Dining times for the Theatre shows

[Muffinz]

We are on Crown Princess in December and are looking at our dining options / times for the MDR

We'd prefer to go to Michelangelo's because it is mid ship, (wife has a knee issue) and to avoid a long walk to Botticellis (we are in cabin A255 near front of ship)

One thing we want to do is see the show each night and my understanding is the shows are generally 7:30pm and 9:30pm

 

The only available times in Michelangelo's that come up are 5pm - and that's far too early for us or 7:20pm, which is better

 

so my question is if we went to dinner at 7:20pm would that give us enough time to enjoy dinner and see the 9:30pm show in the theatre?

I don't want to be in a hurry and have to run to the theatre to get there in time.

 

We could go to Da Vinci's for anytime dining, but neither myself or wife would want to stand in a queue for ages

 

any advice would be appreciated thanks

[Thunderbird19]

I think 7:20 dinner would work for you. On nights where you want to see a 9:30 show ( and want to get there a bit early to get a decent seat if ship is crowded), just tell servers you’d like to be done by 8:45 so you can make the show.   Servers have been accommodating in the past when we’ve asked them.

[arizonaperson]

I think the answer is maybe and I believe the time could be 730pm in Michelangelo , but time will tell with the new dining program.

 if you have a table for two and you tell your servers you’re trying to make it to the theater, might make it.

If your wife has a difficult time standing or walking  & does not have a mobility device ,maybe you may be able to get a seat in the theater for the late show?? I do find the later shows not as busy, but you just never know .

You can always try it on the first night and see if you make it to the theater ,even if there’s not a show going on -you could do a trial run & see how it works and if it doesn’t work out for you -change to the walk-in dining room  -even though that’s not your first choice to something earlier or aft dining room with a reservation for say 7 pm.

So your wife never plans on going/ walking beyond the mid ship and to the aft & you’re always going to stay mid ship &  forward or in the cabin? What about in port?

 

I think my answer is something going to have to give possibly either your dining time ,dining room, or no-show or maybe you’ll find out that you can do both??

[cr8tiv1]

Show times will vary.  Most shows are at 7:30/9:30.  This summer, the Caribbean P had shows at 8 and 10.  I staked out my seat at 9….by 9:30, the theater was 80% full. By 9:45 there were single seats.  By 8:51, it was standing room only.  (Adjust by 30 minutes.)
 

YMMV….this was a full ship during the summer.

 

Will you have the premier package?  Production shows will have reserved seats.  Always less available for the line up against the wall when seats are released 5 minutes before show.

 

Are you traveling in the summer?  Alaska/Caribbean/Europe?  I know you mentioned the Crown.  Two show seatings only accommodate about 50% of the ship.  
 

I had dinner around 6:15 every night. We were out (of Reserve Collection) by 8:15 (slow eaters).  Friends dined earlier and most always had “their seats for the 8 shows.  I did like the later show times, but could never make it to the game shows held between 8-9.

 

i think Princess does this on purpose.  With previous traditional dining it was dinner at 5; show after.  Show at 7:30; dinner after.  Then they did have a second entertainment in the aft showroom.  Spread out everyone.  

Edited August 21 by cr8tiv1

[sprite]

We had reservations for 6 just about every night and one night I wanted to eat earlier. I called to see if an earlier time was available and they said just come whenever, basically they'd have a table for anytime because I had a reservation.  Coming early wouldn't matter. So if it's a show you really don't want to miss, maybe go a little early.

[BamaVol]

Assuming a table for two and a mid ship MDR, I’d say go for it.  We had a table for 6 in the aft DR and arrived at shows on Enchanted with sufficient time (theater all the way forward) each night we chose to attend.

[Muffinz]

thanks for the replies

We will be sailing on Crown Princess 14 December in Australia, so it will be summer time - Yay!

and we will have the plus package not premier 

 

My wife is ok regarding her knee (having knee operation in Jan 2025) but can't walk that fast or for long distances at the moment.

when I told her that Michelangelo's is mid ship right by the lifts she just said she'd prefer that option.... but it won't be the end of the world if we go to Botticelli's 

She will be able to walk around the ship ok at own pace and should be ok on ship excursions (we plan to do our own thing for most of the port stops)

 

But getting a seat at the show is a must so we'd probably need to be there by 9:15pm at the latest?

 

could we go to Michelangelo's at say 7:10pm on the off chance the table is free - or would they make us wait until 7:20pm? 

 

the other option is to see the show at 7:30pm and get the late seating for dinner at 8:20pm - depending how long the shows go for.... but we prefer to eat between 6:30pm-7:30pm.

 

The cruise is still over 3 months away so I'm not going to lose any sleep over it - plenty of dining options and either way we won't be going hungry! 😁

[Thrak]

When we've booked 5:30 dining (no longer possible) we have always been able to make the 7:30 show but have, at times, only done so by skipping dessert. Booking a table for two it was never an issue. We're currently booked for 5:40 dining at a table for two and don't anticipate any issues making the 7:30 show. A table for two is usually much faster than sharing with others who can sometimes order multiple appetizers and multiple entrees.

