PreBooking Specialty Restaurants Screw Up

[Jilliebean28]

We were on the March 19th and 26th Regal Princess Eastern Caribbean cruises and had a fabulous time. Prior to leaving I was on the Princess website and saw that I could prebook for Crown Grill and Sabatini's. As I was celebrating my birthday during the second week I decided to book a table for 5 at Crown Grill for 7:30pm and again two nights later at Sabatini's for the same time.

The night before we were scheduled for CG I remarked to my dh that we hadn't gotten the notification from CG that we were scheduled for the next night's reservation. My dh went down to guest services and they said that they could see we had made the reservation and paid for it and that we were all set.

So we show up a bit before our reservation time at CG and they say they have no reservation for us!! It was my 60th birthday and my dh was not happy! He asked to speak with the manager, explained everything and was told that they had never been notified by the corporate offices that pre booking had been available. So they were now horribly overbooked and had to bring extra wait people down from other restaurants!! They did accommodate us at 8:30pm.

Sadly, it happened all over again at Sabatini's!!

[Colo Cruiser]

We were on the March 19th and 26th Regal Princess Eastern Caribbean cruises and had a fabulous time. Prior to leaving I was on the Princess website and saw that I could prebook for Crown Grill and Sabatini's. As I was celebrating my birthday during the second week I decided to book a table for 5 at Crown Grill for 7:30pm and again two nights later at Sabatini's for the same time.

The night before we were scheduled for CG I remarked to my dh that we hadn't gotten the notification from CG that we were scheduled for the next night's reservation. My dh went down to guest services and they said that they could see we had made the reservation and paid for it and that we were all set.

So we show up a bit before our reservation time at CG and they say they have no reservation for us!! It was my 60th birthday and my dh was not happy! He asked to speak with the manager, explained everything and was told that they had never been notified by the corporate offices that pre booking had been available. So they were now horribly overbooked and had to bring extra wait people down from other restaurants!! They did accommodate us at 8:30pm.

Sadly, it happened all over again at Sabatini's!!

 

How disappointing!

 

Don't like the pre book system. We go right to the venue upon boarding and make the res.

[Robinsoncruiseso]

Thanks for the heads up. I booked the CG for my birthday next month. I will confirm with the CG staff that they have our reservation

[PrettyGirl01]

Classic case of the right hand not knowing what the left one is doing.

[FraudBroad]

Same exact issues at the Crown Grill on the 3/25 sailing of Crown Princess. People waited forever for tables. The ship hadn't been notified of any of the pre online reservations.

[lovevacadays]

Wow! I sure hope they get it together.

[casofilia]

I hope all you got some form of sweetener from the Maitre d'; a bottle of wine perhaps; and/or from Corporate; some OBC. It is not good enough and certainly not good public relations or customer service.

[victory2020]

Reminds me of my one & only time at CG; some new friends had invited us but I forgot the exact time. Since we hadn't known them long I was embarrassed to ask them again what time so I called the DineLine.

Went something like this - hello, dine line (in thick eastern European accent)

ME; Yes, there is a reservation in the name of Smith & I would like to know what time it is at. DINELINE; you would like to make a reservation?

ME; no, there is a reservation already & I would like to know what time it is at.

DINELINE; you want reservation?

ME: no there is a reservation, either at 6 or 630 in the name of Smith

DINELINE: you would like to cancel reservation? ME; no I don't want to cancel, I want to know what time it is for

DINELINE You don't want reservation

ME No, never mind,I'll call Mr Smith regarding reservation

Of course we get to CG & reservation was cancelled!

Maitre'd made a big deal out of it & of course then I was really embarrassed!

[Nhsaltshaker]

While I agree there is no excuse, I have made it a habit to take all paper copies (and save confirmation emails) with me to whatever venue/dinner I paid for...no matter which cruise line I am on.

 

Vacation should not spent fighting for things you have reserved and paid for. I find it worth the extra effort to take care of things right then and there by keeping my paper reservation in my pocket.

 

No matter which cruise I am on, I have always had my 'problem' taken care of within a matter of seconds. Done.

[chippye]

I have responded on another thread about my recent poor experience at the crown grill. We look forward all year to our cruise and special dinner experience. I am no t interested in a comp bottle of wine or refund of my charges. We want to enjoy a nice dinner experience and have unfortunately been disappointed. Not worried about the money just want a pleasant evening. These venues used to go out of their way to make things great.