i am confused with anytime dining?

[tichinose]

i thought the food was served in the traditional dining room and it was the same? What is the theme food menus???

[Dreamer333]

If you chose Personal Choice dining, there are two dining rooms to choose from... The menu in all the dining rooms are the same (including the traditional dining room)...

Each night is a different "theme" which features themed food... However there are certain items you can order every night (ex: shrimp cocktail and prime rib).

[LARGIN]

i thought the food was served in the traditional dining room and it was the same? What is the theme food menus???

 

To better answer your question, what ship are you talking about?

[tichinose]

caribbean princess

[Coral]

caribbean princess

 

The menus are the same in Personal Choice and Traditional dining on this ship.

[tichinose]

so anytime dining you eat in traditional dining room at a reserved time

and personal choice dining....you eat in seperate areas with different menus? how do you tip?

[spongerob]

All Personal Choice means is that on most Princess ships you can choose either Traditional fixed seat dining or Anytime walkup dining. On the Caribbean Princess, there are three dining rooms. Two are Anytime (walkup) and the other is Traditional. You get the same menu selections at each one, and a new menu is presented each evening. There are certain "always available" items such as a filet, chicken breast, etc. if you don't like what's on the menu that evening. My wife often has the fettucine alfredo with a sliced up chicken breast, for example.

 

Breakfast and lunch are open seating in the dining room. Usually just one dining room (the one on Deck 6) is open for breakfast and lunch.

 

You can also choose to eat at Sabatini's or Sterling, which have an added fee and serve the same menu selections nightly. Or...you can go upstairs and try the Horizon Court buffet or Cafe Caribe. If you are booked in Traditional, you can go to any of the alternate dining spots if you wish, just try to give your waiters notice that you intend to do so. Otherwise, everyone will wait for you to show up and that will delay your meal.

[MNfamilycruiser]

so anytime dining you eat in traditional dining room at a reserved time

and personal choice dining....you eat in seperate areas with different menus? how do you tip?

Maybe I shouldn't bother since I don't know for sure - but I believe personal choice dining means you can choose anytime dining or traditional dining.

Those who chose anytime dining have certain dining rooms that they go to and those who chose traditional dining have a dining room they go to.

For tipping - I think Princess has automatic tipping which is split up. If you want to directly give anyone something extra you can also do that. The anytime dining is probably one reason they put the automatic tipping in place.

[MNfamilycruiser]

.....

You can also choose to eat at Sabatini's or Sterling, which have an added fee and serve the same menu selections nightly. Or...you can go upstairs and try the Horizon Court buffet or Cafe Caribe. If you are booked in Traditional, you can go to any of the alternate dining spots if you wish, just try to give your waiters notice that you intend to do so. Otherwise, everyone will wait for you to show up and that will delay your meal.

 

If you are booked in Traditional, can you go to the Anytime rooms as well, or just the alternative - as in Sabatini's, buffet etc. spots?

[spongerob]

To be honest, we have never tried, though from what others say the policies vary according the maitre d'. We have almost always have such good tablemates that we don't want to miss a single evening with them.

[northcalgal]

On the Sun Class ships and I think other Princess ships offer Personal Choice Dining:Which means you have a choice of Traditional Dining where you are assigned either early or late seating at the same table with same wait staff and people at your table in one of the main dining rooms. Everynite you have a new menu that may have a theme, there are also standard menu items that are offered every nite on the menu. Then there is Anytime Dining in another dining room set up just like the Tradional Dining room with same menu ect. Except you may go at whatevertime you like during their serving hours. You may be seated at a table for 2 to up to 10 I think. You may call and reserve a time and table also. The rooms and menus are no different in Traditional or the Anytime Dining room. You also have a choice to go to one of the Resturants that you pay a fee like 10-$15 to eat at. On the Sun ships it is the Sterling Steak house. You can go from Traditonal Dining to Anytime dining if you are not happy with the set time seatings but it is harder to go from Anytime Dining to Traditional which usually gets wait listed. Hope this helps.

[giggster11]

I was looking at booking online and they didn't list Anytime dining as an option on Sapphire...just 1st and 2nd. When I called their number they said you're always allowed to go into the other dining rooms. Is there a booking option no matter if you go through a person TA or online site that is Anytime dining only? Thanks for your help.

[spongerob]

You CAN book Anytime regardless of who takes your booking. Recent reports from those who have cruised aboard the Diamond and/or Sapphire indicate that if you ask for Traditional and get it, you will lose your seat if you go to the Anytime dining room(s). The people at the on-line agencies don't always have the personal experience needed to help you make an informed decision. Their job is to sell bookings as quickly as they can.

 

Diamond and Sapphire are set up differently than the rest of the fleet. In the end, though, everyone has access to the same menus at some point regardless of the dining plan they choose.

[captaincanuck]

so for anytime dining...

 

do we make a "reservation" in the morning and go at night? or do we just stop by whenever we feel like it during dinner hours? or can we do both basically like a restaurant?

[crusdiva]

so for anytime dining...

 

do we make a "reservation" in the morning and go at night? or do we just stop by whenever we feel like it during dinner hours? or can we do both basically like a restaurant?

 

captaincanuck, YES! Go got!;)

If you know you want to eat at a certain time - maybe because there is a show you'd like to see - make a reservation. If you're more flexible, you can just go to the dining room during dinner hours. Of course, just like at home - expect a little wait during peak times.

[Figsgrandma]

I hope someone can clear up a question I have concerning tipping the wait staff under anytime dining.

 

I should start out by saying that my husband and I are confirmed for traditional dining on our upcoming 5/29 Sapphire cruise, but have thought about switching to anytime dining (we'll probably stick with traditional, but if we do switch we'll do it soon, so that someone who is on the waiting list for traditional can take our spot). I understand that generally tips are automatically added to our account, and if we want to give extra we can do so. Does that apply to the waiters in the anytime dining rooms? Are all of the automatic tips pooled and split among all of the wait staff? Is that why it's not necessary to tip for routine service nightly in the anytime dining rooms? Or are you supposed to tip individually each night in anytime dining?

 

Hope I haven't confused things with these questions.

 

Is it true that if you want to give extra to a particular waiter you should do so in cash, since that way the extra tip does not have to be pooled? I've only cruised once before ( on RCI ), and think I should have been more generous with my tips - I just let them add the fixed amount to my account at the end of the cruise. Having read a lot more about tipping on these boards since then I feel bad that I didn't give extra to certain people, and don't want to be chintzy (is that the right word?) about it this time.

 

Thanks for any info you can give me?

[cherylandtk]

I was looking at booking online and they didn't list Anytime dining as an option on Sapphire...just 1st and 2nd. When I called their number they said you're always allowed to go into the other dining rooms. Is there a booking option no matter if you go through a person TA or online site that is Anytime dining only? Thanks for your help.

 

As spongerob said, many online booking pages don't show the Anytime option, and the agent you spoke with was apparently unfamiliar with the Princess dining options. You CAN however, book the Anytime option. You may have to ask your TA (online or otherwise) to call Princess directly if the booking engine page does not give you the correct choices.

 

In case you have not seen it, here is the link to the Princess Sapphire dining option page:

http://www.princess.com/onboard/dining/sa_dining.html