Can my way dining be changed to traditional dining? If so, how?...

[Stockjock]

Looks like there's a very long thread on dining, but I didn't want to sort through 600 comments.

[MustangGT]

In reality, there is no longer “Traditional Dining.”

Some have been able to replicate it by reserving the same time in the same dining room and then setting up the same table once on board.

Others have been frustrated by having set reservations that are not consistently honored depending on the ship , or in our case last year, depending on the dining room.

Unfortunately, you will only know for sure once you are on the ship.

Either way, they still don’t make you cook or clean up the dishes!! 🙂

[Thrak]

In May we sailed with another couple and I made reservations for the 4 of us at the same time every night. The first night I asked if we could have that same table every night and was told probably not. On the second night we had a different table but then had the same table and wait staff every night from then on.

 

In December it was just the two of us but I booked the same time every night and selected sharing. For the first half of the cruise we had the same table every night but then in the middle of the cruise they moved us to a different table with different wait staff. It was unfortunate because we had excellent servers at the first table and the service at the new table wasn't as good - especially as we hadn't established a rapport with those servers as we had with the first servers.

 

[PacnGoNow]

1 hour ago, Stockjock said:

Looks like there's a very long thread on dining, but I didn't want to sort through 600 comments.

Your best bet is on the first night, IF you like your table and waiters, then ask the Maitre’d/DR Mgr if you could have that table every night.  If your a private table, it’s easier than a shared table, unless all parties agree to share that table too every night and speak to the DR Mgr/Maitre’d also.
 

Seems each ship the MDR is run a little differently, but the first couple of nights getting people settled in tables seems to be the most difficult for them.  TD was a lot easier on the staff, I think.

 

Anyway, we were able to do that on all of our cruises so far, since the restart.  
 

Make a reservation for same time, same MDR every night and check on the 1st night.

 

Edited January 26, 2023 by PacnGoNow

[Stockjock]

17 minutes ago, PacnGoNow said:

Your best bet is on the first night, IF you like your table and waiters, then ask the Maitre’d/DR Mgr if you could have that table every night.  If your a private table, it’s easier than a shared table, unless all parties agree to share that table too every night and speak to the DR Mgr/Maitre’d also.
 

Seems each ship the MDR is run a little differently, but the first couple of nights getting people settled in tables seems to be the most difficult for them.  TD was a lot easier on the staff, I think.

 

Anyway, we were able to do that on all of our cruises so far, since the restart.  
 

Make a reservation for same time, same MDR every night and check on the 1st night.

 

I did book the same dining room at the same time each night, so perhaps that is a possibility.

[riffatsea]

You don't have to just accept being moved around!

I would accept a new table only if the wait staff I liked still served it

Speak up politely to get what you want!

[Steelers36]

2 hours ago, Stockjock said:

Looks like there's a very long thread on dining, but I didn't want to sort through 600 comments.

In reality it is over 1,600 but truth be told, most of it is out-dated and not as relevant now due to App changes, and App bugs. 

 

DMW is an App solution for self-serve booking of MDR's and Specialty Dining (SD) venues.  It is a different concept than type/style of dining like TD or ATD.

 

SUPPOSEDLY, Princess has maintained the TD experience for those who want it.  They said so from DAY 1 of DMW and still do on their website.  I define the TD experience as same table and wait staff at the same time each night.  With the new scheme, you don't necessarily have to begin the res at one of two single fixed times each evening.  

 

Unfortunately, the App is not capable of delivering on the TD experience because it is not a complex enough program to keep disparate parties together each night of the voyage (Sharing Tables), not can it guarantee the same table is assigned each night (Private or Sharing Tables). 

 

All you can do is book the same DR at the same time each night and then speak to DR Mgr or Host to request the same table/waiters each night.  MANY guests have had success doing this - me included (on two different ships).  My impression is that DR staff are getting the hang of making this happen for guests, but there have been reports of DR staff informing guests on certain ships that the App sets things up and they cannot override it.  Clearly this is not true, so it is either laziness or lack of training/expertise with the staff version of the App.

