PC Question for Caribbean Princess

[mek]

11 of us will be on the Caribbean Princess in November. Has anyone else used PC with a group this large and been able to all sit together? If so, did you make a reservation, or just go to the dining room when ready? Did you have to wait long?

[CruiseFever]

You need to make a reservation....maybe several.

 

You can just walk in and they'll do what they can to seat you asap but a table of that size is not really common. If you get in that position where its time for dinner and you don't have a reservation you might want to consider telling them you'd take two tables close together. That request can be met without any unusual delay.

 

If anything I would OVER reserve tables at times when you think you might be dining but be sure to call and cancel the ones you don't use as soon as you know you wont be using them.

[srphnx]

Chris,

How can you over reserve? When I make one they ask for cabin number and numer of anyother cabins being added to ours.

[CruiseFever]

Chris,

How can you over reserve? When I make one they ask for cabin number and numer of anyother cabins being added to ours.

 

If you're at least 16 minutes apart in the central reservation system it will take. We'll make reservations for 6:00, 7:00 and 8:00 under three different names each with two phony cabin numbers included. They don't check ID at the door.

 

The way we did it was kind of a crap shoot betting that the phony cabins had not already made reservations. The guy that told me this was like the organizer from a big family reunion group and he had a pretty good idea who was going to be a walkin, dine at a buffet or have room service for dinner.

 

All the dining rooms are connected with one system so they can maximize efficiency. One dining room may have room in it right now for walkins while another is on a wait.

 

The theory is that whoever is working the door in the full room can make a reservation for ten minutes from now in the room with the space in it (to allow you time to walk there and so no one else can grab that table while you're in transit)

 

In practice though the focus is on seating tables right now while holding reservations no more than 15 minutes before releasing the table. As long as we showed up with no more than the amount of people reserved (less was fine) nobody blinked an eye.

 

The theoretical goal is for all the tables to be full all the time during open hours. That's not really possible but they do not want a bunch of open tables, especially by the front door where antsy waiting diners can see and wonder what's going on.

 

Of course, as with any reservation, we'd call to cancel the one's not used, releasing the table for someone else. Way too many people don't do that which accounts for many of the open tables waiting for someone to arrive who won't show up. If you take all those ten or 15 minute idle periods and add them up it amounts to a whole bunch of people who could have walked right in and sat right down over the course of an evening.

 

And that's probably way more than you wanted to know about that little trick huh?

[srphnx]

And I thought I was a meal time scammer. I see I have much to learn.

[monk888]

I believe I just heard Pandora's Box creaking open. This should be interesting.

 

The Monk

[srphnx]

Hey, I show up for my reservations, but I do make two dinner rezzies each night.

[mek]

So you think if all 11 of us show up without reservations and are willing to sit at two tables,we won't have to wait very long? Did PC with my husband last October on the Star and loved it, but he didn't. We did traditional on the Grand last month for him, but are switching back to PC in November because as a group, we just want to hang out, take it easy and eat when we feel like it. Reservations kind of kill the whole concept, in my oppinion.

[CruiseFever]

So you think if all 11 of us show up without reservations and are willing to sit at two tables,we won't have to wait very long? Did PC with my husband last October on the Star and loved it, but he didn't. We did traditional on the Grand last month for him, but are switching back to PC in November because as a group, we just want to hang out, take it easy and eat when we feel like it. Reservations kind of kill the whole concept, in my oppinion.

 

 

I think PC will fit very nicely in with your plans. If I had to guess I'd say if you walked in at peak time and it was packed you'd wait 20 minutes tops. The cool part is they give you a buzzer/blinker/pager thing to hold that lets you know when your table is ready so you don't have to stand around waiting for them to holler out your name like at the Olive Garden

[clandt]

I would suggest going to the Palm dinning room, instead of the Coral. Less people go there. We never had a wait for a table of four and there were always plenty of tables and I never saw a line of people waiting. We cruised last week with a ship ABOVE the max capacity at 3,400.

 

Christy

[TexEm]

Wow, Christy, didn't know we had 3400 last week!! (Caribbean Princess)

We made reservations each night, first night Sabatini's--one night Palm, other nights Coral. Each night in the Coral we had the same tables and waiters and it was just like traditional. Because of the large size group, we had 2 tables of 8--always at 6 p.m. (Sabatini's was later)--that was fine, it let us eat our second dinner after midnight at Cafe Caribe. Depending on the makeup of your large group, you may not want to walk in without reservations--if it's just adults, probably okay. But with kids?? (do you want to wait as they complain? Even with a pager?) If reserving, I think you have to reserve by 5 p.m. Chris--is there anything you don't know about how to get around things? (gift wrapping Heinekens comes to mind)