Applying TA Dining Reservation Credit

[drowelf]

First time Princess Cruiser. Our TA has given each of us Crown Grill Credit. How do I make a reservation using this credit before sailing, or do I just deal with it on board? 

[EDDY0827]

If it was me, I'd deal with it first thing upon boarding.

There will be someone there who will help you.

[suzyed]

1 hour ago, drowelf said:

First time Princess Cruiser. Our TA has given each of us Crown Grill Credit. How do I make a reservation using this credit before sailing, or do I just deal with it on board? 

We have the same thing....but we booked it online and will see if they will credit it once we get onboard or we'll just make an additional reservation with the credit.

 

[topspot]

I was able to do it in the medallion app.  When it came time to pay, using the credit was an option.

[Thrak]

My question is: Did the TA really give you this perk or did you book under Princess Plus which includes the specialty dining?  It is a pet peeve that items such as drink packages and specialty dining are often attributed to a TA "gift" when they are actually part of the Princess promotion that was booked. The dining even shows up on the Personalizer as a gift from the TA. It really annoys me when the TA goes along with this sort of deceit and allows the customer to believe that it is a gift from them when it is something that everybody who books under the promotion gets whether they even use a TA or book directly with Princess.

[EllieinNJ]

37 minutes ago, Thrak said:

My question is: Did the TA really give you this perk or did you book under Princess Plus which includes the specialty dining?  It is a pet peeve that items such as drink packages and specialty dining are often attributed to a TA "gift" when they are actually part of the Princess promotion that was booked. The dining even shows up on the Personalizer as a gift from the TA. It really annoys me when the TA goes along with this sort of deceit and allows the customer to believe that it is a gift from them when it is something that everybody who books under the promotion gets whether they even use a TA or book directly with Princess.

That's very interesting.  Our Caribbean Islander cruise on the Caribbean Princess for 2021 said it was from our TA .  Now that it's transferred to the Enchanted Princess for 2022 it says it's from Princess 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[JimmyVWine]

46 minutes ago, Thrak said:

My question is: Did the TA really give you this perk or did you book under Princess Plus which includes the specialty dining?  It is a pet peeve that items such as drink packages and specialty dining are often attributed to a TA "gift" when they are actually part of the Princess promotion that was booked. The dining even shows up on the Personalizer as a gift from the TA. It really annoys me when the TA goes along with this sort of deceit and allows the customer to believe that it is a gift from them when it is something that everybody who books under the promotion gets whether they even use a TA or book directly with Princess.

Thank you for saying what I have long been thinking.

 

In answer to the OP's question, irrespective of whose largesse is the source of the benefit, there currently appears to be no one best way to use the credit.  Posters here have had the following experiences with little rhyme or reason as to which one will apply to you:

 

• Use the Medallion App to make a reservation in advance. When you get to the payment option, your credit appears and you are charged nothing and you are good to go.
• Use the Medallion App to make a reservation in advance. When you get to the payment option, you are required to use a credit card and you are charged, and when you get on board, you go to the Passenger Services Desk and have the charge reversed.
• Use the Medallion App to make a reservation in advance. When you get to the payment option, you are required to use a credit card and you are charged, and when you get on board, you go to the Passenger Services Desk and have the charge reversed and the person there feigns no knowledge of this and insists that your benefit was the right to go to the restaurant, but that you still must pay the cover charge and refuses to reverse the credit.  (To be fair, I have only seen ONE person report that experience here.)
• Skip the Medallion App altogether and make your reservation on board, making sure that the person taking your reservation knows that you have this credit.  This seems to be the most common way that people go about it, as the first option, though clearly the best, it wholly out of your control and it seems that only a minority of App users get the option of booking without payment.  Many other people are fearful of having to fight to have the charge reversed or don't want to waste time dealing with the PSD once on board. 

