago, terrierjohn said:

I wonder how Coral and Island will operate this system?

In the past other cruiselines had a section of a dining room that was for fixed dining and another for flexible times.

We likely will find out in June.

Princess is simply going back to a system they used some years ago.

I welcome traditional dining.

Edited April 14 by Arizona Wildcat

[richsea]

2 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

 It also states the following, 

........

"Now whether guests prefer an early seating every evening, or change things up every night, or even change their mind, these flexible dining options ensure that their dining preference is effortlessly accommodated.”

 

which reads as though you could switch your dining preference mid cruise.

That’s not the way I interpret it. 

[Host CJSKIDS]

Here is the latest update with some dates....

 

 

FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla., (April 13, 2024) – Princess Cruises today announced it is making a significant enhancement to the main dining options found across its fleet, designed to give guests the ultimate in flexibility and choice when it comes to their dining experience by offering three table service options – Traditional, Reservable, or Walk-in Anytime - coupled with the brand’s industry exclusive OceanNow location-based “anywhere” service.

With a dedication to personal preference and individualized service, Princess will designate separate dining rooms aboard every ship in the fleet* to the three table service options – one dedicated to traditional dining offering an early and a late seating every evening; one offering reservable dining times; and a third with open seating to support walk-ins anytime. The three table service options integrate with the line’s unparalleled OceanNow, which provides guests the convenience of ordering anything, anytime, and receiving it anywhere onboard, making Princess uniquely positioned to accommodate all guest dining preferences.

Making all dining formats available fleetwide follows the resounding success of this new approach already implemented aboard the new Sun Princess. With the stunning introduction of the new next level Love Boat came the debut of three-story dining room with one floor dedicated to traditional dining, another serving guests with a flexible reservation and a third for anytime walk-ins.

“Our guests have been delighted with the dining flexibility aboard Sun Princess and we’re pleased to extend the concept to all the other ships in our fleet,” said Sami Kohen, Princess Cruises vice president of food and beverage. “Now whether guests prefer an early seating every evening, or change things up every night, or even change their mind, these flexible dining options ensure that their dining preference is effortlessly accommodated.”

Starting on April 15, 2024, the new approach will launch on Princess voyages departing September 14, 2024 and beyond. To support these changes and the transition to the new system, main dining reservations that already have been made for voyages sailing September 14 and beyond for any ship except Sun Princess will be cancelled. Main dining reservations for guests sailing through September 13 will not be affected.

Starting June 17, booked guests will be able to use the app ahead of their voyage to opt for traditional seating in a dedicated dining room with the same waiter, same table and same time each night, or flexible dining, allowing them to enjoy dinner at any available time and table size of their choosing in either the Reservable or Open Seating dining rooms.

This change does not affect guests booked in specialty dining restaurants or suite or reserve collection accommodations, who enjoy a dedicated dining room on Princess ships, where no reservations are required.

 

 

[Coral]

14 minutes ago, Host CJSKIDS said:

 

“Our guests have been delighted with the dining flexibility aboard Sun Princess and we’re pleased to extend the concept to all the other ships in our fleet,” said Sami Kohen, Princess Cruises vice president of food and beverage. “Now whether guests prefer an early seating every evening, or change things up every night, or even change their mind, these flexible dining options ensure that their dining preference is effortlessly accommodated.”

 

Thanks for posting.

 

I sort of have to laugh as I have no doubt this was planned before the Sun Princess debuted. 

 

I remember when MUTS came out, on the first week or maybe even the first day, they announced due to the huge success - it will be implemented through out the fleet. I doubt they had enough data that week on stats.

 

Same with Sun Princess. Most of the reviews I have read have been negative though a lot has to do with a ship that was delayed and not all features available yet. I don't know what flexibility they have on the Sun Princess but I doubt passengers have had time to give it a full evaluation or deem that a change in dining across the fleet will be beneficial based on a new ship and an older fleet.

 

Though I have to admit - the current situation of dining does not work well.

