Traditional Dining Question

[lilly707]

We are assigned early seating Traditional Dining on the Coral Princess for our first cruise this summer. We had a hard time deciding between the traditional and anytime dining. I asked my travel agent that should we not like the traditional dining, can we go to the anytime dining room? She said, no, we would just be able to go to the buffet or the specialty restaurants for the added fee. I thought I would ask the cruisers from the board would really know from experience. Thanks.

[MSN-Travelers]

Your TA is sorta right. You can't switch back and forth between traditional dining and anytime dining whenever you feel like it. You can switch from traditional dining to anytime dining whenever you want to but you can't go back. (I'm sure somebody will report that they have been able to flip-flop between the two but that would be extremely rare.)

 

Traditional dining is an option that is still sought after by many cruisers on Princess and ships will often have a wait list to get in. Somebody on that list will take your place as soon as you choose to leave traditional dining.

 

I am a big fan of anytime dining and that is why we sail on Princess.

[mii]

MSN is correct. If you decide to switch to anytime dining just make sure you tell the maitre' so that the people who are on the wait list for traditional can have your place. Or if you decide to switch right now just let your TA know and that change can be made now.

 

Marilyn

[Irishjayne]

My suggestion would be to TRY IT. If you don't like it then you can give your seats to someone on the waitlist. We had second seating on our first cruise. Loved it but it was a little too late for us to eat every night. So this next cruise we have 1st seating. If we don't like it, we will give up our seats to the waitlist.

[cod]

Princess dining has me thoroughly confused! (We are contemplating our first Princess cruise so I would love to sort it out...I feel just like I did my first day in 7th grade algebra!)

 

If we choose anytime dining what 'included' restaurants are available to us? We are early diners..5:30 or sixish, so does that affect our options? Am I right in thinking that if we choose anytime dining we need a reservation to eat in the traditional dining rooms? Since we are 'cheap' and like to eat at the same time every day should we just select traditional and, if so, what other options are available to us should we be 'daring' and want a change some evening?

 

Thanks for your help. I hope you are more patient than my 7th grade algebra teacher was but at least I can't 'fail' here!!!

[Irishjayne]

You have to request and be confirmed to eat in the traditional dining for dinner. PC dining is like going to a restaurant. If you show up early or late and there are seats, you are seated immediately. If you go during rush hour, you may have to wait. You can make reservations but I am told they don't make them during certain hours (RUSH HOUR).

[Hlitner]

I agree with the other comments. These days on Princess, the main (early) seating seems to be in demand. If you have main or late seating, its easy to tell the maitre'd you want to change to personal choice...but than it might be difficult to switch back (particularly main seating). The dining rooms assigned to the various seatings depend on the particular ship and also on the number wanting main seating. When we were recently on the Diamond Princess they used 1 1/2 of the dining rooms for main seating and than opened the 1/2 room that was used for main to personal choice at 8pm. They only needed a single dining room for 2nd seating. Keep in mind they had 4 dining rooms...so there was always places for personal choice dining. Its a bit complicated, but they are doing a great job trying to please everyone.

 

Hank

[Irishjayne]

Hank is right. We were on the Sapphire and our friends had PC Dining and we had traditional. They loved it and had no problem getting a table. It is just like at home when you want to go to a restaurant. You show up and take what they have or you call for reservations.

[cherylandtk]

Cod, You will have no trouble with either Anytime or Early Traditional dining. The dining venues (rooms) are essentially the same for both options. At dinner, the dining rooms are separated by seating type, but it is the same menu and decor/ambience. Many people think that Anytime does not have a dining room option for dinner, when in fact, 2/3 of the dining rooms on most ships are set aside for Anytime diners.

 

Everyone can always eat in the buffet or alternate venues. Lunch and dinner in the dining rooms are usually open seating for everyone in one or two rooms. At Dinner, anytime diners go to the Anytime rooms when they want, just stroll in anytime or make an advance reservation. Traditional diners go to the assigned seat and table in the Traditional dining room at the assigned time.

[negc]

Hank is right. We were on the Sapphire and our friends had PC Dining and we had traditional. They loved it and had no problem getting a table. It is just like at home when you want to go to a restaurant. You show up and take what they have or you call for reservations.

 

Right, it is just like going out to a land-based restaurant. Problem is I am on a cruise and don't want my dining experience to be like going to a land-based restaurant with having to make reservations or taking whatever is available, or having to wait for a table to become available.

