Change in Traditional Dining Times?

[jagoffee]

11 hours ago, Thrak said:

 

Oh yeah... I totally agree. No matter what time they state as "opening time" they will have a large number of folks lining up to try to "beat the opening time". I don't ge it. Nope, nope, nope, not at all. It seems someone on the Princess staff noticed and made a really  ridiculous judgement based on what they saw. (Of course that has always seemed to be the whole point of marketing people. They tend to tak a very small and isolated segment of data and, from that, interpolate an entirely bogus and bizarre set of data upon which they base their next decision.  I am sure that a very small of passengers would love the crazy 4:45 or 4;15 dining times that Princess has implemented but i can  pretty much guarantee (okay I really cant but it seems incredibly likely to me that I am correct) that it is only a very small minority that wants those super early dining times.

IMO the change is not about people wanting to eat earlier than 5:30 PM.  It is about being able to move the second Traditional seating until earlier, so that the second seating Traditional dining will be fully utilized.  At the same time, the earlier times will likely push people away from Early Traditional dining. The end result is more Anytime dining opportunities available earlier than 7:30 PM.

Anytime dining should continue to be readily available for those that want to dine after 8 PM.

 

Just a theory as the past practice has lead to a lot of complaints concerning Anytime.  It will take a while to see if the changes improve the situation.

[Lucky TGO]

12 hours ago, Thrak said:

 

Oh yeah... I totally agree. No matter what time they state as "opening time" they will have a large number of folks lining up to try to "beat the opening time". I don't ge it. Nope, nope, nope, not at all. It seems someone on the Princess staff noticed and made a really  ridiculous judgement based on what they saw. (Of course that has always seemed to be the whole point of marketing people. They tend to tak a very small and isolated segment of data and, from that, interpolate an entirely bogus and bizarre set of data upon which they base their next decision.  I am sure that a very small of passengers would love the crazy 4:45 or 4;15 dining times that Princess has implemented but i can  pretty much guarantee (okay I really cant but it seems incredibly likely to me that I am correct) that it is only a very small minority that wants those super early dining times.

 

Thrak,

 I totally agree with you 4:15 or 4:45 dining time is ridiculous. I love to know who’s the moron was that thought this one up.😡

Tony

[Astro Flyer]

13 hours ago, caribill said:

 

If the dining time is really changed to 4:45, then I guarantee you that the long lines will be there at 4:15.

 

Lunch in a dining room is at 12 Noon. There is a line by 11:30. That does not seem to make Princess open up for lunch earlier than 12.

I feel the same way...some passengers will always line up early including for Princess tours resulting in long lines.

 

Like others have posted the change is probably an attempt to increase dining later which for both ATD & TD are underutilized.  However the new times will require returning to the ship from ports earlier to get ready for dinner.  If not returning earlier passengers will have to go directly to dinner after a day in port or to miss eating in the MDR.  Having passengers eating in the buffet probably saves Princess money & since the changes were made read a post about buffet lines at dinner out to the pool & being difficult to find a place to sit.  TD passengers may also attempt to go to ATD which if allowed will adversely affect passengers with ATD.

 

For our family group of 16 we’ve switched from 6:00 to 7:15 because 5:00 is too early.  And as you’ve previously posted, times have routinely been earlier than scheduled & if that continues the 5:00 time would be 4:30.

 

As a result of the earlier TD times will have to decide whether to reduce our time in port or to miss early TD in the MDR...to me both are unacceptable degradations of the Princess cruise experience.  Late TD isn’t a good option for me during port intensive cruises with early arrivals in ports.

Edited October 28, 2018 by Astro Flyer

[RDC1]

On 10/27/2018 at 12:12 PM, LEtue said:

 

So strange....

My Med cruise in November 2019 is still 5:30 PM and 8:15 PM and I got a second email confirmation from my TA this morning that she received no change notification for this sailing.

Are you sailing the Caribbean?

I think that they are leaving the Med cruise dining times later. That would make sense based upon 1. how port intensive these cruises are  2. Many excursions do not return until late (full day excursions)  3. On these cruise more tend to select late dining already.

 

I have a B2B TA followed by a med cruise next May.  TA times have moved earlier, Med times have stayed later.

[RDC1]

2 hours ago, jagoffee said:

IMO the change is not about people wanting to eat earlier than 5:30 PM.  It is about being able to move the second Traditional seating until earlier, so that the second seating Traditional dining will be fully utilized.  At the same time, the earlier times will likely push people away from Early Traditional dining. The end result is more Anytime dining opportunities available earlier than 7:30 PM.

Anytime dining should continue to be readily available for those that want to dine after 8 PM.

 

Just a theory as the past practice has lead to a lot of complaints concerning Anytime.  It will take a while to see if the changes improve the situation.

