Do any of you Princess cruisers still enjoy 'traditional' cruise dining?

[Iamthesea]

I just booked our first Princess cruise for next March on Crown Princess.

 

We've sailed DCL, CCL, RCCL and are eager to try Princess. (Trying them all. We're hopelessly hooked on cruising.)

 

I've noticed that this new ship has two 'freestyle' dining venues, and one traditional dining room.

 

One of the reasons we like to cruise is the traditional dining. Freestyle dining is what we have in our everyday lives when we choose to eat out. (Speaking only for my family. I know it's a personal choice for everyone.) We love having certain nights to dress up, having a set dining time, meeting new people and getting to know our waitstaff. (We're a family of three.) For this cruise we requested second seating at a large table (to sit with others.)

 

I'm eager for us to sail on Princess, and am wondering and (hoping) there will be others who feel the same way we do? I was so impressed when I saw the new NCL ship on 'the Apprentice' earlier this week, until I learned it was all 'freestyle' dining.

 

Thanks!

I could have written this post!

 

We were down to picking two cruiselines and ships, until I watched the Apprentice. I was so impressed to see the beautiful ship, that I did some research into pricing, stateroom appointments and dining. I realized that we would probably be paying for many of our meals on top of the cruise fare with all the different restaurant choices (not all free!)

 

I think we have decided to try Princess again. Before our first Princess cruise, we were a little apprehensive about the dining experience because we were afraid that with the offering of both traditional and anytime dining, there might be "good service" issues. I can tell you that we had excellent service in the traditional dining room on the Coral. ;)

[Brad1185]

We prefer traditional. Always seems to be waitlisted. With traditional you can avoid the long lines, pushing, shoving, long waits, and lackluster service.

 

Sometimes the anytime dining room entrances seem to be a free for all of people trying to get in, no thanks.

[suziehmkr]

Unfortunately, I know of people who attempted to reserve the same table, wait staff and time and were not allowed to. Unless you choose less popular dining times, it is difficult, perhaps impossible to do as you suggest.

We were actually offered this by the Maitre'D on the Island Princess and we decided against it as we wanted a bit more flexibility. We would instead call and reserve the table whenever we knew we would be there and never had a problem even when requesting a 6:30 dining time. It could just be from ship to ship, but I have read many success stories with this. It doesn't hurt to become friendly with the Matire'D and see what becomes of it. If you are forced to PC because of the waitlist, you can at least try to make the best of it by trying to make arrangements when you get there.

[bjkTX]

I'm sure that happens at times - but on our three Princess cruises, all with PC, we waited two nights total for about 5-10 minutes - normally we walked up, and were escourted to a table. We've never done traditional - but doesn't it seem more like a stampede with everyone showing up at the same time?

[bishop35]

I'm sure that happens at times - but on our three Princess cruises, all with PC, we waited two nights total for about 5-10 minutes - normally we walked up, and were escourted to a table. We've never done traditional - but doesn't it seem more like a stampede with everyone showing up at the same time?

 

Yes the stampede is a drawback, but we are patient enough to wait. We LOVE traditional dining. I don't think we could do the early traditional and be ready for dinner on time every night. I don't want to be rushed to get back on the ship and maybe miss something at the port. This is why we choose the late traditional and we can still catch a show after we eat. IMHO!

[Mrs. Gump]

I agree - I've done both trad. and anytime and I prefer anytime. On our last 7 day cruise we did anytime and waited for a table on one night only, and that was for 5 min. Every other night we walked right in. Some nights we were a party of 6. Sometimes we were 4 or 2. Somenights we showed up earlier, some nights later and some nights "prime time". And my service was as good as when I did traditional. Traditional does seem like a stampede to me. Everyone arriving at the same time to stand in a line (usually a herd!) Reminds me of Southwest air where everyone is huddled into a huge mass trying to get on the plane (even though thery're split into A B and C groups.) Nothing against Southwest, I actually do fly them often due to the price!

[constantcruiser]

We also prefer traditional dining for many of the same reasons, and we always choose second sitting. But on our last few cruises, we've been disappointed that on many nights the shows for those who had late sitting started at 7:00! IMHO that defeats the whole purpose of late dining...you have to be back aboard ship and ready to start the evening too early.

[SueKayL]

On our sixth Princess cruise this February on Sun Princess we were assigned Personal Choice even though we requested Early Traditional, and had ALWAYS done Early Traditional.

 

One night of "Personal Choice" was enough for me...this whole idea of "finding a table and waiter that you like and then reserving it for the week at the same time" rather defeats the purpose of "Anytime" dining. We were told on the FIRST night that so many folks already had "standing" reservations from 6:00 to 6:30 for the whole 10 day cruise that we should plan to eat at 5:30 or after 8:30!

