Reserve Dining vs MDR?

[cr8tiv1]

I honestly don’t know how Princess will accommodate SD every night with the new Premier Package.  Sabatini’s has a full crew to meet the needs of suite breakfasts and dinners.  On my last cruise, they brought in 2 more people to help with the morning crowd.  I did not see that many servers when in the Crown Grill.

 

i had reservations for Steamers.  The couple in front of me did not.  I asked them if they wanted to join us (total strangers).  They declined.  The manager said they were booked full for that night.  As we sat and ate, at least half the set tables were empty.  I noticed that there was really only one waiter and many assistants.  Understaffed?  Limited seating for a “free/included” meal?  The manager did mention that there were 12 no shows.  Only a few tables were turned over for another sitting.  We finished around 7:30 and it could be that many ate later than that?

 

The skeptic in me doesn’t discount that Princess will tell people that they can’t be accommodated.  More money for them if they can’t/don’t provide the service.  
 

In my 16 day Plus Pkg cruise:

I had one Sundae (wouldn’t have had any, but I had to show a newbie)

2 slices of cake (halved each slice with newbie)

no gym classes

no juice bar

1 alcoholic drink per day

1 casual dinner

 

Score $$$ for Princess

 

Reserved Collection on this cruise was the best I’ve ever experienced.  Didn’t need to search elsewhere for a better meal.

Edited August 19 by cr8tiv1

[cruising.mark.uk]

6 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

I honestly don’t know how Princess will accommodate SD every night with the new Premier Package.  Sabatini’s has a full crew to meet the needs of suite breakfasts and dinners.  On my last cruise, they brought in 2 more people to help with the morning crowd.  I did not see that many servers when in the Crown Grill.

 

 

My experience and, I sense, that of many others on here is that there is nearly always a lot of empty tables in SD.  It seems to me that is because of a lack of staff.  Once those who have the new Premier can eat SD every night, they can correct that (by limiting the number of Premier packages they sell per cruise and by flexing staff).  Almost all who attend dinner in SD have to book in advance, even if only earlier the same day.  Thus, the number in SD will not surprise Princess.  And, assuming that individuals won't eat in SD and a MDR on the same evening, the numbers eating will be the same, all that will change is where they eat.

 

So, let's say for the sake of argument, that there's broadly 1 member of waiting staff for every 50 pax and one chef for every 100.  For every 50 / 100 additional pax who book SD rather than the MDR on any given night, they can move one member of staff / chef from the MDR to SD.  In simple terms, if there are sufficient staff to cook and serve dinner to everyone on the ship now, there still will be after these new arrangements are in place.  The variable will be whether SD restaurants have enough seats / galley capacity for everyone; that can be controlled by limiting the number of packages sold and / or the number of covers per each SD each evening.  If they get those calculations right, there should be no need to tell people with the package they can't be accommodated.  But, depending on how many packages they sell, those without the package might get told that there is no room in SD for them. 

[JF - retired RRT]

7 hours ago, trbarton said:

I was just saying after 38 cruises with Princess maybe there should be some kind of reward for my loyalty. I’m aware that’s not their policy Just wishful thinking on my part. 
 

Tom😀

IIRC there used to be a loyalty reward...Princess took it back. ☹️

[memoak]

4 hours ago, JF - retired RRT said:

IIRC there used to be a loyalty reward...Princess took it back. ☹️

Yes but they loyalty reward was for some OBC not Reserve Dining which is what the poster was alluding to. Upgraded dining has never been a loyalty reward

[asctony]

13 hours ago, trbarton said:

I went in the regular entrance for regular dinners & for some reason I was seated in the section for the Reserve Class even tho I wasn’t in a Reserve Class Cabin. I’m not sure why I was seated there & of course I didn’t complain. 
 

I was just saying after 38 cruises with Princess maybe there should be some kind of reward for my loyalty. I’m aware that’s not their policy Just wishful thinking on my part. 
 

Tom😀

38 Princess cruises?

What are you Category wise? 

The highest Princess category is Elite. Why doesn't Princess create another category higher than Elite?

We have been cruising Princess since 1987.

 

[candy4040]

I like Reserve dining the most because you need no reservation, usually no waiting, great staff, and no need for reservations.  It is only available for lunch on sea days.  Breakfast and dinner is available every day.  

[Oxo]

2 hours ago, candy4040 said:

I like Reserve dining the most because you need no reservation, usually no waiting, great staff, and no need for reservations.  It is only available for lunch on sea days.  Breakfast and dinner is available every day.  