 

 

Edited April 14 by Coral

[Torfamm]

2 hours ago, Arizona Wildcat said:

TDining is same time every night.  Don't want same time each night book the MDR with reservations.   Just want to show up then go to the 3rd dining room.

The question was what Princess means by saying you can “change your mind”

[JimmyVWine]

4 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

which reads as though you could switch your dining preference mid cruise.

I don’t read it like that. I read it as an “either/or”. You can elect a set time or elect flexibility. Once one chooses Traditional, switching back and forth is antithetical to that model. 

[Arizona Wildcat]

18 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

I don’t read it like that. I read it as an “either/or”. You can elect a set time or elect flexibility. Once one chooses Traditional, switching back and forth is antithetical to that model. 

Is it different than the last time fixed dining was offered?  One or more nights we used either the buffet or specialty dining but were assigned fixed seating.

For those that want flexibility,  the change is the opportunity to book times night by night.

The difficulty is going to be early dining times will be booked really fast.  Would think changing a reservation on board could find most times unavailable. 

[Torfamm]

9 minutes ago, Arizona Wildcat said:

Is it different than the last time fixed dining was offered?  One or more nights we used either the buffet or specialty dining but were assigned fixed seating.

For those that want flexibility,  the change is the opportunity to book times night by night.

The difficulty is going to be early dining times will be booked really fast.  Would think changing a reservation on board could find most times unavailable. 

The big difference I see is that with select dining in the past it wasn’t possible to make reservations for individual nights  in the MDR ahead of time at all. You had to wait and try to phone the “dine line” the same day that you wanted the reservation. 
 

 

Edited April 14 by Torfamm

[JimmyVWine]

1 hour ago, Arizona Wildcat said:

Is it different than the last time fixed dining was offered? 

Yes. In the past, one dining room was exclusively Traditional. A second dining room was always “open seating” which could be a combination of reservations or walk-ins, and the third dining room was “Early Traditional” and at 7:00 pm converted to “open seating”. With the new change, Traditional will be limited to one dining room instead of one and a half; and one dining room will be for reservations only with walk-ins not accommodated. This is new. 

[JimmyVWine]

1 hour ago, Torfamm said:

The big difference I see is that with select dining in the past it wasn’t possible to make reservations for individual nights

Once Princess introduced the app, guests could make nightly reservations ahead of time. 

[dreaminofcruisin]

9 hours ago, Torfamm said:

And to add to the frustration, I will actually be on a cruise and blocked from managing future cruises when re-booking  cancelled reservations becomes possible. UGH!

 

I wouldn't fret too much at this point. Princess will have to release a new version of the app that accommodates these dining changes. It will actually have to work. Their track record of releasing a working app version at the time they state is not good. My guess is you will be home from your cruise before it actually happens..... 

[Gail & Dan]

45 minutes ago, dreaminofcruisin said:

 

I wouldn't fret too much at this point. Princess will have to release a new version of the app that accommodates these dining changes. It will actually have to work. Their track record of releasing a working app version at the time they state is not good. My guess is you will be home from your cruise before it actually happens..... 

soo Buffett then 😂 

Edited April 15 by Gail & Dan

[califTraveler]

