Dine My Way & all new Dining questions since cruising restart!!

[Buckeye10640]

On 9/2/2021 at 2:53 PM, Thrak said:

 

Hmmmmm... Trying to remember the last time I was "stuck in traffic" on a cruise ship.

Elevator maybe? Or having to go down 12 flights of stairs 🙂

Edited September 4, 2021 by Buckeye10640

[JF - retired RRT]

15 hours ago, Buckeye10640 said:

Elevator maybe? Or having to go down 12 flights of stairs 🙂

Down stairs isn't an issue...UP 12 flights, however 🤢😵

[memoak]

12 minutes ago, JF - retired RRT said:

Down stairs isn't an issue...UP 12 flights, however 🤢😵

Tell that too my artificial knee and hip

[robthens]

Many have said the dining experience is part of the cruise.  Why do some have to pay to get a better dinner expierence?   I agree dinner should be special ; however,  when you pay the price of a suite, Princess has to offer addition incentives in order to make the price of a suite worth while. Why should an inside cabin have the same dining options as a penthouse suite?   Rational is the same as everyone gets a trophy.  As an Elite member, I paid my dues.  I earned extra perks. Same goes for suite passengers. They are paying for extra perks 

[TrustMeI'mANurse]

On 8/11/2021 at 3:58 PM, mellon1 said:

Very good point and well said.  I can't believe people would pay $500 approximately a day for Club Class.  We had it with a suite included.  It is not worth that.  You could go to the specialty restaurant for dinner every night and get an ultimate atmosphere and meal for $60 a day.  I know they have breakfast and lunch, but still.  I wonder if people realize how much more it is or if they have done the math.  However, that said, Princess is getting it so why not.

 

We paid a total of $500 extra for 2 people for 7 days. So about $30/day/person.

[Steelers36]

7 hours ago, TrustMeI'mANurse said:

 

We paid a total of $500 extra for 2 people for 7 days. So about $30/day/person.

More like about $35/pp/day.  Comes to $490 for 7 days.

[Roberto256]

On 9/2/2021 at 2:53 PM, Thrak said:

 

Hmmmmm... Trying to remember the last time I was "stuck in traffic" on a cruise ship.

 

After 9/11, CBP (or whatever they were called at that time) decided that everyone had to pass

before an inspector prior to arrival in St. Thomas (if the ship visited any port since Miami)

That resulted in a line that was basically all passengers.

 

Any arrival in a place like Grand Turk in the early afternoon ... every passenger is anxious

to go ashore at the same time...

 

I would equate those circumstances to traffic. 

 

Although when I wrote it, it was a throw-away comment intended to be light hearted.

 

[4cats4me]

Sailed on the Majestic on 8/29.  My experience with DMW pre-cruise and during. 

 

Booked very close to sailing.  

Able to make reservations immediately  for a two-top for every night at 6:20 in Symphony. A week later,  I messed around with the app and inadvertently cancelled all my reservations.   Was able to rebook immediately, retaining the 6:20 time slot each night, but now I had a two-top for five nights and was automatically assigned to an eight-top for two evenings.   It didn’t really matter all that much to me.  

A couple days later, I decided to see if I could get the two-top back again for each night, just as an experiment, and I succeeded, and now my choices were either a table for 2, 6, or 8.  

 

The day of boarding, most of my 6:20 times remained, but now two of the days the time had been changed to 6:40, not a big deal, but what I hadn’t noticed right away was I had been reassigned to Concerto, as Symphony was closed for our sailing due to only 53% capacity.   

 

The first evening in the dining room, I indicated that I was willing to share, so we were five people, four parties, at an eight-Top.  Service took a long time because of the odd timing of waiting for the table to fill, so the next two nights I decided to dine at a two-Top, and service was quicker, although one night I was still there for two hours, but that was my choice, due to meeting and chatting

With nice people next to me.   The third night, I was in and out in an hour and 20 mins.   

The next time I dined was on formal night, and I decided to try my luck at approx 5:45, and I asked to share and was escorted to an eight-top already

occupied by seven other people.   Nobody had ordered yet, so we all ordered, and were in and out in one hour.  We all had dessert and hardly anyone was drinking.   None of us ordered much more than a salad or soup for an appetizer.  

