anytime dining on emerald princess

[r1955]

We're a group of 8 cruising in the Princess Emerald in June 2012. We got the 5:30 seating which is too early for us so we're thinking of anytime dining.

Does that mean we have to ask to switch to anytime dining now or can we use our seating or go anytime as we wish? Being a group of 8, can we make a reservation for each evening? Do we have to do it on the same day? I think I read on some post that on some Princess cruise they had a limited number of reservations.

We just want to make sure we sit together every evening and not wait too much in line.

 

Thanks all you experts

:confused:

[timetravler]

Talk to your travel agent and try to change to anytime dinning. If anytime dinning is full, then ask to be put on a wait list for anytime dinning. You should be able to switch as most likely the cruise is not even completely booked yet. Now what I have done for anytime dinning to be sure of getting a table. I make reservations for the next evening as I am leaving the dinning room. If you find a particular table you like, you can even ask for that table. Otherwise just make reservations for 8 each night. I have not heard of limited reservations, so hopefully someone else will answer that for you.

[chrysalis]

Talk to your travel agent and try to change to anytime dinning. If anytime dinning is full, then ask to be put on a wait list for anytime dinning. You should be able to switch as most likely the cruise is not even completely booked yet. Now what I have done for anytime dinning to be sure of getting a table. I make reservations for the next evening as I am leaving the dinning room. If you find a particular table you like, you can even ask for that table. Otherwise just make reservations for 8 each night. I have not heard of limited reservations, so hopefully someone else will answer that for you.

 

There is no such thing as "full" anytime dining.

 

To answer the original question, just have your travel agent switch you to anytime dining...easy to do and gives you lots of flexibility to dine when you want and with whom you want.

[r1955]

Thanks timetraveler. I know that anytime dining is still available. But I read in some of the threads that people had a fixed seating and still went to the anytime some of the evenings. Is that possible or should we switch to the anytime now so we can be sure we don't always have to go at 5:30?

[WVBill]

We're a group of 8 cruising in the Princess Emerald in June 2012. We got the 5:30 seating which is too early for us so we're thinking of anytime dining.

Does that mean we have to ask to switch to anytime dining now or can we use our seating or go anytime as we wish?

 

If you do not want to use your 5:30 Traditional seating the majority of the time, please give it up and chose Anytime Dining instead. Traditional dining often books up and there are many who do want traditional dining every night and cannot book it.

[r1955]

If you do not want to use your 5:30 Traditional seating the majority of the time, please give it up and chose Anytime Dining instead. Traditional dining often books up and there are many who do want traditional dining every night and cannot book it.

 

Good point. I'll talk to the rest of my group and we'll make a final decision if to eat at 5:30 or change to anytime.

[Pam in CA]

Technically, you can keep your Traditional dining time and go to Anytime but that means your table will remain empty and those who chose Anytime have longer to wait for a table.

 

A couple of things to consider: if you switch to Anytime now and decide Traditional is what you prefer, you won't get it back. Something else to consider is that Anytime works best if you are two people willing to share a table with others. With eight people, you'll need to wait for an entire large table to become available so you may experience long waits.

 

My suggestion is to keep your Traditional as it is now. When you board the ship, go to the Maitre d' and ask to make a reservation at a time of your choosing for the length of the cruise. Have the names and cabin #'s of everyone in your group. You can always keep your Traditional time or switch to Anytime if the Maitre d' is unable to accommodate you and you haven't lost anything. That's what I would do. :)

 

FYI, when you board, the Princess Patter will be in your cabin. There will be a notice of where the Maitre d' is taking dining changes. It's not a big deal to do it this way.

[grinder23]

We were on the Emerald over Christmas and had anytime dining. There were plenty of large tables and never a wait for them. The only waiting were for parties of two or four who wanted their own tables between 7:30 and 8:15. Many times there were large tables that sat empty. Enljor your cruise.

[flamomo]

We had a group of 5 on the Emerald in 2011, and reserved a table for every night of the 10 day cruise. With a small group of 3 in the Sapphire a couple of months ago for a 28 day cruise, we had a reserved table too.