Dine My Way & all new Dining questions since cruising restart!!

[oskidunker]

Just off theRoyal  Thanksgiving cruise. Service was bad. Took over two hours for dinner with no desert. Ship fully booked, maybe 4,000 passengers. Tried reservation then went to anytime and got in at 5 pm every night. Thanksgiving dinner was flat out bad. Turkey roll, about 2 ounces, two thin slices of Yam and brussel sprouts. No mashed potatoes . The turkey tasted rubbery. They offered this same crap the last night of the cruise along with a surf and turf ( two small shrimp with no sauce or seasoning and maybe a 2 oz very thin cut tenderloin. I ate two and I am not a big eater. 
 

I wont cruise Princess again. 

[Steelers36]

55 minutes ago, oskidunker said:

Just off theRoyal  Thanksgiving cruise. Service was bad. Took over two hours for dinner with no desert. Ship fully booked, maybe 4,000 passengers. Tried reservation then went to anytime and got in at 5 pm every night. Thanksgiving dinner was flat out bad. Turkey roll, about 2 ounces, two thin slices of Yam and brussel sprouts. No mashed potatoes . The turkey tasted rubbery. They offered this same crap the last night of the cruise along with a surf and turf ( two small shrimp with no sauce or seasoning and maybe a 2 oz very thin cut tenderloin. I ate two and I am not a big eater. 
 

I wont cruise Princess again. 

I do believe there has been a cut-down on ingredient quality and variety of choice from my Regal experience in October.  That said, I found the meals and food items better prepared on Island immediately following the Regal voyages.  Portions have not bothered me too much as you can always ask for more.  Sounds bad for Thanksgiving if they didn't provide the "real thing".  Even pre-Covid, the turkey meal offered on American Night (final night of America-based voyages), was just ordinary and nothing approaching gourmet.

[Thrak]

We have only sailed over Thanksgiving once. We ate in the buffet and felt we got a better dinner than the folks in MDR. Of course it helped that we didn't expect any sort of great meal for Thanksgiving. I just don't understand how anybody can screw up something as simple as pumpkin pie. (Okay, I can see that they might have problems making a great crust when making such large amounts but the pie filling itself is just plain easy.)

[VibeGuy]

Too much clove, not enough cinnamon and sugar.    

[Flyinby]

7 hours ago, oskidunker said:

Just off theRoyal  Thanksgiving cruise. Service was bad. Took over two hours for dinner with no desert. Ship fully booked, maybe 4,000 passengers. Tried reservation then went to anytime and got in at 5 pm every night. 
 

I wont cruise Princess again. 

How do you switch to 'anytime' dining?  We have an upcoming cruise with a family group of 13, and trying to book a reservation for the same time each night has been a nightmare.  Finally had to call them and even then they had to do some workaround and said I'd need to go in first day and clarify that we wanted to dine together.

 

Even at that, if the group got over 4 the earliest available was 7PM, and it's nowhere near a full ship (Royal-Mexico-10 day-Dec. 12).  I'd have taken 5PM if available, even 6:20, but not happy with 7 this time of year.  I can't find anything on their website about any options but making reservations.  Of course they have all the "dine when you want, with who you want, where you want" ads which is a laugh.

 

Do you just show up at the dining room to get "anytime dining"?

[oskidunker]

Just show up at the symphony dining room at. 5pm. They will seat all of you. Forget making reservations. Service is better in anytime 

[Thrak]

I can't imagine that they will be able to seat a group of 13 at a single table. A better option is two tables next to each other and folks can move around from night to night so they can converse with every person in the group.

[jinpasco]

We just got off the Caribbean Princess and  DMY just doesn't work. If you had a reservation at 5 or 5:30 it was fine. Dinner took so long as they are short staffed that guests were lined up waiting on long lines. One night the line to the Palm went from the door, up the 2 sets of stairs and to the Vista lounge!!!! After night 2 we just went to the buffet. Unfortunately the food is not what it used to be so at times the buffet was the better choice. One night was Sabatinis and it is so worth the effort to make a reservation there ! 

May be time to look back to the old ways. 3 dining venues...One early, one late and one for anytime. Seemed to work fine for years. 

 

[Flyinby]

On 11/28/2022 at 1:55 PM, Thrak said:

I can't imagine that they will be able to seat a group of 13 at a single table. A better option is two tables next to each other and folks can move around from night to night so they can converse with every person in the group.

We've always had to use 2 tables...usually an 8 and a 6, in the past, but always next to each other so it was fine.  That's what I'd hoped to do in the app, but it's not possible, so if the staff can't arrange it when we board, we'll try just showing up at 5 or so and see how that works.

[Incognito1]

On 9/26/2022 at 4:31 PM, NownZen said:

We had no problem dining the same time with the same people on our last cruise.

We had the same dining time throughout the cruise and never once sat with the same people or had the same waiter.  Most people were interesting, but we did have one "gentleman" that we decided we'd rather chew glass than sit with for 90 minutes.  I need TD back, same waiter, same people every night.  Though I love Princess, we're probably going to give RCCL another try for our next booking.