Having just gotten off the Discovery Princess as a first time princess cruiser we learned a lot including that all three dining rooms have the same menu. Go to the dining room closest to your cabin. And when you go to the World Market buffet try to remember where your table is. Chairs and carpet are a slightly different color on the port & starboard sides. Bring something like a bag or hat to save/mark your table. On embarkation day one dining room will be open at 11:30. It was Skagway on the Discovery Princess. Buffet will be very crowded. They hold back some reservations for the specialty restaurants which can be reserved once you are onboard. And you can use shipboard credit rather than your credit card which you have to use if you book before boarding. We were told to go to the Italian restaurant on embarkation day between 12-2PM to book the three specialty restaurants and the desk there was very helpful and set us up at the day and time we wanted. And if you do your WIFI once onboard you can use shipboard credit. Many staff members will greet you once onboard and assist in purchasing WIFI. We bought it before boarding and had to pay with our credit card. Got only one device for $150 and it was very easy on the app to switch between our two different cell phones and iPads. If you were in the military Princess gives you $100 shipboard credit.The Princess web site can assist in doing that. The machine that looks like an ATM machine next to the customer service counter is able to show you after tapping your medallion and tapping on your name, your folio/account balances and the machine can print it for you. Saving you having to wait on the customer service line. Oh and the bathrobes after being washed so many times come in one size extra small. You have to order them thru the app. Bed configuration is on the same app. Boarding passes were able to be printed and also were on the app 11 days before sailing. Picking up our medallions at the port took 1 extra minute at check in. This avoided the anxiety of waiting for it to arrive at your home before you left for your cruise. If you need assistance ask upon arrival at the port, wheelchairs and attendants were  available. And you will be taken to a separate area for xray scanning of your carry on. And if there is an elevator you will be taken to it. No blue/green lines if you need assistance there is a special disability lane .Find your roll call and ask questions. Princess cruise critic members will gladly share their knowledge and we found the cruise critic roll call for our sailing very helpful. Enjoy your travels.

[Princess Chatterer]

On 4/13/2024 at 11:28 AM, Host CJSKIDS said:

Looks like date is TBD sometime in June.  

Replacement reservations begin on June 17th.via the app.

[Princess Chatterer]

On 4/13/2024 at 4:47 PM, alwalaska said:

I wonder what will happen on ships with only 2 dining rooms, like the Coral Princess?

Coral Princess and Island Princess will combine Reservable and Walk-in Anytime Dining into one Main Dining Room, due to space."

[MacMadame]

23 hours ago, Arizona Wildcat said:

Probably because they said they will be cancelled over the coming days.  Just announced and doubt Princess would do that on a weekend.  It is thousands and thousands of reservations. 

Which the computer can cancel in a few minutes once they write the script to do so. 😄 

 

7 hours ago, Torfamm said:

The question was what Princess means by saying you can “change your mind”

If they have a "just show up" option, wouldn't people who decide not to show up for their traditional dining time one evening, just go there? (Like if they get back late from a port and miss early dining.)

I think it's in Princess' best interest to let people switch. Otherwise, they will have trouble planning especially for Traditional dining. If they don't, a ton of people will show up to the "just show up" dining room once they figure out that the option they originally picked wasn't working for them.

 

I think 

[foodsvcmgr]

In the past subject to availability people were allowed to change from early to late TD and vice versa, also open to fixed.

I’m sure if there is space, changes would still be allowed for those who are unhappy with their initial selection.

[Teechur]

13 hours ago, Coral said:

They could easily have solved their "dining issues" by building larger dining rooms and having more alternative free dining venues that are desirable to pull people away from the dining rooms. Their dining rooms have never been large enough to handle people with reservations. If a table is reserved at 6:15 or 6:30, no one can eat at the table before hand. So it sits empty.

 

Having "dined my way" several times, I have been extremely frustrated with the dining experience.

Instead, they made casual places like Alfredo's for fee venues. In the short run, it has to cost more to have people eat in the dining room than to have a pizza. Maybe in the long run, it causes more people to purchase packages? 🤔

For what it's worth, that change disappointed me and makes me eat in port restaurants more often.

[Steelers36]

On 4/13/2024 at 11:05 AM, julie3fan said:

 

I think this means they're bringing back Traditional Dining to those that want it.  TD hasn't been available in a number of years now.

Not true at all.  It has been simply necessary for the guest(s) to request and arrange with DR Mgr's or DR Hosts.  LOTS of guests have managed to have a TD experience at a time of their choosing.  

 

The best thing about TD for us is having the same wait team for the full voyage.  I am not particularly interested in eating at 5PM, so will seek to secure a table at a desired time as have been doing.

[Steelers36]

On 4/13/2024 at 11:21 AM, Torfamm said:

Cancelling all existing reservations is incredibly frustrating. 

Not so bad if they clean the slate and everyone gets to book again.  You just have to be ready at the GO date/time in order to have best choices.

