Club class impact

[DrivesLikeMario]

OK, I'm puzzled.

 

Sure, eating in the dining room of a cruise ship is an exercise in mass feeding and I think Princess manages it rather well. But unless the Club Class section is curtained off, you'll be eating in the same dining room with the same X hundred pax, ordering off more or less the same menu. You get the same waitstaff every night...same as with TD. (I've even managed it with ATD.) You get a table on the edge of the dining room, but you can request that with TD, too. You get tableside preparation, but - at least here in San Francisco - there are few hot dining establishments that feature that; sounds more like a Classy Italian Restaurant from the 1950s. Even that loud drunk woman at the next table who bothered you three cruises ago might well be there in Club Class. Essentially, it's a whole lot like Traditional Dining, but you get to choose your seating time and don't have to enter with the hoi polloi. But once you're seated, you're "dining" pretty much like the rabble in the rest of the Da Vinci, though maybe with a bit more bowing and scraping. You're still at a banquet, only at the Big Spenders' table down front.

 

So what salient differences, really, are you talking about?

 

Totally agree with your comments. CC isn't worth it for me either. I just don't see the value.

[gkbiiii]

I would very much like to try CC, however if it is at the same cost as a Luxury Line, such as Crystal, then that's what I will book. I think Princess should add drinks to the deal, then they would be competitive to MSC, Celebrity, Azmara, and others.

[Colo Cruiser]

I would very much like to try CC, however if it is at the same cost as a Luxury Line, such as Crystal, then that's what I will book. I think Princess should add drinks to the deal, then they would be competitive to MSC, Celebrity, Azmara, and others.

 

 

Not even close.

[shredie]

Something else confuses me. (I know, big surprise.) Reports are that the entrance to CC dining room is on the starboard side, but other reports say the dining room area is port side. So do you enter through the starboard door and parade across the steerage MDR to the other side of the ship to the CC tables? That sounds cumbersome.

[Colo Cruiser]

Something else confuses me. (I know, big surprise.) Reports are that the entrance to CC dining room is on the starboard side, but other reports say the dining room area is port side. So do you enter through the starboard door and parade across the steerage MDR to the other side of the ship to the CC tables? That sounds cumbersome.

 

 

 

That Starboard side is always unused, so they are probably looking at it from the wrong direction? (facing aft and thinking port/their left?)

Edited January 2, 2017 by Colo Cruiser

[shredie]

That Starboard side is always unused, so they are probably looking at it from the wrong direction? (facing aft and thinking port?)

 

Maybe. That's why I'm asking. I would like to hear about the seating process. Who greets you? Do they ask what size table you want or if you want to share? Do they escort you to the table? How far do you have to walk?

[RDC1]

Something else confuses me. (I know, big surprise.) Reports are that the entrance to CC dining room is on the starboard side, but other reports say the dining room area is port side. So do you enter through the starboard door and parade across the steerage MDR to the other side of the ship to the CC tables? That sounds cumbersome.

 

There are actually two doors to that dining room. As you face that dining room normal access is to the right. There is also a doorway on the other side of the ship. To the left of the elevator bank. In the past they have not used that door during dining. Though they do use it when they have people gather there for excursions and have the groups exit through that door.

 

I would expect the new door to the Club area is the one on the left and as such they go directly to their roped off area.

 

If you look at the deck plans you can see the single set of double doors on that side (next to Calypso Cove). Compared to the two sets of double doors on the opposite side with the normal entry. It is the same on Deck 5 if they happen to use that dining room instead. On the Ruby those doors are next to the Internet Cafe.

Edited January 2, 2017 by RDC1

[PattyBY]

You enter on starboard, there is a hostess, who seats you. The area is not roped off, it's only a small area of the dining room...about 8-10 tables for 2, 2 tables for 8, maybe 4 tables for 4. The head waiter is in the center, with an induction cook top, and he makes sauces, shrimp, little things. We sat at one of two tables...I'm sure we could have sat at any of the tables for two.

[shredie]

There are actually two doors to that dining room. As you face that dining room normal access is to the right. There is also a doorway on the other side of the ship. To the left of the elevator bank. In the past they have not used that door during dining. Though they do use it when they have people gather there for excursions and have the groups exit through that door.

 

I would expect the new door to the Club area is the one on the left and as such they go directly to their roped off area.

 

If you look at the deck plans you can see the single set of double doors on that side (next to Calypso Cove). Compared to the two sets of double doors on the opposite side with the normal entry. It is the same on Deck 5 if they happen to use that dining room instead. On the Ruby those doors are next to the Internet Cafe.

