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

[sonomaphil]

So to book a specialty restaurant beforehand you have to pay upfront even if you have OBC?

[Steelers36]

52 minutes ago, NavyVeteran said:

 

It is supposed to recognize the credits only if you have a free specialty dining promotion. It does not apply OBC to specialty dining reservations. The only thing you can book pre-cruise with OBC is shore excursions.

You are correct and I know this.  Perhaps I took @Tweedy's post too literally when they mentioned "credits", thinking them to be dining credits.  Most certainly, it has to be a SD credit/promo that the guest has in order to use it to pay for a SD reservation.

[Steelers36]

26 minutes ago, sonomaphil said:

So to book a specialty restaurant beforehand you have to pay upfront even if you have OBC?

Yes.  And this was always the policy - even before the MC App and DMW.  In fact, I think when SD bookings were in the old Cruise Personalizer, there was no way to apply a free SD credit from a booking promotion.  You had to wait until on board.  When it works, this new way in DMW is an improvement over the old system.

 

[windsor26]

18 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

There is zero guarantee of that and I believe it would be a fluke. 

 

The best advice I have is to speak with your companions on Night 1 and see if they booked similarly or if they were there randomly by booking single nights or were a walk-up.  I hope someone else who has gone through this sees your note and replies with their RECENT experience.  There are some small signs I have seen where the DRO (formerly MD) seems to have more flexibility than in the beginning???  Try to recruit other diners on your first night and then speak with the DRO or a HW and see if those interested can be blocked into the same table each night. 

 

Thank you  we did this once years ago on P&O and it worked and was great for the whole cruise  I will try   

[Tweedy]

17 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

You are correct and I know this.  Perhaps I took @Tweedy's post too literally when they mentioned "credits", thinking them to be dining credits.  Most certainly, it has to be a SD credit/promo that the guest has in order to use it to pay for a SD reservation.

 

Appreciate the response.  I did mean OBC and not dining credits so you did answer my question, or at least I thought I knew what you meant 😄

[YWW]

On 6/28/2022 at 7:30 AM, richstowe said:

ADVICE - CHECK BACK EACH DAY

Day by day I'm adding dinner reservation to my 13 day cruise. As previously posted, silly me, I thought that when I booked 3 months ago using  Reserve for the same time each day it actually meant that . Finally realizing it didn't, I had only 2 reservations. I've been checking daily for openings for the last 10 days . Lo and behold each day or so another acceptable option appears . I'm up to 9. It shouldn't be this way but c'est la vie .

Your experience with the Dine My Way feature on the Medallion Class app was exactly like mine. I was naïve enough to believe and trust the app when it asked "Reserve for the same time each day?" and I said yes. It confirmed and we thought that was it. Unfortunately we found out a week later nothing was reserved for the entire 10-day journey except the second night. Called Princess and spoke to a Dine My Way expert about this issue and was told the app had a lot of technical issues and one issue was the inability to provide an error message or warning about your reservation. So if it detected one night that was available at your specific time, it would confirm the whole journey. The rep had to manually go in every day to reserve the time and place for us. Bottom line is to be very very careful when you use the Medallion Class app to make reservations. DON'T trust everything it tells you. Double check everything afterwards. As far as I am concerned, Princess should just scrap this app because it creates more problems and issues for everyone.

[NIkkiGR]

I have booked the same time with DMW during our 21 day cruise in September. If I want to change one particular day to a different time a prompt tells me if I do that I will loose all my previous reservations. What is the point of being able to change if this happens. Or am I just not doing it right. 

[Steelers36]

16 minutes ago, NIkkiGR said:

I have booked the same time with DMW during our 21 day cruise in September. If I want to change one particular day to a different time a prompt tells me if I do that I will loose all my previous reservations. What is the point of being able to change if this happens. Or am I just not doing it right. 

Probably just misinterpreting the wording of the warning message. 

 

I presume you used the main option to "Reserve for the same time each day". 

 

Next time in, use the main option "View or book individual daily reservations".  I would do this as a matter of course after completing the first option just to be sure my reservation shows each night as I expected.  

 

Now, scroll to the day you want to change.  (Could be to have dinner at a different time or to book Specialty).  Yes, a white background pop-up message appears warning that you might be double-booking.  But, it says " "If you make another reservation for THIS NIGHT (my bolding), your original reservation will be cancelled".  That does not mean all 21 nights - it just refers to the one night you are over-riding. 

 

Note that if you attempt a do-over on reserving for the same time each day option, a different pop-up message appears and explains that modifying your plan will overwrite the existing one (meaning a dining plan for the entire voyage).

 

 

Edited July 24, 2022 by Steelers36

[NIkkiGR]

4 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

Probably just misinterpreting the wording of the warning message. 

 

I presume you used the main option to "Reserve for the same time each day". 

 

Next time in, use the main option "View or book individual daily reservations".  I would do this as a matter of course after completing the first option just to be sure my reservation shows each night as I expected.  

