Emerald Princess dining shambles

[Dorkscruising]

can never understand why people without children go away in school holidays then complain about to many kids, have they not thought about going in term time or even better adults only holidays, us families have no choice 😤 roll on the 20th!!

[Pikachui]

We were on this sailing too and agree it was pretty crowded. I complained (to no avail) about 2 babies being in the pool. The person I complained to said it was alright as they weren't wearing diapers. I pointed out that they were too young to be toilet trained at which he just shrugged his shoulders and walked away.......... Next day, the pool was emptied 'for technical reasons'. Yuk :eek::eek:.

 

We didn't have any problems with any time dining at 6 pm as we were travelling with a child but there were long queues (lines) a few times when we left the dining room.

 

Our room steward was excellent - in fact probably the best we have had on any cruise line.

 

Our main gripe was the depth of the pools. They are far too deep and there is no paddling pool It's hard work trying to hold a toddler when you can hardly stand up yourself!!

 

I'm glad it wasn't just me with the pools depth. It is a shame that nowhere in either of the pools that kids can go in, can an average height mum touch the bottom of the pool... On Ventura (same layout!) we also loved the pool at the back of the ship but it's adults only on Emerald. Agreed on room steward, ours was great too.

Edited August 8, 2016 by Pikachui

[Astro Flyer]

I may have missed it but have never seen making ATD reservations promoted in their brochures nor on their website.

 

"For the first time ever for us the ability to call and reserve a table on the day was withdrawn for Anytime Diners. This despite all Princess brochures and ads (including bizarrely those on board) trumpeting the feature".

 

I agree that the Club Class will result in this overcrowding situation to become more routine and that TD (particularly early where they already have 2 of the 3 dining rooms for it) will become even more popular.

[JimmyVWine]

1. Agree with Astro that I have never seen advanced booking advertised as a feature. Maybe it is ship-specific in the Patter? But I have never seen it in generalized materials.

 

2. If the ship was indeed sailing at 3,600+ passengers, it would have been insane to allow advanced reservations for dining. While I certainly sympathize with the long waits that are being reported, one must appreciate that allowing reservations only makes the problem worse. It results in a table being held empty during the time interval between it being cleared from one set of diners until the arrival of the reserved diners. This is rarely seamless and immediate. People with a 7:00 reservation might not show up until 7:10, and the table might have been cleared and re-set at 6:45. This is a 25 minute gap of non-use and results in the wait for non-reservation folks even longer. To the extent that the ship "always" allows reservations, the decision to suspend that feature on a cruise with 3,600+ people was a wise one.

[PrincessLuver]

I may have missed it but have never seen making ATD reservations promoted in their brochures nor on their website.

 

"For the first time ever for us the ability to call and reserve a table on the day was withdrawn for Anytime Diners. This despite all Princess brochures and ads (including bizarrely those on board) trumpeting the feature".

 

I agree that the Club Class will result in this overcrowding situation to become more routine and that TD (particularly early where they already have 2 of the 3 dining rooms for it) will become even more popular.

 

I have not seen it either and I wish Princess would not just allow it at all since I think they turn "Anytime Dinning" into "Anything Goes Dining" and it is unfair to those of us who do not make reservations.

[cruisequeen4ever]

3,600 is not "over" capacity; it's just about at max capacity including 3rd and 4th berths. On our Emerald Christmas cruise this year, the max 3,700 were onboard, but it didn't feel maxed out anywhere. We did Traditional Dining, which may have helped. Of course crew turn over all the time, and maybe this crew was inexperienced and unsure of how to handle the situation. I assume they prepare for and expect huge numbers at Christmas.

 

 

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[Alaskan Joe]

My wife and I are traveling at Christmas on the Ruby. Oh the kids:eek: lots and lots of kids. However we like kids! I just hope we do not have a dinning issue.

[Astro Flyer]

1. Agree with Astro that I have never seen advanced booking advertised as a feature. Maybe it is ship-specific in the Patter? But I have never seen it in generalized materials.

 

2. If the ship was indeed sailing at 3,600+ passengers, it would have been insane to allow advanced reservations for dining. While I certainly sympathize with the long waits that are being reported, one must appreciate that allowing reservations only makes the problem worse. It results in a table being held empty during the time interval between it being cleared from one set of diners until the arrival of the reserved diners. This is rarely seamless and immediate. People with a 7:00 reservation might not show up until 7:10, and the table might have been cleared and re-set at 6:45. This is a 25 minute gap of non-use and results in the wait for non-reservation folks even longer. To the extent that the ship "always" allows reservations, the decision to suspend that feature on a cruise with 3,600+ people was a wise one.

Checking my most recent Patters (Crown in April) the only dining reservation statement is at the top of the Dining Guide on the back page. It only states "For details & reservations, dial 6219 between 8:00am & 5:00pm . The Dining Guide lists all dining venues times including specialty restaurants but there's no statement trumpeting making ATD reservations which can vary depending upon the maître d'.

