Premier-Unlimited Specialty dining?

[555]

41 minutes ago, Retired-N-Happy said:

Because of this disparity we will wait until embarkation day to determine whether we upgrade depending upon early availability at the SD venues we wish to visit.

I'm beginning to think that it may very well be our only option at this point. If something doesn't happen soon with their reservation system we'll have to cancel & rebook on the ship providing they can make reservations in person. 

[AnyMajorCruiseDude]

31 minutes ago, 555 said:

I've tried calling at least 5 or 6 times & they cannot book even one SD restaurant, nor any time for a regular restaurant.

I get the same answer each call. 

Well, I called the 800Princess number, and the call tree guided me to the getting ocean ready, including making Dining Reservations (I pressed 2, 2, and then 1).  I got an agent that was happy to make reservations for me on 8 different cruises, through 2026.  For whatever reason, I got charged for one of the cruises, and I called again and the agent sent a message to the Customer Relations people, and the next day the charges were reversed.

 

I just booked another cruise today, and was unable to use the app to book dining, once again.  So I called, just like I have detailed above, and they made them for me.  I agree that it's a PITA to have to call and do this, but if it's important enough, it's worth the effort.

 

Perhaps, like others have reported, you need to find a capable agent. All toll, I have been able to have them book several dozen SD visits, and they all show up in the app afterwards.  As they say, YMMV.

[Retired-N-Happy]

8 minutes ago, AnyMajorCruiseDude said:

Well, I called the 800Princess number, and the call tree guided me to the getting ocean ready, including making Dining Reservations (I pressed 2, 2, and then 1).  I got an agent that was happy to make reservations for me on 8 different cruises, through 2026.  For whatever reason, I got charged for one of the cruises, and I called again and the agent sent a message to the Customer Relations people, and the next day the charges were reversed.

 

I just booked another cruise today, and was unable to use the app to book dining, once again.  So I called, just like I have detailed above, and they made them for me.  I agree that it's a PITA to have to call and do this, but if it's important enough, it's worth the effort.

 

Perhaps, like others have reported, you need to find a capable agent. All toll, I have been able to have them book several dozen SD visits, and they all show up in the app afterwards.  As they say, YMMV.

Like you said, YMMV.  You need to be at least Platinum or have your cruise paid off in order to reserve ahead of time.  And of course there are some cruises like the first four or five sailings of the Sun once it crosses the pond that has zero availability.

[memoak]

57 minutes ago, Retired-N-Happy said:

All I would request would be a refund from the upgrade paid from Plus to Premier.  Certainly wouldn't want a free cruise or threaten them with a law suit.

Well 10% off of my cruise far for a 14-21 day cruise comes out to about $1K. Sound fair to me

[reedprincess]

2 hours ago, voljeep said:

is it the venue or the menu?   How many different combinations are on a SD menu

 

say Crown Grill?

salad , app steak

app soup, chop

soup, veggies, dessert

potato, veal shop

salad, lamb chop

on and on and on and on ... dancing in September ... on and on and on and on

 

Of course, the menus on Sun are smaller and more limited than all the other ships, so your combos go down..

 

But in older ships? With the full menu? Not a problem to change it up a few times between the two or three options.

For us, the Premier90 is a no brainer - unlimited drinks, unlimited specialty, unlimited casual and reserved seating makes the cut for us - the other stuff is gravy..

[memoak]

15 minutes ago, reedprincess said:

Of course, the menus on Sun are smaller and more limited than all the other ships, so your combos go down..

 

But in older ships? With the full menu? Not a problem to change it up a few times between the two or three options.

For us, the Premier90 is a no brainer - unlimited drinks, unlimited specialty, unlimited casual and reserved seating makes the cut for us - the other stuff is gravy..

On a 21 day cruise I can’t see eating 10 times at Sabatini’s and 10 times at Crown Grille. Oops my freebie on embarkation guess I have to choose between the two.  This may make sense on 7 day cruise but for longer cruises doesn’t work for me   Unlimited drinks ?  I have never gone over 15 a day and Vines gives me the wine 8

I like at plus prices

[insidecabin]

We have a trip in around 6 weeks.

Checked SD not a lot available some days none.

 

Switch to 4 guests wide open with some days every time slot available.

[JamieLogical]

I was able to book specialty dining for 9 nights of our 14-day sailing in December, 2025. I am pretty happy about that. I could have done all 14 nights, but that seems excessive, plus we will likely want to do Ocean Terrace and O'Malley's a few times. Once onboard, I will ask which night they are doing the vol au vent and goat cheese souffle and cancel our specialty meal for that night if it's one we have a reservation for. There is a $10 per person fee when cancelling inside of 24 hours, so keep that in mind when pre-booking.

[Retired-N-Happy]

2 hours ago, memoak said:

Well 10% off of my cruise far for a 14-21 day cruise comes out to about $1K. Sound fair to me

Cruise far, law suite, and freer cruise.  LOL

[Retired-N-Happy]

2 hours ago, reedprincess said:

For us, the Premier90 is a no brainer - unlimited drinks, unlimited specialty, unlimited casual and reserved seating makes the cut for us - the other stuff is gravy..

