Personal choice dining?

[lysolqn]

We've cruised close to forty times but our last Princess cruise was prior to the inception of personal choice dining. We'll be on Sapphire Princess this summer and are trying to figure out which dining option we should choose. Would appreciate if someone could explain in detail the difference between traditional and personal choice dining. Does choosing one prohibit you from trying the other?

[chrysalis]

post #15 explains it well in this thread.....

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=214933

 

our preference is for Anytime....we like the flexibility that it gives.

[DrD]

Here's the results of a search, many, many pages of info:

 

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/search.php?searchid=3213789

[bubbadog]

depends on what you like for dinning,do you prefer set times?or would you rather go when you are ready to eat???,thats the only difference,cept having same tablemates each night?,or not?,hope his helped you,have a good time:))):rolleyes:

[Spender Nui]

At tradional dining do they still do the baked alaskan parade?

[sford75]

Just got back from the Golden and I thought I would love the Personal Choice Dining and I hated it. The service definitely suffered. In addition, you have to remember to make reservations each night and if you forget one day, you will be waiting.

 

And no Baked Alaska Parade. Not sure if it was done in the one dining room that did have Traditional seating, but I was really disappointed not to see it. The last night was uneventful.

[Go Cubs]

We've cruised close to forty times but our last Princess cruise was prior to the inception of personal choice dining. We'll be on Sapphire Princess this summer and are trying to figure out which dining option we should choose. Would appreciate if someone could explain in detail the difference between traditional and personal choice dining. Does choosing one prohibit you from trying the other?

 

Personal dining allows you the option to choose which restaurant and what time you want to dine. We choose this option on our last cruise which was also Princess & loved it. You're never STUCK with the same boring people for all the nights of the cruise. However, I would suggest making a reservation unless you don't care if you eat at 8:00 or so.

[Tom O.]

Baked Alaska parade is still in effect, but for the traditional dining room only.

[Roses2]

Having spent a great deal of time in a profession that required us to host lunches and dinners with groups and "make" conversation, we enjoy our lunches and dinners for just the two of us.

 

We always opt for Personal Choice and then prevail on the Matre d' for the same reserved table for two at 8 pm and we have the same wait staff throughout the cruise.

 

Perhaps this is the best combination of traditional/Personal Choice. It has worked for us on Princess for the last 4 cruises.

[A Sixth?]

The service definitely suffered. In addition, you have to remember to make reservations each night and if you forget one day, you will be waiting.

 

Opposite to our experience. The herd was at Traditional. We waited only once and for ten minutes on a Sun 10 day cruise. We found that the service was excellent, amongst the best we'd ever had all but one night. We never made a reservation, because we didn't plan our day 24 hours in advance.

[janetz]

You can do traditional and "try" anytime but not the other way around. You just need to let your waiter know you will not be there on a certain night. With that said, we did try anytime last year and loved it. The service and the food was the same as traditional. It was very nice not to have to be at the dinning room at a certin time. We never waited more than 5 minutes for a table and we ate between 6:30 and 8pm. :D

[negc]

We are just returned from the Sapphire Princess and had traditional dining in the International Dining Room (second seating which was at 8pm) and the last night experienced the Baked Alaska parade. The maitre'd, Jacques Ghennai, explained to us that those who choose anytime dining can make reservations for a particular time and table, as long as it is not between 7 and 8pm. At any other time he explained that you should be able to walk up to any of the dining rooms and be seated quickly. Some in our group did so and were given pagers and had a wait of approximately 25 minutes. The menus in both the traditional and the anytime dining rooms are exactly the same (a different menu each evening), except that each of the anytime dining rooms offers a special entre related to its theme (Italian, Southwest, British, or Asian). Since the menus are the same, it seems strange that when there is a preponderance of cruisers requesting traditional dining, one of the anytime dining rooms couldn't easily be transformed into a traditional dining room for that particular cruise.:confused: Placement of the International Dining room (traditional dining) was a bit awkward since in order to get to it on Deck 6 from elsewhere on that deck, one has to go up to Deck 7 walk to the rear of the ship and take the aft elevator or stairway down to the dining room on Deck 6.

I'm not sure why someone selecting anytime dining would make a standing reservation for 6 pm or 8pm in an anytime dining room, since traditional offers exactly those options. Perhaps selecting a time earlier or later might make sense, although we know that they won't take reservations between 7 and 8pm. If having the same excellent waiter is important and you don't mind having a set time to eat each evening (I really appreciate having a waiter who knows that my wife wants hot tea and I want decaf coffee after the first night he or she serves us and not having to repeat that request every evening) traditional probably works best. If you are more flexible in the time you eat, are willing to take whatever servers you get and don't mind the fact that you may have to wait for a table on occasion, anytime dining might be more acceptable.

