PC on Caribbean Princess

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vjj5712

Guest
As many have read, the PC dining seems to have problems on this ship. I personally chose Princess for a cruise for this feature so my husband and I would be seated alone. Now I am worried. I know you can make reservations as soon as you board, but if you want a table for two at peak times (6:30 - 7:30) does anyone know if I will have problems doing so? Can these reservations be at a different time each night? And where do you make dining reservations? Thank you.
 
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Natalia

Guest
Its a fairly new ship... look up other posts and see whos been on it, then maybe drop them an email with your questions.



Post Edited (05-01-04 13:23)
 
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janz

Guest
We have chose traditional, early. If we choose to eat at another time, somewhere else, we can reserve. You can go from traditional to pc but not the other way around. From all I have read, it sounds like pc is a big hassle
 
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PeabodyNVL

Guest
Vjj - Sometimes the boards are quiet on weekends, especially nice weekends. You need to give people a little more time to respond than during the week. :)

Wish I could help you, but I haven't been on that ship and I normally to early traditional.
 
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Frank Black

Guest
I was on the Star Princess which is very similar. They use two of the three main dining rooms for personal choice. But.... they still try to seat you with as a group of passengers even if you want a small table for two. There are very very few tables for two. I heard they usually are held for the highest paying suite customers first. Plus, the tables for two are in lousy locations. Tucked into corners, near the kitchen etc. Since they start filling those table earlyy, say 5:45PM-6:00PM, it is highly unlikely one will be free at your desired t prime times of 6:30 to 7:30.

You will have a better shot at a small table if you eat very early or late.

My suggestion, meet some other nice people and share a table with them each night. We did that and it worked out fine. We like eating at 7:30PM and never waited more than 10 minutes. One other tip, the dining room on the lower deck had a shorter wait each night.
 
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p.g.

Guest
LOVED pc on the Golden. Hubby and I ate between 6 and 7 every night( except one) and never waited. One night I was feeling a sick sea sick so wanted a table for two, we went at 7:15 and had to wait 15 minutes. Not a big deal to us, I mean where is anyone rushing off to?

'Being flexible about seating is the way to go, I could care less about " getting to know our waiter" and " having him know what dirink I like without asking" / it's no trouble at all to order the drink yourself.

We've only cruised 4 times, but we will never go back to traditional, it can be fun, but it is stressful always HAVING to go to dinner at a certain time, and you can end up at a table with people you don't click with. At least with pc you know you never have to sit with someone again if you don;'t want to, although we found everyone so friendly. I think that most people who choose pc are friendly, since they aer aware that they will be meeting neew people each night. There wa one gent we met that we chose to have join us for dinner on a subsquent evening, so if you meet nice people you can choose to dine with them again.Personal choice is just that, choices!!
 
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vjj5712

Guest
Yes, it is certainly about choices, however the Caribbean Princess is experiencing problems with either long waits or for that matter no seating at all during peak times. Personally, I am not on vacation to meet new people.
Frank, I have never heard of tables for two being in bad locations. Well, the only responses here were about the Star, anyone know about this issue on the Caribbean?
 
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Frank Black

Guest
The Star is virtually identical except for an added passenger deck. I believe they lay out the dining room and push the smaller atbles into the left over area. Yes there are a few good tables for two, but there are also a lot that are crowded into corners, near the kitchen etc. I saw this on the Star. Maybe you can search some cruise boards and find a photo of the dining rooms.
 
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DebraK

Guest
We were on the April 10 sailing of the Caribbean Princess and had a table for two and PC dining the whole time. We made reservations (probably mid afternoon of boarding day) and then made it a "standing reservation" for the rest of the trip. We had the same table the entire week, thus the same waitpeople. When we do this ship again, I'd like to try the Caribe Rest., so won't do a weeklong reservation next time.

There was a waiting line at the door, even for those of us who had reservations, but it seemed to be caused by a new computer system they were trying to use. They tried for two or three nights and then went back to the old system. I don't remember seeing a waiting line for the people without reservations, except on formal nights, and even then it wasn't very long. They were probably seated at tables of 4 or more.