 

Luckily the first day of the cruise we noticed a time listed in the Princess Patter to discuss dining issues and we went down to the dining room at the appointed time, talked to the Matri' D and asked to be put in Traditional Early, he said he would "make a note of it" and BY THAT EVENING there was a message in our cabin mailbox giving us a table assignment in Early Traditional!

 

So I would suggest you try to get it changed if you don't get the fixed seating .. we might of just gotten lucky, but I KNOW I had a better time on the cruise because of it.

 

Sue

[spongerob]

We have tried both Traditional and Anytime and have seen the pros and cons of each. For us, we prefer traditional fixed seating, late. When we've had service issues (rare) we simply tell someone about it and the problem is fixed. I like the fact that our individual preferences are know - hot tea is waiting for my wife and my bottle of wine or the wine list is there for me. We enjoy getting to the people seated with us and have never been seated with anyone we found disagreeable.

 

One choice isn't necessarily better than the other in general, it's an individual preference.

[spiritkat090909]

We had 5 past cruises between us on NCL before they switched to Freestyle dining. We tried it & hated it...since NCL no longer offered the traditional at all, we switched lines to RCI, then to Princess. I like the way Princess gives a choice but I do agree that they are not balanced appropriately. So far, we haven't had a problem getting our choice of traditional seating times because we either book a year in advance or on the ship for the next cruise. Very easy to get traditional dining on Princess while booking on the ship.:D

[joeinsb]

Like SaylorGirl, Suziehmkr and bjkTX, we prefer PC. We are a very close couple who enjoy each other's company more than that of strangers (although I am very gregarious and will talk to anyone), so sharing a laugh at something others wouldn't understand, is a lot of what dining is all about for us.

 

On Diamond Princess, we showed up every day at 5:30 to ask for the same 2-person table by a window, which we got. After the first couple of nights, the maitre d' automatically sent us to "our" table, even though it wasn't. The waiter and his partner were both Polish, and because I speak the language, we had some great laughs, probably at the expense of others who would have beat us senseless if they knew the joke was on them.:) For us, our cruise on Diamond was one of the best anywhere.

 

By contrast, on QM2 to Hawaii, despite our request more than one year out, we were assigned to a table for six that was located in one of the most undesireable areas in the main dining room. The MD said there was nothing he could do (unless we opted for late seating) and what annoyed us was that they paid no attention to our request. They even forgot my birthday--not that I need the cake.

 

Our tablemates on QM2 were a 50-something lady form Victoria, B.C. and her mom, who lived in Montreal, and a 70-something retired couple from Northern California (FYI, we're retired, my wife is 59, I'm now 68, just to put things in perspective). The Canadians were a delight and one night the four of us played hookey from the main dining room and went to the sailway party just to escape the other couple, who were some of the biggest doofuses we'd ever met (they believed that our table got better service when we were there because we had a better cabin).

 

Likewise, our waiters on QM2 were nothing to write home about and I certainly wouldn't book my next cruise based on getting a great wait staff.

 

Like bjkTX (I think it was) said, you can meet people you like elsewhere on the ship and set up a dinner date with them. Hopefully, they'll be wine drinkers like ourselves who won't give us the stink-eye when our bottle of merlot shows up at the table.:cool:

[elhenry]

Not really what the OP was asking, but isn't thread drift a wonderful thing?

 

Princess tries hard to give you both experiences, but after 4 RCCL and one Celebrity cruise with traditional dining, we tried NCL anytime dining, and we were hooked. We did Princess last year, will do it again this year, and will *never* go back to traditional dining. Yes, we had some interesting tablemates and solicitous waiters from exotic places, but the fourth time around, the fact that the waiter remembers that I want Earl Grey tea and ice cream with my cake is less important than the fact that I can sit on the balcony as long as I want without having to wait until 8:30 (*way* too late) for dinner. I can always ask for Earl Grey tea ... I can't ask for the sun to set twice.

 

el henry

[bdjam]

Just curious, what happens in Traditional if you have a waiter you don't "like"?...I doubt they would let you change 4 times until you found the right one.

It probably would have only taken one try to get an acceptable wait staff. The difference in Traditional is that if you want to change your table, you see the Head Waiter or the Matre’d. Because they’ve had a look around the room, they get an idea of what types of passengers are where and they know their wait staffs. Tell them the issue and they are more apt to be able to find an acceptable table than would the random chance taken with trying different wait staffs in Anytime Dining.

