Booking dinner reservations for 12? Royal Princess Jul 13

[mattR]

Traveling with a group of 12 so the plan was to talk with the Maître D once we board to set up traditional dining for the week for our group 2 tables of 6 next to each other each night every night same time.  Where do I find the Maître D?  Are they in the embarkation lunch restaurant?  I am not planning on boarding the ship until mid afternoon.  I will try to get someone else from my party to head to talk to the maître D early but if not where would I find them mid afternoon?  Have any of you not been able to get a reservation for a large group set up?  

[cr8tiv1]

There will be 2 MDRs set up for embarkation lunch (Reserve Collection and one for the rest of passengers).  Since Princess did away with Traditional Dining, I have not seen the Maitre d' having a place for dining requests.  

 

I would have someone in your group approach the Assistant Manager with the Green Coats for some help.  I am hearing, of recent, the MDR open for embarkation lunch is the aft dining room.  

 

You didn't mention which ship nor if it is before or after September (when Traditional Dining will be an option again).

 

Be sure that the contact has all booking numbers, cabin numbers, etc.

[mattR]

Royal Princess Jul 13/24 

[mattR]

Reserve Collection is that for suite guests? 

[cr8tiv1]

31 minutes ago, mattR said:

Reserve Collection is that for suite guests? 

 

Reserve Collection is for suite guests and Reserved Collection (Club Class) mini-suites (not to be confused with FULL suites).  If you have family and friends in both, they will either have to dine separately, or Reserve Collection passengers can have dinner in the MDR with the rest of the group.  But it is not reciprocal.  

 

BTW....always appreciated when OP comes back to the thread.  Thank you.

 

Edited June 12 by cr8tiv1

[mattR]

Thought I would be able to set up traditional dinning for my group via the Matier D but if that is not possible can we just walk up and ask for two tables of six at any time we want? (Do we all have to be there, or can I message them when the tables are ready) 

[dreaminofcruisin]

You could try and set up reservations in the App with 2 groups of 6, though at this late date, you might not find availability. Next thought is to have all 12 of you go the first night together (without reservations) and ask for 2 tables of 6 (or some combination of 12--maybe 8 and 4). If you go either very early or very late, your chances of the tables being available are better. At that time, you could talk to the person at the door and see if they would be able to set you up with 2 tables of 6 each night at "some" time. It seems to depend on the ship, the person at the door, and the number of reservations already made as to whether or not they can accommodate. We have had them suggest a standing nightly reservation to us on occasion when they see us showing up at the same dining room about the same time for a couple of nights (though we weren't as large a group).

 

I'm actually on the same cruise...."see" you on the ship. 😁

 

[arizonaperson]

@mattR

I know not what you were asking ,but are you sure all 12 people want to dine at the same time every single night? And I do believe I saw on one of the LIVE From’s in the patter/newsletter on embarkation day there was, someone to see in one of the dining rooms ,but I don’t remember what ship that was or when I saw it, but it was recently . Perhaps like others have said just wing it the first night and see if you can be accommodated for all the rest of the nights or call the dine line and try to speak to someone.
I just find it hard to believe that everybody would agree on dining at the same time all together ,every night . I know -that would be a lot of opinions and perhaps maybe you have a long excursion day and you’re tired and you want a nap and you don’t want to eat with the rest of the group. That basically takes away dining space for somebody else potentially if you reserve and don’t show up. What if 4 of you you want to go to specialty dining & the rest of the group wants to go to the dining room or if 6 want to just grab a snack from the buffet and not do main dining room dinner?

Or maybe somebody wants to catch the production show ,the comedian,the  magician,or the marriage show and your dining time is not good for them?

So many choices for a group of 12 ,but if you can make that work ,great.

 

Perhaps after you sail in July, you can come back to this thread and fill others in what actually happened. Because other people do tend to ask how this works for large groups, might be helpful for the future.

Edited June 15 by arizonaperson

[NavyVeteran]

18 hours ago, arizonaperson said:

@mattR

I know not what you were asking ,but are you sure all 12 people want to dine at the same time every single night? And I do believe I saw on one of the LIVE From’s in the patter/newsletter on embarkation day there was, someone to see in one of the dining rooms ,but I don’t remember what ship that was or when I saw it, but it was recently . Perhaps like others have said just wing it the first night and see if you can be accommodated for all the rest of the nights or call the dine line and try to speak to someone.
I just find it hard to believe that everybody would agree on dining at the same time all together ,every night . I know -that would be a lot of opinions and perhaps maybe you have a long excursion day and you’re tired and you want a nap and you don’t want to eat with the rest of the group. That basically takes away dining space for somebody else potentially if you reserve and don’t show up. What if 4 of you you want to go to specialty dining & the rest of the group wants to go to the dining room or if 6 want to just grab a snack from the buffet and not do main dining room dinner?

Or maybe somebody wants to catch the production show ,the comedian,the  magician,or the marriage show and your dining time is not good for them?

So many choices for a group of 12 ,but if you can make that work ,great.

 

Perhaps after you sail in July, you can come back to this thread and fill others in what actually happened. Because other people do tend to ask how this works for large groups, might be helpful for the future.

We will have a family group of ten on an Alaska cruise in September, and we will want to eat together nearly every night. Eight of us cruised together several years ago (pre-COVID) and we did so. During the day we go our own way in various subgroups. The evening meal is the only time that the whole group will get together.

[Coral]

18 hours ago, arizonaperson said:

I just find it hard to believe that everybody would agree on dining at the same time all together ,every night . I know -that would be a lot of opinions and perhaps maybe you have a long excursion day and you’re tired and you want a nap and you don’t want to eat with the rest of the group.

When I have cruised with a large group - we all go our independent ways during the day but we join together for dinner at the same time. This is not unusual.

Edited June 16 by Coral

[dreaminofcruisin]

Our family group of 8 in February on the Sky had reservations each night for dinner. 2 of the group were younger kids and on some occasions, their parents decided it would be too much for them to go to dinner. So, on various nights, we had 4, 5 or 8 people even though our reservation was always for 8. The people at the door of the dining room told us 'no problem' and promptly seated us at the appropriate sized table.

[jean-lynd]

This is from a recent northbound Royal Princess patter.

[mattR]

Will report back to update when we return hopefully someone else will be able to report back before then.