Bingo, better utilization of dining capacity

 

Now if they will enforce AT just for those that have selected AT.

Edited October 28, 2018 by RDC1

[Astro Flyer]

6 minutes ago, RDC1 said:

I think that they are leaving the Med cruise dining times later. That would make sense based upon 1. how port intensive these cruises are  2. Many excursions do not return until late (full day excursions)  3. On these cruise more tend to select late dining already.

 

I have a B2B TA followed by a med cruise next May.  TA times have moved earlier, Med times have stayed later.

LEtue is on the same Sky cruise as us in the Med...her dining times are at the previous times & mine are the new times.

 

Consistently inconsistent applies to some things with Princess but having early TD times at 4:45/5:00 and at 5:45/6:00 doesn’t work.  That’s impossible so apparently there are still some snafus creating inconsistencies with implementing the new times.  

[LEtue]

I agree that better utilization of the dining rooms probably drove the change and I have no problem with the new times.  The 7:15 PM time would be perfect - if only it was available to me.  

 

My choices are still 5:30 PM (confirmed),  6PM (wait listed #1) and 8:15 PM on one of the sailings that Astro Flyer is on.  Go figure.....

[castlegetaway]

Does anyone know if they made tea time any earlier. We have been changed on both of our cruises to 4:45 and we really enjoy tea in the MDR which is at 3:00. Guess we won’t be eating many scones.

[neverbeenhere]

5 minutes ago, castlegetaway said:

Does anyone know if they made tea time any earlier. We have been changed on both of our cruises to 4:45 and we really enjoy tea in the MDR which is at 3:00. Guess we won’t be eating many scones.

 

I doubt it as that would take planning and some amount of foresight. 

[Woobstr112G]

5 hours ago, Lucky TGO said:

 

Thrak,

 I totally agree with you 4:15 or 4:45 dining time is ridiculous. I love to know who’s the moron was that thought this one up.😡

Tony

Tony;

 

I think a lot of us would.....

 

Bob

[RDC1]

19 hours ago, Thrak said:

 

Oh yeah... I totally agree. No matter what time they state as "opening time" they will have a large number of folks lining up to try to "beat the opening time". I don't ge it. Nope, nope, nope, not at all. It seems someone on the Princess staff noticed and made a really  ridiculous judgement based on what they saw. (Of course that has always seemed to be the whole point of marketing people. They tend to tak a very small and isolated segment of data and, from that, interpolate an entirely bogus and bizarre set of data upon which they base their next decision.  I am sure that a very small of passengers would love the crazy 4:45 or 4;15 dining times that Princess has implemented but i can  pretty much guarantee (okay I really cant but it seems incredibly likely to me that I am correct) that it is only a very small minority that wants those super early dining times.

More likely they noticed AT and late TD being half empty and decided how to utilize that capacity, especially with the complaints from people about waits for AT before 7:30 and from people wait listed for early traditional.

 

Lets see how this is working about 3-4 months from now after it settles in.

 

[eurodl]

5 hours ago, RDC1 said:

I think that they are leaving the Med cruise dining times later. That would make sense based upon 1. how port intensive these cruises are  2. Many excursions do not return until late (full day excursions)  3. On these cruise more tend to select late dining already.

 

I have a B2B TA followed by a med cruise next May.  TA times have moved earlier, Med times have stayed later.

 

Sailing Mediterranean in September 2019 and our dining times changed.  We originally had 6:00 pm.  Our choices now are 5:15, 5:30 and 7:45.  We changed to 7:45.  I'm confused about 5:15 and 5:30.  Not much time to finish eating

[RDC1]

1 minute ago, eurodl said:

 

Sailing Mediterranean in September 2019 and our dining times changed.  We originally had 6:00 pm.  Our choices now are 5:15, 5:30 and 7:45.  We changed to 7:45.  I'm confused about 5:15 and 5:30.  Not much time to finish eating

5:15 is the mod ship dining room that is early TD and late any time.  5:30 is the stern dining room that is TD for both early and late.  So they have 2 hours and 15 minutes for early TD to complete.

[eurodl]

Ah....OK.  That makes sense.

[Thrak]

We changed our 19 day on Coral to 7:15 but the other 4 we have booked are ATD. We will certainly manage to have wonderful cruises no matter the dining changes. 12 days until we cruise again. I can hardly wait!

[tip]

Maybe they will start offering a 4 pm "Senior Early Bird Special!"

[GottaLuvCruising]

8 hours ago, RDC1 said:

More likely they noticed AT and late TD being half empty and decided how to utilize that capacity, especially with the complaints from people about waits for AT before 7:30 and from people wait listed for early traditional.

 

Lets see how this is working about 3-4 months from now after it settles in.

