I can't imagine the circumstance where we will sail Princess again

[rocky1]

I was on the RCCL board this morning and noticed the same complaints about RCCL's version of anytime dining which they call my time dining.

 

People are saying it is a Princess problem, but I have read similar complaints about other cruise lines.

 

I think whichever cruise line you are on, if a large portion of the ship shows up to dine at the same time, there will be a problem. This is more noticable on cruises with primarily Americans, who tend to dine early. I have not noticed a problem on European, S. American or cruising around New Zealand cruises due to the large number of Brits, Aussies, Latinos, and Europeans. .

 

Agreed, it is definitely not a Princess-only issue. In our experience, the only line that does Anytime (Freestyle) dining well is NCL, and still you may have a short wait if you want to eat in a certain restaurant at a certain time. Of course they have no traditional fixed seating, which is likely the reason. By far the worst handling of ATD we've seen was on HAL, but that was only one cruise, so may not be systemic.

 

Disclaimer: This is not intended to be a comparison of the overall dining experience.

[seachelt]

We were also on this Island Princess cruise which left Fort Lauderdale one day late. For us it was a great experience and we felt we were treated very fairly (even generously) by Princess. We had taken the EZ Air through P and they picked us up at the airport, took us to the Doubletree hotel, paid for the hotel and gave us $150. for incidentals to cover our meals costs. They also refunded us one day cruise fare plus port fees for Aruba (and our cancelled snorkeling excursion). Anytime dining was often a bit of a wait, not too bad if you went early or late. We didn't eat often at the Horizon Court but when we did we found plenty of variety. This was our first experience with Princess and won't be our last. As OP stated, the Panama Canal itself was great! We had a perfect view of everything right from our balcony B708.

[Birdieman1]

Princess doesn't pay them at all (unless you count food and accommodation). Princess guarantees crew paid from a tip pool a 'minimum wage' if the tip pool falls below a certain amount. However, now they have a fleet-wide tip pool (it used to be per ship, per voyage) if a ship were to come up 'short', due to say an unexpected dry dock, they simply reduce the amount paid to crew on the other ships.

 

They do get paid for sure but it’s peanuts, so remember they work for you, not Princess, just look where the ships are registered, sure ain’t the USA

[Alimariecruisin]

We were also on this Island Princess cruise which left Fort Lauderdale one day late. For us it was a great experience and we felt we were treated very fairly (even generously) by Princess. We had taken the EZ Air through P and they picked us up at the airport, took us to the Doubletree hotel, paid for the hotel and gave us $150. for incidentals to cover our meals costs. They also refunded us one day cruise fare plus port fees for Aruba (and our cancelled snorkeling excursion). Anytime dining was often a bit of a wait, not too bad if you went early or late. We didn't eat often at the Horizon Court but when we did we found plenty of variety. This was our first experience with Princess and won't be our last. As OP stated, the Panama Canal itself was great! We had a perfect view of everything right from our balcony B708.

 

So wow, they definitely did not have your experience which is the way I believe Princess usually handles these negative situations. They deserved the same consideration for sure.

[getting older slowly]

I suppose one thing to "Anytime Dining" thing is go Club Class or in a suite and bingo no problem... or book a table in a specialty restaurant. If this is all so important.

 

Just a thought Don

[cruisereaders]

Actually we have only travelled twice on Princess. Our first cruise was definitely a disappointment. The entertainment staff was excellent and was the only thing that made this cruise bearable. We usually travel on Holland America and are used to excellent service. We found most of the staff on our first Princess cruise from San Francisco to Honolulu to be very unhappy. Service at the bars was nonexistent and the room stewards were sloppy. The servers in the specialty restaurants were arrogant. The captain was very aloof and I feel he set the tone on the ship. We. Had an incident at sea which caused us to miss the one port we had really wanted to go to. The only compensation was a glass of inferior wine at dinner one night. Granted the problem wasn’t caused by Princess but I felt there should have been more acknowledgement of the guests’ discomfort. Nonetheless, we did do a second Princess cruise out of Houston to Fort Lauderdale. It was much better, but still wasn’t up to HAL standards. We probably won’t go back to Princess unless the itinerary warrants it.

 

 

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[shepp]

Like many people here, I used to love the Island/Coral. Now I won't sail the Island, but am booked on the Coral again next month.