Quite efficient.  

On another night I dined with new friends. We simply strolled in around 7:00 and the MDR seemed much busier at that hour than at 6:20. 

Service  was efficient, once again. 

 

On the final evening, this came as a surprise to me, I’d expected the MDR would be only half full, as on other cruises, and I decided to stroll in at 6:05. 

The people in front of me were turned away as the dining room was full and those folks didn’t want to share.   I was a party of one and asked if there was anything and told them I was willing to share, so I was escorted to an eight-Top right near the entrance, which already had six other people.   Surprisingly, dinner took three hours that night, because the staff seemed like they were doing their best, but it was just so packed, plus the baked Alaska parade put everything behind.  First time I’ve seen baked Alaska parade pre-dinner. LOL 

In fairness, we all had a lot in common at our table, so perhaps we conversed longer than usual.   I could have shortened my dine time by not having dessert.  

 

So, that was my DMW experience.  I liked the flexibility once onboard to tweak dining times, and also the ability to share on some occasions.   It would have been boring to dine at a table for two every night by myself.  I  enjoyed the company of many who I met.   

Edited September 10, 2021 by 4cats4me

[wowzz]

1 hour ago, 4cats4me said:

Sailed on the Majestic on 8/29.  My experience with DMW pre-cruise and during. 

 

Booked very close to sailing.  

Able to make reservations immediately  for a two-top for every night at 6:20 in Symphony. A week later,  I messed around with the app and inadvertently cancelled all my reservations.   Was able to rebook immediately, retaining the 6:20 time slot each night, but now I had a two-top for five nights and was automatically assigned to an eight-top for two evenings.   It didn’t really matter all that much to me.  

A couple days later, I decided to see if I could get the two-top back again for each night, just as an experiment, and I succeeded, and now my choices were either a table for 2, 6, or 8.  

 

The day of boarding, most of my 6:20 times remained, but now two of the days the time had been changed to 6:40, not a big deal, but what I hadn’t noticed right away was I had been reassigned to Concerto, as Symphony was closed for our sailing due to only 53% capacity.   

 

The first evening in the dining room, I indicated that I was willing to share, so we were five people, four parties, at an eight-Top.  Service took a long time because of the odd timing of waiting for the table to fill, so the next two nights I decided to dine at a two-Top, and service was quicker, although one night I was still there for two hours, but that was my choice, due to meeting and chatting

With nice people next to me.   The third night, I was in and out in an hour and 20 mins.   

The next time I dined was on formal night, and I decided to try my luck at approx 5:45, and I asked to share and was escorted to an eight-top already

occupied by seven other people.   Nobody had ordered yet, so we all ordered, and were in and out in one hour.  We all had dessert and hardly anyone was drinking.   None of us ordered much more than a salad or soup for an appetizer.  

Quite efficient.  

On another night I dined with new friends. We simply strolled in around 7:00 and the MDR seemed much busier at that hour than at 6:20. 

Service  was efficient, once again. 

 

On the final evening, this came as a surprise to me, I’d expected the MDR would be only half full, as on other cruises, and I decided to stroll in at 6:05. 

The people in front of me were turned away as the dining room was full and those folks didn’t want to share.   I was a party of one and asked if there was anything and told them I was willing to share, so I was escorted to an eight-Top right near the entrance, which already had six other people.   Surprisingly, dinner took three hours that night, because the staff seemed like they were doing their best, but it was just so packed, plus the baked Alaska parade put everything behind.  First time I’ve seen baked Alaska parade pre-dinner. LOL 

In fairness, we all had a lot in common at our table, so perhaps we conversed longer than usual.   I could have shortened my dine time by not having dessert.  

 

So, that was my DMW experience.  I liked the flexibility once onboard to tweak dining times, and also the ability to share on some occasions.   It would have been boring to dine at a table for two every night by myself.  I  enjoyed the company of many who I met.   

Thanks for the update. 

Seems to me that there was absolutely no need for the Medallion and all the associated gizmos.  The best plan is just to turn up at the MDR, and be flexible.  

