Anytime dining is not at "any" time on the Diamond!

[maryevelyn]

Hi, just like some others, I am confused why you would want to make reservations for dinner if you select personal choice. We prefer personal choice

because we like our table for two and the flexibiltiy of dining when it suits our

schedule. Sometimes we dine earlier to work around the later show and sometimes we go to the first show and dine afterwards. We have never had to wait more than 5 minutes for a table. We have cruised Golden and Grand. We are trying out Sun next time. We did use traditional dining on our last RC cruise and that worked out well as we were travelling with family and we were a large group.

My sister just got back from Med.cruise on Star and said they selected personal choice, enjoyed their wait staff so much that they made a standing reservation for the rest of their cruise for that same table. This I can understand, as I have heard other people say this. My sister said she enjoyed it so much she might always choose personal choice. It does make the dining experience a little speedier when you are not waiting for an entire table to be served all the different courses.

[espmass]

I have always taken the traditional late seating and the last time it seemed too late. By too late, I mean by the time we finished and left the dining room it was often well past 10:30 (dinner was at 9). We had to rush for the late show and then it was almost midnight. Being only an hour or so since dinner I was never hungry for any of the midnight treats so that was wasted and I was also tired. That's what I mean by too late. On the other hand, the early seating is way too early since there is so much to do in the afternoon between being on land, napping, swimming, etc etc. Dinner at 8 would be perfect for me and that's what I had hoped for with Anytime Dining.

[melissa_bel]

My take is that the problems are essentially limited to the Sapphire and Diamond because instead of 2 big rooms, they have 4 little ones dedicated to Anytime Dining. It's a different system and apparently, Princess need to fix it. To me, the fact that reservation are allowed (or even required) just defeats the whole purpose of Anytime Dining.

I have never read so many complains about Anytime Dining before those ships came along.

Again, on the Grand, we NEVER encountered any problems to be seated anytime we wanted to so, I want to reassure all the cruisers (especially Espmass) out there who have never tried it, Anytme Dining works for the big majority who try it.

[cali-croozer]

Every time I read one of these messages about problems with Anytime Dining, I get worried that we made a big mistake in opting to try it for our upcoming cruise on the Star in February. I keep wondering if we should switch back to Celebrity where we can stick with traditional dining(too late to chance back on this ship). Yes, making a reservation does seem to defeat the purpose of AD but it does alleviate the problem of having to wait in line at a popular time. At least that's what we were led to believe. I have been having doubts as to whether I made the right choice ever since I made it, although I have also read some good opinions of the AD experience.

 

My parents booked a last minute cruise on the Sun----they're on it now! Anyway, at the time of booking traditional seating was full but they were put on a waiting list for late traditional. They were able to get it! It's not too late to switch. Just ask your TA to put you on the waiting list....she/he can also tell you what number you are on the list. In my parents case, early traditional had a waiting list of over 100, but late had less than ten. It's not a sure thing, but you do have a chance!

[Carquay]

Our situation on the Diamond last August was similar to so many of your posts. Reservations is obsessed with the time 6:20. Since we take our time eating, we noticed that the restaurants would be at least half cleared-out by 7:30; I guess from people with 6:00 reservations.

 

Being in a suite did absolutely nothing to help us with reservations.

 

Is it possible that they are trying to manufacture the same sort of early and late seatings as Traditional in order to go with the rhythm of the kitchen? That way they aren't putting out many starters at 7-7:30 and can focus on the last of the entrees and dessert?

[sueceecat]

Was on the Diamond 9/11 sailing ( Alaska ) -and while Personal Choice dining was not perfect- we did not have any real problems with it at all. I'm sure reading this informative board first helped temper my expectations, and I followed the advice I picked up here as well. We made reservations the for the first few nights- our tour escort made reservations for another and our friends made reservations for a few nights. The only night that we could not get what we wanted was the night we docked in Victoria;we could not get anything in any restaurant and we all had to do the buffet. I agree the the times they give you seem VERY limited for something called Personal Choice- but overall we were very happy with it and found it more flexible than traditional seating. BTW, isn't "anytime dining" NCLs' program?

