Astro Flyer

It is still possible to link your dining reservation in the updated app with other people. A cruise friend did it so the 4 of us can share the same table nightly in Crown’s Botticelli restaurant (Reservable MDR). I am not going to risk losing those reservations by going too far however near the bottom of the Botticelli reservation option I see what looks like a white pencil in a blue circle. Clicking on there gives me an option to add the people we want to dine with to share the same private table.

There is a very helpfull thread created by @arizonaperson that shows passenger reported restaurant usage by ship & here is that info for Sky. Sky-2024 & 2025 Soleil-Traditional at 5:30 pm & 7:50 pm Estrella- walk in Cielo-reservable every 20 minutes

I’d also like to know the answer & if it’s standardized fleetwide. In my experience we have always had our requested table for 2. It might be like a cabin assignment which they have the right to change, same thing with airline seat reservations…neither are guaranteed but in my experience have never been changed.

In the original Princess news release it included this statement: “Reservable and Walk-in Anytime Dining will be combined into a single Main Dining Room location aboard Coral Princess and Island Princess”.

I booked our dining reservations yesterday before installing the update; today all of them are still listed after installing the update. 😊 For me, it was safe to update my app however that is no guarantee that everyone else will have the same positive experience. I’ve been more fortunate than others because I have not had any major issues with the app.

I was able to get a table for 4 with cruise friends in Crown’s Reservable (reservations available every 20 minutes beginning at 1700) dining room (Botticelli) for the same time each night for our 28 days around Australia cruise in March 2025. From a 6/18/24 email Princess sent me: Traditional dining offering an early and a late seating every evening Reservable dining times Open seating to support walk-ins anytime Once updates are complete, you will be able to use the app ahead of your voyage to opt for traditional seating in a dedicated dining room with the same waiter, same table and same time each night, or flexible dining, allowing you to enjoy dinner at any available time and table size of your choosing in either the Reservable or Open Seating dining rooms. In this thread on the Princess board it lists which dining rooms are being reported as: Traditional, Reservable & Open seatings.

Yesterday our cruise friends were able to book the 4 of us together at the same time (1840) for all 26 nights using the app…it is possible to do it however it can take several times of refreshing the dining option to accomplish it.

This is what Princess stated in their 6/18/24 email however how it’ll be applied is unknown…sometimes Princess lacks standardized fleetwide. “Once updates are complete, you will be able to use the app ahead of your voyage to opt for traditional seating in a dedicated dining room with the same waiter, same table and same time each night, or flexible dining, allowing you to enjoy dinner at any available time and table size of your choosing in either the Reservable or Open Seating dining rooms”.

A new update for Apple devices:

For Apple devices:

It depends upon when you are sailing…if on or after 9/14/24 then you need to rebook Main Dining Room reservations; if before that date MDR reservation are valid. Here’s a quote from the Princess email announcing these changes: As previously announced, starting with voyages departing September 14, 2024, Princess will designate separate dining rooms aboard every ship in the fleet to three table service options: Traditional dining offering an early and a late seating every evening Reservable dining times Open seating to support walk-ins anytime Once updates are complete, you will be able to use the app ahead of your voyage to opt for traditional seating in a dedicated dining room with the same waiter, same table and same time each night, or flexible dining, allowing you to enjoy dinner at any available time and table size of your choosing in either the Reservable or Open Seating dining rooms.

I need to memorize the new Princess terms to describe each dining option. ☺️ Traditional dining offering an early and a late seating every evening Reservable dining times Open seating to support walk-ins anytime

I have not read all of today’s posts so my apologies if this is redundant. On Royal Princess in April 2025, Traditional Dining is in Concerto (6 midship) at 1700 & 1920 and Any Time Dining (reservation slots every 20 minutes beginning at 1700) is in Allegro (6 aft). Thus Symphony (5 midship) would be the MDR to walk-up to be seated. I don’t know if this applies fleetwide but do know that on Crown the deck 6 aft dining room (Botticelli) is also ATD.

We didn’t receive a bill at the end of our prepaid meals at Catch & Sabatini’s…18% Cover Charge posted to my folio for Sabatini’s but not for Catch.

I agree with you…needing to call to book outside of the 5 days pre & post cruise window creates too much unnecessary work that can go wrong. And it would require calling them again for refaring flights after doing a dummy booking search for EZair airfares. More unnecessary work for Princess & their guests by having to call them instead of easily doing it online. It makes no sense at all to add the human factor that is subject to making errors that rarely happened with their computer booking system. It’s been many years since I needed to communicate with EZair about an issue & could not directly talk to them…only by having a call center rep communicating with them while placing me on a brief hold. And that was when dealing with experienced US based reps which are now staffed by inexperienced offshore reps to save money…so frustrating. I’m dreading calling Princess in hopes of talking to EZair about a one-way flight from Australia to NZ. That’s necessary because ending the first cruise in Oz & then beginning the next cruise two days later from NZ. Living in the US on their booking site we can only book flights from US cities to Auckland. Some have reported getting that done by calling however it likely has more to do with being lucky to have an experienced rep which is more difficult due to their offshore call center. This is not how customer service is supposed to work.

This was posted on the Cruise Air board thread that I started…has anyone attempted to contact an EZair supervisor in an attempt to book flights more than 5 days pre & post cruise?

I did not have a package.

In April when prepaying for Sabatini’s after dining there our folio added an 18% “Cover Charge”.

Very true… Today’s flight en route to HKG goes nowhere near Moscow.

At $79 plus 18% tip, don’t think I would dine there at $93.22. Although a bigger factor is that I have no plans to sail of Sun/Star Princess. ☺️

Checking Singapore flight #23 listed in Princess EZair here’s the route of that flight currently flying JFK/SIN…it begins with a typical US to Europe route before turning southeast to SIN. For Cathay Pacific #843 (JFK/HKG) it’s what I believe is called the Polar route & is not westbound as I incorrectly presumed. SIA #23 CPA #843

Another UK traveler on the Princess board reported being able to book flights more than 5 days before a cruise. Maybe the UK system has not yet been changed or possibly UK regulations require the longer window to book flights. I have read about procedures that are different between the US & UK however I don’t know if that’s why booking flights differs.

Also when making an EZair reservation some airlines allow reserving seats at that time in the Princess Cruise Personalizer.

I created a thread on the Cruise Air board to inform others about this change & another person in London reported a much longer booking window in the UK…3 weeks pre & post cruise. It’s possible that the UK booking system has not been updated yet or it’s another difference with the UK booking requirements…or it’s just another example of Princess being consistently inconsistent.

Checking my April 2025 cruise the fare has increased by a third and taxes & fees are additional.