Thread: Princess 2012 Prices

Originally Posted by Smart Traveler

That helps a lot Pete.

I have no problem with the fact Princess still has a traditional dining room, but naturally, all I can think now is if they had NCL's freestyle policy, sticking with my original cabin choice (711 on Emerald deck) would be easy. Maybe I will select TD for a transatlantic cruise but for my first cruise, I want the anytime dining because it will be port-intensive.

But Princess does offer their form of freestyle dining called Anytime Dining. On their newer ships, instead of having one big dining room as you find on most ships, they have three smaller dining rooms, with one of the three a bit larger, which is in the back of the ship, than the other two, which are in the middle of the ship. Normally, they will designate one of the three for Anytime Dining and the other two for traditional dining.

In my personal opinion, there's no comparison between the quality of food on Princess versus NCL. The food is definitely better on Princess and their specialty restaurants are in a much higher level of quality than NCL.

But the freestyle dining started by NCL became so popular that the concept has caught on with all the major cruise lines. So now you have the option of anytime dining or traditional dining with all the new ships and many of the smaller ship. Opens up a whole new set of options not available in the past.

Pete

Originally Posted by Cruise Planner

Normally, they will designate one of the three for Anytime Dining and the other two for traditional dining.
Pete

if this has been changed YEA!!! We had two anytime dining rooms when I went on Caribbean Princess. I also did the Grand Princess which is smaller and got stuck with anytime.

More people were wanting traditional than they had space for. I am glad if they changed it so two are now traditional and you are less apt to get stuck with anytime if you booked in the last few months like when I booked. Good change.

I think Carnival does it best as part of one dining room is for anytime, so people are not getting stuck with what they dont want by designating one whole dining room to be one or the other. More than half on Carnival clearly still prefer traditional.

I still don't know what the big attraction is with traditional dining since anytime is exactly the same. We had the same waiter, same people, same table each night- and now they even have the baked Alaska parade in the anytime DR.

Originally Posted by flowers

if this has been changed YEA!!! We had two anytime dining rooms when I went on Caribbean Princess. I also did the Grand Princess which is smaller and got stuck with anytime.

We were on the Caribbean Princess 6 years ago and they had anytime dining at that time. On our cruise, the two smaller dining rooms in the middle of the ship were designated traditional dining and the larger dining room in the back of the ship was designated anytime dining.

However, while we were touring the galley with the head chef, he told us this can sometimes change depending on the number of passengers requesting each type of dining. So according to him, just because one dining room was designated as traditional dining on one cruise, it could be designated as anytime dining on another cruise. This can also change from one ship to another. We found this true when we cruised on the Crown Princess and the larger dining room in the back was designated as traditional dining and the two smaller dining rooms were designated as anytime dining. We also did a tour of the galley on that cruise, which was right before Easter a couple of years ago and it was great watching them make all the decorations in chocolate!

Pete

Originally Posted by flowers

if this has been changed YEA!!! We had two anytime dining rooms when I went on Caribbean Princess. I also did the Grand Princess which is smaller and got stuck with anytime.

More people were wanting traditional than they had space for. I am glad if they changed it so two are now traditional and you are less apt to get stuck with anytime if you booked in the last few months like when I booked. Good change.

I think Carnival does it best as part of one dining room is for anytime, so people are not getting stuck with what they dont want by designating one whole dining room to be one or the other. More than half on Carnival clearly still prefer traditional.

Great if they are doing this. We had booked our last cruise less than two months before sailaway and were waitlisted for traditional. We ended up with anytime and we did not care for it (we did notice a big difference). Yes, many of us prefer traditional and don't want to futz around trying to work out some sort of arrangement so we can get the same table/waitstaff. I don't want to spend my first afternoon onboard a ship waiting in a line to plead with the maitre'd.

Originally Posted by cruisin' chick

I don't want to spend my first afternoon onboard a ship waiting in a line to plead with the maitre'd.

That part is becoming more true every day. Some of the ships & sailing we've been on do not take reservations for early dining at tables for 2 and force you to stand in line for up to 30 minutes before the doors open. But if you wanted a larger table, say for 4, 6 or 8 there wouldn't have been any problem except if you wanted the same table each evening at 6:30 in which case that would again make you stand in line. It all depends on the Maitre D' and the number of people on board making requests.

Originally Posted by Rich22

I still don't know what the big attraction is with traditional dining since anytime is exactly the same. We had the same waiter, same people, same table each night- and now they even have the baked Alaska parade in the anytime DR.

How do people always get the same waiter and table every night in the AD room?

I bet all those baked Alaskas were too pretty to eat when they were paraded around the dining room.

Pete: The information I got about Sapphire's drydock includes two anytime dining rooms being merged into one and the traditional dining room being expanded to make up for tables lost to the addition of Crown Grill. If they change the AD and TD rooms around, why would they describe the remodeling plan this way?

Originally Posted by Smart Traveler

How do people always get the same waiter and table every night in the AD room?

I bet all those baked Alaskas were too pretty to eat when they were paraded around the dining room.

Pete: The information I got about Sapphire's drydock includes two anytime dining rooms being merged into one and the traditional dining room being expanded to make up for tables lost to the addition of Crown Grill. If they change the AD and TD rooms around, why would they describe the remodeling plan this way?

On some ships in past years, the Maitre D' will allowed people to make standing reservations (table for 2, early dining) for the complete trip but lately we've been finding that on some ships due to complaints that it's unfair to do so have stopped the practice. It all depends on the Maitre D' and how many people request standing reservations.
Even on ships that did not take them we still had the same table & waiter but only because we line up early at the dining room when it opened & the head waiter would automatically seat us there. They would still take early standing reservations (between 5:30 & 6:15) for the larger tables.

Originally Posted by cruisin' chick

I don't want to spend my first afternoon onboard a ship waiting in a line to plead with the maitre'd.

Every time we've every had to go see the Matre'd to request a change in dining, we've never had to wait more than a few minutes. In fact, I can't ever remember waiting for more than two couples in front of us, so it's not a big deal to go to the Matre'd upon boarding and requesting a change.

Pete

Originally Posted by Smart Traveler

How do people always get the same waiter and table every night in the AD room?

I bet all those baked Alaskas were too pretty to eat when they were paraded around the dining room.

Pete: The information I got about Sapphire's drydock includes two anytime dining rooms being merged into one and the traditional dining room being expanded to make up for tables lost to the addition of Crown Grill. If they change the AD and TD rooms around, why would they describe the remodeling plan this way?

Not sure I understand your question about describing the remodeling plan, but it make sense to take two dining rooms and make them one dining room. Doesn't really change a whole lot - still have a choice between anytime dining and traditional dining. And as for getting the same table and/or waiter for anytime dining, all you have to do is let the Matre'd that's who and what you want, they'll make a standing reservation for you. With anytime dining, you can request the same table, waiter, and time every night if that's what you want to do.

Pete