Is rumour true that club dining is to be phased out?

[Pentlands]

Heard that Club Dining is to be phased out, anyone heard this and anyone know if it is true. If so from when?

 

[bee-ess]

1 hour ago, Pentlands said:

Heard that Club Dining is to be phased out, anyone heard this and anyone know if it is true. If so from when?

 

Well it is on Iona and I guess the new one that follows it. I hope not as we prefer it to freedom. We have a Feb 2021 booked on Azura and have chosen Club dining on that, I don't know if they would phase it out for booked cruises or pick a  date in the future to do it.

[amfc_lenny]

I could be wrong, but I'm not really sure they could manage 4500 pax all turning up mainly within the same hour or so!

[Spike11]

P&O ought to be able to continue to accommodate those who still prefer club dining. However, I think they will need to be more flexible in the way they use the dining rooms - particularly as freedom seems to be becoming more popular.

We were on Arcadia last summer and freedom dining upstairs was heaving. However, when we looked though the “hole” to the downstairs, most tables were half empty. Perhaps part of the downstairs should become freedom. We saw this working on a Princess cruise a few years ago ( in that case they actually made part of the freedom dining room club dining - such was the demand at that time).

[daiB]

3 hours ago, Pentlands said:

Heard that Club Dining is to be phased out, anyone heard this and anyone know if it is true. If so from when?

 

I suspect someone has been told that Iona will not have Club dining and have the put two and two together and got 7.

 

A misunderstanding leading to a false rumour.

[P-L-B]

20 minutes ago, daiB said:

I suspect someone has been told that Iona will not have Club dining and have the put two and two together and got 7.

 

A misunderstanding leading to a false rumour.

I had forgot that Iona will only offer Freedom dining.

[Dermotsgirl]

I have read that Iona will be freedom only, but I hadn't heard anything about the rest of the fleet changing.

 

I suppose the question is, where did Pentlands hear this from ?

[Pentlands]

It was a FB post but have asked PO and they confirm only Iona.

[Monorail Orange]

Thank goodness - I'm very much a club dining person. All I seem to hear about Freedom is related to wait times etc.

[tartanexile81]

It's only a matter of time though and Iona is the first nail... It may be a year or two but more and more people are doing Freedom and it will come to the stage that it's unprofitable to have a Club Dining Room except on maybe adult only ships

Edited April 29, 2019 by tartanexile81

[Harry Peterson]

I doubt there's any truth in the 'rumour', if indeed there is a rumour. It's been talked about for a long time, though, and at some point, sure as eggs, it will happen. Probably at about the same time as formal dining as we now know it goes.

[brian1]

On Marella,it's freedom only.We just grabbed a pager 45mins before our preferred time and went back to the bar.Worked well for us.

[Eglesbrech]

10 hours ago, tartanexile81 said:

It's only a matter of time though and Iona is the first nail... It may be a year or two but more and more people are doing Freedom and it will come to the stage that it's unprofitable to have a Club Dining Room except on maybe adult only ships

 

I am going the opposite direction. We have chosen freedom since it was introduced but based on our last experience of it will be going back to club next time. There is no point in having “freedom” if you end up waiting over an hour to get a table, even when prepared to share.

 

When freedom came in at first I don’t even recall them having pagers (if they did we were never given one, so no wait). The service in freedom has gone down hill.

 

I think however that you are correct about it eventually coming to all ships except the adult only ones.

 

 

[Harry Peterson]

1 hour ago, Eglesbrech said:

 

I am going the opposite direction. We have chosen freedom since it was introduced but based on our last experience of it will be going back to club next time. There is no point in having “freedom” if you end up waiting over an hour to get a table, even when prepared to share.

 

When freedom came in at first I don’t even recall them having pagers (if they did we were never given one, so no wait). The service in freedom has gone down hill.

 

I think however that you are correct about it eventually coming to all ships except the adult only ones.

 

 

Never, ever, had that problem - though we do tend to eat fairly early, and are always happy to share.  Are you perhaps eating at peak times, on a table for two?

[Eglesbrech]

7 minutes ago, docco said:

Never, ever, had that problem - though we do tend to eat fairly early, and are always happy to share.  Are you perhaps eating at peak times, on a table for two?

 

No, we are happy to share and have been on all sized tables. We tend to eat later at about 8pm. On the last cruise we went at 7pm to get a pager as that was the only way to get dinner around the time we normally eat.

 

On the formal night the wait was ridiculous.

 

When we were seated most nights there were lots of free tables but they had not been reset, staff shortages or lack of experience would be my guess.