 

Based on my three conversations with Princess regarding this change, that's precisely why they did it.  In reality, however, Disney Cruise Line tried the ridiculously early main dining times and it went over like a fart in church.  They changed back.  We're unhappy about our upcoming 4:45pm dining, but having tried Anytime on a recent transatlantic and endured long wait times for a table, we'll live with it. 

Edited October 29, 2018 by GottaLuvCruising

[Cathy64]

On 10/27/2018 at 11:25 PM, geocruiser said:

My TA still has NOT gotten a change notice.  She found this out through me calling and telling her.

 

Same for me, I had to phone them and then they phoned Princess, very poor

[ponygirl]

On 10/29/2018 at 4:43 AM, Cathy64 said:

 

Same for me, I had to phone them and then they phoned Princess, very poor

Travel Agents have not been notified. The dining times are 4:45, 5:00, 7:15 and Anytime for itineraries in the "Americas" and 5:15, 5:30, 7:45 and Anytime for Mediterranean. I didn't check any other itinerary. The change was due to feedback from guests. The majority of American guests prefer Early Dining. Princess perhaps interpreted that as EARLIER Dining...LOL.

[Astro Flyer]

28 minutes ago, ponygirl said:

Travel Agents have not been notified. The dining times are 4:45, 5:00, 7:15 and Anytime for itineraries in the "Americas" and 5:15, 5:30, 7:45 and Anytime for Mediterranean. I didn't check any other itinerary. The change was due to feedback from guests. The majority of American guests prefer Early Dining. Princess perhaps interpreted that as EARLIER Dining...LOL.

We have B2B cruises in the Med next year which have the same times as in the Americas...4:45, 5:00, 7:15 and ATD.

 

Guessing your information is based on options for your Med cruise?

 

If so, apparently it's another example of Princess being consistently inconsistent.  Even worse, a passenger on one of my 7 day Med cruises has the original times (6:00, 5:30, 8:15) while mine shows the new times.  A Customer Relations agent who called in reply to my email of dissatisfaction confirmed the new times & saw the same inconsistency on their system.  The change was implemented on 10/16 so obviously they are still having problems that need to be corrected.

Edited October 30, 2018 by Astro Flyer

[jlp20]

On 10/16/2018 at 12:37 PM, canadarocks said:

...(hate the tiny new font BTW) 

I know, I can hardly read anything now!!!!! Anyway, since most of us are in the USA, vote on this as we usually do, with your wallet. 

[victory2020]

I just noticed on my cruise in 10 days out of LA the 4:45 has been changed to 5:00

[Hlitner]

A few years ago, DW and I were having cocktails on a Grand Class ship and noticed that folks were lining up for Traditional dining about 20 minutes early.  We were truly mystified.  Then we noticed that folks would line up for Bingo, for lunch in the MDR, for lunch in the Lido, for the Captains party, free wine tasting (for Platinum/Elites) etc.  We finally concluded that many older folks (and we are also seniors) simply love spending a good part of their day waiting in lines.  We suspect that many of these folks are very boring people, have little to do with their lives, and simply love to pass the time standing in long lines.

 

If Princess were to have early traditional dining at 3pm there would likely be some folks waiting in line by 2:30 :).  i must admit that although I have been on this earth for a lot of years, I have never quite understood this love of queues on Princess.  Perhaps some folks here can explain why on earth they would wait on line for an assigned table!  As to the other places,  simply come a little later just as the lines disappear :).  Instead of lining up at 11:40 for a 12:00 lunch in the MDR...just come to the MDR around 12:30 and you will be immediately seated.  And what is truly amazing is that they do not normally run out of food!  Go figure.

 

The other practice we find interesting are those that like to be in the first row of the theater!  I always wondered how many of these folks, when they are home, put their chair about 2 feet from their big screen TVs?   When Ziegfeld would watch his broadway shows, he would sit in a lower balcony seat where he could take in the entire view of the stage without straining his neck :).  The best seats at most of the best Opera houses are in the balcony (first row).  

 

People watching is fun :).  On ships it can often be the best entertainment of the entire cruise.  Enjoy.

 

Hank

P.S.  Perhaps in our next life we will publish a book titled "The Art of Queue Avoidance"

[frugaltravel]

1 hour ago, ponygirl said:

Travel Agents have not been notified. The dining times are 4:45, 5:00, 7:15 and Anytime for itineraries in the "Americas" and 5:15, 5:30, 7:45 and Anytime for Mediterranean. I didn't check any other itinerary. The change was due to feedback from guests. The majority of American guests prefer Early Dining. Princess perhaps interpreted that as EARLIER Dining...LOL.

Actually travel agents were sent an email earlier today with an apology for not telling them earlier about this change.  This info coming from my TA.

[billco]

25 minutes ago, frugaltravel said:

Actually travel agents were sent an email earlier today with an apology for not telling them earlier about this change.  This info coming from my TA.

How about an apology to the rest of us.