Dine My Way & all new Dining questions since cruising restart!!

[Astro Flyer]

9 hours ago, MommyOTwins said:

Still no Specialty Dining credits in the app for me.  I will just sort it out at guest services.

Hope you have better luck than us. 🤞

 

The app would not allow us to book our complimentary booking perk dinner & decided to pay in advance due to so many reports of no reservations available onboard. First day went to Guest Services to use our free meal credit and to get refundable OBC for our pre-paid dinner. After talking to his supervisor said my chargecard would be credited before the end of 2 week cruise…NOT! So they begrudgingly issued a $58 refundable credit shortly before the end of the cruise. Over a month later still haven’t received our check for all of my refundable credit which the emailed statement incorrectly reduced by 25% so emailed Customer Relations but no reply like previously. Posts state that refunds previously received within 4-6 weeks are now talking many months…one waiting since December.

 

Edited May 11, 2022 by Astro Flyer

[Camelia-]

My sister is sailing in July. She just tried to select a dining time on the App and if she wants to eat at her own private table her first option is 8:40 p.m.. If she wants to eat earlier she would have to share a table. She doesn't want to share and 8:40 is too late for her so..what are her options when she boards? Would she be able to reserve for dinner when she's on the ship (or would there even be any times available at that point)...would she have to line up in the old way and be prepared to wait to get seated? Or.. is she doomed to eat dinner at the buffet or specialty restaurants?  It's hard to believe that all the earlier slots are all booked when it's still 70 plus days out and yet it's too early to book an arrival time!

[Dbld777]

2 hours ago, Camelia- said:

My sister is sailing in July. She just tried to select a dining time on the App and if she wants to eat at her own private table her first option is 8:40 p.m.. If she wants to eat earlier she would have to share a table. She doesn't want to share and 8:40 is too late for her so..what are her options when she boards? Would she be able to reserve for dinner when she's on the ship (or would there even be any times available at that point)...would she have to line up in the old way and be prepared to wait to get seated? Or.. is she doomed to eat dinner at the buffet or specialty restaurants?  It's hard to believe that all the earlier slots are all booked when it's still 70 plus days out and yet it's too early to book an arrival time!

Call Princess and let them enter a reservation for her. See previous post #1029 and #1032 for details on how to navigate the phone tree to get to someone that can make a reservation for her. I wouldn't wait until boarding as there will be 2000 other people trying to talk to the Maitre D or the Dining Room Mgrs. about their reservations or lack thereof.

[Steelers36]

2 hours ago, Camelia- said:

My sister is sailing in July. She just tried to select a dining time on the App and if she wants to eat at her own private table her first option is 8:40 p.m.. If she wants to eat earlier she would have to share a table. She doesn't want to share and 8:40 is too late for her so..what are her options when she boards? Would she be able to reserve for dinner when she's on the ship (or would there even be any times available at that point)...would she have to line up in the old way and be prepared to wait to get seated? Or.. is she doomed to eat dinner at the buffet or specialty restaurants?  It's hard to believe that all the earlier slots are all booked when it's still 70 plus days out and yet it's too early to book an arrival time!

You did not mention the ship, nor how many DR's show up in the App.  Princess is only releasing up to TWO of THREE DR's before the cruise from all reports and evidence I know of.  With ships filling up, they have to operate THREE DR's and I think that 3rd DR is being added either by sail date or just before.  I imagine she will be fine either watching for additional DR space, or walking up, OR, yes, you can make a res on board using the App or your cabin TV.

[Camelia-]

Thanks very much for this information..she will be on the Caribbean Princess. I will pass on your suggestions. It looks like there are just two dining rooms available for now.

[Tedferg]

In April on Majestic, first night was a madhouse, I assume many people, us included, did not have reservations. Also, ship was close to full. What are current first night experiences? We are on CB Sept and wonder if booking Specialty first night might be a safer option. Or maybe just buffet that night.

 

We sail at 7:00pm, is Statue of Liberty illuminated? I expect sail away to be spectacular out of New York. That might further delay our dining, sounds more and more like buffet that night.

