Pre-cruise Specialty Restaurant Reservations: Note to Platinum & Elite members

[Boiler Cruiser]

My wife and I (Captain's Club Platinum members) are booked on a 10-day Caribbean cruise on the Emerald Princess in 2024.  We both enjoy eating at least once at each of the specialty restaurants when we go on a cruise.  With Platinum (and Elite, as well) we are able to make our restaurant reservations before we make final payment.

 

In addition, on this cruise, my wife and I have booked the Premier Package.

 

Expecting that, when I made reservations for us at the Crowne Grill and Sabatini's, my CC would not be charged, I made both reservations on the Medallion App.  Even with the payment alert, I was not concerned because on our cruise on the Royal Princess earlier this year (with the Premier Package) we were not charged when we used the Dine-My-Way feature on the Princess App to make our reservations on board the ship.

 

However, for these most recent reservations, my CC was charged ($78 for the Crowne Grill and $70 for Sabatini's).  When my TA inquired about these charges with her Princess Rep, she was told that there is a glitch in the Dine-My-Way reservation system that Princess has not been able to fix, and that Princess could not convert this expense to an on-board or cruise credit.  My TA was told that my best bet would be to check at the Passenger Service Desk when I get on board.  They might be able to make an adjustment on my portfolio.

 

So my plan, at this point, is to go to the Passenger Service desk, get the adjustment and use the resulting credit to buy some bottles of very nice wine for dinner at at 25% discount.

 

Just thought you'd appreciate hearing about my experience.  Have any of you run into this as well?

Edited July 12, 2023 by Boiler Cruiser
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[cr8tiv1]

A couple of misinformation:

 

Any one can book Specialty Restaurants pre-cruise.  Being Platinum or Elite or in a suite does not matter.

 

Many have complained that the Premier Beverage Package with 2 complimentary dinners a Specialty Restaurants has its challenges.  Technically, you were able to book it the last time because you were on board the ship.  

 

As with many things Princess does, it does not always think things through.  They are selling the Premier Package with two dinners.  There is a "glitz" in the app that will charge your for the dinners if reserved pre-cruise.

 

The catch 22 is that if you want to reserve once onboard, there may not be open reservations (duh...Princess just gave away 2 free dinners times number of packages).  The Crown Grill has been notorious when it comes to filling up and not having enough spaces for all that want to dine there.  

 

Not the optimum sales pitch:  Buy the package, but we may not be able to fulfill offers..  

[Steelers36]

36 minutes ago, Boiler Cruiser said:

However, for these most recent reservations, my CC was charged ($78 for the Crowne Grill and $70 for Sabatini's).  When my TA inquired about these charges with her Princess Rep, she was told that there is a glitch in the Dine-My-Way reservation system that Princess has not been able to fix, and that Princess could not convert this expense to an on-board or cruise credit.  My TA was told that my best bet would be to check at the Passenger Service Desk when I get on board.  They might be able to make an adjustment on my portfolio.

Oh yes, this is a regular reported occurrence on here.  Some folks are charged and others not.  Just bring info details to Guest Services and they will credit you. 

 

BTW, don't let them tell you it's a "glitch".  It is a "bug" and PCL IT is always having  bugs in the App and take forever to fix often.

[muffydawg]

Yes. I made a Catch By Rudi and Crown Grill reservation for two for our April 2024 Enchanted Princess cruise. My credit card on file was charged $78.00 for each restaurant.

[Boiler Cruiser]

4 minutes ago, cr8tiv1 said:

A couple of misinformation:

 

Any one can book Specialty Restaurants pre-cruise.  Being Platinum or Elite or in a suite does not matter.

 

Many have complained that the Premier Beverage Package with 2 complimentary dinners a Specialty Restaurants has its challenges.  Technically, you were able to book it the last time because you were on board the ship.  

 

As with many things Princess does, it does not always think things through.  They are selling the Premier Package with two dinners.  There is a "glitz" in the app that will charge your for the dinners if reserved pre-cruise.

 

The catch 22 is that if you want to reserve once onboard, there may not be open reservations (duh...Princess just gave away 2 free dinners times number of packages).  The Crown Grill has been notorious when it comes to filling up and not having enough spaces for all that want to dine there.  

 

Not the optimum sales pitch:  Buy the package, but we may not be able to fulfill offers..  

If you are not Platinum or Elite, you can make pre-cruise reservations, but ONLY if you made your final payment in full.

[Robkat]

37 minutes ago, Boiler Cruiser said:

My wife and I (Captain's Club Platinum members) are booked on a 10-day Caribbean cruise on the Emerald Princess in 2024.  We both enjoy eating at least once at each of the specialty restaurants when we go on a cruise.  With Platinum (and Elite, as well) we are able to make our restaurant reservations before we make final payment.

 

In addition, on this cruise, my wife and I have booked the Premier Package.

 

Expecting that, when I made reservations for us at the Crowne Grill and Sabatini's, my CC would not be charged, I made both reservations on the Medallion App.  Even with the payment alert, I was not concerned because on our cruise on the Royal Princess earlier this year (with the Premier Package) we were not charged when we used the Dine-My-Way feature on the Princess App to make our reservations on board the ship.

