Coral Princess Specialty Dining Question

We are taking a land/sea Alaskan cruise in July on the Coral Princess, and I believe we will not board the ship until 8 at night. How do we book a specialty restaurant? We would like to try one of the restaurants and I am worried that we will not get a reservation if we have to wait to make our request upon boarding. Also, does anyone know when the formal nights would be on a 7 night cruise? Our first 2 days and last day are at sea. Thanks?

AFIK Specialty Dining requests must be made once on board. There are exceptions when a promotion is involved and Princess books you at their will. Expect 2 formal nights, the first Sea Day and the last Sea Day, if it is not the night before disembarkation.

Note: MDR will likely be open seating on first night of an Alaska cruise such as yours. You then could leisurely schedule your specialty dining by calling the dine line in the morning. I think it closes before 8pm

P.S. If you are taking a train to the cruise I advise that you call Princess and inquire as to what your train accommodations are. If you can and your tour permits it request a domed window car (And try to get confirmation)

I was once put in an overcrowded Alaska Railroad dining car for 9 hours, it was hell. I had not even thought about checking before the trip.

We are taking a land/sea Alaskan cruise in July on the Coral Princess, and I believe we will not board the ship until 8 at night. How do we book a specialty restaurant? We would like to try one of the restaurants and I am worried that we will not get a reservation if we have to wait to make our request upon boarding. Also, does anyone know when the formal nights would be on a 7 night cruise? Our first 2 days and last day are at sea. Thanks?

On the southbound Whittier to Vancouver on Coral last year, the formal nights were the first sea day and the Juneau port day.

Arriving on the ship at about 8:00 PM go to the specialty restaurant to make a reservation or call the DINE line the next day between 8:00 AM and 5:00 PM.

We've always been able to make a reservation & only occasionally have to make it later in the evening because early reservations are most popular.

Don't know which restaurant you are interested in, but when we were on the Coral northbound last week, I didn't see a crowd in any of the ones I passed by in the evening. Don't think you'll have any trouble getting a reservation.

Don't know which restaurant you are interested in, but when we were on the Coral northbound last week, I didn't see a crowd in any of the ones I passed by in the evening. Don't think you'll have any trouble getting a reservation.

In my experience that can be deceiving because they told me they don't assigned all tables at the same time. One evening we looked inside Sabatini's on the Coral & it was less than half full so we requested to be seated however all reservation times were booked & we were unable to dine there.

Recently sailed this Southbound!

Yes, the formal nights should be 1. The first day at sea. and 2. Juneau (early departure from Juneau on this itinerary.

I wouldn't worry as much about the specialty restaurants as I would booking the Crab Shack. We wanted to book this for the first night it was offered, but did not act quickly enough. This is very popular on this cruise.

After that, the next night was when crab legs were offered in the MDR, so we declined to book.

We found the MDR to be very good! (had the 7:30 traditional seating)

We felt that the buffet was not so great.

I did post a short trip report, and have also answered other questions about this cruise.

ENJOY!!!!

AFIK Specialty Dining requests must be made once on board. There are exceptions when a promotion is involved and Princess books you at their will. Expect 2 formal nights, the first Sea Day and the last Sea Day, if it is not the night before disembarkation.

 

Note: MDR will likely be open seating on first night of an Alaska cruise such as yours. You then could leisurely schedule your specialty dining by calling the dine line in the morning. I think it closes before 8pm

 

P.S. If you are taking a train to the cruise I advise that you call Princess and inquire as to what your train accommodations are. If you can and your tour permits it request a domed window car (And try to get confirmation)

 

I was once put in an overcrowded Alaska Railroad dining car for 9 hours, it was hell. I had not even thought about checking before the trip.

We are scheduled for a train ride on the day of embarkation(September 10th) which leaves Anchorage at 09:45 and arrives in Whittier at 6:05 pm. Your comment concerns me. Should we reconsider the long ride. We could get off in Whiter at 12:05 as opposed to extending our trip to see Spenser before returning to Whittier.