As negc stated above – the waitlist for Traditional wouldn’t be so long if it weren’t a desired option.

[shellbeachjim]

My DH and I enjoy a table for 2, which is impossible to get in traditional dining.

Not impossible, but you'll need to request it early. We've had a table for 2 on our last 2 cruises. Last year we were on the Royal Princess and went to see the Maitre 'd to verify our seating. The couple in front of us were very upset because they had Elite status and wanted a table for two. He could not accomodate them. When it was our turn I asked the Maitre 'd how long prior to the cruise you needed to make the request for a table for 2 and he told us 12 months. Fortunately for us we made the request 17 months in adavance. ;)

[Jimsgirl]

Absolutely traditional dining. I will not book on a line that does not have traditional dining (ie special dining by reservation only) or as a choice as on Princess.

 

The only time I had to do "open seating bteweeen 7-pp.m. (on Seabourn and Crystal segment of World Cruise due to only 300 passengers on board) I was throughly miserable, because I was seated at a table laid for ONE.

[susancruzs]

I love traditional dining and with Princess it has always worked out for me. I sail single most of the time and I've met the greatest people!

 

This Fall I was on the Sea Princess for 21 days, after the first 7 days, they came around and asked if I'd like to stay at the same table for the next 14. It was a large table for 8 right by the window, with great wait staff and I had nice table mates both cruises. People at the next table were staying on, too and chose to stay at their same table.

 

Of all my cruises (19), various lines, Princess always does the best with table assignments. As long as it keeps working, I'll keep doing traditional. I'm rather regimented even on vacation so I need that early dinner.

[Dolphins]

Absolutely traditional dining. I will not book on a line that does not have traditional dining (ie special dining by reservation only) or as a choice as on Princess.

 

The only time I had to do "open seating bteweeen 7-pp.m. (on Seabourn and Crystal segment of World Cruise due to only 300 passengers on board) I was throughly miserable, because I was seated at a table laid for ONE.

 

I will not book on a line that offers only traditional dining. Sailing out of New York year round, we have been won over by NCL's freestyle dining. You get spoiled with a choice of 10 restaurants (only 3 extra charge) where you can dine at anytime you wish. We booked the Crown Princess in October only because we liked her itinerary and Personal Choice dining was available. The only reason more cruise lines have not adapted freestyle dining is because their ships are not configured for it.

[Genessa]

I love traditional dining.

 

When we first cruised and when we cruised with kids, we went with early seating. Now we do late seating and it is wonderful for us for several reasons.

1. I'm on vacation and since we often travel with at least one other couple, if we don't have a specific dining time, every night will be the discussion - what time should we eat tonight. Then, if we had a choice of different restaurants like on NCL - not only when, but where...

Like others here, we dine out often at home, at various times, various places.

Also, since we're not "high maintenance" people, we can enjoy a day at the beach, or on another shore excursion, spend all day at the pool, and go to our cabin and enjoy our balcony, being able to get ready for dinner in under half an hour - so no pressure on us because we have an assigned dining time.

 

2. We like to meet other couples and have had a terrific time on cruises with our tablemates. Sure we sometimes meet other people around the ship, often chatting with them at the pool, lounge chairs, but, honestly, the thought of then trying to set a dinner time or place with them...it's enough of a pain with already established friends - everyone is too polite ...

"when do you want to eat/meet?" "I don't know, whatever time you want" "how is seven?" "seven???" "okay, then, how about seven thirty?"

"no, no, seven is fine..." (but you know it's not).

 

3. what we also enjoy is just being able to linger at the table, having a second cup of coffee. One cruise we took, where we were seated with two other couples we had never met before, we closed down the restaurant every night. If I thought there might be people waiting to come in behind me, I'd be uncomfortable. We also enjoy having the waiters know us and having our drinks ahead of time, etc.

 

4. show times are not especially important to us. We go to shows at home - Broadway, Atlantic City - and if we have nothing else to do and aren't sleepy yet - we'll go to a show. Hmmm, last show was on a cruise we took in 2002.

[stephenandrew]

We cruised on the Grand in January, and were unable to get Traditional Dining--we ended up in the Anytime Dining Room--and this was fine. We met a lot of nice folks on the cruise, and one evening they invited us to eat dinner with them--they had traditional dining. We said we didn't think that would work as we would be taking seats from others. They said don't worry---none of their table mates (they were at a table for 8) had shown up for the entire cruise. (This was about he 4th or 5th evening.) Sure enough, when we went, it was just the four of us. I looked around the dining room and noticed A LOT of empty tables--and asked the waiter about it. He said it was like this every night.

