Embarkation day lunch

[debnjoe1438]

My apolagies if this has already been asked. At any rate I will be doing my first Princess cruise on the Caribbean Princess in January. Does Pricess offer Embarkation day lunch in the MDR?

 

Thanks

[Rick&Jeannie]

Yes, if you can board the ship in time!  We almost *never* get to board in time for lunch in an MDR...we end up hitting the buffet!  I cannot tell you *which* MDR will be doing lunch...and very often staff will direct you to the buffet even if it is within the MDR serving hours.  BE PERSISTENT when asking!

[memoak]

Embarkation lunch is either 11:30 -1:00 or 12:00 - 1:30.  We usually board later to avoid the crowds and it is only in one dining room so it can fill up

[HotRoot]

For us it has always been in the dining room where Reserve Dining is.  And now I am trying to remember if that was Deck 5 or 6 on Caribbean Princess.

[wallyj]

1 hour ago, HotRoot said:

For us it has always been in the dining room where Reserve Dining is.  And now I am trying to remember if that was Deck 5 or 6 on Caribbean Princess.

I know Discovery, Enchanted and Sapphire use the deck6 AFT dining room now for embarkation lunch and breakfast and sea day lunch.

 

Reserve dining will usually still be deck6 midship. It will be listed in the Patter/Events listing for the location and hours/time. If it has not been placed in your cabin yet, you can review or get copy at guest services.

[t&atravel]

On our last 3 cruises from San Francisco we were handed a slip of paper at checkin with all the open dining venues and times.  This included the MDR.

Edited June 8 by t&atravel

[Tak8]

On Caribbean Princess I'm pretty sure it's deck 6.

[Wishing on a star]

So, on these Royal Class ships, you have do the Hokey Pokey and do down the AFT elevators/stairs to have lunch in the MDR???  Seriously?

 

I wonder if most ships still have the Souffle on the menu.

That would be the first Souffle of the cruise.

The last one I had, Italian night on Regal, was heavenly!   Although some seem to report that the Souffle they were served was underwhelming?

[tonit964]

3 hours ago, debnjoe1438 said:

My apolagies if this has already been asked. At any rate I will be doing my first Princess cruise on the Caribbean Princess in January. Does Pricess offer Embarkation day lunch in the MDR?

 

Thanks

If you’re able to get on board in time, I would highly recommend going to the dining room for lunch on embarkation day. It’s such a nice, relaxing way to start the cruise. 

[MsSoCalCruiser]

2 hours ago, wallyj said:

I know Discovery, Enchanted and Sapphire use the deck6 AFT dining room now for embarkation lunch and breakfast and sea day lunch.

 

Reserve dining will usually still be deck6 midship. It will be listed in the Patter/Events listing for the location and hours/time. If it has not been placed in your cabin yet, you can review or get copy at guest services.

On the Discovery Princess the embarkation lunch has always been held in the Skagway MDR, deck 6, midship. Did they change locations recently? 

Edited June 8 by MsSoCalCruiser

[memoak]

48 minutes ago, Wishing on a star said:

So, on these Royal Class ships, you have do the Hokey Pokey and do down the AFT elevators/stairs to have lunch in the MDR???  Seriously?

 

I wonder if most ships still have the Souffle on the menu.

That would be the first Souffle of the cruise.

The last one I had, Italian night on Regal, was heavenly!   Although some seem to report that the Souffle they were served was underwhelming?

Yes I believe they do that because when they have the regular MDR and Reserve in the same dining room people who can’t get into the venue because there is a wait try to push their way into Reserve instead of waiting since they can see empty tables. Yea I have seen this often

[wallyj]

4 minutes ago, MsSoCalCruiser said:

On the Discovery Princess the embarkation lunch has always been held in the Skagway MDR, deck 6, midship. Did they change locations recently? 

Yes, my Discovery in Feb, they used deck6 aft, see post #11 for more info.

[MsSoCalCruiser]

Just now, wallyj said:

Yes, my Discovery in Feb, they used deck6 aft, see post #11 for more info.

All 3 of my Discovery embarkation lunches have been held in Skagway. Thanks for letting me know. 

[debnjoe1438]

3 hours ago, Wishing on a star said:

So, on these Royal Class ships, you have do the Hokey Pokey and do down the AFT elevators/stairs to have lunch in the MDR???  Seriously?

 

I wonder if most ships still have the Souffle on the menu.

That would be the first Souffle of the cruise.

The last one I had, Italian night on Regal, was heavenly!   Although some seem to report that the Souffle they were served was underwhelming?

I've had to do the Hokey Pokey on NCL ships (the older ones) for the aft dinning room. Not a problem 🙂 Thanks 

[debnjoe1438]

2 hours ago, tonit964 said:

If you’re able to get on board in time, I would highly recommend going to the dining room for lunch on embarkation day. It’s such a nice, relaxing way to start the cruise. 

Thanks If possible/available the MDR is my choice 

[JimmyVWine]

6 hours ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

and very often staff will direct you to the buffet even if it is within the MDR serving hours.

This really doesn’t happen anymore. The days of the MDR lunch subterfuge is over. Crew members probably figured out that social media would overcome their deception. 

4 hours ago, t&atravel said:

On our last 3 cruises from San Francisco we were handed a slip of paper at checkin with all the open dining venues and times.  This included the MDR.

This. And it supports my comment above. I haven’t encountered a lying crew member is over 10 years. 
 

All that aside, I find the MDR lunch menu to be pedestrian and the serving sizes meager. Alfredo’s is our choice for embarkation lunch now. 

[tonit964]

19 minutes ago, debnjoe1438 said:

Thanks If possible/available the MDR is my choice 

You won’t be disappointed. Have a great cruise. 

[MsSoCalCruiser]

I’m not sure if you eat beef or not but the tenderloin is usually delicious. 

[Mike & Zen]

6 hours ago, t&atravel said:

On our last 3 cruises from San Francisco we were handed a slip of paper at checkin with all the open dining venues and times.  This included the MDR.

Here’s a picture of the informational piece of paper handed to us in Vancouver’s Canada Place cruise terminal during checkin prior to boarding Grand Princess 5 June 2024