Yet another dining question, Sapphire Princess…

[NJfamily]

I just read the Cruise Critic “professional” review for the Sapphire Princess. It stated “… Traditional-dining folks who want to break out of the rut for a night or two are permitted to make reservations at one of the specialty restaurants…” I thought that I read on is board that they didn’t allow people to do that any more. True or not true?

 

We have a group of 14 and have early traditional seating for our Alaska cruise. For one night, our excursion in Juneau will cause us to miss our assigned dinning time. What is the possibility that we will be able to get a late (9ish) reservation for one of the PC dinning rooms? Will this be allowed?

[calikak]

I think they may have just meant Sabatini's, I thought you couldn't eat at the PC dining rooms if you're in traditional. If you do go to Sabatini's, you'd want to make that reservation as soon as you get on board because Sabatini's gets filled up quickly, especially for a group that large.

[mii]

Exactly what calikak said. They mean the speciality restaurants. If you are traditional and one nite you want to eat at Sabatini's certainly you can. If you choose not to eat at a speciality restaurant you can eat at the buffet any nite. Just make sure you tell your tablemates and waiters that if you are not there at a specific time go ahead and start without you guys. It is not fair to the waiters or the people you are sitting with.

 

Marilyn

[calikak]

Good point, Marilyn, it's polite to tell your tablemates if you're planning on missing dinner. Things sometimes come up unexpectedly, but if you know in advance, it's good to tell them so they don't wait for you to get there.

[SLU Billikens]

I thought that even if we have Main Dining Room we cn go to one of the specialty restaurants if we desired. Is this incorrect? And we would of course make sure our main tablemates were aware of this.

[calikak]

It depends what you mean by specialty restaurants. If you mean "PC dining rooms" then I think (but am not positive) that the answer is no, the idea being that if people from traditional eat in the PC dining rooms, it tends to get overcrowded in PC and the real PC people can't get a table. If by "speciality restaurant" you mean Sabatini's, the buffet, the hamburger grill, the pizza place, and the ice cream stand, then yes, you can go there whenever you want regardless of whether you're in PC or traditional.

[mii]

Calikak is absolutely correct in the above paragraph.

 

Marilyn

[cynbar]

We were on the Diamond in January, and their policy was that if traditional diners went to the any of the 4 PC themed DRs, then they would forfeit their spot in the traditional DR. All passengers give their cabin number to the maiitre d' when they arrive at the DR, so I guess the computer keeps track of it. Believe, me, we were PC dining and the DRs were crowded enough --- I can't even imagine the chaos if all traditional diners were free to eat there as well!!

[Cruisin' Chick]

I was on the Sapphire last August and I think it's only the restaurants with the fee (not PC) that the reviewer is referring to. Just as Calikak has stated. So if you think you may not make it to the dining room, go ahead and make the reservation. Or go to the Horizon Court. We thought we weren't going to make it to the dining room (we're always late traditional) in Victoria. But the run to the ship made the difference.