My Time Dining Question

[MattnTricia]

We are doing an upcoming 15 day Panama Canal Cruise

 

We got assigned to my time dining when we booked.   

 

We used o get asked what seating we wanted if early or late.

 

Did Princess do away with seating?  

 

We see how we can request the same time through my time dining for every day but we are not sure if it would assign us the same table and waiter. 

 

For this long a cruise we would really like to have a set waiter and table as we like that experience. 

 

TIA for help to understand the options. 

[Steelers36]

With respect, on Princess it is DineMyWay and has never been "My Time" dining.

 

DMW can be used to book entire voyage or single days.  In neither case does it block you into the same table and waiters.  You should inquire of DR Hosts or DR Mgr of your wishes and they should be able to set you up.  Do this ASAP on Day 1.

[rome2009]

Worst DMW experience ever. We are Princess elite level cruisers and have never encountered what we did this summer. 11 day Alaska cruise. We were assigned DMW. Went to the host desk as soon as we boarded. They could not give us a time until after 8 pm each and every evening. There was not compromise. Trust me, we tried. For the first time in our Princess cruising experience, we ate mostly in the buffet. Luckily, the food was pretty good. We would have, however, preferred to eat in the main dining room. Our main complaint was that if you assign DMW, then there should be availability earlier than 8 pm. In our case, there wasn't. Just be aware that if your cruise ship is full, that is a possibility. 

[Steelers36]

2 minutes ago, rome2009 said:

Worst DMW experience ever. We are Princess elite level cruisers and have never encountered what we did this summer. 11 day Alaska cruise. We were assigned DMW. Went to the host desk as soon as we boarded. They could not give us a time until after 8 pm each and every evening. There was not compromise. Trust me, we tried. For the first time in our Princess cruising experience, we ate mostly in the buffet. Luckily, the food was pretty good. We would have, however, preferred to eat in the main dining room. Our main complaint was that if you assign DMW, then there should be availability earlier than 8 pm. In our case, there wasn't. Just be aware that if your cruise ship is full, that is a possibility. 

Point - guests are not "assigned" DMW - rather, the guest elects to use DMW and book a reservation.  Or be a walk-up.

 

Do you recall if DMW showed you all three DR's (you did not mention the ship involved) in advance of the voyage, or were only two of the three offered in DMW to book?  It seems that one DR is being held back a lot of the time and would be there for walk-ups or on board booking.  I am surprised you were unable to get anything earlier.  How far in advance of your voyage did you start trying to book in DMW?

It is sad to say, but I do think not every ship's DR Mgmt is as adept at meeting guest requests as others are.  I gather you did not try being a walk-up for dinner?

[LibertyBella]

I just got off my Princess cruise (Enchanted in the Med) and I am a long-time cruiser who prefers the same time/same table/waiter every night. We rarely use specialty dining, especially when we are on an extremely port-intensive cruise. 

 

As soon as I saw that Princess has now gone to DMW, I researched the dining rooms and reserved the largest DR for the same time every night (7:00 PM).  I was able to do this online a few months in advance, without downloading the app or waiting for the medallion.

 

The first night with our reservation (we waited in the confirmed reservation line), I told the young lady we wanted the same table every night for the rest of the cruise.  Yes, she arranged this for us, and thereafter we NEVER had to wait in line, were told, "Your table is ready," and walked right in immediately to our same table, reserved just for us.  Our waiters knew us well, brought us our drinks immediately, learned our preferences, etc., etc. 

 

Too many times I saw people standing and waiting (and waiting) because every thing was full, or busy.  DMW can be chaos if you wait to do anything until you board the ship. Reserve your dining room and time in advance, and then get your table and waiter when you board. Everything went well for us.  Have a great cruise!

[Hlitner]

4 hours ago, rome2009 said:

Worst DMW experience ever. We are Princess elite level cruisers and have never encountered what we did this summer. 11 day Alaska cruise. We were assigned DMW. Went to the host desk as soon as we boarded. They could not give us a time until after 8 pm each and every evening. There was not compromise. Trust me, we tried. For the first time in our Princess cruising experience, we ate mostly in the buffet. Luckily, the food was pretty good. We would have, however, preferred to eat in the main dining room. Our main complaint was that if you assign DMW, then there should be availability earlier than 8 pm. In our case, there wasn't. Just be aware that if your cruise ship is full, that is a possibility. 

