Princess Dine My Way Premiere Specialty Dining

[RDJ]

I have the premiere package which comes with 2 speciality dinners. When I try to make the first reservation, it’s wants to charge my credit card (the total is not $0.00). I have tried both the app and the web version of the app. I have called Princess 3 times and they haven’t been able to help. First they said they fixed it and I just needed to wait 24hrs, didn’t work. Then they said it’s because I wasn’t Ocean Ready so I did that, it still didn’t work. The last time they just said they’d put in a technical ticket with their IT team. I don’t want to miss out on the time slots, should I just pay now and deal with the refund later? I’ve read some had difficulty getting the refund, etc plus that’s not how I want to spend my first day onboard. Any one else have this happen and have Princess actually fix it? I don’t get why they just can’t make the reservation for us if the app isn’t working correctly.

[suzyed]

1 hour ago, RDJ said:

I have the premiere package which comes with 2 speciality dinners. When I try to make the first reservation, it’s wants to charge my credit card (the total is not $0.00). I have tried both the app and the web version of the app. I have called Princess 3 times and they haven’t been able to help. First they said they fixed it and I just needed to wait 24hrs, didn’t work. Then they said it’s because I wasn’t Ocean Ready so I did that, it still didn’t work. The last time they just said they’d put in a technical ticket with their IT team. I don’t want to miss out on the time slots, should I just pay now and deal with the refund later? I’ve read some had difficulty getting the refund, etc plus that’s not how I want to spend my first day onboard. Any one else have this happen and have Princess actually fix it? I don’t get why they just can’t make the reservation for us if the app isn’t working correctly.

Keep trying...maybe the "ticket" will kick in.  If you don't want to miss your preferred dining times I would go ahead and book and pay for and ask for the refund once onboard.

[jagoffee]

16 hours ago, RDJ said:

I have the premiere package which comes with 2 speciality dinners. When I try to make the first reservation, it’s wants to charge my credit card (the total is not $0.00). I have tried both the app and the web version of the app. I have called Princess 3 times and they haven’t been able to help. First they said they fixed it and I just needed to wait 24hrs, didn’t work. Then they said it’s because I wasn’t Ocean Ready so I did that, it still didn’t work. The last time they just said they’d put in a technical ticket with their IT team. I don’t want to miss out on the time slots, should I just pay now and deal with the refund later? I’ve read some had difficulty getting the refund, etc plus that’s not how I want to spend my first day onboard. Any one else have this happen and have Princess actually fix it? I don’t get why they just can’t make the reservation for us if the app isn’t working correctly.

When are you cruising?

 

I was able to book mine on the AP with no charge.  There was a note stating that I have to credits.  It was after the Final payment.

 

It seems to work for some people and not others.

[shiner6]

This happened to me on the Ruby on our Panama cruise in February. I made the reservations ahead of time (since I wanted a particular time slot) and got charged for both dinners.  When I boarded the ship, I explained my dilemma to guest services. I spent a minimum of 4-6 hours on this problem with no resolution. Just sucked it up after all that hassle.

[Mud_Shark]

The app is all gimped up for us on our current cruise.  Among other things I was unable to make any spec dinner reservations at all.  It just kept saying "error...".  Did that for many things.  I think we confused it because we had three in our room for the first leg of a back-to+back and two in the room for the second leg.

Anyway, when we arrived in our room on turn around day (after clearing customs), there was a note in our room with two spec dinner reservations made on our behalf for the premier package.  One was for Rudi's and the other for sabbatinis.  Pretty sure we could have asked for venue or timing changes, but we decided to just go with what they set up for us.  So far, worked out fine.  We ate at Rudi's tonight but have not yet done the sabbatinis night.

Edited April 8 by Mud_Shark

[RDJ]

12 hours ago, shiner6 said:

This happened to me on the Ruby on our Panama cruise in February. I made the reservations ahead of time (since I wanted a particular time slot) and got charged for both dinners.  When I boarded the ship, I explained my dilemma to guest services. I spent a minimum of 4-6 hours on this problem with no resolution. Just sucked it up after all that hassle.

This is my concern! Offer it as an included promotion but then make it too difficult to properly use.  

[RDJ]

21 hours ago, jagoffee said:

When are you cruising?

 

I was able to book mine on the AP with no charge.  There was a note stating that I have to credits.  It was after the Final payment.

 

It seems to work for some people and not others.

We are not due for final payment for a while yet. But in 3 calls to princess, no one has said that is a requirement.

[RDJ]

10 hours ago, Mud_Shark said:

The app is all gimped up for us on our current cruise.  Among other things I was unable to make any spec dinner reservations at all.  It just kept saying "error...".  Did that for many things.  I think we confused it because we had three in our room for the first leg of a back-to+back and two in the room for the second leg.

Anyway, when we arrived in our room on turn around day (after clearing customs), there was a note in our room with two spec dinner reservations made on our behalf for the premier package.  One was for Rudi's and the other for sabbatinis.  Pretty sure we could have asked for venue or timing changes, but we decided to just go with what they set up for us.  So far, worked out fine.  We ate at Rudi's tonight but have not yet done the sabbatinis night.

