Club Class wait Not Acceptable

The difference is that at a land restaurant you are not promised immediate seating whenever you might show up. However Princess does promise immediate seating with Club Class. With the extra cost of Club Class cabins, Princess should do what is necessary to keep that promise.

 

From the Princess web site:

Exclusive Club Class Dining

 

Take advantage of Club Class Dining, featuring expedited seating with no wait, special menu options, dedicated waitstaff and tableside preparations.

 

 

And on another web page:

Your Table Is Waiting For You

 

Dine on your own schedule and enjoy expedited seating with no wait

So let's assume that everyone in Club Class arrived for dinner at exactly the same time. Could they possibly seat all of them. I doubt it. If they designed the seating areas for that unlikely but possible scenario, the club class area would be empty most of the time and the rest of us who are not club class would be inconvenienced.

I think that you are being totally unreasonable.

I repeat my land restaurant question. You make a reservation at a land restaurant for say 6:00 PM. Does that mean that you will be seated at exactly 6:00 PM. No. The restaurant has to anticipate table turnover times and sometimes people eat slowly or chat a bit before they leave. Your 6:00 PM reservation means that you will be seated as close to 6 PM as possible and you will be seated ahead of the 6 PM walk ins.

The same thing applies on the ship.

Perhaps Princess should take out the "with no waiting" part of their ad but you are still being ridiculously unreasonable.

DON

So let's assume that everyone in Club Class arrived for dinner at exactly the same time. Could they possibly seat all of them. I doubt it. If they designed the seating areas for that unlikely but possible scenario, the club class area would be empty most of the time and the rest of us who are not club class would be inconvenienced.

 

I think that you are being totally unreasonable.

 

I repeat my land restaurant question. You make a reservation at a land restaurant for say 6:00 PM. Does that mean that you will be seated at exactly 6:00 PM. No. The restaurant has to anticipate table turnover times and sometimes people eat slowly or chat a bit before they leave. Your 6:00 PM reservation means that you will be seated as close to 6 PM as possible and you will be seated ahead of the 6 PM walk ins.

 

The same thing applies on the ship.

 

Perhaps Princess should take out the "with no waiting" part of their ad but you are still being ridiculously unreasonable.

 

DON

Land based restaurants do not typically sell priority seating with no wait! Princess does. The cruise line actually charges passengers who wish this perk. What you are suggesting is that the cruise line is free to take money and then fail at delivering the product.

The cause of a failure to deliver is not material in the example cited. Princess can and should have anticipated a broad range of scenarios when planing this product offering. Purchasers should not have to pay for cruise line incompetence. I do wonder about those that suggest otherwise.

If conditions are or could be such that Princess can not satisfy the performance it has sold, then it should either refund in full, without penalty the purchase cost or refrain from selling the product. This is not unreasonable. It is simply requiring Princess to honor its promises. Just as we expect passengers to honor theirs.

On our last 2 cruises we have opted out of Club Class dining because we have found it to be the noisiest, crowed and rushed dining experience aboard.

We enjoy a table, with the same wait staff throughout the cruise in a quiet, less rushed environment. Club Class that ain't.

P&J

On our last 2 cruises we have opted out of Club Class dining because we have found it to be the noisiest, crowed and rushed dining experience aboard.

 

 

 

We enjoy a table, with the same wait staff throughout the cruise in a quiet, less rushed environment. Club Class that ain't.

 

 

 

P&J

Could you tell us the ship’s name (s) and itinerary please?

The main reason we are doing Club Class is for the ability to dine at our convenience.

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We just came off the Caribbean Princess with Club Class Dining. Never a wait (well, there was the time it took them a minute to clear a table). We thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

Could you tell us the ship’s name (s) and itinerary please?

The main reason we are doing Club Class is for the ability to dine at our convenience.

 

 

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We were on the Caribbean Princess for 10 nights in April. We had two BRIEF waits for seating for a party of 3. In one case, they were literally resetting the table when we walked up--we waited under 2 minutes. The second time, they told us that people at a table were "just leaving," and they'd need a few minutes to clean and re-set the table. We offered to go get a beverage and return in a few minutes; we were advised that it wouldn't be that long. We waited maybe 8 minutes, definitely less than 10. We certainly were not upset with these very short waits.

On our last 2 cruises we have opted out of Club Class dining because we have found it to be the noisiest, crowed and rushed dining experience aboard.

We enjoy a table, with the same wait staff throughout the cruise in a quiet, less rushed environment. Club Class that ain't.

 

P&J

How do you OPT out? You just don't book it to begin with. I don't think you're referring to Club Class which is not crowded nor rushed and you usually are seated with the same wait staff mostly.

