Personal Choice Dining

[rockgarden]

We are on Sapphire Princess Jan.18 Australia/New Zealand. At present, we are on late dining. Is it possible to do the Personal Choice a couple of nights?

Our TA said "No - once you have decided on the traditional dining, that is what you are stuck with."

So, experienced PAX - can we do personal choice a couple of times and stay with late seating the rest, or are we stuck with the late seating for the whole cruise?

[HighRoller]

Your TA is ill informed, so first priority above all is get an experienced TA...(Just kiding but wouldn't hurt either) Yes you can do Personal Choice a couple of nights, and also Sabatini's Sterling Steak House. Although, you may get some on here disclaim taht it is not fair to your feloow table mates who are expecting you for meals...My solution just simply inform them at lunch or teh prior evening that you have made other plans.....

[srphnx]

HR.. you blew this call.. The TA is right.. you CAN do Sabatinis but NOT the 4 themed rooms.. been there sailed that and I know FIRST hand... The PC rooms are NOT for Traditional diners.. they are correctly reserved for the two-thirds of the pax that are PC. Don't feel bad, on other Grand class you can.

[tom-n-jules]

Rock, I'd recommend you switch to Anytime since you'd like that flexibility to eat at "anytime" on a couple of nights. You may find after doing it the first night that you like it so much, you want to finish your cruise out that way.

 

Princess says that you can switch from Traditional to Anytime anytime "within the first 24 hours"; don't recall exactly where I read that, or what your options are AFTER the first 24 hours, or who stops you from switching thereafter.

 

Being a fan of Traditional, you may want to switch at the outset as I understand there's typically a waiting list of people trying to get in the Traditional dining rooms, and having a spot open up for them would probably make them very happy!

 

Conversely, you may want to wait until the first dinner of your cruise, and if you get great tablemates, you might find you want to stick with your Traditional for the entire cruise!! There's nothing better than getting a tableful of great people whose company you get to enjoy all week!

[HighRoller]

But Srphnx, I heard that they don't like having you flip flop from the 4 other specialty restaurants, but come on if these people want to try it they should be welcomed either way.....don't tell me this is another..."them's the rules like Fromal Night" threads I hope?

[sue d. miller]

Unless they have changed it, you can not on other grand class either. If you are traditional , you can skip a night for Sabbatinis, or sterling, or Horizon, after you have let your waiter know that you will not be at your table, out of respect to waiters, and tablemates, You can not go to Pc. You can, if you make the switch, but not back and forth.

[srphnx]

NO... they shouldn't be welcomed "either way" because the PC diners aren't welcomed at the traditional, surely you don't think it is fair for it to be one-way only?.. You don't get to try someone elses cabin for a day... this isn't about rules it is about structure... and yes there is SOME.

[HighRoller]

We'll Srpphnx there has to be a shot gun clause for these people to try the other 4 specialty restaurants without having to give up there Traditonal Dinning arragments?...oh great one, please enlighten us all as you know you got me on this one as I sail only on the Sapphire in 4 months!

[srphnx]

Yes, there is a way.. you get the PC menu in your traditoinal room.. so you get the try without the hassle of chainging rooms and offsetting people who should be there, so it is win-win. You get all 4 rooms over the course of the week.

 

No problem.

 

We'll Srpphnx there has to be a shot gun clause for these people to try the other 4 specialty restaurants without having to give up there Traditonal Dinning arragments?...oh great one, please enlighten us all as you know you got me on this one as I sail only on the Sapphire in 4 months!

[HighRoller]

Sounds easy enough...but you know me Srphnx if I had the Traditional Seating I'd would slither out and come back in just to try it in the other rooms.....

[CruiseFever]

The consensus of opinion here is that the wise move is to book traditional if you think you're going to want it at all. Then, once on board if you decide you want Anytime Dining (AKA "Personal Choice") you can switch, but you'll have a really hard time going back.

 

The reason is that there's usually always a waiting list to get into traditional dining, the first choice of many passengers who either like it that way, have not given Personal Choice a chance or tried it and didn'nt like it.

