Group Dining

I am traveling with a group of 9 spread across 3 rooms. We all requested the 2nd seating for dinner as our TA suggested we would have a greater likelihood of getting a table together. She also indicated that we would need to visit the Maitre D' on our first day to request seating together. Can one of us make this request, or does someone from each room need to make the request? I keep reading that the early seating gets moved to 5:30...does that mean the later seating will get moved earlier from 8:15? A girl can dream...

Also, we have a Specialty Dining Credit that we want to use together. Can one of us call DINE on the first day, or do we all need to?

Our cruise is Sunday (Emerald Princess to Alaska) and we are game planning for the best way to handle these dinners once on the ship. This is my first cruise and I couldn't be more excited. Thank you in advance for help and advice!

Your TA should have already made this request for you in advance thru Princess. It is called "linking" the reservations (also referred to as "cross referenced for dining".) You should confirm after boarding that the request has been granted, but the time for the request is now, or more accurately several weeks ago! If TA is not cooperative, call Princess yourself. It could be too late to get the info to the ship (today is supposedly the last day for that), so if you must do it after boarding, one of you can do it. As to dining time..you'll have to wait and see. They will get you taken care of after boarding, but it is easier for everyone involved to do it in advance.

One of you can all the DINE line, or if that doesn't work, go over to the restaurant. We had no luck with the phone--they had a message on that said "call tomorrow." That was no good as we were trying to determine our time for the first night dinner.

Welcome to Cruise Critic. Your TA should have linked all the booking numbers and submitted the request that you all be seated together (likely a 9th chair squeezed into a table for eight) for you long ago. As you are sailing on Sunday it is too late for her to do the job you are paying her for so you will have to visit the Maitre d' to be moved together--which might take at least one extra day to accomplish.

For the specialty dining one person can call and make a reservation for nine and indicate each party has their own voucher for the cover charge. Might be easier to just have one person stop by Crown Grill or SHARE after embarkation and give each party's cabin number.

It may be easier to change to anytime dining that way your group could meet at dining room and request a table for nine. That way you can go anytime and your not locked into a set time. The downside to doing this is there could be a little wait time especially if going later. I believe you can also make reservations for anytime dine.

OP, welcome to Cruise Critic. Also, have a great cruise.

Another suggestion would be to go to the dining room as soon as you can once you have boarded and meet with the Maitre d'. He will be available on embarkation day to work with passengers with questions just like yours. If your party has been seated together as you have requested, he will be able to confirm that for you. If your party is not seated together, he can then try to rearrange seating for you. Alternatively, he may suggest that you switch to Anytime Dining. If he does so, I would not be surprised if he intervenes to help you all dine together.

You are going to have a great experience. Too bad your going to Alaska on your first cruise. After Alaska, your second cruise will be a disappointment.

Teasing, ;p

Assuming the TA linked all booking for dining , there should be no reason to see the Maitre'd as

you should end up with adjacent tables or 1 large table .

I agree with previous post that Anytime Dining would be a preferable choice rather than Traditional to get the exact seating arrangement that you wish .

Assuming the TA linked all booking for dining , there should be no reason to see the Maitre'd as

you should end up with adjacent tables or 1 large table .

I agree with previous post that Anytime Dining would be a preferable choice rather than Traditional to get the exact seating arrangement that you wish .

Absolutely true. However, you know what they say about assume.

The first five or six cruises we took were in the days before things like anytime dining. You had early seating or you had late seating. On our very first cruise we asked for a table for two. On embarkation my wife insisted that we go to the dining room and verify that we had a table for two. We did.

On our second cruise my wife insisted that we go to the dining room and verify the seating arrangement. I, of course, fussed, t

arguing that the travel agent and the ship personnel know how to do their jobs. They didn't, and the Maitre d' graciously changed our table.

Same thing on our third cruise. We were able to get a two-top when we visited with the Maitre d'.

On the fourth cruise we were traveling with a family group of ten. We used my wife's sister's travel agent. When we arrived at the dining room, they had no idea that we wanted seating for 10. We were very pleased that they were able to accommodate us at such a late time.

On my fifth cruise, it was, again, just the two of us. We found the Maitre d' and learned that we would be seated at a table of six, and they were unable to accommodate our change request.

Since then concepts like anytime dining have emerged, and we just check that box every time we book.

Might be too late, but we had this same question and I called Princess direct. The agent took down all our confirmation numbers and put them in notes under my reservation. One was already "linked" but he said everyone needs to call Princess and give them my "master" confirmation number and give permission to link their individual reservation. So all needed to call and approve it. One in our party used a TA and they said the TA needed to call to do it. Hope this helps.

Your TA should have all ready linked your dinning. You can call and check. Once on board (or after check in together) have every one look at their cruise card. On it will name of dinning room, time of dinning and table. If you are all at one table, you should all have the same table number. If not the go to the Maitre'd.

I am not one for the specialty dinning . But two cruise ago we had gotten form our TA. We did not know which night to go, so we ask our head waiter about the next few night menu. We then pick a night and our head waiter made the reservation for us. I do have a shellfish allergy and he said that he want to make sure that they knew. Great service.

These boards have been incredibly helpful in planning for our first cruise. Thank you for the advice on dining. I'm practically foaming at the mouth with excitement and getting very little done at work at this point. I do believe our TA put our requests in our notes and I will check in with the Maitre D' on Sunday to double check.

Specialty Dining

What I would do is a few of you visit the restaurant of choice on the afternoon of boarding day and make the reservation. It is sometimes difficult to get through on the DINE line.

I do believe our TA put our requests in our notes and I will check in with the Maitre D' on Sunday to double check.

It is not a matter of being in notes. The TA should have received a dining code that would be unique to your group and that code should have been placed in each booking for your group.