[emule]

On Island Princess.  Went to dinner in dining room for first time this cruise tonight. I had carefully navigated their flawed app & had a reservation for 7:00 PM.  Like Seinfeld episode "yes, you have a reservation but no we don't have any tables, come back in 15-20 minutes."  This is not our first rodeo.  When we got on we had invite to 'most traveled guest' lunch with captain with the papers the room steward had delivered to our cabin.  15 minutes after ordering at the near by bar we hadn't even gotten out drinks .  I guess they were out with drinks to deliver looking for people and their medallions.  We went back, still no table.  We were used to arriving at the dining room and being escorted to our table by a nice waiter.  This was always possible with two seatings spaced a few hours apart.  The first seating could sit there for a long time &  sometimes it takes a long time for a table of eight. The staff hurried to get completely ready for the second seating.  Now they have reservations twenty minutes apart.  We eventually ended up at a table close to the one they wanted us to wait for. At 8:30 the people were still sitting at "our" 7:00 table.  This system is badly broken.  Have future Princess cruises reserved but will have to do some serious thinking before getting on another Princess cruise.

 

[MommyOTwins]

18 hours ago, Camelia- said:

My sister is sailing in July. She just tried to select a dining time on the App and if she wants to eat at her own private table her first option is 8:40 p.m.. If she wants to eat earlier she would have to share a table. She doesn't want to share and 8:40 is too late for her so..what are her options when she boards? Would she be able to reserve for dinner when she's on the ship (or would there even be any times available at that point)...would she have to line up in the old way and be prepared to wait to get seated? Or.. is she doomed to eat dinner at the buffet or specialty restaurants?  It's hard to believe that all the earlier slots are all booked when it's still 70 plus days out and yet it's too early to book an arrival time!

As others said, I think it will work out for her. But I do think it is worth pointing out—I think we should all keep before 90 days in mind as the time to get reservations (food and excursions) lined up before they sell out.  Princess requires final payment to book dining and excursions, which happens at 90 days.  I paid early and booked my dining and excursions a couple of days before the 90 day mark. A week later, tried to go in and modify a couple of things and a LOT was sold out or close to it.  Cruises are ramping up to higher and higher guest counts but staffing is not yet fully back to normal (both on the ships and with excursion vendors in the ports) so that means this summer things are going to book up sooner than you might expect.

[SmedonSeas]

Not sure if anyone has asked this yet....is Balcony Dinner Dining no longer available. I see that there's Breakfast Balcony dining, but no Dinner.

[JF - retired RRT]

21 minutes ago, SmedonSeas said:

Not sure if anyone has asked this yet....is Balcony Dinner Dining no longer available. I see that there's Breakfast Balcony dining, but no Dinner.

Reports are that a few ships are offering, but not all.

[SmedonSeas]

3 hours ago, JF - retired RRT said:

Reports are that a few ships are offering, but not all.

Any word on Crown?

[PacnGoNow]

On 2/8/2022 at 10:40 PM, Ombud said:

If you ask to share a table the same time every night you might be relegated to the Botticelli Dining Room at the same table & table mates each time. I was on the Emerald.  But I don't like that dining room so I just showed up whenever in the Da Vinci 

What do you dislike about the Botticelli DR?

[Astro Flyer]

21 hours ago, emule said:

This system is badly broken.  Have future Princess cruises reserved but will have to do some serious thinking before getting on another Princess cruise.

As a result of all of the Princess issues we’re close to canceling our future cruises & are booking our first Oceania cruise instead…too many Princess disappointments for us as we’re reaching 500 days.

 

[Ombud]

38 minutes ago, PacnGoNow said:

What do you dislike about the Botticelli DR?

Just a few issues with it:

1. Too far from Vines so no before dinner drink

2. Too far from Princess theater for those times I see a production show before dinner (racing at 8:20 to get there then I either eat in a hurry or shut the place down). 

3. For someone who eats at 5 & sees thec1st show, skip dessert. You won't have time. I ate with friends once at 5pm / April 24, 2022 and I had only my salad by 7pm. 

4. No space to cue up (doesn't actually affect me as I eat 7 or later

5. Cannot get a 2 top in a quiet area. I have walked out w/o eating / ordering if the area is too noisy 

6. More susceptible to rocking

 

I got the same table almost every night in DaVinci -- once I had to eat at the next table over -- once in the 'private' secluded area behind a wall. 