 

I agree with your analysis about why taking ATD reservations can result in even more delays for passengers without a reservation. Some have posted being allowed to make a reservation for the same time & table throughout the cruise and if they don't show up that's another example of why I think that reservations are a bad idea. Anytime dining is promoted as having the flexibility to dine at different times & with different passengers but by allowing a cruise long reservation in reality they're having TD at their preferred dining time.

 

That may not be a big problem with a ship sailing well undercapacity but for cruises that are nearly full it's a very bad idea to me & it adversely affects other passengers dining experiences.

I have not seen it either and I wish Princess would not just allow it at all since I think they turn "Anytime Dinning" into "Anything Goes Dining" and it is unfair to those of us who do not make reservations.

I completely agree with you.

Edited August 8, 2016 by Astro Flyer

[cr8tiv1]

The Grand Class ships (Golden, Grand, Star) have about 3000 capacity. The Emerald, Caribbean, Ruby, Crown are sister ships with one extra deck (500 more passengers). Many have been "modified" with public spaces removed or are useless (like the "club" at the back of the Crown. So 500 more passengers and same size dining room, same size Princess Theater, and other venues makes for a more crowded, less space.

 

So I shall stick with the Coral, Golden/Grand/Star ships. I don't do crowds very well anymore.

[oskidunker]

And book early to be sure you get it.. If I don't get it, I don't go..The dining room does not have enough tables for 3600 people.

[RDC1]

3092 is declared capacity (on Princess website). Upper berths are meant to add flexibility (for families/groups) not simple additional capacity otherwise the 3092 is a meaningless number. We've travelled many times with a full complement of 3000 and the facilities are stretched but functional. Add another 600 and they're not.

 

Fixed dining was full too. We (and according to Maitre d'hotel, many others) tried to change to it. Even if it would never be a first choice for us it would have been better than the anytime chaos.

 

Not so. 3092 is lower berth capacity (two per cabin). 3670 is maximum lives capacity. There might actually be more beds on board then the 3670 when you add up all of the upper bunks, sleeper sofa's etc. However, 3670 is the most passengers that can be legally booked and boarded.

[Yehootu]

Thank you for posting. It seems there is an inability to truly handle a fully occupied ship; something I plan to keep in mind when booking at busy times or when I see capacity limits being reached. (Vs. cabin limits).

Where do you find the info on capacity vs rooms booked?

[emmak8]

When is the school holiday over?

[TracieABD]

can never understand why people without children go away in school holidays then complain about to many kids, have they not thought about going in term time or even better adults only holidays, us families have no choice roll on the 20th!!

 

Some of us work for various educational systems as professors, teachers, administrators, etc... And don't have the luxury of traveling in the shoulder or off season.

Edited August 8, 2016 by TracieABD

[KruzPrincess]

I was on the Emerald Princess in July.

 

The Patter (under dining options box) says:

Limited reservations are available by dialing (####) between 8:00AM and 5:00PM from any ship's phone.

 

I have my Patters and can't find anywhere where this is "trumpeted". They do push you to make reservations for the Crown Grill, Share, Crab Shack, balcony dining, etc. I never took that to mean they wanted you to make reservations for the MDR's.

 

For me, I actually did Traditional Dining on this cruise which is totally out of character for me. I had early dining in Botticelli at 6:00PM and it was half empty every night. I understand that children in England weren't on holiday yet at that time. I'm so grateful. I had excellent dining room service every single night I dined in the MDR. I did dine in the buffet a few nights and it was more crowded there than I would have expected.

 

Here's my thought on the subject. I've done a couple Easter cruises from US ports. Every time I say I will never do it again. Right now, I'm still in that camp. I was on the Crown in April 2015 for a CA Coastal and there 750 children on board. It was OK, but it was crowded. You just have to know to expect that. It drove my friend crazy. I'm more easy going. You have to expect a crowded ship during school vacation times.

[Lucky TGO]

Sorry that your dining experience was a difficult one.

 

I am trying to figure out where they would have housed an extra 500 pax! What were they doing ..... sleeping them in the tenders?

 

It is my understanding that there ARE cabin capacity limits that cannot be exceeded, even by adding roll-away beds and cribs. Somehow this extra "500 pax" does not make sense, at least to me.

 

500 extra pax I have the same question were did they all sleep. :eek: :eek:

Tony

[mrs and mrs]

delete

Edited August 8, 2016 by mrs and mrs

[Colo Cruiser]

delete

 

Double cap does not include all cabins with a 3rd/4th berth.

[mrs and mrs]

Double cap does not include all cabins with a 3rd/4th berth.

