Rep "lost" my confirmed dining res via phone call

[Lizzybell1960]

Hi-My family and I are sail on Royal to Mexico in April, I booked the trip months ago & we had confirmed 715pm res for party of 8.  As we are traveling with a baby(10 mos) DIL thought 5pm might be better.   

 

Yesterday I called Princess to pay for the cruise.  While on the phone I asked the Princess rep about the availability of switching to 5pm.  I asked her in advance "Please ck availability of 5pm first, do not drop our 715 as I don't want to lose it in case 515 isn't available"  

 

Rep proceeded to dro0p/lose my confirmed 715pm res, & tell me both times 5pm and 715pm are booked & waitlisted and yes, she kicked me off the 715 dining list.

Angela, the rep, tells me she will"reach out" to cust service to resolve this issue.   Another 40 min waiting for her to come back and tell me there is nothing she can do

to reinstate me to the 715.

 

She tells me that cust service will em me about our dining reservation,.  So, after 1 1/2 hrs, I have paid our fares and lost our confirmed dining time.

 

I am a platinum member, others are all first time cruisers& this is an important part of the cruise.  We were on the Royal a couple of wks ago and the 

anytime dining wait was far too long, esp with a baby & 7 yr old.

 

What should I do in regards to solving this issue that I did not create?    Any advice would be greatly appreciated.   Much Thanks, Liz

 

[Rockymountainsparky]

If it's not resolved by the time you sail, you may wish to speak to the Head Waiter to try to get the preferred time.

[1emerald1]

7 minutes ago, Rockymountainsparky said:

If it's not resolved by the time you sail, you may wish to speak to the Head Waiter to try to get the preferred time.

I would see the Maitre d' on embarkation day at the times posted in the patter.  If Generoso Mazzone is still the Maitre d' I am sure he would do his utmost to accommodate you.

[Colo Cruiser]

14 minutes ago, Lizzybell1960 said:

Hi-My family and I are sail on Royal to Mexico in April, I booked the trip months ago & we had confirmed 715pm res for party of 8.  As we are traveling with a baby(10 mos) DIL thought 5pm might be better.   

 

Yesterday I called Princess to pay for the cruise.  While on the phone I asked the Princess rep about the availability of switching to 5pm.  I asked her in advance "Please ck availability of 5pm first, do not drop our 715 as I don't want to lose it in case 515 isn't available"  

 

Rep proceeded to dro0p/lose my confirmed 715pm res, & tell me both times 5pm and 715pm are booked & waitlisted and yes, she kicked me off the 715 dining list.

Angela, the rep, tells me she will"reach out" to cust service to resolve this issue.   Another 40 min waiting for her to come back and tell me there is nothing she can do

to reinstate me to the 715.

 

She tells me that cust service will em me about our dining reservation,.  So, after 1 1/2 hrs, I have paid our fares and lost our confirmed dining time.

 

I am a platinum member, others are all first time cruisers& this is an important part of the cruise.  We were on the Royal a couple of wks ago and the 

anytime dining wait was far too long, esp with a baby & 7 yr old.

 

What should I do in regards to solving this issue that I did not create?    Any advice would be greatly appreciated.   Much Thanks, Liz

 

I would not worry at all about this.

Just see the Maitre d on embarkation day at the time and place listed in the Princess Patter.

It is usually held in one of the DR's between 2pm and 3:30pm.

This is for passengers to resolve issues just like yours.

I would not count on Princess to stay true to things like this prior to the cruise as the fleet and corporate are on 2 different wavelengths. 

Hopefully customer service if they really did get a heads up from the rep you spoke with will forward your request to the MD onboard as well.

[imescaping]

I personally loathe anytime dining but, due to a tendency to book late, am often relegated to it.  I have on occasion been able to move to fixed once onboard with a visit to the Matre D on the first day.  When not moved to assigned, I have been able to make reservations for a specific time and table each night. Those situations have not been on princess but Carnival and HAL, my upcoming cruise will be my first Princess cruise with anytime dining.

[Coral]

FYI - weekend agents are less experienced than week day agents. I would suggest not calling over the weekend for anything unless it is an emergency. 

 

I agree with the others. I am sure once onboard, they can resolve this. I wouldn't worry.

[dickinson]

It is so frustrating when any customer service rep does what this one did.  In any case... you should be fine.  As mentioned above you can talk with the Maitre d' during their hours on embarkation day or you can go to Anytime dining.  I really don't think you would have ANY issue at all going to anytime and showing up around 5:15 pm.  It is usually around 6 -6:30 pm that it could be full.  Also, as mentioned above, you can make a standing reservation in Anytime for a set table and time.  

 

Have a wonderful cruise.

[Aus Traveller]

As the others have said, see the Maitre d' on embarkation. Have a look at the Princess Patter to see if there is an entry regarding the time he will be available. It is often around 2pm. If there is nothing in the Patter, enquire at the Passenger Services Desk and ask them also specifically where the Maitre d' will be located. Sometimes he will be in a dining room and sometimes outside one dining room. I then suggest you turn up at the designated spot at least 15 minutes early. You want to be at the head of the queue. If you turn up later you could end up waiting half an hour and other people will have their requests in ahead of yours.

