Why doesn't Princess...

[Susie51]

In Nov. on the Diamond Princess we didn't have any problems with AD. How can you tell a traditional diner has entered the AD room?

 

We liked the many tables set up for 2.

[cruzinchris]

... How can you tell a traditional diner has entered the AD room?...

 

Your cruise card indicates your dining option.

 

Those who have opted for "traditional" dining should not be permitted to dine in "anytime" venues. This has been, and continues to be one of primary reasons for overcrowded "anytime" dining rooms. If passengers have selected "traditional" dining, that is where they should be unless they are having dinner in one of the "alternative" (upcharge) dining venues or the buffet. No reservations for "anytime" dining would go a long way to resolve the problems, as well.

 

Long story, short: If everyone did what they were supposed to do, these dining problems wouldn't exist ;)

 

Bon Voyage!

Chris

[LoraJ]

Your cruise card indicates your dining option.

 

Those who have opted for "traditional" dining should not be permitted to dine in "anytime" venues. This has been, and continues to be one of primary reasons for overcrowded "anytime" dining rooms. If passengers have selected "traditional" dining, that is where they should be unless they are having dinner in one of the "alternative" (upcharge) dining venues or the buffet. No reservations for "anytime" dining would go a long way to resolve the problems, as well.

 

Long story, short: If everyone did what they were supposed to do, these dining problems wouldn't exist ;)

 

Bon Voyage!

Chris

 

 

But making reservations for AD if your are assigned to AD is not against the rules. It seems like so many here are making those who make reservations the bad guy, when they are doing what Princess allows them to do. I thought I raed here that they made half the dining room available for reservations and half for walk-ins.

[sunsurf]

I think they should leave it like it is but NOT allow traditional diners to use the anytime DR's at there whim:D If they chose traditinal and miss there dinner time or decide not to go they should have to go to the buffet or room service:)

 

sounds good to me!

[Murphey]

You should be getting dirty looks. Reservations totally defeat the concept of anytime dining....

 

Bob

 

 

As I said....they do not have any tables for 2 in the traditional dining rooms on some of the larger ships...we have no choice.

[rdsqrl]

If there are over hundreds of people on a waitlist for traditional dining, then undercapacity for traditional dining seems to be the real problem here . . . perhaps that's more important for Princess to address. All the rest is just anecdotal, with no hard data -- we all don't really know how many tables are being held for standing reservations or how many traditional diners are barging in when they're not supposed to.

[septrack]

I don't have any "hard numbers" but it would not surprise me if the reason two dining rooms are designated AD is to accomadate those people and the number of traditional diners who switch over by the end of the cruise. Just my observation!

[pris993]

I think the missing piece here is the cruise lines are hoping those who are waiting for AD will go to the speciality diningrooms more often, if the wait is too long, where the cruiseline makes more money. If this were not the case, why not alot more space for traditional dining and not have the waitlists.

[awhcruiser]

We signed up for anytime because we hope to eat with friends....After all these negative posts I am wondering if we made a mistake.....

[Shelly97060]

We signed up for anytime because we hope to eat with friends....After all these negative posts I am wondering if we made a mistake.....

 

 

We have had anytime the last three cruises and love it. We go when we are hungry and enjoy the flexibility or eating with new people or just by ourselves. We do not make reservations and have not experianced long waits on any of our cruises. The one time ( out of three cruises) we had to wait, we just went and enjoyed a cocktail until we got the page about 5-10 minutes later. Maybe we have just had really great luck.

 

Don't be too worried, you may find anytime is just right for you too.:)

[Times Prince]

The first couple of cruises we took after they started Anytime dining, I saw the Maitre'D checking cards. When someone from Traditional came they were told "I see you are traditional dining. If you wish to use Anytime dining you will have to give up your Traditional Dining status and your seats will be reassigned to someone on the wait list. Do you wish to do this?"

 

In every case they would say "No... I'll try the Horizon Court tonite".

 

A return to this policy might help people keep to their pre-reserved Traditional seating.

[chasetf]

I think it'd be a much easier system if they had 1 dedicated Traditional dining room and 1 dedicated Anytime dining room.

