CruisinGrandpa

13 minutes ago, FlaMariner said:

 

If that is the case then that would not meet my definition of "DineMyWay"....and that would end one of the most enjoyable daily experiences we have cruising.  And probably would be our first and last cruise on Princess. 

 

My plan is to punch buttons on the medallion app to reserve same time and table preference every night in the MDR (done) and visit the kiosk upon arrival and express our one request:  "Same table, same time, same waiters".  That cannot be difficult. 

 

Looking forward to a great cruise and great experience in the MDR!

It is worth a try to request same table each evening, but with the new program there are no guarantees of the same table and wait staff. 
Given the low passenger count currently on most cruises,

and Your early dining preference (5:20?) you just might be able

to pull it off. 
who knows what the dinning experience will be like once Covid is behind us and ships fill up again.  We might see a limited version of traditional dinning return

9 hours ago, FlaMariner said:

 

Just looked it up...It's called Cielo and it is Level 6 aft....got it...purely by mistake or perhaps that was my only choice.  I do not recall how they were presented on medallion and I'm not about to go back in and mess things up!

 

Thanks again....great help.

 

Our experience in Nov on regal was they filled rabies as diners

arrived. There was no guarantee that you would have sa e table 

And wait staff each night. 
we managed to get the same table because we were a group of

7 and reserved as a group. Just depends on the ship and

Circumstances 

19 hours ago, tkwbear said:

It's been eons since I have sailed Princess, I have until recently been on HAL most of the time, with MSC in the recent past.

 

I am thinking of doing a transatlantic this Spring, going alone. Due to COVID I don't really want to sit with a bunch of people in the dining room. On HAL you are able to order room  service off the dining room menu at no charge. Is this possible on Princess? I would probably do this for most dinners and breakfasts with some visits to the buffet.

 

 

With Dine my Way there is a much more extensive room service menu available. It might not quite be the same menu as in the MDR, but I suspect it will depend on the ship. And this is for a regular stateroom, not the suite.  We were able to order many different items all over the ship using the medallion app

20 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

 

I want to thank you for this detailed report which is insightful.  

 

First, I know most of the recent voyages are only using two DR's.  You didn't mention it, but we both now the third DR was being used for crew dining on some earlier voyages.  I can understand them not opening up all three DR's for dinner service if ship is about half full.  However, when looking out to Fall 2022, I should think they will be expecting to operate full, or near full.  (Truth be told, they probably were hoping to be operating full for this Winter season at the latest).  I have not surveyed cabin availability, but hopefully they are scarce.  Anyway, it would seem logical to me that they have at least two of the DR's available now - and then open third up a space becomes short.  What we have now is only one DR and a definite lack of space - unless one is sharing and using random table assignments.  So, IDK why and have no answers back and no info as to when more might be open.  I do check often on the situation in DMW.  No doubt, someday other DR space will be released and then have to be ready to move on it. 

 

One other note - it seems odd that the one DR open for our REGAL voyages is Concerto (Deck 6 Mid) since it contains the CC section and therefore less seating available for the folks like us in Steerage.  Deck 6 Mid is my preferred DR, but I will be ready to jump on something we really want if Symphony is opened up.  Allegro would be last choice, but I can see Deck 6 Aft being the second one active as they share galley space with Concerto.  (OTOH, they know they need to use Deck 6 Mid DR regardless of capacity sold).

 

Since non-status guests are supposedly unable to book dining until fully-paid, perhaps someone was thinking of holding off most of the DR space until just after FP Date.  I am also wondering lately if those folks are getting access to DMW anyway since the space disappeared relatively quickly for Private Tables.  (But I am just guessing at this point).

 

As to TD experience, I have been told that "a team" is doing the actual table assignments closer to cruise date and the DMW System is not actually allocating guest to a table number ahead of cruise date.  As an IT guy - and my own natural curiosity about the new dining process and experience - I wish I knew the DMW spec's and what is supposed to be happening in the System and then exactly what this back-room team is doing.  I am still mystified why the ship DORO and Ass't could not do the TD assignments as they used to (but now based on the requests from DMW bookings). 

 

When I mentioned single DR only loaded to DMW, I have zero insight as to how prevalent this is and potential voyage date range.  I can only speak to OCT 2022 and two ships. 

 

Based on the limited access we have for OCT 2022, I would agree that dining at a Shared table is fairly easy to get (BUT there is NO indication of the size of table you are getting and that is important to many who do want to share.  Some like a bug crowd and others do not like the naturally slower pace that occurs as the table size increases.  I have zero concerns about health and such sharing - we just prefer to eat alone and don't like to be slowed down at a larger table. 

 

Actually, we have been cruising with best friends of late and we dine together at a 4-top.  And there is another strange "feature" in the newer DMW - a SPLIT table can be assigned when the System cannot find a table to fit guest's Dining Party.  Now, who wants to sit split up when you purposely put a dining party together?  Again, no idea when we do have a Private table, whether it is a 4-top or a 6-top with two empty seats.  