[donswife]

I found that I was able to use dining credits to book our suite first night specialty dinner on the Diamond,  but not our booking perk specialty dinner on the Sapphire  (Sept and Oct, respectively).  I was able to book a private table (for 3) in the Santa Fe dining room each night at 7pm (on the Sapphire). We'll see if it stays,  and if the SD credit will appear after final payment. 

[emule]

16 hours ago, Astro Flyer said:

As a result of all of the Princess issues we’re close to canceling our future cruises & are booking our first Oceania cruise instead…too many Princess disappointments for us as we’re reaching 500 days.

 

Yes, we are thinking the same way.  We liked the Ocean & Pacific Princesses. Ocean is Sirena now an Oceania ship like several other "Renaissance" class 'small' ships.  Pacific went to Azimara.

"Dine Our Way" - On ship for 49 days. Tried to book table at same time for cruise. It failed because table for two not available at that time on at least one of those nights.  I had to go in and do all the nights individually. Indeed the time I had originally requested was not available on a few nights so I picked a different time in a different dining room. Now onboard I realize that all that doesn't really mean anything. You don't really have a time or a table.  They could  tell the first seating stragglers that they have to get ready for second seating but they aren't going to tell a specific table that they have sat there too long and have to leave.

[Happiest when cruising]

3 hours ago, emule said:

Yes, we are thinking the same way.  We liked the Ocean & Pacific Princesses. Ocean is Sirena now an Oceania ship like several other "Renaissance" class 'small' ships.  Pacific went to Azimara.

"Dine Our Way" - On ship for 49 days. Tried to book table at same time for cruise. It failed because table for two not available at that time on at least one of those nights.  I had to go in and do all the nights individually. Indeed the time I had originally requested was not available on a few nights so I picked a different time in a different dining room. Now onboard I realize that all that doesn't really mean anything. You don't really have a time or a table.  They could  tell the first seating stragglers that they have to get ready for second seating but they aren't going to tell a specific table that they have sat there too long and have to leave.

We had a set time, table and servers, every day. It did take us asking about why when we had “reservations” we were still waiting in a very long single line, with not one staff member asking to see anybody’s medallion to confirm anything. We also had waited 40 minutes before finally suggesting this lack of a system was not working. We saw several people just go to the same entry just right beside the open door where the staff are, a staff would just let them in  show them into the dining room and no medallions were used.i have no idea why that happened, it was unfair and it made no sense. People in line were upset. The people who got into that other very short line line, were questioned by people waiting in line. They politely said they had reservations, just like the rest of us. They were not using the club class entry, on the other side, just right where we were all patiently waiting.
After that nights discussion with the staff, they did something on the computer and just like magic, no more problems, we just walked up, they tapped our medallion and our 6:00 pm  same table was waiting for us, along with our very good servers. 
 

Edited May 15, 2022 by Happiest when cruising

[fifi1969]

Do Princess offer a discount for multiple speciality restaurants? We have criused with Royal Caribbean before and they do offers on embarkation day where you can buy a speciality restaurant package. I can't remember the details but it was something like 3 nights of speciality dining for the price of 2. 

 

Does Princess do this? If so is the offer just on embarkation day or can you buy it earlier? 

[wowzz]

1 hour ago, fifi1969 said:

Do Princess offer a discount for multiple speciality restaurants? We have criused with Royal Caribbean before and they do offers on embarkation day where you can buy a speciality restaurant package. I can't remember the details but it was something like 3 nights of speciality dining for the price of 2. 

 

Does Princess do this? If so is the offer just on embarkation day or can you buy it earlier? 

Never seen or heard of such an offer. To be honest,  the speciality   restaurants on Princess tend to be heavily booked, so no incentives are required.

[carryoncruising]

My sister is sailing in July. She just tried to select a dining time on the App and if she wants to eat at her own private table her first option is 8:40 p.m.. If she wants to eat earlier she would have to share a table. She doesn't want to share and 8:40 is too late for her so..what are her options when she boards? Would she be able to reserve for dinner when she's on the ship (or would there even be any times available at that point)...would she have to line up in the old way and be prepared to wait to get seated? Or.. is she doomed to eat dinner at the buffet or specialty restaurants?  It's hard to believe that all the earlier slots are all booked when it's still 70 plus days out and yet it's too early to book an arrival time!     

