Can someone explain dining options on Caribbean Princess??

[jdfloyd]

I'm really confused as DH and I are used to traditional dining, early or late seating. Princess lines have this personal choice dining? What is that? Do you need to make reservations every night? Can you choose traditional dining then do PC? How do the "specialty resturants work?

 

One other question...about the "movie under the stars"...do you need reservations and does it cost extra. (We're on a limited budget)

 

Thanks!!

[cruzinchris]

Hello.

You will undoubtedly receive many different interpretations of "PC Dining" in response to your question. Having sailed with Princess four times, here is my take on "anytime dining."

 

If you are already booked on a cruise and prefer traditional dining, book this immediately so you are guaranteed early or late seating. On the Caribbean Princess, the Island Restaurant was designated for traditional dining for dinner only. Tables for two are hard to come by, so you will likely be seated with others if you choose traditional dining.

 

If you choose "anytime" or "personal choice" dining option, you will have several choices available for the duration of your cruise. You can show up at one of the non-traditional dining venues during open hours and be seated with others or wait for your own table if one is not immediately available.

 

On some ships, you can make a reservation for a specific time and/or table in one of the non-traditional dining rooms so that you are guaranteed a table for your party each night (i.e. table for two). Other ships may not take reservations, but you can go to that dining room at the same time each evening and still be seated at the same table or in the same section.

 

Alternative restaurants are open to all passengers regardless of their dining status (traditional or anytime). Reservations are often required, but it is possible to get a table in these venues as a walk-in. DH and I have eaten in all of the alternative dining rooms on four Princess ships, and each has offered fine food and attentive service making it worth the nominal cover charge.

 

While DH and I have never requested traditional dining on a Princess ship, we know that this dining option tends to fill up quickly. If this is your preference - at least until you become aware of all the dining options on a Princess cruise - you would do well to book it immediately because there will undoubtedly be a waitlist. It's simple to change from traditional to anytime dining, but not vice versa.

 

Bon Voyage!

Chris

[ISABELLA]

In addition to PC dinning, you can enjoy a fabulous buffet in the Caribe Cafe- back of the ship, passing the Horizon Court. Great seafood. We ate there all, but formal, nights. It was great.

[jeniceglassman]

Yes you make reservations for Movies under the Stars and no additional charge applies. Enjoy your cruise.

[spongerob]

One thing that Chris forgot to mention in his otherwise excellent explanation was that Caribbean Princess also has Cafe Caribe as an alternative dining option. It is an upscale-buffet type setup located aft of Horizon court. No reservations, no extra charge - yet! Seafood buffet nights are quite popular.

[cruzinchris]

Spongerob,

This cruzinchris is a "she."

 

Thanks for mentioning Cafe Caribe. DH and I never ate there, and I completely forgot to include it in my description of CP dining options. We heard many good things about this optional dining venue but tend avoid buffets.

 

The most important point with regard to dining on Princess ships is that no one will go hungry. There are numerous dining options - including 24-hour room service - and surely something to satisfy everyone.

Chris

[LeeW]

Worst wait we had was 10 minutes (on Captains Party night). Mostly we just walked right up and were seated. There was usually a line on the reservation side. We were seated at various size tables, 6-12 people, and really enjoyed meeting all the different folks. The largest table was the longest wait by the way, and it did take over 2 hours to eat at the large table. Never did try to get a table for 2 so no idea what the wait would be for that.

[CruiseFever]

I'm really confused as DH and I are used to traditional dining, early or late seating. Princess lines have this personal choice dining? What is that? Do you need to make reservations every night? Can you choose traditional dining then do PC? How do the "specialty resturants work?

 

One other question...about the "movie under the stars"...do you need reservations and does it cost extra. (We're on a limited budget)

 

Thanks!!

 

Here's the deal:

 

Personal Choice (Anytime dining)

 

Personal choice dining, also called Anytime Dining, is another way to feed you. It allows you to eat when you want and with who you want any time during the dining room hours of operation.

 

On the Golden, for example, there were two other dining rooms to serve those who had selected or had been given Personal Choice dining. We chose one, liked it a lot, and asked to be seated at the same table, at the same time, with the same waiter for the rest of the cruise. This was no problem. So for all practical purposes we did have traditional dining. The same menu was being served the only difference was that the people around us were not always the same...although many were.

 

We could have simply walked into one of the PC dining rooms during serving hours when we were hungry and been seated, probably after a wait. We could have phoned in reservations for various places to eat at various times during the week in advance, say on the first day aboard. Not a bad idea if you like early dining but not when the ship is in port and you'll be ashore, for example.

 

It's really all about flexibility and goes beyond just dining to encompass a style of vacationing termed Personal Choice Cruising. The Anytime Dining part, for example, makes it possible to meet new friends on a shore excursion or at pool side and have dinner with them that night.

 

Before, when meeting a new friend one of the questions asked would be "Which (traditional assigned dining) seating are you? From there plans for the evening could be made and a time set up to meet after dinner. Now you can include dinner in your plans for the evening and at a time tht is convenient for you.

 

In addition to the traditional and Personal Choice dining rooms are other specialty restaurants like Sabatinis or the Sterling Steak House that offer sit down dining for a small additional fee and are reservation only. These offer even more flexibility but require thinking ahead.

 

Providing yet another choice besides these sitdown table service restaurants is the Horizon Court a 24/7 buffet. On some ships it's buffet by day that transforms itself into more of a service oriented venue at night. There's also a Pizza and Grill open a good chunk of the day and 24 hour room service that has extensive offerings.