We were given a free dinner for two on the Coral Princess in May. It was scheduled to be in Sabitini's. We've been there before and didn't like it. I was going to try to change it to another restaurant. We went to Sabitini's and they had a big sign posted outside of the restaurant showing a big pot with king crab legs, clams, shrimp and lobster, with Sabitini's written underneath. So I decided to go to that restaurant. We went and tried to order the crab leg dish on the sign. They said that is served at the Crab Shack. I said okay get it from them and serve it to me. They said NO. Why is the sign in front of the restaurant. The meal we had was very bad. Nothing different from the regular menu certainly not worth the upcharge. On the first day of the cruise they gave us a list of the days the Crab Shack would be offered. I made a reservation on the 3rd day which was a formal day. This was the day we were at Glacier Bay so we were out of the cabin most of the day. When we came back to the cabin to get ready for dinner there was a message waiting for us. Someone from reservations said there was a misprint and there was no Crab Shack that night that we could call them and they could arrange for us to go to Sabitini's. I called them to ask how a reservation could have been made for something doesn't exist and why did you wait till the day of the reservation to tell us. They could only say that they never have the Crab Shack on formal nights and we should just go to the dining room and have some nice lobster. So I wouldn't bother with Sabitini's and make a reservation at the Crab Shack if you like King Crab legs and other seafood. BUT make sure you check to make sure there is really a Crab Shack that night.

If they ever print my review (not good) there is a photo of the sign in front of Sabitini's.

Carol

We were given a free dinner for two on the Coral Princess in May. It was scheduled to be in Sabitini's. We've been there before and didn't like it. I was going to try to change it to another restaurant. We went to Sabitini's and they had a big sign posted outside of the restaurant showing a big pot with king crab legs, clams, shrimp and lobster, with Sabitini's written underneath. So I decided to go to that restaurant. We went and tried to order the crab leg dish on the sign. They said that is served at the Crab Shack. I said okay get it from them and serve it to me. They said NO. Why is the sign in front of the restaurant. The meal we had was very bad. Nothing different from the regular menu certainly not worth the upcharge. On the first day of the cruise they gave us a list of the days the Crab Shack would be offered. I made a reservation on the 3rd day which was a formal day. This was the day we were at Glacier Bay so we were out of the cabin most of the day. When we came back to the cabin to get ready for dinner there was a message waiting for us. Someone from reservations said there was a misprint and there was no Crab Shack that night that we could call them and they could arrange for us to go to Sabitini's. I called them to ask how a reservation could have been made for something doesn't exist and why did you wait till the day of the reservation to tell us. They could only say that they never have the Crab Shack on formal nights and we should just go to the dining room and have some nice lobster. So I wouldn't bother with Sabitini's and make a reservation at the Crab Shack if you like King Crab legs and other seafood. BUT make sure you check to make sure there is really a Crab Shack that night.

If they ever print my review (not good) there is a photo of the sign in front of Sabitini's.

Carol

you didn't miss any good food by not going to the Crab Shack... we just got off the Ruby last Sunday and spent the extra $$ for a crab leg and shrimp pot at the CS... was very bland and not so good. Definitely not worth the uncharge, we will not be doing that again :mad:

you didn't miss any good food by not going to the Crab Shack... we just got off the Ruby last Sunday and spent the extra $$ for a crab leg and shrimp pot at the CS... was very bland and not so good. Definitely not worth the uncharge, we will not be doing that again :mad:

Take this with a grain of subjective salt. It's certainly true that any given dinner on any given night might be sub par, but if you search for threads on the Crab Shack you will certainly find many good reviews. We have been there 3 times on 3 different ships and never have been disappointed.

Hi,

We were on the June 25th Coral Princess from Vancouver to Whittier. We tried again and again to reach someone on the Dine Line. Phone kept ringing and no one answered. That happened for a couple of days. We finally got in touch with someone who told us that the restaurant (Bayou) was filled up for the day and time that we wanted. We went to passenger services to find out that the Dine Line was not able to take messages. The crew said that the Dine Line was not able to accept messages. Princess corporate said that it was a mechanical issue. Best to go directly to the specialty restaurant that you are interested in. On the other hand, we finally got passenger services was able to get us a reservation for the day that we wanted. When we got to the restaurant, it was less than 50% occupied. Good luck.

Just came off the Coral Princess from Whittier to Vancouver. We didn't eat at any of the specialty restaurants, but they never seemed to be that busy. I'd be surprised if they didn't have reservations available.

As an aside, personally, the idea that I pay for food in my cruise price, then have to pay for a different meal, doesn't appeal to me. We saved our meal money for specialty restaurants at our ports. There's a seafood place right at the port in Juneau that has phenomenal clams in a beer broth.

What is it called?