Poor dining experience on Sapphire Princess

[stones902]

Just returned from the 11/12/05 cruise on the Sapphire Princess. This was our 5th Princess cruise and the 3rd in which we utilized Personal Choice dining. Our previous experiences with PC dining (on the Caribbean Princess and Grand Princess) were both very positive. Unfortunately, there were a number of aspects on the Sapphire that really disappointed us. Specifically, they were:

 

Inability to get reasonable dining times during the week - Unless you had a reservation (which had to be made the first day) it was impossible to be seated for dinner between 6:30 and 8:00 PM. On day three, my wife and I were told at 7:15 PM that we could not be seated for PC dining until after 8:30 (we were not looking for a private table - any table would do). I don't mind waiting for a table but I really think that two people should not have to wait 1:15 on a cruise ship for personal choice. This really disappointed me because if we wanted to eat at a set time we could have just booked traditional dining. We ended up at the Horizon Court buffet.

 

Lack of large group tables in the dining room - We were part of a large group of 12 people. Only Sterlings Steakhouse was able to put tables together to make a large table for our group. The regular dining rooms available to us could only seat us in two groups of six.

 

Poor buffet table set up - The breakfast / lunch buffets were a madhouse. There was no logical line or progression through the buffet.

 

The overall quality of the food was good. I also thought the service was very good. It is apparent however that the dining areas are not working on this ship and there is not enough space devoted to personal choice dining.

 

These are just my personal observations from a previous fan of personal choice dining. I probably would not select PC dining on the Sapphire but would consider it on the Grand or Golden because of the size of the dining rooms.

[jbrambach]

Are the dining rooms on the Sapphire larger or smaller than the Grand, Golden & Star? I have read other negative reviews about Anytime Dining on Sapphire, just wondering if it has to do with the size of the DR?

[usgoobers5]

:confused: We are cruising this ship in January and are a bit confused. Some people posting on cc say you can't make reservations for pc between 6 and 8. So tell us once and for all what is the story. I plan on taking the advice of many and making reservations as soon as we board. Hopefully that will work out for our party of seven. Lately so many people have complained about the quality of the food on Sapphire. Did you find it to be up to standard for Princess? Or were you dissappointed with the quality also. I realize most satisfied cruisers don't take the time to post positive comments only those that feel there was something that could have been changed to make the cruise that much better. Thanks for your posting.

[usgoobers5]

:confused: We are cruising this ship in January and are a bit confused. Some people posting on cc say you can't make reservations for pc between 6 and 8. So tell us once and for all what is the story. I plan on taking the advice of many and making reservations as soon as we board. Hopefully that will work out for our party of seven. Lately so many people have complained about the quality of the food on Sapphire. Did you find it to be up to standard for Princess? Or were you dissappointed with the quality also. I realize most satisfied cruisers don't take the time to post positive comments only those that feel there was something that could have been changed to make the cruise that much better. Thanks for your posting.

[usgoobers5]

:confused: We are cruising this ship in January and are a bit confused. Some people posting on cc say you can't make reservations for pc between 6 and 8. So tell us once and for all what is the story. I plan on taking the advice of many and making reservations as soon as we board. Hopefully that will work out for our party of seven. Lately so many people have complained about the quality of the food on Sapphire. Did you find it to be up to standard for Princess? Or were you dissappointed with the quality also. I realize most satisfied cruisers don't take the time to post positive comments only those that feel there was something that could have been changed to make the cruise that much better. Thanks for your posting.

[usgoobers5]

:confused: We are cruising this ship in January and are a bit confused. Some people posting on cc say you can't make reservations for pc between 6 and 8. So tell us once and for all what is the story. I plan on taking the advice of many and making reservations as soon as we board. Hopefully that will work out for our party of seven. Lately so many people have complained about the quality of the food on Sapphire. Did you find it to be up to standard for Princess? Or were you dissappointed with the quality also. I realize most satisfied cruisers don't take the time to post positive comments only those that feel there was something that could have been changed to make the cruise that much better. Thanks for your posting.

[usgoobers5]

:confused: We are cruising this ship in January and are a bit confused. Some people posting on cc say you can't make reservations for pc between 6 and 8. So tell us once and for all what is the story. I plan on taking the advice of many and making reservations as soon as we board. Hopefully that will work out for our party of seven. Lately so many people have complained about the quality of the food on Sapphire. Did you find it to be up to standard for Princess? Or were you dissappointed with the quality also. I realize most satisfied cruisers don't take the time to post positive comments only those that feel there was something that could have been changed to make the cruise that much better. Thanks for your posting.

