"Feeding Schedule" - Crown

[Sunnystone]

We are embarking on the Crown next week and did not make it off the the wait list for traditional assigned seating. We've never had anything but assigned traditional seating so this "personal choice" concept is virgin ground for us.

 

So, for those in the know,

What would you suggest as a "schedule of sorts" for the remaining restaurants? Ie what are the best places to get the best items (we love seafood) on which nights and where?

 

Thanks!

[Nliedel]

We sort of ate when we were hungry, but along about the fifth day we found a waiter and assistant that we loved and stuck with them by reserving their table every night. I thought I would detest personal choice dining on the Crown and I loved it. So much so that we signed up for it on our cruise next summer.

[pollyanno]

the other two dining rooms will serve exactly the same food as the traditional one, it'll look the same, it'll taste the same, so.. I'd go there! you can probably make a standing reservation for same time/table after the first night if you want to, perhaps not for your most preferred time at a table for 2, but if you're a bit flexible about that it should go just fine, and then you probably won't even notice that you're not in traditional, except that the people at other tables probably won't be on the same course as you.. all you'll really miss out on is the baked alaska parade.

[Steve13]

We are embarking on the Crown next week and did not make it off the the wait list for traditional assigned seating. We've never had anything but assigned traditional seating so this "personal choice" concept is virgin ground for us.

 

So, for those in the know,

What would you suggest as a "schedule of sorts" for the remaining restaurants? Ie what are the best places to get the best items (we love seafood) on which nights and where?

 

Thanks!

 

What number are you on the waitlist?? From what I've read hear, even if you are on the waitlist there is a good chance that you will get a traditional dining seat if you ask the first day onboard. We're on the 9/21 Crown sailing and currently #16 on the waitlist. We certainly hope we clear it and get traditional seating because that's one of the parts of a crusie we enjoy the most.

[erntrish]

We had personal choice dining on the 8/16 sailing. We took all of our dinner meals in the Michelangelo dining room except 1 night in DaVinci, and 1 night in each of the 2 specialty restaurants.

 

We got a table for 2 each night, and only had to wait to be seated on the 2 formal evenings. If you're not willing to join others at a larger table (we weren't on this sailing), they;ll put you on the list, and give you one of those restaurant beepers. We were told our wait would be 20-30 minutes, and by the time we walked over to Vines and ordered a glass of wine, we were buzzing and flashing away.

 

I do miss the relationship you form with a good waitstaff team, though. I guess that's the tradeoff you make for the added flexibility.

[Guest BeckyThane]

We, too, elected Traditional dining, but since we booked so late we never made it off the wait list (#200-and-something as of sailing). So, by default, we went into Personal Choice.

 

The first night we ate in DaVinci, but ate at Michelangelo every other night. We found the wait time to be much less since the crowds streaming out of the main show in the Princess Theater naturally gravitated toward DaVinci on deck 6, rather than going down one to Michelangelo on deck 5.

 

We only had to wait one night, and that was only about 15 minutes. I think it was the first formal night.

 

The other thing we did to avoid crowds -- both in the dining rooms and the theater -- was to go to the earliest show available, either 6:45 or 7 p.m. Show, then dinner. We always got good seats at the theater, and never had to wait for a table in the dining room.

 

~ Becky

[erntrish]

The other thing we did to avoid crowds -- both in the dining rooms and the theater -- was to go to the earliest show available, either 6:45 or 7 p.m. Show, then dinner. We always got good seats at the theater, and never had to wait for a table in the dining room.

 

We used this strategy, too. Our usual MO was back to cabin/shower/etc by 5PM, Crooners or Vines a 6ish for a cocktail, early show, dinner in Michelangelo, then late comedy show. Worked out quite well, and we certainly had no want of entertainment at that point.