Dining question - really need an answer!

[nevercruisedbefore123]

We are going on our first cruise in two weeks (Crown Jan 12). We are waitlisted for second seating. Does this mean that we are confirmed for the early seating and just on a waitlist for second seating or does it mean that we are stuck with anytime dining (which we don't want). I've looked for answers - no luck. I specifically requested Traditional dining when I booked with the TA. I would rather have early dining than anytime dining.

Please help!

Many thanks...

Dean

[B40 Tha Cruisa]

Have you logged onto Princess.com? It should tell you what your reservation is. Its hard to say for sure, what did you and your TA discuss?

 

A suggestion- If you do have anytime dining, you can go to the dining room when you board and talk to the Maitre'd and make a standing reservation for the duration of the cruise. Such as 6:00 PM every night. Much like traditional dining you will have the same waitstaff thoughout the cruise. It is a great option.

[rjg41]

You are either confirmed for early or Anytime. With it being a Caribbean cruise, it is likely early went waitlist first. Right now early and late are both waitlisted. Most likely you are confirmed for Anytime.

 

Do as the previous poster suggested or when on the ship try to be moved to early. By the way, your TA/Princess can tell you what number you are on the waitlist.

[gooch47]

A suggestion- If you do have anytime dining, you can go to the dining room when you board and talk to the Maitre'd and make a standing reservation for the duration of the cruise. Such as 6:00 PM every night. Much like traditional dining you will have the same waitstaff thoughout the cruise. It is a great option.

 

Don't count on it. Unfortunately policy isn't consistent between all ships. We were denied this option on at least one cruise. They had an overflow from Traditional Dining for people wanting a table for two so they put them in the Anytime Dining area. So those of us in Anytime Dining who wanted a standing reservation for a table for two were out of luck.

[vmom]

Anytime dining is much better than I had expected, so please don't be discouraged if that's what you have.

 

We were waitlisted for early dining and didn't get it. We went to the anytime dining room every night at 6:00 and always were seated immediately. We always had wonderful service. If you find a waiter you really enjoy, then make a reservation to be seated in his area each night.

[funship freddy]

Nevercruisedbefore....... Do consider the alternative dining venues. They are excellent. I prefer the steakhouse theme but also have enjoyed the Italian. IMHO it is well worth the additional $$$. We normally eat in an alternative every evening. Happened to be on Princess several years ago when they launched the original alternative "Sterling Steakhouse." We ate there the first night of the cruise and liked it so much we returned every night. It was outside one deck above the pool with linen and it was delightful. Much nicer than the current inside venues.

 

 

[jff50]

We are going on our first cruise in two weeks (Crown Jan 12). We are waitlisted for second seating. Does this mean that we are confirmed for the early seating and just on a waitlist for second seating or does it mean that we are stuck with anytime dining (which we don't want). I've looked for answers - no luck. I specifically requested Traditional dining when I booked with the TA. I would rather have early dining than anytime dining.

Please help!

Many thanks...

Dean

It means that you are waitlisted. If you were confirmed for early dining, you would be confirmed for early dining--not waitlisted. You haven't said why you don't want anytime dining. Am curious about the reasons for this. It would make sense if you had past experience with and liked traditional dining, but you don't have past experience with traditional dining.

[notentirelynormal]

Once your cruise gets into the final payment stage you may be moved up rather quickly. If not I would go immediately to the restaurant and talk to the maitre'd and chances are he may be able to get you in. Do that as soon as you board though, not hours later cos others are going to have the same thought. We are due to sail in 75 days and 7 in our group were waitlisted over 100+ and they are now both confirmed so there is hope.

[Hlitner]

Anytime dining really works well for passengers who like the late seating. Once the mad rush of the "early bird eaters" is over (we actually have watched folks line up for 20 minutes for their early seating when they have assigned tables) its time for the leisure diners. We used to choose 2nd seating, but we love large tables and lots of tablemates. What often happened is that many of the tablemates did not appear for dinner (they went to the various alternative venues) and that was not fun. With the "Personal Choice" option we found we could simply show-up when we pleased, and than we would ask the maitre'd to put us at a large table. Voila! We would always have a large table, and every seat was always full. And on many cruises, we quickly found desirable tablemates and often ended up putting together our own table and than making reservations every night (sometimes requesting the same waiter). We had all the advantages of traditional 2nd seating with none of the downside.

 

Hank

[nevercruisedbefore123]

Thank you to all who responded. I feel better now- I'll go with whatever I get.

[Pam in CA]

We are going on our first cruise in two weeks (Crown Jan 12). We are waitlisted for second seating. Does this mean that we are confirmed for the early seating and just on a waitlist for second seating or does it mean that we are stuck with anytime dining (which we don't want). I've looked for answers - no luck. I specifically requested Traditional dining when I booked with the TA. I would rather have early dining than anytime dining.

It means that you are waitlisted, i.e., not confirmed, and chances are very good that this close to sailing, you will be assigned to Anytime. (I haven't a clue why people are saying you're confirmed for Early Traditional but that isn't the case; you're waitlisted for Late Traditional, i.e., 2nd seating.) Don't get discouraged; when you board, go immediately to the Maitre D and ask to be seated in late Traditional. He will most likely assign you a table. Since you specify that you really don't want Anytime dining, you shouldn't have to settle or let people on this board tell you that it's the same and you should be happy with it. Just go to the Maitre D and all should be well. We didn't clear the Late Traditional waitlist on our Golden cruise last February and it took only a request of the Maitre D and a smile to get the seating we wanted.