[Coral]

NCL refers to their dining as "Freestyle".

[cactusrose]

I hope that everyone that had a bad experience with this indicated that on the survey card at the end of the cruise. If enough complain, Princess will do something about it. As far as having to make reservations, that should be up to the individual. Those who want to can, and those who don't can take their chances. If someone makes a reservation, his or her table should be held for no more than 10 minutes. 10 minutes grace time be should enough. After all we are on a ship, it's not like we have to drive miles to get there and run the risk of getting held up in traffic. Hopefully, Princess will work out the kinks and things will run smoother in the future. However, this just confirms my preference for traditional dinning and I am now regreting agreeing to try anytime.

[KAJOKG]

"Any time Dining" is on NCL. Princess is "Personal Choice Dining" -- Splitting hairs? Maybe, but there is a slight difference.

[bcs819]

cactusrose, you bet I did :) I started out saying "my cabin steward was the best ever" and worked my way down to "PC DINING will keep me from sailing Princess again."

[skarletohara]

Kojokg,

The dining system is referred to as "Anytime Dining" on the Diamond and

it was Personal Choice on the Golden 9 months ago, as well as the Star a year ago.

 

As I stated before, my husband and I loved PC dining on the other two Princess ships, and of course, on this Diamond cruise, I naively expected the

"anytime" process to run the same way.

 

Princess has some serious problems with this. I might also add, the lobster

on this cruise was the smallest, tiniest lobster I've ever seen, the portions of

food were much scarcer in the dining rooms compared to the other two Princess ships that I'd sailed on, but the food was pretty good!

 

Also, my mother and I encountered someone on board ship who requested

another entree after consuming their first entree and were told a flat-out

"No." Now, I know for a fact that one can have two or even three entrees

if they wish. Also, let me add, my mom and I were a party of two, so when

we called for reservations, we had to state how many, and that is exactly

what we got, a table for two every night! We wanted to share a table with

others, but they never offered that option. We did speak with someone on

day three who said that they finally called for reservations and were told

that they would have to "share" a table. But we tried that and we were limited to table for two.

 

I plan on contacting corporate Princess and even forwarding this thread to them. This is unacceptable that they had a program that worked and they're causing more problems than need be. They, at a minimum, should

remove the title "anytime dining" and replace it with a more correct title such

as "possible anytime dining" or "mandatory reservations dining" or something

that more accurately reflects what it is.

 

Also, we ate at Horizon Court one evening and it was packed with people

at 9 o'clock. My husband and I ate on the Star and the Golden at 9 o'clock

and there were maybe 20 people at most in the buffet at that time of the night. Several people we encountered also had the story that when they were turned away from the dining rooms they were told that they could eat at the buffet.

 

I really think when the Diamond is dry docked that they should knock out the

walls between the sante fe/pacific moon and sterling/vivaldi and just go back

to the plain-old ordinary larger restaurants without any specialty whatsoever

and just offer a specialty of the evening like they used to.

[Coral]

Princess has changed their terminology the past few years.

 

When they introduced "Personal Choice dining" it was referring to those who choose to eat anytime. So there was "Traditional and Personal Choice dining".

 

People were confused and Princess changed the wording a little. Personal Choice then referred to a concept Princess has to offer many dining choices (such as buffet, anytime dining, traditional dining, room service, etc.. ) and "Anytime Dining" was used to explain those who prefer to go to the open dining room (not traditional).

 

This is why some of us who have sailed with Princess for awhile refer to Anytime Dining as Personal Choice Dining - this is the term we were first given for this type of dining.

[cyndeeee]

We are new to Princess, and we selected the Late Seating with a large table. Now if a few nights we want to eat early, are we able to go to any PC to eat? or do we have to stay with the orginal Late Seating? (This is a long cruise) Thank you

[melissa_bel]

Yes, you can. You can go PC or to the alternative dining rooms. Just make sure to tell the Maitre D' (so he can warn your tablemates in case you didn't tell them).