The third dining room, which could be easily split in two and modified, would be able to be adjusted to the specific number of pax who want Anytime and Traditional dining.

Also, I think it'd work in that third dining room if Princess could provide three different "walk-in" times...

5:00PM-6:00PM is the first walk in period.

6:30PM-7:30PM is the second walk in period.

8:00PM-9:00PM is the third.

Since Traditional would also be provided, the sections would always be changing size, depending on the number of people in each category.

That would be a scheduling nightmare. Sounds easy... but try scheduling the tables and waiters. Also, try scheduling food prep.

[Woobstr112G]

As I said....they do not have any tables for 2 in the traditional dining rooms on some of the larger ships...we have no choice.

 

Use A/T and hope you get a table 4 2. Just don't make a standing reservation. It is not fair.....

 

Bob

 

Future: Diamond Princess Aus/Nz 01/09

Future: Emerald Princess Med/Trans Atlantic 10/08

Constellation Europe 07/06

Summit Alaska Repositioning 05/05

Summit Panama Canal 10/02

Rhapsody Of The Seas Alaska 09/01

Spledour Of The Seas Baltic 09/99

Veendam Eastern Caribbean 07/96

Holiday Western Carribean 07/93

[Cruisin' Chick]

As someone who believes that Princess shouldn't call it "Personal Choice Dining" if you want traditional and end up with Anytime because you don't get off the waitlist...I certainly go along with the checking of the cards so you go to the right dining room, and with the dining rooms being adjusted so that everyone who wants traditional, gets traditional.

 

I just don't get the concept of asking for the same table, same waitstaff and same time if you want flexible dining (the exception would be if somehow a medical condition requires you to eat at a specific time). I just prefer to know that I can go to the d.r. at 8pm and be able to eat right away. We usually go to the Horizon Court mid-afternoon for a nosh to hold us over til then. If our regular dining time is inconvenient (like a late port day or if one of us isn't up to eating then), we go to the Horizon Court, no problem.

[terrierjohn]

Maybe I should open up this poll thread again?

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=757368

 

The percentages on this poll do seem to equate roughly with the current Princess dining set up. The traditional dining room is much larger than the other 2, not certain by how much but I would guess it's about a third bigger than each of the other 2, and of course it is much easier to fill the Traditional DR than it is with Anytime.

So unless Cruise Critic passengers are very different from the rest I do not understand why Princess ends up with large wait lists for traditional, and why they almost always seem to be for early Traditional when late is the preferred choice on the poll. Something just does not make sense.

[mycruz]

When AD was introduced there were no reservations and things worked very well......can you just say "No Reservations"? We don't expect it, nor should anyone else if the program is run the way it was designed. If not, go back to everyone having to do Traditional Dining.

[JPRLHR]

 

 

I suspect that has something to do with many T/A's who just automatically place people on traditional first seating, especially newbies who book the cruise and then find out their options afterwards.

[choochella]

We always do AD. It gives us a chance to meet different people each night. If we do happen to meet with someone we spend the rest of the cruise with, then we just agree to meet at the dining room at a specific time, and "wait" for a table, just like it's supposed to be.

 

I have a dilemma that I think may be a problem. Normally, it's just me and my DH sailing. But, this year we are sailing with 8 of our friends who have never sailed before. We agreed to do AD just for the flexibility of eating when we want. Does anyone think we will have a problem getting a table for 10 in AD?

[PescadoAmarillo]

Does anyone think we will have a problem getting a table for 10 in AD?

I kind of think you will, unless you go at 6pm or earlier, or later than 9 or so. Or else you can go with reservations (note, I'm not commenting on whether they are right or wrong), but they will not likely take them for between 6pm and 8pm, in which case you might do just as well in Traditional dining, assuming it's still available.

[Julia’s Journey’s]

We always do AD. It gives us a chance to meet different people each night. If we do happen to meet with someone we spend the rest of the cruise with, then we just agree to meet at the dining room at a specific time, and "wait" for a table, just like it's supposed to be.

 

I have a dilemma that I think may be a problem. Normally, it's just me and my DH sailing. But, this year we are sailing with 8 of our friends who have never sailed before. We agreed to do AD just for the flexibility of eating when we want. Does anyone think we will have a problem getting a table for 10 in AD?