We have never had an issue getting times when we use the app.  But, with DMW you always have the option to simply show-up without a reservation.  For 2 tops you may get a beeper and need to wait (go enjoy a cocktail).  For those of us who enjoy sharing tables there is seldom more than a very short wait.  On mass market big ships you are going to often have mass market crowding and queues.  
 

As one who cruises many different lines (currently on the 450 passenger Seabourn Quest where there are no dinner reservations) one simply needs to adjust to each ship/cruise.  On Princess we sometimes use reservations and other times “adjust.”

 

Hank
 

Hank

[Scirocco Breeze]

49 minutes ago, LibertyBella said:

I just got off my Princess cruise (Enchanted in the Med) and I am a long-time cruiser who prefers the same time/same table/waiter every night. We rarely use specialty dining, especially when we are on an extremely port-intensive cruise. 

 

As soon as I saw that Princess has now gone to DMW, I researched the dining rooms and reserved the largest DR for the same time every night (7:00 PM).  I was able to do this online a few months in advance, without downloading the app or waiting for the medallion.

 

The first night with our reservation (we waited in the confirmed reservation line), I told the young lady we wanted the same table every night for the rest of the cruise.  Yes, she arranged this for us, and thereafter we NEVER had to wait in line, were told, "Your table is ready," and walked right in immediately to our same table, reserved just for us.  Our waiters knew us well, brought us our drinks immediately, learned our preferences, etc., etc. 

 

Too many times I saw people standing and waiting (and waiting) because every thing was full, or busy.  DMW can be chaos if you wait to do anything until you board the ship. Reserve your dining room and time in advance, and then get your table and waiter when you board. Everything went well for us.  Have a great cruise!

We did the same on Enchanted, but only after woeful service in a different section one night. Shuffling us around for a couple of nights meant I knew exactly which wait team I wanted to see every night!

[Neil_c]

We have cruised on a few cruise lines and have never used the fixed dining when offered. Much prefer not having a fixed time, and just going to the dining rooms when we feel like its time to eat. never had a long wait when just the 2 of us as we enjoy sharing tables with different passengers over the course of the cruise. We don't need to have the same waiters the whole time, I know some people enjoy the waiters knowing their preferences but we are quite capable of just asking for what we want. 

[Knickearth]

8 hours ago, mattnday said:

We are doing an upcoming 15 day Panama Canal Cruise

 

We got assigned to my time dining when we booked.   

 

We used o get asked what seating we wanted if early or late.

 

Did Princess do away with seating?  

 

We see how we can request the same time through my time dining for every day but we are not sure if it would assign us the same table and waiter. 

 

For this long a cruise we would really like to have a set waiter and table as we like that experience. 

 

TIA for help to understand the options. 

Presently I am on the Ruby princess heading to Alaska.  Prior to the cruise I went and booked four of us nightly in the Michelangelo dining room at 6 pm.  This way we had reservations for four of us no matter what.  We felt we could cancel per night if needed.  We cancelled one night already.  There is no set table or waiter altho I recommend when on board you could speak to the maitre de and see if he will do it.  Last night we opted for dinner for a table for 4.  Were were seated immediately.  Service was fabulous, the best ever in all the years I have cruised.  We will attempt to get that table nightly.

[Steelers36]

6 hours ago, LibertyBella said:

I just got off my Princess cruise (Enchanted in the Med) and I am a long-time cruiser who prefers the same time/same table/waiter every night. We rarely use specialty dining, especially when we are on an extremely port-intensive cruise. 

 

As soon as I saw that Princess has now gone to DMW, I researched the dining rooms and reserved the largest DR for the same time every night (7:00 PM).  I was able to do this online a few months in advance, without downloading the app or waiting for the medallion.

 

The first night with our reservation (we waited in the confirmed reservation line), I told the young lady we wanted the same table every night for the rest of the cruise.  Yes, she arranged this for us, and thereafter we NEVER had to wait in line, were told, "Your table is ready," and walked right in immediately to our same table, reserved just for us.  Our waiters knew us well, brought us our drinks immediately, learned our preferences, etc., etc. 

