Dining on the Princess Diamond

There are four anytime-dining dining rooms on the Princess Diamond.

These dining rooms come with a new wrinkle I've not seen on other
Princess cruise ships -- each has a special menu IN ADDITION to
the regular menu in the main dining rooms, and each with s special
theme -- such as oriental (with dim sum and main course items),
sushi, italian, and a fourth.

Thus, each of these anytime-dining restaurants has a WIDER
selection in the menu than any of the regular (early or late)
seatings. I suspect it's a gimmick to more evenly distribute
the over-3000 passaengers (at full berth) to the ship's
usually crowded dining facilities, in addition to giving
passengers with a more ethnic taste of certain foods to select
the one more to their liking.

Good idea. Good specialty items.

-- Bob.

The traditional dining room(early and late seating) has the regular menu
plus one of the four specialty menus each night.
Don


"Reef Fish" wrote in message
oups.com...
There are four anytime-dining dining rooms on the Princess Diamond.

These dining rooms come with a new wrinkle I've not seen on other
Princess cruise ships -- each has a special menu IN ADDITION to
the regular menu in the main dining rooms, and each with s special
theme -- such as oriental (with dim sum and main course items),
sushi, italian, and a fourth.

Thus, each of these anytime-dining restaurants has a WIDER
selection in the menu than any of the regular (early or late)
seatings. I suspect it's a gimmick to more evenly distribute
the over-3000 passaengers (at full berth) to the ship's
usually crowded dining facilities, in addition to giving
passengers with a more ethnic taste of certain foods to select
the one more to their liking.

Good idea. Good specialty items.

-- Bob.

Don & Lynn wrote:
The traditional dining room(early and late seating) has the regular
menu
plus one of the four specialty menus each night.
Don

Nope. Not on the Diamond Princess -- at least not on the one I am on
now.
The traditional dining (International Dining Room) has only the regular
menu. For tonight, these are some of the main entries:

Hawaii Mahi Mahi
Lobster Thermidore
Rock Cornish Hen Forestierre
Tornado of Beef Tenderloin

It does NOT have any of the special menus in any of the four Anytime
dining rooms each of which does have the International Dining Room
menu.

Santa Fe Dining Room (Mexican):
Guacamole
Chicken or Beef Fajita
Warm Flour Tortilla

Pacific Moon Dining Room (Oriental):
California Style Sushi
Oriental Sample Basket (dim sum, egg roll, etc)
Five Spices Mandarin Duckling
Sesame Tiger Prawns and Scallop Stir fry

Stirling Dining Room (Western):
Prime Rib of Beef
New York Steak
Center Cut Pork Chop

Vivaldi Dining Room (Italian):
Penne allo Scoglio
Home Made Ravidi raviolone
Ossibuco a la Milanese

(only a SAMPLE of the specialty items are shown; disclaim any
accuracy in the spelling of the entries).

They were as I described in my previous post.

-- Bob.


"Reef Fish" wrote in message
oups.com...
There are four anytime-dining dining rooms on the Princess Diamond.

These dining rooms come with a new wrinkle I've not seen on other
Princess cruise ships -- each has a special menu IN ADDITION to
the regular menu in the main dining rooms, and each with s special
theme -- such as oriental (with dim sum and main course items),
sushi, italian, and a fourth.

Thus, each of these anytime-dining restaurants has a WIDER
selection in the menu than any of the regular (early or late)
seatings. I suspect it's a gimmick to more evenly distribute
the over-3000 passaengers (at full berth) to the ship's
usually crowded dining facilities, in addition to giving
passengers with a more ethnic taste of certain foods to select
the one more to their liking.

Good idea. Good specialty items.

-- Bob.

Nope. Not on the Diamond Princess -- at least not on the one I am on
now.
The traditional dining (International Dining Room) has only the regular

menu.

The way I understand it, it's the same as room service. If you know
EXACTLY what something is called on the main room menu, you can order
it as room service.

Each night there are five menus, all of which are out for view almost
all day. No matter which room you sit in, if you know the exact name of
the dish, you can order off of any menu. You have to understand, the
waiter doesn't care, the kitchen just plates up hundreds of each item
all identical and they don't care.

So, Dim Sum as a first course, then Americam butternut squash soup
followed by a antipasto then enchaladias. If it's on the menu, it's
available.

wrote:
Nope. Not on the Diamond Princess -- at least not on the one I am
on
now.
The traditional dining (International Dining Room) has only the
regular

menu.

The way I understand it, it's the same as room service.

Then I don't think you understand it, because none of those dining
rooms
has the provision for room service.