The problem I think is using "left" and "right" rather than "port" and starboard." The doors by Calypso Cove are on the starboard side of the ship, so it would make sense that the dining room is also on that side. Several posts ago in this thread, it was said the dining room was on the port side.

 

You enter on starboard, there is a hostess, who seats you. The area is not roped off, it's only a small area of the dining room...about 8-10 tables for 2, 2 tables for 8, maybe 4 tables for 4. The head waiter is in the center, with an induction cook top, and he makes sauces, shrimp, little things. We sat at one of two tables...I'm sure we could have sat at any of the tables for two.

If this section is starboard, I know the section you mean. It is partly separated from the main MDR by a short section of wall as you enter. So the HW is in the middle of the room with a cook top on a rolling table?

[floridalover5623]

This all reminds me of the Faster To the Fun that Carnival had minus the wine and champagne perk for $50. It may have gone up, I haven't checked. As an elite, we get the mini bar set up, priority debarkation and embarkation, free internet minutes and other perks. The two I like most are the internet minutes and embarkation/debarkation. I'm not interested enough to pay extra for a robe and linens. We don't have a bath tub in our house so that does not matter to me. We usually eat in buffet for lunch and just a light snack in the evening so the seating in the MDR doesn't matter to us. So, I can't justify in spending the extra on the so-called perks. So maybe for a newbie to get sucked in it may be worth it to them. I think that's who Princess is really targeting - naive newbies. JMHO.

 

Of course they are since most everything they provide with CC is already provided with Elite status. How many Elites would waste money on such an upgrade? LOL :D

[Pam in CA]

I think they are targeting passengers who do not want to be in crowds, and who want a more personalized service.

I get that with Traditional dining without paying extra. :)

[caribill]

I think just the beds and robes are upgraded. We were told that the dining staff and stewards were hand picked for their competency.

 

Based on the postings by people who have experienced CC, many CC tables are unoccupied waiting for people to come in at their pleasure.

 

So this means that some of the most competent dining staff are waiting around for passengers to (maybe) show up.

 

Meanwhile, those not in CC have less efficient waitstaff.

 

Way to go Princess. Keep your most competent waitstaff idle while other areas in the dining room get inefficient service.

[KruzeKrazy!]

Way to go Princess. Keep your most competent waitstaff idle while other areas in the dining room get inefficient service.

 

 

That appears to be correct - but as previous posts speculate it could be a very profitable program so I would imagine the feeling would be "let the good servers stand idle...we'd rather the accounts be busy counting profits."

[floridalover5623]

Based on the postings by people who have experienced CC, many CC tables are unoccupied waiting for people to come in at their pleasure.

 

So this means that some of the most competent dining staff are waiting around for passengers to (maybe) show up.

 

Meanwhile, those not in CC have less efficient waitstaff.

 

Way to go Princess. Keep your most competent waitstaff idle while other areas in the dining room get inefficient service.

 

I'd imagine that most of the wait staff would be in competition for those positions. It sounds like there might be more waiting around for those CC people to arrive than serving tables all night long + there might be even better tips since they will be providing better service. ;)

[lstone19]

Based on the postings by people who have experienced CC, many CC tables are unoccupied waiting for people to come in at their pleasure.

 

...

 

Way to go Princess. Keep your most competent waitstaff idle while other areas in the dining room get inefficient service.

 

While it does sound like it hasn't gone all that well at first in terms of tables sitting empty, give Princess a chance to figure out the numbers. I expect with experience, they will be able to fine tune how many tables to be held for CC. They are probably being conservative at first: nothing will sink a product like CC faster than having long waits to dine when no wait is a promised amenity. Eventually, they'll get the right number - one that most of the time assures no wait but with an acceptable level of short wait (the same as airlines, hotels, and yes cruise lines find the "right" overbooking level).

[Colo Cruiser]

While it does sound like it hasn't gone all that well at first in terms of tables sitting empty, give Princess a chance to figure out the numbers. I expect with experience, they will be able to fine tune how many tables to be held for CC. They are probably being conservative at first: nothing will sink a product like CC faster than having long waits to dine when no wait is a promised amenity. Eventually, they'll get the right number - one that most of the time assures no wait but with an acceptable level of short wait (the same as airlines, hotels, and yes cruise lines find the "right" overbooking level).

 

 

They were supposed to fine tune Anytime Dining since its introduction and we all know how that turned out.

[lstone19]

They were supposed to fine tune Anytime Dining since its introduction and we all know how that turned out.

