Is Club Class Worth the Extra Cost

[wowzz]

38 minutes ago, MissP22 said:

Same waiter, head waiter, same table with our drinks waiting at our pre-chosen table for 2.  

The problem is for you being from the UK and wanting to eat at what I would call late seating is that we eat at 5 PM. At home we have our one large meal at 3 PM so at 5 PM we're ready to have our late evening meal. (we're from Florida. 😁 if that explains anything)

Seems a strange time for a main meal !

However, I take your point. If you are able to get to the MDR the moment the doors open ( no room for spontaneity on your cruise !) then, yes, I guess you can get what you describe.

Personally,  we rarely want to eat before 20:00, and therefore we valued the cc dining experience. 

[wowzz]

8 minutes ago, rabin1 said:

I am from Florida and I don't eat till 7;30 or 8. I don't understand your point???

I agree   - on our various holidays in Florida the restaurants were packed at night and empty mid-afternoon. I don't think eating at 3pm has anything to do with living in Florida - it is just a personal choice.

[MissP22]

10 minutes ago, memoak said:

Guess the west coast is different. I can’t even imagine dinner before 7:30 or 8:00

Oh, by 8 or 9 PM we'll have a return to the buffet to see if we missed out on anything. 

 

 

6 minutes ago, rabin1 said:

I am from Florida and I don't eat till 7;30 or 8. I don't understand your point???

In general in our area people do eat much earlier and it's sort of a standing joke that people from Florida eat very early.

I guess your not one of them. 

[MissP22]

5 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Seems a strange time for a main meal !

However, I take your point. If you are able to get to the MDR the moment the doors open ( no room for spontaneity on your cruise !) then, yes, I guess you can get what you describe.

Personally,  we rarely want to eat before 20:00, and therefore we valued the cc dining experience. 

We often return to the DR before 21:00 for dessert/coffee. If that counts as late dining. 😆

[wowzz]

1 minute ago, MissP22 said:

In general in our area people do eat much earlier and it's sort of a standing joke that people from Florida eat very early.

If you eat at 3pm, when do you have lunch ? 11a.m. ? And breakfast at 5 a.m. ? Then supper at 8 p.m. ? 

 

[rabin1]

3 minutes ago, MissP22 said:

Oh, by 8 or 9 PM we'll have a return to the buffet to see if we missed out on anything. 

 

 

In general in our area people do eat much earlier and it's sort of a standing joke that people from Florida eat very early.

I guess your not one of them. 

People here in South Florida where I live Ft. Lauderdale very few people eat early. I don't know where you live but could be an age thing. I am not saying you are old I am saying people down here like to party or stay at the beach before going to dinner.............my brother who was here for the past two weeks said it liked eating later which he normally does not do.

[caribill]

1 hour ago, MissP22 said:

Not to say those items aren't important but I get the same thing on every cruise without any extra cost.

 

Harder to get with DMW since many report they cannot get the same table or the same waitstaff even with a booked in advance reservation.

[caribill]

52 minutes ago, rabin1 said:

I am from Florida and I don't eat till 7;30 or 8. I don't understand your point???

 

Many people in your area go to restaurant early-bird specials which end before the time you usually eat.

[voljeep]

14 minutes ago, caribill said:

 

Many people in your area go to restaurant early-bird specials which end before the time you usually eat.

Happy hour and a couple of apps (not OM)

 

oh, wait ... that's what we do at home most every night by the pool ... oops

 

GO BOLTS

[caribill]

 

One of the benefits listed is "Evening canapes, upon request."

 

Anyone have any problem getting these?

 

Able to get items such as chocolate covered strawberries with this benefit?

 

 

[rabin1]

52 minutes ago, caribill said:

 

Many people in your area go to restaurant early-bird specials which end before the time you usually eat.

Again that is the more elderly. Remember I live in the land of over 65 the retirees.. You would agree when driving down here believe me. Between the tourists not knowing where they are going and the elderly driving like turtles I am almost in an accident every time I drive. I have lived here since 72 and I know this area like the back of my hand. Plus I own a company that does direct mail coupon magazines so i have to know the areas. I am always on the road. The other night my brother and I went to dinner at 730 and we had a 2 hour wait. That was the norm not the exception.

[Steelers36]

2 hours ago, rabin1 said:

I am from Florida and I don't eat till 7;30 or 8. I don't understand your point???

Suffice to say that folks have varying preferred dining times - thank goodness as it spreads out the crowd to some degree.

[KKB]

3 hours ago, rabin1 said:

I am from Florida and I don't eat till 7;30 or 8. I don't understand your point???

Our 1st cruise 18 years ago we had 8:30 dinner. We were 38 & 41 at the time.

Then & there we agreed we HATE eating late.

If we eat that late we don't feel like doing anything after that!

We much prefer to eat about 5:30, walk about a bit then hit the show, game shows, casino dancing until late.

At home we usually eat 6-6:30.

So not an elderly thing, just personal preference & knowing what works best for you!

Edited June 11, 2022 by KKB

[rbtan]

9 hours ago, wowzz said:

Every table in Club Class dining had a plain white tablecloth on our cruise a couple of weeks ago.

This was on our Hawaii trip just as the Bug was starting it's rampage. It was on the Star. Suites had gold & CC minisuites had silver table cloths. 

 

5 hours ago, JF - retired RRT said:

I was in a suite on our April Discovery cruise and all the tables had the "silver" cloth.

On one cruise the table in the MDR was directly next to the CC area and all the table cloths in CC were "silver".