 

2 hours ago, memoak said:

On a 21 day cruise I can’t see eating 10 times at Sabatini’s and 10 times at Crown Grille. Oops my freebie on embarkation guess I have to choose between the two.  

Premier is a no brainer for cruisers such as reedprincess on the Sun and not so much for a 21 day cruise on one of the older ships in the fleet.  

Sort of goes without saying.  Shorter cruises on larger ships makes sense versus longer cruises on older ships that doesn't.

 

[voljeep]

4 hours ago, memoak said:

Well 10% off of my cruise far for a 14-21 day cruise comes out to about $1K. Sound fair to me

if only 

deleted

[555]

11 hours ago, AnyMajorCruiseDude said:

Well, I called the 800Princess number, and the call tree guided me to the getting ocean ready, including making Dining Reservations (I pressed 2, 2, and then 1).  I got an agent that was happy to make reservations for me on 8 different cruises, through 2026.  For whatever reason, I got charged for one of the cruises, and I called again and the agent sent a message to the Customer Relations people, and the next day the charges were reversed.

 

I just booked another cruise today, and was unable to use the app to book dining, once again.  So I called, just like I have detailed above, and they made them for me.  I agree that it's a PITA to have to call and do this, but if it's important enough, it's worth the effort.

 

Perhaps, like others have reported, you need to find a capable agent. All toll, I have been able to have them book several dozen SD visits, and they all show up in the app afterwards.  As they say, YMMV.

Thanks for the encouraging outlook. I'll try it again and agin starting today and let you know. 

[greenie082756]

13 hours ago, Retired-N-Happy said:

 

Premier is a no brainer for cruisers such as reedprincess on the Sun and not so much for a 21 day cruise on one of the older ships in the fleet.  

Sort of goes without saying.  Shorter cruises on larger ships makes sense versus longer cruises on older ships that doesn't.

 

We are doing a 54-day cruise in 2026. We saved money, and really don't mind, by booking an inside cabin. We used to be always balconies and have decided that our Alaska cruise would be in a balcony, of course. Hubby enjoys doing photos with a cup of hot chocolate 🙂

Even though the Island Princess really only has 2 specialty dining, I am sure over 50+ days we will eat there 2 - 3 times a week. We like Alfredos too. 

Like someone else stated, it's a no brainer for us to get the Premier package. One of the reasons, for me, is that we usually get enough OBC to use for 2 - 4 specialty dinners in a 14-day cruise. 

On our last cruise, we had the Plus package. We found that going to the specialty dining person and booking on the ship as needed was an easy process. We usually don't know immediately when we want to do steak or Italian until after on the ship. 

On the long cruise, the OBC will be used quickly, so that's another reason why.

Unlimited specialty dining, casual dining, Wi-Fi, gratuities, unlimited alcoholic drinks (not that we drink an enormous amount). Could care less about the desserts and the exercise perks. Oh, and one of the perks, professional photos, is something we never do, and I plan on having tons of fun with that. 

For these reasons, and more, we priced it out and thought for this very long cruise that this was warranted to get.

[Retired-N-Happy]

2 minutes ago, greenie082756 said:

We are doing a 54-day cruise in 2026. We saved money, and really don't mind, by booking an inside cabin. We used to be always balconies and have decided that our Alaska cruise would be in a balcony, of course. Hubby enjoys doing photos with a cup of hot chocolate 🙂

Even though the Island Princess really only has 2 specialty dining, I am sure over 50+ days we will eat there 2 - 3 times a week. We like Alfredos too. 

Like someone else stated, it's a no brainer for us to get the Premier package. One of the reasons, for me, is that we usually get enough OBC to use for 2 - 4 specialty dinners in a 14-day cruise. 

On our last cruise, we had the Plus package. We found that going to the specialty dining person and booking on the ship as needed was an easy process. We usually don't know immediately when we want to do steak or Italian until after on the ship. 

On the long cruise, the OBC will be used quickly, so that's another reason why.

Unlimited specialty dining, casual dining, Wi-Fi, gratuities, unlimited alcoholic drinks (not that we drink an enormous amount). Could care less about the desserts and the exercise perks. Oh, and one of the perks, professional photos, is something we never do, and I plan on having tons of fun with that. 

For these reasons, and more, we priced it out and thought for this very long cruise that this was warranted to get.

Best of luck with Premier over 54 days.  That goes against the flow sort of like a salmon going upstream since it's 3,240.00 for Premier over Plus over the length of your cruise.  The general rule of thumb is that the shorter the cruise, the more value that Premier has but if it works for you, enjoy.

[phabric]

While on the Island, it had Alfredo’s and Salt Dog Gastropub had one or the other on 2 different sea days in one of the 2 specialty dining rooms.

Edited September 7 by phabric

[greenie082756]

6 minutes ago, phabric said:

While on the Island, it had Alfredo’s and Salt Dog Gastropub had one or the other on 2 different sea days in on of the 2 specialty dining rooms.

Sounds perfect for us!