help with formal nights/itinerary please

For our California Coastal on the Ruby next March our itinerary is as follows:

Depart San Pedro Saturday

Sunday, sea day

Monday, San Francisco (depart 11 pm)

Tuesday, Monterey (depart 6 pm)

Wednesday, sea day

Thursday, San Diego (depart 11 pm)

Friday, Ensenada (aka a sea day for many, departs at 5 pm)

Several folks from our roll call would like to try Share as a group. We're hesitant to make reservations ahead of time because of the new policies that affect how OBC can be used. Some are also interested in formal nights in the MDR and attending the Captain's cocktail reception (apologies if I have that worded wrong - last cruise was our first time). I'm not referring to the nightly P/E/S happy hour, just the special reception that's held once a cruise.

Anyway, anyone care to guess as to which two nights are formal nights? My guess would be Sunday, Tuesday or Wednesday as I can't recall a formal night on the final night of any of our cruises. Also what night the Captain's reception is usually held?

Our plan is to wait until we board to make a reservation at Share, but it would be a lot easier to narrow down our options if we can get a decent sense of this.

Thanks!

If I were to guess I would have to say Sunday and Wednesday. Very unlikely for Monday and Thursday with 11:00 pm departures. Friday luggage has to be put out early in the evening so that's out. I can't see formal night being Tuesday and Wed either or Sunday and Tuesday. They would be too close together.

Sunday fur sure and highly likely Wednesday.

Almost certain that the formal nights will be Sunday & Wednesday, the two sea days

IIRC, the Captain's Reception is held on formal nights.

 

Several folks from our roll call would like to try Share as a group. We're hesitant to make reservations ahead of time because of the new policies that affect how OBC can be used. Thanks!

There is no new policy about how you use your OBC on board. There is a new policy requiring reservations for excursions and restaurants be paid when you make the reservation. If you wait until you board you can probably make the specialty restaurant reservation without a problem and the price will be the same as it is on line, no so for shore excursions.

There is no new policy about how you use your OBC on board. There is a new policy requiring reservations for excursions and restaurants be paid when you make the reservation. If you wait until you board you can probably make the specialty restaurant reservation without a problem and the price will be the same as it is on line, no so for shore excursions.

Point taken - poor choice of wording on my part. Main point is no one wants to pre-pay as we all have plenty of OBC.

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IIRC, the Captain's Reception is held on formal nights.

If you mean the champagne waterfall etc - yes, that's formal nights. I'm referring to the wait in line to meet/greet officers and then have appetizers and drinks thingy. Last February on the Regal it was held in the aft lounge on Emerald deck (Vista or Club Fusion - getting my ships jumbled together). Now, it's entirely possible that this is part of the whole formal night/waterfall deal and I just never knew it until now.....?

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If you mean the champagne waterfall etc - yes, that's formal nights. I'm referring to the wait in line to meet/greet officers and then have appetizers and drinks thingy. Last February on the Regal it was held in the aft lounge on Emerald deck (Vista or Club Fusion - getting my ships jumbled together). Now, it's entirely possible that this is part of the whole formal night/waterfall deal and I just never knew it until now.....?

 

 

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Last March on the Crown, the Captain's Welcome Aboard Party and Champagne Waterfall was on the first formal night.

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I'd say Sunday and Wednesday too.

There is usually only one formal night on a six night cruise:

https://www.princess.com/learn/faq_answer/pre_cruise/bring.jsp (select 'clothing recommendations'; sorry for the poor formatting)

Length of Cruise Number of Formal Evenings Number of Smart Casual Evenings

1-4 Days 0

5-6 Days 1

7-13 Days 2

14-20 Days 3

21-28 Days 4

In your Travel Summary at the bottom of the section Itinerary for this Booking should be the statement

"Your itinerary includes # formal nights and # smart casual nights"

Does it say one or two formal?

If only one, no way to predict whether Sunday or Wednesday. Though hindsight seems to reflect the preference to "get them over with" early. Either way the Captain's Circle Party will probably be Wednesday--if they have one. On short cruises they often just have a presentation in the Princess Theater and hand out a drink voucher instead.

