Classes on The Emerald and Anytime Dining

[oceanbabe]

First time going on Princess Cruises. Will be on the Emerald on June 26th to the Baltics/St.Pet. Does anyone know what specific classes ie: computers, ceramics, arts & crafts this ship offers. Also, if there is a fee. Never tried the anytime dining, any comments about this? thanks, Elaine

[Nebr.cruiser]

We love Anytime dining and will continue to choose it, because of the freedom it gives you in deciding when to eat; however, on our recent 12/8 Emerald cruise we for the first time encountered some lines. They weren't too bad--10 minutes was the most we ever waited--but more than we were used to.

 

The 'story' going around was that Princess added a second first seating time due to demand, which resulted in an overflow in the dining room that was a combo of anytime and traditional and which sent more people than normal to the dedicated Anytime dining room.

 

This extra early seating was probably necessary because of the average age of the cruisers; at 65 we felt quite on the younger half of the sprectrum.

 

Once we figured things out we just avoided the most popular times and usually ate after 8:15, when there was no line. We also called for reservations a couple of times, but they won't take them much before 8. After the first couple of nights we had no problems.

 

I don't know how it works if you prefer to eat early, though the attendant said to come either at 5:30 (no way for us) or after 8. Since we didn't try to eat, say at 6:30, I'm not sure if there was a line or not.

[donaldsc]

I have looked at computer classes on the Princess ships that I have cruised on. They cost $25 each and in my opinion were uniformly lousy or worse. The classes on HAL are excellent and are free.

 

DON

[Toto2Kansas]

First time going on Princess Cruises. Will be on the Emerald on June 26th to the Baltics/St.Pet. Does anyone know what specific classes ie: computers, ceramics, arts & crafts this ship offers. Also, if there is a fee. Never tried the anytime dining, any comments about this? thanks, Elaine

Most classes (of any kind) carry a fee on Princess.