[stones902]

Are the dining rooms on the Sapphire larger or smaller than the Grand, Golden & Star? I have read other negative reviews about Anytime Dining on Sapphire, just wondering if it has to do with the size of the DR?

 

The dining rooms are smaller than those on the Grand and Golden. I cannot speak to the Star as we have not sailed her.

 

Keep in mind that when this ship was introduced, they offered themed dining in each of their rooms (i.e. Asian in one room, Italian in another, etc.) That plan was scrapped after a short while and all rooms now serve the same meal each night. IMHO, PC dining does not work on this ship because of the lack of space devoted to it. It might work much better if the number of persons allowed to select PC dining were limited to a manageable number.

[stones902]

:confused: We are cruising this ship in January and are a bit confused. Some people posting on cc say you can't make reservations for pc between 6 and 8. So tell us once and for all what is the story. I plan on taking the advice of many and making reservations as soon as we board. Hopefully that will work out for our party of seven. Lately so many people have complained about the quality of the food on Sapphire. Did you find it to be up to standard for Princess? Or were you dissappointed with the quality also. I realize most satisfied cruisers don't take the time to post positive comments only those that feel there was something that could have been changed to make the cruise that much better. Thanks for your posting.

 

Absolutely make your reservations as soon as you board for the entire week. In fact, I might contact Princess before sailing and inquire if you can make a standing reservation before you even leave. You might have some difficulty in getting a table for 7. We were only able to have tables for 6 except for one evening in Sterlings.

 

We enjoyed the meals and service otherwise. I have no complaint about the quality of the food or service.

 

I appreciate your candor regarding my post. I do not intend to imply that we had a bad cruise overall. We just thought that PC dining wasn't handled very well on this ship and thought we would post our opinion for others to take into consideration if they so choose.

[usgoobers5]

Obviously there is something seriously wrong,:eek: I really only posted one time and for some strange reason it showed up alot more then that. I appreciate you getting back to my question so quickly. Thanks for the advice on pre reserving. I am glad you enjoyed your cruise (it still leaves me with hope) even though the whole dining experience was a little questionable.

[cynbar]

Are the dining rooms on the Sapphire larger or smaller than the Grand, Golden & Star? I have read other negative reviews about Anytime Dining on Sapphire, just wondering if it has to do with the size of the DR?

The dining rooms for anytime dining on the Diamond and Sapphire are different -- they have broken the 2 larger rooms into 4 smaller rooms. I don't know why this should make a difference. but it does seem to.

[Once Upon A Time]

You can only make dining reservations for the first 3 or 4 days of your cruise when you board... just call the consierge when you arrive in your cabin. He will tell you when to call back to get additional reservations for the remaining nights. We had no trouble getting the times we requested. If one resturant wasn't available for the time we wanted, we just asked which one was......... They all serve the same menu, only the decor is different. I just can't imagine someone waiting a couple of hours to be seated when there are so many different venues on board. Have a great cruise and enjoy your dining experiences, wherever they might be!

[Cruisin' Chick]

It seems many people who would like traditional are being waitlisted. so maybe it's not that more space is needed permanently , just better management. If there are several people requesting traditional, cordon off a space for them. As for PC dining, if many passengers are wishing to dine at the same time, there's going to be a wait. I don't know how the freestyle dining works on NCL, but maybe that cruiseline figured out a workaround.

 

Personally, I rather have the set time. That way, I know when I'm going to eat and if we need to grab a quick nosh in the mid-afternoon, we can go to the Horizon Court. If it's up in the air that I may dine at 7 or 8 (even if I have a reservation), my stomach may be rumbling a bit too much.

[merela]

:confused: We are cruising this ship in January and are a bit confused. Some people posting on cc say you can't make reservations for pc between 6 and 8. So tell us once and for all what is the story. I plan on taking the advice of many and making reservations as soon as we board. Hopefully that will work out for our party of seven. Lately so many people have complained about the quality of the food on Sapphire. Did you find it to be up to standard for Princess? Or were you dissappointed with the quality also. I realize most satisfied cruisers don't take the time to post positive comments only those that feel there was something that could have been changed to make the cruise that much better. Thanks for your posting.

 

....unfortunately, people still go away from Sapphire (or Princess ships involving PC dining) upset about not being able to eat at anytime, even though PC dining is suppose to mean anytime dining!

 

Here we go again!

 

1. Because "anytime" dining is a misnomer, if you want to eat at 6ish or 8ish in a PC dining room, it's a MUST to make a reservation for 6pm or 8pm. Even if you never had problems waiting in the PC dining room before, they may not have a table for you during the 2 reservation time slots if you decide to go without a reservation.

