My Experience Eating Lunch in the Dining Room at Embarkation Aboard the Sapphire

[Sailfish]

We sailed to Mexico last month aboard the Sapphire Princess and had lunch in the Traditional Dining Room on embarkation day ALL ALONE. I wanted to share my experioence and to encourage those of you who want to eat lunch on Embarkation to do so!

 

After stopping by our cabin after boarding the ship, my husband and I began to look for the dining room where Embarkation Lunch was being served; I'm guessing it was a little after 12 noon. I first went to one of the Anytime Dining Rooms where I noticed people eating lunch and was told by a waiter that the Sapphire did not serve lunch on Embarkation Day. I showed him a print out of a Press Release indicating that there should be one restaurant serving lunch. He said the Sapphire had no such thing going on - I pointed to the people, and was told they were travel agents. Just as we were about to give up and go up to the Buffet, we met an officer and proceeded to ask him.

 

He said that lunch was being served in the Traditional Dining Room, and that if we wanted to eat lunch there, we should tell the waiter we were "in transit". He said he was aware of the new policy, as was the wait staff, but the only way we would be served lunch was to say we were in transit. So, we proceeded to go to the Tradtional dining room, where we asked about lunch.

 

The head waiter at the door said that they were not serving lunch. When I told him that the officer said to tell him we were in transit, he opened the door and let us inside. We were immediately seated and served lunch.

 

There must have been 20 people who stopped by to ask about lunch - all were told to go up to the buffet. A few came inside to look around and commented on the fact that we were eating lunch, but they also were told to go up to the buffet.

 

I am passing along this story not to encourage you to say you are in transit; but rather to share our experience with you. The office who told us to say we were in transit turned out to be the staff captain. I didn't know this at the time, but met him again at the past guest party. My husband remarked about our experience, and all he could do is shake his head and apologize.

 

I really don't understand what is going on, but we didn't have a problem eating lunch last November aboard the Emerald. Hopefully the dining room staff aboard the Sapphire will get their act together soon - this is not right!

 

The rest of the cruise was awesome.

 

Suzi

[mii]

No this is not right. It should be on all Princess ships that lunch is being served in the dining room on embarkation. You should not have to bring a press release or say you are in transit. I hope Princess is reading this.

 

Marilyn

[Toto2Kansas]

No this is not right. It should be on all Princess ships that lunch is being served in the dining room on embarkation. You should not have to bring a press release or say you are in transit. I hope Princess is reading this.

 

Marilyn

 

I agree, it isn't right. But does it surprise me? Nope, typical change/perk that nobody but the front office seems to know about.

Not worth the hassle for me.

[TonyFred]

In all fairness, the cruise staff is SUPER busy on embarkation day. Supplies, including food are being checked and loaded onto the the ship among hundreds of other tasks that have to be performed in a very short period of time.

I really dont think it would kill anyone to enjoy the buffet for at least lunch on embarkation day. Give the crew a chance to prepare the ship and supplies for you.

[Host CJSKIDS]

In all fairness, the cruise staff is SUPER busy on embarkation day. Supplies, including food are being checked and loaded onto the the ship among hundreds of other tasks that have to be performed in a very short period of time.

I really dont think it would kill anyone to enjoy the buffet for at least lunch on embarkation day. Give the crew a chance to prepare the ship and supplies for you.

 

You are completely correct on this point.

Princess however should never had issued a press release stating that lunch could be enjoyed on embarkation day if they did not intend to see it through.

[go noles]

I agree it wouldn't kill anyone to eat at the buffet. However, Princess needs to decide if they are offering this or not. If the powers that be decide the staff is too busy then it should not be offered in the first place. But reality is, if it is offered and publicized no one should be discouraged from enjoying lunch in the dining room.

[Colo Cruiser]

I agree they should cancel the policy if it is that big of a deal which it really is not. ;)

[rcacace]

In all fairness, the cruise staff is SUPER busy on embarkation day. Supplies, including food are being checked and loaded onto the the ship among hundreds of other tasks that have to be performed in a very short period of time.

I really dont think it would kill anyone to enjoy the buffet for at least lunch on embarkation day. Give the crew a chance to prepare the ship and supplies for you.

 

There are very few people who contribute to this forum who would agree with your comments and seem to demand they be served. Princess should rephrase their printed statement in order to give these guys a break- after all it's just one meal.

[Colo Cruiser]

There are very few people who contribute to this forum who would agree with your comments and seem to demand they be served. Princess should rephrase their printed statement in order to give these guys a break- after all it's just one meal.

 

 

Wow!! I have eaten there on Embarkation day many times and never demanded anything. :eek:

[rcacace]

I've gotten the cold shoulder a few times and don't push it any longer. The buffet is fine by me since we eat there all other times for lunch so why force them especially on a really busy day.

[sultan_sfo]

This so called policy is one sentence (less than even one-line) statement in a long news

release about disembarkation enhancements!

 

I agree they should cancel the policy if it is that big of a deal which it really is not. ;)

[caribill]

In all fairness, the cruise staff is SUPER busy on embarkation day. Supplies, including food are being checked and loaded onto the the ship among hundreds of other tasks that have to be performed in a very short period of time.

