Change in Traditional Dining Times?

[Astro Flyer]

2 minutes ago, satxdiver said:

We moved our 6 PM (actually 5:30 or 5:45) to 7:45 after learning about the new times.  I wonder if the 7:45 will slip like the earlier ones to 7:30?  

All of our future cruise late TD times now show 7:15 instead of the previous 8:15 time.

[Lucky TGO]

4:45 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. is just to early if you had a  confirmed 6 PM time.

I think the change is absolutely horrible!! If you think so? You should call Princess 1- 800- 774-6237 and let them know.

You don’t like the change. I did and was told if a lot of people call they may change back. With all the cutbacks if you go to the MDR at 7:15 p.m. you may not get out until after 9:00 or 9:30 p.m. 😡

Tony

[metairiegal]

1 hour ago, paul929207 said:

I think the discussion of switching to ATD deals with people who have TD but just show up at an ATD dining room. This will give them 2 tables for dinner - the TD cabin they are assigned for the cruise and the ATD table for that evening.

Oh, ok.  That never crossed my mind.

 

And, as mentioned above, we have already called Princess to voice our concerns over the time change. 

Edited October 22, 2018 by metairiegal

[metairiegal]

1 hour ago, Woobstr112G said:

That's more like a late lunch.....

 

Bob

And, plus, I have to squeeze in time for tea and scones. 

[Cindy]

1 hour ago, satxdiver said:

We have gone back to TD for the last several years because we like the fixed time, table and waiters.  I have noticed though that a lot of tables are empty each night some never had anyone there while others had pax that come and go over the cruise.  They are eating their dinner meal somewhere else and that place may well be ATD.  I wonder how many do have TD and use ATD at their convenience.  

 

We moved our 6 PM (actually 5:30 or 5:45) to 7:45 after learning about the new times.  I wonder if the 7:45 will slip like the earlier ones to 7:30?  

I think that's a BIG problem, and Princess needs to put something in place to stop it. I just read a post on another thread from someone who admits to doing this regularly, depending on the port schedule, weather, etc. They may not intend to, but by switching back and forth they are selfishly contributing to the dining problems! If a Traditional diner doesn't want to or can't make their dinner seating, they have lots of other options. Anytime dining isn't one of them!

[I object 2]

We are a family of 6 and were confirmed for 6:00 p.m. traditional dining when we booked this cruise last summer.   Our booking summary showed our dining time changed from 6:00 to 5:00 p.m, which is too early for us.   I went on line and changed the 5:00 traditional to 7:15 p.m. traditional.   We're now confirmed for 7:15, but the booking summary shows we're now in Any Time Dining, not traditional.   I went back to check what I  entered and it shows I entered 7:15 p.m. traditional.   I'll give Princess a call tomorrow to see if they are indeed moving us in ATD or if it's a website issue.   How confusing!  

[Omega1]

To avoid the distinct possibility of long lines for ATD after the early show, we have switched to 7.15 TD. This works for us, but will be interesting to see the reality on board.

[LEtue]

I am not being offered the 7:15 dining time for the Sky Princess in November 2019.  Still waiting.....

[Magellan321]

We converted all our bookings to 7:15....I guess the upside is dh can grab some nachos and enjoy some balcony time before getting ready for dinner.

 

[billco]

Following is a slightly edited copy of my e-mail to Customer Relations at

customerrelations@princesscruises.com

 

Dear Customer Relations,

This is to express my concern regarding the change in confirmed dining time from 6:00 PM to 5:00 PM on my future cruises.

I am currently booked on two Princess cruises:

I believe I requested traditional dining at 6:00 PM, so my concerns are as follows:

1. I don’t believe I received any notification of the time change. I found out about this change by looking at the Cruise Personalizer.
2. The Cruise Personalizer shows that I requested 5:00 PM dining, which I don’t believe is true.
3. I am fearful that if I tried to change to 7:15 PM dining, I would lose my confirmation of Table for Two at 5:00 PM or not be able to receive a confirmation of 7:15 PM dining. My understanding is there are a limited number of Tables for Two available in Traditional Dining. If we changed to Anytime Dining, I believe it would be difficult to reserve or obtain a Table for Two each night we would like to dine in the Main Dining Rooms, so we would have to dine in the Buffet or Specialty Dining. We absolutely do not want to dine with others. We also do not prefer dining at 7:15, which we feel would make it difficult to attend the theater shows.
4. The 5:00 dining time would make it impossible to take advantage of the Elite/Platinum Lounge or unlikely to attend Afternoon Tea. Having already eliminated Happy Hour, we feel Princess is making decisions that are beginning to have a major negative impact on our cruise experience.

Thanks in advance for consideration of our concerns.

[PrincessE.]