Edited December 3, 2022 by Incognito1

[memoak]

There is no traditional dining anymore and I doubt it ever will.  Don’t expect things to go back to the past

[Steelers36]

1 hour ago, memoak said:

There is no traditional dining anymore and I doubt it ever will.  Don’t expect things to go back to the past

You can still create it by request and is quite easy for a Private group.  More difficult for random strangers to be kept together at same table every night, but it has been done.

[AzCruiser2022]

Hi there, 

 

Is there a way to view representative menus (or even better, actual) for the MDR on Discovery Princess?  First time on Princess.  On HAL and Celebrity we could see the menus from their apps well in advance. 

 

Thanks

[Steelers36]

54 minutes ago, AzCruiser2022 said:

Hi there, 

 

Is there a way to view representative menus (or even better, actual) for the MDR on Discovery Princess?  First time on Princess.  On HAL and Celebrity we could see the menus from their apps well in advance. 

 

Thanks

Yes, but not in advance of your voyage.  Also displayed on in-cabin TV's and posted at the DR entrances.

 

[travelin.sisters]

On 12/4/2022 at 7:48 AM, AzCruiser2022 said:

Hi there, 

 

Is there a way to view representative menus (or even better, actual) for the MDR on Discovery Princess?  First time on Princess.  On HAL and Celebrity we could see the menus from their apps well in advance. 

 

Thanks

check a recent "Live" or Cruise Report from the Discovery or from another ship doing the same itinerary

 

[windsor26]

On majestic full cruise. Food excellent lots of choices served. Hot and well

 served we also found it to be the same on the coral last month. No complaints at. All

[candide333]

I Googled Discovery menus and I found this site to be exceptionally informative. Not sure if I can provide the link, but here it is. 
 

https://profcruise.com/princess-cruise-lines-2022-dinner-menus/

[Steelers36]

15 hours ago, candide333 said:

I Googled Discovery menus and I found this site to be exceptionally informative. Not sure if I can provide the link, but here it is. 
 

https://profcruise.com/princess-cruise-lines-2022-dinner-menus/

These can give a pretty good idea of what to expect, but the post is almost a year old and dishes do change somewhat over time and also depending on area of the world.

[Incognito1]

On 12/5/2022 at 11:33 PM, windsor26 said:

On majestic full cruise. Food excellent lots of choices served. Hot and well

 served we also found it to be the same on the coral last month. No complaints at. All

Glad to hear that.  We were on Ruby and the menu was just... sad.  Buffet was less than wonderful and anything good they put down was immediately snatched up by a very large rude group of passengers that had zero manners, don't know the meaning of queue, and left tons of food on the tables when they finally did leave.

 

Never cruising out of San Francisco again.

[damiross]

3 hours ago, Incognito1 said:

Glad to hear that.  We were on Ruby and the menu was just... sad.  Buffet was less than wonderful and anything good they put down was immediately snatched up by a very large rude group of passengers that had zero manners, don't know the meaning of queue, and left tons of food on the tables when they finally did leave.

 

Never cruising out of San Francisco again.

These Neanderthals having nothing to do with San Francisco.  The only problem we've had sailing out of San Francisco was a certain ethnic group.  The parents were idiotic and rude.  Their children, however, were polite.

[sabreline]

On 11/29/2022 at 6:34 AM, jinpasco said:

We just got off the Caribbean Princess and  DMY just doesn't work. If you had a reservation at 5 or 5:30 it was fine. Dinner took so long as they are short staffed that guests were lined up waiting on long lines. One night the line to the Palm went from the door, up the 2 sets of stairs and to the Vista lounge!!!! After night 2 we just went to the buffet. Unfortunately the food is not what it used to be so at times the buffet was the better choice. One night was Sabatinis and it is so worth the effort to make a reservation there ! 

May be time to look back to the old ways. 3 dining venues...One early, one late and one for anytime. Seemed to work fine for years. 

 

Cannot agree more!!!! We did the same thing....buffet, room service, Crown Grill and Sabatinis but NO to the dining rooms.

[memoak]

1 hour ago, sabreline said:

Cannot agree more!!!! We did the same thing....buffet, room service, Crown Grill and Sabatinis but NO to the dining rooms.

Disagree. We book club class so no wait. Avoid Crown, way too much food. No buffet 

[NownZen]

36 minutes ago, memoak said:

Disagree. We book club class so no wait. Avoid Crown, way too much food. No buffet 

Buffet has been great. Lots of choices, most very good. Eat at your own pace. Go back if you want more. Dining rooms take forever and have a limited choice.

[memoak]

17 hours ago, NownZen said:

Buffet has been great. Lots of choices, most very good. Eat at your own pace. Go back if you want more. Dining rooms take forever and have a limited choice.

Have yet to see steak Diane, lamb chops, escargot etc in a buffet. It sounds like choosing Golden Corral over Chris Ruths

[Steelers36]

1 hour ago, memoak said:

Have yet to see steak Diane, lamb chops, escargot etc in a buffet. It sounds like choosing Golden Corral over Chris Ruths

Point made, but I would hardly compare the DR's to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse.  😉