Hope this helps.
 
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dlflyer

Guest
I've been on the Star and the Golden recently and was assigned PC due to last minute booking.

The solution that worked for us was to go to the Maitre D on the 1st day and request a table for 2 in the same location, at the same time each evening.

There was only one hiccup when our table was occupied by another couple who had been leisurely dining, we waited a short time.

Our personal choice was to dine at the same table with the same staff each evening.
 
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vjj5712

Guest
Thank you for your responses. But now I have another question....not sure if I would like to eat at the same time every night also a different wait staff is not an issue with me, so should or can I make reservations for a table for two with a different time each night as soon as I board or do it daily and not have any problems? Thank you so much!
 
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Frank Black

Guest
VJJ:

Yopu are still missing one point I made earlier. If all of the tables for two are taken by people with early reservations at 6:00PM, they will not be open for your use until after that first seating...say around 7:30PM.
 
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mwright00

Guest
Recently I sailed on the Carribbean Princess. I had PC dining and if I wanted to dine at a table for 2 I would have had to make reservations. There is a cafe on one of the upper decks called the Cafe Caribe. There is always a buffet and most things on that buffet are being served in the dining room........and more. In this style of dining you can get a table for two anytime with a water view.
 
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cherylandtk

Guest
Vicky,
The short answer is it depends. From your posts it appears that this dining issue has you very concerned, and it really should not be. Usually you can make a reservation if you must have one, but the concierge generally will stop taking confirmed reservations when they are about 1/3 full for that dining time. So one option is to figure out your schedule for the whole week, and then make reservations early on. If you want to eat when a lot of others have already reserved, you may be out of luck., but pre-planning would increase your chance of getting a table for just two. The other option is to just show up at your randomly chosen time, but be willing to wait until a table for two opens up. Or if you can't wait that long, take a table with other people. It depends on what is more important to you: eating alone or eating when you want.

If you want to KNOW that you will eat at a table for two, you might be better off taking the traditional route in the future. You CAN get a table for two in both the early and late traditional seatings, and if either of those seatings still is open for your cruise, you could have Princess switch you to trad. seating.

As for PC dining in general, I have seen it both crowded and not. It depends entirely on your fellow passengers; their myriad desires, and hard to quantify issues such as when the popular shore tour got back, what time/day the best show is, what time that particular mix of people want to get bed (or not), and even the time of the sunset. Occasionally there are reservation system problems, but IMHO that and the ship have much less to do with there being lines than the whims of the other passengers.

Hope this helps allay your worries.
 
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snippitts

Guest
I just got back and was not a fan of PC dining. Did it twice and waited 45 min.Then ate all our meals in Cafe Carib or Sabatinis or Sterling They were awesome. I tried to make a reservation for PC dining the first night for a table of 4. I was holding a phone for 5 minutes and no one ever answered.
 
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vjj5712

Guest
So, the two nights you were at PC, you had no reservation? Other than the phone, how else can you make reservations for the entire week.....go to the dining room and see the MD?? What was so good at the Cafe Caribe...can you comment more on this?
 
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snippitts

Guest
No we just walked up to the resturant and gave our name. They give you a beeper.I asked to make reservations but they wouldnt do it there,you have to phone I guess. Cafe Carib had chinese food, Alaskan King Crab, Assorted other fish dishes, Mussels, Clams, Stuffed Oysters, Beef Sate assorted chicken dishes sushi a few nights. They had a HUGE assortment of food. You can go there and look and then decide if you want to eat there or not.
 
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cordon

Guest
We just returned last week and had no trouble with reservations. We made it for 8:00 each evening, and requested when we arrived if we wanted a table for two, or wanted to be with a group. The wait time at the most was 5 minutes.

The service was excellent and the food wonderful.



Post Edited (05-15-04 20:43)
 
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marc334

Guest
i was on pc dining-did not have really any problems-was able to get a reservation in the area of time requssted

mw
 
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