 

Yep that's why I re-read and deleted.:):)

[RDC1]

500 extra pax I have the same question were did they all sleep. :eek: :eek:

Tony

 

Upper berths. 3092 is lower berth (2 per room) capacity number.

 

Just as a point of interest cruise ships are usually above the lower berth capacity number. Last time I looked CCL (the entire company of which Princess is part) averages 105% of the lower berth number on its cruises. So most cruises are over that number, the only question is where between the lower berth number and max capacity number the ship is at.

 

Peak season for families will average well above the 105% annual average number.

 

The quarterly occupancy number is listed in the companies 10Q sec filings.

[easyboy]

We were on the Med Cruise also on Emerald last May14-24.

We did not have the problems as the OP had. Probably not yet school break that time.

[TNTLAMB]

If anyone believes that if 3000 folk want to eat at the same time (or several hour window) and because the ship has "anytime dining" that they can accommodate anyone who wants to eat when they want whenever they want. I would suggest they are delusional.

 

First come first served which is what the OP experienced is the ONLY fair way to accommodate everyone. There is a reason why traditional dining times fill up quickly, and why folks are disappointed when they don't get the time/seating they want. Nothing is different with ATD, there are times when you just can't have what you want. Somebody beat you to it.

 

It looks to me like the only mistake the ship made was trying to accommodate as many people as they could and didn't want to send anyone away with "come back later, we don't have room right now"

Edited August 8, 2016 by TNTLAMB

[FlynnRider78]

If anyone believes that if 3000 folk want to eat at the same time (or several hour window) and because the ship has "anytime dining" that they can accommodate anyone who wants to eat when they want whenever they want. I would suggest they are delusional.

 

First come first served which is what the OP experienced is the ONLY fair way to accommodate everyone. There is a reason why traditional dining times fill up quickly, and why folks are disappointed when they don't get the time/seating they want. Nothing is different with ATD, there are times when you just can't have what you want. Somebody beat you to it.

 

It looks to me like the only mistake the ship made was trying to accommodate as many people as they could and didn't want to send anyone away with "come back later, we don't have room right now"

 

 

 

Very true TNTLAMB..

 

We were also on this sailing and had no problems at all that the op had. We had a table for 3 (anytime) in the Da Vinci dining room most evenings at around or just after 5:30pm, we weren't questioned when we said we didn't want to share and the dining room was virtually empty for the hour or so we were there. If you choose to eat when everybody else eats it's going to be busy!!

 

No problems at all in Horizon Court, we were up early for breakfast and also went in for a snack around 10pm, never struggled and there was always plenty of seats, inside and out.

 

We also went to the Salty Dog, again early and only ourselves and the Captain and his family were there eating.

 

Yes there was a lot of children but what do you expect in the summer holidays. We never had any issues with any of the children but there was obviously problems as the captain had to address it. We had a little person with us who didn't want to use the kids club and didn't leave our side the whole holiday, how hard is it to watch your children, especially around so much water!!!

 

 

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[RDC1]

For those that were surprised that the ship had more passengers then the lower birth capacity, the following is from CCL Sec filings and are an average for all of their lines.

 

2015 Jun, Jul, Aug 110.9%

2016 Dec, Jan, Feb 104.0%

2016 Mar, Apr, May 104.1%

 

The 2016 numbers are up from the corresponding period in 2015 by 1% and 2% respectively.

 

If the ship was total maxed out it would have been at 118.6% (3092 lower berth and 3670 max capacity). While certainly higher then the summer time average, not as unusual as one might think for family intensive routes.

Edited August 9, 2016 by RDC1

[riclop]

We just got back from an Emerald Princess Mediterranean cruise and if this was amongst our first Princess cruises there's no doubt we wouldn't be back.

 

The ship had in excess of 3600 guests according to the cruise director, which is around 500 more than the normal capacity declared by Princess. Boy did it show.

 

For the first time ever for us the ability to call and reserve a table on the day was withdrawn for Anytime Diners. This despite all Princess brochures and ads (including bizarrely those on board) trumpeting the feature. Waiting lines were 30 minutes plus just to get a pager; the additional wait was then never less than another 30 minutes and some nights was 90. The reason was clear: nearly all the tables were re-arranged to be for 10 or 12, and staff pushed (a little too hard for many people's liking) the idea of sharing. Fine if you like it, an imposition if you don't.

 

After 3 nights of this, again for the first time ever for us, we gave up and went to the buffet. So did several hundred others, with the result that it too became unworkable, with the servery area so crowded the crew couldn't refill the shelves. In the end people were taking their main meal at the pizza or burger bar, sometimes even in formal gear. What a joke.

 

People blame school holidays and the presence of lots of children, but the fault isn't theirs, it's Princess for allowing too many people on board. Anyone with any experience of cruises could and would have predicted the problems, so why were they allowed to happen? I have asked Princess and look forward to their reply.

 

What a shame.