Dining enquiries

[Nicole&Pete]

10 hours ago, MissP22 said:

That's true. 

Saying that, the tables in the buffet even have more space between them compared to the DR. 

I dislike requesting a 2 top table, sitting down & having someone next to me feel it's necessary to start a conversation.

Why bother to sit in that section anyway? 🙁

Well I would like to be away from people due to Covid, I wonder if I can request that, it will be quite tedious to have to request that each night. I guess there is no email address for princess dining enquiries?

[Sea Hag]

2 hours ago, wowzz said:

Although many of the two tops are so close together,  you may as well be sitting at a table for six !

This is true. What I hate is when we're sitting at a table for two and the waiter is running it as a six-top. Part of the reason we ask or a table for two is that we don't want to wait around for people who like a more leisurely dining pace than we do, can't make up their minds on anything, or order things that take extra time.

[JF - retired RRT]

5 hours ago, Lizabu said:

That Allegro. Concerto is the one that’s closer when you board. Someone can point you to it when you get on.

Or😇 you could look at the deck plans.

[Strongbox]

6 hours ago, Nicole&Pete said:

Basically we have booked the dine my way which is fine but we wanted to ask if we can have the same table and wait staff for the entire cruise. I was hoping there would be someone on board I can discuss this with?

We were on the Sky until 14th May. We mentioned to our dining servers on the first night that we would like to dine on this table for the entire cruise and she told us it wouldn't be a problem, the table would be kept for us every night - and it was.

[Nicole&Pete]

11 hours ago, Strongbox said:

We were on the Sky until 14th May. We mentioned to our dining servers on the first night that we would like to dine on this table for the entire cruise and she told us it wouldn't be a problem, the table would be kept for us every night - and it was.

That is good news to me! Thank you for that information.

 

Do you remember if they did have a maitre d session on embarkation day at all?

 

Also did you use the sanctuary on the Sky? 
 

Is there anything we should be aware of to set our expectations before we board. I have a read a few reviews which state that now the capacity is increasing the staff are struggling a bit and service is being affected?

 

thanks

 

Nicole

[wowzz]

It is important to remember that now cruises are approaching full capacity again, it is just impossible to offer "isolated" dining in the MDRs. 

So, if you really do not want to sit near anyone when eating, your choices are, speciality dining, buffet, or room service.  

The attitude of the vast majority of pax in our cruise last week,  was to carry on as in pre-covid times. Socialising,  laughing, dancing and eating together. And we joined in !

If you are really worried about eating near other people in the MDR,  perhaps now is not the time for you to be cruising.

[MissP22]

10 hours ago, wowzz said:

 

If you are really worried about eating near other people in the MDR,  perhaps now is not the time for you to be cruising.

Unfortunately what you say is true. When on a ship there's no place to really isolate yourself from the crowd. Putting on a mask is about the only protection you have in some instances but that's only for a brief amount of time.

I just live my life as it comes and if I get Covid, I get it.

At least it's not as bad as it once was when it first came out. 

[caribill]

23 hours ago, Nicole&Pete said:

Are there definitely no allocated time for discussing dining, there used to be queues of people waiting to get there dining sorted.

 

Correct.

 

There used to be a session mid-afternoon in an unused dining room where it was almost like lining up for a session with the Pope.

 

The Maitre D'  would be in an elevated area and one by one people would be escorted to him to get the blessing of a changed dinner time arrangement.

 

But as other pointed out above, 99% of the type requests he could resolve no longer have meaning with DMW.

 

It has been posted that the best way to secure in advance the same table for each evening with DMW is to reserve in one request the same dining room at the same table size at the same time for the entire cruise, not by making a reservation one evening at a time even with the same info. And then link all people in your group to this reservation

 

Once on board the problem is that the table you want may be busy at the time you have it booked for unless it is for when the dining room first opens. Unlike Traditional Dining when it was guaranteed all tables would be 100% available at two specified times, DMW is designed so that this is impossible after the first people have been seated. People at all of the tables are served and eat at different speeds, so there is no true idea when any table will open up for another reservation.

[Steelers36]

22 hours ago, Nicole&Pete said:

Do you remember if they did have a maitre d session on embarkation day at all?

The answer to this, unfortunately, is still NO.  That said, you are always welcome to track down the DRO, or an Assistant, and discuss your request.

[Steelers36]

1 hour ago, caribill said:

The Maitre D'  would be in an elevated area and one by one people would be escorted to him to get the blessing of a changed dinner time arrangement.

LOL.  I have been there, but always found them to be quite accommodating.

[Steelers36]

1 hour ago, caribill said:

Once on board the problem is that the table you want may be busy at the time you have it booked for unless it is for when the dining room first opens. Unlike Traditional Dining when it was guaranteed all tables would be 100% available at two specified times, DMW is designed so that this is impossible after the first people have been seated. People at all of the tables are served and eat at different speeds, so there is no true idea when any table will open up for another reservation.

