“Traditional Dining No Longer Exists”

[capriccio]

This was the comment made by MDR staff on our current cruise as a party of 6 on the Enchanted Princess.
 

We had a reservations every night in the MDR at 6:20 pm.  I admit to being totally skeptical as to how this would work.  After our dinner last night our server said “see you tomorrow” and we concurred.  Tonight when we arrived the table was taken and it took some time and internal discussions to find us another.  The hostess said the server or one of us should have asked them last night to reserve last night’s table for the duration of the cruise.

 

After dinner I stopped at the hostess stand and asked if we could reserve tonight’s table.  After consulting the computer they said no it was already assigned to others.  The explanation was that “the computer assigns the tables varying the table numbers night by night and the only way to get the same table after the first night was with a 5 pm or 7 pm request and then the staff can override the computer.”  

 

My advice:  if you like your servers the first night do not leave the MDR without asking staff at the hostess stand to override your assigned tables for the rest of the cruise.  
 

By the way, the staff were no happier with this new system than we are.  I know they are vested in providing a high level of service to their passengers and that’s easier when you have a chance to learn their likes and dislikes, not to mention their names.  Also, I know when we have the same servers we reward continued good service with a gratuity at the end of the cruise.  That won’t happen if we only have them at one dinner.

 

 

 

 

 

[sunviking90]

4 minutes ago, capriccio said:

 

 

My advice:  if you like your servers the first night do not leave the MDR without asking staff at the hostess stand to override your assigned tables for the rest of the cruise.  
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Good Advice. We did this too after our first seating with our waitstaff. The Maître d explained it is hard for them with the system auto assigning tables as people reserve. We actually changed to an earlier time for the remainder of the week as it seemed to make it easier for them to make sure we had the same table.

[Steelers36]

27 minutes ago, capriccio said:

This was the comment made by MDR staff on our current cruise as a party of 6 on the Enchanted Princess.
 

We had a reservations every night in the MDR at 6:20 pm.  I admit to being totally skeptical as to how this would work.  After our dinner last night our server said “see you tomorrow” and we concurred.  Tonight when we arrived the table was taken and it took some time and internal discussions to find us another.  The hostess said the server or one of us should have asked them last night to reserve last night’s table for the duration of the cruise.

 

After dinner I stopped at the hostess stand and asked if we could reserve tonight’s table.  After consulting the computer they said no it was already assigned to others.  The explanation was that “the computer assigns the tables varying the table numbers night by night and the only way to get the same table after the first night was with a 5 pm or 7 pm request and then the staff can override the computer.”  

 

My advice:  if you like your servers the first night do not leave the MDR without asking staff at the hostess stand to override your assigned tables for the rest of the cruise.  
 

By the way, the staff were no happier with this new system than we are.  I know they are vested in providing a high level of service to their passengers and that’s easier when you have a chance to learn their likes and dislikes, not to mention their names.  Also, I know when we have the same servers we reward continued good service with a gratuity at the end of the cruise.  That won’t happen if we only have them at one dinner.

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for this report.  It is about the most detailed realistic report from someone expecting the TD experience as far as having same table and wait staff each night at the same time.  

 

It just makes me angry and frustrated that Princess promised to maintain the TD experience, and they at least promised same table and waitstaff, but the stupid-ass system is actually randomly assigning tables ( as I have suspected for months now ) and therefore totally destroying the opportunity unless the MD/DRO can work the magic and override.  Just ridiculous - and I have even had Princess HQ rep some months back claim they take the MC App DMW reservations as make them work out for same table.  Just a terrible response.

 

This all said, I suspect their programmers had to throw in the towel since no way can this be programmed and hence the manual intervention.  I imagine the intervention is not actually happening and people are left to their own devices to attempt to get what they want.  And you don't even know what you have until show up there.  And - AFAIK - they got rid of visiting the MD/DRO on the embarkation afternoon to fix any dining issues.

 

[Steelers36]

34 minutes ago, capriccio said:

This was the comment made by MDR staff on our current cruise as a party of 6 on the Enchanted Princess.
 

We had a reservations every night in the MDR at 6:20 pm.  I admit to being totally skeptical as to how this would work.  After our dinner last night our server said “see you tomorrow” and we concurred.  Tonight when we arrived the table was taken and it took some time and internal discussions to find us another.  The hostess said the server or one of us should have asked them last night to reserve last night’s table for the duration of the cruise.

 

After dinner I stopped at the hostess stand and asked if we could reserve tonight’s table.  After consulting the computer they said no it was already assigned to others.  The explanation was that “the computer assigns the tables varying the table numbers night by night and the only way to get the same table after the first night was with a 5 pm or 7 pm request and then the staff can override the computer.”  

 

My advice:  if you like your servers the first night do not leave the MDR without asking staff at the hostess stand to override your assigned tables for the rest of the cruise.  
 