March 23 2019 Cruise 7 nights to Mexico has a mini vs CC mini with a $464 differential. The $464 PP is specifically to have CC dining as sold without wait and an additional menu selection. If they can't deliver then a refund should be issued.

How do you OPT out? You just don't book it to begin with.

Sorry to hear Club Class was not running smoothly on Caribbean Princess. Our cruise on Regal this past October Club Class was terrific. We never waited a moment and the separate dining area usually had no more than five tables occupied.

I guess as this new feature becomes more popular there will be additional kinks to work out. Booked in Club Class again for this October can barely wait for fresh Nutella breakfast crepes from Chef July!

Jonathan

25 days on the Regal Princess in a Club Class mini suite and we ate three meals per day in the CC dining room (except for two Crown Grill and one Crab Shack nights). Not only did we never get a pager, we never saw anyone get one or even know they existed on board. Never waited more than 90 seconds, enjoyed our “usual” servers and superb attention and service. Never rushed and never too “busy” for us.

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How do you OPT out? You just don't book it to begin with. I don't think you're referring to Club Class which is not crowded nor rushed and you usually are seated with the same wait staff mostly.

March 23 2019 Cruise 7 nights to Mexico has a mini vs CC mini with a $464 differential. The $464 PP is specifically to have CC dining as sold without wait and an additional menu selection. If they can't deliver then a refund should be issued.

Both were TA cruises in a full suite. As we have for each of our over 50 Princess cruises, we met with the Maître"d on embarkation day to discuss our dining arrangements. We explained that we would prefer a table in the MDR and were accommodated.

P&J

Both were TA cruises in a full suite. As we have for each of our over 50 Princess cruises, we met with the Maître"d on embarkation day to discuss our dining arrangements. We explained that we would prefer a table in the MDR and were accommodated.

 

 

P&J

If you made the change on embarkation day, how did you know how crowded and rushed Club dining was?

I’m a little confused.

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As stated in our original post,"On our last 2 cruises we have opted out of Club Class dining because we have found it to be the noisiest, crowed and rushed dining experience aboard.

We enjoy a table, with the same wait staff throughout the cruise in a quiet, less rushed environment. Club Class that ain't.

Hopefully that will clear up any confusion. It is a personal choice we make since we find a quiet table in the MDR preferable to one in CC.

P&J

As stated in our original post,"On our last 2 cruises we have opted out of Club Class dining because we have found it to be the noisiest, crowed and rushed dining experience aboard.

We enjoy a table, with the same wait staff throughout the cruise in a quiet, less rushed environment. Club Class that ain't.

 

Hopefully that will clear up any confusion. It is a personal choice we make since we find a quiet table in the MDR preferable to one in CC.

 

P&J

No, it does not. Unless we assume that you have dined in Club Dining and found it to be the noisiest, crowed, and rushed dining experience. Your experience is the opposite experience of most of us that have used Club Dining.

Of course everyone respects your personal choice to dine in the MDR fixed dining.

On our last 2 cruises we have opted out of Club Class dining because we have found it to be the noisiest, crowed and rushed dining experience aboard.

We enjoy a table, with the same wait staff throughout the cruise in a quiet, less rushed environment. Club Class that ain't.

 

P&J

Were your noisy/crowded/rushed Club Class experiences on different ships? That’s how I would describe traditional seating in the MDR. We’ve had Club Class on Ruby and Golden and always found the experience to be a cut above. It’s never going to be quiet, since it’s part of a full dining room, but e have enjoyed it thoroughly.

I guess we were lucky. Due to my mother's wheelchair, we were given the same table (and servers) every time in Club Class. After night 2, no matter what time we showed up, or what meal we showed up for - that table was available for us.

It was like having the convenience of set dining but the flexibility of anytime.

I'm sure if you asked for the same table and same servers in Club Class, they'd find a way to try to accommodate you.

I guess we were lucky. Due to my mother's wheelchair, we were given the same table (and servers) every time in Club Class. After night 2, no matter what time we showed up, or what meal we showed up for - that table was available for us.

 

It was like having the convenience of set dining but the flexibility of anytime.

 

I'm sure if you asked for the same table and same servers in Club Class, they'd find a way to try to accommodate you.

On our last cruise in CC once we settled on a table, we pretty much stayed there every night. It helped that most people ate early, and we usually came around 7:30, so got the effective second seating on the table.

The other thing that was good about that time is that the rest of the dining room was fixed early seating, so it was emptying out by then, and fewer people showed up for the anytime portion.