 

Unfortunately, so long as more people want to eat early than can be accommodated early, I don't know how you fine tune it. I suppose you could return to the day of everyone having a traditional time although back in those days, many were forced to late who wanted early (or vice versa in some markets - happened to us 25 or so years ago). Also, more dining room space would be needed (and then there will be the "they took more public space away" complaints). In the old days of everyone traditional (and very little in the way of alternative dining), dining rooms needed to accommodate 50% of the maximum passengers to assure everyone having a space. These days, they know a certain percentage will not eat dinner in a MDR so those seats aren't even needed in a MDR.

 

The opposite side to assure maximum utilization of MDR space is to do away with TD altogether (although I hope that will never happen). On our last cruise (Regal 10/22/16 5-day Canada), we had late TD and since we were by a window near the front, I could see that some of the tables weren't even assigned (the "wings" stretching forward of the entrance on our side did not have anyone there); other tables that seemed to be assigned never had anyone show up. There is a lot of waste from TD diners who spend a lot of time going to alternative dining. Perhaps there needs to be better education - if you plan to do a lot of buffet or specialty restaurants, book ATD since you won't be using it a lot. I suspect a lot of people end up in TD because TAs encourage it (or assume their clients prefer it) even though they have little intention of using it (it's the "me" era - too many think "I want my table reserved even though I also want to eat whenever I want even if that means not using my reserved space").

[OCruisers]

You enter on starboard, there is a hostess, who seats you. The area is not roped off, it's only a small area of the dining room...about 8-10 tables for 2, 2 tables for 8, maybe 4 tables for 4. The head waiter is in the center, with an induction cook top, and he makes sauces, shrimp, little things. We sat at one of two tables...I'm sure we could have sat at any of the tables for two.

 

Thanks for your first hand report! :)

When you enter CC, are you ask if you would like to share?

[Colo Cruiser]

Unfortunately, so long as more people want to eat early than can be accommodated early, I don't know how you fine tune it. I suppose you could return to the day of everyone having a traditional time although back in those days, many were forced to late who wanted early (or vice versa in some markets - happened to us 25 or so years ago). Also, more dining room space would be needed (and then there will be the "they took more public space away" complaints). In the old days of everyone traditional (and very little in the way of alternative dining), dining rooms needed to accommodate 50% of the maximum passengers to assure everyone having a space. These days, they know a certain percentage will not eat dinner in a MDR so those seats aren't even needed in a MDR.

 

The opposite side to assure maximum utilization of MDR space is to do away with TD altogether (although I hope that will never happen). On our last cruise (Regal 10/22/16 5-day Canada), we had late TD and since we were by a window near the front, I could see that some of the tables weren't even assigned (the "wings" stretching forward of the entrance on our side did not have anyone there); other tables that seemed to be assigned never had anyone show up. There is a lot of waste from TD diners who spend a lot of time going to alternative dining. Perhaps there needs to be better education - if you plan to do a lot of buffet or specialty restaurants, book ATD since you won't be using it a lot. I suspect a lot of people end up in TD because TAs encourage it (or assume their clients prefer it) even though they have little intention of using it (it's the "me" era - too many think "I want my table reserved even though I also want to eat whenever I want even if that means not using my reserved space").

 

 

One big way and a place to start would be to eliminate any sort of table reservation in anytime (To me this is way out of hand) and make it a true walk up anytime dining experience. As well as move the traditional 2 hour use of the AT DR back to the traditional DR.

[cruzsnooze]

I could see that some of the tables weren't even assigned (the "wings" stretching forward of the entrance on our side did not have anyone there); other tables that seemed to be assigned never had anyone show up. There is a lot of waste from TD diners who spend a lot of time going to alternative dining. Perhaps there needs to be better education - if you plan to do a lot of buffet or specialty restaurants, book ATD since you won't be using it a lot. I suspect a lot of people end up in TD because TAs encourage it (or assume their clients prefer it) even though they have little intention of using it (it's the "me" era - too many think "I want my table reserved even though I also want to eat whenever I want even if that means not using my reserved space").

 

Think about it from a different perspective, It's my vacation to relax and come back new and not eat at the sound of a bell. It's not because I'm selfish it's because I'm not hungry the same time every night. If I go to the elite / suite happy hour at 5 PM I'm not hungry at 5:30 or 5:45 for early seating. If I come back from an excursion at 3 and have a bite at the IC I might not be ready for dinner when the bell rings. I happen to like NCL's all anytime dining because it seldom has any wait time since they did away with traditional. Unfortunately that's about all I like about NCL.

