just off sapphire/ personal choice issues

[nellie]

We just got off the Sapphire 2 days ago. What a gorgeous ship. This was our 11th cruise and one of the prettiest ships we've been on. The buffet was very crowded at times but I thought the food was very good. The dining room food was hit and miss. We had a problem with p/c dining. We were traveling as a group of 8. Every night in each of the p/c dining rooms we had problems getting a table to accomodate all of us. They were always trying to split us up because most of the tables are for 4 or 6. They would not even let us make a reservation unless it was before 6:30 or after 8:30pm. We ended up eating at 8:30pm every night just so we could be together. Even though this was a stressful situation it was still much better than being at work. Once we got used to eating at 8:30 it was ok, but this kind of takes the personal choice out of it. I just wanted to give anyone traveling with 8-10 people a heads up of the situation.

 

The weather was fabulous, unfortunately the entertainment was not!

All in all we had a wonderful vacation and are ready to go again.

[PescadoAmarillo]

Thank you for sharing your experiences about PC dining with large parties on the Sapphire. I'm glad that you were so flexible and were able to have such a good time anyways. And it was very exciting to hear about how the Sapphire looks!

 

But, oh your following statement was definitely a testament to your being able to find the good in EVERY situation!

 

Even though this was a stressful situation it was still much better than being at work.

[OCruisers]

Nellie .... Thanks for taking your time to post this and HAPPY that the "Total Cruise Experience" was a good one for you and your friends! We're considering sailing on Sapphire so everything about this ship is important to us!

 

Note: We really don't like PC Dining either! Think it only gives folks the personal choice of waiting around for a table! :rolleyes:

 

Interested in your comment on the ENTERTAINMENT. Was that directed at the Main Show Productions ... or TOTAL ENTERTAINMENT? Please tell us what was offered in the lounges/bars before dinner. Also, was there a band that played at the pool in the afternoons? All info is very much appreciated!

 

Happy Sailing! OCruisers :)

[kruisey]

Thank you for sharing your experiences about PC dining with large parties on the Sapphire. I'm glad that you were so flexible and were able to have such a good time anyways. And it was very exciting to hear about how the Sapphire looks!

 

But, oh your following statement was definitely a testament to your being able to find the good in EVERY situation!

 

It was nice of you to make this comment to Nellie.

What do others views on this' flexible state of mind '?

In the Princess brochure quote 'Anytime Dining:Indulge yourself in the freedom of restaurant-style dining.

Where your dining time is determined by YOU ALONE. Enjoy an early dinner before the show,or a late meal with new friends' unquote.

This does not state 'By the way if you are a party of eight'Hard Luck Mate' only late dining for you' ????????

[Hornet]

Thanks for the heads up, Nellie. We'll be on the Diamond with a group of 10 and heard there was only one table for 10 in each dining room for PC diners. iIm surprised about only being able to choose early or late reservations.

 

Glad you had a good cruise though.

[tootiesmom]

Thanks for posting this info. It makes me feel better about choosing the Traditional Dining option for our cruise next June. So far, we are a "confirmed deposit" group of 24 with the possibility of it ending in the high 30's and I just could not see trying to get that many people to agree on a time and a place for each meal. :eek: I'd spend my day just trying to gather people together to ask them "Where do you want to eat for this meal?".

 

 

tootiesmom

[srphnx]

Groups and PC are a bit of a challenge, I am glad you worked it out.

[BJS]

Frequently groups that large are hard to accomodate even in land restaurants. We had 11 in our group sailing on HAL - Traditional -and had to have two tables of 6. We just rotated every night. Taking a smaller table and rotating makes conversation much easier.

 

The large tables for 10, even in the traditional dining rooms, are not the best because it is impossible to hear those at the other end and you will have several conversations going on at the table which adds to the confusion. We found, also on traditional, that tables for 8 are also difficult but tables for 6 are perfect.

 

As far as the reservations: Even if you had a party for two you might not have been able to make a reservation between 6:30 and 8:30 pm. You can walk up and still choose the size table you would like - yes you may have a wait. Many "land" restaurants also do not take reservations during certain times or not at all. This is "restaurant-style dining.

In the Princess brochure quote 'Anytime Dining:Indulge yourself in the freedom of restaurant-style dining.

Where your dining time is determined by YOU ALONE. Enjoy an early dinner before the show,or a late meal with new friends' unquote.

You still have the option of when to dine - you may not have the option to make a reservation or get a table without waiting for a specific size, wait station, or location- but you are still not told to eat at a specific time (early or late seating).

[Colo Cruiser]

Glad you had fun.:)

[nellie]

BJS- I beg to differ, we were told when to dine, anytime before 6:30 or after 8:30pm. Several nights we went to eat at 6:45 and were told no way, not until after 8:30. All I am saying is, is that people should be aware that if they have a large party they will encounter some sort of hassle. I know how land restaurants work, I was just surprised of the hard time we received. We were the very first people on the ship on Sunday and they would not take a reservation from us between 6:30 and 8:30pm on any night due to having 8 people.

 

As far as the entertainment goes, I was not thrilled with the first production show or any of the comedians or ventriliquist show. However, that is just my opinion. There was no live music by the pool at all, they did play music from cd's.

[srphnx]

There is no question that larger group makes it more difficult for all involved.

[CruiseFever]

Big tables do seem to come up as a difficult party to seat quickly.

 

On the Golden we were in Anytime Dining but were chicken about it so we did the standing reservation thing as did a huge table, all of 8 or more even, right next to us every night.

