personal choice dining

[reenek]

Does RC have personal choice dining on any of their ships?

Thanks We did Princess last year & really liked that option

Reenek

[bbqman]

No. Wish they did.

[emilygrace]

No, and I wish they did too. We tried it on Princess and it was great. I've never sailed on NCL, but I think I would prefer the Personal Choice to Freestyle. We had no problem getting a table on Princess and were seated with some great people.

[hdawson]

Royal Caribbean doesn't offer personal choice or freestyle dining. That's one major reason I cruise with them. I prefer having the same waitstaff and tablemates every night. I'm very glad that NCL and Princess offers that choice for those that like it. Certainly there is a cruiseline for everyone.

[springtxbill]

We did the Personal Choice on Princess last year and really enjoyed it. Hope RCCL joins in soon.:)

[bbqman]

Royal Caribbean doesn't offer personal choice or freestyle dining. That's one major reason I cruise with them. I prefer having the same waitstaff and tablemates every night. I'm very glad that NCL and Princess offers that choice for those that like it. Certainly there is a cruiseline for everyone.

Varity is the spice of life. By the way Princess also offers traditional dining for those that prefer it. :)

[cattman]

Count me in as one of the fans of PC... recently cruised on the Serenade, my first with RCI... after 10 Princess cruises, I guess I was spoiled, and really missed it, esp in Alaska, where the sun shines till 10 - 11 and you may not want to eat at 6 or 8...

Wouldn't have been so bad if they didn't close the Windjammer PROMPTLY(read ten minutes before) at 9, with no other options but room service till the fast food option opens at 10. Will not be cruising RCI again until they offer something similar to Princess... I think it's only a matter of time, in order to stay competitive.

[jstducky]

personally i am not a fan of the freestyle dining options offered by RCI. i would take traditional dining any day over freestyle. i too like having the same waitstaff day in and day out. how are they supposed to get to know you and serve you well if you get someone new all the time?

[hdawson]

I seriously doubt that Royal Caribbean wants to be just a carbon copy of Princess or NCL. Each line should be destinctive and have their own style, and not try to be all things to all people.

[CaribbeanCruisesRock]

Nope, i wish royal caribbean did though.

[D4]

There's a misconception that with Princess's Personal Choice dining and NCL's freestyle dining that you can't dine at the same time at the same table with the same wait staff every night. You can arrange that easily on both lines. So you can have the flexibility or traditional dining if you prefer it.

[jstducky]

i know that you can do it on both. when i was on NCL i was told that you could arrange it to get the same table with the same waitstaff.. but the experience isn't the same. that means that you'd be eating in a restaurant that served the same food every night. on ncl most of their restaruants don't rotate menus. in order to be able to try different foods you needed to change to a different restaurant every time. with traditional dining you get not only the same waitstaff and table but you get a new menu everynight so its like going to a new restaurant every night, but with the familiar surroundings.

 

i don't know, its just my opinion. if i had a choice i would stay away from NCL's freestyle dining. but then again, in the end it all depends on itinerary and price. for example if you asked me for a suggestion on which cruise line to sail hawaii, as much as i am not a fan of freestyle i wouldn't hesitate to recommend NCL in Hawaii for a heartbeat...

[RM]

I'm glad RCI hasn't converted to this and hope they never do! I enjoy meals in the dining room with the same crew and same tablemates each night.

[wblynch]

Assigned dining (along with formal night) is a vacation experience unique to cruising.

 

I hope the do not eliminate it.

 

Elegant pleasures are a rare commodity any more.

 

After all, my days of the the typical "Day's Inn-Disneyworld-Rental Car-Denny's" vacation are far behind me. And I don't particularly want to go back.

