Club Class dining allow a guest?

[KittyCruiser]

Recently, my travel agent booked a M1 category mini suite on the Ruby Princess for my husband and I and a second cabin for my elderly mother but in a regular balcony category. She is by herself in the cabin.  In looking at the booking documents it says we are in the Reserved Collection Mini suite with all the Club Amenities. This looked nice especially for the dedicated dining room with no wait or reservations required. Except we are also traveling with my elderly mom. Does anyone know if she will be able to dine with us at the club class dedicated dining area? Thankyou for responding

[Outerdog]

Probably. 

 

Just ask when you get there. Worst answer is no.

 

Anything here is a guess.

 

[reedprincess]

Nope, not an option. 

"Can a Reserve Collection Mini-Suite guest invite their friends to exclusive dining under their reservation?

Exclusive Reserve Collection Dining is only available for guests booked within a Reserve Collection Mini-suite or full suite. Guests who want to dine with friends and family not booked in a Reserve Collection stateroom can make reservations for the main dining room or specialty restaurants

through Dine My Way®. Guests who would like to book a Reserve Collection Mini-suite but forego Reserve Collection Dining can make alternate reservations through Dine My Way® dining."

 

https://www.princess.com/downloads/pdf/ships/reserve-collection/reserve-collection-flyer-faq.pdf

 

If you want to dine with her, you'll need to go to the "regular" MDR, or eat elsewhere. She can't join you in the Reserve Dining area, unless she's in a Reserve class cabin..  and yes, they are strict on it . 

 

Edited March 24, 2023 by reedprincess

[geocruiser]

I believe the answer is no.  To eat together in the club class dining room (if it is still called that) your mother would have to upgrade her cabin.

[Bobbiegentry]

Not possible but you can certainly join her in the larger MDR. 
We always book CC (now Reserve) and until the hostess and other “door keepers” get to know those who have booked CC, they verify identity of every passenger who enters. 
They have a small medallion screen at the podium and those who have paid for CC have  a unique icon alongside their individual photos. 

[startedwithamouse]

The worst answer is no, I would definitely ask ONLY  because she's paid double for her cabin. 

[memoak]

Paying a single occupancy will not help. There are a limited amount of seats in what is known as club class or reserve. If everyone could bring in friends there would be a waits and it would not be fair to those who pay for club class minis and full suites. Either you can book her in a mini that has those perks or you can dine in the regular MDR. They will not let you bring her along age means nothing here. Rules are rules and we have been dining in the club class since it started 

[azbirdmom]

More than once when we've been in Club Class we have been able to dine with our friends who weren't Club Class.  We would show up when we wanted at the Club Class dining area entrance and we would be seated together outside the Club Class dining area.  We only found out about this as we had gone to CC for breakfast the first morning and were asked why we didn't dine there the night before.  So we explained our situation and were told that they would take care of our group.  It was much faster than waiting in the lines for the regular parts of the dining room.

Edited March 24, 2023 by azbirdmom

[AZjohn]

10 minutes ago, azbirdmom said:

More than once when we've been in Club Class we have been able to dine with our friends who weren't Club Class.  We would show up when we wanted at the Club Class dining area entrance and we would be seated together outside the Club Class dining area.  We only found out about this as we had gone to CC for breakfast the first morning and were asked why we didn't dine there the night before.  So we explained our situation and were told that they would take care of our group.  It was much faster than waiting in the lines for the regular parts of the dining room.

I’m sorry but don’t think I’m understanding this completely.

 

Was it you showed up with your non-CC friends to the CC dining area entrance and they would seat all of you together outside the CC area (MDR)

 

or

 

They would seat you and your non-CC friends inside the CC dinning area?

[waltd]

Maybe you should change your cabin to a regular mini if available.   Club Class is nice but really not worth the money.   If your mom is sailing with you save the moeny for some specalty dining room evenings. 

[KittyCruiser]

Thank you everyone for responding so quickly. We will probably just eat together at the main dining area. Definitely will remember not to get a club level mini suite next time! 
 

Again, thank you everyone for your comments so quickly! 
 

[wowzz]

56 minutes ago, KittyCruiser said:

Definitely will remember not to get a club level mini suite next time! 
 

Did you not wonder at the time why you were paying so much for a minisuite ? Club/reserve minusuutes don't come cheap !

[caribill]

4 hours ago, AZjohn said:

I’m sorry but don’t think I’m understanding this completely.

 

Was it you showed up with your non-CC friends to the CC dining area entrance and they would seat all of you together outside the CC area (MDR)

 

or

 

They would seat you and your non-CC friends inside the CC dinning area?

 

What is in red above is how I interpreted it.

 

4 hours ago, azbirdmom said:

More than once when we've been in Club Class we have been able to dine with our friends who weren't Club Class.  We would show up when we wanted at the Club Class dining area entrance and we would be seated together outside the Club Class dining area. 

 

[cjpj]

I would get your TA to move you to a regular mini suite and not a club class. Why pay all that extra when you can't use the main benefit?

[CruisingWalter]

6 hours ago, KittyCruiser said:

Thank you everyone for responding so quickly. We will probably just eat together at the main dining area. Definitely will remember not to get a club level mini suite next time! 
 

