Dining

[lmsscs]

We booked a cruise for December and it looks like we were assigned open seating and waitlisted for the 1st dinner seating. What are the chances that we will get the 1st dinner seating? I have nevered cruised Princess so this open seating concept is new to me, I would prefer an assigned table.

[Bill B]

It depends on your position on the waitlist. I believe 1st sitting for traditional dining is the most popular... so you may want to consider 2nd sitting. I like 2nd sitting because on port days, you have the 'extra' time.

[Colo Cruiser]

We booked a cruise for December and it looks like we were assigned open seating and waitlisted for the 1st dinner seating. What are the chances that we will get the 1st dinner seating? I have nevered cruised Princess so this open seating concept is new to me, I would prefer an assigned table.

 

Call Princess and ask them where you are on the waitlist. ;)

[uppitycats]

Or show up the first night and ask if you can make reservations for the same table/same servers for the length of your cruise. Apparently some folks have done this successfully.

 

It sort of defeats the purpose of "open seating", or "anytime dining", but if it makes you more comfortable....

[gertz]

This far out if your 100 or less you will probably be ok 150 up maybe.

Wonder how many time I have posted this. "Many tout Anytime Dining but wonder why there is always a wait list for TD 1 seating 6 to 8+ months out?":eek:

Jack

for the lovely and talented

[jagsfan]

we booked in Jan for a Sep 13 cruise. Our position was 125 on the waitlist for traditional

1st seating. I called a month later and we were 129, then 135, then 140, then 145. I

was getting really upset when suddenly we started going down again, and we wound up

being confirmed 3 weeks ago. Don't give up, but if you don't make it, consider what so

many posters have said, ask the maitre d' for a table assignment at the time you want

in Anytime Dining and you'll still have the benefits of traditional.

[mrrobby]

We just came back from Alaska and had late traditional with a table for 2 couples traveling together. It was a terrible table. I went to the maitre'd and he gave us a great table in the anytime dining at 8 each night. We had a great wait staff and we were thrilled. Go on the first day and you can do the same for 6 P.M.

[lmsscs]

Thanks for the great advice. We need 1st seating because my daughter will be with us and she would be asleep at the table if we had to use 2nd seating. In the past I have always had 2nd seating, but now with her that isn't happening.

[bhopal21]

Have you called and found out where you are on the waitlist?

 

Mike:)

[kooljamming]

This far out if your 100 or less you will probably be ok 150 up maybe.

 

Wonder how many time I have posted this. "Many tout Anytime Dining but wonder why there is always a wait list for TD 1 seating 6 to 8+ months out?":eek:

 

Jack

for the lovely and talented

 

I believe it's the beginning of the end of traditional dining, especially for the next generation of cruisers. Not many can book 8 months to a year in advance. Family life and work schedule will make committing to a vacation plan far in advance virtually impossible. A larger percent of cruisers will have only one choice. Before we know it, Anytime will be the only choice for everyone. I asked a CSR about the largest wait list for TD, she relied close to 600 on CP. That's around 1, 200 people ( at 2 people per cabin) booking their vacation not being confirmed for their preferred dining option.

 

Yep, they did the same thing with traditional hymns in my church. No more Amazing Grace, it was too 'old fashioned':eek:

[caribill]

I asked a CSR about the largest wait list for TD, she relied close to 600 on CP. That's around 1, 200 people ( at 2 people per cabin) booking their vacation not being confirmed for their preferred dining option.

 

 

I think that is proof they need two traditional dining rooms and only one anytime dining room.

[caribill]

Thanks for the great advice. We need 1st seating because my daughter will be with us and she would be asleep at the table if we had to use 2nd seating. In the past I have always had 2nd seating, but now with her that isn't happening.

 

 

If you do not clear the waitlist, the afternoon you board the Matre d' will be in a dining room (see Patter when you board for the time and dining room) to handle requests. At that time, you can see if he can fit you in at your preferred sitting.

[katisdale]

When we travel with our grandchildren we prefer anytime dining. The kids center opens at 7 PM and they always want to be up there then. We go when the dining room opens about 5:45 or 6:00 PM. We have never had a wait. The only difference (the food is the same) is that there will be people at different stages of their meal at the table around you, just like at a restaurant at home.

[Woobstr112G]

I think that is proof they need two traditional dining rooms and only one anytime dining room.

