MDR reservations messed up by Princess

[MsSoCalCruiser]

Warning… I need to vent.  A few months ago I called and booked the MDR and time that we wanted at a private table for five.  Today someone decided to join us on the cruise, so I called to add a sixth person to our dining reservations. The Princess person that was trying to help me could not figure out how to do it without changing our dining time for two hours later. I told her no and I did not want to do that and asked for a supervisor.  While waiting, after close to one hour, we were disconnected. I was not called back. I just checked and our dining reservations are a total mess. Not everyone is included, reservations are at different times, different dining rooms, double bookings, with shared tables.  What are the chances that I can get this corrected? Have you had this problem?  I am not happy.

[Itchy&Scratchy]

why don't you connect the bookings on the app/online app and then make MDR reservations for all people at the same time? Online/app.

[MsSoCalCruiser]

4 hours ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

why don't you connect the bookings on the app/online app and then make MDR reservations for all people at the same time? Online/app.

The only thing it is offering online is a late dining time which we do not want. I had booked a 5 PM dining time months ago.

[BamaVol]

It’s possible you will not be able to fix this.  Is it likely that 5:00 in your preferred MDR is fully booked?  I would be pretty upset if this was done to me, but I would not let it spoil the cruise.  Good luck.  I hope you can get it fixed. I going to look at my reservations now.  I swear every time I get on CC,  I discover something new that Princess might mess up on me.

Edited January 20, 2023 by BamaVol

[MsSoCalCruiser]

9 minutes ago, BamaVol said:

It’s possible you will not be able to fix this.  Is it likely that 5:00 in your preferred MDR is fully booked?  I would be pretty upset if this was done to me, but I would not let it spoil the cruise.  Good luck.  I hope you can get it fixed. I going to look at my reservations now.  I swear every time I get on CC,  I discover something new that Princess might mess up on me.

Thank you.  I’m on the phone now trying to get it fixed.  Unfortunately this would spoil our cruise because we are all early diners and we all always have lots of activities planned in the evening.  I was told not to worry because we were booked for that dining room and time at the size table we need but that they were having problems with the application.  Hopefully I was given the correct information.  Fingers crossed…. 

[cr8tiv1]

12 minutes ago, MsSoCalCruiser said:

Thank you.  I’m on the phone now trying to get it fixed.  Unfortunately this would spoil our cruise because we are all early diners and we all always have lots of activities planned in the evening.  I was told not to worry because we were booked for that dining room and time at the size table we need but that they were having problems with the application.  Hopefully I was given the correct information.  Fingers crossed…. 

 

I wish I had as much confidence as you feel right now. but whenever something goes amiss, Princess says it is having problems with the application.  I would find someone on embarkation day in the MDR who can confirm your reservations.  Hopefully MDR will be open for embarkation lunch.  

[rebeccac]

When I have tried to make reservations for our Sky Princess cruise next month, the app does come up with a time, but so far, I have been able to change that time to something that works better for us.  At first, I thought that because we were so late to the game, that things were booked up, but once I figured out that I could change the times presented, I was good to go.  We haven't been on Princess since 2018 and even then the ship we were on was not yet converted to the Medallion, so this is new to me.  

[Rick&Jeannie]

Just to point out...you could have totally left your reservation alone.  With a table for 5 (unless they gave you a round table) you would probably have one empty seat at two four-top tables pulled together.  That sixth person could have just walked up and joined you at your existing table.  They would have gladly accommodated an extra person in that scenario.

[RNRcruisers]

Anecdotes from here sound like early dining walk-ins aren't a problem. Couldn't you do that the first night and, if you like your table and server, ask to be seated there every night? I know a reservation would be preferable but doing this might work just as well.

 

[MsSoCalCruiser]

4 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

 

I wish I had as much confidence as you feel right now. but whenever something goes amiss, Princess says it is having problems with the application.  I would find someone on embarkation day in the MDR who can confirm your reservations.  Hopefully MDR will be open for embarkation lunch.  

I’m honestly not feeling that confident. I hope everything is OK or I will be ticked.  

[Coral]

2 hours ago, RNRcruisers said:

Anecdotes from here sound like early dining walk-ins aren't a problem. Couldn't you do that the first night and, if you like your table and server, ask to be seated there every night? I know a reservation would be preferable but doing this might work just as well.

 

In theory - it sounds like it would work. In reality - I doubt it!

[MsSoCalCruiser]

4 hours ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

Just to point out...you could have totally left your reservation alone.  With a table for 5 (unless they gave you a round table) you would probably have one empty seat at two four-top tables pulled together.  That sixth person could have just walked up and joined you at your existing table.  They would have gladly accommodated an extra person in that scenario.

I thought of that, but then I also thought that it was something they would easily be able to do. It never dawned on me that the princess employee would totally mess up the reservations for the entire week.

[Astro Flyer]

3 minutes ago, MsSoCalCruiser said:

I thought of that, but then I also thought that it was something they would easily be able to do. It never dawned on me that the princess employee would totally mess up the reservations for the entire week.