No matter which room you sit in, if you know the exact name of
the dish, you can order off of any menu. You have to understand, the
waiter doesn't care,

The waiter does care.

the kitchen just plates up hundreds of each item
all identical and they don't care.

The kitchen would have to plate up 3000 identical items for every dish
and at the end of the night, will have at least 90,000 items left over
no matter what each passenger orders.

You stick to your room service, and I stick to the service and menus
offered by each of 5 different dinning rooms.

Bon appetite.

-- Bob.

Reef Fish wrote:
Then I don't think you understand it, because none of those dining
rooms
has the provision for room service.

Other way around, room service has access to main kitchen items if you
know what there called on the main room's menu

No matter which room you sit in, if you know the exact name of
the dish, you can order off of any menu. You have to understand,
the
waiter doesn't care,

The waiter does care.

Why?

the kitchen just plates up hundreds of each item
all identical and they don't care.

The kitchen would have to plate up 3000 identical items for every
dish
and at the end of the night, will have at least 90,000 items left
over
no matter what each passenger orders.

Again your looking at this backwards. From hundreds of circuits, they
know how many of each item should be ordered. If more of a certain item
is ordered, you will here "sorry, but we have run out of that item, may
I interest you in......"


You stick to your room service, and I stick to the service and menus
offered by each of 5 different dinning rooms.

Try going back and read my post again, you have missed the point
totally. If a food item is listed on any of the five menus, it can be
ordered from any of the six rooms.

We have sailed on the Diamond 5 times, always pers. choice (anytime) dining.
It is a great ship, but they have a problem with reservations in the 4
specialty dining rooms. We were on the ship 2 weeks ago and the policy was
that you could only reserve one night at a time for the first 4 days of the
cruise. After that, you could call and reserve the final 3 nights.

It is my understanding that the traditional dining room(International), in
addition to the regular menu, offers one of the specialty menus each night
and they rotate every 4 nights. This policy would keep the traditional
diners in their own dining room each night. If as you say, this is not true,
can you imagine the number of people in traditional dining who want to try
the specialty dining rooms? And if they did, imagine the empty seats in the
International dining room and the crowds not able to get in to the
specialty dining rooms.

I also agree with JPL20. There is only one kitchen and during the dinner
hour, I would think that from your cabin or any of the 5 dining rooms, you
could order any item from any of the five menus. We are booked again in
April and will order Fajitas in the Pacific Moon dining room as a test.
Smooth sailing
Don



"Reef Fish" wrote in message
oups.com...
There are four anytime-dining dining rooms on the Princess Diamond.

These dining rooms come with a new wrinkle I've not seen on other
Princess cruise ships -- each has a special menu IN ADDITION to
the regular menu in the main dining rooms, and each with s special
theme -- such as oriental (with dim sum and main course items),
sushi, italian, and a fourth.

Thus, each of these anytime-dining restaurants has a WIDER
selection in the menu than any of the regular (early or late)
seatings. I suspect it's a gimmick to more evenly distribute
the over-3000 passaengers (at full berth) to the ship's
usually crowded dining facilities, in addition to giving
passengers with a more ethnic taste of certain foods to select
the one more to their liking.

Good idea. Good specialty items.

-- Bob.

Sorry, I meant jlp20.


"Don & Lynn" wrote in message
k.net...
We have sailed on the Diamond 5 times, always pers. choice (anytime)
dining.
It is a great ship, but they have a problem with reservations in the 4
specialty dining rooms. We were on the ship 2 weeks ago and the policy
was
that you could only reserve one night at a time for the first 4 days of
the
cruise. After that, you could call and reserve the final 3 nights.

It is my understanding that the traditional dining room(International), in
addition to the regular menu, offers one of the specialty menus each
night
and they rotate every 4 nights. This policy would keep the traditional
diners in their own dining room each night. If as you say, this is not
true,
can you imagine the number of people in traditional dining who want to try
the specialty dining rooms? And if they did, imagine the empty seats in
the
International dining room and the crowds not able to get in to the
specialty dining rooms.

I also agree with JPL20. There is only one kitchen and during the dinner
hour, I would think that from your cabin or any of the 5 dining rooms, you
could order any item from any of the five menus. We are booked again in
April and will order Fajitas in the Pacific Moon dining room as a test.
Smooth sailing
Don



"Reef Fish" wrote in message
oups.com...
There are four anytime-dining dining rooms on the Princess Diamond.

These dining rooms come with a new wrinkle I've not seen on other
Princess cruise ships -- each has a special menu IN ADDITION to
the regular menu in the main dining rooms, and each with s special
theme -- such as oriental (with dim sum and main course items),
sushi, italian, and a fourth.

