POLL- What's your choice Personal Choice or Traditional

Kuki · #1 (**permalink**) January 29th, 2006, 12:45 PM

Since Princess is currently the only cruise line offering a choice of Personal Choice (anytime dining) and Traditional assigned seating times... I'm wondering which system you Princess cruisers prefer?

Princesscruisers · #2 (**permalink**) January 29th, 2006, 01:23 PM

HANDS DOWN - PERSONAL CHOICE - I LIKE THE FREEDOM OF EATING WHEN I WANT - WE HAVE ALWAYS BEEN ABLE TO GET RIGHT IN WITHOUT WAITING FOR MORE THAN 5 MINUTES AND ALWAYS MANAGED TO GET A TABLE FOR 2.

Donna · #3 (**permalink**) January 29th, 2006, 03:45 PM

I still like the traditional better, nice to sit with the same tablemates and have the same wait staff take care of you. We also like the early one better, more time later in the evening to catch a show, visit the casino, etc.

Fern · #4 (**permalink**) January 29th, 2006, 07:20 PM

We love Personal Choice! It's so nice not to HAVE to be at dinner at a certain time. We always asked to be seated with others and met some very interesting (and some not so interesting

) people. We never had to wait for a table.

My DH likes it so much that now we (almost always) consider only Princess or NCL (Freestyle Dining) for our cruises.

SharB · #5 (**permalink**) January 29th, 2006, 09:33 PM

I agree with Donna. We're very happy with early traditional dining. It gives us the whole evening free!

Shar

CJH · #6 (**permalink**) January 29th, 2006, 10:27 PM

No question about it anytime dining

CA Cruiser · #7 (**permalink**) January 29th, 2006, 10:44 PM

We prefer early sitting traditional dining but are going to try Personal Choice again in 3 weeks.

Freestyle dining on NCL was the worse. They would not seat us at a large table with others and wanted us to wait 45 minutes. I just asked 3 other couples to join us and we got right in.

LisaK · #8 (**permalink**) January 30th, 2006, 09:13 AM

our choice would be second seating traditional dining. We find it to be more relaxed dining.

cljw · #9 (**permalink**) January 30th, 2006, 10:58 AM

We're also in for Traditional, Second Seating.

Irish Shark · #10 (**permalink**) January 30th, 2006, 01:26 PM

We tried the anytime on the last cruise and it worked very well. One problem that we noticed is that the wait staff was hit or miss. Sometimes we would request a certain waiter's area, but that was also hit or miss.

CAsailor · #11 (**permalink**) January 30th, 2006, 05:35 PM

After trying personal choice aboard the Dawn Princess in November, I would find it extremely difficult to go back to traditional dining. I loved the flexibility to eat when we wanted to and it was so nice not to have to sit with strangers, which is something I find very stressful.

I'm so glad that Princess gives us this choice.

alainbob · #12 (**permalink**) January 30th, 2006, 10:28 PM

We have never tried PC. We love the traditionnal dining with the same wait staff. We usually have first sitting.

Alain R.

elhenry · #13 (**permalink**) January 31st, 2006, 05:32 PM

Like previous posters, we now cruise only Princess or NCL because they offer Personal Choice/Freestyle. I can't imagine being locked into a time or tablemates any more ... and we cruised five times before that on "traditional" lines where the waiter knew we wanted Earl Grey tea and automatically brought the vegetarian menu. That does not impress me any more., or certainly doesn't counterbalance the freedom of choice. I can *ask* for Earl Grey tea<G>

el henry

pcboston · #14 (**permalink**) January 31st, 2006, 06:46 PM

Personal choice wins hands down with this cruiser! Have done that on 4 cruises and on 4, it was traditional. We always had nice tablemates, too, and it was interesting to get to know people from all over...but I just like the freedom of eating when I'm hungry and then being free to do whatever I please with the rest of my evening. Always like to eat early, too and sometimes it just takes forever with traditional.

jean s · #15 (**permalink**) January 31st, 2006, 07:44 PM

We love personal choice. dining We like the freedom of eating whenever we want and not being locked into a particular time. We also enjoy the opportunity to meet lots of other wonderful cruisers. It's nice to recognize and chat with all these folks on board throughout the week.

tmcaputo · #16 (**permalink**) January 31st, 2006, 08:58 PM

Personal choice hands down.

