is it hopeless?

[Teetype]

I SURELY wish that they would check the cards--we can't go to traditional dining--it's ot fair that traditional diners are taking our space--about a year ago and the Sun or Sea--can't remember which one--the C D on his morning show would encourage Tradional Diners to go to anytime dining if it would work out better for the shows

 

We did enough complaining that the CED quit encouraging the Traditional Diners to take our space--we went to the Traditional Dining room during this time and the Maitre D asked us to eat up there since close to 1/2 of the diners weren't showing up for Late Traditional--

 

Finally got them to look at the cards--then everyone got to have dinner--what a concept--we only take Traditional if we must--such as the TA where there is only one dining room.

 

My next door neighbor for 30 years always chooses Late Traditional and goes wherever she wants--can't understand why I would sign up for ASnytime Dining when could choose Late Traditonal and go to either --she is one of our problems!!!!

 

Nancy:D

 

There's something wonderful about knowing that dinner is anytime between 5:45 and 10pm

 

Yes I know that this won't work with a large group

 

 

 

Our first cruise, we chose traditional late dining with the idea that if we didn't like it we could change. Now, before anyone starts throwing pillows (or rocks) at me, the idea was to let go of the traditional so someone else could have it. It turned out that we loved it.

 

This being said, I think many who book traditional and then don't use it have NO idea they're putting anyone out. VERY FEW CRUISERS READ THESE BOARDS or any other.

 

Let me repeat: few cruisers have contact with scores of others and have no idea their choices impact others in this way.

 

Princess should make clear what the choice of traditional dining means, and how it impacts if one chooses then doesn't use it. VERY few people would willingly put others out. A little bit of education here would go a very long way.

 

Tee

[caribill]

We prefer early, but that waitlist was over 600 long the last time I checked.

 

600 long waitlist means (at two to a cabin) 1200 people who want traditional early seating but cannot have it.

 

335 on the waiting list means 670 people not getting what they want

 

We were once number 408 on the waiting list, meaning 816 people not being assigned to their first choice.

 

In each case, there are enough on the waitlist to fill up another traditional dining room.

[mummsie]

It amazes me why so many pax are desperate to get early dinner seatings. e.g. 6pm rather than 8pm. 2nd seating is so much better, i.e.

1. You do not have to rush back from shore tours,

 

2. More empty seats at the late show.

 

3. You do not miss the sailaways on deck with a cool drink in hand.

 

4. Service is often better at second seating as there is no big rush to get you out to make way for another load of diners.

 

Yes..I have heard that saying..'Americans like to eat early', but then so do a lot of Aussies, particularly the 'senior ' ones on Cruise ships, but surely one can change ones eating habits on a cruise?

 

Cheers..Les:confused:

hi Les, sorry I don't agree. We had to have late sitting on our last cruise and it was awful. We didn't even have the option of Anytime Dining as they have taken it from the Sun. It might be ok if you like to stay up late but our normal bed time is 10-10.30 - we were finishing dinner at around 10 and then basically going for a walk to push it down and then to bed. We love early sitting, we go and eat, go to the show and then go and dance for an hour or two and by then we have worked off all the dinner and then have a good night's sleep. - from another Aussie. mummsie

[bermuda triangle]

Traditional dining fills up first, both early and late, if you wait until 6 months prior to sailing to book it is probably going to be full at both seatings already. It amazes me that people book so late and then decide that their vacation will be "ruined "if they don't have a particular seating. The job I would least want to have on a ship could very well be Maitre'd on the 1st day of a sailing, that poor guy/gal must absolutely dread it. For people who Must have a traditional seating, book early, these cruises come out over a year in advance, Not to sound rude, but that is the reality, if you are 335 on the waitlist think what that number means, 334 booking ahead of you that booked after that seating was full. The 9 day carribeans out of NYC are already available to book. Otherwise, if you do not book early for whatever reason,there is no reason to feel slighted, it is on a 1st come/first served basis, Remember, no matter how early you book, everyone's final payment is due on the same day!

 

Thank you I am well aware of when cruises become available and in many cases it is more than a year in advance. With HAL in Jan. we booked approx. 6 months in advance and were still waitlisted. We also left for the caribbean 11 days, from NYC. We were # 130, on a ship carrying 1000 less passengers than the CB. We found out the night before that we had received the 2nd seating traditional dining. Apparently on HAL if you book in the first three months you are guaranteed a dining spot then mysteriously everyone else is waitlisted. Did it irk me when people at the table in back of us were "no shows" for the entire cruise? A little, because they obviously wanted anytime dining. If HAL continued to sail from NYC we would have waited until they were back and sailed again.

 

As a birthday gift (for me), we are going on this cruise. It was decided that we would go less than 6 months in advance. Lets call it, practically, a spur of the moment decision, as we booked on 6/9. It isn't that we can't afford to book more than a year in advance. In fact that is actually cheaper as you can pay in installments and see if there are price drops, in addition to early booking discounts.