When we were on the Enchanted Princess in the Med last year, the MDR was sectioned off. We walked through the Reserve or Club section and there was no difference between the two. The line outside that MDR was about 5 deep and people were waiting to be seated. Looked at both  menus and only saw one additional main offered. 

Is it really worth it? 

 

[LACruiser88]

4 minutes ago, Oxo said:

Looked at both  menus and only saw one additional main offered. 

Is it really worth it?

It is not about the menu per se, it is all about the service.  The extra menu item(s) are not listed on the menu, the servers will verbally tell you.

 

For us and the way we like to cruise it is more than worth it.  🤷‍♂️

Edited August 20 by LACruiser88

[memoak]

48 minutes ago, Oxo said:

When we were on the Enchanted Princess in the Med last year, the MDR was sectioned off. We walked through the Reserve or Club section and there was no difference between the two. The line outside that MDR was about 5 deep and people were waiting to be seated. Looked at both  menus and only saw one additional main offered. 

Is it really worth it? 

 

For dedicated wait staff and no waiting and no reservations needed yes 

 

Edited August 20 by memoak

[Kay S]

1 hour ago, LACruiser88 said:

It is not about the menu per se, it is all about the service.  The extra menu item(s) are not listed on the menu, the servers will verbally tell you.

 

For us and the way we like to cruise it is more than worth it.  🤷‍♂️

We did Reserve with a bunch of FFC we had after the pause, so it was sort of "free."  After experiencing it, I would say that yes, it is worth it for the service.  It was so nice to be greeted by name every time we approached the host stand and the offered a choice of tables, often with views.  In the middle of the DMW chaos following cruising resuming after the shutdown, Reserve was a beautiful relief.  I also liked the location of our mini suite.

[Oxo]

I really don't understand how people think that only selective MDRs such as Reserve or Specialty Restaurants have a staff that only greet you by name every time we approach the host stand or the table we sit at each night. We do Anytime, My Time or what ever that cruise line calls it.

We cruise and very seldom after the first or second day in that MDR do we not get greeted by name and get the exact table that we wanted. It is all about being friendly to the staff, talking to the staff and treating the staff like without them our cruise would be nothing!

JMHO! 

[memoak]

1 hour ago, Oxo said:

I really don't understand how people think that only selective MDRs such as Reserve or Specialty Restaurants have a staff that only greet you by name every time we approach the host stand or the table we sit at each night. We do Anytime, My Time or what ever that cruise line calls it.

We cruise and very seldom after the first or second day in that MDR do we not get greeted by name and get the exact table that we wanted. It is all about being friendly to the staff, talking to the staff and treating the staff like without them our cruise would be nothing!

JMHO! 

For us it is not so much that as not having to make reservations and having no wait. Also the added dish often breaks up menus we have seen for years 

[Kay S]

1 hour ago, Oxo said:

I really don't understand how people think that only selective MDRs such as Reserve or Specialty Restaurants have a staff that only greet you by name every time we approach the host stand or the table we sit at each night.

Who said it's ONLY Reserve where you are greeted by name?  Wasn't me.  

[Oxo]

1 hour ago, Kay S said:

Who said it's ONLY Reserve where you are greeted by name?  Wasn't me.  

Please re-read this: 'I really don't understand how people think that only selective MDRs such as Reserve or Specialty Restaurants have a staff that only greet you by name every time we approach the host stand or the table we sit at each night.'

I never said or implied that you said ONLY Reserve.

[cruise_critical]

We did Reserve Class Mini Suite on our last Royal Princess cruise and had 12 of 13 dinners in Reserved Dining. Extra menu was mostly an extra pasta dish which was cooked / prepared within the Reserved Dining area via popup mini kitchen. I guess this was done to prevent putting any extra load on the main kitchen? 

 

During sea day lunches, there were no extra "Reserved Dining" menu items from what I can recall except during the embarkation day lunch.

 

[memoak]

9 minutes ago, cruise_critical said:

We did Reserve Class Mini Suite on our last Royal Princess cruise and had 12 of 13 dinners in Reserved Dining. Extra menu was mostly an extra pasta dish which was cooked / prepared within the Reserved Dining area via popup mini kitchen. I guess this was done to prevent putting any extra load on the main kitchen? 

 

During sea day lunches, there were no extra "Reserved Dining" menu items from what I can recall except during the embarkation day lunch.

 

Come on over to an older ship. On the Grand recently every sea day lunch had a pasta or salad. Dinner had pastas once in a while but also steaks, pork dishes and chicken dishes

[peety3]

8 hours ago, Oxo said:

When we were on the Enchanted Princess in the Med last year, the MDR was sectioned off. We walked through the Reserve or Club section and there was no difference between the two. The line outside that MDR was about 5 deep and people were waiting to be seated. Looked at both  menus and only saw one additional main offered. 