 

Actually, it has always been much easier to get dining space at a shared table than a private table, so I don't see much change there from a general viewpoint.

 

I think things will be better and clearer with DMW by next fall (optimistically), but I still will expect to be seeing the DORO on Day 1 and making sure we are setup with a "good" table for the 25 nights of the B2B2B.  (We have no issue on the following 14 nights on ISLAND).

 

Regarding the 'split table' issue - we had a party of 7 on the Regal T/A in November. We wanted to book Crown Grill for the group. DMW only gave us a 'split' assignment for the 7, but a single table if I changed it to 6. To get around this we went directly to the venue and were able to book a table 

for 7 for our group. We needed to be a bit flexible re: day and time, but she made it work for us.

On 11/19/2021 at 10:23 AM, suzyed said:

I'm just trying to make specialty dinner reservations and can't seem to do it.  The app tells me to come back closer to my sailing which is 38 days away!  
Help!

Make sure that you are in the "view or book individual daily reservations", then

select the day you want by sliding the days bar at the top to the date you want, 

then select "add reservation" which "Should" bring up the screen showing 

Main Dining

Specialty Dining

Select specialty - and then select your travel party, then continue (at bottom of screen)

This should show a time, ie 7:30pm seems to be the default, which you change

to your preferred time.

THEN select the restaurant, ie Crown Grill, by clicking on the "Select this Table" icon

I had the same experience you did earlier, but I was selecting the "explore dining options" instead

of +Add Reservation button

Hope this helps

Has anyone tried, or been able, to make a reservation for either the Wine Makers Dinner or the Chef's Table using DMW?

55 minutes ago, dtb55 said:

I haven’t been able to use Dine My Way for my upcoming cruise.  I keep getting an error message.  I’ve been contacting Princess for a month to no avail.  It’s really frustrating.

We had some issues a while back and decided to just delete the app, then reload it.

That fixed the connection and selection issues, and we did NOT lose any of the info that we had previously loaded.

14 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

Great question.  I think the best answer is for you to book the Specialty and then contact someone else in your group to go into DMW and see if they still have a res for that evening.  

 

ETA:  If the others lose their res, then it is a bug and you should report to the OCEAN team.  

 

BTW, you do not need to "drop" nights you expect to be returning late to the ship.  Simply do a 1-night override and book a different time for those single nights.  It's like switching to Anytime for those exception cases.

Thanks for the ideas -  having others in our party check to verify that the reservation does show in their DMW app as it currently stands. Not sure any others have done so at this point. Once we know that is working ok then might just experiment.

We are booked on the Regal T/A on Nov 3 out of Southampton. We have linked 4 booking numbers into our group, and reserved a table for 7 for the same time every night of the cruise. We are now thinking about dropping some of those nights (ie late return from shore excursions) and some of us are planning to do specialty dinning a night or two.

Our question, which I suspect current posters are not yet able to answer:

If I, the original 'booking agent' (for want of a better term) for our group, make a reservation at a specialty restaurant for my spouse and I (which requires that we cancel our original reservation) does it impact (ie delete) the reservation for the rest of our group?

Thanks to everyone for the info. We head out in two days for our first cruise

on Oceania. We are looking forward to the experience after 30+ cruises on Princess,

Celebrity, HAL, etc.

If it's as good as we are hearing then likely will book one of the 2021 Cuba itineraries while

on board the Nautica. Understand all the comments about agents, etc. Spouse worked as

a T/A for over 25 years, so we ALWAYS use a T/A and don't rely on the lines' staff.

Sorry if this duplicates another thread - I have been searching but could not find this info

We depart in a week for our first Oceania cruise.

Looking at future cruises with them. Are there benefits (ie OBC, reduced deposit, etc) to

booking a future Oceania cruise while on board our current cruise?

Thanks for any info

On 3/14/2019 at 11:27 PM, bigmjh said:

April 17th ... according to conversation with 'O rep earlier today.

They are out now

On 10/18/2018 at 8:55 AM, zukecruiser said:

Looking for a current Carnival Shareholder Benefit Request Form.  Have last years that was good through July 31, 2018.  Tried searching the boards but nothing came up.  

Thanks for any help.

 

You don't need to use the form any longer. Just make a copy of your brokerage statement (blank out any sensitive info like account number, etc. Write your booking number on the page and make sure the name on the account matches the name on your booking. Then fax it in to the cruise line  In the past I have used the following fax number: 1-661-753-0180  Hope that helps

And I should tell you that your question answered one of mine: Expiration of the OBC program?  Current web site info shows a valid through date of July, 31, 2019. So looks like they just update the material with a new date every year.

Appears you are booked in one of the 600/700 series cabins on deck 8. The interiors of all balcony cabins are the same. The balconies for these cabins are approximately 9'x7' and covered. Some of these cabins are above the Universe Lounge and you may hear some noise when activities are taking place. No activities late night.

