Formal Nights - 10/day Panama Canal Cruise

[13cheermom]

Anyone know this particular information that has sailed this itinerary before?  First time with Princess and not familiar with their usual routines. Trying to decide about specialty dining and what nights to reserve.  Thanks!

[Steelers36]

2 hours ago, 13cheermom said:

Anyone know this particular information that has sailed this itinerary before?  First time with Princess and not familiar with their usual routines. Trying to decide about specialty dining and what nights to reserve.  Thanks!

Which way are you going?  What is the itinerary?

 

On most cruises, they try to have the first formal night on second night of the voyage - the Captain's Welcome Aboard event.  This will definitely 100% be the case if your second day is a Sea Day.

 

You will NEVER have a formal night the first evening nor the last evening.

 

If second last night is a Sea Day, then likely that one.  Otherwise, it is necessary to see the itinerary to figure out the likely night.  It won't be a port night where ship has a late departure. 

 

On the other hand, you don't need to sweat it much for Specialty Dining and can get a res if book shortly after embarkation.

 

[geoherb]

2 hours ago, 13cheermom said:

Anyone know this particular information that has sailed this itinerary before?  First time with Princess and not familiar with their usual routines. Trying to decide about specialty dining and what nights to reserve.  Thanks!

 

Here's the Patter with the itinerary from when I sailed on the Caribbean Princess on a partial Panama Canal cruise in December 2019. Our formal nights were the second and eighth nights of our cruise.

 

Edited August 7, 2021 by geoherb

[birdiebill]

We have never pre-booked specialty dining.  We have always been able to book it after we have embarked.  One time we were unable to book specialty dining for the night of our wedding anniversary, so we just booked it for the next night.  After all, we considered the entire cruise our anniversary celebration since it just happened to coincide with our anniversary.

[skynight]

Never boarding day or the last evening of the cruise. I looked at the currently posted itineraries. All are just about the same as post #3. Most likely the 1st full and the 3rd full sea days just like the schedule shown in post #3. 

[paul929207]

Check the Patter for the first day. Formal nights are noted there

[caribill]

23 hours ago, paul929207 said:

Check the Patter for the first day. Formal nights are noted there

 

With the pre-Pandemic Patter that was true.

 

On the two page post-Pandemic Patter as posted by those on the first Alaska voyage, that information is no longer there.

[Steelers36]

17 minutes ago, caribill said:

 

With the pre-Pandemic Patter that was true.

 

On the two page post-Pandemic Patter as posted by those on the first Alaska voyage, that information is no longer there.

Which is unfortunate as that summary provided the latest-and-greatest info on port times, indicated when time changes were going to occur (if any), as well as the dining schedule.  IDK why they would drop important information.

[caribill]

37 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

Which is unfortunate as that summary provided the latest-and-greatest info on port times, indicated when time changes were going to occur (if any), as well as the dining schedule.  IDK why they would drop important information.

 

The dining schedule for the day is still part of the two-page Patter.

[Steelers36]

8 minutes ago, caribill said:

 

The dining schedule for the day is still part of the two-page Patter.

I know - I meant the full week summary as it had the formal/smart casual designations as you pointed out.

[13cheermom]

On 8/6/2021 at 10:37 PM, Steelers36 said:

Which way are you going?  What is the itinerary?

 

On most cruises, they try to have the first formal night on second night of the voyage - the Captain's Welcome Aboard event.  This will definitely 100% be the case if your second day is a Sea Day.

 

You will NEVER have a formal night the first evening nor the last evening.

 

If second last night is a Sea Day, then likely that one.  Otherwise, it is necessary to see the itinerary to figure out the likely night.  It won't be a port night where ship has a late departure. 

 

On the other hand, you don't need to sweat it much for Specialty Dining and can get a res if book shortly after embarkation.

 

Oh sorry, it's a partial transit leaving from Ft. Lauderdale RT.  So no need to worry about reservations then?  This cruise isn't until 3/13/21, however 1st cruise with Princess so wasn't sure when I should start looking at options available.  Thanks for the information.

[13cheermom]

Thanks to everyone for all the helpful information!

[Dar & Bob]

On an 8 day cruise are there two formal nights or only one?  Just curious we have an 8 day scheduled for January.

[geoherb]

2 hours ago, Dar & Bob said:

On an 8 day cruise are there two formal nights or only one?  Just curious we have an 8 day scheduled for January.

Two formal nights for cruises that are 7 to 13 nights long.

[Steelers36]

2 hours ago, Dar & Bob said:

On an 8 day cruise are there two formal nights or only one?  Just curious we have an 8 day scheduled for January.

https://www.princess.com/learn/faq_answer/pre_cruise/bring.jsp

 

See the table by length of cruise for number of formal nights.  Note that if you book a logical voyage that is in effect composed of shorter physical voyages, the number of formal nights is determined by the sum of the appropriate number for each of the shorter physical voyages since most guests will be on the shorter voyages.