Is it really worth it? 

 

The classic complaint has always been that Princess couldn't keep up with Anytime Dining on their ships with three MDRs until 7:00 or 7:30pm, as two MDRs would classically start as Traditional Dining for "first seating" leaving only one MDR for Anytime Dining. As soon as that Anytime Dining MDR filled up, there was nothing they could do to accommodate more diners until the very first of those tables were vacated. As a result, the staff in that MDR had the challenge of non-stop rush until well into the 8pm hour, and service suffered as a result.

Reserve/Club meant they could carve out a slice of that second MDR (the one that starts with Traditional then converts to Anytime) and create a separate "resource" for anytime dining. Princess saw an opportunity to size it such that they could facilitate a premium product at little extra cost (new napkins, different uniforms for the RC staff, some equipment for tableside cooking of the extra menu item) and appease their bigger spenders. They did so by easing the load on Anytime Dining (anyone eating in RC isn't taking up space in the "all-night Anytime MDR") while also rebalancing the amount of Traditional Dining seats/tables versus early Anytime Dining (it's now a little less than two MDRs doing early Traditional Dining and a little more than one MDR doing early Anytime Dining).

 

[latebloomer56]

1 hour ago, cruise_critical said:

We did Reserve Class Mini Suite on our last Royal Princess cruise and had 12 of 13 dinners in Reserved Dining. Extra menu was mostly an extra pasta dish which was cooked / prepared within the Reserved Dining area via popup mini kitchen. I guess this was done to prevent putting any extra load on the main kitchen? 

 

During sea day lunches, there were no extra "Reserved Dining" menu items from what I can recall except during the embarkation day lunch.

 

They have separate dining for lunch on the first day? We have reserved dining so if we make it to the ship before 1:30 we would have a seat in a separate area? Does that mean like at dinner we need to go to a separate door?

[CU64]

On 8/18/2024 at 5:42 AM, TAW1963 said:

We had the Reserve Collection Dining room in May on the Majestic.  I have to say that it exceeded our expectations considerably.   It was an excellent experience.  We now feel that it will be difficult to cruise on Princess without having at least a Reserve Collection Mini Suite so that we can enjoy the Reserve Collection Dining room. 

Agreed. We had same experience 

[tml1230]

As said above, the quality of service in Reserve is what keeps us coming back to the experience. 

Our 10 year old grand daughter still talks about the incredible service! 

 

The only  member In our family who doesn't encourage us to book reserve class is our son. I am convinced he views it as negatively impacting his inheritance! 

[peety3]

11 hours ago, latebloomer56 said:

They have separate dining for lunch on the first day? We have reserved dining so if we make it to the ship before 1:30 we would have a seat in a separate area? Does that mean like at dinner we need to go to a separate door?

RC should have lunch service any time that an MDR is open for lunch. And yes, you go to the magic entrance (usually starboard side).

[latebloomer56]

59 minutes ago, peety3 said:

RC should have lunch service any time that an MDR is open for lunch. And yes, you go to the magic entrance (usually starboard side).

Thank you.

[Oxo]

1 hour ago, tml1230 said:

As said above, the quality of service in Reserve is what keeps us coming back to the experience. 

Our 10 year old grand daughter still talks about the incredible service! 

 

The only  member In our family who doesn't encourage us to book reserve class is our son. I am convinced he views it as negatively impacting his inheritance! 

Please- Not be be funny or negative. 

What is so special with the quality of service in Reserve?

We cruise a lot and have found service to be excellent normally regardless if it is MDR or Specialty Restaurants. 

I'm very interested in what the Reserve offers.

TIA

[Kay S]

3 hours ago, Oxo said:

Please- Not be be funny or negative. 

What is so special with the quality of service in Reserve?

We cruise a lot and have found service to be excellent normally regardless if it is MDR or Specialty Restaurants. 

I'm very interested in what the Reserve offers.

TIA

What's that old saying?  Don't knock it till you try it?  My advice is to go try it.  If you find it's no different from any other experience you've had, then you don't need to go back.  I think several people in this thread have pointed out some of the ways the service is stellar, but why bother if it will just meet with resistance and denial?

[Colorado Coasty]

7 minutes ago, Kay S said:

What's that old saying?  Don't knock it till you try it?  My advice is to go try it.  If you find it's no different from any other experience you've had, then you don't need to go back.  I think several people in this thread have pointed out some of the ways the service is stellar, but why bother if it will just meet with resistance and denial?

Amen.

Some will never try it but will continue to knock it.

For us it's the only way to go.