 

Now, scroll to the day you want to change.  (Could be to have dinner at a different time or to book Specialty).  Yes, a white background pop-up message appears warning that you might be double-booking.  But, it says " "If you make another reservation for THIS NIGHT (my bolding), your original reservation will be cancelled".  That does not mean all 21 nights - it just refers to the one night you are over-riding. 

 

Note that if you attempt a do-over on reserving for the same time each day option, a different pop-up message appears and explains that modifying your plan will overwrite the existing one (meaning a dining plan for the entire voyage).

 

 

 Thanks for the reply. This makes so much sense now. 

[Cruise2End]

I am planning to solo cruise.   My late husband and I always did late traditional dining requesting to be at a table for 8 or 10 persons.   I’m not traveling with a group, but I definitely don’t want to dine alone, and I enjoy the main dining room, disdain the buffet.   So when you make the reservation for a certain time, can you state you would like to share?  Are you able to select table size?    I find DMW a bit confusing.

[Steelers36]

1 hour ago, Cruise2End said:

I am planning to solo cruise.   My late husband and I always did late traditional dining requesting to be at a table for 8 or 10 persons.   I’m not traveling with a group, but I definitely don’t want to dine alone, and I enjoy the main dining room, disdain the buffet.   So when you make the reservation for a certain time, can you state you would like to share?  Are you able to select table size?    I find DMW a bit confusing.

 

The closest you can get to TD using DMW is to make a booking for the same time for entire voyage.  Supposedly, this should be for the same table.  Once you make that first level choice, you can elect SHARING or PRIVATE.  So, you want Sharing option.  That's as far as you can go because DMW is sadly lacking in terms of specificity for guests.  No more table size request - in fact, guests have no idea what table size DMW has blocked them into.  Some guests might want to share at a smaller 4-top or 6-top, while others want the-more-the-merrier with 8-top or 10-top. 

 

All you can do is seek out DR mgmt soon after boarding or at first night dinner when you find out what you have.  You can ask them for what you want and see what they can do.  Realize that unless a diverse group sharing speaks to DR mgmt, there is no certainty at all that DMW has booked the same folks sharing at that same table each night (which is what you have been used to in the past).  All I can suggest is make inquiries and see what they say.  From reading various posts here on CC, most people doing Sharing TD expect to see the same folks each night.  I think you might have to be prepared to expect changes each night. 

 

We are looking for Private TD with our friends and I have no certainty of that either until we are on board and I can ask.  I do have a booking FWIW.

 

[Cruise2End]

Thanks!   It’s not the same as TD, but dining with different cruisers each night beats eating alone.   

[Over from NZ]

8 hours ago, Cruise2End said:

Thanks!   It’s not the same as TD, but dining with different cruisers each night beats eating alone.   

Yes it's a real shame they've got rid of traditional dining. Disappointing. I hope the boffins at Princess understand there's quite a few people disappointed in it. 

[Doug R.]

13 hours ago, Over from NZ said:

Yes it's a real shame they've got rid of traditional dining. Disappointing. I hope the boffins at Princess understand there's quite a few people disappointed in it. 

I am amazed that many seem not to realize that Princess, beginning early this century, Initiated the process of totally eliminating TD which came to fruition with the advent of DMW. In their minds eye, they have come to the probably correct conclusion that the advocates of TD are of an age that fading in numbers. They believe that the new generation of cruisers that they desire to attract are not attracted to being forced to have dinner at the same time each and every night with strangers. One of the main objections to cruising that my daughters and their generation have to cruising is "regimentation" which exactly what TD represents, they are also horrified by the prospect of formal nights. In an attempt to remain competitive and to attract younger cruisers they instituted DMW.

[Over from NZ]

1 hour ago, Doug R. said:

I am amazed that many seem not to realize that Princess, beginning early this century, Initiated the process of totally eliminating TD which came to fruition with the advent of DMW. In their minds eye, they have come to the probably correct conclusion that the advocates of TD are of an age that fading in numbers. They believe that the new generation of cruisers that they desire to attract are not attracted to being forced to have dinner at the same time each and every night with strangers. One of the main objections to cruising that my daughters and their generation have to cruising is "regimentation" which exactly what TD represents, they are also horrified by the prospect of formal nights. In an attempt to remain competitive and to attract younger cruisers they instituted DMW.

Interesting thought. However.. Princess are chasing an older demographic and they're not pitching entertainment etc at a younger clientele. Heck.. it's bed-time at 9pm on Princess and you have to dodge the walking frames to get there! 🙂 If they were re-positioning themselves in their marketing, wouldn't they be attacking more obvious choices? Previously they had TD and the alternative and it worked fine. Your daughters would have chosen Anytime dining.. and we would have chosen TD.. and all were happy. 

[dreaminofcruisin]

12 hours ago, Doug R. said:

I am amazed that many seem not to realize that Princess, beginning early this century, Initiated the process of totally eliminating TD which came to fruition with the advent of DMW. In their minds eye, they have come to the probably correct conclusion that the advocates of TD are of an age that fading in numbers. They believe that the new generation of cruisers that they desire to attract are not attracted to being forced to have dinner at the same time each and every night with strangers. One of the main objections to cruising that my daughters and their generation have to cruising is "regimentation" which exactly what TD represents, they are also horrified by the prospect of formal nights. In an attempt to remain competitive and to attract younger cruisers they instituted DMW.

