Dining: How does "open seating" work on Princess?

[PaperSniper4]

We use traditional early dining whenever possible. We have some cruise line the flexible dining worked well because we could make reservations well in advance of our sailing date; or at least a day or so in advance. On other cruise lines I've found that is sometimes not possible until that day,  and then trying to get something "early" is nearly impossible. At one time with Princess' flexible hours, we could not get reservations before 2000....but that was many cruises ago.

 

So how's it work now on Princess? Can be request a table for two, at say 1730-1830? And it so, when can we do that?

 

Thanks for your recent experience.

 

 Doug

[NownZen]

DMW in the app.

[Cruise Raider]

You can reserve your dinner times on the app and pick a private table for two.  Depending on the capacity, it is easy enough to get a table to your liking without making a reservation once onboard.  

[MissP22]

We always eat early and still I make the reservations for 5 PM in the app. 

Saying that they still make you wait on line as if you just arrived without any reservations.

I suppose we'll just have to contact the head waiter to secure the same table & time each night like we use to. 

[Westsail32]

I had always used open dining until my cruise last month. With Covid I decided I wanted a solo table.  Last cruise I picked a set time traditional dining which I’d never done before.  The first night I approached the manager to ask I’d I could have the same table every night.  It was GREAT.  Same servers, same staff, being greated by name, being able to just walk to my table without problem.  I loved it.  I’m never going back to open dining.

Edited November 12, 2022 by Westsail32

[memoak]

1 hour ago, Westsail32 said:

I had always used open dining until my cruise last month. With Covid I decided I wanted a solo table.  Last cruise I picked a set time traditional dining which I’d never done before.  The first night I approached the manager to ask I’d I could have the same table every night.  It was GREAT.  Same servers, same staff, being greated by name, being able to just walk to my table without problem.  I loved it.  I’m never going back to open dining.

There is no “traditional” dining on Princess. It sounds like you made arrangements on board. This may not be possible on all cruises

[Pam in CA]

I’ve taken five cruises in the past year. 
 

On all of them, I selected a time, dining room and pro care table for two and reserved it for the whole cruise. 
 

On the Grand, we asked and were given the same table and waitstaff every night. We were able to modify our dining times some nights and still got the same table and waitstaff. 
 

On the Majestic, we asked and were told absolutely not. We could not have the same table or waitstaff. We couldn’t even have the same section. The Head Waiter was pretty rude about it. 
 

Recently disembarked the Sapphire on a 10-day cruise and had the same experience as the Grand: same table and waitstaff every night, even when we changed our dining time some nights.

 

I still prefer Traditional dining but at least on three cruises, we were able to replicate it. Not so on two Majestic cruises. 

[Mike45LC]

Before my recent Sapphire Princess cruise, I used “dine my way“ on the app to make dinner reservations for every night. We showed up for dinner every night in accordance with the reservations we had made, and were in every case seated in less than five minutes. It worked very well.

 

Sapphire has five different main dining rooms, and I wanted to try each one, so it never occurred to me to request the same table and staff each night. 

[NSWP]

3 hours ago, MissP22 said:

We always eat early and still I make the reservations for 5 PM in the app. 

Saying that they still make you wait on line as if you just arrived without any reservations.

I suppose we'll just have to contact the head waiter to secure the same table & time each night like we use to. 

5pm for dinner, crikey that is real early.

[Kay S]

3 hours ago, Pam in CA said:

 

On the Majestic, we asked and were told absolutely not. We could not have the same table or waitstaff. We couldn’t even have the same section. The Head Waiter was pretty rude about it. 
 

 

This was our experience on the Majestic, too.  With the rude head waiter and all. 

[SantaFeFan]

5 hours ago, Mike45LC said:

Sapphire has five different main dining rooms, and I wanted to try each one, so it never occurred to me to request the same table and staff each night. 

 

That's what we do. Instead of the same table and waiters every night, we prefer to try all the dining rooms and different locations in each, and to meet more of the great dining staff. We prefer variety so that each dining is a new adventure rather than repeating the same experience over and over and over again. 

[Kay S]

1 hour ago, SantaFeFan said:

 

 We prefer variety so that each dining is a new adventure rather than repeating the same experience over and over and over again. 

They serve the same food in every dining room, so I guess the variety you are looking for is decor?

[Mike45LC]

17 minutes ago, Kay S said:

They serve the same food in every dining room, so I guess the variety you are looking for is decor?

Decor, staff and dining neighbors, I would guess.

[MissP22]

10 hours ago, NSWP said:

5pm for dinner, crikey that is real early.

It's early for most people but works for us Florida folks. You would be surprised at the number of people lined up to eat at that time.

The line starts at 5 PM and by 6 PM is packed. I hate fighting the crowds so we arrive a little early & take our time eating. 

