Princess Cruise Lines Personal Choice Dining?

Question

I am going on Princess Diamond to Mexico and am very confused about the dining set up. There are 5 dining rooms that you don't have to pay extra for. I have read there is traditional dining and anytime dining. How is each set up? please help!

Answer 1

Until about 6 years ago all of the cruise lines had one dining option for dinner; called now traditional.  That meant that you chose when you booked your cruise to have dinner at 6:00PM or 8:00PM in the main dining room.  The main dining rooms are generally grand places with huge windows looking off the back of the ship and many are two levels or more.

Then about 6 years ago Norwegian began offering a different dining option for dinner called "Freestyle".  That mean that you don't have to select a dining time on their ships, you go whenever you want and now they also have several alternative restaurants for you to choose from like Steak, French, Tex-Mex, Chinese/Suchi.  You can go any time after the dinner hour starts at about 6:00 PM.  The catch is while the meal is free, there is a cover or service or gratuity charge (that's what they call them) of $10 to $20 per person each time you use the restaurant.  

Princess then came out with the Personal Choice dining as its answer to freestyle.  On Princess you can have the traditional dining where you have YOUR table and waiter every night, OR, you can choose to just come any time to the main dining room, OR you can go to the alternative restaurants and dine (always paying the fee).  Or you can do leisure dining in the buffet.

If you want to read the details of personal choise on your ship that you will be on got to this web site, click on the options and select the ship you will be on: http://www.princess.com/onboard/

The web site will tell you the restaurants available to you, the dining times and whether there is a fee.

I prefer and recommend, especially for persons who have not cruised before, the traditional style dining.  So on Princess tell them you want first (6:00PM) or second (8:00PM) seating.  The benefits of traditional is you get to know your waiter, and vice verse, and your table mates, and in my opinion it makes for a more enjoyable dinner.  The drawback to freestyle that I have seen is on days when the ship does not make a port stop (at sea days) everyone is on the ship at dinner time and there are many people who want to eat early and the dining rooms can get jammed and you end up standing in line awaiting a table.

Answer 2

Personal Choice Dining is the umbrella term that Princess uses to refer to how dinner is set up.  When you book your cruise, you will be asked if want traditional main seating, traditional late seating, or anytime.  That will be your assignment for the whole cruise.

Traditional means you are assigned to a specific table and time, as well as the same waitstaff.  There will be one or two traditional dining rooms on each ship.  Your cabin card will have your assignment.

Anytime means you go to one of the anytime dining rooms when you want dinner.  If there's an available table, you will be escorted to it.  If not, you'll be told an approximate time for waiting.

Both t.d. and a.d. have the same menu and dress code.

You also have the choice of eating in a specialty restaurant (for a fee), the casual buffet (you can dress as you want), your cabin (some ships will offer a limited room service menu, others will let you have actual hot food...all you pay is a tip).

Answer 3

Normally you are assigned to a table for either the early or the later 3 meals a day for the duration of the cruise.  The meals are the same time every day.  You pay nothing for any meals anywhere on the ship, that's all in the price of the ticket.  If you sleep in and miss breakfast or doze off and miss lunch there are always other dining rooms available serving those meals.

Gret ready to put on a few pounds....you'll be eating like 5 times a day....there are snacks everywhere and midnight ice sculpture, you're going to love it.................

Answer 4

Ok, I'm not sure if you have ever cruised before. But, when you cruise you choose between two dining times, on most ships. They will have an early and a later sitting, early is around 6 on most ships and around 8 for late. You must come during this time to eat your meal, if there is a show and they have two showings, you go to the opposite of your dining. So, if you have late dining, you go to the early show and vice versa. If you show up too late for your dining time, you may not be able to get seated, especially on early seating when the second seating will be coming in shortly for their meal time.

With Princess they also offer the traditional dinings where you eat at 6 for early and 8:15 for late. But, if you want you can go with the anytime dining option (this is usually the way I go) This gives you a lot more choice as to when, where to eat, etc. Rather than having a set time, each restaurant has a time frame you are allowed to come and eat your dinner. You may have a slight wait for your table, but I have never waited more than 5 minutes or so.

The other benefit is that you can have the option of sitting at a table for two. Most of the time princess doesn't offer this, but with anytime dining it is a lot easier to get, otherwise you are at a table for 4, 8, etc. and sit with other people.

All you have to do is tell Princess or your travel agent that you would like the anytime dining option and they will take care of it for you and you good to go.

I've included the link to Princess' website where they list a little info about this and also the times for each restaurant, I'm not sure if you have found that yet.

Princess is a great line, you will have a fabulous time.

Please let me know (e-mail works best) if you need me to clarify anything, I'm happy to help.

Answer 5

Most cruise ships have this same set up...eat when you want or eat in the "nice" dining room at a certain time.  This is why I'm writing...I'd suggest choosing the late seating.  This is so when you're off the ship and enjoying an island then you won't have to hurry back to the ship for the early seating, say at five p.m.  

And no, you don't have to pay extra for any of these dining areas, but some ships do have a special dining room that you make reservations and pay for the meal.