 

If I were you, (and I sort of am, as I too have a credit that I would like to use), I would try the first option.  If you your credit shows up, count yourself lucky.  If you are like me and cannot get the credit to show up, then you have to decide if you want to pay up front and try to get your money back later, or take your chances and book on board.  Every single day I vacillate between paying and waiting. Still don't know what I will ultimately decide.

[Thrak]

44 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

Skip the Medallion App altogether and make your reservation on board, making sure that the person taking your reservation knows that you have this credit.  This seems to be the most common way that people go about it,

 

That's how we handled it. The app insisted on charging me. We had the perk due to booking with Princess Plus but the Personalizer page on the Princess site showed it as a "gift" from the TA. (Our TA never tries to claim it's from him and is not sure why Princess shows it that way.)

[dreaminofcruisin]

I had a free specialty dining included with my booking. I planned to (and likely will still) wait until I am onboard to book it. However, I found it interesting when I got into my Medallion app yesterday after updating it to the latest version and going into DMW I now see this:

 

"You have a Dining credit! Credit will be applied automatically at reservation confirmation"

 

It didn't show up until after I clicked: "View or book individual daily reservations".

 

I don't know if it will work or not, but just thought I would post it as it is something new to me and might mean there has been an update if someone really wants to book before getting on the ship.

[bjkTX]

My only concern with the waiting until you get on the ship option is that so many people are getting the free specialty dinners people have reported that once they get onboard the restaurants are booked solid already.  I had the "TA" freebie that I knew wasn't from our TA and was able to book on the Medallion App - didn't ask for money and I have no idea if it used the credit.  But that's easy to resolve onboard - if they are already booked that's not so easy 🙂

[Thrak]

2 hours ago, bjkTX said:

My only concern with the waiting until you get on the ship option is that so many people are getting the free specialty dinners people have reported that once they get onboard the restaurants are booked solid already.  I had the "TA" freebie that I knew wasn't from our TA and was able to book on the Medallion App - didn't ask for money and I have no idea if it used the credit.  But that's easy to resolve onboard - if they are already booked that's not so easy 🙂

 

Definitely a valid concern. When everybody with Princess Plus gets complimentary Specialty Dining you could easily be "booked out of the market" or, at the very least, be forced to book a night that really doesn't work all that well for you.

[suzyed]

21 hours ago, dreaminofcruisin said:

I had a free specialty dining included with my booking. I planned to (and likely will still) wait until I am onboard to book it. However, I found it interesting when I got into my Medallion app yesterday after updating it to the latest version and going into DMW I now see this:

 

"You have a Dining credit! Credit will be applied automatically at reservation confirmation"

 

It didn't show up until after I clicked: "View or book individual daily reservations".

 

I don't know if it will work or not, but just thought I would post it as it is something new to me and might mean there has been an update if someone really wants to book before getting on the ship.

I just tried to book for our party of 6 but it is only applying 5 credits?  Not sure why...we all booked with the TA credit?
Anyone else with this problem?

 

[Steelers36]

48 minutes ago, suzyed said:

I just tried to book for our party of 6 but it is only applying 5 credits?  Not sure why...we all booked with the TA credit?
Anyone else with this problem?

 

I had this sometime ago - not recognizing either credit or just one.  That is not happening now, but our friends are only having one of their credits being recognized in DMW.  If I go to book us all in to CG, for example, it's applying all our credits and not two of ours and two of theirs. 

[Steelers36]

On 6/24/2022 at 4:07 PM, EllieinNJ said:

That's very interesting.  Our Caribbean Islander cruise on the Caribbean Princess for 2021 said it was from our TA .  Now that it's transferred to the Enchanted Princess for 2022 it says it's from Princess 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Princess wants to promote good relations with TA, so anything booked with the TA indicates they are giving the perks to you even though they are coming from Princess.  A TA might add something of their own and then there is no real distinguishing.  The second cruise you likely did with Princess due to taking a transfer over.  Just educated guess on that part since it seems odd your TA would lose out on commission.