[Steelers36]

On 4/13/2024 at 11:25 AM, JimmyVWine said:

More like 25%. 
The people who opt for the traditional dining room will all have “reservations” per se. But those reservations will be for a set time each night. So 100% of the people who dine there fall into the reservation bucket. And 100% of the people who dine in the “reservations available” dining room will have reservations. But eventually those two dining options will fill up leaving the rest of the guests to dine without reservations. Right now, a ship that takes reservations for all three dining rooms can accommodate more guests who want reservations because the Traditional Dining model, while popular, is highly inefficient. Sectioning off one full dining room that will have 2 set seatings will accommodate far fewer guests than if that dining room took reservations throughout the evening. It is easy to flip a table twice under that model. (5:15, 6:45 8:15). With traditional, they can only flip once.  
 

All in all, I think this is a good model and one that longtime Princess loyalists have been asking for. But it probably will hurt the Blue Medallion folks who won’t know to book ahead. The Traditional Room and the popular times in the Reservations Room will fill up quickly with PES people who can reserve immediately upon booking. Then the remaining slots will fill up after others make final payment. But newbies who don’t know to do this will get on board and be left with mostly the walk-in option. 

I imagine they will fill empty tables/seats in the TD room - just as they used to - when situation calls for it. 

 

The Blue newbies already were disadvantaged if unaware of booking DR and wanted a popular choice.  Supposedly, Elites and Platinums have first dibs, but that edit doesn't always work as evidenced by various postings in this forum over recent years.

[Steelers36]

On 4/13/2024 at 2:38 PM, LACruiser88 said:

April 13, 2024 2:30 PM EDT

 

Princess Cruises Rolls Out Fleetwide Dining Revolution: Traditional, Reservable, Open Seating, and Anywhere Service Now Available for Every Guest Preference

 

New Options Follow Successful Debut Aboard New Sun Princess

 

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., April 13, 2024

 

/PRNewswire/ -- Princess Cruises today announced it is making a significant enhancement to the main dining options found across its fleet, designed to give guests the ultimate in flexibility and choice when it comes to their dining experience by offering three table service options –

 

Traditional, Reservable, or Walk-in Anytime - coupled with the brand's industry exclusive OceanNow location-based "anywhere" service.

 

 (PRNewsfoto/Princess Cruises)  

 

With a dedication to personal preference and individualized service, Princess will designate separate dining rooms aboard every ship in the fleet* to the three table service options – one dedicated to traditional dining offering an early and a late seating every evening; one offering reservable dining times; and a third with open seating to support walk-ins anytime.

 

The three table service options integrate with the line's unparalleled OceanNow, which provides guests the convenience of ordering anything, anytime, and receiving it anywhere onboard, making Princess uniquely positioned to accommodate all guest dining preferences.

 

Making all dining formats available fleetwide follows the resounding success of this new approach already implemented aboard the new Sun Princess. With the stunning introduction of the new next level Love Boat came the debut of three-story dining room with one floor dedicated to traditional dining, another serving guests with a flexible reservation and a third for anytime walk-ins.

 

"Our guests have been delighted with the dining flexibility aboard Sun Princess and we're pleased to extend the concept to all the other ships in our fleet," said Sami Kohen, Princess Cruises vice president of food and beverage. "Now whether guests prefer an early seating every evening, or change things up every night, or even change their mind, these flexible dining options ensure that their dining preference is effortlessly accommodated."

 

Starting on April 15, 2024, the new approach will launch on Princess voyages departing September 14, 2024 and beyond. To support these changes and the transition to the new system, main dining reservations that already have been made for voyages sailing September 14 and beyond for any ship except Sun Princess will be cancelled. Main dining reservations for guests sailing through September 13 will not be affected.

 

Starting June 17, booked guests will be able to use the app ahead of their voyage to opt for traditional seating in a dedicated dining room with the same waiter, same table and same time each night, or flexible dining, allowing them to enjoy dinner at any available time and table size of their choosing in either the Reservable or Open Seating dining rooms.

 

This change does not affect guests booked in specialty dining restaurants or suite or reserve collection accommodations, who enjoy a dedicated dining room on Princess ships, where no reservations are required.