[Sea Hag]

When I booked our 8/29 sailing on the Majestic, dining preferences were still available in Personalizer. I chose early traditional and requested a table for two. After Princess moved dining to the app, they said that previously chosen preferences would be honored. For all nights, I saw Concerto and table for two. First night, they put us at a great table for two, over in the corner next to the window. Second night, they put us at a different table for two, on the other side of the room one table away from the window. Third night, we were back at our original table, where our server asked us where we were the night before. She was expecting us at our original table every night. After that, we specified that table when we went into the dining room. I know I could have gone to the head waiter or MD and asked, but as it worked out just asking at the door always got us that table. We might have gotten it anyway. No idea what the deal was with the second night.

[Buckeye10640]

On 9/10/2021 at 4:22 PM, 4cats4me said:

Sailed on the Majestic on 8/29.  My experience with DMW pre-cruise and during. 

 

Booked very close to sailing.  

Able to make reservations immediately  for a two-top for every night at 6:20 in Symphony. A week later,  I messed around with the app and inadvertently cancelled all my reservations.   Was able to rebook immediately, retaining the 6:20 time slot each night, but now I had a two-top for five nights and was automatically assigned to an eight-top for two evenings.   It didn’t really matter all that much to me.  

A couple days later, I decided to see if I could get the two-top back again for each night, just as an experiment, and I succeeded, and now my choices were either a table for 2, 6, or 8.  

 

The day of boarding, most of my 6:20 times remained, but now two of the days the time had been changed to 6:40, not a big deal, but what I hadn’t noticed right away was I had been reassigned to Concerto, as Symphony was closed for our sailing due to only 53% capacity.   

 

The first evening in the dining room, I indicated that I was willing to share, so we were five people, four parties, at an eight-Top.  Service took a long time because of the odd timing of waiting for the table to fill, so the next two nights I decided to dine at a two-Top, and service was quicker, although one night I was still there for two hours, but that was my choice, due to meeting and chatting

With nice people next to me.   The third night, I was in and out in an hour and 20 mins.   

The next time I dined was on formal night, and I decided to try my luck at approx 5:45, and I asked to share and was escorted to an eight-top already

occupied by seven other people.   Nobody had ordered yet, so we all ordered, and were in and out in one hour.  We all had dessert and hardly anyone was drinking.   None of us ordered much more than a salad or soup for an appetizer.  

Quite efficient.  

On another night I dined with new friends. We simply strolled in around 7:00 and the MDR seemed much busier at that hour than at 6:20. 

Service  was efficient, once again. 

 

On the final evening, this came as a surprise to me, I’d expected the MDR would be only half full, as on other cruises, and I decided to stroll in at 6:05. 

The people in front of me were turned away as the dining room was full and those folks didn’t want to share.   I was a party of one and asked if there was anything and told them I was willing to share, so I was escorted to an eight-Top right near the entrance, which already had six other people.   Surprisingly, dinner took three hours that night, because the staff seemed like they were doing their best, but it was just so packed, plus the baked Alaska parade put everything behind.  First time I’ve seen baked Alaska parade pre-dinner. LOL 

In fairness, we all had a lot in common at our table, so perhaps we conversed longer than usual.   I could have shortened my dine time by not having dessert.  

 

So, that was my DMW experience.  I liked the flexibility once onboard to tweak dining times, and also the ability to share on some occasions.   It would have been boring to dine at a table for two every night by myself.  I  enjoyed the company of many who I met.   

Oh my...I am cringing at the thought of a 3 hour dinner.  With anyone!

[Steelers36]

2 hours ago, Buckeye10640 said:

Oh my...I am cringing at the thought of a 3 hour dinner.  With anyone!

My bum would be numb.

[Steelers36]

5 hours ago, Sea Hag said:

When I booked our 8/29 sailing on the Majestic, dining preferences were still available in Personalizer. I chose early traditional and requested a table for two. After Princess moved dining to the app, they said that previously chosen preferences would be honored. For all nights, I saw Concerto and table for two. First night, they put us at a great table for two, over in the corner next to the window. Second night, they put us at a different table for two, on the other side of the room one table away from the window. Third night, we were back at our original table, where our server asked us where we were the night before. She was expecting us at our original table every night. After that, we specified that table when we went into the dining room. I know I could have gone to the head waiter or MD and asked, but as it worked out just asking at the door always got us that table. We might have gotten it anyway. No idea what the deal was with the second night.

