57eric

Is Anytime Dining gone? If not, can someone point me to a mention of it on the Princess website? All I can see, on the website as well as the app, is that you can reserve where and when you want. All three MDRs are open for reservations for my upcoming voyage, but only up to 6:20 and after 7:40.

I got this survey also, about a TA reservation I cancelled nearly two years ago. I started to give it a good faith effort, but when I was offered the aforementioned shore excursion credit, I gave up.

Hattie, thanks for the Great Review badge. I didn't submit my post as a review because I felt it was lacking most of the key elements thereof: cabin, food, staff (except peripherally), entertainment and ports.

Princess. OK, maybe I'm being too optimistic. I do see plenty of complaints on the Princess board. (Are there any boards without food complaints?) But again, it's the itinerary, not the food, that is the driver here.

Excellent, thank you.

I haven't read all 850 posts. so apologies if this is a repeat. I entered my payment method for on board only and checked the box to use the same method for my wife. She now shows complete for payment method whereas I, of course, don't. I am holding out until Princess removes shoreside payment as a requirement, along with many of the rest of you. I am not sure there are any enrolled merchants on our itinerary anyway.

The QM2 deck plan clearly shows the entrance to the deck 11 launderette on the port side. It isn't. I'm now planning a QE voyage and will be on either deck 5 or 6. The deck plan in each case appears to show access to the launderettes from both sides. As I have learned to be mistrustful of this type of information, can anyone enlighten me as to the actual situation here?

On the other hand

I'm sailing in two months and the Crown Grill is already showing 4 nights booked until 8:00 or later. Whether this means one couldn't show up and be seated earlier, I can't say.

Sure, as long as you know you'll be able to get a seat. I agree with 1412p0oi.

Which is why I'm waiting until a couple weeks prior to sailing before I purchase the package. The flip side is that Princess could hike the price in the meantime.

I never chose Cunard for the food. I'm not sure I felt the quality was down, although the selection definitely was. But to repeat, food didn't make my cutback list. However, I am hoping (expecting) the food will be better when I switch lines.

That's great news. I just made final payment and set up my dining, requesting a shared table every night except when we're planning to do specialty dining. I was recently on another line where it was difficult NOT to be seated at a table for two.

Were any of these events bookable prior to boarding?

No, I haven't booked anything yet. Just wanting to understand what flexibility I will have if my plans change.

It wasn't the cutbacks but the virtually unchanging Caribbean itineraries. QE's projected 2025 schedule is more of the same. My wife and I want to visit some different ports. I'm also anticipating better food, although I didn't mention food quality in my post.

Nov. 26, 12 nights.

Here’s my experience with some of the MyVoyage features: · Voyage Calendar – This displayed my original shore excursion bookings, but was never updated. It doesn’t show basic information such as port arrival and departure times or dress codes. · Dining – When I asked the maître d’ a question about the virtual queue, he advised me not to use it and to just show up. (This worked well.) The app can’t be used to book the Lunch and Learn wine tasing event. · Shore Experiences – Worked intermittently. · Bar Menus – Prices were out of date. · Daily Programme – As has already been posted, the next day’s program is never available. What I got was roughly 50% the current day’s program, 40% not working and 10% the previous day’s program. Hopefully improvements are being made.

Cutbacks were evident on my recent voyage, but let’s begin on a positive note with some areas that exceeded my expectations: · Embarkation – My expectation from entering the terminal to being seated in the waiting hall – 45 minutes to an hour. Actual – 8 minutes. At that point there was a fair wait, but I was on board by 1:30 – no complaint. · Open Dining – I never thought I would do open dining on Cunard. Without getting into how this came about, it was a pleasant surprise. Wait times were minimal, regardless of what time I arrived. Service was variable, but in some cases outstanding. · Roaring 20s Night – On previous voyages I had only seen nominal participation on the theme nights. Not the case here! There were loads of women, and not a few men, who went all out. · Sequence Dancing – Apparently near extinction earlier in the year, sequence dancing was back with a vengeance. So much so that by the end of the voyage, supply was in danger of exceeding demand. Kudos to Cunard for listening to feedback on this. · Laundry – I don’t know if Cunard gets any credit here, but the laundry rooms seemed far less competitive than on the identical voyage in previous years. · Disembarkation – My group was called off ahead of schedule and the wait at CBP was less than two minutes. However, the luggage hall had been reconfigured so that the once orderly process of queuing for a porter was chaos. I gave up. Now, on to the feature topic. Numerical comparisons are to my 2019 voyage: · Buffet Hours – The buffet was scheduled to be open 15 hours a day, down from 19.5 hours. The issue here is not “How much is enough?” but “What is being offered vs. what was previously offered?”. · Music – No live music in the dining room. Saw live music in the atrium once. No Dixieland concerts, until, surprise, the final night, while everyone was busy packing. · Dance Hosts – One man and one woman, down from five and one. · Karaoke – Not offered. · Pub Lunch Menu – Five choices, down from seven. · Cocktails – This may not exactly be a cutback, but I received pushback in multiple venues when ordering cocktails that weren’t on “the list”. I prevailed in about half these cases and got my original order. In the past the only issue was if a venue lacked a required ingredient, which was rare. · Gym TVs – Previously a number of TV stations were available on the bikes, steppers and ellipticals. There’s still a menu option for TV but it doesn’t work. I'm not giving up on Cunard, but for the first time in many years I have booked another line for my next voyage.

I found this response from 2017. Is it still applicable? Cancellation Policy: Cancellations can be made online up to 7 days prior to embarkation and will receive a full refund to the credit card used. Cancellations can also be made onboard 24 hours prior to your reservation by calling the DINE Line or at the respective specialty dining restaurant. Onboard refunds will be applied to your stateroom account in the form of onboard credit.

I'm sure the OP means the LA-Dubai voyage 1/18/24. While her statement that it is sold as a single cruise is accurate, her statement that it is not in segments muddies the water. While it may not be in segments from her perspective, it definitely is. Just to put a bow on it, it itself is a segment of the 111 day world cruise.

I'm not understanding why anyone would pay for the plus package until right before embarkation (or later).

Thanks for the responses. So, lunch is $50. Or $125. I get that the latter includes wine and the former almost certainly doesn't, but I think we can conclude that the price is "whatever".

Thanks for the responses. I conclude that, unless you really want to jump through hoops, traditional dining is dead on Princess. To me, the most important component is not the same time, the same table, or the same servers, but the same dinner companions. Over the years this has been one of the greatest sources of cruising enjoyment for me (although, of course, it hasn’t been foolproof). Is it reasonably easy to be seated with others using open dining, or are my wife and I likely to be pressured to take a table for two?

So, what I'm getting so far is that dinner is cheaper than lunch! Keep posting - I don't think we've gotten to the bottom of this yet.