Diamond/Sapphire... the 4 Personal Choice Restaurants

[Sandy R]

DH and I were on the Diamond last summer and really enjoyed the 4 Personal Choice "restaurants" with their own individual menues. We thought it was a very progressive idea.

 

Recently, I heard that those restaurants no longer have their own menues but instead have reverted back to the personal choice menu and that the Sterling Restaurant is now a "fee" restaurant.

 

If this is true, then it doesn't matter which restaurant you decide to eat in... right? If the restaurants have changed, does anyone know why? Would love to hear from passengers who have actually experienced these Personal Choice restaurants on the Diamond or Sapphire since our next cruise will be on the Sapphire.

 

Thanks for any input... Sandy

[Beryl]

We cruised on the Diamond in February when each of the anytime dining rooms had their special menu. We loved it! I cruised the Diamond again in June, just after they took away the "special" menus. One item from it's old menu was offered in each of the 4 PC dining rooms but otherwise it was strictly the standard dining room menu each evening. I did miss the variety.

 

What I did find was that it was much easier for passengers to be able to eat at the time they wanted without horrendously long waits. I think that is why Princess made the change.

 

What used to be the Sterling Dining Room is still a PC dining room. It's name has been changed to Savoy Dining Room. Sterling Steakhouse is now set up in the back of the Horizon Court in the evenings.

[emoki3]

We just got off the Sapphire on 7/24 and used the Personal Choice dining option. The menus at the four restaurants, The Savoy, Santa Fe, Pacific Moon and Vivaldi, are the same menus for the Traditional Dining room, with the exception that each restaurant offers one special. The Savoy offered pork chops, the Santa Fe offered chicken fajitas, the Pacific Moon offered a prawn and scallop stir fry, but I don't know what Vivaldi offered (Vivaldi was only open for dinner after 8PM and that was too late for us).

 

We didn't do either of the paid dining rooms for we felt that the three that we were going to offered enough of what we wanted.

 

The difference between Traditional and Personal Choice now is that, with Traditional, you are stuck with the time that you are given. With Personal Choice, you can make reservations for when you want. We made reservations when we first went on-board and was able to make them for the first 4 days. We got the time of 5:45, and this was perfect for us.

 

Hope that this helped and have a great trip!!

 

Evie:)

[roohound]

I'm booked on the Sapphire in November, and when I first heard about the change I was disappointed....I'd been having visions of freshly made guacamole and Kahlua ridce pudding from the Santa Fe dining room dance in my head.

 

But it seems like dining reviews are much more positive now...before people were having fits with getting seated with Anytime Dining. Most reviews I'm seeing now tho have been very good.

[redrobin]

Sandy,

 

The Personal Choice Dining is now called Anytime Dining. As the others have said, the alternate restaurants no longer give a 'choice' of menu themes, with the exception of the one specialty item, but instead provide more of a 'time' option of when you would like to eat. Make your choice based on available times and preferred setting and wait staff. Previously those with traditional dining were allowed to try the varied menus in the alternate restaurants, creating longer wait times, especially in the themed restaurants that were most popular.

[cnmiranda]

I am so bummed about the PC dining changes. I guess there were not enough people ordering the specialty items. Hubby loved the tri-colored pasta in Vivaldi. It's really too bad, that was our favorite aspect of the ship.

[CroozBlooz]

We also enjoyed the theme restaurants on the Diamond and Sapphire, having sailed on both last year. The "specialty" pasta dish in Vivaldi on the Diamond was wonderful...deliciously prepared, with just the right spices. We actually went up to the pasta chef, shook his hand, thanked him, and gave him a tip on the last evening. You could tell that he appreciated the praise (and the tip). The same dish a few months later on the Sapphire was disappointing. Go figure.