 

I totally agree. One other thing to think about is that since they allow "Standing Reservations.....:(" in AT dining, it's as if AT is a type of Traditional dining in and of itself.....

 

Bob

[hubofhockey]

I think that is proof they need two traditional dining rooms and only one anytime dining room.

 

????? The waits would only be longer in anytime dining if they did this. It works okay the way it is, even with all of the faults.

[caribill]

????? The waits would only be longer in anytime dining if they did this. It works okay the way it is, even with all of the faults.

 

Waits would not be longer if 800 less people were assigned to Anytime.

[Joy R]

W've tried both Anytime and Traditional. On our first cruise we chose Anytime, met up with two couples the first couple of days and booked what was usually the same table every night with them in Anytime. The second cruise, on the Royal, there is only Traditional. We chose second seating, and it was really fine, we enjoyed it. So for our upcoming cruise we booked second seating again. But now we've booked to extend that cruise, effectively a B2B, and our T.A. has requested 2nd seating again for the second part (actually the first part) and I see we're waitlisted for that. No idea what position we are on the list. How do we find out? We're Princess UK, which makes everything a little more complicated.

[tinkerbell_2]

On our last cruise, we got all the way down on the waitlist to number 9... but when we arrived onboard, we still had anytime seating assigned.

 

We traveled with my parents, and they really like the traditional seating, so we immediately went to the Matride' who assigned us a set table for 6:00 everynight in the anytime dining room. It worked out perfect for us, and was almost exactly like traditional dining.

[gertz]

I believe it's the beginning of the end of traditional dining, especially for the next generation of cruisers. Not many can book 8 months to a year in advance. Family life and work schedule will make committing to a vacation plan far in advance virtually impossible. A larger percent of cruisers will have only one choice. Before we know it, Anytime will be the only choice for everyone. I asked a CSR about the largest wait list for TD, she relied close to 600 on CP. That's around 1, 200 people ( at 2 people per cabin) booking their vacation not being confirmed for their preferred dining option.

 

Yep, they did the same thing with traditional hymns in my church. No more Amazing Grace, it was too 'old fashioned':eek:

 

With all respect to a beautiful lady you could be wrong. I have it on good authority that you will see a transition to more tradition dining especially 1st seating.:D

Many people book 8 or 10 months out some cruises are close to and are sold out that far ahead.:eek:

Jack

for the lovely and talented

[kooljamming]

With all respect to a beautiful lady you could be wrong. I have it on good authority that you will see a transition to more tradition dining especially 1st seating.:D

 

Many people book 8 or 10 months out some cruises are close to and are sold out that far ahead.:eek:

 

Jack

for the lovely and talented

 

The wait list shows many people still enjoy walking up to a table, greeting their table mates, and spend an hour or so eating and making small talks.

If by chance you end up with the table mates from hell, there is consolation in knowing that you are doing TIME with them, while some poor soul is doing LIFE. I can understand dining option, like certain cabins, not available at the last minute. Booking close to a year in advance for an something that has defined cruising for years is downright insane. It's like having to go to Walmart at 3 am in the morning to buy your kids x-mas gift. It's pretty close to saying we no longer have it.

 

I hope for the return on traditional dining and Amazing Grace in church!

[gertz]

The wait list shows many people still enjoy walking up to a table, greeting their table mates, and spend an hour or so eating and making small talks.

If by chance you end up with the table mates from hell, there is consolation in knowing that you are doing TIME with them, while some poor soul is doing LIFE.

[SIZE=4]In all our cruises this has only happened once. By the next evening we were at another table thanks to a cooperative MD.

[/size]

 

I can understand dining option, like certain cabins, not available at the last minute. Booking close to a year in advance for an something that has defined cruising for years is downright insane. It's like having to go to Walmart at 3 am in the morning to buy your kids x-mas gift. It's pretty close to saying we no longer have it.

 

We research our cruises we know which cabin we want we always have FCC to book with. It costs us very little to book a year in advance and we always mark our booking "no upgrade". Our Alaska cruise in two weeks was booked about 10 months in advance. The same for our LA - Hawaii cruise in March, as was the Sapphire's last cruise to Mexico in April. If for some reason we change our minds we can change the booking.

Only go to Walmart when I am ordered to.

I hope for the return on traditional dining and Amazing Grace in church!

 

[SIZE=4]TD is here to stay, of that I am sure. And Amazing Grace, love that hymn.:)

[/SIZE] Jack

for the country club bound