PC dinning question

[MTV43]

We had traditional seating for our past 3 cruises, like to try PC for our up coming cruise. Would it work for a group of 8 adults and six kids (10-15) or just ideal for a couple?

 

MTV

[newbiejay]

Just got home today from Caribbean Princess. PC would work fine for you but you need to make reservations the day you board to get a decent time and to seat that large a group. We waited too long too make reservations and couldn't get in before 8 each night. There are 2 dining rooms for PC and we were at not at the same one each night. I enjoyed it because of the freedom to eat when you want.

[CruiseFever]

Lois' advice (above) is golden.

 

I'd also recommend, if possible, to avoid peak dining periods. If you go early or later things will go much smoother for your large group.

 

Bon Appetit

[bagelme]

Lois...when you reserved your table, what time did you have?

 

When on the Caribbean Princess, 10/30, our group of eight didn't really eat together in the dining room the first few nights. Had reservations at Sterlings the first night, then different people had different choices for a couple of nights, ie. Ultimate Balcony dinner, Cafe Caribe, or whatever. Then on Tues. night we ate together (no reservation/no wait either), and fell in love with our waiter and asst. We wanted them for Thurs. formal night for sure. The maitre'd would not book our reservation at "prime time", but did schedule us for earlier...I think about 6:30. Some of the group noted that we would have reserved that table for Wed. night, too, but we just took our chances. Lo and behold, we arrive...no reservation...and no wait....and are seated with the waiters we liked so much. So we had them for three nights in a row, then ate at Sabatini's the last night. Everything worked out great! Pat

[MTV43]

Thanks for your great advice. One more question, do I have to make reservation on a daily basis? or can I reserve in advance for the entire cruise as soon as we board the ship?

 

MTV

[Lynda90]

We had traditional seating for our past 3 cruises, like to try PC for our up coming cruise. Would it work for a group of 8 adults and six kids (10-15) or just ideal for a couple?

 

MTV

What ship will you be on?

[Charlene]

We are a group of 8 on the Sun Princess, and have done this PC dining on the Dawn, Island Princess. And it works out great for us.. We always make our reservations the first day for about 6:30pm.

[Flyer]

We used PC dining for the first time this past week 11/27-12/4. There are only two of us and we ate at 6:00 every evening and called in reservations every morning. Others have said they make reservations for the whole cruise but, one day I tried to reserve for the following day and they told me I had to call each day. FYI, except on formal nights the dining room was not too full at 6:00 when we arrived. As we left around 7:00 there were more people but only once did I see a couple with the blinking pager.

 

PC works great and ALL the wait staff that we had were very good to excellent.

 

MTV43, One thing on the size of your group, all the tables I saw were round for what looked like seating for eight. (I liked that!) so you may end up with two tables. I don't think that would pose a problem for you.

[MTV43]

What ship will you be on?

We will be on the Caribbean Princess going to Eastern Caribbean on 12/17/05.

 

We have always sailed during summer. What is the weather like at Princess Cay toward the end of December?

 

MTV

[SoFloDeb]

During our Caribbean Princess cruise, we noticed a large table of 8 directly behind us and next to them was a table of four very well-behaved children ages 6 - 10, I guess. They had a standing reservation for the same tables at the same time each night and they appeared to be very happy with the arrangement.

[Lynda90]

We will be on the Caribbean Princess going to Eastern Caribbean on 12/17/05.

 

We have always sailed during summer. What is the weather like at Princess Cay toward the end of December?

 

MTV

We just got off the Diamond yesterday. We had anytime dining for the first time and really enjoyed it. They do not take reservations after six or before 8 PM. The largest tables were for 8. We were with a large group from our roll call and had dinner with members of our group every night with a table for 8. We had two different times for our group. Some were at 5:30 and others at 8. A truly wonderful cruise it was. No complaints.

[mfk]

I am not understanding PC dining. It was my understanding that you just arrived at any given time and it would be ok. Understanding that there might be a wait. Do we have to make reservations every day. That seems to be like traditional seating. We have sailed many times and thought we would like to be able to go and eat whenever. Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.

[SoFloDeb]

You do not have to make reservations. We wanted traditional dining and decided to make the PC dining as close to traditional as possible. We wanted a good waiter with a good table location and once we found it, we kept. Of course, you can go anytime you want and you seem to have the perfect understanding of PC. I guess Personal Choice dining can be whatever you make of it.

 

Sorry if my posts confused you.

[argosy]

I am not understanding PC dining. It was my understanding that you just arrived at any given time and it would be ok. Understanding that there might be a wait. Do we have to make reservations every day. That seems to be like traditional seating. We have sailed many times and thought we would like to be able to go and eat whenever. Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.