 

I suppose we could call that PC with a twist because we (and they) had the same table with the same service team using the same menu at the same time every night. The only thing that was really different between that an Traditional Dining was that the people around us changed and came and went like in a land based restaurant.

 

Oh, and we had no singing waiters....do they even do that in Traditional anymore?

[imsulin]

I did Traditional in the 50's, 70's 80's, 90's, and into the new millenium. I like Traditional. I didn't book Princess because of PC dining. Don't care about singing waiters. I like my chair and table to be ready when I've chosen it to be ready.

 

Now, please excuse me while I play "Pong", iron my bell-bottoms, and balance my checking account on my slide rule....!

[BJS]

BJS- I beg to differ, we were told when to dine, anytime before 6:30 or after 8:30pm. Several nights we went to eat at 6:45 and were told no way, not until after 8:30.

I stand corrected.( That is what is so nice about these boards- we hear exactly what goes on when cruising on the different ships.) On the ships we have sailed have often seen large parties seated between 6:30 and 8:30 when they have walked up. I had never seen anyone turned away they were always seated at one or two tables. It is disturbing to hear that people are turned away and told to come back at 8:30 if they show up at 6:45 or 7:00 pm.

[yasbindmd]

It was nice of you to make this comment to Nellie.

What do others views on this' flexible state of mind '?

In the Princess brochure quote 'Anytime Dining:Indulge yourself in the freedom of restaurant-style dining.

Where your dining time is determined by YOU ALONE. Enjoy an early dinner before the show,or a late meal with new friends' unquote.

This does not state 'By the way if you are a party of eight'Hard Luck Mate' only late dining for you' ????????

I think PC is great. Sure, you may have to wait for a table, but think about it, don't you normally wait a little bit for a table when you "indulge yourself in the freedom of restaurant-style dining".

 

I know that some of you expect to be seated at a restaurant right when you arrive, regardless of party size. But here in realityland, that doesn't happen.

 

So, my question is, why on a ship holding some 3000 diners with 4 choices of restaurants would you expect no wait?????

[srphnx]

I think PC is great. Sure, you may have to wait for a table, but think about it, don't you normally wait a little bit for a table when you "indulge yourself in the freedom of restaurant-style dining".

 

I know that some of you expect to be seated at a restaurant right when you arrive, regardless of party size. But here in realityland, that doesn't happen.

 

So, my question is, why on a ship holding some 3000 diners with 4 choices of restaurants would you expect no wait?????

Actually with Traditional, Sabatini's, Horizon court and room service it is 8 choices.

[yasbindmd]

Actually with Traditional, Sabatini's, Horizon court and room service it is 8 choices.

Technical, technical:D :D

 

Sabatinis can hold what?, about 100 with probably 2 seatings per table, 3 if you are lucky. Traditional two seatings, about 700-800 hundred tops. How many people do you think do horizon court per night? Let's say 10% that's 300. Now, we're at 1300 non PC diners out of 3000 (I think I'm being generous).

 

My point is that those other 1700 hundred diners can't all show up at the Sterling Steakhouse at 7 pm and expect to be seated right away. It just can't be done.

 

I'm fine with PC, but, I have realistic expectations.

[srphnx]

That I agree with, in fact I have made that exact point when people want to take a curiosity visit to PC from traditional usually at peak times and usually to Sterling.

 

And just to be clear, horizon court feeds nearl ALL of pax for breakfast and lunch, I bet if they had lobster tails on the buffet line on formal night, it would feed 1500 at least.

[shellmiya]

Having just returned from The Sapphire and being in the hospitality industry I feel as though I can comment. It is difficult for a party larger than 6 to dine together except at 6 or after 8- even if you attempt to book your reservations by 12noon on the 1st day. They do not have enough large tables in the PC dining rooms, and they sometimes reserve these tables for special gatherings that are somehow planned ahead of time (which I was unaware of the possibility of doing this in advance). Even when we agreed to wait an extra hour so we could sit together- pushing our reservation from 8 to after 9- we were still seated at 2 separate tables???? Having worked in hotels and restaurants for 25 years, I disagree that it is hard to seat 8, 10 or 12 people in most restaurants, especially with a reservation- we just push tables together! Something that these dining rms cannot do because the tables are afixed to the floor, (except some of the 2-tops on the sides.) I will definately chose traditional over PC in the future when with a group.

 

The rotation system sounds like a great alternative. I wonder if we can use that system with our mates.....just kidding.

[kruisey]

I've always asked to be seated on an 8 table being a single human being and on my last cruise...met up at dinner with others at my table that were 'laugh alot at dinner types'....we arranged to have the same table for eight (Actually 7 of us every nite at 6PM in PC)....it was that round raised table in the middle of the room. We received a card in our cabins to say that table was reserved every nite at 6 for us.

On another occassion sat the whole journey with the same table mates on a long oblong table for 8..........so they do have tables that big.

Oh just remembered on my last cruise met up with the cruisecritic group( Oh what a lovely bunch of coconuts we were), and they made us up a big table for 12 in the far corner of the trad dining room....so they can make up large tables. I have been very lucky that way.

[loge23]

We choose Princess these days mainly because of the PC. The waiting time is almost always much shorter than the snooty maitre 'd's estimate. However, we have never been a part of a large group so I can't comment on that problem.

The fact is, as we have noticed, the DR staff just doesn't like PC. The tips are perceived to be less than traditional by the waiters - and they may be right. But the PC option is a huge selling point for Princess. I suggest that they have had plenty of time to fine tune the process by now. Particularly annoying to us is being told we have to wait when clearly there are many empty tables available. Overall, we still favor PC and are willing to play the game at the door for the flexibility.