 

DFH is a physician and works 7 days on/7 days off, Mon-Sun. In order to take off more time than 7 days, he also had to find someone in his group to switch days.. they would work the days he needed off and he would either work 10 days in a row, or owe the other person to work at a later date. There have been some changes in his group, some people have left and some new employees. He had a bit of a difficult time finding someone to work for him, as it seems there are many cookouts, weddings, and other drs traveling over the extra weekend he needed off.

 

We are in the process of rehabbing a house built in 1780. The house needed a new foundation. It has been jacked and fortunately the foundation is half poured. We needed to be sure that this was well under way before we booked. Since we are acting as the contractors, many arangements had to be made prior to sailing. We are still making arangements. We didn't feel comfortable sailing with the only support for the house being jackposts. And since the house is entirely gutted, it isn't as though someone could have house sat for us.

 

Do I HAVE to have traditional dining? NO. Would I PREFER traditional dining? YES. Have I posted why in a different post? YES. If I wanted to dine alone, with DFH every night then I would probably enjoy Anytime more. We dine out frequently at home, part of traveling I enjoy is meeting other people though. I have had intriguing dinner conversations with many interesting people. Hence I also selected large table preference.

 

That said, I was (oringinally) wondering the likelyhood of actually being taken off the waiting list. Again this will not ruin my cruise. For as many people who are waitlisted, Princess should be able to see a trend, and sit people accordingly.

 

And as to the comment about final payment...Final payment dates are not the same. Booking through a TA and directly through Princess you will very likely have final payments dates that are within 2 weeks of each other. This is true for most cruiselines vs. TAs. Needless to say we paid full payment at the time of booking due to the late date.

 

I think I pretty much knew the answer to my original post and it was confirmed...

 

Laura

[bermuda triangle]

Our first cruise, we chose traditional late dining with the idea that if we didn't like it we could change. Now, before anyone starts throwing pillows (or rocks) at me, the idea was to let go of the traditional so someone else could have it. It turned out that we loved it.

 

This being said, I think many who book traditional and then don't use it have NO idea they're putting anyone out. VERY FEW CRUISERS READ THESE BOARDS or any other.

 

Let me repeat: few cruisers have contact with scores of others and have no idea their choices impact others in this way.

 

Princess should make clear what the choice of traditional dining means, and how it impacts if one chooses then doesn't use it. VERY few people would willingly put others out. A little bit of education here would go a very long way.

 

Tee

 

 

I agree, maybe the TAs should better inform their clients. Or maybe it should be more definitive in the cruise brochures/online.

 

Laura

[bermuda triangle]

600 long waitlist means (at two to a cabin) 1200 people who want traditional early seating but cannot have it.

 

335 on the waiting list means 670 people not getting what they want

 

We were once number 408 on the waiting list, meaning 816 people not being assigned to their first choice.

 

In each case, there are enough on the waitlist to fill up another traditional dining room.

 

 

Exactly my feelings!

 

Laura

[flag fan]

I read in another thread that one can switch from Traditional to Anytime 1/2 way through the cruise (but once the switch is made, its permanent). Does that mean that waitlisted people in Anytime can be given Traditional 1/2 way through the cruise or people on the waitlist moved off it only if people switch on the first night (or before)?

[3GR8Sons]

I think you misunderstand, I am not lucky enough to book a year in advance, but if I book and the seating is full, I , for one am willing to accept whatever dining is available, be it room service, buffet, etc..... if the line is too long in anytime, the buffet is ok too. If princess takes an "anytime" dining room and devotes it to traditional seating then what? I think the real problem is folks who sign up for a seating without knowing what they really want and then abandoning their tablemates/waiter and dining in the anytime dining rooms. If you remove one anytime dining room imagine what the wait would be with all the peole who feel it's ok to switch on a whim. Princess is trying to offer a variety of dining options, it would help if folks would understand the logistsics of feeding up to 3100 passengers in 4.5 hours and honor their commitments as much as possible. Maybe 6 months ahead is not late in your mind or mine, but when the cruise has been selling for 6-8 months already, it is indeed late for dining choices. Again, I was not trying to brag that I can book a year ahead and so it's great for me, I was being logical.

 

I didn't think you were bragging, I was just not sure how booking a vacation 6 months in advance could be considered booking LATE.

 

The thing that confuses me is that PCL is a cruise line. While the logistics of feeding over 3000 people may be complex, it is what PCL does. Given the amount of complaints about dining from cruisers one would think that the cruise line would figure out how to accommodate its customers.

 

It is not a good business model to have large numbers of customers not getting what they want. This is especially important for a travel company that caters to leisure travelers. When we cruise the tickets cost us enough money so that I am not willing to accept whatever the cruise line has. If its not what I want, why go? It's a vacation. For the amount we spend on a cruise we have other options. The buffet is not an option for dinner. I make better food at home.

[cruise4kicks]

The strange thing about traditional dining that we have run into is that on a resort casual night, usually half the dining room is empty (at least it has been on our cruises). The only time if fills up is on formal nights. So, these tables are sitting unused for most of the cruise, only to hold spots for those on formal nights when they wish to visit the dining room for assigned seating.

