New to Princess, question about booking speciality restaurants prior to cruise

[Retired08]

New to Princess, although have taken cruises on other lines.  Have the Princess app on my phone and made a reservation for dinner at Crown Grill on one night for our cruise in September.  Just received my credit card statement yesterday and I was charged for the two Crown Grill meals, although I was planning on using onboard credit to pay once we arrived for the cruise.  Any advice or help on this would be appreciated.  

[Abercrombie2019]

Just now, Retired08 said:

New to Princess, although have taken cruises on other lines.  Have the Princess app on my phone and made a reservation for dinner at Crown Grill on one night for our cruise in September.  Just received my credit card statement yesterday and I was charged for the two Crown Grill meals, although I was planning on using onboard credit to pay once we arrived for the cruise.  Any advice or help on this would be appreciated.  

OBC on Princess can only be used to book excursions in advance.  Everything else will be billed to your credit card if done in advance.

[Retired08]

Good to know.  Do you think I should cancel the reservation and rebook when I am onboard?

[voljeep]

NO - not if it is a specific date and time that you want ... and may be gone by the time you board

[ldubs]

Follow up question.  Could the charge be changed to OBC after boarding?  

[Wishing on a star]

The reservations can be changed over to refundable OBC when onboard.  

( refundable would be something paid for by YOU, not a perk from some other source, which are usually not refundable.)

I you have any unused refundable OBC at the end of the cruise, you can have Princess send a check to refund this to you after the cruise.

 

Yes, a hassle and maybe should not be this way,  but this is how it has worked.

If you have NON-refundablele OBC, you might want to make sure that this amount is used up before any refundable amount.

 

If you have made reservations for dates and times you want, and the restaurant(s) are getting booked up, you will NOT want to cancel those.  

 

We upgraded to Premium Package, which will cover two Specialty Dining upcharges.  

I think we, too, will have to handle this when onboard... We might or might not have any unused OBC at the end of the cruise.

 

You could also get the Premium Package if you plan to dine twice at Specialty Dining.

You would have to do the math, depending on if you enjoy alcoholic beverages, coffee drinks, more than one device on WIFI, etc...   You have to do the math to see if this any benefit to you.

 

 

[Retired08]

Sure gives us a lot to explore and navigate.  Thanks for the help!

[Retired08]

Oh, my OBC is non refundable by the way

[memoak]

1 hour ago, voljeep said:

NO - not if it is a specific date and time that you want ... and may be gone by the time you board

We never book till on board and never have an issue but then we never eat before 7:30 or 8:00

[Wishing on a star]

They seem to hold some availability back until onboard.. We have been 'squeezed in' later in the evening.  Right now, on one upcoming sailing, Crown Grill is showing NO availability, at all.

 

Retired - The amount you pay in advance for that dining IS refundable - just to clarify again.

Hope you enjoy your cruise on Princess!

Edited July 24 by Wishing on a star

[skiladyldp]

This is from my TA regarding Premium Specialty Dinners after I prebooked and was charged:

 

"You do have two specialty dining meals included. There are two ways to redeem:
1- pre-book, like you have, and once on board be refunded 
2- not pre-book and redeem them onboard.
Since you pre-booked, you will get refunded for two of the meals once the cruise starts."

[voljeep]

10 minutes ago, skiladyldp said:

This is from my TA regarding Premium Specialty Dinners after I prebooked and was charged:

 

"You do have two specialty dining meals included. There are two ways to redeem:
1- pre-book, like you have, and once on board be refunded 
2- not pre-book and redeem them onboard.
Since you pre-booked, you will get refunded for two of the meals once the cruise starts."

I believe from posts on here that the 'refund' will be in the form of OBC (refundable) and you need to go to customer service to have that done.

[skiladyldp]

Voljeek, I believe you are correct.  Once on board and settled we will do that.