I am wondering how you guys feel about the dining options on Princess. We've never cruised Princess and I'm a little unsure about it. Could you tell me what you like, dislike (Pros and Cons things). I like formal dining and the fact that my seat is saved every night with the same waiter. I've always enjoyed the special relationship we formed with our waiters over the week. Thanks

Personally my husband and I prefer anytime dining. We feel that the early and late traditional dining times never fit into our schedule. However, the down side to anytime dining is that sometimes you have to wait for a table at peek times. A hint that I picked up from another a website one is that as soon as you board the ship, call the purser and make a standard anytime dining reservation. For instance, my husband and I will call and say we want 7:30 every night. You can either say just the two of you or if you want to be seated with a group. Then on that particular day if you schedule changes or you don't want to eat at that time you can call and cancel it. It seems weird to do this but we have never had to wait this way. We always walk up and say we have a reservation and we can get in right away. Remember, if you want to try any of the speciality restaruants, which I do think are well worth it, you reserve those as soon as you board the ship too. They usually have a maitre' D set up somewhere taking reservations for the whole week. If you wait till later in the cruise you often can't get into the restaurants.

I'm with you on traditional dining. I've never tried anytime dining and don't really want to: why "mess" with a good thing.
But I read lots of posts by fellow cruisers that tried it and loved it.
And on Princess the dining is really exquisite. The waiters pick up on your likes and dislikes right away. Some say traditional takes too long; I say "what's the hurry?"

Another thing to consider is that if you go with traditional seating, you can still decide to use an anytime dining room if you wish. For example , if you want to eat at a different time one night you could just skip your assigned seating. They won't stop you from using anytime just because you have assigned. However, if you start with anytime dining you are most likely stuck with it since there are rarely any openings for an assigned seating table come embarkation day.

We just got back from the Magica, with traditional dining. I like the anytime dining better, no rush to get ready for dinner each evening. One night on the Magica, we barely made it to dinner. We could have done the buffet, but I like being served for the evening meal. We had always done traditional before, but the last 2 cruises on Princess we went with anytime. I don't think I'll go back to traditional given a choice. On Costa, there was no choice. Best wishes!

I totally agree with Penny. We sailed on Costa in 2002 and were seated with the grumpiest people I have ever met. We asked to be reassigned, but no tables were available. (the cruise was booked to capacity) At least with the anytime dining, you have the opportunity to meet with different people each night. If you do meet with someone you enjoy and spend the remainder of the cruise with, then we would just set a time to meet at the dining room and be seated together. Also, I don't like to have to rush to get to dinner. If we stay on an island until the ship is ready to leave, it seems like a rush to get ready for dinner. Also, I do not like eating late, so the late seating is out of the question as well. We tend to eat anywhere between 6:30 and 7:30 depending on our activities for the day. I'll take anytime dining and Princess all the way!!

Thanks you guys. I did not realize you could opt for Traditional Dining or had that choice. I would love to try some of the extra pay restaurants a couple of nights but still have Tradional. You guys just removed MY LAST reservation about booking on The Star! You answered my questions! Thanks

Whoo Hooo!!! I can't Wait!

Wow! Your enthusiasm is contagious--now I'm excited for you!

Just back from Golden. Did any time dining. First night we didn't like waiter. Third night had a great waiter. We had that table the rest of cruise. Never had to wait, but we always eat early. Will do any time dining again.

quote:

Originally posted by swimmersonboard:
Thanks you guys. I did not realize you could opt for Traditional Dining or had that choice. I would love to try some of the extra pay restaurants a couple of nights but still have Tradional. You guys just removed MY LAST reservation about booking on The Star! You answered my questions! Thanks

Whoo Hooo!!! I can't Wait!

Don't forget to let your regular waiter know beforehand should you decide to skip the assigned dinner seating for one or two nights. It really annoys me when people don't tell them and then the wait staff and the others at the table sit and wait for someone who isn't going to show up!

We will definitely tell them. I know there will be two nights we don't. The night we renew our vows and the night of our anniversary.

Cyndi, congratulations on your anniversary and your upcoming vow renewal. We did the same on Diamond Princess two years ago, and hope you have as wonderful experience as we did.

We also had traditional dining, but opted out of it the night of our vow renewal as the time conflicted with our early seating. The wedding consultant handled our reservations for alternate dining for us that evening. I mentioned it to her earlier in the week, and it went smoothly.

Thanks Lisa

I did not think about mentioning it to the wedding cooridinator. I will definitely Do that.