[gatour]

Spongerob,

 

We are in agreement, with personal choice dining I can do what I and you said. The person I was replying to said, that if you want a set dining time you can book the traditional dining room. The point I was trying to make is that if I booked the traditional dining room the early seating was too early and the late seating was too late. With personal dining I can pick a time more conducive to my habits abeit if it is the same time each night

[KAJOKG]

Well, I really hate traditional dining and was reluctant to cruise for that reason. So whatever it's called -- Anytime, Freestyle, Personal Choice, that's for me. I have no problem with Princess Personal Choice. I have been on the Golden (twice) and the Island and really enjoyed the dining option. And my one experience with NCL's dining choice was great. I like HAL, but steer away from that line because of traditiional dining. I have heard that they are staggering dining hours, though.

[heatmiser]

Late traditional is my preference, and I would only do PC if it allowed me to share a table. Hearing that people were told "no" when asking to share will send me running to another cruise line when I go solo.

Just my opinion, but I think the reason they only offer 6:20/8:20 for reservations is because, in order to accomodate all the pax, they need to "turn" the table once during the evening - allowing two sittings per table. When people request 7 or 7:30 it would be tough to turn it before or afterwards. Anyone in the restaurant biz care to speculate?

Jo

[geoherb]

When we had PC dining on the Golden, we tended to go late--after 9:00. (The first night, we showed up at 7:00 and had to wait 30 minutes.) We never got to share a table after the first night because no one else was asking for shared tables this time of night.

I prefer second seating traditional dining. Fortunately, on our last two cruises, we've been able to get it.

[roohound]

actually, in defense of both people who use the term "Personal Choice Dining" and "Anytime Dining" Princess makes it easy to be confused.

If you check out their website, it refers to "Personal Choice Dining" but when you read the Personal Choice Dining info it says:

In addition to the Fixed Traditional Seating, Princess has cooked up a revolution in cruising called Anytime Dining.

[url]http://www.princess.com/onboard/dining/co_dining.html[/url]

So I use both interchangeably since they do ;)

[Aquarian]

We've done personal choice dining on the Grand, Golden and the Caribbean. We have never had a problem. We never make reservations and we always show up when we feel like it and we always get the table we request with either no wait at all or 5-10 minutes on formal nights. It has worked very well for us.

[seastar2]

First I believe that Princess call this dining option "Personal Choice". Yes you should be able to CHOOSE when and were you want to eat! How many of us have gone to our favorite land based reaturant between 7-8pm with out a reseravation and had to wait, no differant then the ship, hense "early bird specials" at home. ;)

I personally had no problems on the Island last year..in face by chance we ate with the same people on several occaions. No problems that were major, one waiter wasn't great but it wasn't worth gettin upset over. Never waited more then 5-10 minutes .

Am doing it again this year, on the Dawn.

[WeBeGone]

We have never made any reservations and except for one formal night when we had to wait 10 minutes, we've been seated when we showed up at the door. Of course we're usually there around 5:30 or 6 but we love the PC dining and have never had a problem with it.

[DEERINH2O]

I wasnt planning on making any reservations for my upcoming Star cruise, except for Thanksgiving, when all 9 of us want to eat together. Am I wrong? I thought that was what PC was all about, I don't want to stress about dinner and I want to eat when I want to, we like to eat later, after 8:30, the kids are only planning on joining us for one or two dinners, so it will usually be just 4 adults, do I need reservations, we are open to sitting anywhere, we will sit with others, it really doesn't matter. We had traditional and I changed it, I hope I didn't make a mistake.

thanks,
kathy

[sueceecat]

I stand corrected Re: terms- "Personal Choice" and "Anytime Dining " - thanks.

[melissa_bel]

Kathy,
The nights the kids are going to eat with you, I think it would be better to make a reservation as 9 is already a sizeable group and they can accomodate that better if they know in advance.
Otherwise, all you have to do is show up at the door.