confused about PC vs. Tradition dining

[AnnMorin]

Are there different dining rooms? Are the menus different? My husband says we should stay with the early seating traditional that we already have since we know we will have a table etc. I am curious if PC would be nicer since you are not locked into a certain time (ie: if we were coming back from an excursion and had to rush)

[Budget Queen]

There are two separate dining rooms with the same menu. If you like eating the same time at the same table with the same people then stick with what you got. The PC is like resturante dining come when you want between 6-10pm but may have a wait for a private table.

[Pam in CA]

Ann, "Personal Choice" means that you can select Anytime or Traditional dining. You're familiar with Traditional (two seatings, same table, same waiters) so you know what you're getting. With Anytime, there are additional restaurant(s) where you can theoreticaly show up and be seated at any time. The Grand class ships have two Anytime dining rooms; the Sun-class ships have one Anytime dining room. They have the same menu as Traditional. However, they really aren't "any time" since unless you make a reservation ahead of time, you can expect a wait to be seated. And, reservations aren't accepted during "prime" dining times, i.e., between 6:30 and 8:00PM. Also, if you like Traditional, the Anytime experience isn't the same, even if you make a reservation for the same table and waiters every night.

[Tess2mommies]

Personal Choice dining allows you to eat whenever you want to eat. You have an option of of eating at 2 different places, they both have the same menu. You'll get a different waiter an d table every time, unless you request the same table and waiter. Its a very nice feature, if you like doing things on your own schedule.

[msiowa]

I just got off the Caribbean Princess and unlike the past, Anytime Dining did not work for us this time.

 

In the past, we were able to reserve the same table at the same time for the week. We like to eat at 7 or 7:30 and we were able to reserve those times. It was terrific.

 

Apparently they have now changed the rules and we could only reserve a table at 6pm or after 8:30. We were a family group of 11 with 4 small children. After 2 nights of showing up around 7 and having to wait and then having to be split up into smaller groups (they have very few tables for more than 8) we relented and reserved a table at 6 for the remainder of the week.

 

IMHO, this is the same as traditional dining so there's no "Personal Choice" involved. I wasn't very happy.

 

So, my advice is to think about your particular situation very carefully. If you're traveling without children and want flexibility in your dining times, and don't mind if you have to wait, Anytime Dining will work for you. Otherwise, stick with Traditional.

 

Happy sailing!

Joanie

[English Rose]

I must say that 'personal choice' dining was one of my only disappointments on my recent Sun Princess Christmas cruise. Although we booked (and as you say only 6.30 or 8.30), we still had to wait at least half an hour to get a table for four. We did relent a few times and share because we were with children and it was getting late. I don't think I would do this again. At least with the fixed times you know you will get a table at a certain time. To repeat the previous comment - you don't get a choice, you just getting the added waiting time. It was not the pleasant experience we had hoped. It didn't however spoil our cruise as we chose to eat at other places as well and the rest of it was just fantastic!!!

[CruiseFever]

Are there different dining rooms? Are the menus different? My husband says we should stay with the early seating traditional that we already have since we know we will have a table etc. I am curious if PC would be nicer since you are not locked into a certain time (ie: if we were coming back from an excursion and had to rush)

I like the simple definition that Princess gives when they call Personal Choice (aka Anytime Dining) "Restaurant Style" dining. To answer your specific questions yes, there are different dining rooms but no, the menus are not different.

 

Personal choice dining is basically another way to feed you. It allows you to eat when you want and with who you want any time during the dining room hours of operation.

 

On our Golden Princess sailing, for example, there were two other dining rooms to serve those who had selected or had been given Personal Choice dining. We chose one, liked it a lot, and asked to be seated at the same table, at the same time, with the same waiter for the rest of the cruise. This was no problem. So for all practical purposes we did have Traditional Fixed Time Dining. The same menu was being served the only difference was that the people around us were not always the same...although many were.

 

We could have simply walked into one of the PC dining rooms during serving hours when we were hungry and been seated, probably after a wait. We could have phoned in reservations for various places to eat at various times during the week in advance, say on the first day aboard. Not a bad idea if you like early dining but not when the ship is in port and you'll be ashore, for example.

 

It's really all about flexibility and goes beyond just dining to encompass a style of vacationing termed Personal Choice Cruising. The Anytime Dining part, for example, makes it possible to meet new friends on a shore excursion or at pool side and have dinner with them that night.

 

Before, when meeting a new friend one of the questions asked would be "Which (traditional assigned dining) seating are you? From there plans for the evening could be made and a time set up to meet after dinner. Now you can include dinner in your plans for the evening and at a time tht is convenient for you.

 

In addition to the traditional and Personal Choice dining rooms are other specialty restaurants like Sabatinis or the Sterling Steak House that offer sit down dining for a small additional fee and are reservation only. These offer even more flexibility but require thinking ahead.

 

Providing yet another choice besides these sitdown table service restaurants is the Horizon Court a 24/7 buffet. On some ships it's buffet by day that transforms itself into more of a service oriented venue at night. There's also a Pizza and Grill open a good chunk of the day and 24 hour room service that has extensive offerings.

 

 

As you may have gathered from the above replies to your questions, report cards get varying grades and the Traditional Fixed Time Dining vs Anytime Dining issue is one that you're wise to ask about beforehand.

