Late arrival on ship and complimentary specialty dinner

[travel dog]

It is my understanding that passengers in suites receive a complimentary specialty dinner for the night of embarkation only.  Our schedule shows us arriving at 8:30 pm from our cruisetour (on the train).  With the possibility of delays, obtaining key cards, locating luggage, etc,  I'm afraid we will wind up missing our chance to have that dinner.   Has anyone run into this situation before?  Would it be possible to switch to another night?  Thanks for any help or suggestions. 

Edited July 20, 2019 by travel dog
I meant to indicate that I wanted to receive replies.

[Ron the Rev]

We have always been able to change the day. Best to go to your prefered restrurant asap after you board and talk to them. The dine line phone booking is always overwhelmed so don't bother to try that way.

[bemis12]

Yes, we were able to change the day for ours, as well.

[Jeter02]

Should have no problem changing the date. After you board go to the restaurant and they'll be happy to arrange you a reservation

[travel dog]

Thanks so much!  I'll make that the first thing I do ... and make sure to go in person.

[jagoffee]

We had the same issue when we arrived on the train and did not wish to eat late.  I visited the Crown Grill and changed our complimentary Speciality dining to a different day. Just make sure you do not miss the MDR Alaska dinner night.

[Crazy4Cruz'n]

We just returned from our Alaskan cruise Wednesday.  We arrived late to the ship via the train just like your'e going to do.  It was our first time in a suite and knew we would have a free specialty dinner on embarkation day.  We just walked into the Bayou Cafe once we were ready (yes, it was 9:00 pm).  They took our cabin number and sat us.  We ordered and ate - then they asked us our cabin number again and I was starting to think something was up, but didn't know what?

We ate a wonderful meal and went back to the cabin to unpack.  Once we got there I found a notification on the bed with 3 cards attached for the three of us that stated 'compliments of Princess Cruises' we had a free specialty dinner at the Bayou Cafe with a reservation date of the night before disembarkation!  Uh-oh!!!  I was confused and was worried that they had changed our free specialty dinner night from embarkation day to this new day and we were going to be charged for the meal we just ate.

We took the cards down to the customer service desk to tell them what had happened and ask if we were going to be charged.  They said NO, we weren't going to be charged and we still had another free specialty dinner coming to us on disembarkation night!  I was still leery and kept checking our shipboard account to see if we got charged for the dinner we had eaten, but they never charged us.  Don't know if this was a fluke or what, but we received TWO free specialty dinners!!!  

[travel dog]

Wow!   Congratulations - whatever caused that to happen.   And now we will all wish for similar good fortune.

[jondfk]

I've had luck changing our complimentary night with just a few words CG host.  In fact, last cruise on the Grand we didn't even bother asking, we just booked a night in Crown Grill.  At the end of the meal, the host stopped by to say he'd "taken care" of it.  Seamless, easy, impressive.  I think it helped that suite breakfast is served in CG (on Grand) and that this sailing was staffed by CG staff - so we all knew each other when the evening meal came around.

 

Fun fact.  Did you know, Sabatini's staff & Crown Grill staff alternate staffing the suite breakfast sailing to sailing?  I only recently learned this.  

[azbirdmom]

We were on the Royal last week and had our's changed to another night since the Crown Grill was being used as a muster station and didn't open up until after that.  The suite concierge took care of it for us.