 

The food at dinner was excellent and I never once had to order one of the "available anytime" selections, which is one standard I use to determine how well satisfied I am with the menu offerings on a cruise ship.

 

One caveat for those who want tables for two: They aren't available in the traditional dining room on Sapphire Princess. In the anytime dining rooms, the tables for two are grouped in sections of four (similar to what you might see in McDonald's )- a long bench with four small tables in front of it each with a chair on the other side of the table,all four parties of two close enough to reach out and touch the others. Certainly not conducive to private or intimate conversation.:(

We had an opportunity to do a galley tour on the SP and it was so immaculate that you wouldn't believe that it was not brand new and standing by to serve its first passengers.

[Casshew]

Baked Alaska parade is still in effect, but for the traditional dining room only.

 

Now there's an incentive to switch to PC :D

[Tom O.]

Bill (Negc), I had the same experiences as you did when I cruised on the Sapphire last January. We had late traditional too. Late dinner works out so well on a cruise - no need to rush back to the boat. I also thought the food was outstanding.

 

Casshew - I like the Baked Alaska Parade. Although, I must admit, it is my least favorite dessert offered by Princess.

[abbydancer2003]

We like traditional, and having the same staff each night. On our cruise last fall, we were there with a group of about 50 people in traditional late. Our group leader indicated that we could move around each night, and sit with different members of our group. We were at the same table for the first three nights, and by the third night the waiters knew our coffee orders etc. Then poof, we were gone (the other people we were with each night wanted to move). The staff did their best, but there was a lot of confusion about our group. For our upcoming cruise, we're doing traditional late.

 

abby

[Casshew]

Casshew - I like the Baked Alaska Parade. Although, I must admit, it is my least favorite dessert offered by Princess.

 

It's the parade I don't like, the dessert is fine :D

[Coolmama_1]

We had anytime dining on the Star in January and when they served the baked Alaska, I asked my server where the parade was. She ran and got some lighters and they did a parade just for us!:D

[Italy52]

"I'm not sure why someone selecting anytime dining would make a standing reservation for 6 pm or 8pm in an anytime dining room, since traditional offers exactly those options."

 

We have made standing reservations for 8 PM in an anytime dining room before. The reason we do this is we are "guaranteed" a table for two. In traditional, we are told that they will try to give us a table for two, but there are no guarantees. Anytime dining gives us what we want. For us, DH works a lot and our time together is cherished. We enjoy the daily interaction of meeting new people. However, when it comes to dinner, we prefer a table for two.

[madelinerose]

We chose anytime dining for our first Princess cruise on the Crown. We do not dine at the same time every day at home and we prefer spontaneity when we vacation. When we're ready for dinner, we'll head for the diningroom. The waitstaff and tablemates are not a priority for us.

 

We'll also request two-tops. If there are none available for the rest of the evening, or if the wait interferes with our plans, we'll simply go to another dining venue and skip the diningroom altogether.

 

We dine in fabulous restaurants all the time. Not having dinner in the diningrooms will not affect our cruise whatsoever. There will always be food available somewhere on the ship. We also plan on reserving several of the specialty restaurants on the Crown. ;)

[cruzinchris]

Having spent a great deal of time in a profession that required us to host lunches and dinners with groups and "make" conversation, we enjoy our lunches and dinners for just the two of us.

 

We always opt for Personal Choice and then prevail on the Matre d' for the same reserved table for two at 8 pm and we have the same wait staff throughout the cruise.

 

Perhaps this is the best combination of traditional/Personal Choice. It has worked for us on Princess for the last 4 cruises.

 

Roses2,

This is exactly what DH and I have done on our five Princess cruises. We are currently booked for traditional early seating on the Dawn (1/25/07), but I have a feeling that we will switch to anytime on the first night of our cruise if not before. This is the perfect way to enjoy Personal Choice dining!

 

Chris

[negc]

"I'm not sure why someone selecting anytime dining would make a standing reservation for 6 pm or 8pm in an anytime dining room, since traditional offers exactly those options."

 

We have made standing reservations for 8 PM in an anytime dining room before. The reason we do this is we are "guaranteed" a table for two. In traditional, we are told that they will try to give us a table for two, but there are no guarantees. Anytime dining gives us what we want. For us, DH works a lot and our time together is cherished. We enjoy the daily interaction of meeting new people. However, when it comes to dinner, we prefer a table for two.

