Trad. dining times on the Coral for Panama Canal

If any recent cruisers on the Coral for a full transit of the Panama Canal could let me know exactly what the early traditional and late traditional dining times are, I would really appreciate it. Thanks!

Would suggest checking on your Cruise Personalizer the specific time for your cruise. It is under Dining Preferences of your Booking Summary. It will also indicate which time is on waitlist.

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The Coral and Island in the Panama Canal have a well documented history of set dining times being earler-than-normal 5:30 and 7:45. With the "extra-early" sitting (if offered) at 5:15 or possibly 5:00. Even if the times in the personalizer are different (and usually are) that is what you learn upon boarding.

I am on the Coral in Feb next year doing the Panama Canal and the traditional dining times are:

5:15pm

5:45pm

8:00pm

I have selected 8:00pm

Chez

I am on the Coral in Feb next year doing the Panama Canal and the traditional dining times are:

 

5:15pm

5:45pm

8:00pm

 

I have selected 8:00pm

Just came off the Coral on October 12th (did Alaska then Panama out of Vancouver), dining times were 5:15/7:30 the entire trip.

Thank you so much! This info will be helpful in talking to our travel companions about which traditional dining time to choose. (We prefer late traditional, but wanted to be able to give them some idea about how "late" that might be.)

The actual times can change cruise to cruise. I always have late traditional and it has been as early as 7:30 and as late as 8:30 over the last 25 years or so

Just came off the Coral on October 12th (did Alaska then Panama out of Vancouver), dining times were 5:15/7:30 the entire trip.

We did the return trip on the Coral Princess from Oct 12-27 (Fort Lauderdale to San Francisco). The traditional dining times were the same as stated above, 5:15/7:30. We opted for the 7:30 seating, and the Provence Dining Room was never filled. Service was efficient, and you could easily be done with dinner by 8:45. We rarely were there past 9:00 (when we lingered and chatted with the guests, maître d', and the waiters) and made the 9:30 show with no problems.

Thank you! We chose late traditional & I think that will be just right.

We did the return trip on the Coral Princess from Oct 12-27 (Fort Lauderdale to San Francisco). The traditional dining times were the same as stated above, 5:15/7:30. We opted for the 7:30 seating, and the Provence Dining Room was never filled. .......

We sail Dec 6 and have a confirmed 5:45 traditional dining time but I am now reading here and on "Patters" from previous cruise in Oct. that there is only one early time@ 5:15. That is wait listed and so is the 5:45.

Has anyone had this experience and if so what dining were you assigned when boarded?:confused:

We sail Dec 6 and have a confirmed 5:45 traditional dining time but I am now reading here and on "Patters" from previous cruise in Oct. that there is only one early time@ 5:15. That is wait listed and so is the 5:45.

 

Has anyone had this experience and if so what dining were you assigned when boarded?:confused:

I made a similar inquiry on another thread or Roll Call recently. Didn't get as many answers seemingly definitive as here. It seems that ships are setting all times earlier than what is posted still in reservation system. Late dining used to be 8:00pm or maybe 8:15pm. I wonder if changes in entertainment or desire for earlier times made a big shift. Unfortunately moving up late dining forces early dining even earlier. As recent as two years ago we could dine beginning at 5:45pm official and could arrive up to 6:00pm. My wife just cruised with daughter and it was 5:15pm. Don't like that - too early. Might have to switch to AT and deal with it.

IDK why Princess is offering TWO early times for Island and Coral as these ships only have 2 DR's. The Aft DR will be all TD. If the mid-ship is all AT, then no space/room for a second early TD time, but they offer it when booking and maintain two different wait lists.

We picked 5:45pm for our January trip, but I am expecting we will be assigned 5:15pm anyway. I plan to inquire more about this when we do a BVE on Island on Dec 6.

There are two DRs, but one (Bordeaux) is the Your Time dining room and the second (Provence) is the traditional dining. Provence will seat overflow from Bordeaux during the late seating. I noticed that on our Panama Canal cruise, the early traditional dining seemed to be more crowded (lines getting in, sneaking a peak through the door, chatting with the waiters), so I would believe that the early traditional time (5:15) might be on a waitlist.

Keep in mind that the full transit is a 15+ day cruise, and that the majority of people who have that much time available would be seniors. (I am 57, and I felt that I was in the younger demographic on our recent PC full transit cruise.) Seniors tend to want to dine early, and so would be another reason the early traditional dining would fill up.

..

IDK why Princess is offering TWO early times for Island and Coral as these ships only have 2 DR's. The Aft DR will be all TD. If the mid-ship is all AT, then no space/room for a second early TD time, but they offer it when booking and maintain two different wait lists..

Was hoping that someone who had a confirmed 5:45 could tell us if they were assigned late traditional or anytime or the 5:15 seating when the 5:15 had a long ( #68 for our cruise) wait list.

If any recent cruisers on the Coral for a full transit of the Panama Canal could let me know exactly what the early traditional and late traditional dining times are, I would really appreciate it. Thanks!

Princess and 'exactly' are not usually sometimes not in the same sentence:cool:

We sail Dec 6 and have a confirmed 5:45 traditional dining time but I am now reading here and on "Patters" from previous cruise in Oct. that there is only one early time@ 5:15. That is wait listed and so is the 5:45.

 

Has anyone had this experience and if so what dining were you assigned when boarded?:confused:

When I booked the Panama Canal cruise, I requested late traditional dining, which I believe was listed as 8:15. When I got onboard, my S&S card said our dining time was 7:30, and that's when we went to dinner each night. (Even when we tried the Bayou Café and Sabatini's we made 7:30 reservations!)

When I booked the Panama Canal cruise, I requested late traditional dining, which I believe was listed as 8:15. When I got onboard, my S&S card said our dining time was 7:30, and that's when we went to dinner each night. (Even when we tried the Bayou Café and Sabatini's we made 7:30 reservations!)

Don't like to see that because it backs up the early dining to before 5:30pm which is a PITA on port days.

Princess specifies dining times in the website and Cruise Personalizer that the ship does not recognize or obey. I almost always select 8:15 Second Seating, but once aboard, I discover that Second Sedating is usually 7:45. Not a big deal for me, but a bit annoying that these clowns cannot get their acts together.