Dining: How does "open seating" work on Princess?

[Kay S]

5 hours ago, SantaFeFan said:

 

 

 

On our last Grand Princess cruise we sat at a table for eight with four other people in Da Vinci. That table was located in a corner of the room. It became a race to be the first ones there to grab the best seats, the ones where the view wasn't two blank walls. The other four people were always at the front of the line when the doors opened, so we would end up with the bad seats every time. We eventually asked to be moved, and we did end up at a better location. For the rest of the cruise, the people at that first table would scowl at us anytime we crossed paths, probably because they thought that we didn't like them and were insulted. 😀

 

 

This sounds like old time TD.  Did you request the same table at the same time on the app beforehand?

[Mike45LC]

6 hours ago, PaperSniper4 said:

When did you make your reservations? That day? Day before? A long time before? Just curious.....I need to download the app and try to make reservations, but our cruise is not until March 2023 so I'm pretty sure I'm far, far to early. Maybe have the final payment?

 

 Doug

I made the reservations approximately one month before the cruise.  And I was able to get my proposed MDR and time for each day of the cruise.  (Time was between 6:20 and 7:30, based on the port schedules.)

[SantaFeFan]

36 minutes ago, Kay S said:

This sounds like old time TD.  Did you request the same table at the same time on the app beforehand?

 

This was when TD was still offered - well before COVID. No app yet. We chose what we had been familiar with for decades, early traditional dining. Now, after several mediocre shared table experiences over the years, we are fully in favor of the Dine My Way format. No more sharing tables with unlikable people, such as the four ultra religious people who wanted us to stop our conversations with our friends when they prayed (we didn't - it's our vacation too!), asked us not to order alcoholic beverages because their religion forbade it (not gonna happen at my table), and other wise completely ignored us as the sinning heathens they believed us to be. 👿

[PaperSniper4]

1 hour ago, Mike45LC said:

I made the reservations approximately one month before the cruise.  And I was able to get my proposed MDR and time for each day of the cruise.  (Time was between 6:20 and 7:30, based on the port schedules.)

Thanks very much. That's my plan also. Princess' "MTD" looks like a pretty good plan to me, I like the  flexibility of pre-scheduling "in advance".

 

 Doug

[Kay S]

3 hours ago, SantaFeFan said:

 

This was when TD was still offered - well before COVID. No app yet. We chose what we had been familiar with for decades, early traditional dining. Now, after several mediocre shared table experiences over the years, we are fully in favor of the Dine My Way format. No more sharing tables with unlikable people, such as the four ultra religious people who wanted us to stop our conversations with our friends when they prayed (we didn't - it's our vacation too!), asked us not to order alcoholic beverages because their religion forbade it (not gonna happen at my table), and other wise completely ignored us as the sinning heathens they believed us to be. 👿

That explains it, you sinning heathen.😂

[rdsqrl]

3 hours ago, SantaFeFan said:

 

This was when TD was still offered - well before COVID. No app yet. We chose what we had been familiar with for decades, early traditional dining. Now, after several mediocre shared table experiences over the years, we are fully in favor of the Dine My Way format. No more sharing tables with unlikable people, such as the four ultra religious people who wanted us to stop our conversations with our friends when they prayed (we didn't - it's our vacation too!), asked us not to order alcoholic beverages because their religion forbade it (not gonna happen at my table), and other wise completely ignored us as the sinning heathens they believed us to be. 👿

You could have demanded equal silence for your own prayers to Satan . . .

[VibeGuy]

They sound like a lot of fun.  
 

The NYT recently ran a story about how the most in-demand reservations have crept earlier and earlier of late.    I admit ours onboard have edged closer to 7 than to 8, in part because an 8 with four courses or more pretty much guarantees being the last people in the MDR of late, and I don’t enjoy a bunch of side work going on around me. 
 

Our experience since the restart (70nts on Ruby) was on less-full sailings and we found ourselves with a time-and-table reservation after we found a service team we clicked with.   When we unexpectedly showed up a few weeks after we left, the only question at the MDR was if we wanted the same table again. 
 

as others have said, make a time-and-party-size reservation on Dine My Way (after the final payment date for all passengers, after you’re paid in full for Platinum and Elite) and if you find a service team that meets your expectations, the DR managers may be willing to click the button that converts it to time-and-table.  

[SantaFeFan]

1 hour ago, VibeGuy said:

as others have said, make a time-and-party-size reservation on Dine My Way (after the final payment date for all passengers, after you’re paid in full for Platinum and Elite) and if you find a service team that meets your expectations, the DR managers may be willing to click the button that converts it to time-and-table.  

 

 I keep hearing that myth about Platinum and Elite. We aren't either and we made our dining reservations 4 months ago for a cruise that departs 3 months from now. So much for telling people that they have to be big shots to make those reservations early. 😁

[caribill]

13 hours ago, stoneharborlady said:

 If I waited till 7:30 I would be starved.

 

On a cruise, I am rarely hungry by even 8 PM.

[PaperSniper4]

7 hours ago, VibeGuy said:

They sound like a lot of fun.  
 

The NYT recently ran a story about how the most in-demand reservations have crept earlier and earlier of late.    I admit ours onboard have edged closer to 7 than to 8, in part because an 8 with four courses or more pretty much guarantees being the last people in the MDR of late, and I don’t enjoy a bunch of side work going on around me. 
 

Our experience since the restart (70nts on Ruby) was on less-full sailings and we found ourselves with a time-and-table reservation after we found a service team we clicked with.   When we unexpectedly showed up a few weeks after we left, the only question at the MDR was if we wanted the same table again. 
 

as others have said, make a time-and-party-size reservation on Dine My Way (after the final payment date for all passengers, after you’re paid in full for Platinum and Elite) and if you find a service team that meets your expectations, the DR managers may be willing to click the button that converts it to time-and-table.  

...my mistake, deleted....

Edited November 14, 2022 by PaperSniper4