 

To say that TD is no more is not the entire story.  You could say AT is gone as well, but that is in name only, because guests can certainly present themselves certain DR doors and be a "walk up" as in older days and be accommodated in turn.  But they do have the flexibility to make a random res as well, subject to availability.  Back to TD - true that the App doesn't deliver it, but you can still arrange it on board.  This is more true (and easy) to do for a private table where you have assembled and know your own dining party.  Much more difficult to herd strangers to form a table for the entire voyage as the first bunch you are seated with may not have the same interest.  But a guest can try.

 

[Guest ldtr]

It depends a lot of exactly when you eat.  If you eat early or fairly late you can probably get the same table, especially if you eat early (before 6).  If you eat after 6 more problematic.

[Thrak]

36 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

All you can do is book the same DR at the same time each night and then speak to DR Mgr or Host to request the same table/waiters each night.  MANY guests have had success doing this - me included (on two different ships).  My impression is that DR staff are getting the hang of making this happen for guests, but there have been reports of DR staff informing guests on certain ships that the App sets things up and they cannot override it.  Clearly this is not true, so it is either laziness or lack of training/expertise with the staff version of the App.

 

14 minutes ago, ldtr said:

It depends a lot of exactly when you eat.  If you eat early or fairly late you can probably get the same table, especially if you eat early (before 6).  If you eat after 6 more problematic.

 

This has been our (admittedly limited) experience. We used to always want a later dining time but, on our May cruise, we sailed with another couple. They are older than us but we are definitely not young. On that cruise I booked all of us for a 5:40 dining time. It worked great! Same table and same staff every night. Same table (not the same as the first night but every night thereafter) at a table for 4.

 

In December it "almost" worked that way. Same table (shared with random folks - which is what I chose) for the first half of the cruise and then a different table (shared with different random folks) for the rest of the cruise. Weird. I think if I had chosen a Private Table it would have worked better but my wife wanted to share.

[MissP22]

5 hours ago, ldtr said:

It depends a lot of exactly when you eat.  If you eat early or fairly late you can probably get the same table, especially if you eat early (before 6).  If you eat after 6 more problematic.

Especially if your sailing is filled to capacity. 

[Torfamm]

5 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

In reality it is over 1,600 but truth be told, most of it is out-dated and not as relevant now due to App changes, and App bugs. 

 

DMW is an App solution for self-serve booking of MDR's and Specialty Dining (SD) venues.  It is a different concept than type/style of dining like TD or ATD.

 

SUPPOSEDLY, Princess has maintained the TD experience for those who want it.  They said so from DAY 1 of DMW and still do on their website.  I define the TD experience as same table and wait staff at the same time each night.  With the new scheme, you don't necessarily have to begin the res at one of two single fixed times each evening.  

 

Unfortunately, the App is not capable of delivering on the TD experience because it is not a complex enough program to keep disparate parties together each night of the voyage (Sharing Tables), not can it guarantee the same table is assigned each night (Private or Sharing Tables). 

 

All you can do is book the same DR at the same time each night and then speak to DR Mgr or Host to request the same table/waiters each night.  MANY guests have had success doing this - me included (on two different ships).  My impression is that DR staff are getting the hang of making this happen for guests, but there have been reports of DR staff informing guests on certain ships that the App sets things up and they cannot override it.  Clearly this is not true, so it is either laziness or lack of training/expertise with the staff version of the App.

 

To say that TD is no more is not the entire story.  You could say AT is gone as well, but that is in name only, because guests can certainly present themselves certain DR doors and be a "walk up" as in older days and be accommodated in turn.  But they do have the flexibility to make a random res as well, subject to availability.  Back to TD - true that the App doesn't deliver it, but you can still arrange it on board.  This is more true (and easy) to do for a private table where you have assembled and know your own dining party.  Much more difficult to herd strangers to form a table for the entire voyage as the first bunch you are seated with may not have the same interest.  But a guest can try.

 

Great answer! In my experience it is pretty easy to get the same table every night for a private party. If that’s what people mean when they say traditional dining, Princess does manage to deliver it most of the time.

 

The concept of an assigned table for a group of strangers for the duration of a cruise is the only thing that is gone. I don’t think that it will ever return. It worked very easily in the days when the single MDR was the only option for dinner, but with the many choices on ships today it isn’t as practical.

