Steelers36

PCL already knows the percentage of guests who book shore excursions with them. It should follow that the same percentage of guests would be interested in the shorex OBC out of those booking a package. But it comes down to how much extra is one paying to get that OBC, doesn't it. The survey doesn't discuss that aspect, so the results are not very meaningful IMO. As for the SD question, unlimited SD interest might depend on the number of available options on a particular ship, but again, how much are they charging for all the extra "free" meals? There are limited number of guest who always dine at SD. Note that Signature guests already have their own dining venue, so it's all about the money IMO.

They could just turn one MDR Into a SD location since so many guests would be looking for their "free" meal. That leads me to concur with @Thrak's assessment.

For total clarity, you can gamble in the casino and charge slot machine purchases or table chips to your cabin account. When your account is settled at end of voyage, any OBC does offset against charges. This has been the case even though PCL official policy is that OBC cannot be used in the casino. But, indirectly, it has worked. That said, one or more members here posted a while back about a policy change because it has been speculated that PCL might change the accounting program to prevent OBC from off-setting casino charges. I would say that has not been implemented or there would have been an active hot thread about it.

You cannot both explore Vancouver and board early. Get to Van a day or two early for that. They can open boarding around 11am, but will begin check-in at least an hour before that and you wait until boarding begins if processed early enough. At Van, I would probably be arriving at the terminal for check-in well before 10am if I wanted to be processed and among the first to board.

I would contact Princess via phone or chat. For phone, make sure you select the phone tree option for DMW. Ask the rep to adjust the booking to use only four credits on first booking for the 4 adults and 4 on the second for the adults. IDK for sure if they can do it, but you can try. Otherwise, fix it on board.

LGA 6 hrs!! ROFL.

They will default to the TA on record for the current voyage. Guest needs to advise the on board agent not to use that TA or to designate a different one. @ccheng6401, Princess knows the TA for each booking.

Sure, but aren't those the same ones on Princess.com under Last Minute Cruise Deals?

Technically, you are violating it I suppose, but no one knows since you are on two different cruise lines. (PVSA). Been a long time since FCD expiry was 4 years - it had been 2 years for a long time before the change to 1 year last year. We have FCD's purchased in Nov 2022 that will expire this coming Nov because they were purchased prior to the change to 1 year.

Right. Just buy the OBC and book with your usual TA. No need to bother with on board booking. You aren't getting anything special on board. They try to fool you with marketing, but the extra is just the OBC from the FCD you purchase.

If voyages are listed for sale on Princess.com, there is no need to book them on board. PCL was offering some deep discounts on near-term voyages after the re-start, but since ships are sailing full again, I have not seen any of these kind of deals mentioned.

Correct - except it is the PVSA.

Impossible on a cruise ship. The PVS Act is what applies to cruise ships.

Depends on geopolitical situation then, doesn't it? I notice they have none of these usual/typical planned stops: Oman, Dubai, Petra, Egypt, Israel.

The first booking probably used up available dining credits. Five used; three left. The second booking results in needing to charge two people. If it decided to charge 1 adult and 1 child, the cost is $35 + $17.50 = $52.50. (IDK where you got your SD pricing from, but is wrong AFAIK). Princess has recently increased pricing with all SD. They kept list price the same, but removed the included gratuity and now charge 18% on top. I am not sure when booking if the 18% is added on, or if you are billed on board at time of dining. If using a package SD (Premier), then there is no extra gratuity charge. Sabi's should be $35 + 18% = $35 + $6.30 = $41.30. A qualifying child would be 50% of that. I would say you were not being charged the extra 18% in DMW. ETA: No, DMW did not use any OBC since it is not eligible to cover advance reservations - only on board.

Glad you got the needed help, but it is a bad idea for three couples to book separate SD reservations. It ties up inventory as you mentioned and would not have you seated together. Still needs fixing - probably not until on board unless taking your action and then a needed large table might not be available.

So do I. I basically use my TA(s) as order takers. I don't need them to find me a cruise and make arrangements.