There is most certainly a disconnect between the App, PCL HQ and the ship for Traditional Dining.  I was told things were being addressed after first Alaska voyage, but seems to be hit-and-miss at best. 

 

 

[RNRcruisers]

Ugh, this is not traditional dining. Thank you for the updates, it is helpful to hear how DMW is working. I am a diehard traditional dining fan and really hope they figure out how to accomplish it by my January cruise. 

[clueless2]

We recently booked a 34 night Transatlantic/Iceland/UK/Norway cruise for May.  I was happy because I was able to book the same private table/time for the entire cruise (or so I thought).  Everything seemed to be OK.  I spot checked a few days and all was good.  Today I thought I'd check all 34 days and all was fine UNTIL I got to the last week.  Each day was blank.  No reservation showing.  I went in and reserved a private table for each night individually but it's in a different dining room.   The original dining room was not a choice.

 

BTW... We have a B2B2B2B booked for next September (it's Australia so I don't think it will go.  One reason we booked the other one).  I've never been able to book any dining reservations for it.

[Steelers36]

1 hour ago, clueless2 said:

We recently booked a 34 night Transatlantic/Iceland/UK/Norway cruise for May.  I was happy because I was able to book the same private table/time for the entire cruise (or so I thought).  Everything seemed to be OK.  I spot checked a few days and all was good.  Today I thought I'd check all 34 days and all was fine UNTIL I got to the last week.  Each day was blank.  No reservation showing.  I went in and reserved a private table for each night individually but it's in a different dining room.   The original dining room was not a choice.

 

BTW... We have a B2B2B2B booked for next September (it's Australia so I don't think it will go.  One reason we booked the other one).  I've never been able to book any dining reservations for it.

They had several issues with DMW and multiple linked voyages.  Supposedly they have fixed it somewhat.  I think the IT types may think they have fixed it more than reality indicates.  Personally, I found some improvement with our B2B2B, but still not right.  Our B2B2B is all on the same ship.  Not sure if yours is and it could be an inventory thing because I am convinced not every DR is loaded into DMW for bookings and if the DR(s) used vary from voyage to voyage, this is why a consistent full voyage booking won't work.  IDK if they should abandon attempting to book across all voyages and just have it work one at a time (but that would imply a table change if sailing on the same ship and no reason to move once you sail).  IMO, the MD's have to get involved again for TD bookings and forget about MC App except for AT bookings and exception overrides.

[clueless2]

12 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

They had several issues with DMW and multiple linked voyages.  Supposedly they have fixed it somewhat.  I think the IT types may think they have fixed it more than reality indicates.  Personally, I found some improvement with our B2B2B, but still not right.  Our B2B2B is all on the same ship.  Not sure if yours is and it could be an inventory thing because I am convinced not every DR is loaded into DMW for bookings and if the DR(s) used vary from voyage to voyage, this is why a consistent full voyage booking won't work.  IDK if they should abandon attempting to book across all voyages and just have it work one at a time (but that would imply a table change if sailing on the same ship and no reason to move once you sail).  IMO, the MD's have to get involved again for TD bookings and forget about MC App except for AT bookings and exception overrides.

The B2B2B2B is a single ship (Majestic).   Since it's a Transpacific to Australia/NZ I don't have high hopes for it actually going.  So I've decided not to worry about stuff not working right on the app for that cruise.  From all I've read it's likely Australia will remained locked down to foreign travel until after their elections sometime in 2022.

 

Of course Norway is currently locked down to US travelers but they have recently eased travel restrictions from some countries so I have some hope for that cruise. 

 

Another issue I had was it would not let me put in the Emergency Airport on my Android 11 phone.  I could type in the airport code but SAVE was grayed out.   I tried it on an iPad and I got an error message about the airport not being in my home area!!??  It's 45 minutes way. In the same state.  One county over.   So I happened to look around some more and my home address was blank in the app.  One I filled that out I was able to successfully put in the emergency airport.