Thus, each of these anytime-dining restaurants has a WIDER
selection in the menu than any of the regular (early or late)
seatings. I suspect it's a gimmick to more evenly distribute
the over-3000 passaengers (at full berth) to the ship's
usually crowded dining facilities, in addition to giving
passengers with a more ethnic taste of certain foods to select
the one more to their liking.

Good idea. Good specialty items.

-- Bob.

Don & Lynn wrote:
We have sailed on the Diamond 5 times, always pers. choice (anytime)
dining.
It is a great ship, but they have a problem with reservations in the
4
specialty dining rooms. We were on the ship 2 weeks ago and the
policy was
that you could only reserve one night at a time for the first 4 days
of the
cruise. After that, you could call and reserve the final 3 nights.

I am not familiar with this policy. I tried to make a reservation the
first night, but the only opening was after 8:15 pm, which was like
after midnight for the East Coast folks. So, we just took our chance
at the time the dining room opened. There were plenty of empty tables
during the time we dined.

Subsequently, we just went without any reservation, and did not have to
wait, when we did not go in the "rush hour", but some time between the
early and late seating.


It is my understanding that the traditional dining
room(International), in
addition to the regular menu, offers one of the specialty menus each
night
and they rotate every 4 nights.

This may have been the policy which is no longer in effect!


This policy would keep the traditional
diners in their own dining room each night. If as you say, this is
not true,
can you imagine the number of people in traditional dining who want
to try
the specialty dining rooms? And if they did, imagine the empty seats
in the
International dining room and the crowds not able to get in to the
specialty dining rooms.

You have your imagination. I have my observation. :-) The
traditional
dining passengers obviously did not swamp the "anytime dining" rooms in

droves.

The THEMES of the one and only menu in the traditional dining room do
vary, according to the specialty dining room themes. So, there is no
REASON for the traditional dining folks to go to the Vivaldi room for
an Italian night, when it was the Italian cuisine in the traditional
dining room last night! Similarly for the other specialty themes.


I also agree with JPL20. There is only one kitchen and during the
dinner
hour, I would think that from your cabin or any of the 5 dining
rooms, you
could order any item from any of the five menus.

That is true in THEORY, and in theory only.

It reminds me of the .sig of a colorful M.D. by the name of Flash
Gordon:
"In theory there is no difference between theory and practice, but in
practice there is."


As a counter-theory to your same-kitchen-same-dishes theory, why do
you think the cruiseship does not give the SAME menu to all dining
rooms (traditional and anytime)? As a problem in operations
research in optimization, that would make it a hell of a mess for
the waiters and the kitchen staff.


We are booked again in
April and will order Fajitas in the Pacific Moon dining room as a
test.
Smooth sailing
Don

Just a note to say that I am open-minded about the THEORY you and the
other fella espoused, I DID order an onion-ring dish from the Santa Fe
dining room (which served Mexican dishes I hate) while we were dining
at the Pacific Moon room (as a test, as you say).

The test CONFIRMED every bit I said and theorized, from a PRACTICAL
point of view. The waiter was very pleasant, but was both perplexed
and did not know what to do. He finally went to the Maitre D for
help, and the Maitre D made it quite clear that he was doing it as
a SPECIAL FAVOR for us -- and even though we only placed ONE order
of the spicy onion ring (appetizer) dish, all six people at the table
were served the same, which was NOT supposed to be ordered/served in
the Pacific Moon.

Does that SOUND or LOOK like something anyone can do at any time?
And result in one item ordered served six times??

This is MY theory. Most folks (including myself) PERFER to have fixed
seating times/tables. There's no hassle about waiting in line or
knowing when chow bell is rung.

However, the Diamond cruise ship can ONLY accommodate about 1/4 of its
passengers in fixed-time dining, and have to put the rest in long
"waiting lines" for fixed seating while they are placed in the
"anytime"
dining, which is often subject to long lines and uncertainty about WHEN
it's best time to go.

Thus, for the DUAL purpose of

1. Placating the complaining passengers by giving them something EXTRA
not served in traditional diving IN ADDITION to the traditional menu,

2. By having four different specialty menus for the FOUR different
anytime dining rooms, it served to spread the RANDOM field into more
predictable groups of ethnic-taste-preference groups.

THAT's the reason why they are run the way they are.

Believe whatever you wish. I for one do not care to be labelled as
an obnoxious ass for ordering dishes from OTHER specialty rooms,
when I am not supposed to; and especially not ordering one dish
from each specialty room as one poster fantasized from his one-
kitchen theory.