 

If Princess would stop those that reserved traditional dining from venturing into the anytime dining rooms, it would help to solve this problem. But as long as they continue to allow those that booked traditional to come and go as they please, and visit other regular anytime dining rooms if they decide the time just doesn't fit their schedule that evening for traditional, there will remain this problem.

 

We often talk with passengers that say that they just were too rushed that evening, or were hungry earlier that expected, so they just go to the anytime dining rooms and skip their traditional as it just didn't work out with what they planned that night.

 

It bogs down the lines for anytime, and leaves those that prefer traditional without any space available, when they really would prefer tradtional dining.

 

So, I feel that Princess is also part of the problem with not enough available space in traditional because of how this situation is being handled allowing passengers to switch back and forth.

Toto, when we were on the KP in 8/2006 they checked cards and would not allow those booked in Traditional dining into the Anytime dining rooms. Are you saying this has changed? :eek: If so, you're right, Princess has helped create the problem and they need to fix it.

[cruise4kicks]

Do I HAVE to have traditional dining? NO. Would I PREFER traditional dining? YES. Have I posted why in a different post? YES. If I wanted to dine alone, with DFH every night then I would probably enjoy Anytime more. We dine out frequently at home, part of traveling I enjoy is meeting other people though. I have had intriguing dinner conversations with many interesting people. Hence I also selected large table preference.

Laura, we were travelling in a group of 4 when we were on the KP and had Anytime dining. (We were also waitlisted for Traditional and didn't make it off the list.) Every time we went to the Anytime dining room we were asked if we wanted a table to ourselves or to share at a table for 8. Most of the time we shared, and had different (and mostly :o ) wonderful dining companions every night. By the last several nights of the cruise we were all chatting across tables to others we had previously dined with -- great fun! And, if you meet some you'd like to eat with again, you can always arrange to meet for dinner and go in together. It's not all bad. ;)

[PINEVIEW01]

You would think that since SO MANY PREFER TRADITIONAL DINING that Princess would get the message and convert one of the other dining rooms to a traditional seating.

You would think. I spent my first day on the ship waiting in line with all that didn't have Traditional and wanted it. So, thier staff spent that first day making standing reservations in the anytime dinning room for 5:30/6:00 and 8:00/8:30 for these passengers. Wouldn't it just be easier to use two? If the have empty table they could use them for anytime over flow.

[Hojo's redbeard]

This thread cracked me up. It's funny how some people just can't believe that everyone else isn't just like them. Thank God we aren't all just alike.

 

Personally I think people from the West Coast sailing from the East Coast would have a hard time with early dinner, as would anyone that stays up late clubbing. We always do early, and it's a little earlier than we usually eat, but we don't stay up late enough to eat at 8.

 

Personally, when I can't get Traditional dining anymore, I quit cruising. One thing that I detest about land based vacations is going to dinner and having to wait for a table...after trying to figure out what restaurant to go to, and getting there. We did a land vacation last summer for a week and dining was miserable. I'm also not going to eat at the buffet. If Princess is having the issues that everyone has been typing about on this and other threads, hopefullly they'll get their act together before November.

 

IMHO from what I've read, anytimers should not be allowed to have reservations, and Traditionals should not be allowed in the Anytime dining room. Also, Princess needs to be flexible on a cruise by cruise basis. If 2/3 of the people want traditional, 2 of the 3 dining rooms should be traditional.

[Floflegs]

It is not hopeless at all, talk with the MD at the set time/location on embarkation day. :)

No bribe necessary.

Don't give up hope. We started at 358 on the wait list and on embarkation day were 120th. We waited for ages to see the MD ( lots of folk were only in the queue to see where their assigned table was:mad: ). We were told TD was full but he would see what he could do. Next day there was a letter assigning us a table in TD. No payment necessary.

[Toto2Kansas]

Toto, when we were on the KP in 8/2006 they checked cards and would not allow those booked in Traditional dining into the Anytime dining rooms. Are you saying this has changed? :eek: If so, you're right, Princess has helped create the problem and they need to fix it.

 

Yep, they are allowing it now. It really makes the anytime dining a mess IMHO and not what it was originally designed for.

[bermuda triangle]

Don't give up hope. We started at 358 on the wait list and on embarkation day were 120th. We waited for ages to see the MD ( lots of folk were only in the queue to see where their assigned table was:mad: ). We were told TD was full but he would see what he could do. Next day there was a letter assigning us a table in TD. No payment necessary.

 

Good to know, I just emailed our TA............(hopefully she will get back to me before we sail...:( ...she is a little slow in responding).......to see if we have moved at all!

 

Thanks,

Laura

[3GR8Sons]

[quote name='Toto2Kansas']Yep, they are allowing it now. It really makes the anytime dining a mess IMHO and not what it was originally designed for.[/QUOTE]

They really should not allow this. It keeps folks who want TD from getting it and it makes people who signed up for AD have to wait longer. People should have to make a choice and live with that choice.