 

As more people read these threads, more people will know to make reservations, so the chance of not getting a table at your desired time slot is greater.

 

2. To come to PC dining room between 6:30pm-8pm, you are taking a chance of not getting a table, either by yourselves or sharing a table with others. Although others have stated getting tables easily during those time slots, but it varies from sailing to sailing. We were lucky to be able to eat twice at 7pm (table for 4) and 7:30pm (table for 6) by walking in without waiting too long. Usually, if one dining room is full, the Maitre d' of that dining room will call the other 3 dining rooms and see if a space can be offered to you. To avoid being turned away during 6:30pm-8pm time slot, if you know in the afternoon your schedule for that night, just make a reservation and save you the aggrevation of not getting a table later.

 

3. There are only 1 table for 10 people in each of the 4 PC dining rooms. So if you have a party of 10 people, you have to reserve that table for 10 as soon as you board the ship whether you want to eat earlier or later. Whoever from your party of 10 gets on board first should make that call before you go to the Horizon Court for your lunch buffet.

 

When we were on the Diamond last summer, I got on the ship in Seattle at 11:50am and the ship's DINE line wasn't even opened yet. I waited until exactly noon and made that first call. We had 10 people in our party and I knew we had to act fast to get those tables. It was a good thing I got a printout of our reservation because by the 4th night, our table was occupied by someone. The Maitre d' said these people pre-booked the table before the cruise, but I said I also have a printout showing I made the reservation for that table. Anyways, they managed to put 4 2-person tables together to let us sit together. We waited 1/2 hour for this, but at least we got to sit together.

 

As the Vivaldi is used as a traditional first seating dining room, there are less eating space for PC dining if you want to eat early, like 6pm. So if you have children or if you are used to eating early (so you can catch the shows), make that reservation for 6pm as soon as you get on board.

 

Table for 8 and table for 6 are also hard to come by depending on the number of families travelling on your sailing.

 

I was told that 1/2 of the tables were set aside for reservations and 1/2 of the tables were set aside for walk-ins, so it really is the luck of the draw if you decide not to make reservations for 6pm or 8pm.

 

You will have no problem getting a table for 7 at either 6pm or 8pm if you make the reservations as soon as you board the ship. I think they'll only let you make the reservation for 3 or 4 nights, but that's enough to start. You can start with Savoy, then work your way to different PC restaurants. We did and we didn't like the service there, so we never went back to Savoy. But that's just our experience.

 

For formal nights, you may want to make reservations for 8pm to give you enough time before dinner to take photos or go to Captain's Welcom party or go to Captain's Circle Reception. That's a good opportunity to try out Vivaldi since it only accepts PC reservations for 8pm.

 

For posts regarding the quality of food on Sapphire, check out....

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=249520

 

All I can say is that our Sapphire sailing a month ago wasn't the best Princess experience, but the food was still very good. I wrote a more detail critique of the food I encountered in the above thread.

[lcpagejr]

Just returned from a Thanksgiving week cruise on the Sapphire. This was the 1st cruise we did not have traditional seating. I called the concierge each morning to make reservations at one of the 4 PC dining rooms. It seemed to me there was no difference in traditional vs PC as the concierge stated the earliest I could be seated would be 8pm (I requested 7:30) I was told by others that reservations appeared to be either 6 or 8. There were a few who ate earlier or later. I personally didn't like the PC option. I have cruised 15 times and didn't enjoy the extra task of having to make a dinner reservation each evening... I did have a plan however, I was looking for the best waiter team and service and once I found them I would book that dining room for the remainder of the cruise. On day 3 we found a great waiter team in the Santa Fe dining room and I requested the maitre'de to seat us in this teams section for the remainder of the cruise. This was accomdated and we had a standing 8pm reservation for the remainder of the cruise (just like traditional seating). I highly recommend this approach as there really isn't any difference in the 4 dining rooms.

[merela]

On day 3 we found a great waiter team in the Santa Fe dining room and I requested the maitre'de to seat us in this teams section for the remainder of the cruise. This was accomdated and we had a standing 8pm reservation for the remainder of the cruise (just like traditional seating). I highly recommend this approach as there really isn't any difference in the 4 dining rooms.

 

I also found the service in the Santa Fe the best. Vivaldi was not bad. But I've heard that the wait staff rotates, so it's difficult to say which PC restaurant has the best service. It's a little annoying that the service quality is uneven like that.

[peterv]

Seems very silly to me to carry on about PC or anytime dining if you need to make reservations. The whole point of it was to offer an alternative to fixed traditional dining.

 

In my opinion they should eliminate all reservations and do as they are supposed to do and take people as they come.