 

I think what is happening is that folks sign up for traditional, and then do whatever they want, e.g. go to the Anytime Dining Rooms. I know the folks we ate dinner with in the Traditional Dining Room came to dinner later in the week in the Anytime DIning Room. I think Princess either doesn't care, or doesn't want to aggravate its customers by telling traditional diners they cannot dine in Anytime.

[lesleyfb]

I like traditional and anytime dining. Both have good/bad points. Usually we go early seating if its traditional which means we miss the sailaways. With Princess we have always gone anytime and have enjoyed that as well.

JudyNorth - I see you are from Newport News. My sister (originally from Scotland) lives there as her husband used to be in the US Navy. We've been to Newport News quite a few times and am excited to see that some cruises are including Norfolk in their itinerary. Hopefully will be able to pop in and surprise my sister from a cruise soon.

[judynorth]

Lesleyfb,

 

A new terminal is almost finished in Norfolk so we are hoping that more cruise lines will come here. I would really like the opportunity to sail from somewhere close to home for a change.

 

On our first cruise we chose traditional dining but our experience was not all that pleasant. Our waiter was rude and our tablemates rather quiet. The cruise started off with many problems and I think much of the problem with the dining experience was because everyone was upset already. We wound up dining the rest of the time with another couple who had PC dining. We enjoyed it but not as much as traditional dining on our next cruise. We know now that we could have done something about the rude waiter, but as newbies, we didn't know how to handle the situation. Our experience on the second cruise more than made up for the bad experience on the first.

[stephenandrew]

 

On our first cruise we chose traditional dining but our experience was not all that pleasant. Our waiter was rude and our tablemates rather quiet. The cruise started off with many problems and I think much of the problem with the dining experience was because everyone was upset already. We wound up dining the rest of the time with another couple who had PC dining.

 

 

Hi--I am curious--did you just go to the PC dining room, or did you actually switch your dining plans, and tell the Traditional Dining Room staff you wanted to change to PC? If its the former, it makes me think that if you want the maximum flexibility, you should sign up for traditional and do whatever you want. I know, I know this is not the right thing to do, but based on what I observed on the Grand in Janauary (see my previous post on this thread), it seems like many people do this. It was amazing to me how empthy the traditional dining room was, and of corse, it was complete full "on paper".

[Leafpeeper]

I will not book on a line that offers only traditional dining. Sailing out of New York year round, we have been won over by NCL's freestyle dining. You get spoiled with a choice of 10 restaurants (only 3 extra charge) where you can dine at anytime you wish. We booked the Crown Princess in October only because we liked her itinerary and Personal Choice dining was available. The only reason more cruise lines have not adapted freestyle dining is because their ships are not configured for it.

 

I agree. We loved sailing NCL Dawn. We are taking Crown Princess Sept 30 because of the itinerary and the anytime dining. Love dining in different places each night and eating when and where I choose. Between Japanese, Mexican, Italian, and so many other restaurants to choose from each night, you can never get bored like we do with traditional dining.

[judynorth]

[

Hi--I am curious--did you just go to the PC dining room, or did you actually switch your dining plans, and tell the Traditional Dining Room staff you wanted to change to PC?

 

Friends on the cruise who had PC dining made reservations for us at their table each night. I suppose that wasn't exactly the "right thing to do" but as new cruisers we didn't really know any better. We had no idea that you could change your dining preference after the cruise started. Our friendship with this couple saved what could have been a disasterous time* for us so we were thankful for them and their "adopting" us at least for the evening meal.

 

(*In case you are wondering, we were on the Diamond on the cruise after it hit the dock in Victoria. We missed 2 of the 4 ports and most of the first day of the cruise. It was a huge disappointment for us first-time cruisers. We didn't know that things like that happened. Now we are "educated" and realize that sometimes the unavoidable happens.)

[LARGIN]

 

Hi--I am curious--did you just go to the PC dining room, or did you actually switch your dining plans, and tell the Traditional Dining Room staff you wanted to change to PC? If its the former, it makes me think that if you want the maximum flexibility, you should sign up for traditional and do whatever you want. I know, I know this is not the right thing to do, but based on what I observed on the Grand in Janauary (see my previous post on this thread), it seems like many people do this. It was amazing to me how empthy the traditional dining room was, and of corse, it was complete full "on paper".

 

On the Coral, they checked your cruise card and if it said Traditional Dining, you were not allowed into the PC dining room. You can make a permanent switch to PC, but once you do you cannot go back to Traditional. This does pertain to the speciality dining areas. You can go there anytime.