 

The safe bet is to get into Traditional Fixed Time Dining up front (if you can) as you can always change to Anytime Dining later while going the other way may be difficult if not impossible to do.

 

That said, here's a vote for not Anytime Dining and not Traditional Fixed Time Dining but for BOTH. I think it is more a matter of what is appropriate for you. Princess knows this and offers this part of the Personal Choice Cruising concept because different guests have different expectations, needs and desires.

 

Lets face it, dining is a big part of any cruise. What better area to have as much lattitude as possible when we're making our selections?

 

You mention:

 

" I am curious if PC would be nicer since you are not locked into a certain time (ie: if we were coming back from an excursion and had to rush)"

 

On one cruise we found this to be exactly the case and were quite happy we'd chosen PC dining

 

Here's an example:

 

On our Caribbean Princess cruise last summer we met a couple of really nice families standing in line waiting to get on the ship. We all really "clicked" and ended up seeing them and doing stuff with them off and on all week. Activities during the day were lots of fun but at the end of the afternoon on the first day at sea we were all on deck, kids at the pool, adults wasted....er....relaxed! on deck. The subject of dinner came up and we thought it would be cool to all have dinner together.

 

If we had all selected Tradtional Fixed Time Dining the commonly asked question in these situations is "So what seating (early or late) are you?" Often in similar circumstances we'd find that some were in our seating and some were in the other seating and we'd plan as best we could to meet up with them after dinner. Often that was no more than a noble effort as we might be at a show while somebody else was eating dinner. We didn't want to go to the late show after all the seatings were over because the kids had no interest in it (in your case they might be asleep) and/or the adult content that seems to sneak in on the later shows is not appropriate.

 

Now go back to the afternoon and everybody has Anytime Dining. The choice is simple and experience much improved. Now its a matter of when do we want to eat, and where do we want to do it. We can plan a time that works with some event we want to attend and its way easier to coordinate. That's where the flexibility of the whole Personal Choice cruising comes into play and stretches beyond Anytime Dining. In that case it turned out that on of the families had some interpersonal issues that were not a lot of fun so they were easy to ditch too.

 

Before, on other cruise lines, when the only option was Traditional Fixed Time Dining, we framed our evening around the static dining time because it was either that, a buffet, grill item or room service.

 

Often, especially on Formal Nights, we'd leave the pool area or get back from shore in time to start getting ready for the Early Seating Traditional Fixed Time Dining we had been assigned and/or asked for.

 

I think you're in for a great cruise and an even better, richer experience if you fully embrace the whole Personal Choice Cruising concept which allows you to choose which style is appropriate.

[calikak]

Actually, on the Diamond and Sapphire, there ARE different menus in Anytime dining. There are 4 Anytime dining rooms and one traditional dining room. The Anytime dining rooms each have a theme (pan-Asian, Italian, steaks, Tex-Mex) and have a menu to match the theme, but you can also order from the traditional dining room menu. In the traditional dining room, each evening you'll have the option to order from the menu of one of the themed dining rooms, and it rotates through the week, so one night you'll get the traditional menu plus the Italian menu, and another night you'll get the traditional menu plus the Tex-Mex menu. This is a feature unique to the Diamond and Sapphire. The rest of the Princess ships just have one menu for all the dining rooms.

[AnnMorin]

I was surprised to come home from work and find so many replies!

I forgot to mention we are on the Star Princess, Thanksgiving week 2005. I think I will stick with the traditional since we did get early seating, I din't know about the other dining options (horizons etc) that we could take advantage of if we were delayed getting back intime for early sitting.

[poppy4kids]

If you have Traditional Dining can you use the Anytime Dining on one or two nights? thanks

[tom-n-jules]

If you have Traditional Dining can you use the Anytime Dining on one or two nights? thanks

They record your info when you show up for dinner. I've read other postings which said that if you don't go to your "traditional" dining room, they'll inform you that you'll lose your Traditional seating if you switch to Anytime, for even one night.

 

Since there is a waiting list and higher demand for traditional seating compared to Anytime, you might want to just go ahead and change to Anytime in advance of your cruise in consideration of others on the waiting list, if you think you'll want the flexibility that Anytime provides you.

[DMorris]

oops duplicate

[DMorris]

They record your info when you show up for dinner. I've read other postings which said that if you don't go to your "traditional" dining room, they'll inform you that you'll lose your Traditional seating if you switch to Anytime, for even one night.

 

Since there is a waiting list and higher demand for traditional seating compared to Anytime, you might want to just go ahead and change to Anytime in advance of your cruise in consideration of others on the waiting list, if you think you'll want the flexibility that Anytime provides you.

Is this the case for the Island Princess as well? We will be sailing on her in Oct 2005. My parents have sailed Princess several times and have been able to do both Traditional and PC during the same sailing.

[newbiejay]

We recently had Anytime on Caribbean Princess and liked it a lot. We waited too long to make reservations for the week so had 8:00 every single night. That was our fault and we knew better from these boards. If you want a decent time you must call and make your reservations for the week as SOON as you board. You can always change them. There are 2 dining rooms and we were booked in different ones on different nights. I did see people without reservations waiting for tables but it appeared that they didn't wait very long.