 

Too many times I saw people standing and waiting (and waiting) because every thing was full, or busy.  DMW can be chaos if you wait to do anything until you board the ship. Reserve your dining room and time in advance, and then get your table and waiter when you board. Everything went well for us.  Have a great cruise!

THIS is the way it should work!

[doghog]

6 hours ago, LibertyBella said:

I just got off my Princess cruise (Enchanted in the Med) and I am a long-time cruiser who prefers the same time/same table/waiter every night. We rarely use specialty dining, especially when we are on an extremely port-intensive cruise. 

 

As soon as I saw that Princess has now gone to DMW, I researched the dining rooms and reserved the largest DR for the same time every night (7:00 PM).  I was able to do this online a few months in advance, without downloading the app or waiting for the medallion.

 

The first night with our reservation (we waited in the confirmed reservation line), I told the young lady we wanted the same table every night for the rest of the cruise.  Yes, she arranged this for us, and thereafter we NEVER had to wait in line, were told, "Your table is ready," and walked right in immediately to our same table, reserved just for us.  Our waiters knew us well, brought us our drinks immediately, learned our preferences, etc., etc. 

 

Too many times I saw people standing and waiting (and waiting) because every thing was full, or busy.  DMW can be chaos if you wait to do anything until you board the ship. Reserve your dining room and time in advance, and then get your table and waiter when you board. Everything went well for us.  Have a great cruise!

Agree. Exactly what we do. We'll be on the Enchanted March 2024 and have already reserved our MDR (Amalfi dining room) and time. (6:PM). When we first board we'll check in at our muster station then head to the MDR to request a two top in a location we like and confirm our dining reservations. Which MDR did you select? 

[Rick&Jeannie]

10 hours ago, rome2009 said:

Worst DMW experience ever. We are Princess elite level cruisers and have never encountered what we did this summer. 11 day Alaska cruise. We were assigned DMW. Went to the host desk as soon as we boarded. They could not give us a time until after 8 pm each and every evening. There was not compromise. Trust me, we tried. For the first time in our Princess cruising experience, we ate mostly in the buffet. Luckily, the food was pretty good. We would have, however, preferred to eat in the main dining room. Our main complaint was that if you assign DMW, then there should be availability earlier than 8 pm. In our case, there wasn't. Just be aware that if your cruise ship is full, that is a possibility. 

It sounds very much like you waited very late to make your reservations.  We have never had much of an issue (unless we were part of a large group) getting the DR and approximate time we wanted.  Sometimes you need to be just a tad bit flexible as far as time...but we just don't eat that late (8:00pm).  We would go to the buffet if earlier time was really was not available. 

[Scirocco Breeze]

5 hours ago, Neil_c said:

We have cruised on a few cruise lines and have never used the fixed dining when offered. Much prefer not having a fixed time, and just going to the dining rooms when we feel like its time to eat. never had a long wait when just the 2 of us as we enjoy sharing tables with different passengers over the course of the cruise. We don't need to have the same waiters the whole time, I know some people enjoy the waiters knowing their preferences but we are quite capable of just asking for what we want. 

For me, it's a comfort to have a waiter who has got to know me because my partner has health issues which can often leave me to have to go about my day alone. A familiar waiter at a regular table makes that much less uncomfortable. On our most recent cruise the waiter looked after me so well when I was alone, I could cry with gratitude! I am equally happy to sit and chat with other guests, but just knowing that I will walk in to a friendly face eases the whole thing. 

[Scirocco Breeze]

37 minutes ago, doghog said:

Agree. Exactly what we do. We'll be on the Enchanted March 2024 and have already reserved our MDR (Amalfi dining room) and time. (6:PM). When we first board we'll check in at our muster station then head to the MDR to request a two top in a location we like and confirm our dining reservations. Which MDR did you select? 

I can highly recommend Amalfi. If you can get Jonathon as your waiter you will be very well looked after.

[CanuckCurlers]

We have filled out the app for our cruise next month. It asked our group size, what time, which nights, where we would like and what type of service we preferred? It was my understanding that if you said every night that you would have the same table in the same area, thus the same servers. Is that a complete misunderstanding on my part?