Anytime Dining Room on Emerald

[flcruiser3]

Does anyone have a preference for anytime dining on the Emerald? Last year we sailed on the Ruby and much preferred the Michelangelo Dining room to the DaVinci. I know that they are supposed to be the same, but our experience in Michelangelo was far superior. It may have had something to do with the awesome assistant matrie d, Godwin, but the service always seemed better in Michelangelo.

[thunderbird56]

Does anyone have a preference for anytime dining on the Emerald? Last year we sailed on the Ruby and much preferred the Michelangelo Dining room to the DaVinci. I know that they are supposed to be the same, but our experience in Michelangelo was far superior. It may have had something to do with the awesome assistant matrie d, Godwin, but the service always seemed better in Michelangelo.

 

We were on the Emerald last month. The DaVinci was used as a Traditional Dining Room for the early seating. This left only the Michaelangelo for AD. If you were not in the line at 5:30 for AD you had to wait for both Michaelangelo and DaVinci to clear which was no earlier than 7:30 to 8:00. As a consequence we were only able to access AD on two nights out of 11. Those were the nights when the ship was in port and many passengers were off-ship (Wernemunde and St Petersburg). We were very disappointed with the lack of AD. It worked ok if you were early or late but no availability in between. Good luck.

[highheel girl]

We were on the Emerald last month. The DaVinci was used as a Traditional Dining Room for the early seating. This left only the Michaelangelo for AD. If you were not in the line at 5:30 for AD you had to wait for both Michaelangelo and DaVinci to clear which was no earlier than 7:30 to 8:00. As a consequence we were only able to access AD on two nights out of 11. Those were the nights when the ship was in port and many passengers were off-ship (Wernemunde and St Petersburg). We were very disappointed with the lack of AD. It worked ok if you were early or late but no availability in between. Good luck.

 

The entire restaurant (DaVinci) is not used for TD just part of it.

The problem is that they allow many anytime diners to make a res for either anytime dining room which clogs up the restaurant during the times you mentioned with both TD/AT diners. :(

[Mom33]

We were on the Emerald in March and had no problem being seated in the Michelangelo dining room around 6:00 every night, with no waiting or reservations.

Same on the Caribbean Princess last month.

 

Perhaps the sign of a line at 5:30 scares people off. We arrive at 6:00 and have never waited. if you need a table for two, that might be another story.:D

[-Lew-]

 

It may have had something to do with the awesome assistant matrie d, Godwin, but the service always seemed better in Michelangelo.

Godwin can make anyone's dining experience special. He's the reason you preferred Michelangelo.

 

Lew

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

They try very hard to make the wait times short..

[thunderbird56]

We were on the Emerald in March and had no problem being seated in the Michelangelo dining room around 6:00 every night, with no waiting or reservations.

Same on the Caribbean Princess last month.

 

Perhaps the sign of a line at 5:30 scares people off. We arrive at 6:00 and have never waited. if you need a table for two, that might be another story.:D

 

I guess it depends on your particular cruise. I think in March you were in the Caribbean and the dining preferences may have been different. We were in the Baltic and I guess a large number of AD diners must have wanted the 5:30 time. We showed up each night anywhere from shortly after 6:00 to 6:45. We never asked for a table for two, in fact we prefer to share at a larger table. There was never a question of availability. We were met at the entrance by a staff person with a table full of buzzers. We asked several times if we could expect a call with 10-20 minutes (which we wouldn't mind) but were always told no it would be an hour or more. We also tried calling the dine reservation line and they wouldn't take reservations except at 5:30 or after 7:30. We have not had this problem on other Princess ships, but this time AD became a fixed dining system - 5:30 and 7:30. I sent a note to the Hotel Manager early in the cruise and wrote it up in my cruise evaluation but got no response from Princess.

[Mom33]

I guess it depends on your particular cruise. I think in March you were in the Caribbean and the dining preferences may have been different. We were in the Baltic and I guess a large number of AD diners must have wanted the 5:30 time. We showed up each night anywhere from shortly after 6:00 to 6:45. We never asked for a table for two, in fact we prefer to share at a larger table. There was never a question of availability. We were met at the entrance by a staff person with a table full of buzzers. We asked several times if we could expect a call with 10-20 minutes (which we wouldn't mind) but were always told no it would be an hour or more. We also tried calling the dine reservation line and they wouldn't take reservations except at 5:30 or after 7:30. We have not had this problem on other Princess ships, but this time AD became a fixed dining system - 5:30 and 7:30. I sent a note to the Hotel Manager early in the cruise and wrote it up in my cruise evaluation but got no response from Princess.