[Woodinville]

Just off the Ruby Princess 22-30 December 2016.

For Christmas, we splurged into the new Club-Suite concept.

 

Used the Club Class "Enhanced Dining"

 

The locale is the Starboard (corrected 2 Jan) side of the Da Vinci dining room, about 1/8 of the dining room by my estimation - or one station used by two/three server pairs.

 

We visited the Da Vinci Dining room every evening for dinner -- between 5:30-7:30

Each of those evenings, we saw that there were many empty tables in the other 7/8 of the dining area ... this was during the Standard Dining period first sitting at 5:30 .. .the DaVinci then opened to anytime dining and based on the empty tables at the early seating, I have no doubt the crowded experience described in prior replies are factual as the ship was at 100% capacity and the set-aside area may have impacted table availability.

 

Realizing that expectations and experiences vary from cruiser to cruiser. This Club Class concept exceeded our expectations, and had a very positive impact on our cruise overall. Such was the experience, that our visiting the speciality restaurants simply did not happen.

 

Enjoy the day and Happy New Year to you all .

 

I get my left from my right mixed up always ... the entrance on the Ruby Princess is on the Starboard side of the Da Vinci dining room.

[Sam.Seattle]

People pay extra for Club Class dining. If you think this creates a class system, then you must think a cruise ship must make all cabins identical; eliminate preferred boarding for those who have sailed 5 times or more with Princess; eliminate free laundry for those who have sailed 15 times with Princess; quit offering premium beverages; eliminate the sanctuary; and make all spa services free. All of these are "perks" that people voluntarily spend more money to receive.

That extra spending by those people helps keep the fares down for the rest; even those who devote themselves to finding anything they can to be offended by.

Kind of sounds like Carnival.

[taxatty]

Of course they are since most everything they provide with CC is already provided with Elite status. How many Elites would waste money on such an upgrade? LOL :D

Here's one who's giving it a shot. When we booked a Pacific CC mini last June soon after Princess announced the CC concept, after the TA discount, at the time it was a little over $200/PP extra for a 14 day cruise over a non-CC mini. For that amount it was worth it to us to try CC, even though as you noted the benefits overlap Elite's. It's hard to tell what the CC/non-CC pricing difference could be now as there haven't been any minis available on that cruise for months.

[jagoffee]

Based on the postings by people who have experienced CC, many CC tables are unoccupied waiting for people to come in at their pleasure.

 

So this means that some of the most competent dining staff are waiting around for passengers to (maybe) show up.

 

Meanwhile, those not in CC have less efficient waitstaff.

 

Way to go Princess. Keep your most competent waitstaff idle while other areas in the dining room get inefficient service.

 

Some people believe Princess is setting aside a seat for everyone using Club Class dining just in case they show up all at the same time. I hope you are not suggesting that Princess is staffing Club Class Dining with enough staff in case everyone shows up at the same time.

 

Because it is new, Princess will need to adjust to what is needed and works. We have already heard two different inputs consider the % of the dining room used. Several estimated 1/8 at the most and one is adamant about 50% of the dining room. Big difference and maybe it is because it is a different ship or because they were on different sides of the dining room.

 

I believe Princess will allocate some seats less than the total number of users (perhaps 2/3 of the total number or as little as 1/2). The staff will likely be for 1/2 of the potential users. It would not surprise me if the number was adjusted on certain cruises depending on varied demand. Good luck forecasting the requirement. I can understand why it would take a few months to get it right.

 

I think Princess needs to find a way to effectively deal with all the empty/wasted seats in TD that go unused on any given night. I would thing the number of unused seats in the ATD over any given night is a much great number than the Club Class Dining seats involved. Personally I think that issue may be the key to dealing with the occasional long term problem with AT peak times. It has been an issue much before the Club Class Dining.

 

It is certainly correct that the implementation of Club Class Dining will not help the AT situation, but it does provide a means for those willing to pay more a solution. Now Princess needs a solution for everyone else. As I stated TD should be the focus for a solution IMO.

[ian441672]

We are Elite / full suite on Regal for this Sundays Caribbean Cruise. I like paying extra for the larger cabin and amenities and welcome the CC benefits, although as people say, in my case, they wont be much over and above what I already get, except the dining.

 

I wonder though, will I also get the CC 'one time wine set up' as well as my mini bar set up (and being on a B2B cruise of 2x7 days, and being suite/Elite, that is four mini bar set-up's!)? Looking forward to that part :)