You can change your dinner times every night. Also, you meet a lot more people this way.

tinymrf · #17 (**permalink**) February 2nd, 2006, 06:45 PM

We've always done 'traditional' second seating but on our next cruise (15 days Hawaii) we're going to give PC a try. We like the idea of eating when we want on our own schedule. Sometimes 2nd seating gets to be too late and you miss shows or feel like going to bed after dinner. We took a South Pacific cruise on Renaissance back in 2001 with pc dining and it was fabulous so we're hoping our experiences will be just as good. I like the idea of meeting new passengers and visiting especially if you've experienced being unhappy with your tablemates on a traditional dining schedule.

nlb1050 · #18 (**permalink**) February 3rd, 2006, 01:42 PM

PC is our choice. We really like not having to worry about the time. Just get ready when we want. Longest wait we ever had was 10 minutes or so on the Star for the first formal night. Always request to be seated with others. Never had what would be called "Bad" table mates and met some very nice people.

Jschaffa · #19 (**permalink**) February 3rd, 2006, 07:27 PM

We tried Freestyle with NCL on one occasion and hated it. Now we are booked on the Golden Princess and wait listed for traditional seating. Seems like more passengers are interested in traditional dining than there is seating available. Hope that Princess gets the message.

Fern · #20 (**permalink**) February 3rd, 2006, 07:44 PM

Hi Jschaffa,

Although it's hard to explain, NCL's Freestyle is different from Princess's Anytime Dining.

On our last cruise (NCL) we asked to be seated with others and ended up at a table for two every night! Now, DH and I love each other, but we eat together every night! We like meeting new people on a cruise

.

On our Princess cruise we asked to be seated with others and had at least a table for six, most often for eight. It was great meeting other cruisers!

If you can't get the Traditional Seating, ask to sit with others. You'll probably meet some very interesting people!

Magnolia Blossom · #21 (**permalink**) February 9th, 2006, 09:24 AM

While DH and I enjoy both, we prefer PC or FreeStyle.
And Fern is right, FreeStyle is different than PC for some reason.
As much as I like NCL, there is a bit of an attitude problem in their
dining rooms that Princess does not have.
The option of being seated alone or with others is always nice. Some nights we are too tired (or mellow) to chat much while other nights we enjoy meeting new people.

We're doing the Grand in April and the Golden in July and it will be PC for us both times.

Magnolia

mehawk · #22 (**permalink**) February 9th, 2006, 09:27 AM

I'm with Donna and agree that the traditional sitting is preferable. I also like to sit with the same people and get to know them.

cookie1207 · #23 (**permalink**) February 9th, 2006, 12:45 PM

Traditional at second seating works for us. Its nice to have the waiter know your likes. He then offers that little bit extra of good service knowing what you do and don't like.(for me I love pasta)

Robbie H · #24 (**permalink**) February 9th, 2006, 01:09 PM

Also a traditional second seating junkie here! The PC is a nice option and it does allow flexibility but I like having the same wait staff and company at dinner. Breakfast and lunch let me mingle enough, Robbie

flamomo · #25 (**permalink**) February 11th, 2006, 11:53 AM

Have done both traditional and PC, and far prefer PC.
Love the flexibility of choosing the time and the venue based on how we feel at the time.
Thoroughly enjoyed meeting other PAX. We were seated at various table sizes - 6-10 seats - and had different servers each time. But absolutely no lapses in quality of service.
Princess has really made this work well.

skymaster · #26 (**permalink**) February 12th, 2006, 07:46 PM

We gave PC a shot, but still prefer traditional, first seating. We too enjoy meeting our "dinner partners" and discussing the day, and what's coming up for the evening.
Ken

j&dinphx · #27 (**permalink**) February 18th, 2006, 02:26 PM

Absolutely Personal Choice. We love the luxury of dining at OUR convenience based on our plans for the evening and when we return from shore visits. Just returned from the Canal on Coral Princess and we never had a problem. We've also cruised on Oceania which is all open dining in all dining rooms. Assigned seating on a past Royal Caribbean cruise was the worst part of that trip. Open dining is a must on all future cruises

Pam in AZ · #28 (**permalink**) February 18th, 2006, 06:10 PM

I prefer Personal Choice, but I miss the better service you get with traditional! The wait staff service has gone down considerably in my opinion.

croozgal · #29 (**permalink**) February 18th, 2006, 06:54 PM

PC all the way

KMKennedy · #30 (**permalink**) February 19th, 2006, 12:10 AM

We like the personal choice dining because we like to eat somewhere in between the early and late traditional seatings. We also enjoy floating between the different "any time" restaurants and get to try their specialties as well as have the option of ordering what the passengers in the main dining room are eating. It's the best of both worlds. We usually, find a restaurant and waiter we like and then make reservations to go back the next night. I like being able to make reservations where and when we want. It's our personal choice!!

KMKennedy