@Jetswdo, I agree. If you are not going to engage with an independent/third-party TA (preferably one that offers fare discounts), then by all means you should work with a Princess CVP (an internal TA) and not the horrid offshore service.

In my case, it's for much less cost as well.

There will be a variable number of days you can select prior to voyage start and same thing after voyage end. I have found through some experience that the number of days is not a set thing and can vary depending on destinations and perhaps even time of year. You can get a sense of how much time you have by shopping a similar voyage on Princess.com that is already open for flight booking. Use the Flights tab while shopping and you can check into EZair offerings. Chances are, if the pre-cruise time span is 14 days (example), it will be the same when your date opens.

With you 100% - no interest in table sharing. We dine alone or with our friends if sailing together.

Thanks for more info. I understand your situation better now. Parents booking note: I am aware of situation where DMW will not work if there is an issue with the booking. It could be your parents booking had or has some corrupt data. Just a guess, but seen it happen before newest App released. It does appear you were suffering from some App issue and not simple availability since the App found something, but never confirmed it for four of you. The issue I mentioned above also affects trying to book the same guests as part of a party by another person. I had this very issue for a period of time with a previous voyage. It was the previous App version of course, but DMW may not have change all that much when the new App was released (the "new" App was more about design changes AFAIK and not guts or coding issues). If you were actually speaking with DMW team who can alter and make DR reservations, then they were possibly running into the same issues as you were. No one probably knew to investigate potential data issues or why your parents could not make a res. I presume they were paid in full at least for most of the time you were working on this. Again, hard to know exactly what was going on and what the available inventory was, but I do agree that DMW will only show available times and will indicate if what you are looking for is not available. Not saving/booking what you have selected is another issue and likely a bug.

I believe part of your problem was misusing DMW. You had a 2-top booked under your own booking. Your parents had a 2-top booked under their booking. Now you are trying to book for 4 people Private (a 4-top) on your booking, but the other two already have existing booking. IMO, you should have cleaned out at least the parent bookings and then worked on a party-of-4 booking. Your personal 2-top booking would stay until you accepted a new booking for 4. I am also not positive DMW will remove/replace your 2-top booking when confirming the group 4-top booking. (Since it is not replacing like-for-like). It wasn't clear to me the exact steps you used. I also don't know how far out your voyage is to when you began to make reservations. It is possible that inventory of 4-tops is gone at your desired time. If you call into Princess and listen to the phone tree options, there is (or was) one for DMW inquiries. I have also read reports where that team has made res for guests having issues with the App. That said, they won't be able to book you if there isn't the desired availability. If all else fails, the advice to get with a DR Host for DR Mgr as soon as possible after boarding should result in success for you and parents dining together. ETA: Post #2650 by @t&atravel is an excellent point. Once the pre-existing reservations are cleaned out for future voyages beyond Sep 14, it will be a clean slate to get back in there and book fresh. Mark your calendar! ETA 2: I just read your post #2651 above and this: "Cruise starts on the 22nd of May to Alaska. Everyting seemed to be going somewhat smoothly in the App, and then it just totally seemed to take a nose dive. And unfortunately all customer support could do was pretty much say "Sorry, nothing we can do to help".". IDK when you began to make DMW res, but I can certainly believe at this point that desired times and table type could be gone from the provided inventory. I am sure you will be taken care of on board if you act promptly and ask nicely.

If this were the case on any particular voyage, DR Mgmt can shift some of the walk-up line to the other DR (up or down at mid-ship).

My bet would be PCL will setup the aft DR's for TD. The capacity is generally less, IIRC, and they will anticipate slightly less than 1/3 demand. They will also be able to accommodate any extra TD-style requests in one of the mid-ship DR's as they have been doing - for the most part - since the intro of DMW. Princess promised from the outset that guests could still have a TD experience, but the DMW software could never possibly deliver on that on its own without human intervention on the ships. Princess and/or DRO's may have the option to change the planned use of a particular DR if demand swells for one type of dining arrangement over another. We shall have to wait and see how it all unfolds.