 

However, for these most recent reservations, my CC was charged ($78 for the Crowne Grill and $70 for Sabatini's).  When my TA inquired about these charges with her Princess Rep, she was told that there is a glitch in the Dine-My-Way reservation system that Princess has not been able to fix, and that Princess could not convert this expense to an on-board or cruise credit.  My TA was told that my best bet would be to check at the Passenger Service Desk when I get on board.  They might be able to make an adjustment on my portfolio.

 

So my plan, at this point, is to go to the Passenger Service desk, get the adjustment and use the resulting credit to buy some bottles of very nice wine for dinner at at 25% discount.

 

Just thought you'd appreciate hearing about my experience.  Have any of you run into this as well?

 

Well, this is utterly ridiculous!  

Princess admits the glitch but then says that they aren't able to correct their glitch, by giving you your own $ back?

We have a Sky P booked for this December, also with the Premier package.  After the reservation was done, we immediately made our dining res.  In the App, we could see the 2 dining credits, and when we booked the two specialties, the credits were applied and our cost was $0.

 

So, would you consider contacting your credit card company and disputing the charges?  Otherwise, it sounds like you don't have any guarantee that you'll get that money returned/refunded to you, in one form or another.

This is not right, you should not have been charged, and we hope you're able to get this resolved.

[Boiler Cruiser]

2 minutes ago, Robkat said:

 

Well, this is utterly ridiculous!  

Princess admits the glitch but then says that they aren't able to correct their glitch, by giving you your own $ back?

We have a Sky P booked for this December, also with the Premier package.  After the reservation was done, we immediately made our dining res.  In the App, we could see the 2 dining credits, and when we booked the two specialties, the credits were applied and our cost was $0.

 

So, would you consider contacting your credit card company and disputing the charges?  Otherwise, it sounds like you don't have any guarantee that you'll get that money returned/refunded to you, in one form or another.

This is not right, you should not have been charged, and we hope you're able to get this resolved.

I would think that, as a Platinum Member, they will not leave me "double billed", and will resolve it on board by at least giving me an on-board credit.

[luvseaside]

Exact same thing happened to us. And the app won't let us cancel the reservation now that they've charged us.

We're also planning on going straight to Passenger Services the minute we board and hopefully get an OBC refunded to our folio. 

[Yowman]

7 minutes ago, Boiler Cruiser said:

If you are not Platinum or Elite, you can make pre-cruise reservations, but ONLY if you made your final payment in full.

 

 

Not so.  First time on Princess, final payment was 10 days ago, booked dining reservations in February while Princess was sitting on ~$600 in deposit.

[Robkat]

1 minute ago, Boiler Cruiser said:

I would think that, as a Platinum Member, they will not leave me "double billed", and will resolve it on board by at least giving me an on-board credit.

 

Of course that would be something you'd "hope" for.  

But you mentioned in your first post that your travel agent had spoken with her Princess rep, who told her that Princess would not be "able" to covert the charge to OBC, or some other form of credit.

The original error is annoying enough, but even more so if you have to argue with them, once onboard, to have those charges returned to you.

 

[Steelers36]

2 hours ago, Boiler Cruiser said:

If you are not Platinum or Elite, you can make pre-cruise reservations, but ONLY if you made your final payment in full.

Yes, this is the way it is supposed to work - in theory - but clearly another App bug, or PCL just decided to open it up and not bother informing Platinum and Elite members of yet another lost benefit.

 

2 hours ago, Yowman said:

 

 

Not so.  First time on Princess, final payment was 10 days ago, booked dining reservations in February while Princess was sitting on ~$600 in deposit.

You are one of many reports I have read where a guest in your situation was able to make DR reservations.  What I do not know is whether this is systemic or random or even if it is still happening today.

[SKCruiser007]

I just made a reservation for The Catch by Rudi and Sabatini's for a December 2023 cruise using our Premier Package dining credits on the app. The screen said there would be no charge, and there is nothing pending on my credit card statement. Fingers crossed...

[suzyed]

3 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

Yes, this is the way it is supposed to work - in theory - but clearly another App bug, or PCL just decided to open it up and not bother informing Platinum and Elite members of yet another lost benefit.

 

You are one of many reports I have read where a guest in your situation was able to make DR reservations.  What I do not know is whether this is systemic or random or even if it is still happening today.

We made all of our dining reservations months before final payment.

[echoshipmate]

We have the premier plan on the upcoming Royal in Alaska. Before we upgraded to the plan we had already booked and paid for 2 crown grills. As soon as Princess confirmed our premier package, within days our credit card was credited the full amount for both dinners, really no big deal one way ir the other .

Doug

.

[Steelers36]

44 minutes ago, suzyed said:

We made all of our dining reservations months before final payment.

Surely you guys are at least Platinum level.

[voljeep]

Premier specialty dining 'may' depend on how far out you are from the sailing date. Posters have stated they originally were not able to book (without cc charge), but kept checking back and later were able to book with no charge - not sure about the time frame

[Sprocket]

You won’t have any issues getting this fixed onboard they deal with this every cruise.