[Harry Peterson]

7 minutes ago, Eglesbrech said:

 

No, we are happy to share and have been on all sized tables. We tend to eat later at about 8pm. On the last cruise we went at 7pm to get a pager as that was the only way to get dinner around the time we normally eat.

 

On the formal night the wait was ridiculous.

 

When we were seated most nights there were lots of free tables but they had not been reset, staff shortages or lack of experience would be my guess.

That's bad.

 

Despite the problems we had recently on Azura, one of the bright spots was the food and the restaurants - we used only the MDRs and Epicurean. Both were excellent, and we had no waits worth mentioning.

 

Was it Ventura where you had the problem?

[Tablelamp]

My concern about Freedom dining is that every night you would have different waiters.  Most of them are excellent, but there are a few who are inclined to rush passengers through.    I have encountered waiters who start clearing plates away whilst others are still eating.  An American habit rather than British.   Similarly, what about the waiters who think it is OK to serve Expresso coffee in a large cup, thus allowing to cool very quickly

[Eglesbrech]

1 minute ago, docco said:

That's bad.

 

Despite the problems we had recently on Azura, one of the bright spots was the food and the restaurants - we used only the MDRs and Epicurean. Both were excellent, and we had no waits worth mentioning.

 

Was it Ventura where you had the problem?

Britannia.

 

We ended up booking extra pay restaurants on several nights as it was such a pain.

[Tablelamp]

I used the main dining room on Azura, most of the time the waiters were excellent but there were some who definitely wanted to rush.  An evening meal should be an enjoyable and social occasion.

[majortom10]

1 hour ago, Eglesbrech said:

 

I am going the opposite direction. We have chosen freedom since it was introduced but based on our last experience of it will be going back to club next time. There is no point in having “freedom” if you end up waiting over an hour to get a table, even when prepared to share.

 

When freedom came in at first I don’t even recall them having pagers (if they did we were never given one, so no wait). The service in freedom has gone down hill.

 

I think however that you are correct about it eventually coming to all ships except the adult only ones.

 

 

Pagers have always been available since Freedom dining was introduced on Ventura the difference now is at the beginning they were not used because not many chose Freedom because they stuck to the traditional Club Dining but since then Freedom has become popular with traditional cruisers and newer cruisers who dont want to be stuck with dining times. We have done freedom/anytime on P&O and Princess and never had a problem getting a table without a pager because we always share. People who want a table for 2 which causes problems because of limited number of tables for 2 and increasing popularity  of Freedom seems to be the increasing use of pagers.

[tartanexile81]

Eaglesbrech

 

We''ve done Freedom for a few years now and never had to wait any longer than 10 minutes and only then if we've asked for a table for 2.  We usually eat between 7:45 and 8:15. 

 

We also find out a waiter's name and ask to be seated at his / her table we have a good experience. It's not always possible but we usually end up finding out there's two or three we get along well with and stick to them. 

 

However we certainly use speciality restaurants more than we used to because we don't feel guilty that we'll be letting down our table mates. That's  obviously in the cruise line's favour. Although we had some lovely tables (we even cruised for 35 days this year with a couple we met 6 years ago), equally we've met some thoroughly unpleasant people though I have to say this hasn't been on P&O much. 

Edited April 30, 2019 by tartanexile81

[P-L-B]

12 minutes ago, tartanexile81 said:

Eaglesbrech

 

"We also find out a waiter's name and ask to be seated at his / her table we have a good experience. It's not always possible but we usually end up finding out there's two or three we get along well with and stick to them." 

 

Yes agreed, that's what we do.

[terrierjohn]

5 hours ago, Eglesbrech said:

 

I am going the opposite direction. We have chosen freedom since it was introduced but based on our last experience of it will be going back to club next time. There is no point in having “freedom” if you end up waiting over an hour to get a table, even when prepared to share.

 

When freedom came in at first I don’t even recall them having pagers (if they did we were never given one, so no wait). The service in freedom has gone down hill.

 

I think however that you are correct about it eventually coming to all ships except the adult only ones.

 

 

I have almost never had to accept a pager when willing to share a table, so you must have been very unlucky.

[Eglesbrech]

28 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

I have almost never had to accept a pager when willing to share a table, so you must have been very unlucky.

 

I think I was, a perfect storm of a full ship and too many new and inexperienced staff.

[annieuk]

On a cruise last year we were as always on Club dining and our waiters told us they were moving to Freedom Dining the next week and they both pulled a face.  I asked if they didn't like Freedom Dining and they said that they much preferred Club as they liked to get to know the members of their tables and it was all such a rush in Freedom Dining.  I asked if they had any choice about which restaurant they worked in and they said no, they had to 'circulate'.  They weren't happy.