This was on the Star just as the Bug hit. It may have changed since.

[tetleytea]

I would escalate that to guest services and management if I had to.  If I got a full suite and put up a silver tablecloth, I'd be like, man, I want my gold tablecloth.  I don't care if you have to pull it out of a closet, give me my doggone gold tablecloth. 

[JF - retired RRT]

43 minutes ago, tetleytea said:

I would escalate that to guest services and management if I had to.  If I got a full suite and put up a silver tablecloth, I'd be like, man, I want my gold tablecloth.  I don't care if you have to pull it out of a closet, give me my doggone gold tablecloth. 

I just wanted the "special dish" in CC. We were never offered. Asked our waiter and he just shrugged.

Our whole suite experience turned out to be not what we expected. The only thing we liked was the huge 2 room suite.

[JF - retired RRT]

4 hours ago, wowzz said:

If you eat at 3pm, when do you have lunch ? 11a.m. ? And breakfast at 5 a.m. ? Then supper at 8 p.m. ? 

 

Uh, yeah. We get up between 4-5 AM every single day (years of early morning work hours trained us). We eat bkfst at 5, hungry again at 11, dinner at 4:30-5 pm. If you start early, you eat early.

[Sea Hag]

18 minutes ago, JF - retired RRT said:

Uh, yeah. We get up between 4-5 AM every single day (years of early morning work hours trained us). We eat bkfst at 5, hungry again at 11, dinner at 4:30-5 pm. If you start early, you eat early.

Old habits die hard, don't they? I was sure that when the kids were raised, I'd sleep in all weekend. Nope. Then I was sure that when I retired I'd sleep in every day. Nope again. Early breakfast, lunch at 11:30, and dinner at 5:00. 

[wowzz]

44 minutes ago, JF - retired RRT said:

I just wanted the "special dish" in CC. We were never offered. Asked our waiter and he just shrugged.

We were offered a special main course every night. 

You should have complained! 

[Steelers36]

2 hours ago, tetleytea said:

I would escalate that to guest services and management if I had to.  If I got a full suite and put up a silver tablecloth, I'd be like, man, I want my gold tablecloth.  I don't care if you have to pull it out of a closet, give me my doggone gold tablecloth. 

Of course.  You need the right table cloth to enhance the food flavors.

[cr8tiv1]

Back to CC perks topic.  I did a b2b. On the first cruise, suite mate preferred to be at the CC dining room when the doors opened at 4:45.  Much to early for me (you can't enjoy the EPS lounge, afternoon tea, evening canapes/yuk, etc).  I cruised solo second half of the cruise.  If I arrived at CC dining room between 6-6:30.  I could "always" have my "table" and favorite wait staff.  

 

Table clothes are grey pinned striped.  No suite designated table clothes/linens.  The tables by the MDR could be interchanged....by replacing the table clothes as needed.  

 

I do have an upcoming cruise booked in an Ocean View.  I will sadly have to adjust my expectations.  I did request a META upgrade, but not holding my breath for anything "Grand".  I was able to book the same time in the same dining room using DWM app.  Took a screen shot of confirmation.  Will have to see if that works.

 

 

[JF - retired RRT]

1 hour ago, wowzz said:

We were offered a special main course every night. 

You should have complained! 

There was enough food. Just disappointed that so many things that should have been part of our suite experience were missing OR had to request to get them.

That was likely the only suite we'll ever be in. 😪

Edited June 11, 2022 by JF - retired RRT

[jagoffee]

7 hours ago, rbtan said:

This was on our Hawaii trip just as the Bug was starting it's rampage. It was on the Star. Suites had gold & CC minisuites had silver table cloths. 

 

This was on the Star just as the Bug hit. It may have changed since.

You are obviously convinced that Club dining has special tables for full suite guest.  Everyone is telling you that that has not been their experience.  Nor as it been my experience, since the beginning of Club Dining.

Perhaps the Star is/was different.  The bottom line is that you felt pleased that they assigned you a suite table one night when you were not staying in a full suite.  Do you have any pictures?

 

[MissP22]

17 hours ago, rabin1 said:

People here in South Florida where I live Ft. Lauderdale very few people eat early. I don't know where you live but could be an age thing. I am not saying you are old I am saying people down here like to party or stay at the beach before going to dinner.............my brother who was here for the past two weeks said it liked eating later which he normally does not do.

 

We're at the age where we can make our own eat, drink & sleeping hours and not have to go by any schedule. Being able to have our main meal when we want is one of the benefits.😊

 

16 hours ago, caribill said:

 

Harder to get with DMW since many report they cannot get the same table or the same waitstaff even with a booked in advance reservation.

So I've heard but,

On the Enchanted in March once aboard we had 5 PM reservations (using the App) and once aboard for 4 or 5 days we decided to switch DR's. We liked our waiter/assistant and just asked to have them every night- no problem. Of course this may have been because we eat at 5PM and the crowd isn't a major problem at that time. 

If you try doing the same at 6:30 PM I suspect you'll have a different experience.

[caribill]

4 hours ago, MissP22 said:

 

 

If you try doing the same at 6:30 PM I suspect you'll have a different experience.

 

 

Likely since Princess cannot control the sped at which people finish their dinner.

 

For example, this quote from another thread: "Waiter and drink service was good, we sat at our table for over 2 hours but that was our choice and drinks were being offered regularly."

 

Anyone who had "reserved" that table would have had to wait or dine at a different table.