By the way, the staff were no happier with this new system than we are.  I know they are vested in providing a high level of service to their passengers and that’s easier when you have a chance to learn their likes and dislikes, not to mention their names.  Also, I know when we have the same servers we reward continued good service with a gratuity at the end of the cruise.  That won’t happen if we only have them at one dinner.

 

 

 

 

 

Suggest you post this in the DMW sticky thread.  Thanks.  I am going to write Princess again about this.

 

[Astro Flyer]

27 minutes ago, capriccio said:

My advice:  if you like your servers the first night do not leave the MDR without asking staff at the hostess stand to override your assigned tables for the rest of the cruise.

Thanks…I blame their current president who created MedallionClass and the failure that is Dine My Way for anyone who desires the same table with the same waitstaff…like me.

 

Last October on Majestic a restaurant manager (previously called a head waiter) attempted to get our party of 4 at the same table each night at our nightly DMW reserved time. While that worked a few times during the week even he couldn’t overrule the unworkable system created by management. Staff are stuck dealing with unhappy passengers while management sits in their ivory tower creating unworkable schemes…awful. I’m am tired of many years of unfulfilled promises…some good ideas which have not been implemented.

[julia]

Thank you for posting your experience.  Again, it appears that Princess is making things FAR more complicated than needed.  Random table assignments??  Whyyyy???  What does that accomplish?? 

[Steelers36]

48 minutes ago, capriccio said:

18 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

My advice:  if you like your servers the first night do not leave the MDR without asking staff at the hostess stand to override your assigned tables for the rest of the cruise.

 

I would not even wait until after dinner - I'd be after the DRO or 2IC before dinner to find out the situation and have a request in to get it fixed.  Princess is not delivering on their promise and those of us expecting it should hold them to it if we can.  I imagine the DRO's are as frustrated with the computer system as we are.  Thanks Mr Padgett - NOT!!!!

[Kmkub]

This is disappointing. On our Enchanted 10 day in January, we were given the same table every time we showed up. We cancelled the reservation in the app three times.

[Astro Flyer]

10 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

Thanks Mr Padgett - NOT!!!!

👍👍

[capriccio]

6 hours ago, Kmkub said:

This is disappointing. On our Enchanted 10 day in January, we were given the same table every time we showed up. We cancelled the reservation in the app three times.

This cruise has the largest number of passengers (2500) to date with just 2 MDRs open (Capri and Amalfi) .Maybe that means no flexibility whatsoever although that is just about 60% of full capacity. 

[Lady Arwen]

I recently booked all of our MDR reservations for the same time each evening in the same restaurant using the Medallion app. Requested a table for two by the window.  Because of our loyalty level, we were able to book dining times immediately, even though our cruise is in September.  I thought that meant that we would be seated at the same table each evening.  Am I now hearing correctly that this is not the case and we could be moved around the dining room, unless we specifically ask for the same table immediately on the first night.  I thought the purpose of all this prebooking was to avoid having to do this.

[capriccio]

6 minutes ago, Lady Arwen said:

I recently booked all of our MDR reservations for the same time each evening in the same restaurant using the Medallion app. Requested a table for two by the window.  Because of our loyalty level, we were able to book dining times immediately, even though our cruise is in September.  I thought that meant that we would be seated at the same table each evening.  Am I now hearing correctly that this is not the case and we could be moved around the dining room, unless we specifically ask for the same table immediately on the first night.  I thought the purpose of all this prebooking was to avoid having to do this.

We also booked in September.  You are interpreting my comments correctly (unfortunately).

[CruisinFinsUp]

After reading all the messes here since restart with DMW, we decided to book Club class.    
We usually book the lowest level mini, but we decided to pay extra entirely to avoid the DMW app mess.   No other reason.  

I've read about a few issues with club class, but if we don't have to deal with that darned app, we are happier.  
 

I just hope we can get Crown Grill reservations without too much hassle.  
 

[capriccio]

1 hour ago, CruisinFinsUp said:

I've read about a few issues with club class, but if we don't have to deal with that darned app, we are happier.   
 

On our January Caribbean Princess cruise we booked Club Class for the first time although our much preferred minis are aft on Emerald deck.  There were only 980 passengers on board but the Club Class area was full most nights but maybe they adjust the size according to number of passengers booked.  

 

A couple of nights we couldn’t get our preferred table type - a 4 top - and they wanted to sit us at a 2 top not 8 inches away from another 2 top.   They commonly did that due to necessity and not wanting to make anyone wait.  It was the height of Omicron and we told the head waiter we would go to Vines and come back in a half hour.  He was very apologetic but we assured him it wasn’t a problem.  BTW the service was excellent and we enjoyed our wait staff.

[Torfamm]

It all seems very unpredictable. We were on the Emerald in January and were told on the first evening getting the our preferred table each night was not possible. We got it about half the time and a similar table several times.