 

I agree....kind of....

We long ago moved to Anytime dining and love it.

However, recently we went on our first cruise with young grandkids and their parents. We ended up on Carnival due to lots of Princess cancellations, but we booked Traditional Early dining. With young kids, it was easier to always book the same time and early. We are thinking of Princess next time with the same group and I think we will be fine with using the app, but I can see that others might really want to be sure they have the same servers each evening in this situation.

 

Another situation I have seen people discuss is that they have a larger group---say 10 people and want to sit at the same table and I don't think the app accomodates that. 

 

I think the app could still work with some tweaks to accomodate those who want Traditional Early dining, but whether Princess will ever get it right is questionable.

[kaycee17]

Does one have to make reservations for the main dining room or can we just show up whenever and request a table (knowing there may be a short wait)? When we cruised Princess several years ago, that is how we did dining.

[Billish]

Just now, kaycee17 said:

Does one have to make reservations for the main dining room or can we just show up whenever and request a table (knowing there may be a short wait)? When we cruised Princess several years ago, that is how we did dining.

Yes you can. That is what we do, as we never know what time we might feel like eating.

[Doug R.]

12 hours ago, Over from NZ said:

Interesting thought. However.. Princess are chasan older demographic and they're not pitching entertainment etc at a younger clientele. Heck.. it's bed-time at 9pm on Princess and you have to dodge the walking frames to get there! 🙂 If they were re-positioning themselves in their marketing, wouldn't they be attacking more obvious choices? Previously they had TD and the alternative and it worked fine. Your daughters would have chosen Anytime dining.. and we would have chosen TD.. and all were happy. 

I personally was very comfortable with the ATD/TD setup, Wife and I personally prefer ATD due to flexibility. I don't totally agree with your assessment of the age and physical condition ofay approaching middle age (I would never say this to them as my memorial service would soon follow) with children and I believe that Princess wants to attract them, especially [when they become empty nesters.

[Nebr.cruiser]

1 hour ago, kaycee17 said:

Does one have to make reservations for the main dining room or can we just show up whenever and request a table (knowing there may be a short wait)? When we cruised Princess several years ago, that is how we did dining.

That's what we did in March.  We don't want to be limited to a certain time, although we usually ate after the first show, around 8 or so.  We were usually seated within 5 minutes, or less.  There will probably be a short wait if you want to eat early.

[suzyed]

2 hours ago, kaycee17 said:

Does one have to make reservations for the main dining room or can we just show up whenever and request a table (knowing there may be a short wait)? When we cruised Princess several years ago, that is how we did dining.

Yes, you can.  On our recent sailing they had two lines...one for those with reservations and one for those without.

[suzyed]

53 minutes ago, Nebr.cruiser said:

That's what we did in March.  We don't want to be limited to a certain time, although we usually ate after the first show, around 8 or so.  We were usually seated within 5 minutes, or less.  There will probably be a short wait if you want to eat early.

I suppose you can make a reservation but if you don't want to eat at that time or you get held up having fun you can just show up and wait for a table.  We did that on the Sky earlier this year.

[Nebr.cruiser]

2 hours ago, suzyed said:

I suppose you can make a reservation but if you don't want to eat at that time or you get held up having fun you can just show up and wait for a table.  We did that on the Sky earlier this year.

We'd just rather not be tied down to a certain time.  Sometimes we're just not hungry yet  or have something we want to do, sometimes we go to the buffet, or maybe a specialty restaurant.  That's why we liked Anytime dining--which they have kind of phased out? I guess.  However, just showing up worked great for us; I think it would be a different story if you want to eat early. We did see some significant lines then.

[Tedferg]

We are Anytime diners and now, being able to make a reservation or just show up, seems like the best of both worlds. However, the catch is that there might be too many reservations at the time you want to show up. Even worse, they no longer use the buzzer, so you can't just go to a bar and wait to be called. That was my experience on a cruise this Spring.

[Steelers36]

4 hours ago, Nebr.cruiser said:

We'd just rather not be tied down to a certain time.  Sometimes we're just not hungry yet  or have something we want to do, sometimes we go to the buffet, or maybe a specialty restaurant.  That's why we liked Anytime dining--which they have kind of phased out? I guess.  However, just showing up worked great for us; I think it would be a different story if you want to eat early. We did see some significant lines then.

LOL - No they did not phase out AT dining.  If anything they are doing their darndest to kill off TD.  You can make a same-day (or any-day) booking in DMW for a table, or you can just show up at the door (I am not sure which DR, though).  I suppose you can show up at any of the DR's since no one in particular is reserved for TD purposes.  What I don't see is how the typical guest is any idea which of the three DR's has the shortest wait at the time they wish to show up.  At least with the mid-ship ones, if the line looks long, you can send partner up/down one level to check on the situation and then send a WHATSAPP to decide where to go.