[PacnGoNow]

8 hours ago, Stockjock said:

I did book the same dining room at the same time each night, so perhaps that is a possibility.

I might add…if they do hold the same table for you, they will hold it for 10-15 mins and after that, will give it away if you’re late.  
You should cancel that night if you’re not going to use it, such as a SD or buffet, etc.

 

 

 

[memoak]

11 hours ago, ldtr said:

It depends a lot of exactly when you eat.  If you eat early or fairly late you can probably get the same table, especially if you eat early (before 6).  If you eat after 6 more problematic.

We usually eat around 7:30 or 8:00 not usually too bad but I like the flexibility instead of being tied down to a particular time

[Stockjock]

7 hours ago, Torfamm said:

Great answer! In my experience it is pretty easy to get the same table every night for a private party. If that’s what people mean when they say traditional dining, Princess does manage to deliver it most of the time.

 

The concept of an assigned table for a group of strangers for the duration of a cruise is the only thing that is gone. I don’t think that it will ever return. It worked very easily in the days when the single MDR was the only option for dinner, but with the many choices on ships today it isn’t as practical.

The last time we were seated with strangers, they brought up the subject of politics (bad move) and kept harping along the same theme.  While my GF and I consider ourselves to be political moderates, we finally chimed in, but in a non-confrontational way, just politely and briefly, stating that we didn't vote for the person they did.  They moved their table the next day, lol.

I think we'll stick with a table for two.

[PacnGoNow]

50 minutes ago, Stockjock said:

The last time we were seated with strangers, they brought up the subject of politics (bad move) and kept harping along the same theme.  While my GF and I consider ourselves to be political moderates, we finally chimed in, but in a non-confrontational way, just politely and briefly, stating that we didn't vote for the person they did.  They moved their table the next day, lol.

I think we'll stick with a table for two.

Good move!  In more ways than one. 👍🏻

[Guest ldtr]

8 hours ago, MissP22 said:

Especially if your sailing is filled to capacity. 

Going forward expect cruises to be full enough that it makes no difference.

[sunviking90]

We have had no problem getting the same table every night on all our Princess cruises in the last year and a half. I book 5:40 for every night in the app as soon as I can. By the third or fourth night the hosts tell us we can go right in to our table. One time I had a reservation for crown grill which I cancelled. When I asked our hostess if we could get our reservation back for that night in the mdr, she said “ Oh, yes ma’am. That is YOUR table. No one else will be seated there”. 
Most of our cruises have been less than half full, but our current one is over 80% full and still it is working well for us.

I can see later reservations would have issues as they can’t be sure the table is vacated by previous diners, but anything up until 6 pm should be good.

[Bollycats]

Slightly off topic, but we don't care about eating at the same table with the same waitstaff each night. We've been cruising Carnival lately and they have an option on their app to sign in when you're ready to eat and the app alerts you when your table is ready and you have 10 minutes to get there. Does Princess have something like this or do I have to set a specific time each night? 

[rjack22]

No, Princess does not have this.  You can choose a specific time each night or just walk up to the dining room when you are ready.   They will not notify you.

[Torfamm]

4 hours ago, Stockjock said:

The last time we were seated with strangers, they brought up the subject of politics (bad move) and kept harping along the same theme.  While my GF and I consider ourselves to be political moderates, we finally chimed in, but in a non-confrontational way, just politely and briefly, stating that we didn't vote for the person they did.  They moved their table the next day, lol.

I think we'll stick with a table for two.

I feel the same way. While I believe the people who say they love traditional dining for the opportunity to meet people,  I don’t want to commit to eating dinner with the same strangers for 7- 14 nights. One really unpleasant experience was enough. 

[MissP22]

11 hours ago, Torfamm said:

I don’t want to commit to eating dinner with the same strangers for 7- 14 nights. One really unpleasant experience was enough. 

Same here. Been there, done that.- Never again.

Unless you're travelling with the other people, why slow down the whole dinner process having to converse with strangers. There are plenty of people to talk to all day long if you choose to.