[arizonaperson]

If the show starts at 7:30 PM it ends at 8:15 pm- they’re usually 45 minutes. I know the shows that start at 9:30 PM go to 1015pm for the most part.( in the Princess theater)

Edited August 21 by arizonaperson

[trbarton]

Have you thought about a mobility device so she dosent have to worry about walking & a short walk to her seat in the theatre?

 

I’m always in the MDR for dinner, when they are opened at 5 pm, & ask to have the same table each night so I can just walk in to my table without waiting in line. 
 

Tom😀

[Muffinz]

thanks for the replies

We've now paid for the cruise in full and have booked dining through the app

Michelangelo's for 7:20pm each night with a private table

I gather you can view each nights menu on the app / TV so we can do that before hand to decide what we want and that should make things quicker if we don't have to sit there for 20 minutes deciding!

 

if we got there early say 7:10pm and the table was available, could we go straight to the table or would they make us wait until 7:20pm?

 

[leck57]

9 hours ago, Muffinz said:

thanks for the replies

We've now paid for the cruise in full and have booked dining through the app

Michelangelo's for 7:20pm each night with a private table

I gather you can view each nights menu on the app / TV so we can do that before hand to decide what we want and that should make things quicker if we don't have to sit there for 20 minutes deciding!

 

if we got there early say 7:10pm and the table was available, could we go straight to the table or would they make us wait until 7:20pm?

 

 

Getting there early and being seated depends on the ship I think. We recently disembarked Sky Princess and a couple of times we arrived 5 minutes early and never went straight to a table. It was like Madam Serious on the door denied us until the right time, but I'm sure it depends on the staff/ship. We had bookings every night for 6.40pm. We will be going back to walk in now that they have reverted to that option as I hate being that planned on a holiday.

Yes, you can check each evenings menu on the App. Unless service was slow you should make a 9.30pm show with a 7.20pm dining time.

 

[Muffinz]

11 hours ago, leck57 said:

 

Getting there early and being seated depends on the ship I think. We recently disembarked Sky Princess and a couple of times we arrived 5 minutes early and never went straight to a table. It was like Madam Serious on the door denied us until the right time, but I'm sure it depends on the staff/ship. We had bookings every night for 6.40pm. We will be going back to walk in now that they have reverted to that option as I hate being that planned on a holiday.

Yes, you can check each evenings menu on the App. Unless service was slow you should make a 9.30pm show with a 7.20pm dining time.

 

thanks for that - we really wanted a 6:30pm dining time, but Michelangelo's on Crown only has 5pm and 7:20pm... we could get a table at Botticelli's but wife would prefer Michelangelo's as it's right by the mid-ship elevators and less far to walk (arthritis in her knee) 

[Rick&Jeannie]

2 hours ago, Muffinz said:

thanks for that - we really wanted a 6:30pm dining time, but Michelangelo's on Crown only has 5pm and 7:20pm... we could get a table at Botticelli's but wife would prefer Michelangelo's as it's right by the mid-ship elevators and less far to walk (arthritis in her knee) 

Just keep in mind that the *entire* reservation system is simply Princess' attempt to spread out the crowd.  They *know* that there will always be "exceptions" to what the system says...like others have said, just go a bit early to your MDR and you should be able to get in with no issues.  Also...just mention to your waiter/server that you want to make the show.  They will do what they can to make that happen for you.  Don't stress over this...

[memoak]

2 hours ago, Muffinz said:

thanks for that - we really wanted a 6:30pm dining time, but Michelangelo's on Crown only has 5pm and 7:20pm... we could get a table at Botticelli's but wife would prefer Michelangelo's as it's right by the mid-ship elevators and less far to walk (arthritis in her knee) 

Is Michelangelo the “traditional “  dining room  ?  If so there will only be those two dining times for those who want to harken back to the old days with set tables and wait staffs

[Muffinz]

2 hours ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

Just keep in mind that the *entire* reservation system is simply Princess' attempt to spread out the crowd.  They *know* that there will always be "exceptions" to what the system says...like others have said, just go a bit early to your MDR and you should be able to get in with no issues.  Also...just mention to your waiter/server that you want to make the show.  They will do what they can to make that happen for you.  Don't stress over this...

thanks - we're not going to lose any sleep over this as it's a pretty minor issue in the whole scheme of things!

[Steelers36]

On 8/21/2024 at 4:47 PM, Thrak said:

When we've booked 5:30 dining (no longer possible) we have always been able to make the 7:30 show but have, at times, only done so by skipping dessert. Booking a table for two it was never an issue. We're currently booked for 5:40 dining at a table for two and don't anticipate any issues making the 7:30 show. A table for two is usually much faster than sharing with others who can sometimes order multiple appetizers and multiple entrees.

Same here.  Our dining time has generally been sometime between 5:30 and 6:00, but we would normally be there before 6pm... like 5:45.  Always get to the early main theater show if that was the plan.  We don't eat six courses and always let the wait team know we want to move things along. 

 

(I believe we can still book a table for 5:30pm if really want to make the request - I always had our own TD start time that was not that same as official ship time ever since they moved to 5pm which is way too early).