Try traditional dining - you might actually like it. The fact that there is normally a wait list for those who want traditional dining should tell you something. Also, I am pleased to see that Princess is beginning to show some flexibility by using at least a portion of an anytime dining room for those who prefer early traditional dining. Why it has taken them so long to come up with this solution is beyond me, but at least some progress is being made.:)

[Pam in CA]

If we choose anytime dining what 'included' restaurants are available to us? We are early diners..5:30 or sixish, so does that affect our options? Am I right in thinking that if we choose anytime dining we need a reservation to eat in the traditional dining rooms? Since we are 'cheap' and like to eat at the same time every day should we just select traditional and, if so, what other options are available to us should we be 'daring' and want a change some evening?

If you like to eat dinner early, you have several options. You can eat in the buffet and just show up; You can stay on deck and get something from the grill; you can eat in one of the anytime dining rooms and just show up; or, you can choose traditional dining which is the assigned seating which can be anywhere from 5:45 - 6:15PM, depending on the ship and itinerary. All of these are "free" and included in the cost of your cruise.

 

Most Princess ships have anywhere from 2 to 5 main dining rooms. The exceptions are the small ships, such as the Regal. The only physical difference between the traditional dining room and the anytime dining rooms is location. Your Princess Patter will let you know which dining rooms are where. There's also the buffet which has most, if not all, of the same menu items as the dining room during dinner time. And, there are the specialty restaurants that are reservation-only and charge a small, additional fee.

 

Note that the dress code is the same for the anytime and traditional dining rooms (and the specialty restaurants), i.e., either smart casual or formal.

[cod]

By george, I think it has all sank in.

 

We are looking at the Golden later this year and 'early traditional'and 'table for 2' look to be available so I think we'll just go that route.

 

Thanks again. You've all helped a lot.

[Irishjayne]

Your welcome and enjopy your upcoming cruise.

[Kerry&LuAnn]

Last week on the Caribbean Princess, we had Anytime Dining and really appreciated the flexibility. We like to eat early, so we were usually at one of the two Anytime Dining Rooms between 5:30 and 6:00 p.m. But it was nice to know that if we were involved in some activity, we didn't have to rush to get to our "assigned" meal time. Sometimes we said we would be willing to sit at a larger table with other couples, and we made some wonderful new friends each night. Other times we wanted to dine alone and asked for a table for 2. We never had to wait for a table (even though the ship was filled to capacity). The service from the various waiters was equally wonderful, no matter which dining room we were in. Oftentimes, later in the evening, we would head to the buffet to enjoy more of some of what we had for dinner, or try something that we didn't select at dinner. We never ate at either of the two specialty restaurants, because between the dining room and the buffets, we were completely satisfied.

[judynorth]

We are assigned early seating Traditional Dining on the Coral Princess for our first cruise this summer. We had a hard time deciding between the traditional and anytime dining. I asked my travel agent that should we not like the traditional dining, can we go to the anytime dining room? She said, no, we would just be able to go to the buffet or the specialty restaurants for the added fee. I thought I would ask the cruisers from the board would really know from experience. Thanks.

 

We were on the Coral last spring and chose traditional dining, early seating. We really enjoyed it. We were at a table for 8 with another couple traveling with us and 4 delightful English ladies. We had a wonderful time with them. They kept us in stitches every evening. Part of traditional dining is the opportunity to get to know other people on the cruise and it worked great for us. We had PC dining on an earlier cruise and much preferred traditional. We made reservations each night but there was still usually a wait to be seated. However, if you like to eat early, you should have no trouble with PC dining. The early times are usually the least busy. You will have the same menus available no matter which dining choice you make.

[Hlitner]

We do have mixed emotions about PC dining. There is something to be said for having a regular table with the same tablemates and waiters. Of course this depends on your tablemates and waiters (its not always good) and even can ruin the experience if your tablemates decide not to show-up for their traditional dinner (we have seen this happen quite often). On the other hand, with PC dining we have often found that we make friends after a couple of days (we normally take longer cruises) and eventually form our own table in PC. At that point, we either have someone call for reservations every night (takes 15 seconds) or we arrange in advance to have the same table every night. In a sense, PC can give you the best of both worlds. As to waiting times, we tend to eat late (8 - 8:30) and have never had to wait more than 5 min. We often see the main sitting traditional dining folks line -up outside their dining room 15 or 20 minutes before the doors open (have never figured out why anyone would wait in line to eat on a ship). On the larger ships the maitre d can also give the PC diners a pager if there is a wait and you can sit in a nearby bar and have a drink while waiting (just like a real restaurant).

 

Hank