 

 

Traditional seating would be dining at the same time every night. Personal Choice or Anytime is dining at the hour you choose. For Personal Choice/Anytime, (like any land restaurant) if you simply walk in for dinner, you might be immediately seated if there is availability...or you might have to wait 15 to 20 minutes, depending on the night.

 

SO...to get around the wait time with Personal Choice/Anytime, you can make reservations if you know what time you want to have dinner. Just as in a land based restaurant. The significant difference between Personal Choice/Anytime and Traditional/Fixed is that you are not tied to dining at a specific time each night unless you choose to.

[CruiseFever]

I am not understanding PC dining. It was my understanding that you just arrived at any given time and it would be ok. Understanding that there might be a wait. Do we have to make reservations every day. That seems to be like traditional seating. We have sailed many times and thought we would like to be able to go and eat whenever. Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.

No, I think you ARE understanding it just fine. You CAN make reservations if you wish and some guests do just that, asking for the same table, same service team, etc.

 

In many ways doing it that way IS indeed a lot like traditional fixed seating, but not totally. Differences include

 

• In Fixed you'll have the same people seated around you every night, in Anytime they will change. We did this on our Golden Princess cruise and we DID notice a lot of the same people came at the same time every night in Anytime Dining as we made our reservations for when the dining room opened so it really was like the first seating of Fixed dining in that respect
  
• In either early or late Fixed they open the dining room when it is ready and everyone sits down at the same time. In Anytime dining the reason you might wait, even if you have a reservation, is that some random party is sitting at your table before you. If the Maitre'd staff are on their toes they'll anticipate your reserved arrival and not seat your table too close to when you are scheduled to arrive....but it's not an exact science.
  
• Fixed fans say they like and feel an element of camaraderie not present in Anytime Dining. Personally I'll get my camaraderie fix in a bar someplace, at a Cruise Critic meet and greet or simply in the Embarkation line, waiting to get on the ship. In the dining room, I'm there for business; Show Me The Menu!
  

As to the basics of your dining options, Anytime Dining (sometimes called "Personal Choice Dining or PC"), is another way to feed you. It allows you to eat when you want and with who you want any time during the dining room hours of operation just as you thought.

 

On thatGolden cruise I mentioned, for example, there were two other dining rooms to serve those who had selected or had been given Personal Choice dining. We chose one, liked it a lot, and asked to be seated at the same table, at the same time, with the same waiter for the rest of the cruise. This was no problem. So for all practical purposes we did have traditional dining. The same menu was being served the only difference was that the people around us were not always the same...although many were.

 

We could have simply walked into one of the PC dining rooms during serving hours when we were hungry and been seated, probably after a wait. We could have phoned in reservations for various places to eat at various times during the week in advance, say on the first day aboard. Not a bad idea if you like early dining but not when the ship is in port and you'll be ashore, for example.

 

It's really all about flexibility and goes beyond just dining to encompass a style of vacationing termed Personal Choice Cruising. The Anytime Dining part, for example, makes it possible to meet new friends on a shore excursion or at pool side and have dinner with them that night.

 

Before, when meeting a new friend one of the questions asked would be "Which (traditional assigned dining) seating are you? From there plans for the evening could be made and a time set up to meet after dinner. Now you can include dinner in your plans for the evening and at a time tht is convenient for you.

 

In addition to the traditional and Personal Choice dining rooms are other specialty restaurants like Sabatinis or the Sterling Steak House that offer sit down dining for a small additional fee and are reservation only. These offer even more flexibility but require thinking ahead.

 

Providing yet another choice besides these sitdown table service restaurants is the Horizon Court a 24/7 buffet. On some ships it's buffet by day that transforms itself into more of a service oriented venue at night. There's also a Pizza and Grill open a good chunk of the day and 24 hour room service that has extensive offerings.

 

That's it in a nutshel

[crisp1]

I guess that there are gratuities added to your card for both your cabin steward and for the dining crew? We have always tipped extra on the last night to our waiter crew. Now, if you don't reserve the same table for every night, it makes it difficult ( or impossible) to tip them. Am I correct?

[isujim]

Having returned from the Caribbean Princess in the last month........here is what we found.

 

1. You could only make reservations for 6pm or 8pm...(I thought that kinda defeated the purpose of anytime dining)

 

2. We had a larger party of 8 and normally had to wait to get seated (sometimes up to 25 minutes)

 

3. Most people that just wanted a table for 2 were able to get in, just about any time.

 

Good luck