 

They really don't seem to do a lot of system testing.     

[Tedferg]

1 hour ago, clueless2 said:

   I tried it on an iPad and I got an error message about the airport not being in my home area!!??  It's 45 minutes way. In the same state. 

I had a similar experience but that was because my TA had put the wrong airport in. She just defaulted to LAX since we are in California. I had her change it and also during a Support call asked Princess to make sure it was SMF. Not sure we were asked for Emergency Return Airport before, so maybe it did not matter previously. Princess site would give ads for Round Trip LAX

[clueless2]

32 minutes ago, Tedferg said:

I had a similar experience but that was because my TA had put the wrong airport in. She just defaulted to LAX since we are in California. I had her change it and also during a Support call asked Princess to make sure it was SMF. Not sure we were asked for Emergency Return Airport before, so maybe it did not matter previously. Princess site would give ads for Round Trip LAX

When I go in the Princess website to look at airfare it defaults to Columbus OH which is 3 hours away.   I should probably ask my TA or Princess to change it.

[Tedferg]

11 minutes ago, clueless2 said:

When I go in the Princess website to look at airfare it defaults to Columbus OH which is 3 hours away.   I should probably ask my TA or Princess to change it.

Mine would default to LAX on EZair and I would just change it to SMF, no big deal until they ask for Emergency Return.

[JF - retired RRT]

1 hour ago, Tedferg said:

Not sure we were asked for Emergency Return Airport before, so maybe it did not matter previously. Princess site would give ads for Round Trip LAX

Emergency airport was in the Personalizer...sigh

[LouCoop]

Is it only us or do some of you have this problem. We have a cruise in March 2022 and I can't get into DMW. On my DH's phone it say DMW is not available and on my phone it loads for so long without ever doing anything that I drop off after 15 minutes.

We are platinum and did get an e-mail around 3-4 months ago saying we could get into DMW ahead of time. Does anyone know how much ahead of time they mean?

I think I read in some messages higher up that people with cruises in 2022 were able to get into DMW.

 

 

[Steelers36]

1 hour ago, LouCoop said:

I think I read in some messages higher up that people with cruises in 2022 were able to get into DMW.

I have had a variety of experiences with DMW and we are cruising in OCT 2022.  After the last MC App upgrade (Android), I ended up with dining on all three of our B2B2B - with our friends - as a party of 4 at a 4-top.  Except for two nights and then it indicates we are split at two tables.  Obviously, that isn't going to happen - or fly - but I also cannot re-book for full voyage as DMW indicates nothing found.  However, if I look at individual nights, there is availability to override and do something different on a per-day basis.  This is from me playing with it.  I think they still have problems with multiple linked voyages even though they claimed in the last release they fixed this.  So, I would say it got a bit better, but still bugs.  And another thing is, we guests have no idea how much DR inventory was loaded up for DMW to work with in terms of far-off voyages.

 

Our 4th cruise - a single voyage - is just dandy and has been from Day 1 when DMW was released.  We have a 4-top in the right DR (or at least it was a 4-top until the OCEAN Team changed the wording to "Private").

[awhcruiser]

2 hours ago, LouCoop said:

Is it only us or do some of you have this problem. We have a cruise in March 2022 and I can't get into DMW. On my DH's phone it say DMW is not available and on my phone it loads for so long without ever doing anything that I drop off after 15 minutes.

We are platinum and did get an e-mail around 3-4 months ago saying we could get into DMW ahead of time. Does anyone know how much ahead of time they mean?

I think I read in some messages higher up that people with cruises in 2022 were able to get into DMW.

 

 

I have been able to access DMV for some time now and our cruise isn't until April or 2022.  I am platinum, DH is ruby.

[ProfMHC]

Same as awhcruiser and LouCoop. Platinum and unable to access DMW after last update. I’ve spoken to help snd written twice. No action. When I try to access it momentarily goes to white screen and then just spins loading on an endless loop till I soft reboot the XS phone in frustration. Obviously it’s a common problem that should have been addressed. The last update killed DMW for me.