 

That's it in a nutshell but one of the most important elements is rarely mentioned. It's not so much a matter of choosing up sides as to which is better, Anytime or Traditional, as it is which is a more appropriate match for you. We've enjoyed both styles on a number of cruises and are happy to have this as yet another option to facilitate a fabulous cruise if appropriate for us and our traveling companions.

 

 

Cafe Caribe

 

Actually, The Caribe Cafe is two more buffet lines, not one. It offers a great deal of flexibility in feeding us beginning with the Embarkation Lunch you'll find as you board the ship on the first day. Then, with the Horizon Court's two serving areas, a total of four are open and all serve the same selections to the ravenous cruisers as they first board. At night, on that first night, the Cafe Caribe transforms to (as Toto noted) more of a table service restaurant if you want it to be that .

 

You can go through the buffet, sampling the Caribbean themed entree's (I know that sounds vague, but it works, trust me) which on that first night feature a fabulous selection of seafood.

 

You can also walk into the dining area which, since lunch, gained tablecloths and is preset with wine glasses and flatware where you will be treated to a table service type experience, complete with menus.

 

We didn't realize this until the cruise was over. The two times we dined there we simply walked through the buffet, then found a table and sat down, like most other people we viewed on our particular sailing.

 

Documentation available in your cabin or online does not make this apparent. I think that's because they like to retain the flexibility to do different things with this space and don't want to get locked in to one set way of doing things.

 

To me, that's all flavored with Personal Choice Cruising, which allows you do do stuff (like eating, or "Anytime Dining") when you want, where you want and with whom you want.

 

The hours of this venue are varied (see below) serving Pastries and Beverages from 4AM to 10AM, Dinner from 5:30 to 11PM, and "Bistro" service from 11PM to 4AM.

 

Tips:

• If you like the appetizers they're passing out on deck during Island Night head to the Caribe Cafe, they have them all on the buffet.
  
• When open, we'd go through the Horizon Court buffet first then the Caribe Cafe buffet. More selections, usually easier to find a seat during busy times back by the Caribe Cafe.
  
• While the Horizon Court buffet is a scramble type layout where it is appropriate to skip stations you don't want and go directly to the ones you do the Caribe Cafe is more of a straight line cafeteria setup, although it is not straight as in linear.
  

Movies Under The Stars (aka "MUTS")

 

My first experience with Movies Under The Stars came along quite by accident as I strolled around on deck and happened upon a playing of the Tina Turner:One Last Time concert. This was awesome for all ages and very enjoyable. During these concerts (they do a Tom Jones one later in the week) it's not the popcorn and cushy lounge chairs by invitation, you can just wander in and find a seat. There are waiters to get you drinks but most people I saw with food had brought it from a buffet.

 

We signed up early for the two shows that were playing, picking one at 7:30 and the other a couple nights later for the 10:30 show. We didn't make it to either one but recieved tickets early in the day in our stateroom mailbox. There is just so much to do on this ship that it's difficult to decide which things to do and which things to skip. When we were scheduled for the 7:30 show was on the first formal night, along with Ryan, Amy (ccmembers) and another family we'd met along the way. We watched as 7:30 came and went before dessert.

 

Oh well, better luck with the next showing at 10:30 on another night that we had reservations for. We didn't make that one either because we were at a show earlier in the night and by then we'd fallen into the Skywalker's routine that dominated late night entertainment...something we didn't know when we made reservations.

 

And that's the tough part

 

By recommendation we made reservations for the Movies, Sabatinis and the Sterling Steakhouse all within an hour of boarding using our stateromm telephone. Easy. We wondered why people stood in line for hours in front of Sabatinis later in the day to make their reservations. We thought we knew exactly when we wanted to go to each of those places. What we didn't anticipate was meeting so many nice people on board, becoming friends and a part of their plans as well as them a part of ours.

 

That pretty much blew all our reservations right out the window...in a good way though.

 

I think I'd still make reservations early, right after boarding, as part of the list of things we do right when we get on the ship...perhaps taking the place of "check dining room table assignment" as we would have done before discovering the wonders of Personal Choice dining.

 

Or we might consider doing what I heard others had pretty good luck at....waiting until the last minute. They're reluctant to commit to seats at Movies Under the Stars that go unclaimed at showtime but I know for a fact that there were some and they're not assigned. Dining reservations, however, are not that hard to get at the last minute, probably due to people like me who made them early and then their plans changed.

 

We called to cancel our reservations like good little boys and girls do but I bet there were a lot of people who just did not show. In the dining rooms, I am told, they hold the table for ten minutes then give it up. I suppose it has a little to do with being in the right place at the right time with flexible dining plans.

 

Remember too that there are multiple options to anything you can make a reservation for. Like a bunch of other guests I felt a sense of urgency to make those reservations so I wouldn't miss out on stuff.

 

While a reservation does guarantee that you'll be able to do one of these things it doesn't guarantee a good time.....and to me that's what it's all about. I won't for a minute fret and worry about making a 7:30 movie reservation while enjoying a lovely formal night dinner with new-found friends. They still offer afternoon movies in the Princess Theatre that we enjoyed a whole lot on previous cruises.

 

If you've never done it, you owe it to yourself to see some movie while at sea.

 

Many people think "Why watch a movie at sea? I can do that at home!" True, but every time you see that movie, a clip of that movie, or that movie mentioned in conversation, you'll think of your cruise..for a long time in the future and think "...I saw that on the cruise!"

[spongerob]

Spongerob,

This cruzinchris is a "she."

 

D'Oh!!!!!!!! :o I knew that, too. Double D'Oh!