There is usually only one formal night on a six night cruise:

 

 

 

https://www.princess.com/learn/faq_answer/pre_cruise/bring.jsp (select 'clothing recommendations'; sorry for the poor formatting)

 

 

 

Length of Cruise Number of Formal Evenings Number of Smart Casual Evenings

 

1-4 Days 0

 

5-6 Days 1

 

7-13 Days 2

 

14-20 Days 3

 

21-28 Days 4

 

 

 

 

 

In your Travel Summary at the bottom of the section Itinerary for this Booking should be the statement

 

"Your itinerary includes # formal nights and # smart casual nights"

 

Does it say one or two formal?

 

 

 

If only one, no way to predict whether Sunday or Wednesday. Though hindsight seems to reflect the preference to "get them over with" early. Either way the Captain's Circle Party will probably be Wednesday--if they have one. On short cruises they often just have a presentation in the Princess Theater and hand out a drink voucher instead.

Oops - probably the way I listed itinerary - it's your typical 7 night cruise. Our two weeks on the Regal has us spoiled as now 7 nights seems like a too short cruise:). In any case the collective consensus seems to be Sunday and Wednesday so we are tentatively planning to try Share on Tuesday. Thanks all for the replies and help!

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Think of it this way: they want to sell services in the salon, so they'll definitely do the formal nights on days when they can maximize the opportunity. To me, that's a clear Sunday and Wednesday for you. It's never embarkation night, and it's never the last night. Even if a day in port says 6:00pm and they actually want everybody aboard by 5:30pm, with traditional dinner scheduled for 5:30pm (or even if it was 6:00pm), there'd be no time to get all gussied up, let alone get services at the spa (and/or they'd lose out on excursion revenue).

Also, the odd exception to "get it over with early": on our Mexican Riviera cruise in February, it's a departure from San Pedro on Saturday, two sea days, then Puerto Vallarta (8pm), Mazatlan (5pm), and Cabo (2pm), then a day at sea and back to where we started. Obviously not embarkation, obviously not the final night, but that leaves five nights in a row to pick from. PV and Mazatlan are too late, so it was Cabo for the second, but oddly enough it wasn't the first day at sea for formal night, it was the second. That surprised me, but hey whatever works!

Point taken - poor choice of wording on my part. Main point is no one wants to pre-pay as we all have plenty of OBC.

 

 

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Is your OBC not loaded already to your account? Check your Cruise Personalizer. If you have OBC on account, you can pay for pre-orders with OBC. I know this for a fact for Excursions and I am presuming it is the same for a Specialty Res.

That said if multiple folks are booking that, you either need to call Princess for notes to link them all up to one table. It would just make a mess to have, say, 4 reservations for 2 instead of 1 for 8. Just imagine how it screws up the reservations for others.

Anyway, call the DINE line soon after boarding and you should be able to get a reservation.

Is your OBC not loaded already to your account? Check your Cruise Personalizer. If you have OBC on account, you can pay for pre-orders with OBC. I know this for a fact for Excursions and I am presuming it is the same for a Specialty Res.

 

 

 

That said if multiple folks are booking that, you either need to call Princess for notes to link them all up to one table. It would just make a mess to have, say, 4 reservations for 2 instead of 1 for 8. Just imagine how it screws up the reservations for others.

 

 

 

Anyway, call the DINE line soon after boarding and you should be able to get a reservation.

I'm really not too sure about that - probably the only way to confirm is to go through a mock specialty dining reservation and see what happens. In our case, we have free specialty dining as part of our booking - but my understanding is that it's capped at $29 pp (Crown Grill), and my further understanding is that they will allow you to use it towards the higher fee at Share. Between that and the confusion over reservations for a large group you mentioned - we are wanting to wait until we board to book. Circling back, yes - all but our stockholder OBC is posted and we have in fact booked a few excursions using it. Thanks for the reply and info! [emoji4]

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Think of it this way: they want to sell services in the salon, so they'll definitely do the formal nights on days when they can maximize the opportunity. To me, that's a clear Sunday and Wednesday for you. It's never embarkation night, and it's never the last night. Even if a day in port says 6:00pm and they actually want everybody aboard by 5:30pm, with traditional dinner scheduled for 5:30pm (or even if it was 6:00pm), there'd be no time to get all gussied up, let alone get services at the spa (and/or they'd lose out on excursion revenue).

