Disappointed in Club Class

Pooh...based on your description you apparently first went to the Anytime dining room that has traditional assigned first seating.

On all of my cruises since anytime dining was implemented one of the ATD restaurants will have an early traditional dining. Thus one will be by reservation only for a first seating & then become ATD at about 7:30.

It's been posted that sometimes there's a limited number of reservations accepted in the open anytime dining rooms. Apparently the procedure will vary & is a decision made by the maître d'. Although they never fill a restaurant open for Anytime dining with reservations but they do use one of them for an early traditional dining seating at about 5:30.

Sure seems to be how it appears.

 

I'm trying to remember the last time I saw a waiter on Princess pull out a 'crumber' to sweep the table-cloth.

They were used on Island Princess just two months ago. I was surprised because I had not seen them for a while.

However, if you are no where near elite status or even platinum, it might be worth it especially if you are cruising for a special occasion. I have decided to give it a try on our next cruise as usually I just go for a regular balcony and this way have a mini-suite in a sweet location. Also, from what I have read about the dining, it gives you the real anytime dining experience. On our last cruise, we did anytime for the first time, but didn't go until our second night (did Crown Grill first night). Needless to say I was blown away when I was asked if I had a reservation?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And when I told him I thought this was anytime dining he just gave me that look and proceeded to tell me (this was at 6:30pm) that he could not get me into the anytime dining restaurant at anytime that night!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes, for real. Then he sent me upstairs to the other dining room where I had to wait 30 more minutes to get in. It seems if allowed, anytime dining becomes traditional dining at your time as they were booked solid for the entire cruise!!!! We just ate really early from then on or did speciality. So, if the dining works as outlined, it will be great for us as we can go at ANY time and actually get in with little or no wait!!!

 

Will let you know how it goes!

 

Pooh

Please double check that a mini-suite qualifies you for club class. I recall seeing several threads that mini-suites do not include most suite perks.

Nevermind. I saw something on Princess that listed club class mini suites, so you should be good.

Just off the Regal. Because we were in a full suite we were eligible for Club Class dining. One good thing was we didn't have to wait to be seated. That was virtually the only difference we saw between Club Class and Anytime dining. If there were any special presentations or dishes offered, we were not made aware of them.

 

 

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Club Class is a joke. Putting lipstick on a pig.

Marvin Schwartz

Club Class is a joke. Putting lipstick on a pig.

 

Marvin Schwartz

An expensive joke at that.

Club Class is a joke. Putting lipstick on a pig.

 

Marvin Schwartz

An expensive joke at that.

I'm not sure that I agree with either of these two comments.

This is the first thread that has fostered negative comments from people who have actually booked Club Class passage. It seems that prior to this discussion, people seem very pleased with it and plan to book it again.

I also don't think Princess spent a lot of money on it. What did they do? They reserved a section of an already existing room and installed some signs directing people. I really don't think the added menu features are particularly expensive, and I know that the wine that they are leaving in the cabin is very cheap. Regardless, they then raised the price of the cabins. So, I'm pretty confident that if there was any increase in cost, it has been more than covered by increased revenue in cabin bookings.

For what it's worth, I have never booked Club Class, and I really don't anticipate any scenario where I might do so. Regardless, it appears to work for many people, and my gut feel is that Princess is happy with the response.

Now, if my "gut feel" is incorrect, and Princess is having difficulty selling Club Class eligible cabins. They can discontinue the practice at practically no cost--just pull down those signs.

My wife and I were on the Emerald Princess in February for a New Zealand cruise. We were in a full suite and very much enjoyed the Club Class dining. We met interesting people every night and the service was excellent.

After a somewhat disappointing meal in the Crown Grill on departure night, we ate the rest of our meals in Club Class. We decided to forego the free specialty restaurant meal from our TA.

We never had to wait for a table, regardless of the time we arrived. There were off menu items every night. All in all, we both enjoyed it.

We're off to England to do the same thing on the Caribbean Princess on June 30th and then the Pacific Princess in January. We've booked full suites on both cruises to get Club Class.

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