Royal- dining dilema - tradition vs anytime plus allergies

We are booked on the Royal to Alaska next summer. Currently we are 5 but another couple will be joining us. We are currently booked for early TD, as my daughters will be 6 and 8 and we eat dinner fairly early at home. Our friends that will join us prefer to eat later and prefer anytime dining.

Typically, is there a huge wait for early anytime dining if we go that route? The Royal takes anytime dining reservations, correct? Is it typically hard to get a table for 7?

Also, my youngest has a pretty severe shellfish allergy. We can't eat at Mongolian or teppanyaki for example, as the shrimp being cooked on the grill before hers will cause her to have an allergic reaction. At this point, I believe she'll mainly be ordering from the children's menu, so main concern is just cross contamination, not shellfish being in her food. From an allergy standpoint, is traditional dining better?

What is the higher priority here? Your friends who decided to glom onto your already booked vacation--or your six year old daughter's dietary restrictions?

Keep the early traditional. If the new party wants to link bookings and request the same time, fine. If not, just as fine. Have you even asked them if dining together every night is important to them?

Typically, is there a huge wait for early anytime dining if we go that route? Early AT can be crowded with a line.

Is it typically hard to get a table for 7? Larger tables are easier to get than 2 or 4 tops.

 

From an allergy standpoint, is traditional dining better?

TD is definitely easier. Same waiters every night.

If you go for ATD you'll need to remember to tell the waiter each night unless you're able to get a reservation at the same table every night.

Don't forget to put the allergy in your daughter's cruise Personalizer.

My husband also has a severe shellfish allergy and he always carries an epi-pen. Even shellfish odors can bring on a minor reaction for him. We try to do traditional dining and always notify the head waiter on our first night. On most Princess cruises, the head waiter brings the menus for the next night and reviews it with my husband. Sometimes he'll even take his order for the next night. We avoid the dining room on nights where lobster is served, usually opting for a specialty restaurant, where a table for two is available and spacing between tables is better.

We also indicate the shellfish allergy on the cruise personalizer under dietary requests. Response is an standardized email from dietary explaining that it is important to notify the Maître de' to discuss your needs. We bring this email along to show the Maître de'.

We cruised on Royal Princess two years ago with a group of 8. We did anytime dining and tried to dine at 6:30. At least half of the nights, we had a 30-45 minute wait to be seated. The rest of the nights we were able to walk right in.

I'd suggest going by 5:30 with your group of 7 if you do not wish to wait.

Traditional dinner in my opinion is much safer. You do not have to explain your allergy needs every night and waiters are more aware. The head waiter is also aware of where you are seated. When we travel alone, we request a table for 2 at the time of booking. Getting a table for two still involves a trip to the Maitre de' on embarkation day to discuss his needs. We explain that dining with fellow cruisers is difficult because we do not want to ask others at the table to avoid ordering that shrimp cocktail.

Our next Cruise is on the Star Princess and I have read that there are no 2 tops in the early traditional dining. We'll talk to the Maitre de' that first day but are prepared to change to anytime dining. Our experience on Royal Princess was that reservations could only be made in anytime dining for 5:15 or before, or after 7:30. We'll eat at 5:15 if we have to so we can make that reservation and have same waitstaff every night.

Our experience on Princess ships regarding this shellfish allergy has been good. My husband has never had a major reaction, although there have been times when he has had to leave the dining room because of overwhelming smells of shellfish. So far, we have been pleased with the way Princess manages allergies.

Thank you for the wonderful advice. This is still a fairly new allergy, less than a year now since we figured it out and had her tested. Thankfully she only gets really puffy lips while we figure it all out, but I do carry an epi-pen and allergy meds with me, just in case it becomes more severe.

We will keep our early TD to keep things easier with her allergies and waitstaff, plus I love the idea of no long waits to eat. One of our friends that is joining us is a a pediatrician, so she completely understands how serious it could become. I'm sure that when we sit down to talk about dining, they will be happy to do early TD with us.

You definitely should stay with traditional dining. This way waiter and his assistant will know what your husband must have.

Asst MD will bring you menu for next night and than come back to place order and food is made in separate area of galley.

if they make a mistake waitstaff have better chance of catching it if they know your needs.

DW has very unusual food allergies and this is the only way we go.

Our daughter has a tree nut allergy so we have first hand experience.

Given your situation I recommend traditional. Cross contamination is a risk for her - be careful on the buffett for breakfast and lunch. Talk your dinner head waiter for advice on other meals. Some of the headwaiters work daytime shifts in the buffett - you can always find one there.

In the dining rooms they have all allergy meals prepped in a special area of the kitchen to ensure safety. If you choose Anytime, they may not be as attentive unless you can always get the same headwaiter. I'm not sure how that works in Anytime.

I agree with the recommendations for traditional. If your friends don't want to eat early traditional, then they probably wouldn't want to eat early anytime either. Even without the allergy problem, the kids would still want to eat early.

Another advantage for traditional with kids is that the waiters get to know the kids (and vice versa). They always seem to go out of their way to provide a good dining experience for children.

You could handle the allergies with anytime if you had to. If you were in anytime, I would recommend always eating in the same restaurant with the same head waiter. The person with the allergy would order dinner (and lunch if a sea day) from the head waiter the day before. That is much safer. The head waiter knows what is in each item, and they will make sure to avoid cross contamination. I would also recommend the dining room instead of the buffet for breakfast (if the timing works) and for lunch on sea days.

If you have to eat in the buffet, do not serve yourself from the buffet. Ask to speak to the head chef in the buffet area and tell him what you want. He will know if there are any sauces or other items that would cause a problem. He can have someone prepare the plate in the kitchen and bring it out. That is important in the buffet. Passengers often create cross contamination by switching serving utensils from one dish to another, and there is no way that the staff can prevent that. With a serious seafood allergy, I would never serve from a dish that has been out on the buffet.

From an allergy standpoint, is traditional dining better?

If in traditional or AT, speak with your headwaiter the first evening to make the dietary restriction known. He will work with you to make sure what she orders is safe for her.

If you do this in AT, use the same dining room each evening. Even if you are seated in different sections, you can work with the same headwaiter.

Of course, let your waitstaff know of the restriction at each meal.

If going to a specialty restaurant, meet with the headwaiter there a day in advance.

When eating at the buffet, speak to a supervisor there to make sure what she would select has no possibility of cross contamination.

To answer your question....it appears so. :D