[wowzz]

14 minutes ago, MissP22 said:

It's early for most people but works for us Florida folks. You would be surprised at the number of people lined up to eat at that time.

The line starts at 5 PM and by 6 PM is packed. I hate fighting the crowds so we arrive a little early & take our time eating. 

Wasn't there a similar discussion recently,  when many Floridians responded by saying that early diners are in the minority ? 

[PaperSniper4]

17 hours ago, NownZen said:

DMW in the app.

Roger that, thanks. I did see info on that at Princess.com yesterday. I'll have to probably re-download the Medallion app as the last time we had it was for a cancelled Feb 2021 cruise, and before that, for a Nov 2019 cruise we took.

 

 Doug

[PaperSniper4]

13 hours ago, Mike45LC said:

Before my recent Sapphire Princess cruise, I used “dine my way“ on the app to make dinner reservations for every night. We showed up for dinner every night in accordance with the reservations we had made, and were in every case seated in less than five minutes. It worked very well.

 

Sapphire has five different main dining rooms, and I wanted to try each one, so it never occurred to me to request the same table and staff each night. 

When did you make your reservations? That day? Day before? A long time before? Just curious.....I need to download the app and try to make reservations, but our cruise is not until March 2023 so I'm pretty sure I'm far, far to early. Maybe have the final payment?

 

 Doug

[Westsail32]

15 hours ago, memoak said:

There is no “traditional” dining on Princess. It sounds like you made arrangements on board. This may not be possible on all cruises

 

 

By "Traditional" I mean picking a set time each night in the dining room.  You can select your dining time and table size options prior to the cruise in the app. 

 

The term "Traditional Dining" is the same as described in this cruise critic article.

 

https://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?ID=648

 

 

[Westsail32]

14 hours ago, Pam in CA said:

I’ve taken five cruises in the past year. 
 

On all of them, I selected a time, dining room and pro care table for two and reserved it for the whole cruise. 
 

Recently disembarked the Sapphire on a 10-day cruise and had the same experience as the Grand: same table and waitstaff every night, even when we changed our dining time some nights.

 

I left the Sapphire last month on a ten-day Sea of Cortez cruise (maybe the same one?).  They were very happy to grant my request for the same table and wait staff.  

 

 

[SantaFeFan]

7 hours ago, Kay S said:

They serve the same food in every dining room, so I guess the variety you are looking for is decor?

 

Not only dining room decor, but different perspectives on that decor, plus the benefit of seeing new faces and interacting with more of the staff. Seeing the same dining room from different locations provides an interesting and satisfying aspect to dining - the views are unique from every location. We get bored going to the same table in the same location with the same people surrounding us, every night, night after night, especially on longer cruises. And this is especially pronounced when that table is in a bad location.

 

On our last Grand Princess cruise we sat at a table for eight with four other people in Da Vinci. That table was located in a corner of the room. It became a race to be the first ones there to grab the best seats, the ones where the view wasn't two blank walls. The other four people were always at the front of the line when the doors opened, so we would end up with the bad seats every time. We eventually asked to be moved, and we did end up at a better location. For the rest of the cruise, the people at that first table would scowl at us anytime we crossed paths, probably because they thought that we didn't like them and were insulted. 😀

 

 

[teecee60]

14 hours ago, NSWP said:

5pm for dinner, crikey that is real early.

Not if you MUST be in bed before 9PM. 😉

[memoak]

6 hours ago, MissP22 said:

It's early for most people but works for us Florida folks. You would be surprised at the number of people lined up to eat at that time.

The line starts at 5 PM and by 6 PM is packed. I hate fighting the crowds so we arrive a little early & take our time eating. 

I cannot even imagine eating dinner before 7:30 even at home

[stoneharborlady]

9 minutes ago, memoak said:

I cannot even imagine eating dinner before 7:30 even at home

Different times for different folks.  If I waited till 7:30 I would be starved.  In our house, dinner is by six.  

[Cruise Raider]

2 minutes ago, stoneharborlady said:

Different times for different folks.  If I waited till 7:30 I would be starved.  In our house, dinner is by six.  

Sometimes when we at home, we eat by 3:30 PM and our preferred dinner time is actually by 4:30 PM.  On cruises, we like to make our reservations for 6:00 - 6:20 PM.  That gives us plenty of time to head up to the PES event prior to dinner and to get to the 8:30 PM shows/activities after dinner.   

[MissP22]

6 hours ago, wowzz said:

Wasn't there a similar discussion recently,  when many Floridians responded by saying that early diners are in the minority ? 

Yes there was, and lots of Fl. folks don't mind eating later. 

I've never surveyed the people standing in line a 4:45 PM but there are lots of them. Probably not from the UK though. 😄