Princess premier dining reservations

[Dgamcruiser39]

Hi All,

 

We are seasoned cruisers but this will be our first time sailing on princess in almost 15 years. We booked a signature suite and the princess premier package. 
 

We understand that princess premier package comes with two speciality dining dinners. However, we are unsure how we book these. Our cruise is paid in full and when we try to book any restaurants on the app or website it is trying to charge us.
 

Do we need to wait until we board to book? If so, is there generally availability or do you think we will run into issues?
 

Appreciate any advice people can provide.  

[brynmelyndavid]

We also have Premier but when I booked speciality dining on the app it recognised my package and at checkout didn't charge me anything.  I have heard of people booking the dining then having the charge refunded on board. 

[Cruise Raider]

If it tries to charge you, go back in later and see if it recognizes your package.  
You should see a note on top on the page that shows you have dining credits available.  If, not you will see a charge of $70 or $78 dollars but a balance of $0.00 when hitting the reserve button.  
 

[galensgrl]

2 hours ago, brynmelyndavid said:

We also have Premier but when I booked speciality dining on the app it recognised my package and at checkout didn't charge me anything.  I have heard of people booking the dining then having the charge refunded on board. 

 

Hi. My sisters and I booked a mini suite and we each bought a premiere package. They are new to cruising and they want to try it all. We each got 2 of the premiere specialty dining credits. I booked a specialty for us 4 for the last night of the cruise. 2 of us had booked both of their specialty dinners already so I booked for the four of us. The system "knew" that there were 2 credits for specialty dining still available, so I was charged for 2 meals and also the last 2 available credits were used. I was charged for two dinners and I paid for those on my card. Thanks everyone, safe and happy travels.

[jagoffee]

2 hours ago, Cruise Raider said:

If it tries to charge you, go back in later and see if it recognizes your package.  
You should see a note on top on the page that shows you have dining credits available.  If, not you will see a charge of $70 or $78 dollars but a balance of $0.00 when hitting the reserve button.  
 

Exactly how it worked for us included the note on the previous screen that noted that we had a create.  Perfect explanation.

 

 I often wonder if people “assume” they are being charged because of charge card number and do not noticed that it is zeroed out.  
 

I also discovered that if you want to make a change, you have to cancel your reservation first.  It takes some time for the credit to reappear.  

[Cruise Raider]

1 hour ago, jagoffee said:

 

I also discovered that if you want to make a change, you have to cancel your reservation first.  It takes some time for the credit to reappear.  

I noticed that, too.  
 

[Dgamcruiser39]

Hi all,

 

thanks for your tips. Unfortunately it’s not working for us and have tried on multiple devices (computer and phone). We will give princess call. 

[HAUTSHOT]

I was charged even though I booked the premier package. Verified with my bank then called Princess and they said I have to go to guest services on board for a refund. So they get to hold my money for a couple of months.

 

Edited March 9 by HAUTSHOT

[memoak]

1 hour ago, HAUTSHOT said:

I was charged even though I booked the premier package. Verified with my bank then called Princess and they said I have to go to guest services on board for a refund. So they get to hold my money for a couple of months.

 

Which is why I never book specialty dining before I am board. And yes I always get tables 

[cruise4mom]

It seems that some people that have the package it is being recognized whereas the 1/2 it does not. Some people have had to pay for the specialty dining and then are reimbursed once on board. Again it is hit and miss and it has been chalked up

to an app issue. 

[MTNest93]

I've noticed that the app seems to work better when you log in with your booking number instead of your user name and password.  No idea why, but that has been my experience.  I have not had any issues booking specialty dinners and have not had to pay in advance.  I even booked our 2 included dinners for a 2026 cruise!

[essmeier]

Sort of related:  I'm on a cruise next month where we have $500 in onboard credit for a ten day cruise.  I figured we'd burn off some of that credit by booking two specialty dinners with friends, who also have a similar amount of onboard credit.

 

As we were all agreed on what we wanted to do and when, I booked two different dinners for four people each.  At booking, I indicated that our friends were joining us.

I just assumed that since the system knows that we (as well as our friends) have sufficient credit to pay for the meals, that we wouldn't be charged for the reservations.

But much to my surprise, my credit card was billed $312 for two reservations for four people each.

Despite having taken some two dozen cruises with Princess, we've never prebooked specialty dining, so this kind of took us by surprise.

Since we have credit to pay for the meals, will the credit card charge eventually be reversed and onboard credit used instead?  If so, is it automatic?  Or is this an issue for standing in line at Guest Services?

Or is this just a lesson that one should never book specialty dining in advance?

[memoak]

44 minutes ago, essmeier said:

Sort of related:  I'm on a cruise next month where we have $500 in onboard credit for a ten day cruise.  I figured we'd burn off some of that credit by booking two specialty dinners with friends, who also have a similar amount of onboard credit.

 

As we were all agreed on what we wanted to do and when, I booked two different dinners for four people each.  At booking, I indicated that our friends were joining us.

I just assumed that since the system knows that we (as well as our friends) have sufficient credit to pay for the meals, that we wouldn't be charged for the reservations.

But much to my surprise, my credit card was billed $312 for two reservations for four people each.

Despite having taken some two dozen cruises with Princess, we've never prebooked specialty dining, so this kind of took us by surprise.

Since we have credit to pay for the meals, will the credit card charge eventually be reversed and onboard credit used instead?  If so, is it automatic?  Or is this an issue for standing in line at Guest Services?

Or is this just a lesson that one should never book specialty dining in advance?

OBC is On Board Credit you are not on board yet. The only thing it can be used for in advance is excursions and you wil be prompted to ask whether you want to use the OBC or not. We never book dinners in advance and never have a problem gettin a table after 7:30

[essmeier]

On 3/9/2024 at 10:32 AM, memoak said:

OBC is On Board Credit you are not on board yet. The only thing it can be used for in advance is excursions...

Excursions are the only thing we've ever previously booked in advance, and available onboard credit was applied to the booking when we made our reservations.

I just assumed that booking specialty dining in advance would work the same way.  Apparently, it does not, though I see no reason why it shouldn't

 

True, it's onboard credit, and I must be on board in order to use the credit.  Of course, I also have to be on board in order to eat the meal, yet my credit card has already been charged for dinner.

 

Thanks for the clarification.  I won't book specialty dining in advance again.

Edited March 14 by essmeier