Beginning this September, Princess Cruises will allow guests to dine any time they choose in the main dining rooms.
Guests will continue to have the option of traditional dining, choosing the early or late dinner seating for every evening of their cruise. This choice ensures that guests will have the same waiter and table each night.
There will be two other options: Guests may make reservations for a particular night or walk in any time.
Each of the three dining options will be available on different floors or areas of the main dining rooms. Aboard the Coral Princess and Island Princess, guests choosing flexible dining will go to a dining room set aside for them, Princess said.
Princess launched a flexible-dining approach on the new Sun Princess, where the three-story dining room has one floor for traditional seatings, one for reservations and one for walk-ins.
"Our guests have been delighted with the dining flexibility aboard Sun Princess, and we're pleased to extend the concept to all the other ships in our fleet," said Sami Kohen, Princess Cruises' vice president of food and beverage.
Princess will offer all three service options on all ships, starting with Sept. 14 departures. Beginning June 17, guests can use the cruise line's app ahead of their cruise to reserve traditional seating, or opt for making nightly reservations and walking in at any time.
To support the transition to the new system, main dining reservations already booked for voyages sailing Sept. 14 or later will be canceled for all ships except Sun Princess. Main dining reservations through Sept. 13 are not affected.