Shappire-3-18-3-25-Anytime Dining

[DesertDaisy]

About us, we are 59 & 60, this was our 13th cruise, 9th on Princess. We were traveling with a group. 1 brother, 1 sister, their spouses, a cousin and his spouse, and two couple friends of theirs. 12 in all. This was our first experience with anytime dining. I would say we had mixed feelings, we missed knowing where we were going to eat and at what time. The first night we made reservations for Sterlings and sat at two tables for six. The trouble was we were not served by the same wait staff and my cousin who arrived 5 minutes later than our table were done at least 20 minutes before us. That made it hard to spend time together after dinner. The second night we took our chances and walked up to Pacific Moon, they told us it would be a half an hour. We took the beeper and went to the Italian resturant, they told us 45 minutes, then we went to the Savoy, at least 45 minutes. We went with Pacfic Moon and were sitted in their stated time. Dinner was good, waiters were okay. Third night we lucked in to the Savoy, table for 10, excellent waiters, excellent service. Tried to book the same table next evening, but they couldn't promise, and we didn't get it. Two tables, one for 8, and one for 4. Again different wait staff, with one table finishing about 20 minutes before the other. The second Formal night, we made reservations for the Santa Fe. Again 2 tables, different wait staff and uneven timing. We did get into the Italian resturant on day 6, but again different wait staff and uneven service. We were on salads, our cousin was on dessert. We had wanted to have a group picture but by the time we were done the atrium was crowded for the champagne waterfall and we couldn't do it. Friday, last sea day, 8 choose to eat in the Horizion Court, 4 of us walked up to Pacific Moom at 7:30 and were sitted immediately, excellent meal, and service. I like the concept of Anytime Dining, and have chosen it for 3-07 on the Island for our 40th Anniversary, but I think if you have a large group, anything over 6, go with traditional. On to other things, my husband and I ordered the Champagne Balcony Breakfast on our second sea day, and loved it. It was elegant and a good value for $25.00, we did tip the waiter $5.00. We were in B-607 and our cabin steward, Raul, was the best ever. He did beautiful things with our linens and towels, plus he straighted our shoes every night, and anything my husband left laying around, was folded prefectly, like in a department store. We had pretty cold weather in all the ports, the water wasn't great for swimming, but we did do a kayaking tour, and it was tolerable. The ship is beautiful, the pool areas are warm, the food was good, and we had a relaxing time. Just a quick note, we drove in from Phoenix on Friday, stayed at the L.A. Harbour Hotel, thank god, had we tried to drive in on Saturday we would have missed the ship. When we hit Riverside, CA, we were only 90 miles away from the port. Traffic was a nitemare and it took us 3 1/2 hours to go the 90 miles. Next year I will ask you local California's for a better way to get there. I have my patters and will be happy to answer any questions. Phyllis

[Colo Cruiser]

Glad you had a good time, we were on the week before you and had a fantastic time too.

 

You are right 12 is too many for anytime to handle on a steady same table basis. :)

[Bucky3]

Thanks so much for your report. We will be on Sapphire in two weeks, so we were glad to hear a current report. We really were looking forward to anytime dining (there are 5 of us) but finally decided that since it would be Easter Week we would stick to the early seating time. Where on the ship did you get off in PV and Maz - forward, aft, or center of the ship? Do they only open one gangway? Just curious - no biggy! One more question - what kyacking tour did you do? We have signed up for the Deer Island kyacking in Maz but are debating whether to stick with that. We are also signed up for the Las Caletas excursion through the ship. Any current info on these two excursions? Thanks again.

[DesertDaisy]

Deer Island is what we did. We enjoyed it very much. It was very well done. My only complaint, it was supposed to be 5 hours, in reality, it was about 6 1/2 hours. I don't generally eat anything off the ship and we were hungry. We left the ship at 7:30 and returned at almost 3:00pm. They did provide food, mexican pastries, fruit, coke, and water. The kayaking was fun, our first time, and we did not capzize. Quite frankly, we were thinking a slow row around a lagoon. Not so, this was more like the great race. I don't know your age, but our daughters would have had no trouble with this trip. Our oldest is 37, our youngest 30. But we were proud, we did it, I think you will enjoy it. Have a wonderful time. Phyllis

[tequilasunrise]

I've done the Las Caletas, you will not be disappointed. The crew is friendly, the place is gorgeous and private, there is plenty of equipment for all activities, they don't push you to buy a lot of stuff once you arrive, the food is good and plentiful, and everything is well maintained....we had a wonderful day. The employees all spoke very good English, I didn't need my pigeon Spanish at all :rolleyes:

 

The snorkelling is pretty minimal tho, so don't go just for that---its mostly just to putter around in the beatiful azure water. The beach is lovely bright gold sand, not tan....gold.

 

I didn't try the spa, no idea about that.

 

I think you will have a great time!!!

[tiggyfrank]

How was the food at Sterlings? Is it worth the extra cost?

[Colo Cruiser]

We ate there the week before last and all of us had the 22 ounce porterhouse they were awesome. Service was excellent as well. It is worth the $15. :)

[wack001]

Question as I will sail the SP on 29 April with my daughter + husband.

I have early seating which is @6PM. I would like to eat @6:30pm and sit at a table of 6, however, I would like to eat at the SAME place and dinning area, advice?

[DesertDaisy]

tiggyfrank,

We have now done Sterlings twice, I really did not think the steaks were much better than the always avalible selection on the regular dinner menu. The shrimp cocktail was very good. I did not care much for the side dishes, creamed spinich, broiled tomato. When we did it on the Grand (3-05) we were alone and that was special. We will probably do it again, but I'm not sure it is really worth the cost. Now the Balcony Breakfast was a great value. It was very special, very good food, if you like fish. It would have been worth it just for the huge pastry platter.

[DesertDaisy]

Wack001

You should be able to make reservations 3 days at a time. 6:30 should not be difficult, as it is not a prime time, people seem to run into problems at 7:00. Since you are willing to share a table for six, it should not be a problem. I really did like the concept of anytime dining, I think for small groups it really works well. Have a great cruise! We did! Phyllis

[FredS]

Where on the ship did you get off in PV and Maz - forward, aft, or center of the ship? Do they only open one gangway? .

 

When I was on the Shappire in Dec they opened two gangways and used both for disembarking. the gangways I would say, were nearer the center of the ship rather than well forward or well aft.

[Mjjpower]

Is the Balcony breakfast $25 per person or total? Sounds lovely.

[DesertDaisy]

The Balcony Breakfast was $25.00 for 2 people. We also tipped an extra $5.00 to the room service waiter. He used our balcony table, our small round table from the room, and a chair to set it up on. It was a lot of food. We picked at a little of this and a little of that. The pastry tray had about 12 pieces on it, and what we couldn't eat we sent over to my brother and his wife. Phyllis