Again, thank you everyone for your comments so quickly! 
 

 

We've been in the Club Class/Reserve Mini Suites in the past and they are absolutely worth the money just for the dining experience alone. We basically ate whatever the dining captain was preparing each evening. If you paid for the Club Class/Reserve there's no way I'd be eating in the standard MDR. Which by the way was outstanding on Sky Princess, but I'd still take the Club/Reserve level over that every time. 

[beg3yrs]

8 hours ago, azbirdmom said:

More than once when we've been in Club Class we have been able to dine with our friends who weren't Club Class.  We would show up when we wanted at the Club Class dining area entrance and we would be seated together outside the Club Class dining area.  We only found out about this as we had gone to CC for breakfast the first morning and were asked why we didn't dine there the night before.  So we explained our situation and were told that they would take care of our group.  It was much faster than waiting in the lines for the regular parts of the dining room.

Had a situation on the Island Princess last fall somewhat analogous to this. We sailed a B2B2B originally booked in a regular balcony cabin. The upgrade fairy smiled on us for only the first leg and we were upgraded to a full suite (maybe hitting 500 days had something to do with it but all staff deny that). Anyway, we enjoyed Club Class and the Sabatini's breakfast for two weeks and then had to revert to regular service for the next two legs. Needless to say we had been very friendly with the CC wait staff and also made some nice acquaintances with other CC passengers. Several times we were invited by these passengers to dine with them in CC. It always turned out to be a table adjacent to the CC area with the CC wait staff attending to us. That service really is a cut above.

[stevenr597]

10 hours ago, KittyCruiser said:

Recently, my travel agent booked a M1 category mini suite on the Ruby Princess for my husband and I and a second cabin for my elderly mother but in a regular balcony category. She is by herself in the cabin.  In looking at the booking documents it says we are in the Reserved Collection Mini suite with all the Club Amenities. This looked nice especially for the dedicated dining room with no wait or reservations required. Except we are also traveling with my elderly mom. Does anyone know if she will be able to dine with us at the club class dedicated dining area? Thankyou for responding

The answer is no.  But you certainly can dine in the regular sections with your mother. 

[azbirdmom]

10 hours ago, AZjohn said:

I’m sorry but don’t think I’m understanding this completely.

 

Was it you showed up with your non-CC friends to the CC dining area entrance and they would seat all of you together outside the CC area (MDR)

 

or

 

They would seat you and your non-CC friends inside the CC dinning area?

 

We dined with our friends just outside the CC area.  We wouldn't have CC servers waiting on us but at least on one of these sailings we were able to order the extra CC dish.

 

This situation will vary by ship so you really need to ask what they are willing to do for you.

[tcdcruiser]

The challenge for Princess is IF they said yes, they would be flooded with these exceptions. They just universally say it is not allowed.  
 

it is almost like asking for an economy passenger to be moved to first class since some family members are up front. 

[DallasGuy75219]

20 minutes ago, tcdcruiser said:

The challenge for Princess is IF they said yes, they would be flooded with these exceptions. They just universally say it is not allowed.  
 

it is almost like asking for an economy passenger to be moved to first class since some family members are up front. 

And in OP's case they'd now be taking up a 4-top table rather than the 2-top Princess was planning based on the number of people in the CC/Reserve cabin.

[1emerald1]

If it were my elderly mother, I'd dine with her in the main dining room.  

[wowzz]

4 hours ago, 1emerald1 said:

If it were my elderly mother, I'd dine with her in the main dining room.  

Absolutely. 

[bjkTX]

On a British Isles cruise last fall we were invited to join a couple in their Club Class dining area - that was separated from ours by a planter.  We were turned away with a hell no.  They came and sat with us on the other side of the planter...  So my guess is no - but it depends on how sweet your mother looks - and the staff on your ship 🙂  Good luck.

[geocruiser]

On 3/23/2023 at 10:15 PM, KittyCruiser said:

Recently, my travel agent booked a M1 category mini suite on the Ruby Princess for my husband and I and a second cabin for my elderly mother but in a regular balcony category. She is by herself in the cabin.  In looking at the booking documents it says we are in the Reserved Collection Mini suite with all the Club Amenities. This looked nice especially for the dedicated dining room with no wait or reservations required. Except we are also traveling with my elderly mom. Does anyone know if she will be able to dine with us at the club class dedicated dining area? Thankyou for responding

I think your travel agent should have know that the dining is going to be different for you and your mother. This should have been told to you before you booked. For me, I would get out of club class (save the money) and get a balcony or a reg mini and eat with your mom.

[KittyCruiser]

I agree the travel agent should have told us. And I plan to mention this to her..But I accepted the room mainly for the location since the route is potentially rocky for two to three days. I  was willing to pay the price for maybe a smoother ride.   I’ve stayed in this same location in previous  ships and was allowed to select it without it being a club class. But this time I had to contact my travel agent which should have been a red flag for me. Anyways, it has all worked out. While I could not invite my mom as a guest for dining in ‘Dine my way’ function,  my mom was able to include us as a guest with her table at the main dining room.  We are all good!  Thanks for all your comments.