HI, EXTREMELY WELL WRITTEN & I HAVE ALREADY MADE 2 PHONE CALLS TO PRINCESS REITERATING ALMOST VERBATIM WHAT YOU WROTE; THIS WILL BE MY 62 OR 63 PRINCESS CRUISE & I CERTAINLY HAVE SEEN MANY CHANGES - MOSTLY THOSE PERKS, ETC. WE WERE PROMISED & WHY WE SAILED PRINCESS ARE SLOWLY BUT SURELY BEING TAKEN AWAY FROM US.  I THINK THERE WILL BE A STORM OF UNHAPPY CRUISERS - EVERYTHING IS TO BENEFIT PRINCESS (CORPORATE AT WORK) & NOT THE PASSENGERS WHO PUT PRINCESS ON THE MAP.  PE.

[bemis12]

45 minutes ago, billco said:

Following is a slightly edited copy of my e-mail to Customer Relations at

customerrelations@princesscruises.com

 

Dear Customer Relations,

This is to express my concern regarding the change in confirmed dining time from 6:00 PM to 5:00 PM on my future cruises.

I am currently booked on two Princess cruises:

I believe I requested traditional dining at 6:00 PM, so my concerns are as follows:

1. I don’t believe I received any notification of the time change. I found out about this change by looking at the Cruise Personalizer.
2. The Cruise Personalizer shows that I requested 5:00 PM dining, which I don’t believe is true.
3. I am fearful that if I tried to change to 7:15 PM dining, I would lose my confirmation of Table for Two at 5:00 PM or not be able to receive a confirmation of 7:15 PM dining. My understanding is there are a limited number of Tables for Two available in Traditional Dining. If we changed to Anytime Dining, I believe it would be difficult to reserve or obtain a Table for Two each night we would like to dine in the Main Dining Rooms, so we would have to dine in the Buffet or Specialty Dining. We absolutely do not want to dine with others. We also do not prefer dining at 7:15, which we feel would make it difficult to attend the theater shows.
4. The 5:00 dining time would make it impossible to take advantage of the Elite/Platinum Lounge or unlikely to attend Afternoon Tea. Having already eliminated Happy Hour, we feel Princess is making decisions that are beginning to have a major negative impact on our cruise experience.

Thanks in advance for consideration of our concerns.

 

I understand your concern.  But you are telling them that 5:00 is unacceptable, 7:15 is unacceptable, and Anytime Dining is unacceptable. 

 

I'm not sure where they can go with this.

[billco]

7 minutes ago, bemis12 said:

 

I understand your concern.  But you are telling them that 5:00 is unacceptable, 7:15 is unacceptable, and Anytime Dining is unacceptable. 

 

I'm not sure where they can go with this.

They can go back to the original time that was requested and confirmed. 6:00 PM Traditional Table for Two. I was not telling Princess that anything was unacceptable. I was sharing my concerns on how their unannounced  changes were having a negative affect on our cruise. Princess put us between a rock and a hard place by forcing us to make choices between dinner and other things we like to do.

[Wishing on a star]

I might not mind dining at 7:15 if the late show/activity times are also not pulled forward.

The logistics of dining and show/activity times are also a big issue.  (not just too early / too late)

And, since these times can be set onboard by either of the two different departments. (dining/entertainment) I think that this has sometimes been an issue, whether some of the scheduled times seem okay, or not.  

 

Princess is already juggling, with the necessity of two seatings, which makes Early to early for many, and Late is too late.

I can understand that this is not avoidable.

 

I just cannot see, at all, how this change is the answer.

 

I wanted TD, but in a mid-ship dining room.

Now, at this very VERY early time,  this will just not be possible.

 

 

[Ombud]

7:15 TD table for 2 on all 3 of my booked cruises according to Princess Personalizer. Check online ASAP --- significantly harder if wanting a particular DR

Edited October 22, 2018 by Ombud

[RDC1]

For all of the complaining, it does appear from these postings that Princess is being successful in getting people to move into the previously under utilized late traditional dining slot.  Late Traditional will probably go from half full to full.

 

With those moves it also appears that early traditional will no longer be over subscribed.  If it drops low enough they will be able to make the second mid ships dining room anytime all the time and impact the chronic anytime early delays.

 

You also appear to be getting some from previously late traditional (those that like eating after 😎 to Anytime at late hours, a currently under used time.

 

It will be interesting to see how this develops over the next few months, but so far it appears, if the general passenger is shifting like the posts here, that they are getting movement that will result in more effective use of space.

 

I just wish that they would not change show times.