 

More and more travel agents in tune with the preferences of each individual client are offering a choice and explaining it to the best of their ability. But if you've not experienced Personal Choice first hand it can be a difficult concept to grasp. I know it was for me, but once onboard I found that it was just what I needed.

 

It's customary though to keep the dining room staff informed as to what you're doing. If you know you're not going to make it to your traditional seating, give the dining room a call so one of those people who are waiting can get in, if only for one night. If you've decided to go Personal Choice all the way, tell them that to; you might just make somebody elses cruise!

 

Either way you're in for a first-class dining experience that will help you "escape completely" as they say

[zurmoly]

No,No..We just had our TA switch us from traditional to PC for our cruise in Feb...She said, no problem, done.

[sue d. miller]

HR, You can slither, but it won't help you. :D They check cabin# and it gives dining preference. The maiterD has lists of both!!

[srphnx]

You do get to "try" the Pacific Moon every day at tea. Even the traditional diners get tea, just as PC gets to eat in the trad. DR for breakfast and lunch. This controversy is only an issue for those who haven't sailed it, it is easy to understand on board. Funny though I never hear about anyone trying to get into traditional dining once assigened PC just to "try" it, even those who really wanted it and coudn't get it. Leave the traditional spots to those who are sure they want them all week, there are plenty of them.

[rockgarden]

Thanks for all the responses. We do like late seating and if we get a good group with us, it is wonderful. So, we will do the late the first night and if we are not a happy group, shall try to change to PC. Actually, we are not worried about what is on the different menus, I had heard that you can choose from the other menus - it was the time factor which, on occasion, does not work too well on either of the traditional times.

Our TA if ok and was very definite with her response, it was just that I had read somewhere on these boards that the PAX had tried PC one night and then gone back to traditional without too much problem.

 

Anyway, thanks - and here's to a fantastic group at our table.

Happy cruising to all - knew I would get some decent answers here; I always do.

[Irishjayne]

Correct me if I am wrong. We are on Traditional 2nd seating. TA says if we want to join other friends on the cruise who have PC for dinner we can. We just have to let the wait staff know ahead of time in Traditional that we will not be there that night. Does that sound right?

[sue d. miller]

You can join them in Sabbatinis or Sterling steak house, but not in PC.

[srphnx]

No, as stated above and elsewhere, the PC rooms are for PC diners... just as the trad. room is for trad. diners. The PC rooms are not the catch all for those who are curious, delayed or bored with tradional. They serve the lions share of the meals to the lions share of the pax. It is not reasonable to expect that it should be one way in terms of flexibility... you maintain your traditional slot while taking up space and service from those who have no option to take yours.

 

Sabatini's is alternative on Diamond/Sapphire but Sterling is not, it is one of the four PC rooms.

 

Correct me if I am wrong. We are on Traditional 2nd seating. TA says if we want to join other friends on the cruise who have PC for dinner we can. We just have to let the wait staff know ahead of time in Traditional that we will not be there that night. Does that sound right?

[Irishjayne]

Next Question. Can we order food from the Sante Fe & Pacific Moon menus in Traditional seating? I was told we can.

I was also told that if we miss our seating we could eat in another dining room.

[srphnx]

Yes, each of the PC menus will be offered in the traditional room, you get the same food but don't need to change rooms to do so. It is a way to solve the curiousity problem.

[Irishjayne]

Because we are traveling with 37 other people, I was hoping that we could join them 1 or 2 nights outside of traditional. From what you said we can not do that even if they were to make a reservation including us.

[sue d. miller]

That is correct. You can always switch from traditional to PC for the week.

[srphnx]

It might be possible, things slip through the cracks all the time. However, the Maitre'd can and will check the cabin number... an option would be to meet them in Sabatini's or if you wish to be with them you could join them in PC. or join them at breakfast and lunch, there is nothing sacred about the evening meal.

 

Because we are traveling with 37 other people, I was hoping that we could join them 1 or 2 nights outside of traditional. From what you said we can not do that even if they were to make a reservation including us.

[Cruisin' George]

We wanted first dining on our summer cruise and ended up w/ PC. I'm glad. The five of us went when we wanted and were immediately seated as long as we were willing to share a table. We liked that too. Meeting new people was fun.