On all 3 of my cruises the DMW reservations have been changed to undesirable times when boarding…no human intervention but a poorly designed app. Hopefully for you, it will work out better for your group than it has for us. 🤞

 

[Guest ldtr]

1 hour ago, MsSoCalCruiser said:

I thought of that, but then I also thought that it was something they would easily be able to do. It never dawned on me that the princess employee would totally mess up the reservations for the entire week.

If thr dining room is booked and there is no availability on the app customer services is going to have the same problem. The only way you could have added the 6 person is to wait and add them on the ship. At this point I doubt you are going to be able to get it fixed prior to boarding ship. 

 

Standard customer service does not have a magical override. the Medallion navigator group might have more capability.

 

 

[Guest ldtr]

59 minutes ago, Astro Flyer said:

On all 3 of my cruises the DMW reservations have been changed to undesirable times when boarding…no human intervention but a poorly designed app. Hopefully for you, it will work out better for your group than it has for us. 🤞

 

On the other hand on 9 cruises so far mine have occurred at the exact time of when the reservation was made. 

[Mike45LC]

8 minutes ago, MsSoCalCruiser said:

I thought of that, but then I also thought that it was something they would easily be able to do. It never dawned on me that the princess employee would totally mess up the reservations for the entire week.

Totally messing up is something that Princess employees excel at.  I wish you had not done anything  in advance of the cruise and tried to add the sixth person on Day 1 of the cruise.

 

Good luck!

[Guest ldtr]

1 hour ago, MsSoCalCruiser said:

I thought of that, but then I also thought that it was something they would easily be able to do. It never dawned on me that the princess employee would totally mess up the reservations for the entire week.

They were trying to do what you asked within the limits of what they could do. To add the 6 person before the cruise they would basically have to cancel the existing reservation and create a new one for 6 in whatever time slot was available. The problem is a breakdown in communication  You thought it was something they could easily do, they probably thought your priority was adding the 6th person more than preserving the time slot.

[Astro Flyer]

4 minutes ago, ldtr said:

If thr dining room is booked and there is no availability on the app customer services is going to have the same problem.

And neither can the dining room staff do anything if no tables are available at the desired time.

 

[Guest ldtr]

1 hour ago, Astro Flyer said:

And neither can the dining room staff do anything if no tables are available at the desired time.

 

True, but having eaten in that exact early time slot on 9 cruises there are tables that are not fully filled with the assigned party and the dining room staff does have some flexibility to deal with adding one person in how they assign tables for reservations and walk in. Especially at 5 when they first opened. Pretty easy fix going from 5 to 6 in ship.  More difficult now since they tried to add the 6th person before the cruise when the app did not have any available reservations left for that period since there is no early reservation for 5 in the system. Might have to have someone line up early in the walk up line each night to be at the from of the line.

Edited January 21, 2023 by ldtr

[MsSoCalCruiser]

17 minutes ago, Astro Flyer said:

On all 3 of my cruises the DMW reservations have been changed to undesirable times when boarding…no human intervention but a poorly designed app. Hopefully for you, it will work out better for your group than it has for us. 🤞

 

If I remember correctly you had your reservations messed up on the inaugural cruise, didn’t you?

[MsSoCalCruiser]

18 minutes ago, ldtr said:

If thr dining room is booked and there is no availability on the app customer services is going to have the same problem. The only way you could have added the 6 person is to wait and add them on the ship. At this point I doubt you are going to be able to get it fixed prior to boarding ship. 

 

Standard customer service does not have a magical override. the Medallion navigator group might have more capability.

 

 

And that would have been perfectly fine. I did not ask for customer service to override anything, and I also did not ask them to mess up the reservations for the entire week… Which she did.  I actually asked her not to change anything and to put me through to a supervisor. After close to the one hour mark I was disconnected and no one called me back.

[MsSoCalCruiser]

20 minutes ago, ldtr said:

If thr dining room is booked and there is no availability on the app customer services is going to have the same problem. The only way you could have added the 6 person is to wait and add them on the ship. At this point I doubt you are going to be able to get it fixed prior to boarding ship. 

 

Standard customer service does not have a magical override. the Medallion navigator group might have more capability.

 

 

It was a Medallion Navigator that messed up my reservations.

[MsSoCalCruiser]

16 minutes ago, ldtr said:

They were trying to do what you asked within the limits of what they could do. To add the 6 person before the cruise they would basically have to cancel the existing reservation and create a new one for 6 in whatever time slot was available. The problem is a breakdown in communication  You thought it was something they could easily do, they probably thought your priority was adding the 6th person more than preserving the time slot.

They did not even add a six person. All they did was totally mess up the reservations for every single night. There is not one reservation for six people.

[Guest ldtr]

1 hour ago, MsSoCalCruiser said:

It was a Medallion Navigator that messed up my reservations.

Then they do not have a magic button either. Lesson is pretty much if you cannot do it via app then best to try and change on board.

[MsSoCalCruiser]

43 minutes ago, Mike45LC said:

Totally messing up is something that Princess employees excel at.  I wish you had not done anything  in advance of the cruise and tried to add the sixth person on Day 1 of the cruise.

 

Good luck!

I also wish I had not made that phone call. Unbelievable.