Change in Traditional Dining Times?

[TomCon]

My concern is that although I have always been confirmed on cruise personalizer for 6:00 dining I have never received later than 5:30....in 10 cruises.....I hope that 7:15 is an accurate dining time in the future as I have changed our 3 

[Astro Flyer]

6 minutes ago, RDC1 said:

So it looks like the Star has fully made the change.  Might be a faster implementation than I thought.  Will know about the Grand in 9 days.  I did receive an email giving the new dining times for that cruise, so maybe they will be fully changed as well.

Like you, thought the transition period wouldn’t include cruises sailing only a few days after Princess notified TAs two weeks after implementing the changes on their website.

[cabin4three]

If 1st seating is 5pm, what time is afternoon tea served?    Its been years since we last cruised with Princess.

[capriccio]

Some of the dining time changes to early traditional were all ready in place on the Ruby this past summer.  The tea time was from 3 to 4 pm.  From the embarkation day Patter:

 

Michaelangelo - deck 5 midship (anytime dining): 4:30 - 8:30 pm

Botticelli - deck 6 aft (traditional): 5:30 (1st seating; door will close at 6 pm); 8 pm (second seating)

DaVinci - deck 6 midship: 

• breakfast port days: 7 - 9 am
• breakfast sea days: 7:30 - 9:30 am 
• lunch sea days (including Ketchican with 1 pm sailing): noon - 1:30 pm
• afternoon tea: 3 - 4 pm
• traditional dining: 5 pm (doors close at 5:45)
• anytime dining: 7:30 - 9:30 pm 

Edited November 5, 2018 by capriccio

[Fortressgirl]

To clarify, the Portofino Dining Room OPENED at 5:00 p.m. (It was a mix of traditional and anytime dining).  However, our traditional dining time was 5:15 p.m.

[RDC1]

15 minutes ago, Fortressgirl said:

To clarify, the Portofino Dining Room OPENED at 5:00 p.m. (It was a mix of traditional and anytime dining).  However, our traditional dining time was 5:15 p.m.

Not unusual for then to open the doors 15 minutes or so before the time stated in the patter.  So even though your official time in the patter says 5:15, you can enter and start at 5..

[saltyg8r]

Spoke to my vacation planner and she informed me this is a fleet wide change in dining times. 

Early dining 4:45/5:00PM with late seating 7:15PM in traditional dining. She also advised checking booking and making changes prior to boarding to avoid any issues.  She said this change has been made in response to passenger requests and survey results.

[TW6cruiser]

I had sent an email a few days ago to Princess Customer relations complaining about the 5:00 pm dining time.  We do like early traditional, but we had a 6:00 pm time booked and now are moved to 5:00 pm.   A gal from Princess actually called me. She said that she thanked me for my comments and that they are receiving a lot of complaints.  She said that they MAY consider moving the times back to what they were based on the complaints.  I was impressed that I got a call. 

 

So, if you are not happy with the new times, I'd suggest you send an email or call Princess.  They claim to be paying attention. 

[TomCon]

bI emailed 2 weeks ago and 10 days ago and have only received the response that message was received....In fact I have never received a responsive reply from Princess by email on this or any other question/comment to customer relations 

[jlp20]

I understand the concern of those posting here. However, if this is that important, cancel booking. Princess is business, being so they react only to the bottom line. 

[Mediaspot]

Check my post above... I have also sent two inquiries to Customer Relations and only received two automated responses promising a full answer... I read elsewhere that this change was due to "customer requests and surveys"... They didn't question or survey me. Judging by the negative comments here, and on other social media, it was not a very popular decision by Princess. IMHO:  I think that booked passengers that had a confirmed 6:00PM dining time should be given the option of a reservation for 6:00 at Anytime Dining rather than have to wait in line.... THM

[EMS8]

I sent an email to Princess customer relations earlier this week and received a call from them today.  She confirmed there had been lots of calls and emails. She said she had made more than one hundred calls responding to customer emails and calls about the new dining times.  So I know they are paying attention to our concerns.  

[TomCon]

I am glad to hear they respond.......sadly this has not been my experience over   last few year ...and 10 cruises

[Mediaspot]

I am at 28 w/Princess and, sad to say, I am starting to agree with a comment on the thread for my next cruise, December 13-23 - S.F. to Mexico... "Princess is changing, and not for the better"... Thom.

[Fortressgirl]

On 11/4/2018 at 11:10 PM, caribill said:

The phone reps have no actual idea what time dining will be on the ships.

 

The peronalizer was usually not correct in the past. There is no reason to believe it is correct now.

 

Until someone posts that late seating was actually at 7:15 on a ship, I would not believe there has actually been any change. So far the posts from those on board several different ships have said the late seating is at 7:45.

Just got off the Star.  Traditional early dining was at 5:15 p.m. (Although I was originally told it had changed from 5:45 to 4:45) ATD started at 5:00 p.m. Second seating was at 7:15.  The software on the personalizer just reflects the 1 hour change and actual times can vary by ship. My real complaint about this was the lack of ANY communication by Princess to us or our TA. The change happened 48 hours before we sailed, so no opportunity to make dining adjustments. When I asked, both by phone and e-mail the answer was "I don't know why the changes were made." When I asked on board, the answer was the same, with some speculating it was by customer feedback. We made do, but could not avail ourselves of the Platinum lounge for drinks and appetizers.  We also had to leave the Captain's cocktail party early so as to not delay our tablemates from ordering dinner. I realize this is a first world challenge, but the reason we cruise is to have the preferences we like, and to be respected by the cruiselines we frequent.