 

Also, the odd exception to "get it over with early": on our Mexican Riviera cruise in February, it's a departure from San Pedro on Saturday, two sea days, then Puerto Vallarta (8pm), Mazatlan (5pm), and Cabo (2pm), then a day at sea and back to where we started. Obviously not embarkation, obviously not the final night, but that leaves five nights in a row to pick from. PV and Mazatlan are too late, so it was Cabo for the second, but oddly enough it wasn't the first day at sea for formal night, it was the second. That surprised me, but hey whatever works!

That all makes sense - and I'm feeling confident formal nights will be Sunday and Wednesday. Thanks for the reply! [emoji4]

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Formal evenings are NEVER the 1st or last night...not ever!

My guess is also Sunday (for sure) and Wednesday (more than Likely) for this cruise

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I have been on 22 Princess cruises and I do Love the Grill - I have looked at the 'Share' and my tastes say 'Pass' more $$ than the Grill and for what?? just now my cup of tea but most be for Lots of others or it would not be there, just know what you are booking and the extra cost.

My guess is also Sunday (for sure) and Wednesday (more than Likely) for this cruise

 

 

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Hi Jenny! Let me know if you and Rob want to join - no pressure of course!

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I have been on 22 Princess cruises and I do Love the Grill - I have looked at the 'Share' and my tastes say 'Pass' more $$ than the Grill and for what?? just now my cup of tea but most be for Lots of others or it would not be there, just know what you are booking and the extra cost.

Sure - I understand your point. To be honest my DH and I have enjoyed the company at the CG more than the food the few times we've dined there. It's ok, but I can reverse sear a ribeye here at home, crusted with black pepper, sea salt and topped with a dollop of blue cheese/butter and be one happy carnivore. I will say we did have an excellent meal at Sabbatinis last cruise. I figure with the Ruby being only one of three ships that has Share, we might as well try something different! And who knows, we have quite a bit of OBC so maybe we'll give the CG another shot - heck anytime I don't have to cook I'm pretty content [emoji57]

Formal evenings are NEVER the 1st or last night...not ever!

Yes - that much I'm certain of!

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If you call customer service, they have that info :)

For our California Coastal on the Ruby next March our itinerary is as follows:

 

Depart San Pedro Saturday

Sunday, sea day

Monday, San Francisco (depart 11 pm)

Tuesday, Monterey (depart 6 pm)

Wednesday, sea day

Thursday, San Diego (depart 11 pm)

Friday, Ensenada (aka a sea day for many, departs at 5 pm)

 

Several folks from our roll call would like to try Share as a group. We're hesitant to make reservations ahead of time because of the new policies that affect how OBC can be used. Some are also interested in formal nights in the MDR and attending the Captain's cocktail reception (apologies if I have that worded wrong - last cruise was our first time). I'm not referring to the nightly P/E/S happy hour, just the special reception that's held once a cruise.

 

Anyway, anyone care to guess as to which two nights are formal nights? My guess would be Sunday, Tuesday or Wednesday as I can't recall a formal night on the final night of any of our cruises. Also what night the Captain's reception is usually held?

 

Our plan is to wait until we board to make a reservation at Share, but it would be a lot easier to narrow down our options if we can get a decent sense of this.

 

Thanks!

If you call customer service, they have that info :)

Actually they don't, they may have a good idea, but it isn't set in stone the Head of Hotel had the final decision and can change it.

Sure - I understand your point. To be honest my DH and I have enjoyed the company at the CG more than the food the few times we've dined there. It's ok, but I can reverse sear a ribeye here at home, crusted with black pepper, sea salt and topped with a dollop of blue cheese/butter and be one happy carnivore. I will say we did have an excellent meal at Sabbatinis last cruise. I figure with the Ruby being only one of three ships that has Share, we might as well try something different! And who knows, we have quite a bit of OBC so maybe we'll give the CG another shot - heck anytime I don't have to cook I'm pretty content [emoji57]

Argh... too bad you aren't within easy driving distance or I'd invite myself over for one of those steaks. I'd bring some wine of course. And I also have the Applewood Smoked Salt the CG uses and I love it now that I have my own supply.