-- Bob.

I think you just said that, with all of the promotion Princess does
regarding the specialty dining rooms, the people who choose traditional
dining, probably a third of the passengers, couldn't care less about these
dining rooms or what food is being offered. Did I understand that you are on
the ship right now. If so, why don't you ask someone who knows?
Don


"Reef Fish" wrote in message
ps.com...

Don & Lynn wrote:
We have sailed on the Diamond 5 times, always pers. choice (anytime)
dining.
It is a great ship, but they have a problem with reservations in the
4
specialty dining rooms. We were on the ship 2 weeks ago and the
policy was
that you could only reserve one night at a time for the first 4 days
of the
cruise. After that, you could call and reserve the final 3 nights.

I am not familiar with this policy. I tried to make a reservation the
first night, but the only opening was after 8:15 pm, which was like
after midnight for the East Coast folks. So, we just took our chance
at the time the dining room opened. There were plenty of empty tables
during the time we dined.

Subsequently, we just went without any reservation, and did not have to
wait, when we did not go in the "rush hour", but some time between the
early and late seating.


It is my understanding that the traditional dining
room(International), in
addition to the regular menu, offers one of the specialty menus each
night
and they rotate every 4 nights.

This may have been the policy which is no longer in effect!


This policy would keep the traditional
diners in their own dining room each night. If as you say, this is
not true,
can you imagine the number of people in traditional dining who want
to try
the specialty dining rooms? And if they did, imagine the empty seats
in the
International dining room and the crowds not able to get in to the
specialty dining rooms.

You have your imagination. I have my observation. :-) The
traditional
dining passengers obviously did not swamp the "anytime dining" rooms in

droves.

The THEMES of the one and only menu in the traditional dining room do
vary, according to the specialty dining room themes. So, there is no
REASON for the traditional dining folks to go to the Vivaldi room for
an Italian night, when it was the Italian cuisine in the traditional
dining room last night! Similarly for the other specialty themes.


I also agree with JPL20. There is only one kitchen and during the
dinner
hour, I would think that from your cabin or any of the 5 dining
rooms, you
could order any item from any of the five menus.

That is true in THEORY, and in theory only.

It reminds me of the .sig of a colorful M.D. by the name of Flash
Gordon:
"In theory there is no difference between theory and practice, but in
practice there is."


As a counter-theory to your same-kitchen-same-dishes theory, why do
you think the cruiseship does not give the SAME menu to all dining
rooms (traditional and anytime)? As a problem in operations
research in optimization, that would make it a hell of a mess for
the waiters and the kitchen staff.


We are booked again in
April and will order Fajitas in the Pacific Moon dining room as a
test.
Smooth sailing
Don

Just a note to say that I am open-minded about the THEORY you and the
other fella espoused, I DID order an onion-ring dish from the Santa Fe
dining room (which served Mexican dishes I hate) while we were dining
at the Pacific Moon room (as a test, as you say).

The test CONFIRMED every bit I said and theorized, from a PRACTICAL
point of view. The waiter was very pleasant, but was both perplexed
and did not know what to do. He finally went to the Maitre D for
help, and the Maitre D made it quite clear that he was doing it as
a SPECIAL FAVOR for us -- and even though we only placed ONE order
of the spicy onion ring (appetizer) dish, all six people at the table
were served the same, which was NOT supposed to be ordered/served in
the Pacific Moon.

Does that SOUND or LOOK like something anyone can do at any time?
And result in one item ordered served six times??

This is MY theory. Most folks (including myself) PERFER to have fixed
seating times/tables. There's no hassle about waiting in line or
knowing when chow bell is rung.

However, the Diamond cruise ship can ONLY accommodate about 1/4 of its
passengers in fixed-time dining, and have to put the rest in long
"waiting lines" for fixed seating while they are placed in the
"anytime"
dining, which is often subject to long lines and uncertainty about WHEN
it's best time to go.

Thus, for the DUAL purpose of

1. Placating the complaining passengers by giving them something EXTRA
not served in traditional diving IN ADDITION to the traditional menu,

2. By having four different specialty menus for the FOUR different
anytime dining rooms, it served to spread the RANDOM field into more
predictable groups of ethnic-taste-preference groups.

THAT's the reason why they are run the way they are.

Believe whatever you wish. I for one do not care to be labelled as
an obnoxious ass for ordering dishes from OTHER specialty rooms,
when I am not supposed to; and especially not ordering one dish
from each specialty room as one poster fantasized from his one-
kitchen theory.

-- Bob.