Dining--PC or Traditional

[vivalv66]

Need some input on this. We signed up for preferred dining option. After reading all the negative posts wondering if we should switch to traditional???
Probably too late to switch since our sailing is already sold out and only 48 days away. Can you make reservations only after boarding the ship or can you do it on line or phone? Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks! Sherry

[Bucky3]

We were on the Caribbean Princess in June and never had a problem just walking in - we did usually eat early, however, between 6:30 and 7. Also enjoyed the Caribe Cafe in the evening.

[melissa_bel]

The negatives reports are coming from passengers on the Diamond and the Sapphire. They have a different restaurants system. Instead of three main dining room, it has one main for Traditionnal and 4 themed restaurants for Anytime.
I would not worry about Anytime Dining. I always chose Anytime and it worked fine both times I was on the Grand Princess. The longest we have to wait was 10 minutes.

[CruiseFever]

[quote name='melissa_bel']The negatives reports are coming from passengers on the Diamond and the Sapphire. They have a different restaurants system. Instead of three main dining room, it has one main for Traditionnal and 4 themed restaurants for Anytime.
I would not worry about Anytime Dining. I always chose Anytime and it worked fine both times I was on the Grand Princess. The longest we have to wait was 10 minutes.[/QUOTE]
That was pretty much our experience on the Golden and Caribbean Princess.

Basically?

It's really no big deal.

I mean if we thought we were going to just waltz in there at the busiest time with a party of 12 and expect to sit right down and have the service staff that we'd never met before read our minds and have our favorite beverage waiting there we would be disappointed.

From what I have seen on board, in real life, most reasonable people will find it no less than [i]good[/i] and a bunch will find it [i]a perfect fit. [/i]Still, sitting here on our computers killing time before or between cruises, upcoming different experiences like Anytime Dining (or Movies Under The Stars) are easy targets for ridicule and speculation.

I know that I read and read about it on here but really didn't get the hang of it until I'd been there and done it.

Whereever you go, come armed with an appetite and you'll be fine

[bcs819]

Which ship are you sailing on? I think you asked me for the Diamond Patters which is a totally different system than most of the other Princes ships.

[espmass]

I'm grateful for the few posts on this thread. I had read those awful comments over the weekend on the thread about the dining on the Diamond and have been thinking about changing my upcoming Star cruise back to Celebrity. The negative comments really scared me but this gives me a little more positive input. I will be with a party of 4 and we will likely want to be seated somewhere close to 7 or 7:30. Hopefully there won't be too long of a wait.

[ahracer]

I don't think you'll encounter any problems on the Star since it is totally different then the way Diamond and Sapphire do it. We did Anytime on the Grand and never had a problem getting a table.

Scott

[spongerob]

While we prefer traditional dining (late), we have done Anytime and like you, read numerous negative comments about it before that cruise. As it turned out, Anytime wasn't nearly as bad as we feared. There are pluses and minuses to each choice that balance out. One is not necessarily better than the other, it just depends on your personal preferences.

[gunnywife]

We just came back from Alaska on the Island and had no trouble with personal choice dining. BUT now we're sailing on the Diamond at the end of the month and after reading about the dining problems I got a little nervous. I just called Princess and this is what I was told:

There are 2 dining rooms for personal choice - Pacific Moon and Santa Fe. Apparently one opens after the other because she said what time you arrived for dinner would determine the restaurant. She indicated they do not take reservations. I had her repeat that several times and she was very positive that they do not take reservations. I did ask if it was too late to change to traditional and she indicated we would be on a waitlist and probably would have to stay with personal choice. Apparently the first restaurant opens at 6:30. On the Island the restaurant opened at 5:30, giving people a longer window of time to choose for dinner. If I had known beforehand that dinner didn't start until 6:30 I would have gone with traditional dining. I'm anxious to see how it goes, but my next trip on Princess will be planned for traditional dining.

I personally think the cruise lines are pushing the specialty restaurants and if people use them a lot the places to eat "for free" will be mostly cafeteria type restaurants. I hope I'm wrong about that.

[vivalv66]

[quote name='bcs819']Which ship are you sailing on? I think you asked me for the Diamond Patters which is a totally different system than most of the other Princes ships.[/QUOTE]
Yes we are on the Diamond. So the Pacific Moon and Sante Fe don't take reservations but the Sterling and Vivaldi do? I am so confused. I thought we had to get on the ship and make reservations right away for all the restaurants if we wanted a specific time. I'm sorry but what is the Diamonds system? Thanks again, Sherry

[gunnywife]

My husband just called Princess and got a totally different answer than I did. I'm waiting awhile until I cool off and then I'm going to call and ask for a supervisor and try to get to the bottom of this restaurant deal.

[bcs819]

There are FIVE free restaurants/dining rooms on the Diamond plus the buffet making for SIX. Sabatini's has a surcharge so let's take that out of the mix. Of the FIVE free restaurants, one is for traditional fixed seating at the same time, at the same table with the same servers every night. That restaurant is called the International Dining Room. If the personalizer says you are confirmed traditonial. This is where you will go. When you embark, your cruise card will tell you what table you are at. You will not know what size your table is until you get to it, there is no indication on the card. That leaves us with the FOUR dining rooms being so heatedly discussed, Sterling, Vivaldi, Santa Fe and Pacific Moon. Each of these has a small, set menu every night PLUS the menu from the International Dining room. You CAN make reservations for any of these, or just walk up and the people at the door will tell you if there is a wait, how long, or where to go to eat immediately. You CANNOT make a reservation during peak dining times, or that is the general concensus from people who have tried. If you get traditional dining, you can still order from the other menus. You will get the same choices wherever you eat. All that will change is the time, service and wait. Capisce?

[gunnywife]

Bernie:

You saved me another call and explained the dining situation much more clearly than anyone I've talked to at Princess. Thanks for the help. I'm sorry you had some bad dining experiences on your cruise. I'm hoping it will be better for us now that I know what to expect.
Lynn

[bcs819]

glad to help :)

[vivalv66]

Thanks to all. The info helped a lot.

[Cruisin'40]

Having only one traditional dining room would explain why in booking 7 months in advance we were waitlisted for traditional dining! ;)