Dining room confusion based on signage

[Mississippian]

I recently took a transatlantic cruise on the Sky Princess. Two of the three dining rooms had signs up suggesting that ordinary cruisers were not welcome. One dining room had a sign that suggested that it was for "Reserve" passengers only. The other had a sign suggesting it was only for a special group of passengers. Is this, in fact, the case? I really wanted to eat at the hard-to-get-to aft dining room because there is usually less wait, but the sign suggested it was reserved for some group only, so I went elsewhere. I honestly want to know what is going on. I ate all my meals in the one dining room that didn't have a sign that said I shouldn't be there.

[cr8tiv1]

You are correct.  Princess makes it very confusing with the use of similar terminology.  They should never have changed the name from Club Class Dining to Reserve Collection.  This separate dining area is for those passengers who have a booking in the Reserve Collection Mini-Suites or Full Suite guest.  It is a section of the MDR that is off to the side, usually Deck 6. 

 

And yes, there is a small sign that says "Reserve" dining.  It confuses many new passengers who may think that it is for anyone with a Reservation.

 

I am surprised that they closed the aft dining room for a special group.  It must be a rather large group since that is the largest MDR on the ship.  Did they close it for breakfast and lunch on sea days too?

 

That would put a strain on the other 1.75 MDR to pick up the slack.

 

I am saddened that they would do this.  Sometimes Princess really doesn't think things through.

[antsp]

The aft dining room was not closed on the Sky Transatlantic, it did however have a sign for the group {onboard 

[PacnGoNow]

6 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

I am surprised that they closed the aft dining room for a special group.  It must be a rather large group since that is the largest MDR on the ship.  Did they close it for breakfast and lunch on sea days too?

Very likely, part of the aft MDR was reserved for a large group, so as to not overload the midship MDR’s.  Their signage is not always clear.

 

Also, the reserve class signage is usually only on one side of the MDR.  The other entrance is usually open to other diners.

 

Let’s hope so anyway.

[memoak]

3 hours ago, PacnGoNow said:

Very likely, part of the aft MDR was reserved for a large group, so as to not overload the midship MDR’s.  Their signage is not always clear.

 

Also, the reserve class signage is usually only on one side of the MDR.  The other entrance is usually open to other diners.

 

Let’s hope so anyway.

And on the Crown on our last 2 cruises on her there was a big sign outside the Reserve dining area pointing to the regular DaVinci dining room

[1025cruise]

On my first Princess cruise for my honeymoon, one of the Anytime MDRs (yes, it's been awhile) was closed at a certain time to accommodate a group. Unfortunately, there was no signage or notice anywhere of this. It also didn't stop members of this group from dining when/where they wished. Even this many years later, I'm still sore....

[mahasamatman]

11 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

Princess makes it very confusing with the use of similar terminology. They should never have changed the name from Club Class Dining to Reserve Collection.

 

And I mention that on every survey. If they really wanted a great name, they'd change it to Connoisseur Class (United's old name for Business Class).

[arizonaperson]

@Mississippian

just curious… I know you are not on The Sky right now as you have disembarked. Did you ever inquire at entrance to the “ Reserve Dining room “with a crew member? Or you just assumed it was reserved or reservation only & not Reserve class? As others have said reserve class dining is just a very small section of one of the dining rooms -rest of that DR open to everyone else normal circumstances.

Also at podium in the aft dining room- did you ask to be seated? Or just saw the sign and walked away?

The crew would have suggested where you could dine if you asked.

We’ll now you know what to expect on your next Princess cruise if you have a next, just ask a crew member.  Also you can make reservations for a specific dining room and then you would know the location next time.

 

[JGmf]

Just chiming-in regarding the poor deployment, size, and language in dining signage.  We were on the Enchanted, staying in a suite, and even as seasoned cruisers (never on this ship before though), we were unclear where to go on our first try for Reserve dining, so we pivoted elsewhere given the long lines and lack of what I thought would be a marked area. 

 

Yeah, we figured it out later, but seeing those lines, and having the initial confusion (and being hungry!), we bailed.

 

(Boo hoo, First World problem I know...)

[WisCruiser2]

And don't forget, this will all be changing once the ships go to the new dining room system. Hopefully, there will be less confusion.

[Outerdog]

25 minutes ago, JGmf said:

Just chiming-in regarding the poor deployment, size, and language in dining signage.  We were on the Enchanted, staying in a suite, and even as seasoned cruisers (never on this ship before though), we were unclear where to go on our first try for Reserve dining, so we pivoted elsewhere given the long lines and lack of what I thought would be a marked area. 

 

Yeah, we figured it out later, but seeing those lines, and having the initial confusion (and being hungry!), we bailed.