Hallelujah.  Princess essentially promised this when they rolled out DMW almost three years ago.  The App was never programmed to support it however.  I wrote to Princess mgmt at the time to explain the issue and how they could solve it. 

 

My guess is that a guest who elects TD will be assigned a specific early or late time and be blocked into a DR and that DR will not be in the DMW reservation system.  Also, the walk-up DR will be removed from DMW.  Only one DR is going to be available to make DR bookings in DMW.  That said, the walk-up DR could be used by on-board DR mgmt to assign/block a table for guests at a specific time should there be nothing available in the DR taking online reservations. 

 

With removing two DR's (a bit of a surprise) from the auto-dining-res App (DMW), the DR Mgmt can do their old table assignment work in one DR and should be able to be more flexible to accommodate more guests in the way they want to dine.

 

My recommendation would be that the TD DR and the Walk-Up DR be the two mid-ship DR's since it will be a lot easier to send folks to the TD room to fill any empty seats rather than wait in the walk-up line.  

[Steelers36]

On 4/13/2024 at 3:03 PM, JG&Lcruisingnewbies said:

So, as long as they implement this well and the tech works, it could make things less stressful & more flexible

It's understandable for us all to worry about the tech and make jokes over the foibles of Princess IT team working on the DMW App, but it does work decently these days for reservations and it will be a lot simpler for it to be only working with one DR. 

 

Only one DR needs to be in inventory for booking tables.  Anyone requesting TD is just going to be on a list with a max number for each time slot.  I fully expect that - as in the "old days" - the list will go the DRO and they will dust off the old DR maps and slot guests into tables depending on Private or Shared requests.  Just like it used to be.  DMW Is incapable of booking TD fully with table assignments, so I expect that new process will be much like the old process.  Those electing TD will be process on board the ships.

[Steelers36]

On 4/13/2024 at 3:44 PM, Dani24 said:

Curious where the Reserve/Suite dining will be among these three rooms? Or will they adjust based on the popularity of any particular option?

 

Which also leads me to wonder if there are caps on any of these choices. Will you need to preselect if you want traditional, reservations, or walk-in? And if the demand for one of those options on a given cruise is more than what that particular dining room will handle, do you get forced into another category?

I outlined above what I expect/suspect DMW App will be doing.  All they can do is set a limit for TD (no different than it was pre-DMW when guests elected dining style as part of the booking process and Princess can use those existing fields again).  The limit will be the max Private and Shared space in one DR.  Same for booking times in DMW - the capacity of one DR.  Adjustments will have to be done on board and the DR team should be capable of doing so.  Don't be surprised to see the return of Meet the DRO (formerly MD) on embarkation afternoon for adjustments. 

 

So, yes, a guest will pre-select in the App.  The first question is going to be TD or not, and if TD, early or late.  If not, guest will have option to book specific reservations - again limited to a single DR.  If guest does nothing, they are either a walk-up or try to be accommodated on board.  Not a change in that regard.  

 

Even today - or pre-DMW for that matter - if other guests had booked up capacity, guest did not have much choice other than default to walk-up.  DR Mgmt has been working to accommodate requests all along.

 

I think this is a great change, but we'll see how it goes.  IMO, it's going to make life easier for the DR teams.  They can always shift folks into a DR section that is not being used fully.  This has always been a practice to alleviate lines.

 

IDK what they will do with Reserve section now.  It can be easily moved but I imagine they will try and keep it at mid-ship.  Probably makes sense to have it in the walk-up DR, but I only stay at Holiday Inn Express so cannot say for certain.

[Steelers36]

17 hours ago, kywildcatfanone said:

If they allowed casual dining and got the service to an hour or under, we would consider going back to the DR. 

What do you mean by casual dining?  They have such a designated space on the new Sun Class.  If you mean attire, well we all know that casual attire is being accepted in the DR's, although I think Smart Casual should be the standard.  Also, TD does not mean/imply dressing like the old days of cruising.  The attire recommendations and what is accepted are not going to vary by the type of booking a guest makes.