Jerry Limone
In a July insight, I discussed the Princess Plus and Premier packages, concluding that the Premier package doesn't deliver sufficient value, at least on the Discovery Princess, my home for seven nights on an Alaska cruise.
The Premier package is centered around specialty dining, and cruisers must be able to reliably book the restaurants to make Premier worth the money. And for me, reserving specialty dining was a challenge.
I didn't buy the Premier package but very much wanted to dine at Crown Grill, Sabatini's or The Catch by Rudi. I tried booking one of the restaurants on the Princess app in the weeks leading up to the cruise, but there was no availability.
The Triple S Platter at The Catch by Rudi on Discovery Princess. Photo Credit: Alex Limone
On the ship, I talked with two guests who bought the Premier package with an assumption they'd be able to easily book the restaurants. To their dismay, they weren't having much success on the app, and they regretted their purchase of the package. They spent quite a bit of effort calling reservation lines to try to get into a specialty restaurant. That's not a great way to spend a vacation.
While on the ship the first day, I checked the app again, joyously discovering that a table was available at 5:20 p.m. on Thursday at Rudi's, the seafood specialty restaurant. I booked with speed, fearing that if i didn't act fast, the time slot would disappear. Reservation made!
Not satisfied with just one specialty restaurant booked, I regularly checked the app for availability at the Sabatini's Italian restaurant and the Crown Grill steakhouse over the next three days. Nothing became available.
I really wanted to dine at Crown Grill, so I walked up to the restaurant's podium at around 7:30 p.m. on a Wednesday to see if my son and I could get in that way. The gracious hostess wrote my name down and told me to come back at 8:15. She got us in at 8:45, and we gratefully sat down for a delicious steak dinner.
Crown Grill was the culinary highlight of the cruise -- until we dined at The Catch the next night. Both were great, but The Catch had a bit more panache. The Triple S Platter (Scottish salmon, shrimp and scallops) featured a whole prawn suspended over the plate -- head, tail and shell intact.
Rudi's Artistic Face to Face, a dessert at The Catch by Rudi on Discovery Princess Photo Credit: Josie Limone
For dessert, my daughter ordered Rudi's Artistic Face to Face, described as a "symphony of chocolates and fruits" served in the shape of a face. Whimsical and delicious. The Salzburger Nockerl, a berry souffle made to look like three peaks of the Austrian Alps, was outstanding and left a lasting great impression of The Catch.
I never did get into Sabatini's, but I was satisfied with having dined at Crown Grill and The Catch. However, I sure would have appreciated an easier time making reservations.
The Discovery Princess and other similarly sized Princess ships could use more specialty restaurants -- at least one more, maybe two -- to meet the high demand.
There are three main dining rooms that maybe don't have to be as big as they are, and the casino on our voyage seemed sparsely populated -- maybe it doesn't have to be as big as it is. Come on, Princess, make it happen.