Edited October 22, 2018 by RDC1

[beauty1492]

following

[pms4104]

So when the Ocean Medallion is fully operational fleetwide perhaps there will be loud beeps when TD peeps try to enter the AT dining room ... no need for staff to verify, as the Ocean Medallion will alert who's in the wrong dining room, and staff can redirect them.  Wonder if the Ocean Medallion IT peeps have been tasked to make it happen. More than one way to fix the long lines.

Edited October 22, 2018 by pms4104
Replace ***** with real words

[Colo Cruiser]

7 minutes ago, pms4104 said:

So when the Ocean Medallion is fully operational fleetwide perhaps there will be loud beeps when TD peeps try to enter the AT dining room ... no need for staff to verify, as the Ocean Medallion will alert who's in the wrong dining room, and staff can redirect them.  Wonder if the Ocean Medallion IT peeps have been tasked to make it happen. More than one way to fix the long lines.

Not for those "its my cruise" peeps that have threatened to leave the Medallion in the cabin so they can't be tracked.  🙄

[billco]

Part of my frustration with Princess may stem from our positive experience with NCL Freestyle Dining from our recent Transatlantic cruise on the Norwegian Jade. On NCL, dining reservations open up 90 days prior to the cruise. I copied the following from the confirmation e-mail I received on June 29. Alizar and Pacific are the main dining rooms. La Cucina is one of the specialty restaurants. There were a few times that we waited in a short line to get to the reservation desk to be seated. 

 

MAIN DINING ALIZAR PARTY OF 2 09/29/2018 06:00 pm

MAIN DINING ALIZAR PARTY OF 2 09/30/2018 06:00 pm

MAIN DINING PACIFIC PARTY OF 2 10/01/2018 06:30 pm

MAIN DINING ALIZAR PARTY OF 2 10/02/2018 06:00 pm

MAIN DINING PACIFIC PARTY OF 2 10/04/2018 07:30 pm

LA CUCINA PARTY OF 2 - à la carte 10/05/2018 06:00 pm

MAIN DINING ALIZAR PARTY OF 2 10/06/2018 06:00 pm

MAIN DINING ALIZAR PARTY OF 2 10/07/2018 07:00 pm

MAIN DINING PACIFIC PARTY OF 2 10/08/2018 06:30 pm

MAIN DINING ALIZAR PARTY OF 2 10/09/2018 07:00 pm

LA CUCINA PARTY OF 2 - à la carte 10/11/2018 06:00 pm

MAIN DINING PACIFIC PARTY OF 2 10/13/2018 06:30 pm

MAIN DINING ALIZAR PARTY OF 2 10/14/2018 06:00 pm

[chamima]

1 hour ago, RDC1 said:

For all of the complaining, it does appear from these postings that Princess is being successful in getting people to move into the previously under utilized late traditional dining slot.  Late Traditional will probably go from half full to full.

 

With those moves it also appears that early traditional will no longer be over subscribed.  If it drops low enough they will be able to make the second mid ships dining room anytime all the time and impact the chronic anytime early delays.

 

You also appear to be getting some from previously late traditional (those that like eating after 😎 to Anytime at late hours, a currently under used time.

 

It will be interesting to see how this develops over the next few months, but so far it appears, if the general passenger is shifting like the posts here, that they are getting movement that will result in more effective use of space.

 

I just wish that they would not change show times.

 

 

I had the same assessment as you.

We are late traditional diners.

When we began cruising late was the preferred time and you had to request it very far in advance.

Over the years we've noticed that the preferred time has gradually shifted earlier and earlier.

The last 10 years or so late dining was always half empty - which we actually love because the waiters are much less rushed and have plenty of time to stop and talk. Dinner is a leisurely, pleasant experience.

7:15 is actually a little early for us but my biggest worry is that our leisurely, lovely dinners are a thing of the past.

 

HOWEVER - if I was the CEO of Princess this change and the resulting filling of both traditional dining times would make a lot of sense.

[Travelw]

My travel agent spoke to Princess and they told her the time changes are based on customer feedback on the surveys that ar3 completed.  I do not believe enough people would want this change.

 

Dennis

[Hlitner]

In honor of all the Floridans who cruise on Princess we think they should implement "Early Bird" dining at 3pm :).  As a bonus for going to the early bird the Floridians will get 2 pats of butter :).

 

Hank

[patrickmoran]

I think P is going after the Holland America crowd with this change. And you don't even get a discount with the Early Bird Specail!

[panoramaofthepast]

I spoke with my Princess Vacation Planner today. Here is what she said.

"

Yes it is true that the dining times have changes on all of our ships.  This was done to more closely align with the dining times actually used on board the ships, and to meet the high demand for early dining.  So yes is it true, 

 For your upcoming sailing on the Royal Princess in December, you are confirmed for the 5:00pm early traditional dining time." 

 

 Late seating now begins at 7:15. I have switched to late seating!