 

Cheers,

Peter

[spongerob]

Bingo, Peter. If people must have reservations for 7:00 or 7:30, why not just offer a selection of fixed dining times? I am of the opinion that Anytime Dining, as much as some people like it, is just an excuse to cut back on quality and service.

[hotmike98]

The problem with Personal Choice (which is not really the same as "anytime dining"), at least on the Sapphire and Diamond, is that the ships are very large, and in order to even attempt to get everyone fed, Princess has to plan on using each table in the four PC dining rooms at least twice. Thus they want to have a second seating at 8 p.m. If you arrive at 7:00 and see empty tables, it is because earlier reservations bailed or were never made, but they are holding those tables for confirmed reservations at 8:00. I don't know what the solution is for Princess, but for us, once we found an "acceptable" (as opposed to fantastic) waiter, we booked that table (we had a party of six) for the balance of the cruise. No help from the concierge (which is really four people attached to headsets sitting in cubicles). I had to go to the maitre d' in the Savoy and insist that the waiter said the table was available for the rest of the week and they finally gave it to me. That said, I don't see much point in trying the different PC dining rooms now that the menus are basically the same. Each PC dining room has a signature dish (the same one all week long), but I probably would have lost my standing reservation at Savoy if we declined one night just to try the scallops at Pacific Moon (we had tea there one afternoon, and I didn't find the decor so different as to influence my choice). My advice is, if you find a waiter you like, book for the rest of the cruise, and plan your return from ports accordingly.

[stones902]

There were a few other things I noticed that Princess has dropped or scaled back over the past couple of years. First, their "signature dessert" is the Love Boat Dream which used to be available each night of your cruise but is now only on the menu for one evening meal. Also, when was the last time you a sommelier assisted you in selecting a wine for your dinner? Finally, does Princess have a bar waiter stop at your table in the evening to offer an after dinner drink or aperitif?

 

Totally off the dining topic - what ever happened to horse racing on sea days? You won't find it on Princess.

 

I guess in this day and age of rising oil prices some sacrifices must be made to facilitate the bottom line.:confused:

[merela]

Bingo, Peter. If people must have reservations for 7:00 or 7:30, why not just offer a selection of fixed dining times? I am of the opinion that Anytime Dining, as much as some people like it, is just an excuse to cut back on quality and service.

 

Unfortunately, you can't make reservation for 7 or 7:30pm. You can only make reservation at 6pm or 8pm for PC dining rooms. I agree this does not coincide with the concept of anytime dining, but it has evolved to this, so unless you make reservations for those 2 time slots, you are taking your chances of being turned away when you show up. Until Princess changes its dining system again, you can choose to do traditional or stay with the PC dining system. It seems silly to not have reservations for 7-7:30pm as well.

 

Although it is inconvenient to have different waiters for different nights (unless you find a wait staff you like and stay with them the whole week) and it is inconvenient to have to make reservations, I find PC dining suits us because we have small children and we need that flexibility offered by PC dining.

 

I agree the service in the PC dining rooms are uneven. Our first night at the Savoy was unpleasant. The head waiter didn't really listen to what we had ordered and so he had to go back to get missing items. He was not a happy camper. If the unhappiness shows on his face, you can imagine how we feel?! But that looks like an isolated incident. Maybe he had a bad day, but we never went back to Savoy the rest of the cruise.

[SaylorGirl]

There were a few other things I noticed that Princess has dropped or scaled back over the past couple of years. First, their "signature dessert" is the Love Boat Dream which used to be available each night of your cruise but is now only on the menu for one evening meal.

 

Stones- maybe it just depends on which ship you are on. We were on the Star in September and the "Love Boat Dream" was on the always available menu.

[stones902]

There were a few other things I noticed that Princess has dropped or scaled back over the past couple of years. First, their "signature dessert" is the Love Boat Dream which used to be available each night of your cruise but is now only on the menu for one evening meal.

 

Stones- maybe it just depends on which ship you are on. We were on the Star in September and the "Love Boat Dream" was on the always available menu.

 

Saylorgirl - that is possible. We were on the Caribbean Princess in June and were offered the "Love Boat Dream" every night. Perhaps for some reason it is not offered on the Sapphire.

 

Note the title of my topic - Poor Dining Experience on the Sapphire Princess. I don't want to indict all Princess Ships because I have had some very good dining experiences on the Dawn, Grand, Golden and Caribbean Princess.

[GeminiA]

We had no problem booking PC dining rooms on the Sapphire & we only book 2 evenings at a time throughout the entire 14 day cruise. With a larger party, I'd try to book earlier in advance though.

We did find the food quality on Sapphire to be disappointing.