 

I also have moved from ATD to late traditional, and my experience on the Grand and the Royal has been that the late trad dining room was often pretty empty and many late shows played to a partial house. OK, I'm frustrated by PCL's bean counting, but is the line supposed to build even bigger dining rooms to instantly accommodate early diners but then stand half-vacant for late seating? I understand that many cruisers want the world to cater to them, but jeez, a little flexibility can go a long way. It's like going to Disneyland on Christmas and complaining the lines are long and the park should build lots more rides. But go mid-week at a low-traffic time of year and some of those same rides will be walk-ons.

 

And, as another poster suggested, at least here in San Francisco if you show up without a reservation at a hot restaurant at peak dining time, a half-hour wait is not a cause for kvetching. It's the way things are; I regularly see 20-minute waits to get a gourmet ice cream cone, great pastries, or an In-N-Out double-double animal style. Now if only Walgreens will triple their staff so I never have to stand in line for a prescription...

[sailco]

I have always considered anytime dining to be like showing up at a restaurant without a reservation, sometimes we’re seated right away and sometimes we get a pager. We always ask for a table for two which limits our options. I only wish the pagers had a further range. It would be nice to go to any lounge to wait. Now we have to stay nearby on the same deck.

It would be nice to have a choice of bars to wait in. But it's interesting that many of the people who post here want a table for two and acknowledge it limits our options. Maybe the two tops need to be multipled to cut the wait time.

[floridalover5623]

It would be nice to have a choice of bars to wait in. But it's interesting that many of the people who post here want a table for two and acknowledge it limits our options. Maybe the two tops need to be multipled to cut the wait time.

I'm sure they've did a lot of study of the situation before coming to the decision they have now.

Many people choose larger table & really enjoy them and others just comply to get seated faster but overall the tables for 2 take more space in the DR and it's just not efficient to keep the crowd moving.

[LovetheSea]

I am very sorry you had such a bad experience. I have been on 36 cruises. On different lines. We could fill a page with the bad things that have happened to us. But there was enough good stuff to want to continue. You have every right to feel the way you do. How is the foot now? Hope you have better luck in the future. Maybe Celebrity or RCCL next time. We like them too. Avoid the MEGA ships. Use traditional dining.

[kitkat343]

I was on the coral 7 years ago to Alaska and they also closed half the buffet sometimes. It caused unnecessary lines and frustration. Both sides were thankfully open a few years later when I sailed on coral again to panama, and I had hoped that princess would stop doing this.

[Eaches]

Totally agree - we are elite on Princess - have cruised other lines and find that Princess is the very BEST - this person should not cruise on Princess ...more room for those of us that love it!!!

 

 

 

You know these cruise lines have everyone buffaloed with these class standing such as Elite on Princess, just to name one . We ( my wife and I ) are firm believers that a cruise line should treat their customers the same . Great Food, Drinks and Entertainment . Please do not charge us extra for meals or drinks no matter what your room number is ! This should be in the fare !

Many lines like Viking will give you the treatment you desire with a higher fare, but in the end , add up your extra charges and they are about the same in cost. You will enjoy your voyage and come home refreshed and think back to your enjoyable vacation! Enough Said !

 

 

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[Birdieman1]

You know these cruise lines have everyone buffaloed with these class standing such as Elite on Princess, just to name one . We ( my wife and I ) are firm believers that a cruise line should treat their customers the same . Great Food, Drinks and Entertainment . Please do not charge us extra for meals or drinks no matter what your room number is ! This should be in the fare !

Many lines like Viking will give you the treatment you desire with a higher fare, but in the end , add up your extra charges and they are about the same in cost. You will enjoy your voyage and come home refreshed and think back to your enjoyable vacation! Enough Said !

 

 

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I would agree with you on treating everyone equal, we have been Elite for quite sometime already, we get the min bar setup, which I’m sure costs Princess peanuts, the free laundry which my wife won’t take advantage of. Priority tender is a joke, we still continue to sail with Princess and just put on the blinders with a lot of things that happen with the ship. There are some staff who are excellent and some who are not, just like anywhere else. But I do agree with you that the passengers should all be treated exactly the same,

[Eaches]

You know these cruise lines have everyone buffaloed with these class standing such as Elite on Princess, just to name one . We ( my wife and I ) are firm believers that a cruise line should treat their customers the same . Great Food, Drinks and Entertainment . Please do not charge us extra for meals or drinks no matter what your room number is ! This should be in the fare !

Many lines like Viking will give you the treatment you desire with a higher fare, but in the end , add up your extra charges and they are about the same in cost. You will enjoy your voyage and come home refreshed and think back to your enjoyable vacation! Enough Said !

 

 

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