Booking specialty restaurant with onboard credit before boarding

[BCCRUSINGCOUPLE]

Hope someone can help me with this.  I was on line tonight looking to book the steak house we sail on Tuesday.  I have onboard credit when I go to book the reservation it wants to charge my credit card.  Do  i need to book on ship to use my credit 

[donswife]

Unfortunately, it seems that you can only book excursions with OBC prior to boarding.  We had a specialty dinner included with our booking, and I was able to apply that on the medallion app ahead of time.

[BCCRUSINGCOUPLE]

Okay i guess we will have to wait till we are on board to use our OBC to book the specialty dinner thank you so much for the info 

[PacnGoNow]

5 hours ago, BCCRUSINGCOUPLE said:

Okay i guess we will have to wait till we are on board to use our OBC to book the specialty dinner thank you so much for the info 

 

6 hours ago, BCCRUSINGCOUPLE said:

Hope someone can help me with this.  I was on line tonight looking to book the steak house we sail on Tuesday.  I have onboard credit when I go to book the reservation it wants to charge my credit card.  Do  i need to book on ship to use my credit 

 

6 hours ago, BCCRUSINGCOUPLE said:

Hope someone can help me with this.  I was on line tonight looking to book the steak house we sail on Tuesday.  I have onboard credit when I go to book the reservation it wants to charge my credit card.  Do  i need to book on ship to use my credit 

Yes.  If you know the date, just call the Dine line when you get OB and reserve your reservation.  

[latebloomer56]

7 hours ago, donswife said:

Unfortunately, it seems that you can only book excursions with OBC prior to boarding.  We had a specialty dinner included with our booking, and I was able to apply that on the medallion app ahead of time.

I reserved our specialty dinners through the web site not using our phones. Had the option to pay with credit card or reserve. Couldn't book our excursions because they wanted me to charge these. Never do that again, said we could swap these out to OBC once on board, nope so now we wait.

[PacnGoNow]

17 minutes ago, latebloomer56 said:

I reserved our specialty dinners through the web site not using our phones. Had the option to pay with credit card or reserve. Couldn't book our excursions because they wanted me to charge these. Never do that again, said we could swap these out to OBC once on board, nope so now we wait.

When you reserve on the website version, it charges your CC on file. So, best to wait till OB if you’re using OBC.

 

 

 

[latebloomer56]

20 minutes ago, PacnGoNow said:

When you reserve on the website version, it charges your CC on file. So, best to wait till OB if you’re using OBC.

 

 

 

Thanks it gave me an option credit card or reserve so assumed it would just reserve, good to know.

[ghstudio]

You need to pay for the special meal when you book it in advance......however, that payment is considered a refundable OBC on your account. When you dine, your account is billed for the meal and the payment is deducted from your OBC's......and it deducts first from the non-refundable OBC's. 

 

Example.  You book a meal for $29 in advance and you charge $29 to your card before the cruise even though you have a $50 non refundable OBC.   When you eat the meal, your account is charged the $29 and you are left with $21 of non-refundable OBC and $29 of refundable OBC.  If you make no other charges, you will get your $29 refunded.

[VaCruzers]

On 9/18/2022 at 9:09 AM, ghstudio said:

You need to pay for the special meal when you book it in advance......however, that payment is considered a refundable OBC on your account. When you dine, your account is billed for the meal and the payment is deducted from your OBC's......and it deducts first from the non-refundable OBC's. 

 

Example.  You book a meal for $29 in advance and you charge $29 to your card before the cruise even though you have a $50 non refundable OBC.   When you eat the meal, your account is charged the $29 and you are left with $21 of non-refundable OBC and $29 of refundable OBC.  If you make no other charges, you will get your $29 refunded.

 

This was not my experience. We booked before boarding using our credit card. Since it was pre-paid, there was no "charge" for Crown Grill on our onboard account. I had actually attempted to request the charge be refunded and switched to OBC at guest services after we boarded, but was told that was not possible despite a Princess chat rep telling me that was the way to handle. 

[ghstudio]

57 minutes ago, VaCruzers said:

 

This was not my experience. We booked before boarding using our credit card. Since it was pre-paid, there was no "charge" for Crown Grill on our onboard account. I had actually attempted to request the charge be refunded and switched to OBC at guest services after we boarded, but was told that was not possible despite a Princess chat rep telling me that was the way to handle. 

 

You may be right....my experience was with shore excursions.  

[wowzz]

On 9/18/2022 at 2:09 PM, ghstudio said:

You need to pay for the special meal when you book it in advance......however, that payment is considered a refundable OBC on your account. When you dine, your account is billed for the meal and the payment is deducted from your OBC's......and it deducts first from the non-refundable OBC's. 

 

Example.  You book a meal for $29 in advance and you charge $29 to your card before the cruise even though you have a $50 non refundable OBC.   When you eat the meal, your account is charged the $29 and you are left with $21 of non-refundable OBC and $29 of refundable OBC.  If you make no other charges, you will get your $29 refunded.

Totally wrong. 

[fellswoop]

I just did it yesterday. I knew my booking included 2 specialty restaurants.  When I clicked "reserve" for the restaurant,  the credit card for billing came up, but I clicked it anyway then it said "no charge".....complimentary, or something to that affect. Was able to book both my reservations no charge.

