Dinner packages

[nbhwarrior]

Do princess sell speciality dining packages? i can't see any to buy pre-cruise, can you buy them on board?

 

also, can you book reservations before you are on the cruise for speciality restaurants

 

thanks in advance

[skynight]

No packages.

Yes you can pre-book specialty dining on the medallion app. You are charged when booked. You can wait until you are on board. If booked on board the charge will be posted to your on board accounts and will net against any credit balance(OBC). You can not use OBC to pre-book.

Edited November 10, 2022 by skynight

[justafem]

43 minutes ago, nbhwarrior said:

Do princess sell speciality dining packages? i can't see any to buy pre-cruise, can you buy them on board?

 

also, can you book reservations before you are on the cruise for speciality restaurants

 

thanks in advance

There are no packages like NCL.  But the prices of the specialty restaurants isn't nearly as pricy. 

 

I've never had a problem getting into a specialty restaurant on the same or next night. 

 

If you book before the cruise, it's prepay and you can't use onboard credit, which many of us have massive amounts of.  

[Cruise Raider]

10 minutes ago, justafem said:

 

If you book before the cruise, it's prepay and you can't use onboard credit, which many of us have massive amounts of.  

There is one caveat that we’ve been able to use .. if you have the premier package, it offers you two specialty dinners for the cruise.  When making reservations online ahead of the cruise, it will apply your included dinner reservations without paying for them up front.  Although, you’ve already paid for them up front in your fare.  But, my point is that they’ve figured out how to include those in the app without having to shell out more $$ that will ultimately have to be refunded.  On some cruises, it is impossible to get reservations once onboard.  
 

And you are so right, the specially dinners are so much more reasonable on Princess than on other cruiselines.  
 

[avonlady6390]

Specialty restaurants are 29.00 per person.  I would suggest making your reservation in the app before cruising.  It can be hard to get in otherwise especially the crown grille.

[Mike45LC]

There is conflicting information here as to how heavily booked the specialty restaurants get.  Let me throw in my recent experience, Sapphire Princess, for Sabatini's -- the day before our dinner, we were unable to book any early evening reservation (I mean 6 or 7 p.m.), and ended up with a very early booking.  [Which was good, because it left me time to hit the buffet for some decent food for dinner.  I hate Sabatini's and we went only to indulge my wife.]

[JimmyVWine]

5 hours ago, avonlady6390 said:

Specialty restaurants are 29.00 per person.

Sabatini's is still just $25.

[skynight]

21 hours ago, avonlady6390 said:

Specialty restaurants are 29.00 per person.  I would suggest making your reservation in the app before cruising.  It can be hard to get in otherwise especially the crown grille.

Most are $29/pp for adults. Sabatini's is $25, Salty Dog Gastropub is $18. Refer to the dining guide for what is available on your ship

https://www.princess.com/downloads/pdf/food-and-dining/dining-options.pdf

 

[jeromep]

On 11/10/2022 at 4:19 AM, nbhwarrior said:

Do princess sell speciality dining packages? i can't see any to buy pre-cruise, can you buy them on board?

 

also, can you book reservations before you are on the cruise for speciality restaurants

 

thanks in advance

Packages?  No, not like other lines.

 

As others have said, if you book ahead of the cruise, you have to pay at that time.  I honestly don't recommend that if you have OBC.  Your best bet is to plan on getting on board as early as possible on embarkation day and use the app to make reservations or call the Dine Line.  I recall Dine Line could either be very busy on embarkation day or nobody was answering, but we eventually got through.  Things are better with the app when you are on board.

 

My experience with specialty dining has been mixed.  I've been on cruises where getting reservations early was absolutely necessary, and I've been on other cruises where you could just walk up and get seated.  It has to do with where you are going and the pax mix, and that varies.

[Mike45LC]

25 minutes ago, jeromep said:

My experience with specialty dining has been mixed.  I've been on cruises where getting reservations early was absolutely necessary, and I've been on other cruises where you could just walk up and get seated.  It has to do with where you are going and the pax mix, and that varies.

I think that including Specialty Restaurants in the Premium package has increased demand considerably.  

[justafem]

I've never called the dine line, or used the app to make a reservation for specialty dining.  We go to the venue, talk to the hostess and the manager always walks up, greets us and remembers us from a previous cruise.

 

We tell them what night, or if the same day, what time we'd like to eat and they make it happen.  Never had an issue.  

 

Great, maybe I shouldn't have said that, now there'll be tons of people doing the same and we won't get in!  GRINS