Currently aboard again and requested the same table on night one and the Restaurant Manager was able to arrange for us to have it each night. We did have to agree to 7:20 rather than 7:00 as he was concerned that people seated at 5:30 would not be finished that early. It has been great

[GonzoWCS]

10 hours ago, sunviking90 said:

Good Advice. We did this too after our first seating with our waitstaff. The Maître d explained it is hard for them with the system auto assigning tables as people reserve. We actually changed to an earlier time for the remainder of the week as it seemed to make it easier for them to make sure we had the same table.

We did the same on both the Sky, and Enchanted in November/December of 2021.  It was a bit of a chore but we garnered success!

 

Cheers

[Rudy888]

11 hours ago, capriccio said:

This was the comment made by MDR staff on our current cruise as a party of 6 on the Enchanted Princess.
 

We had a reservations every night in the MDR at 6:20 pm.  I admit to being totally skeptical as to how this would work.  After our dinner last night our server said “see you tomorrow” and we concurred.  Tonight when we arrived the table was taken and it took some time and internal discussions to find us another.  The hostess said the server or one of us should have asked them last night to reserve last night’s table for the duration of the cruise.

 

After dinner I stopped at the hostess stand and asked if we could reserve tonight’s table.  After consulting the computer they said no it was already assigned to others.  The explanation was that “the computer assigns the tables varying the table numbers night by night and the only way to get the same table after the first night was with a 5 pm or 7 pm request and then the staff can override the computer.”  

 

My advice:  if you like your servers the first night do not leave the MDR without asking staff at the hostess stand to override your assigned tables for the rest of the cruise.  
 

By the way, the staff were no happier with this new system than we are.  I know they are vested in providing a high level of service to their passengers and that’s easier when you have a chance to learn their likes and dislikes, not to mention their names.  Also, I know when we have the same servers we reward continued good service with a gratuity at the end of the cruise.  That won’t happen if we only have them at one dinner.

 

 

 

 

 

The comment that Traditonal Dining is gone. Maybe I am wrong but traditional dining is opting for one of the 2 times for Traditional dining. Like 5:30 or 7:30.

Anytime Dining is picking your time like 6:30. Where it appears you may or may not be able to get the same table each night

 

 

 

[wowzz]

1 minute ago, Rudy888 said:

Maybe I am wrong but traditional dining is opting for one of the 2 times for Traditional dining. Like 5:30 or 7:30.

No, that doesn't exist anymore.

[tonit964]

4 hours ago, Lady Arwen said:

I recently booked all of our MDR reservations for the same time each evening in the same restaurant using the Medallion app. Requested a table for two by the window.  Because of our loyalty level, we were able to book dining times immediately, even though our cruise is in September.  I thought that meant that we would be seated at the same table each evening.  Am I now hearing correctly that this is not the case and we could be moved around the dining room, unless we specifically ask for the same table immediately on the first night.  I thought the purpose of all this prebooking was to avoid having to do this.

How were you able to request a table by the window with the app, or did you call?

[tonit964]

Princess was pretty much the line of choice for my parents with some Celebrity & Royal Caribbean sprinkled in. They cruised a good 4 times a year and absolutely loved the traditional dining, sitting at a shared table.

If they were still around, they would be so heartbroken over the ending of TD.

[Lady Arwen]

16 minutes ago, tonit964 said:

How were you able to request a table by the window with the app, or did you call?

Did it on the app, I believe in preferences or dining.  You are asked what kind of dining experience you prefer:  slow, fast, relaxed, table location, etc.  Are you Platinum or Elite?  These loyalty levels get first choice, before final payment.  I made our dining arrangements in November for our September sailing.

[Lady Arwen]

1 hour ago, Rudy888 said:

The comment that Traditonal Dining is gone. Maybe I am wrong but traditional dining is opting for one of the 2 times for Traditional dining. Like 5:30 or 7:30.

Anytime Dining is picking your time like 6:30. Where it appears you may or may not be able to get the same table each night

 

 

 

Sorry to say, Traditional dining options, early or late seating, have been eliminated.  It was so easy, you just show up at the same time every night,  go to your table where your waitstaff were there to greet you by name, and your favourite beverage  was on the table.  So disappointed, but we go with flow.

[tonit964]

15 minutes ago, Lady Arwen said:

Did it on the app, I believe in preferences or dining.  You are asked what kind of dining experience you prefer:  slow, fast, relaxed, table location, etc.  Are you Platinum or Elite?  These loyalty levels get first choice, before final payment.  I made our dining arrangements in November for our September sailing.

I'm platinum. I don't remember seeing the table location or pace of dinner when I selected the times.

Is it still an option to select those?

 

Thank you for the info. 😊

[capriccio]

“Traditional Dining No Longer Exists”
 

That comment was a quote; not from me but a member of the MDR staff.  I just happen to agree with the opinion.

Edited March 12, 2022 by capriccio

[chicgotgame]

I’ve got the same table booked February 18, 22 until May 4, 22 when I disembark.