[PacnGoNow]

10 hours ago, fellswoop said:

I just did it yesterday. I knew my booking included 2 specialty restaurants.  When I clicked "reserve" for the restaurant,  the credit card for billing came up, but I clicked it anyway then it said "no charge".....complimentary, or something to that affect. Was able to book both my reservations no charge.

That’s great and the way it should work with the complimentary SD.

 

 

 

 

[skynight]

Princess needs to expand the OBC model to allow pre- payment with OBC for more than just excursions. They also need to amend the program to allow those linked together to share OBC pre-cruise without having to call Princess. Princess is weak on their programming causing much confusion and frustration with their customers.

[LoveFamliyVacations]

Caution, though. I have Specialty dining for 2 complimentary & reserved for our party of 3. Charge went through for $ 29 for the additional diner at Bistro Sur La Mer. I then caused my own problem due to reading poor reviews of the Bistro. I cancelled this reservation & made one for CG & 1 for S. Was charged 29 x3 & 25 X 3.

Fast forward - my original $ 29 charge for Bistro was refunded by Princess but my poor TA is dealing with getting the credit back to me for the original 2 complimentary meals. 

I share this to help someone else avoid making extra work. Note to self - in the future read dining reviews prior to making reservation that uses complimentary dining.

[ruimin]

On 9/17/2022 at 9:56 PM, donswife said:

Unfortunately, it seems that you can only book excursions with OBC prior to boarding.  We had a specialty dinner included with our booking, and I was able to apply that on the medallion app ahead of time.

Can you share how to apply it to medallion app. Thanks!

 

Ruimin

 

 

[donswife]

4 hours ago, LoveFamliyVacations said:

Caution, though. I have Specialty dining for 2 complimentary & reserved for our party of 3. Charge went through for $ 29 for the additional diner at Bistro Sur La Mer. I then caused my own problem due to reading poor reviews of the Bistro. I cancelled this reservation & made one for CG & 1 for S. Was charged 29 x3 & 25 X 3.

Fast forward - my original $ 29 charge for Bistro was refunded by Princess but my poor TA is dealing with getting the credit back to me for the original 2 complimentary meals. 

I share this to help someone else avoid making extra work. Note to self - in the future read dining reviews prior to making reservation that uses complimentary dining.

Interesting.  I linked reservations and was able to reserve for all 3, canceled and rebook at least 3 times, no charges. 

[donswife]

4 hours ago, ruimin said:

Can you share how to apply it to medallion app. Thanks!

 

Ruimin

 

 

I just made the reservation and it showed the credit at the payment screen.  If it is the complimentary suite dining,  it only works the first night. 

[ruimin]

4 hours ago, donswife said:

I just made the reservation and it showed the credit at the payment screen.  If it is the complimentary suite dining,  it only works the first night. 

Thank you! We have 2 complimentary specialty dinner with our booking , hopefully 

will work for us too.

ruimin

[sandancer]

Just booked the Crown Grill x 2 plus Sabatini for our upcoming cruise. We were able to book the dates and times we wanted. Would have liked to use obc but not allowed. Credit card charged immediately. Hey ho. 

[Cruise Raider]

14 hours ago, ruimin said:

Thank you! We have 2 complimentary specialty dinner with our booking , hopefully 

will work for us too.

ruimin

We booked two cruises with the premier package.  So, I was able to book the specialty dining on one sailing where it came back as included, so no charge.  The other one, no such luck.  So inconsistent … not a bother, though.  We ended up changing to a different cruise and dropped the premier package to the plus package.  

[Tinkerbell]

On 9/17/2022 at 11:56 PM, donswife said:

Unfortunately, it seems that you can only book excursions with OBC prior to boarding.  We had a specialty dinner included with our booking, and I was able to apply that on the medallion app ahead of time.

We also have a specialty dinner included, where in the app were you able to book it and apply the complimentary dinner?

 

Thanks

Kris

[JF - retired RRT]

17 minutes ago, Tinkerbell said:

We also have a specialty dinner included, where in the app were you able to book it and apply the complimentary dinner?

 

Thanks

Kris

It's in the same location where you book MDR reservations. Not always no charge. If the app tries to charge you, back out and wait until you're on the ship.

[donswife]

6 hours ago, Tinkerbell said:

We also have a specialty dinner included, where in the app were you able to book it and apply the complimentary dinner?

 

Thanks

Kris

Open the app.

scroll down to the 3rd  "box" (Ocean NOW) and click Dine My Way

click the 2nd choice (daily reservations)

click the light blue box of the day you want to book

click add reservation

click specialty dining

select your travel party, if appropriate, then continue

a default time will show. If it doesn't show the time at the restaurant you want, try a different time

click select this table

if it recognizes your complimentary dinner, it will show a credit under the cover charge and the total will be zero.

Click confirm, and you are all set.  Then you can view your reservation.

I hope this works.

[Tinkerbell]

Just now, donswife said:

Open the app.

scroll down to the 3rd  "box" (Ocean NOW) and click Dine My Way

click the 2nd choice (daily reservations)

click the light blue box of the day you want to book

click add reservation

click specialty dining

select your travel party, if appropriate, then continue

a default time will show. If it doesn't show the time at the restaurant you want, try a different time

click select this table

if it recognizes your complimentary dinner, it will show a credit under the cover charge and the total will be zero.

Click confirm, and you are all set.  Then you can view your reservation.

I hope this works.

Thanks!