 

(Boo hoo, First World problem I know...)

 

The suite welcome letter you find when you enter your stateroom makes it very clear.

[JGmf]

7 minutes ago, Outerdog said:

The suite welcome letter you find when you enter your stateroom makes it very clear

 

Not clear enough apparently, as we went to the location and there was no sign, no staff, and only a giant line.  Believe me, we looked. 

[memoak]

19 minutes ago, Outerdog said:

 

The suite welcome letter you find when you enter your stateroom makes it very clear.

The letter tells you where to find your suite breakfast, reserve dining among other things. If you are on a Royal class ship it will tell you about suite lounge location and on all ships the location of the elite/suite cocktail location. 

[Mississippian]

6 hours ago, arizonaperson said:

@Mississippian

just curious… I know you are not on The Sky right now as you have disembarked. Did you ever inquire at entrance to the “ Reserve Dining room “with a crew member? Or you just assumed it was reserved or reservation only & not Reserve class? As others have said reserve class dining is just a very small section of one of the dining rooms -rest of that DR open to everyone else normal circumstances.

Also at podium in the aft dining room- did you ask to be seated? Or just saw the sign and walked away?

The crew would have suggested where you could dine if you asked.

We’ll now you know what to expect on your next Princess cruise if you have a next, just ask a crew member.  Also you can make reservations for a specific dining room and then you would know the location next time.

 

No, I didn't ask, I just went to the other dining room. It was just kind of weird. When you see a sign out like that it suggests that everyone else is supposed to stay out.

[CalTexCruiser]

On 5/19/2024 at 9:50 AM, mahasamatman said:

 

And I mention that on every survey. If they really wanted a great name, they'd change it to Connoisseur Class (United's old name for Business Class).

 

Princess can't make up its mind what to call this.

 

First it was Club Class.  Then Reserve Class.

 

Then when the Sun was introduced, it was Reserve Class plus Signature Suites.

 

Then two months later they changed their mind and combined Reserve Class and Signature Suites on the Sun to Sanctuary Collection.

 

[Kay S]

22 minutes ago, CalTexCruiser said:

 

Princess can't make up its mind what to call this.

 

 

 

I think the word "class" was confusing too many people.  The new name isn't much better.  My last Princess cruise on Discovery had a large sign at the entrance that said just "Reserve."  I guess with the medallion, they can see you coming.  There was always someone waiting for us to seat us in Reserve.  Since we were supposed to be there, I guess I didn't notice if it was a problem for non-suite guests.

[memoak]

2 minutes ago, Kay S said:

I think the word "class" was confusing too many people.  The new name isn't much better.  My last Princess cruise on Discovery had a large sign at the entrance that said just "Reserve."  I guess with the medallion, they can see you coming.  There was always someone waiting for us to seat us in Reserve.  Since we were supposed to be there, I guess I didn't notice if it was a problem for non-suite guests.

I have often seen and heard people arguing with the host in Reserve that they don’t want to wait for a table in regular dining when the see empty tables in Reserve. It can get very heated

[CalTexCruiser]

On a few occasions we had to wait behind a number of guests while the Reserve host/hostess explained they were at the wrong dining room entrance.

 

 

[FirstTeacher]

On 5/19/2024 at 8:01 PM, arizonaperson said:

@Mississippian

just curious… I know you are not on The Sky right now as you have disembarked. Did you ever inquire at entrance to the “ Reserve Dining room “with a crew member? Or you just assumed it was reserved or reservation only & not Reserve class? As others have said reserve class dining is just a very small section of one of the dining rooms -rest of that DR open to everyone else normal circumstances.

Also at podium in the aft dining room- did you ask to be seated? Or just saw the sign and walked away?

The crew would have suggested where you could dine if you asked.

We’ll now you know what to expect on your next Princess cruise if you have a next, just ask a crew member.  Also you can make reservations for a specific dining room and then you would know the location next time.

 

I’m currently on the Caribbean Princess .  On our first night, we went to the podium that says “Reserve”, thinking this would be us. I specifically asked the gentleman at the podium, and he directed me to the other entrance to the MDR. 

[Mississippian]

3 hours ago, FirstTeacher said:

I’m currently on the Caribbean Princess .  On our first night, we went to the podium that says “Reserve”, thinking this would be us. I specifically asked the gentleman at the podium, and he directed me to the other entrance to the MDR. 

Apparently I could have eaten at any of the three dining rooms, but nobody likes to feel dumb, so I just went to the one with no sign. I really don't understand why some tour group should be allowed to have a sign up suggesting that an entire dining room is "their" dining room, unless it is.