 

I'm sorry to hear this. Most people have a problem trying to get into the Da Vinci not even aware that the Michelangelo was just down stairs.

We were on the Caribbean Princess last month in the British Isles, and we didn't have any problems being seated at 6 either. I guess we have been lucky.

[caribill]

We have not had this problem on other Princess ships, but this time AD became a fixed dining system - 5:30 and 7:30. I sent a note to the Hotel Manager early in the cruise and wrote it up in my cruise evaluation but got no response from Princess.

If enough Anytime diners decide that their anytime is 5:30, then all the tables are in use then they finish. Thus space becomes available around 7:30.

 

It really depends on when people decide they want to eat. No way to prevent a wait if so many show up to be seated when the restaurant opens for the eveing.

[beachnut41955]

We were on the Emerald in April and arrived at the Michaelangelo each evening between 5:30 and 6:00. We only had a short wait one evening. (Maybe 15 minutes) We would always share a table and were always seated immediately. We loved it!

[flcruiser3]

Thanks to everyone on their anytime dining advice!

 

 

Godwin can make anyone's dining experience special. He's the reason you preferred Michelangelo.

 

Lew

 

Lew,

Is there anyone outstanding in the Emerald dining rooms that I should look for in 2 weeks? It always makes us feel special to be greeted by name and receive some special attention!

 

Thanks, Marilyn

[OCruisers]

:) On both Emerald and Crown we have never had a problem doing Anytime by going to Michaelaglo and have never EVER had to wait no matter what time we arrive. We are what they call "Easy" because we will share and are happy with any servers. People hate it when I say this ... but but but DH does $hake hands.

[PescadoAmarillo]

Lew,

Is there anyone outstanding in the Emerald dining rooms that I should look for in 2 weeks? It always makes us feel special to be greeted by name and receive some special attention!

Not Lew, but I have to comment that servers are sometimes (often) changed from one dining room to another between cruises. So it's hard to know for certain where someone will be or if they'll even be on the ship still.

 

We also enjoyed being greeted by Godwin very much. He knew our names right away, which didn't surprise us as we were on the ship for awhile, but it seemed he knew everyone's names, which was a bit more astounding.

[crews4fun]

Thanks to everyone on their anytime dining advice!

 

 

 

 

Lew,

Is there anyone outstanding in the Emerald dining rooms that I should look for in 2 weeks? It always makes us feel special to be greeted by name and receive some special attention!

 

Thanks, Marilyn

 

 

I'm not Lew but we were on the Emerald in April. Having had trouble with the Reservation line on past cruises, I was leary when Godwin told me there would be no problem this time. He was right and amazing. We had a table for 2 every night with the same waiters at 5:30. We loved it! Godwin greeted us by name and said our table was ready. Never waited at all. Whatever you do, go where Godwin is and trust him. He's great! He would also greet us by name anytime he saw us out and about on the ship. Great gift for remembering people. :D

[flcruiser3]

I'm not Lew but we were on the Emerald in April. Having had trouble with the Reservation line on past cruises, I was leary when Godwin told me there would be no problem this time. He was right and amazing. We had a table for 2 every night with the same waiters at 5:30. We loved it! Godwin greeted us by name and said our table was ready. Never waited at all. Whatever you do, go where Godwin is and trust him. He's great! He would also greet us by name anytime he saw us out and about on the ship. Great gift for remembering people. :D

 

Thanks for your reply! Are you saying that Godwin was on the Emerald in April? I just assumed that he was still on the Ruby! It would be fantastic if he is on the Emerald in 2 weeks when we sail!

 

Marilyn

[svend52]

Well, crews4fun beat me to it! Almost identical experience with Godwin on our Emerald cruise this past January. Wanted to do early Anytime for two so we went down the first day and were greeted by Godwin who showed us to a table for two in the back left side of the Dining Room. We let him know that we would like to be at the same table at the same time each night except for the two nights we did the specialty restaurants and it was done. He greeted us by name each evening as if he had known us forever and between him and our superb waiters, we had a wonderful dining experience on the Emerald. Can only hope he'll be there when we get back onboard in January '14!

[PescadoAmarillo]

The senior dining staff from the Emerald was moving to the Crown. The senior Ruby dining staff was moving to the Emerald.

[sjbj]

We were on the Emerald in May for the Baltic. Godwin was there. Ask for a table with Wilson as the head waiter. He was fantastic as was Godwin.