[Mediaspot]

Here's my "two cents worth"... Princess should have given 90-120 notice of the changes to all booked passengers. That would have given them until the "75 days prior to cruise deadline", when you start incurring penalties for cancellation, to decide if they wanted to cancel. Those booked after the notice was given, would then have been able to decide whether or not the new schedule(s) suited their personal cruising preferences. I was amazed that I heard rumors of the switched times on the thread for my cruise this December rather than directly from Princess. I wrote (e-mailed)  Princess TWICE after hearing the rumors and have yet to receive a personal response. I hope Princess monitors these social media sites and realizes what a PR problem they have created. This will be my 29th cruise with Princess and I always deposit $100 while on board for my next cruise. I can not, at this point, say I will do the same on this next cruise. 

[jlp20]

47 minutes ago, Fortressgirl said:

...if they cancel, would lose part or all of their deposits.  This solution is like throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

The question was how to get Princess to change the time. I can almost guarantee Princess was able to reduce dining room staffing by over 5% by this change. Work the early seating then shift them to anytime rush. Back to traditional for the late seating. Nothing other than profits will reverse new policy.

[caribill]

2 hours ago, Fortressgirl said:

Just got off the Star.  We made do, but could not avail ourselves of the Platinum lounge for drinks and appetizers.  We also had to leave the Captain's cocktail party early so as to not delay our tablemates from ordering dinner.

 

The problem seems to be they changed the traditional dining times, but did not adjust the times for the Captain's cocktail party or the Platinum/Elite/Suite lounge to fit in with the new dining schedule.

[PaperSniper4]

On 10/21/2018 at 11:19 AM, floridalover5623 said:

That's one of the main reasons we now do AT dining. 

Table for 2 only. 

What has been your experience getting a table between 530 PM and 630 PM? We've an older group, early to raise and early to bed, so eating too late is just asking for trouble!

 

Have you been able to get reservations for AT dining? Or is is first come, first served? If it's possible to make a reservation, can it be made for multiple nights? The only time we had AT dinning on Princess was several years back and it was only possible to make reservations at times which for our needs were super early and super late time.

 

Thanks

[Aulanis]

Anyone know if this change extends to Diamond Princess when in Japan?

There is NO ATD and  the times shown in our Cruise personalizer are shown

as 5.30 or 7.45.

[Aulanis]

Sorry for the double post  by the time I got back into my cruise personaliser

I missed the Edit cut off.

We are on the Diamond in Japan in May 19  - the following from the personaliser.  Not that there seems anything Personal about it as I cannot really change it to what we want.    As regards  being wait list #3 on one line and waitlist #19 on another line that may as well be in Japanese.

Please can anyone translate it for me ? 

Edited November 18, 2018 by Aulanis

[Reader0108598]

What I always like is when these cruise lines want to do something they say it was in response to passengers request! Don't believe it for a minute,won't affect me I go to the buffet. If this were true they would change all kinds of things we may or may not like. 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 18, 2018 by Reader0108598

[Aulanis]

I suspect that it may have been in response to  customers request!!

There also seems a large proportion of members on here  think they would switch to late if it is at 07.15 which is an indication they thought the later time was too late

It is even reflected on here that before the change most people would have

selected early traditional or anytime.This used to allow pre dinner drinks

dinner, first or second show then  either bed or more drinks and the smaller shows.  However that would mean that anyone booking their cruise late

would, the First sitting being filled, be allocated second sitting.

They may have been allowed to change to ATD but if not they would most likely say that it was too late to eat and put it in writing.

The simplistic way to correct this for those that complained  is to bring the late dining forward  however to accomodate this they than had too move the first sitting forward.  Their idea was maybe confirmed as workable by the number queueing early for the first sitting.  However many of those may have been on any time dining and wanting a table for 2.  If that is the case

then changing the times will not help.   Maybe they should reduce the number of tables for 2 and/or  say ATD is limited to sharing tables.

 

[Mediaspot]

18 minutes ago, Aulanis said:

I suspect that it may have been in response to  customers request!!

There also seems a large proportion of members on here  think they would switch to late if it is at 07.15 which is an indication they thought the later time was too late

It is even reflected on here that before the change most people would have

selected early traditional or anytime.This used to allow pre dinner drinks

dinner, first or second show then  either bed or more drinks and the smaller shows.  However that would mean that anyone booking their cruise late

would, the First sitting being filled, be allocated second sitting.

They may have been allowed to change to ATD but if not they would most likely say that it was too late to eat and put it in writing.

The simplistic way to correct this for those that complained  is to bring the late dining forward  however to accomodate this they than had too move the first sitting forward.  Their idea was maybe confirmed as workable by the number queueing early for the first sitting.  However many of those may have been on any time dining and wanting a table for 2.  If that is the case

then changing the times will not help.   Maybe they should reduce the number of tables for 2 and/or  say ATD is limited to sharing tables.

I agree with everything in your post, but would add the following... When the changes were made, Princess could/should have offered all those passengers who booked early to get confirmed early traditional dining the option of a guaranteed nightly reservation at 6:00PM at anytime dining. Announcing the change(s) via e-mail AFTER  word had spread "through the grapevine" was a gran mal misstep.  Thom.

 

[RDC1]

2 hours ago, Aulanis said:

Sorry for the double post  by the time I got back into my cruise personaliser

I missed the Edit cut off.

We are on the Diamond in Japan in May 19  - the following from the personaliser.  Not that there seems anything Personal about it as I cannot really change it to what we want.    As regards  being wait list #3 on one line and waitlist #19 on another line that may as well be in Japanese.

Please can anyone translate it for me ? 

waitlist 3 is your current status of your request for early dining. waitlist 19 is where you would be if you changed and selected that option now.