That’s interesting, we’ve already made reservations for our main dining on all other nights. We are specifically looking for the Crown grill on the remaining two nights. We paid for and ate at Sabbatinis once years ago and we disliked it, too much seafood for our tastes. 

[memoak]

1 hour ago, RDJ said:

That’s interesting, we’ve already made reservations for our main dining on all other nights. We are specifically looking for the Crown grill on the remaining two nights. We paid for and ate at Sabbatinis once years ago and we disliked it, too much seafood for our tastes. 

Just the opposite. Love Sabatini’s and always eat there embarkation night. Never eat a main just app, pasta and dessert plenty of food and delicious 

[jagoffee]

On 4/8/2024 at 9:35 AM, RDJ said:

We are not due for final payment for a while yet. But in 3 calls to princess, no one has said that is a requirement.

I was giving you details about my success.  I really do not know why some people have an issue booking the Premium included Speciality restaurant reservations and others do not.  It would not be unreasonable for Princess to want one to pay for their Premier package (with final payment) before making a no charge booking.  
We usually stay in a suite and I have read reports that some people are able to make the embarkation speciality dining reservation without paying. I have never been successful. I have also booked it after boarding and I have never had any problem getting the place and time that I wanted.

 

Does your AP show that you have the premier package?

[daveo6313]

It looks like you can't make reservations until you have paid in full.  I saw this on the website.

 

[RDJ]

9 hours ago, daveo6313 said:

It looks like you can't make reservations until you have paid in full.  I saw this on the website.

 

I’ve seen that too. But I’ve made reservations for the many other non-specialty dining on other nights already (despite the mention of main dining in that snapshot). Nor has Princess stated that to me after my 3 phone calls. Plus it will let me reserve, if I’m willing to just pay for it.

[RDJ]

The website says this as well, we qualify in the early access group which I assume why it lets me reserve now (issue is just that it wants to charge). I keep checking back daily to see if it’s changed lol

[RDJ]

Update! Sure enough after trying twice a day, just now I was able to finally make the dining rez for crown (without paying the cruise balance). My 3rd call to Princess last weekend said to give it some time as they were going to fix on their side and it did work! It finally saw the credit and got both nights booked!

[mgcharleston]

10 hours ago, RDJ said:

Update! Sure enough after trying twice a day, just now I was able to finally make the dining rez for crown (without paying the cruise balance). My 3rd call to Princess last weekend said to give it some time as they were going to fix on their side and it did work! It finally saw the credit and got both nights booked!

Glad you got yours fixed! I am going through this exact thing right now. We are cruising to the UK in July, cruise is PIF, have the premiere package and booked in a suite. I have two specialty dining reservations made- one on embarkation night (which should be complimentary because of the suite) and one on another night. It wants to charge me for the 2nd specialty dinner. All I can figure is the computer thinks the first night is included in my package and not complimentary. I have called them, chatted with them, they have filed an IT ticket just like for you, all to no avail. Its just frustrating watching the time slots slip away but I guess I will have to deal with it on board! Enjoy your cruise!!

[RDJ]

15 minutes ago, mgcharleston said:

Glad you got yours fixed! I am going through this exact thing right now. We are cruising to the UK in July, cruise is PIF, have the premiere package and booked in a suite. I have two specialty dining reservations made- one on embarkation night (which should be complimentary because of the suite) and one on another night. It wants to charge me for the 2nd specialty dinner. All I can figure is the computer thinks the first night is included in my package and not complimentary. I have called them, chatted with them, they have filed an IT ticket just like for you, all to no avail. Its just frustrating watching the time slots slip away but I guess I will have to deal with it on board! Enjoy your cruise!!

It did take 3 calls and some patience! I’m surprised how they can’t just make the reservation on our behalf as a work around for the flawed system. Enjoy your UK trip, we are doing that next year!

[Dani24]

On 4/11/2024 at 6:07 AM, mgcharleston said:

Glad you got yours fixed! I am going through this exact thing right now. We are cruising to the UK in July, cruise is PIF, have the premiere package and booked in a suite. I have two specialty dining reservations made- one on embarkation night (which should be complimentary because of the suite) and one on another night. It wants to charge me for the 2nd specialty dinner. All I can figure is the computer thinks the first night is included in my package and not complimentary. I have called them, chatted with them, they have filed an IT ticket just like for you, all to no avail. Its just frustrating watching the time slots slip away but I guess I will have to deal with it on board! Enjoy your cruise!!

 

Based on my prior experience with the embarkation dinner for suite passengers, I'd book the two specialty reservations you want on non-embarkation days now, and then book your embarkation dinner on the first night. The speciality restaurants don't seem to be that busy on that first night and it's probably a lot easier to get a table than on another night.

[mgcharleston]

On 4/12/2024 at 7:09 PM, Dani24 said:

 

Based on my prior experience with the embarkation dinner for suite passengers, I'd book the two specialty reservations you want on non-embarkation days now, and then book your embarkation dinner on the first night. The speciality restaurants don't seem to be that busy on that first night and it's probably a lot easier to get a table than on another night.

Thank you for that info! this is my first time cruising princess in a suite and I had actually wondered that exact thing!