 

 

The dining room is staffed. The kitchen is staffed. They just let very few people in to enjoy a meal.

[WeBeGone]

We always eat lunch in the dining room on embarkation day as we arrive early at the port. The dining room staff has never turned us away but you must be inside the door before 1:00.

[PescadoAmarillo]

We were turned away twice on our B2B Emerald cruises in January. The first time, the day we first boarded, we were told that the dining room was for in-transit passengers only. The second time, on turnaround day, we were told they weren't serving anyone.

 

:mad:

 

Not that I care about the meal (both times we ate at the International Cafe and loved the experience, probably moreso than being grudgingly served in the dining room). I just wish they would get their story straight! Somehow it doesn't seem quite right to announce it as a competitive advantage for Princess and then fail to deliver.

[mii]

I agree, it isn't right. But does it surprise me? Nope, typical change/perk that nobody but the front office seems to know about.

Not worth the hassle for me.

 

Toto I do agree with that it is not worth the hassle. It really does not surprise me either and I am always happy to each lunch in the dining room but then Princess should have never put that sentence in a news release. This subject seems to come up at least once a week. Some get in and some do not.

 

Marilyn

[Chas N Keith]

We were turned away twice on our B2B Emerald cruises in January. The first time, the day we first boarded, we were told that the dining room was for in-transit passengers only. The second time, on turnaround day, we were told they weren't serving anyone.

 

:mad:

 

Not that I care about the meal (both times we ate at the International Cafe and loved the experience, probably moreso than being grudgingly served in the dining room). I just wish they would get their story straight! Somehow it doesn't seem quite right to announce it as a competitive advantage for Princess and then fail to deliver.

 

We boarded the Emerald on January 19, 2009, dropped some luggage in our room, went to the DaVinci Dinning room about Noon, asked for a table for two and were promptly seated at a window table and had an excellent lunch. :)

 

Two other passengers sat next to us and said they accidentally found the dinning room open and were also immediately seated. They said HCB was a nightmare and they weren't going to eat there on the first day!

 

C and K

[terrierjohn]

In all fairness, the cruise staff is SUPER busy on embarkation day. Supplies, including food are being checked and loaded onto the the ship among hundreds of other tasks that have to be performed in a very short period of time.

I really dont think it would kill anyone to enjoy the buffet for at least lunch on embarkation day. Give the crew a chance to prepare the ship and supplies for you.

Do you actually beleive that wait staff are involved in loading stores onto the ship!:D

[Colo Cruiser]

This so called policy is one sentence (less than even one-line) statement in a long news

release about disembarkation enhancements!

 

 

What would you call it then???

[sultan_sfo]

Just a simple off-the-cuff statement by an enthusiastic writer in the news release department. Go through each of the news releases and one can find many such so called items.

 

And those who suggest that there is no limit on the bottles of wine one can bring on-board and to show the contract if anyone objects, may be the Maitre D' can show you the contract that the contract says nothing about embarkation lunch.

 

This so called policy is one sentence (less than even one-line) statement in a long news

release about disembarkation enhancements!

 

What would you call it then???

[PescadoAmarillo]

We boarded the Emerald on January 19, 2009, dropped some luggage in our room, went to the DaVinci Dinning room about Noon, asked for a table for two and were promptly seated at a window table and had an excellent lunch. :)

I'm not surprised. I heard others were served too. Guess I need to learn the secret handshake! I asked about it later at Passenger Services, and was told the dining room is NEVER open for lunch on embarkation day. Hmmm...guess they don't know the secret handshake either.

[rcacace]

Just a simple off-the-cuff statement by an enthusiastic writer in the news release department. Go through each of the news releases and one can find many such so called items.

 

 

That I truly believe, but you would think they would have corrected it by now.

[TonyFred]

Do you actually beleive that wait staff are involved in loading stores onto the ship!:D

 

Probably not. They are too busy serving the people who are too good to put a scoop of food on their own plate by going to the buffet.

OF COURSE they are involved. It takes everyone to turn a ship around in a few hours. Are you serious? They have to load tons and tons of stuff...unload tons of garbage....get everything ready for the next cruise!

I do concede that it wasnt wise for Princess to "advertise" the dining room as being open for business on embarkation days however.

I really think they should shut it down until the ship is prepared and underway.

[lovesublime]

What does it mean to be a pax "in transit"?

[kooljamming]

In all fairness, the cruise staff is SUPER busy on embarkation day. Supplies, including food are being checked and loaded onto the the ship among hundreds of other tasks that have to be performed in a very short period of time.

I really dont think it would kill anyone to enjoy the buffet for at least lunch on embarkation day. Give the crew a chance to prepare the ship and supplies for you.

 

We sail tomorrow and this was one of the things I told DH was different about Princess. No, it would not kill me to eat at the buffet but if it's offered then I would like to try it. I assume there was staff available for this which is why they offered it. It would be a bit frustrating to look forward to something, to be denied while others are enjoying it.

[Colo Cruiser]

What does it mean to be a pax "in transit"?

 

 

Doing back to back cruises, in between both. :)