 

They only have a couple of large tables but we mostly made reservations when we where 10 in Alaska, normally for 8.15pm.

Once or twice the folks at the table prior would linger and they offered to put us at a table in traditional and even send our waitstaff to serve but we opted to split and sit at 2 tables next to each other.

We even did the UBD for 10 and it was great fun.

 

What ship are you cruising on?

[Buddy604]

When I was on the Diamond Princess last year, they turned over one of the Anytime dining rooms for early traditional and swapped it back to Anytime at 8:15. I noticed that this year they didn't bother.

 

When it comes to the waitlist for traditional, it seems that 90% of the time it's a request for 1st seating, with a fair amount of second seating still available.

 

When it comes to getting the traditional seating you want, the solution is the same as getting the cabin you want - book early enough and you'll be set. Book later and take what you can get. If I want to bring my scooter or wheelchair and need a handicapped cabin, I book a year out. If I'm booking six months out, I know I'll have to live with a regular cabin, but them's the breaks. :p

 

As far as folks trying to get a table in Anytime, how long are you waiting? Personally, I've only had to wait if I was trying to eat at 7 or so, and even then it's maybe 15 minutes at the most. Not enough for me to get steamed about it. Honestly, how long are you guys waiting to get so worked up? Over an hour? :confused:

[choochella]

They only have a couple of large tables but we mostly made reservations when we where 10 in Alaska, normally for 8.15pm.

Once or twice the folks at the table prior would linger and they offered to put us at a table in traditional and even send our waitstaff to serve but we opted to split and sit at 2 tables next to each other.

We even did the UBD for 10 and it was great fun.

 

What ship are you cruising on?

 

We are sailing on the Crown. I have noticed that most tables can accommodate 6-8 people. We probably won't make reservations because, 1) I am against reservations in AD.

2) We don't want to be tied down having to eat at a specific time.

 

So, I wonder how hard it would be to split us up? Probably wouldn't be a problem if we were seated next to each other. Hate for that to happen, but guess I'll have to ask the MD or head waiter when we get there.

[bburns]

We've been on many many Princess cruises and anytime started out fantastic. Now, the wait is long. Getting into the dining room is a daily ordeal and who wants that on vacation.

 

In our recent May cruise, after having problems getting into anytime dining the 1st day, I resorted to reservations. They wouldn't allow us to make reservations until 8am each day and reservations could only be made for that day. I called right at 8am, was put on hold for quite some time, and then once the live person finally answered, was told all tables were taken until 8:15pm. This happened on more than one day.

 

We went to the dining room at 5:30 (when it opened) and were turned away until 8:15pm (even though we could see open tables) because we didn't have reservations. To be able to see the show, we had no choice but to go to the buffet. It was formal night. Do you think the buffet was serving lobster? No. So, Princess turns me away from Anytime dining and then won't serve me the same meal, which I paid for.

 

Its just all wrong. Make anytime dining really any time. 1st come, 1st served (unless you have an extreme case like a medical condition). As I said, I've sailed with Princess alot. Anytime dining started out good (when they didn't do reservations), but its been going downhill and now, ugghh.

[WeBeGone]

In our 150+days with Princess, we've only once had traditional dining (because we were a whole family). We've never had to wait more than 10 minutes and we've never made reservations. I think the key is that usually we're there around 6. On the ships with 2 AD dining rooms, if the line was long at one room, we just went to the other. We're not picky as to where we sit or the size of the table. I don't get the broohaha over AD, but I do think that they should NOT take reservations.

[nabby]

I agree with both of these and see if that helps. I think it would make a big difference. I've got "As You Wish" on my HAL cruise in October and it'll be interesting to see how HAL handles this.

 

We were on HAL last year and did "As You Wish" and we never had any long waits (although on a few evenings we agreed to sit at and share a large table to avoid any waiting). We were a group of 6, so that may have had something to do with it - it seems the people who have the most trouble are those who insist on a table for 2. Also, HAL only allowed reservations for the same day, and no reservations between 6:00 and 8:00 (those times were kept free for walk-ins). The only times I saw lines were at about 7:00, and even then I don't think the wait was too long.