Advance reservations @ Crown Grill, how does it work?

[pris993]

I am considering making advance reservations before boarding the ship, on my next cruise.  Am wonder if I do this can I change date or time when on board?    Wonder if cruise gets cancelled would I get my money back?    I  probably would make reservations at the same time as final payment.   Anyone who has made such reservations, do you have any advice.  Thanks, did not find any threads with this question when I did a search.  

[Papa Yoda]

1 hour ago, pris993 said:

 

... wonder if I do this can I change date or time when on board?   Yes

Wonder if cruise gets cancelled would I get my money back?   Yes, back to Credit card used to pay

I probably would make reservations at the same time as final payment.  Makes no difference

Anyone who has made such reservations, do you have any advice.  May not need advance reservations unless you are really wanting a specific date and time.

 

You'll likely get the the usual card in your cabin with the confirmation.  If you want to change go to the door of crown grill - there will be someone there to handle your changes or to confirm your reservation.  Beats the hold time on Dine line.

 

[caribill]

2 hours ago, pris993 said:

I am considering making advance reservations before boarding the ship, on my next cruise.     Wonder if cruise gets cancelled would I get my money back? 

 

Yes 

[Ron the Rev]

Why bother to make advanced bookings. We normally just go to the restaurant as soon as we have settled in, after boarding and book. We have ,on all of our many cruises, never had a problem.  

[dog]

I received my payment refunded to my credit card when cruise was cancelled. I will no longer pre book anything in the future after reading how Princess has handled some refunds recently. I have not had a problem booking dining on-board when flexible with day/ time. 

[Tak8]

It probably depends on the cruise.  I had one cruise on the Caribbean Princess where the Crown Grill was booked by day three.  I wanted to make an additional reservation, but they said they had nothing available.  I would make sure you do it early in the cruise. 

[skynight]

Some thoughts.

-One week cruises tend to book up. Longer cruises not as much.

-Pre-booking can be done anytime on line. You have to pay in advance if booked on line, charged direct to your credit card.

-If booked after boarding the charge goes to your on board account and thus nets against any OBC balance that you may have.

-On line booking is restricted to specific time slots. If you book once on board you may be able to select a time other than the specific time slots by visiting the Crown Grill on boarding day. 

-Once on board you have access to the schedule for the cruise, and have more information to select a day and time. If the ship is a medallion ship much of the cruise's schedule can be accessed in the app pre-cruise.

[cvpends]

Skylight has summed it up well, but I also would like to add that it can be (or used to be before this whole mess) a fun part of the planning process, contributing to the excitement leading up to the cruise, like booking excursions in advance.  And I have been on sailings where specialty restaurants book very early, especially for holiday cruises.  So for a special holiday or life event, booking in advance can make sense.

[pris993]

Thanks for the responses.  I took this cruise earlier this year, first 3 days are sea days, I found I could not book at the Crown Grill til ship reached first port.  I like to go every other night to the Crown Grill... so that is why I am considering booking at least the first couple of reservations in advance.   But was not sure how it worked if I later cancelled the cruise.  

[cvpends]

2 hours ago, pris993 said:

Thanks for the responses.  I took this cruise earlier this year, first 3 days are sea days, I found I could not book at the Crown Grill til ship reached first port.  I like to go every other night to the Crown Grill... so that is why I am considering booking at least the first couple of reservations in advance.   But was not sure how it worked if I later cancelled the cruise.  

If you like to eat at Crown Grill every other night at a particular time, I think booking in advance makes perfect sense.

[pris993]

8 minutes ago, cvpends said:

If you like to eat at Crown Grill every other night at a particular time, I think booking in advance makes perfect sense.

Thanks... actually when we go to the Crown Grill  that often we usually are able to get same time and same table...  So it works out well.  

[caribill]

14 hours ago, skynight said:

Some thoughts.

-One week cruises tend to book up. Longer cruises not as much.

-Pre-booking can be done anytime on line. You have to pay in advance if booked on line, charged direct to your credit card.

-If booked after boarding the charge goes to your on board account and thus nets against any OBC balance that you may have.

-On line booking is restricted to specific time slots. If you book once on board you may be able to select a time other than the specific time slots by visiting the Crown Grill on boarding day. 

-Once on board you have access to the schedule for the cruise, and have more information to select a day and time. If the ship is a medallion ship much of the cruise's schedule can be accessed in the app pre-cruise.

 

If the cruise had been marketed with a free specialty restaurant meal as a perk, it might be difficult to make a reservation once on board if many passengers had that perk.

[Last Lion]

If you have booked and paid for a crown grill reservation before a cruise, once on board can you change the payment method to an OBC?

[mthomp5]

8 hours ago, Last Lion said:

If you have booked and paid for a crown grill reservation before a cruise, once on board can you change the payment method to an OBC?

I’m curious about this too. If you book in advance of sailing, does Princess charge your credit card when you make the reservation or on the day of the reservation?

[catr13]

Are you able to make a reservation beforehand if one has received a free speciality meal? 

[Steelers36]

13 hours ago, Last Lion said:

If you have booked and paid for a crown grill reservation before a cruise, once on board can you change the payment method to an OBC?

No.  If you cancel a res on board, the refund will come to you as Refundable OBC.  You can then re-book and pay with OBC, but you have not gained anything.

[Steelers36]

5 hours ago, mthomp5 said:

I’m curious about this too. If you book in advance of sailing, does Princess charge your credit card when you make the reservation or on the day of the reservation?

Yes, if you book specialty dining via Princess App (Dine My Way) or via web version, you are charged to provided credit card (unless you have a SD Credit) at time of booking.  Nothing is charged on board in this case.

[Steelers36]

50 minutes ago, catr13 said:

Are you able to make a reservation beforehand if one has received a free specialty meal? 

It depends.  If you have a SD Credit in your profile, it an generally be used when booking in DMW as the system will/should recognize it.  But sometimes it doesn't.  Also, if you were gifted the SD by a TA, then not going to be able to pre-book for free.

[mthomp5]

23 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

Yes, if you book specialty dining via Princess App (Dine My Way) or via web version, you are charged to provided credit card (unless you have a SD Credit) at time of booking.  Nothing is charged on board in this case.

Thank you for the info!  I’ll wait until I get onboard so I can use OBC instead.