 

Now I understand. However, on the Sapphire Princess at least, the groupings of tables for two hardly provide any opportunity for private or intimate conversations. When we experienced it on the night we sailed, we ended up having conversations with the three other parties of two in our section, and only the seating arrangements made it any different from sitting at a table for eight. On other cruises we have taken, tables for two were free standing tables separated from others by distances similar to the distance between larger tables.:)

[cruzinchris]

Now I understand. However, on the Sapphire Princess at least, the groupings of tables for two hardly provide any opportunity for private or intimate conversations. When we experienced it on the night we sailed, we ended up having conversations with the three other parties of two in our section, and only the seating arrangements made it any different from sitting at a table for eight. On other cruises we have taken, tables for two were free standing tables separated from others by distances similar to the distance between larger tables.:)

 

Negc,

You've raised some good points, and I agree that the arrangement of tables for two in anytime dining rooms isn't necessarily conducive a truly intimate dining experience. But, there are some other considerations for those of us who prefer anytime dining with a pre-reserved table for two.

 

1) DH and I usually order only two courses from the dinner menu: an appetizer, soup, OR salad (never all three) and an entree. We rarely, if ever, have dessert, nor do we have after-dinner coffee or drinks. We frequently find ourselves waiting for others to enjoy multiple courses, dessert, coffee, etc. because we feel obligated to remain with the party throughout the entire meal. Believe it or not, watching others eat gets old really fast!

 

2) While we've truly enjoyed some dining companions on our 13 cruises, there were those who left a bad taste in our mouths - and I'm not talking about the food! On our earliest cruises, when we traveled with our young daughter, we had tablemates suggest that a child had no business on a cruiseship! To be sure, in the early 1980s, few children were seen on such voyages and not many cruiselines accommodated youngsters. Still, our daughter enjoyed these family vacations, and we believe that she had every right to be on the ship with us. Needless to say, these dining experiences left much to be desired, and we welcomed Princess' "Personal Choice Dining."

 

3) While we are likely to have dinner early (before 7:00), we don't want to be locked into early seating with traditional dining. If we are just getting back to the ship following an afternoon excursion, we want to have time to relax, shower, dress for dinner, etc. and don't want to feel rushed because we absolutely have to arrive in the dining room by a certain time. When we know ahead of time that we won't be back onboard in time to be ready for dinner at 6:30, we make a later reservation.

 

The beauty of PC dining with Princess is that everyone has the freedom to choose when, where, and with whom they dine, and that's a good thing! jmho

Chris

[Italy52]

Now I understand. However, on the Sapphire Princess at least, the groupings of tables for two hardly provide any opportunity for private or intimate conversations. When we experienced it on the night we sailed, we ended up having conversations with the three other parties of two in our section, and only the seating arrangements made it any different from sitting at a table for eight. On other cruises we have taken, tables for two were free standing tables separated from others by distances similar to the distance between larger tables.:)

 

 

We sailed the Sapphire Princess last year to Alaska and you are right, the tables for two were very close together. On the Dawn Princess, tables for four were broken into tables for two by using a table divider. A little bit better than the Sapphire in my opinion.

 

I also share some of the same sentiments as "cruzinchris." Over the years, we have been fortunate enough to have some wonderful tablemates. Equally so, we have also had the displeasure of some bad tablemates. We have endured people that show up late to dinner with little regard for the rest of the table waiting on them. We have also been the prisoners at a slow table. We have had people that complained about every little thing they could rather than just going with the flow. And don't even get me started on people who are rude to servers and lack table manners. Personal Choice dining has become our favorite dining option and one of the reasons we like Princess so much.

[fantastic 50]

WE have done both and liked both of them. However if you are traveling with a larger group, the traditional dining is probably a better choice as you will always have your table ready for you. On the cruise that we choice PC we fell in love with our waiter and chose to come back to him every night even if it involved a wait.

[negc]

My only real problem with personal choice dining is when Princess denies requests for traditional dining and places people in "anytime dining" and then won't allow them to make reservations for a specific table or servers between the hours of 7pm and 8pm. Since they know in advance when the number of requests for traditional dining exceed the capacity of the traditional dining room, it would not be terribly difficult to convert one of the anytime dining rooms to "traditional" for that particular cruise. In the case of the Sapphire Princess and others of similar design, that would still leave anytime diners a choice of three anytime dining venues while providing the hundreds of those who requested traditional with the dining format of their choice. The menus are the same in all the dining rooms and are serviced by two kitchens. The logistics shouldn't be too difficult to work out.