We have no idea how they programmed DMW for table inventory and allocation, but we do know they offered times at 20-minute intervals.  One would THINK (hope in this case), that once a tablespace was booked at whatever time, that they had instituted an average "safe" time that the table space would be available again for the next party.  One would also THINK (hope again), that they would also be smart enough to figure out that a 2-top is going to turn over a lot faster than an 8-top.  IDK, don't you THINK (hoping again here) that they would consult some restaurant mgmt experts in how they allocate out advance reservations?  

 

DMW is a big black box trying to do too much it seems and not much of it well.  I wish I had more details on the design and what is happening inside the black box and how dining requests made in DMW turn into bums in seats in the DR.  Some reports indicate those with reservations (not about those looking for TD experience, say), are waiting to be checked in and to find an open table and the res in DMW not meaning a lot.  Perhaps all it is doing in some cases is giving them an idea of the ebb and flow of table demand.

 

Seems to me they also need to figure out a way that those of us who have managed a TD experience can just go to our tables and bypass the red tape at the door which is just holding up the process for all involved.  

 

I can hardly wait to see this up close in person in October.  I do have faith that we will get a nicely located 4-top for the duration one way or another.

[Nicole&Pete]

On 6/11/2022 at 4:54 AM, wowzz said:

It is important to remember that now cruises are approaching full capacity again, it is just impossible to offer "isolated" dining in the MDRs. 

So, if you really do not want to sit near anyone when eating, your choices are, speciality dining, buffet, or room service.  

The attitude of the vast majority of pax in our cruise last week,  was to carry on as in pre-covid times. Socialising,  laughing, dancing and eating together. And we joined in !

If you are really worried about eating near other people in the MDR,  perhaps now is not the time for you to be cruising.

My fear is not catching Covid, my fear is having to quarantine on the cruise ship and missing out on my cruise. I won’t care in the last few days of the cruise but there is a risk up to that time on missing out.

 

I know I have antibodies from the vaccine (I know T cells are the most important but at least I know the vaccine did something for me) and whilst I’m asthmatic I don’t think I will suffer that badly with Covid now and I’m definitely going to get it at some point if I haven’t already. That is not the issue, the issue is we have wanted to cruise to Iceland for years and the Iceland stops are in the second week of a 2 week cruise, so I really want to make sure I can see Iceland!
 

I don’t mind being close to other tables but I’ve seen pictures that show tables inches away from one another so you are effectively sitting right next to someone else as though your sharing a table.

[Nicole&Pete]

On 6/11/2022 at 3:52 PM, MissP22 said:

Unfortunately what you say is true. When on a ship there's no place to really isolate yourself from the crowd. Putting on a mask is about the only protection you have in some instances but that's only for a brief amount of time.

I just live my life as it comes and if I get Covid, I get it.

At least it's not as bad as it once was when it first came out. 

We have some masks with us which we will wear walking around but not all the time.

[Nicole&Pete]

23 hours ago, caribill said:

 

Correct.

 

There used to be a session mid-afternoon in an unused dining room where it was almost like lining up for a session with the Pope.

 

The Maitre D'  would be in an elevated area and one by one people would be escorted to him to get the blessing of a changed dinner time arrangement.

 

But as other pointed out above, 99% of the type requests he could resolve no longer have meaning with DMW.

 

It has been posted that the best way to secure in advance the same table for each evening with DMW is to reserve in one request the same dining room at the same table size at the same time for the entire cruise, not by making a reservation one evening at a time even with the same info. And then link all people in your group to this reservation

 

Once on board the problem is that the table you want may be busy at the time you have it booked for unless it is for when the dining room first opens. Unlike Traditional Dining when it was guaranteed all tables would be 100% available at two specified times, DMW is designed so that this is impossible after the first people have been seated. People at all of the tables are served and eat at different speeds, so there is no true idea when any table will open up for another reservation.

Thanks that did make me laugh!
 

I have booked the same time each night. 
 

It must be so difficult for the waiters to serve everyone at different times compared to traditional dining.

[Nicole&Pete]

22 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

The answer to this, unfortunately, is still NO.  That said, you are always welcome to track down the DRO, or an Assistant, and discuss your request.

Thanks I guess it could be a good idea to have lunch in the MDR on the first day and use that as an opportunity to speak to the wait staff about this.

[Pink-belle]

On 6/10/2022 at 1:16 PM, Nicole&Pete said:

Basically we have booked the dine my way which is fine but we wanted to ask if we can have the same table and wait staff for the entire cruise. I was hoping there would be someone on board I can discuss this with?