 

Well...we are the complete opposite. We like eating 7-30 or later but could only book tables for 2. We prefer to share and the latest we can book is 6-20!   We're not sailing until September so it's only Platinum (us) and Elite who can access this feature until after final payment. Princess say all other times are booked, which I don't think can be true - so if you're on the Emerald on 18th Sept. keep an eye on times becoming available.  We're hoping to change some nights.

 

[Astro Flyer]

This Fall we’re booked for 24 days & last June made nightly 1800 reservations in Palm. Checking DMW on the app Princess has added a second nightly reservation at 1720 in Island. There are two extremes with DMW…none or too many reservations. 😳

 

[Thrak]

Boarded Royal Princess May 2nd. Made a "standing reservation" for the two of us and two friends from Canada for 5:40 every night in the Symphony dining room. I was offered all 3 dining rooms and chose this one as it is on deck 5 and a short walk from Vines.

 

Boarded to find that the Symphony dining room was closed. D'Oh! We were now booked in the Allegro dining room - the one all the way aft on deck 6. You know... The one that is the only thing aft on deck 6. Ah, well. Not really a problem other than the fact I had told our dinner companions that we were in the Symphony dining room. As for dining companions, as I said above I had booked 5:40 PM dining each night for our party of 4.

 

The first night we were all seated together. After dinner I asked if we could be seated at the same table every night. I didn't receive an answer that gave me confidence. The second night I was pleased to see they had the 4 of us listed as a group but they sent us to a different table. I was amazed when, each night after that, we were all seated together at the same table we had that second night. It was great and just like the old style Traditional Dining. The wait staff was excellent and we had great service and great meals every night.

 

I only had two issues. One: Creme Brulee was never on the menu. GAH!!! The other issue was that, since there was no Creme Brulee, I ordered the Princess Love Boat and it was a completely different desert than what I have had in the past. However, one night I asked the head waiter (he happened to be passing by checking out how people's dinners were going) why there was no Creme Brulee on the menu. One of our dining companions told him that I "always" had Creme Brulee (pretty much true) and was "really disappointed" that it wasn't on the menu. (Also true.) At that point we ended up waiting for someone to take our dessert orders. Eventually the same guy came back with Creme Brulee for all at the table. Wowie Zowie!  It was great. 😁

[Steelers36]

6 hours ago, Thrak said:

The second night I was pleased to see they had the 4 of us listed as a group but they sent us to a different table. I was amazed when, each night after that, we were all seated together at the same table we had that second night. It was great and just like the old style Traditional Dining. The wait staff was excellent and we had great service and great meals every night.

We are in similar situation - two couples and setup as travel companions for dining and looking to have TD experience with same table and waiters each night.  I'd prefer Symphony or Concerto (Regal) over Allegro, but Symphony not even available as yet in DMW and Allegro only added less than a month ago.  I had to go with Allegro as it was wide open of course and I couldn't get Private table for four of us in Concerto.

 

Perhaps our only difference with your situation is we have B2B2B.  A story like yours is giving me hope the dining situation is getting somewhat better and will work out.

[Camelia-]

On 5/13/2022 at 5:20 PM, Steelers36 said:

You did not mention the ship, nor how many DR's show up in the App.  Princess is only releasing up to TWO of THREE DR's before the cruise from all reports and evidence I know of.  With ships filling up, they have to operate THREE DR's and I think that 3rd DR is being added either by sail date or just before.  I imagine she will be fine either watching for additional DR space, or walking up, OR, yes, you can make a res on board using the App or your cabin TV.

I wanted to thank you again for this advice. I passed it on and she checked daily and yesterday she finally saw that they had added a third DR just as you mentioned! She was able to book a private table at 6 which is her preference.

 

Now another question would be: when she boards and goes to the dining room  - will she be getting the same table each time or will she be moved around..I suppose she can request it?

 

[Steelers36]

32 minutes ago, Camelia- said:

I wanted to thank you again for this advice. I passed it on and she checked daily and yesterday she finally saw that they had added a third DR just as you mentioned! She was able to book a private table at 6 which is her preference.

 

Now another question would be: when she boards and goes to the dining room  - will she be getting the same table each time or will she be moved around..I suppose she can request it?

 

Excellent.  She should make her desires known to DR mgr/supvr on the first evening - or sooner if she sees him/her.