Thanks - that is correct: E624 - last room on the Port side before the life

boats. That is forward of the stairs, so more likely over the Bayou Café.

We had hoped that the balconies were as large as depicted on the schematic

Appreciate the info

Someone gave me this website to help us, as Coral and Island balconies are different.

Hope it helps.

 

Patti

http://www.cruisedeckplans.com/Princess/odell/res76zxu/princessbalconies/index.html

Thanks - I will look at the link - haven't been on the Island (new one) but have been on

the Pacific, now to see if we can remember what those balconies looked like :)

Thought I posted this question on the Princess board, but. . . . ?

So here goes again:

Can anyone provide a comparison of the cat BE veranda's on the Coral, Emerald Deck,

vs the Cat BD and BE, partially covered, deeper veranda's on the Grand Class (Grand,

Golden, Star, etc) ships?

We prefer those, and the deck plan on the Coral 'seems' to be similar, at least on

Emerald Deck, but. . .

Thanks for any advice / guidance

We are booked on a Cat BE veranda on Emerald on the Coral Princess for the Canal

cruise in January, 2019. We are not familiar with the differences in the verandas on this

class of ship and could use some advice.

For example: We like the standard veranda cabins on Caribe deck on the Grand

Class ships (deeper balcony and partially covered).

Seems like few of these aft cabins (we generally prefer cabins in the aft section) have

been booked and now I am nervous. Did we goof? Would we be better off with

something higher up in the same category?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

You are right Pam!!!!

Of course she is :)

Also under Princess' new guidelines, you have to have pre-paid for your excursions to be marked "Confirmed." So by that term it shows Princess you have paid for that excursion. But I agree with SKNIGHT. I always bring backup paperwork or on my phone just in case!!!

 

Pooh

I think that has more to do with the itinerary than new guidelines specifically.

We have several excursions booked for our October transatlantic cruise on the Royal,

and they are 'confirmed', but we did NOT have to pay in advance.

However, on our April, 2018 booking for Asia on the Golden we were required to pay

in advance (including using our on board credit) before they 'confirmed' the excursion

bookings.

Suspect this new policy will eventually roll out to the full fleet and all itineraries

if there are not a lot of complaints. We did have to pre-pay for our excursions on a

Holland cruise in Asia a couple of years ago.

FYI - on our Golden booking out of Tokyo in April, 2018, the only option is to pre-pay for excursions.

BUT - when I booked and submitted payment the system automatically used our OBC for the excursions.

I booked them for both of us, specifying one each for my wife and myself, and the system used the

OBC in both of our accounts.

If I buy the shares what do I need to do so I can get the OBC?

We have had 100 shares for a number of years. To have the credit applied to your

booking you need to send them a copy of the latest statement showing your ownership,

ie from your broker, either by snail mail or by fax.

We black out the account number and any financial information other than the

Carnival share info and make a copy.

There is a form you need to obtain from Princess (they will email it to you).

You fill out the form, including your name, booking number, etc, and send the form

and the brokerage statement to them.

You can do this after making final payment, or 60 days pre

We just returned from the Star Princess 7 day coastal. We took Bart in from

the West Dublin / Pleasanton station on Sat. the 11th. It was Fleet Week and

we didn't want to take any of the driving / parking options.

We caught a train about 10am, arrived at Embarcadero station around 10:45,

Picked up a taxi at the Hyatt and were at the pier by 10:30 - took a while

because the cabbie didn't want to listen to me about routing and insisted

on creeping along the Embarcadero.

This morning we disembarked the ship about 8:40, had our bags in a taxi a

few minutes later (No immigration - we cleared that in Long Beach)

and were on a train at 9am (did get lucky making that connection)

We were home a bit after 10am - fastest ever!

Both trips were on a Saturday, so might be a bit more of a challenge

to have space for luggage on a weekday, but we plan to do the Bart bit

again in January.

Bon Voyage Experience. On selected sailings people who are not sailing on the cruise can come aboard, have a meal and a glass wine in the dining room, explore the ship, get a souvenir photograph. Cost is $39.

 

They are on board from about 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM. Great program. A secret with it is if you are going on a cruise with Princess then ask if they will have a BVE for that voyage, then try to get a friend to do the BVE, and you get to go on early with them. :)

FYI - with Fleet Week in SF Oct 11 we tried to book the BVE to allow early

boarding - Our T/A was told it was NOT available to booked passengers.

We tried calling Princess directly - we were told the same thing - we would

NOT be allowed to stay on board

I HAVE seen it work otherwise for folks on other sailings - not sure if this is

a new policy, or if you need to bring a non-cruiser along with you to book

the package.

It will be interesting to see how boarding goes on Oct 11 - We have our hopes

up based on the comment about boarding on the 1st. But not looking forward

to a mess at disembarkation.

The terminal opened in September - we just booked a short coastal to try out

the new terminal. Will post info when we get back, unless someone beats us

to it before Oct. 18