 

:cool:

[swiss]

We had our first experience with Personal Choice dining on the Caribbean Princess last month and was totally sold on it. I was very hesitant about trying it because I have liked the traditional dining style with the same crew and table mates in the past. Personal choice dining was all of the experience of the traditional dining style and more. If you find a wait staff that you like, you can request to be seating in their wait area every night. We enjoyed getting to meet different people every night, or sometimes eating by ourselves for a more romantic dinner. Personal choice did not take away at all from the elegance and style of dinner, it just gave us a choice of going to dinner when we were ready. I wish that RCCL would leave one area (maybe one floor) of the dining room reserved for traditional and they make another area for personal choice. Princess has done this, one dining room is for traditional and 2 dining rooms are for personal choice. You satisfy everyone, it make our cruise even more relaxing than any other in the past, if you can imagine that.

 

Swiss

[maxxboy]

No personal choice for us. We did that on the Golden Princess and hated it! We missed having the same waiter and table mates each night. Some said we just need to make reservations for a certain time and for a certain waiter, but that took away the "personal choice" for us because we wanted the flexabilty to eat whenever we wanted.

[Cruise_More_Often]

No personal choice for us. We did that on the Golden Princess and hated it! We missed having the same waiter and table mates each night. Some said we just need to make reservations for a certain time and for a certain waiter, but that took away the "personal choice" for us because we wanted the flexabilty to eat whenever we wanted.

Color me confused, Maxxboy. Doesn't your statement "because we wanted the flexibility to eat whenever we wanted" mean you would choose either Princess's Personal Choice or NCL's Freestyle? Without flexibility you would have traditional dining. (Or perhaps I read your post wrong.)

 

On our April NCL cruise, we ate only in the alternative restaurants except for the formal night. The service was phenomenal. Plus, the alternative dining rooms were never filled to the max, so the waiters actually had time to come over and converse with us.

 

We're sailing RCI next, and I'm excited to experience traditional dining again so I can really compare the two.

[hdawson]

From what I've heard there are certain times where you are given a flashing-light beeper ala Red Lobster, and you can go elsewhere while you wait for a table to open up. There are popular times that elimantes the "anytime" feature.

[Seaside2358]

What are the main differences between Personal Choice and Freestyle?

[jezzdogg]

Also, what we missed by Personal choice, was the special desserts. Because, people are coming and going at different time-...and haveing there deserts that way.......Princess does not have the baked Alaska, cherries jubliee, etc...........in the PC dining rooms.

Maybe RCI should do in the Caribbean, what I hear they are doing in Europe......4 different seatings for dinner. They start dinner on one floor at 6 and the other at 6:30. and late at seatings for the different floors at differemnt time, not really sure of times. They do this in Europe, because of lot of Europeans like to eat late.....but, this could work at well everywhere

[reggierail]

That's why I sail on RCCL and Celebrity.

If you don't, you've got the choice of Princess or NCL.

 

Reggie

[bUU]

I thought I read that where they offer one of these two alternatives (I forget which), they still also offer the traditional option. Wouldn't that be the best option overall? That way, those that prefer the traditional option still have it, and even better, they don't have to deal with the passengers who don't!

[Ohunion Cruzers]

RCI DOES offer freestyle dining - Anyone can go to the Windjammer anytime they want.

[bUU]

NCL's "freestyle dining" refers to the fact that there isn't assigned seating ("open seating until 10pm") in the main, full-service dining room. That is not an option RCI currently offers. In addition, NCL's "freestyle dining" refers to the fact that you can choose to dress as you wish, either formal or casual ("resort casual attire is always appropiate").

 

The buffet is a completely separate choice on NCL from the "freestyle dining" nature of its main, full-service dining room.

[WolfpackFan]

I have to say the lack of Personal Choice dining is what is keeping me from booking an RCI cruise. We've been on two Princess cruises and love being able to dine when and with whom we wish. I really want to go on a RCI cruise just because I love what I see of the big Voyager class ships, but everytime I look into them and think about booking it occurs to me that we'd be stuck eating at the same time everyday with the same strangers. We may still book an RCI cruise, but if they had some form of PC dining, I'd be booked on one today.