I disembarked the Sky yesterday.  We had booked a private table for 3 at the same time each evening in Cielo, (aft deck 6 restaurant)  I asked the restaurant host if it would be the same table each night, she said if we liked the position of the table to ask her on the way out and she would reserve it for us each evening.  We were eating quite early 6:40 so I don’t know if that would make a difference. 
 

last year on Regal we really enjoyed a waiter, so asked for his section each night and had no trouble getting it. 

[majortom10]

There was a Maitre'd available on our current cruise on Emerald at the Da Vinci restaurant on midships deck 6 to answer any queries with regards to dining in MDR. We saw him because the upgrade had wiped out most of our times pre booked on App pre cruise. He told us not to worry as original bookings made on App show up as ours did. Also those booking speciality restaurants don't book onboard on App book direct with restaurant as App doesn't always work due to glitches (it's crap). We made a booking on App which was confirmed and when we turned up for our meal restaurant was closed.

[Strongbox]

On 6/10/2022 at 8:58 PM, Nicole&Pete said:

That is good news to me! Thank you for that information.

 

Do you remember if they did have a maitre d session on embarkation day at all?

 

Also did you use the sanctuary on the Sky? 
 

Is there anything we should be aware of to set our expectations before we board. I have a read a few reviews which state that now the capacity is increasing the staff are struggling a bit and service is being affected?

 

thanks

 

Nicole

There was a maitre d on the door on the first night holding a table plan and he told the server where to take us. No we didnt use the sanctuary. Bar staff and waiters were extremely busy, sometimes had to wait for drinks, best to just go to the bar. Sure you will have a great time on this super ship.

[Nicole&Pete]

On 6/12/2022 at 1:40 PM, Pink-belle said:

I disembarked the Sky yesterday.  We had booked a private table for 3 at the same time each evening in Cielo, (aft deck 6 restaurant)  I asked the restaurant host if it would be the same table each night, she said if we liked the position of the table to ask her on the way out and she would reserve it for us each evening.  We were eating quite early 6:40 so I don’t know if that would make a difference. 
 

last year on Regal we really enjoyed a waiter, so asked for his section each night and had no trouble getting it. 

That sounds good although 6:40 probably means it is easier for them to hold it for you. Did you like the cielo dining room,we are booked in estrella (the only one available when we booked our dining months ago)?

[Nicole&Pete]

On 6/12/2022 at 3:19 PM, majortom10 said:

There was a Maitre'd available on our current cruise on Emerald at the Da Vinci restaurant on midships deck 6 to answer any queries with regards to dining in MDR. We saw him because the upgrade had wiped out most of our times pre booked on App pre cruise. He told us not to worry as original bookings made on App show up as ours did. Also those booking speciality restaurants don't book onboard on App book direct with restaurant as App doesn't always work due to glitches (it's crap). We made a booking on App which was confirmed and when we turned up for our meal restaurant was closed.

Thanks I’m going to try the midship restaurant and see if there is someone there to talk to.

[Nicole&Pete]

On 6/12/2022 at 3:37 PM, Strongbox said:

There was a maitre d on the door on the first night holding a table plan and he told the server where to take us. No we didnt use the sanctuary. Bar staff and waiters were extremely busy, sometimes had to wait for drinks, best to just go to the bar. Sure you will have a great time on this super ship.

I’ve heard that staff are quite busy now that ships are getting fuller again. 
 

I shall look out for the maitre d on the first night.

Thank you
 

 

[majortom10]

43 minutes ago, Nicole&Pete said:

I’ve heard that staff are quite busy now that ships are getting fuller again. 
 

I shall look out for the maitre d on the first night.

Thank you
 

 

Emerald is currently sailing at 80% capacity but it is plain to see in all areas of the ship that there is a shortage of staff and a lot of drinks not available.

 

[Pink-belle]

1 hour ago, Nicole&Pete said:

That sounds good although 6:40 probably means it is easier for them to hold it for you. Did you like the cielo dining room,we are booked in estrella (the only one available when we booked our dining months ago)?

Estrella is the restaurant that is open for breakfast and lunch, we also ate there every day on our previous cruise as it is/was the Club Class dining room. 
 

We had an aft stateroom so Cielo very convenient for us, it seems now there is not traditional dining most passengers stop midship at Estrella or Soleil.  

[Nicole&Pete]

17 hours ago, majortom10 said:

Emerald is currently sailing at 80% capacity but it is plain to see in all areas of the ship that there is a shortage of staff and a lot of drinks not available.

 

That’s interesting thanks, I think I may have to go with low expectations. I imagine that might be the case with a lot of cruise lines.

[Nicole&Pete]

17 hours ago, Pink-belle said:

Estrella is the restaurant that is open for breakfast and lunch, we also ate there every day on our previous cruise as it is/was the Club Class dining room. 
 

We had an aft stateroom so Cielo very convenient for us, it seems now there is not traditional dining most passengers stop midship at Estrella or Soleil.  

Thank you it may be that Cielo is quieter perhaps