CB Dining Rooms

[psbtrvlr]

Princess's web site shows Traditional with Island, Anytime with Island & Coral. What is Island really? And what is Palm?

[WNT]

Anytime seating is at the Palm (stern of ship) and the Coral (midship). The Island is traditional, or at least for my 6/22/08 Caribbean cruise. Enjoy!

[Sandytoes]

Anytime seating is at the Palm (stern of ship) and the Coral (midship). The Island is traditional, or at least for my 6/22/08 Caribbean cruise. Enjoy!

Correct.

 

Princess web site is incorrect.

[psbtrvlr]

Thank you!

[Crusin Karen]

Which anytime would you suggest?

[LENORA516]

The Palm is usually less crowded (it's a little harder to get to) but, being all the way in the aft it is a little "bumpier".

[bburns]

Your bigger question will be can you get into either anytime dining room when you want, not which dining room to use. Anytime dining started out great, but now, its a waiting frustration and who needs that on your vacation. Some people say go early, but even early now gets all backed up for an hour. Other people say make reservations. That doesn't work either. You sit on the phone forever and then they tell you they are full and can't make reservations.

 

Wish they would go back to anytime dining without reservations at all, like it was in the beginning. You know "any" time.

[-Lew-]

...now, its a waiting frustration...

Not always!

 

On our recent CB cruise, our party of five never had to wait for a table in the Palm dining room. We usually dined between 7:00 and 7:30 and never had a reservation.

 

We love anytime dining! We have never using the reservation system on any of our Princess cruises and don't mind waiting if necessary. After all, in shoreside restaurants waiting is common if we don't have a reservation.

 

Lew

[Sandytoes]

Your bigger question will be can you get into either anytime dining room when you want, not which dining room to use. Anytime dining started out great, but now, its a waiting frustration and who needs that on your vacation. Some people say go early, but even early now gets all backed up for an hour. Other people say make reservations. That doesn't work either. You sit on the phone forever and then they tell you they are full and can't make reservations.

 

Wish they would go back to anytime dining without reservations at all, like it was in the beginning. You know "any" time.

 

If Princess decided to go back to "No Reservations" what would happen if say everyone decided to dine at one particular time?

Would the dining rooms be even more "backed up? :rolleyes:

[Tatka]

We loved Palm DR, less crowded (never had to wait!), more tables for two.

 

We haven't noticed "bumpier" effect.

[psbtrvlr]

Your bigger question will be can you get into either anytime dining room when you want, not which dining room to use. Anytime dining started out great, but now, its a waiting frustration and who needs that on your vacation. Some people say go early, but even early now gets all backed up for an hour. Other people say make reservations. That doesn't work either. You sit on the phone forever and then they tell you they are full and can't make reservations.

 

Wish they would go back to anytime dining without reservations at all, like it was in the beginning. You know "any" time.

 

I haven't been on this ship, but on the Grand, both times, we did not have issues with having to wait for anytime dining. One sailling we were a group of 8, and the other a group of 4. The only times we had to wait were on formal nights, and even then only for 10 - 15 minutes. One of these sailings was this year....... We have seen no 'degrading' of service.

[bermuda triangle]

We, party of 2, had no trouble being seated in the Palm dining room. Coral had lines and a wait. We tended to eat after 7:30. There was not much movement in Palm even though it is the aft dining room.

 

We did eat lunch in Coral as well as had Tea there. Coral has some nice wall paintings, Palm has more windows. Same food.

 

Either one is nice. You can also make standing reservations for either dining room. When you arrive, there are two doors, one for those w/ reservations and the other without.

 

Enjoy you cruise!

Laura

[bermuda triangle]

We, party of 2, had no trouble being seated in the Palm dining room. Coral had lines and a wait. We tended to eat after 7:30. There was not much movement in Palm even though it is the aft dining room.

 

We did eat lunch in Coral as well as had Tea there. Coral has some nice wall paintings, Palm has more windows. Same food.

 

Either one is nice. You can also make standing reservations for either dining room. When you arrive, there are two doors, one for those w/ reservations and the other without.

 

Enjoy you cruise!

Laura

[Kathy130]

Like Lew, we also had a party of five on our CB cruise this past July 19th. We NEVER had to wait. We went to the palm 2X, the Coral X, and then Sabatini's. We ate arounf 7pm, which worked out well. We used to book late on our last cruises, but will book main, when anytime is not offered. Loved the flexibility of choosing!!

[amy417]

This is probably a dumb question but after reading all of the posts I am no longer sure. Other than location, is there a difference between the Coral and Palm dining rooms? Do you get the same menu? Is there an issue with ambience? Why does one seem so much easier to get into than the other one?

thanks

[tvaud]

This is probably a dumb question but after reading all of the posts I am no longer sure. Other than location, is there a difference between the Coral and Palm dining rooms? Do you get the same menu? Is there an issue with ambience? Why does one seem so much easier to get into than the other one?

thanks

 

 

You get the same menu in all three dining rooms. Ambience is pretty much the same. The reason why the Palm dining room(aft) is harder to get to is because there is no direct access from that deck to anywhere else on the ship. You must go up a deck and walk across the Promenade Deck and down to get to the aft dining room. It's easier if your cabin is near the aft elevators/stairs, but if you spend lots of time in the atrium/piazza area, it's a hike.