Club Class Dining: is it just another table in the MDR or is something special?

[puli]

With the introduction of the "New Club Class Dining" only for passengers in Suites and Club Class mini suites it seems to me we now have a new dining category/venue. And with it also being a separate and highly restrictive area shouldn't it be treated as a Specialty Restaurant with the same Smart Casual dress code?

[triptolemus]

No.

[sonomaphil]

It's just some tables in the MDR, nothing special.

[puli]

It's just some tables in the MDR, nothing special.

Really? I just saw a menu from a rather lengthy cruise and there were certainly special items each day and often prepared at the table...sad, I thought Princess was touting it as a new offering and not cheap either..

[DrivesLikeMario]

Not IMO. It was highly underutilized on my last cruise. One or two tables at the very most were occupied most nights during the hours of 5:30-7:45pm. It's definitely not for me. With Celebrity, you get a separate restaurant and it feels more special. This is just a roped off section of the regular dining room and just doesn't feel very unique.

[cflutist]

Really? I just saw a menu from a rather lengthy cruise and there were certainly special items each day and often prepared at the table...sad, I thought Princess was touting it as a new offering and not cheap either..

I have noticed that everyone I have talked to who has experienced Club Class Dining really enjoyed it. And the others who have not experienced it seem to be very negative about it. My question to them is "Have you personally expeiended Club Class Dining? and if not, how would you know how it was?

I was the one who took detailed notes and wrote a review of our 18 nights of Club Class Dining on the Pacific Princess . To answer your question about passenger attire, there were three couples who sat at 2-tops that were close enough that we could chat every night. On formal nights, one guy wore a shirt and tie, but no jacket, hubby wore a dark suit, and the other guy wore a tux. All three ladies wore dressy pants with tops. There were no gowns or dresses. Maitre'd did not ask the guy with no jacket to get one.

[Thrak]

With the introduction of the "New Club Class Dining" only for passengers in Suites and Club Class mini suites it seems to me we now have a new dining category/venue. And with it also being a separate and highly restrictive area shouldn't it be treated as a Specialty Restaurant with the same Smart Casual dress code?

 

Of course and... it is. MDR is always "smart casual" so Club Class is no different. I'm not sure what your question is...

[Colo Cruiser]

Really? I just saw a menu from a rather lengthy cruise and there were certainly special items each day and often prepared at the table...sad, I thought Princess was touting it as a new offering and not cheap either..

 

 

Can you post this special menu with special items?

We saw nothing like that.

Just 1 special item.

The menu was the same as the MDR menu. :confused:

[cflutist]

I have noticed that everyone I have talked to who has experienced Club Class Dining really enjoyed it. And the others who have not experienced it seem to be very negative about it. My question to them is "Have you personally experienced Club Class Dining? and if not, how would you know how it was?

I was the one who took detailed notes and wrote a review of our 18 nights of Club Class Dining on the Pacific Princess . To answer your question about passenger attire, there were three couples who sat at 2-tops that were close enough that we could chat every night. On formal nights, one guy wore a shirt and tie, but no jacket, hubby wore a dark suit, and the other guy wore a tux. All three ladies wore dressy pants with tops. There were no gowns or dresses. Maitre'd did not ask the guy with no jacket to get one.

 

Hate typos on my phone :D

[caribill]

The main benefit of Club Class dining is that it is true anytime dining as you will be seated whenever you show up during the time the dining room is open. No long lines. No pagers. No delays getting seated.

 

Yes, there is an extra item on the menu which might be prepared table size. And since you will always be seated in that special area, you can have the same wait staff each evening. And because it is often lightly utilized, you will likely get more and faster attention and service.

 

But there can be several reasons it might not be highly utilized.

o Only those in the Club Class mini-suites and those in full suites can eat in that area. If you are traveling with relatives/friends who are not in cabins eligible for Club Class, you cannot dine with them unless you eat elsewhere.

o Some passengers often eat in specialty restaurants and thus would not show up in the Club Class dining room area those evenings.

[websailor]

It's just some tables in the MDR, nothing special.

I'm thinking you haven't eaten in Club Class dining. There were many things that were special about it when we ate there.

 

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[Ron the Rev]

Nice experience, shame it's not in a separate room away from the main dining room. Yes we did have a guy in a ball cap on formal night, I suppose a rebel without a cause.

[floridalover5623]

I have noticed that everyone I have talked to who has experienced Club Class Dining really enjoyed it. And the others who have not experienced it seem to be very negative about it. My question to them is "Have you personally expeiended Club Class Dining? and if not, how would you know how it was?

I was the one who took detailed notes and wrote a review of our 18 nights of Club Class Dining on the Pacific Princess . To answer your question about passenger attire, there were three couples who sat at 2-tops that were close enough that we could chat every night. On formal nights, one guy wore a shirt and tie, but no jacket, hubby wore a dark suit, and the other guy wore a tux. All three ladies wore dressy pants with tops. There were no gowns or dresses. Maitre'd did not ask the guy with no jacket to get one.

