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By Tom and Mary Milano
TomandMaryMilano@Yahoo.com
Mary & I would like to give
you our perspective on Princess Personal Choice dining, and why we prefer
it to Traditional dining. PC dining allows you to plan your meals around
your daily activities, whereas traditional cruise line dining forces you
to plan your daily activities around an assigned dinner time. PC dining
also allows you the freedom of choosing the time and the friends you wish
to dine with.
Traditional Dining:
In the traditional dining scenario, at the time you book your cruise,
your agent will ask the cruise line for the dining time and table size
that you requested. If the cruise line cannot accommodate your request,
they will assign you a table and time in either the early seating, usually
6 or 6:30, or the late seating, usually 8 or 8:30. You will be seated at
the same table and served by the same servers each night of the cruise.
Many passengers prefer traditional dining, because it allows them to get
to know their fellow passengers and they like being attended by the same
serving staff each evening. While these are nice features, assigned
seating forces passengers to plan their activities around their dinner
time, which can be inconvenient, especially on the days when the ship is
in port. Whereas PC dining allows extended dining times from 5:30 to
10:00 and you can change the times and who you wish to dine with,
according to your plans for the day.
Personal Choice Dining Hours Are From 5:30-10:00:
Mary & I preferred TD dining until we experienced Princess PC dining and
the important extras it provides. If you are a reader of our reviews, you
know Mary & I are romantics. A very important part of our cruise
experience is being seated at a table for two. Now don’t get the idea were
anti-social. On other occasions we, like many, also like the interaction
of meeting new people, but not when we cruise. Mary & I view each of our
cruises as being another ‘Honeymoon.’ Now let me ask you, who of you would
want a romantic “Honeymoon” dinner interrupted with the usual questions
asked when meeting new people? You know the questions. Questions like,
“Where are you from”, “How many children do you have and how old are
they,” What do you do for a living” and on and on. Mary and I have made 33
cruises, ( “Honeymoons,“) in the past eight years and Wimpy (Tom’s cruise
persona), wouldn’t think of sharing his lovely Mary with anyone on such a
significant occasion. He knows having a romantic dinner with his Mary is
the perfect setting to practice some serious marriage maintenance and any
number over two, is too many.
If you would like to have a romantic dinner with your spouse, like my Mary
& I do, the early hours of PC dining are meant for you. Tables for two on
most cruise lines are limited and very hard to come by, but at these early
hours in PC dining, you can usually reserve a table for two without any
problem. If you choose to have the same table for the next evening, as in
TD, you will have the same server because the servers remain in the same
station. Being we like to dine at the same time each night, we are usually
able to reserve the same table for the entire cruise. Make sure you make
your dinner reservation for the first evening with the Maitre d` as early
as possible after embarkation.
PC Dining 5:30-7.00: Different Atmosphere than TD:
When we went to dinner in traditional dinning, there was always a couple
hundred people waiting in line for the dining room doors to open, and
when they opened, it was like being in the middle of a cattle stampede.
Mary & I made it a habit of waiting fifteen minutes until things settled
down before we entered the dining room. The atmosphere in the PC dining
rooms during the early hours is totally different. Because of passengers
reserving at different times, there’s a lot less people in the dining
room at any one time and it is much quieter. The waiter’s rarely have a
full station at these early hours. This allows for quicker and more
efficient service. When you leave the dining room that evening, you will
usually be able to make a reservation for the same table for two, for the
next evening.
PC Dining 7:00-10:00
If you are late coming back from an excursion, you don’t have to rush to
make an assigned time for dinner. You can call from your cabin and make a
later reservation.
PC dining is especially helpful for Moms trying to gather their flock for
dinner. The pleasure of a family cruising is often diminished because of
the problem Mom has in trying to get all the kids ready for an early
dinner. With PC dining, all Mom has to do is figure how long it will take
the slowest one to be ready and then call the dining hot line and make a
reservation. The flexibility of PC dining will make a huge difference for
the many families that are now choosing cruising for their family
vacations.
If you meet some people while on a tour, or at one of the venues aboard
ship, you might like to get to know them better. You can invite them to
have dinner with you in the PC dining room. You can call and make a
reservation for the time you want, or you can go straight to the dining
room and see the Maitre d` at the door. If you don’t have a reservation
you might have to wait 15 to 20 minutes, just like you would at any
restaurant back home
PC dining is the perfect setting for those who like to meet new people
and make friends. If you chose, you can be seated at a different table
each night with a new group of people, instead of being with the same
people for the entire cruise. This is a life saver if you happened to have
been seated at a table with someone who is not compatible.
We know from being in the restaurant business in the New York area, many
city people do not dine until 9 or 10 o’clock. They will love the fact
that they can make a reservation in the PC dining room as late as 10:00.
It gives them time to spend a little extra time dancing in one of the
beautiful lounges or maybe catch an early show before dinner.
Don’t Confuse Personal Choice Dining With Open Seating:
Some cruise lines are featuring Open Seating dining. Don’t confuse it
with PC dining, it’s not the same. Open seating doesn’t allow you too
chose the time and the people you will be seated with. Open seating is
just what it implies. When a couple enters the dining room, they are
usually seated at a table with other people, who are at various stages of
their dinner. You might be the 5th & 6th to be seated at a table of 10.
The other four seats might be filled but than again, they may not be. It
can be rather unpleasant for you to sit and watch someone across from you
while wrestling with a steak, as you and your spouse are waiting for your
appetizer. With PC dining, the Maitre d` waits to seat the guests when
there are enough to fill the table. This allows everyone to order their
dinner at the same time and not having the guests eat at various
intervals.
Our Final Thoughts:
In the near future we will be cruising on two of the Princess ships that
feature PC dining. The Caribbean Princess in September and the Dawn
Princess in December, for Mary’s birthday celebration. The other Princess
ships that feature PC dining are the Grand, Golden, Caribbean, Sun, Dawn,
Sea, Ocean, Coral, Diamond and Island Princess.
We hope we have given you a new perspective on PC dining. If you are
sailing on one of the Princess ships that have PC dining, we believe you
will find that having dinner at the early seating, with its quiet,
romantic atmosphere, will be the highlight of your cruise experience. If
you have any comments, we would like to hear from you.
We would be happy to answer any questions you might have, especially those
from new and first time cruisers.
Our Warmest regards,
May your next cruise be your best,
Tom & Mary Milano
TomandMaryMilano@yahoo.com
TomandMarysCruiseReviews.com