 

Politely and calmly outline the situation to the Maitre d' and I am sure he will be able to accommodate you. All the best.😀

Edited January 6, 2020 by Aus Traveller

[jennybenny]

Ugh, so frustrating!!  Sorry to hear it.  It's happened to us before, but I did it myself fooling around on the personalizer. What is your wait list number? You could still be cleared and as others have stated, you can speak with the Maitre d' and be accommodated.  

[mellon1]

On 1/5/2020 at 4:00 PM, 1emerald1 said:

I would see the Maitre d' on embarkation day at the times posted in the patter.  If Generoso Mazzone is still the Maitre d' I am sure he would do his utmost to accommodate you.

Most definitely Generoso will do all he can to help you for sure.  Great Maitre' D

[Ombud]

On 1/5/2020 at 12:51 PM, Lizzybell1960 said:

Hi-My family and I are sail on Royal to Mexico in April, I booked the trip months ago & we had confirmed 715pm res for party of 8.  As we are traveling with a baby(10 mos) DIL thought 5pm might be better.   

 

Yesterday I called Princess to pay for the cruise.  While on the phone I asked the Princess rep about the availability of switching to 5pm.  I asked her in advance "Please ck availability of 5pm first, do not drop our 715 as I don't want to lose it in case 515 isn't available"  

 

Rep proceeded to dro0p/lose my confirmed 715pm res, & tell me both times 5pm and 715pm are booked & waitlisted and yes, she kicked me off the 715 dining list.

Angela, the rep, tells me she will"reach out" to cust service to resolve this issue.   Another 40 min waiting for her to come back and tell me there is nothing she can do

to reinstate me to the 715.

 

She tells me that cust service will em me about our dining reservation,.  So, after 1 1/2 hrs, I have paid our fares and lost our confirmed dining time.

 

I am a platinum member, others are all first time cruisers& this is an important part of the cruise.  We were on the Royal a couple of wks ago and the 

anytime dining wait was far too long, esp with a baby & 7 yr old.

 

What should I do in regards to solving this issue that I did not create?    Any advice would be greatly appreciated.   Much Thanks, Liz

 

I now only do ATD but back when I did TD (Pre 2019) I often wait listed. Always made it in if my # was under 50, usually if under #75. There's a lot of time and shifting between now and embarkation day so you might not even need to meet with the maitre d onboard. IMHO too early to worry. 

[Steelers36]

On 1/5/2020 at 3:51 PM, Lizzybell1960 said:

 

What should I do in regards to solving this issue that I did not create?    Any advice would be greatly appreciated.   Much Thanks, Liz

 

My advice is more going to apply to the next time.  You could have signed in to your Cruise Personalizer and checked the dining availability status yourself.  It will indicate if you can switch right away, or if there is a waitlist for your preferred time and it will also indicate the next waitlist number.  If you make a change of dining time, it clearly states that you forego your current allocation, including waitlist place.  If you wanted early TD, you would have had to forego your late dining reservation in order to try for early - whether done online or over the phone.  Or, you could have left it as-is.  However, leaving it as-is won't do anything to get you what you want.

 

As others have suggested, I would go with the waitlist for early and you may be pleasantly surprised and clear it.  At least you have indicated your preference well ahead of boarding and meeting up with the MD.  And as others have indicated, I have always had good success in seeing the MD after embarking the ship and making a request. 

 

Good luck with it.  

[Steelers36]

@Lizzybell1960, I forgot to ask if you have all your bookings cross-referenced and all have exact same dining selection (time and table size) and also noted that you all want to dine together?  We do this when cruising with our friends and each of our bookings is coded to indicate we want to dine together at the same table.  If they are not cross-referenced, you could end up at different tables.  Just asking since your reported the Princess rep messed you up unexpectedly. 

 

[Katwoman007]

3 hours ago, steelers36 said:

@Lizzybell1960, I forgot to ask if you have all your bookings cross-referenced and all have exact same dining selection (time and table size) and also noted that you all want to dine together?  We do this when cruising with our friends and each of our bookings is coded to indicate we want to dine together at the same table.  If they are not cross-referenced, you could end up at different tables.  Just asking since your reported the Princess rep messed you up unexpectedly. 

 

THIS! Make sure all the bookings are linked!!! That way you should be at the same table. Make sure they all have the same dining option (even if wait listed). 

We had an issue on our last cruise. They put us at a table of like 8 and I have special dietary needs and do not want others having to deal with my menu issues. lol We went to the 2pm (or whenever) and the MD and explained the situation...we lost our early seating, but gave us a pretty awesome window table where we watched whales during dinner! 

[Ranger2705]

We were on the Royal to Mexico last April with party of 10. We would line up right before 5 and never had a problem being seated right away. No reservation.