Probably because it's not a strict "requirement" on Princess.

 

You woule think that after paying the extra charges associated with Club Class Princess would actually improve the food a notch or two. :( At least provide a decent steak like they used to serve. ;)

[Cruisers from MA]

The main benefit of Club Class dining is that it is true anytime dining as you will be seated whenever you show up during the time the dining room is open. No long lines. No pagers. No delays getting seated.

 

Yes, there is an extra item on the menu which might be prepared table size. And since you will always be seated in that special area, you can have the same wait staff each evening. And because it is often lightly utilized, you will likely get more and faster attention and service.

 

But there can be several reasons it might not be highly utilized.

o Only those in the Club Class mini-suites and those in full suites can eat in that area. If you are traveling with relatives/friends who are not in cabins eligible for Club Class, you cannot dine with them unless you eat elsewhere.

o Some passengers often eat in specialty restaurants and thus would not show up in the Club Class dining room area those evenings.

 

Exactly this. But, unfortunately, not this.

 

Our most recent cruise (Regal, Baltic) was our only Club Class experience; we booked a mini - interested in giving it a try.

 

Our circumstances are unusual but allow some interesting comparisons: after our final payment, family members unexpectedly (and happily) decided to join us - they booked a Balcony. Hence for Club Class dining eligibility, we couldn't get "out" and they couldn't get "in".

 

Most days we all dined together, and we generally chose MDR dining between ~6PM and ~7:30PM. About half of the days we were together we'd arrive at the MDR, answer the question "Willing to share?" with a "Yes", and be seated immediately. And about half of the days we all dined together (no way to predict based on time of day, port/sea day, etc.) we'd be given a pager, and would wait between 25 and 45 minutes to be called back and seated. Overall we had a great cruise, but the routine delay in MDR seating during prime dining hours was a major negative for us. We called it "Ain't No Time Dining."

On this cruise (for the first time in 8 or so times on Princess) we found the MDR service to be ponderously slow. Servers were courteous and competent (and we tipped a couple on the last evening) and all seemed busy, but we usually waited a while (1) For the table setting [glassware, cutlery] to be completed and menus to be delivered, (2) For orders to be taken and beverages brought, and (3) Between courses. Again, this was surprising and very noticeable.

On 3 evenings it was just my wife and me dining together (at about the same times in the evenings as when our larger party of 5 would dine). Each of these times we went to the Club Class entrance and were seated immediately. Each time we had the same servers (and the first time, the Chef handling the "special" dish came by, introduced himself, and mentioned he hadn't seen us before).

Each night in Club Class there was a "special" (non-menu) dish, introduced by the waiter or chef, and when we tried it we enjoyed it. Dishes were prepared at the nearby chef station (not table-side, as some have said), and we never had an additional dessert choice.

 

The very slow service encountered in the "regular" MDR was repeated in Club Class. An additional negative (which, to be fair, we probably would have experienced if we'd dined as a party of 2 in the "regular" MDR) was that 2-tops are VERY close together.

In our minds the one major advantage of Club Class dining is immediate seating. Since (besides dining) we didn't find Club Class amenities a real incremental advantage over a non-Club-Class mini, I don't know if we'd choose Club Class again.

[puli]

Of course and... it is. MDR is always "smart casual" so Club Class is no different. I'm not sure what your question is...

I was referring to the new "formal night" attire and whether or not the Club Class dining would fall under the dress code for Specialty Dining and remain Smart Casual through out the cruise,

[peety3]

The main benefit of Club Class dining is that it is true anytime dining as you will be seated whenever you show up during the time the dining room is open. No long lines. No pagers. No delays getting seated.

 

Yes, there is an extra item on the menu which might be prepared table size. And since you will always be seated in that special area, you can have the same wait staff each evening. And because it is often lightly utilized, you will likely get more and faster attention and service.

Yep, it's an HOV lane for ATD, essentially. One lane of the highway got restriped, and the rule is that you must be in certain cabins to be eligible for that lane. Sometimes there are perks, like unique exit ramps (special menu items), but otherwise it's just a highway.

[Hazegreyunderway]

All they need to do now is add a toll booth and a weigh station!

 

 

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[puli]

Yep, it's an HOV lane for ATD, essentially. One lane of the highway got restriped, and the rule is that you must be in certain cabins to be eligible for that lane. Sometimes there are perks, like unique exit ramps (special menu items), but otherwise it's just a highway.

Ah, but is the dress code more relaxed on this strip of highway!

