How to book MDR same time (Trad) for group of 12...

[NavyCruiser]

Haven't sailed on Princess for past few years. 

Just learned that there's no more Traditional same time, same table, same staff MDR reservations anymore. 

Our group of 12 will be on Ruby Princess in February. 

So how / who do we contact to request old Traditional style reservation for our group?

Thanks 

[caribill]

What you can do is set up a reservation for the desired time in the desired dining room.

 

Princess has an app that includes this option, but it might ber easier to just call Princess and have a rep set up your dining times.

 

However, a table for 12 might present a problem. Even if a table for 12 was available, it might not be available at the time you want it to be.

 

Even if one was available, I would prefer instead to have two tables for six.

 

A table for 12 would be so big that most people could not communicate with most of the other people.

 

Two tables for six would solve that problem and you could change people between the tables on different evenings.

 

Even if you are able to set this up pre-cruise, once onboard speak with the dining room manager to see if he/she can make sure the two tables will be the same ones each evening and will be near one another.

[cr8tiv1]

The largest tables I’ve seen have been for 8.  I don’t know if you are referring to 6 couples or families with multiple members. Does anyone need a special diet?  Will you all want to meet at the same time?  They will only hold your table for 15 minutes. 
 

Best suggestion is to reserve 2 tables of 6 and let the members mix and match.  
 

Are you working with a travel agent?

 

Good luck.

[skynight]

Two tables for six is the way to go. I have seen tables that seat 10. I don't believe there are tables for 12. Large tables are oval. There is little ability to have conversation except with those close to you. Seating is tight.  Service is slow. It is a lot for the waiters to handle. One slow eater can delay the entire table. Waiters will wait until everyone has finished their course before serving the next course. You will have to break into two groups and then make reservations for each group on the Dine My Way app. Then on boarding day suggest you speak with the dining manager and request that they place your groups in tables that are adjacent to each other. When actually dining you can switch people around. 

[CruzerDeb]

To set this up on the Medallion app, you’ll need to have everyone’s booking number. Once you have those, you will go to the tab entitled “Travel Companions” and you can add everyone there. Once added, you would go to the “Dine My Way” tab and select the time and dining room, and check all the dinners. IDK if you will be able to even select all 12. I agree with having two tables of 6 and then meeting with the dinning room staff on the first day to arrange tables next to each other. 

[Arizona Wildcat]

You can link reservations in groups.  The largest table is indeed 8.  If you have a tables for 8 and 4 you can take any seat at those tables.  While you can schedule on the app, in reality you will need to immediately go to the restaurant to get properly scheduled so your tables are adjacent and check on suggestions the maitre d might make.

[VibeGuy]

Steelers36 posted an excellent description of how to do this:

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2795666-dine-my-way-all-new-dining-questions-since-cruising-restart/?do=findComment&comment=64308503

Book two private 6-tops at the same time in the same dining room.   The reservations that you as a guest can make via the app are time:table size.  
 

When you are onboard, have the booking numbers of your two “designated guests” and speak with a dining room manager.  They have a magic button that can convert those time-and-size reservations to time-and-specific table.  
 

There is no way to do the time-and-specific-table reservation prior to being onboard and nobody shoreside at Princess can touch dining arrangements for a group this size, so calling is useless.  
 

As others have alluded to, the specific dining room to reserve, that can best attempt to mimic traditional dining, may vary by ship.   In *general*, I’d say the Deck 6 aft dining room  but I will caution you that, because of the limited “holding” space between the elevator lobby and the host stand, these are almost certain to be chaotic on the first night (regardless of dining time) and *every* night if you wish to dine early - diners waiting to be seated back up onto the stairs.   The limited elevator capacity to this area  can also be problematic for groups with members with limited tolerance for stairs.  
 

Having spent a lot of time on the Ruby in particular since the restart (70 nights),  I found the management in the Midships dining rooms VERY accommodating towards  converting to a same-time-same-table reservation. We were invited to proceed to our table directly on subsequent nights, bypassing both the Holding Reservations and the Reservation-Free queues.  

[NavyCruiser]

Thanks for all the great responses above.  Since I had all the 6 couples' reservation #, had all 12 of us listed as traveling companions. 

I went down to 3rd tab on Princess app, clicked on "Dine my way", then "Reserve for the time each day", then clicked the first set of 6 people for 8pm at Da Vinci dinning room.  Then had another person booked another table for 6 for same time & same restaurant. 

Guess once onboard first day, I'll go to see restaurant manager to put our 2 tables together, or see we'll fit large round table for 12 or 10 squeezed in...

[Arizona Wildcat]

2 hours ago, NavyCruiser said:

Thanks for all the great responses above.  Since I had all the 6 couples' reservation #, had all 12 of us listed as traveling companions. 

I went down to 3rd tab on Princess app, clicked on "Dine my way", then "Reserve for the time each day", then clicked the first set of 6 people for 8pm at Da Vinci dinning room.  Then had another person booked another table for 6 for same time & same restaurant. 

Guess once onboard first day, I'll go to see restaurant manager to put our 2 tables together, or see we'll fit large round table for 12 or 10 squeezed in...

The large round table for 8 would be truly awful with 10 and unless you sit in someone's lap, impossible for 12.

Have had large groups of 200+ and 6 tops work best as you can converse easily.  The 8 top tables are difficult to talk to those across the table.

The will take care of you on board.

[VibeGuy]

And the boat shaped ten tops are awful. Adjacent sixes are much more pleasant.