[OCruisers]

Being able to walk in when you wish and be seated immediately is certainly nice! :)

[DJVKN]

A little background. We have all cruise previously (I have 24 withPrincess and few with some other lines) My adult daughters have 3 – 6 cruisescompleted. We experienced Club Class dining on our Norther Europe Cruise inMay. We were on the Caribbean Princess.

Our experience was amazing (YMMV). Nelson was the HeadWaiter and Magdalena was our server. They were both extremely attentive and went above and beyond for ourdining experience.

We would go to dinner depending on the port scheduleanywhere between 6:30 and 8:00 and always had immediate seating. There were many tables occupied but always afew available. Magdalena and Nelson provided a cheese/olive/bread (sometimesfruit too) plate every night for us.

We did have the regular dinner menu of the MDR and had a specialtyitem prepared nightly. A few that I recall were lamb chops, filet mignon, and apasta and shrimp dish. One night Nelson served peach flambeau for dessert. Nelson did the ‘cooking’. As previously stated, it is not preparedtableside but in the dining room and not the galley.

Since we were in Europe folks always seem to dress a littlenicer for dinner. Al least that is my observation.

I and my husband will be on a cruise to South America inFebruary and will again experience Club Class dining. If the experience is ½ of what we receivedthis past May it will be fabulous. I know the head waiter and serving staff has a lot to do with one’s personal experience, but this was our experience and the girls and I are still talking about it.

[Toofarfromthesea]

I'm thinking you haven't eaten in Club Class dining. There were many things that were special about it when we ate there.

 

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Like?

[Moondance30]

Like?

 

Had suite on Ruby last week which included club class...

Let's see... Special place in MDR, a special place to enter, special napkins, special wait staff dressed differently and one special appetizer, cooked at table that is not on menu. There was also no wait to get in.

 

On a couple of nights we opted to eat with friends who did not want to purchase club class or suite. To be honest, we actually enjoyed dinner more. Wait staff treated us no differently. There is just something about having dinner with friends. Would I pay the price they are asking... probably not. I would rather opt into a suite. We already get several of the CC perks through the Captains Circle.

[DSLibrarian]

We were on the Caribbean Princess.

Our experience was amazing (YMMV). Nelson was the HeadWaiter and Magdalena was our server. They were both extremely attentive and went above and beyond for ourdining experience.

We would go to dinner depending on the port scheduleanywhere between 6:30 and 8:00 and always had immediate seating. There were many tables occupied but always afew available. Magdalena and Nelson provided a cheese/olive/bread (sometimesfruit too) plate every night for us.

We did have the regular dinner menu of the MDR and had a specialtyitem prepared nightly. A few that I recall were lamb chops, filet mignon, and apasta and shrimp dish. One night Nelson served peach flambeau for dessert. Nelson did the ‘cooking’. As previously stated, it is not preparedtableside but in the dining room and not the galley.

 

I heartily agree with DJVKN. Our experience was the same. We were on the Caribbean Princess last month for a British Isles cruise. We are usually HAL Neptune Suite cruisers and this was just our 2nd Princess cruise. We had a Vista Suite so were able to experience CC dining. We thoroughly enjoyed it and didn't feel the need for specialty dining as we usually do on HAL to avoid the MDR. We also had Magdalena as our server. (What a gem!) Velson was the assistant server and Jelena was the head waiter. Jelena always enthusiastically greeted us, led us to "our table" by the window and offered something special she prepared, in additional to the regular menu items. Although we tried Sabatini's for breakfast a couple of times, we preferred the atmosphere of CC for breakfast and more often went there - even without the "happy juice" mimosas. We are looking forward to enjoying a similar experience on the Ruby in February 2019.

[peety3]

On a couple of nights we opted to eat with friends who did not want to purchase club class or suite. To be honest, we actually enjoyed dinner more. Wait staff treated us no differently. There is just something about having dinner with friends. Would I pay the price they are asking... probably not. I would rather opt into a suite. We already get several of the CC perks through the Captains Circle.

That's where full suite has its perks if traveling with mixed company (mixed in this case being of differing cabin category): if you want to eat together for the trip, suites get guaranteed dining selection, so if you ask for 5:30* traditional, you get it; if you ask for 6:00* traditional, you get it, etc. AND anyone who links to your booking is seated with you. I would also suspect that suite passengers in TD get preferential table selection, i.e. closer to the windows. To the best of my knowledge, this perk does not extend to M1 mini-suites.

 

 

* 5:30 and 6:00 traditional are often just "secret code" for 5:30 traditional in a mid-ship MDR and 5:30 traditional in the aft MDR, respectively, not actually 5:30 and 6:00.

[R&S]

We just returned from the Grand on a 10 day Alaska cruise and for us, Club Class was amazing. The service was over the top, our servers were the best we have ever had. The extra items for the menu were delicious. We really like this extra perk for a suite and look forward to our next cruise so we can experience Club Class again.