How to pre-pay for a dinner reservation for someone else?

[macjunkie]

My mom is going on a cruise on Princess next month. In the past I've always been able to call and pre pay for a dinner reservation for them and then they can schedule it whenever / wherever they want while they're on the cruise. Seems like something has changed with this have called and talked to two people who one tried to upsell her to a different package for her cruise. The other basically hung up on me. Anyone know how if this isn't possible anymore or if there's some key phrase other than "I want to pre-pay for a dining reservation for my mom who's going on a cruise next month" (I have her booking number and all that stuff as well) 

[macjunkie]

Thanks for the suggestion that Princess does e-gift cards, not quite as personal as pre-paying for dining for them but that'll work. Adding this in case others encounter this as well. 

[LeeW]

I used to call to do this (typically flower delivery).  Online the gift is at the bottom of the princess.com page - "Give a Guest a Gift" link.  You just enter some information about who you are giving something to and then it is a normal purchase.

 

I don't see a gift of a specialty dining package on these pages.  All I see are balcony dining on that link.  Closest I can see is giving someone some onboard credit, which is easy to  do and better than egift cards (they will get a card in their cabin saying you gave them a gift). 

 

The other option: Specialty dining is done now through the princess app, so you need to log onto that.  Try this login and use their booking number and birthdate:  https://oceanready-personalinfo-ui.prod.ocean.com/

On the next page select Dine My Way and then specialty restaurants.  But at that point you need to select a specific time and restaurant, so it doesn't fit what you want to do (although your mom could change the reservation once onboard).  Problem of this approach is that if she has existing reservations this process will cancel the one for that night.

[macjunkie]

4 minutes ago, LeeW said:

I used to call to do this (typically flower delivery).  Online the gift is at the bottom of the princess.com page - "Give a Guest a Gift" link.  You just enter some information about who you are giving something to and then it is a normal purchase.

 

I don't see a gift of a specialty dining package on these pages.  All I see are balcony dining on that link.  Closest I can see is giving someone some onboard credit, which is easy to  do and better than egift cards (they will get a card in their cabin saying you gave them a gift). 

 

The other option: Specialty dining is done now through the princess app, so you need to log onto that.  Try this login and use their booking number and birthdate:  https://oceanready-personalinfo-ui.prod.ocean.com/

On the next page select Dine My Way and then specialty restaurants.  But at that point you need to select a specific time and restaurant, so it doesn't fit what you want to do (although your mom could change the reservation once onboard).  Problem of this approach is that if she has existing reservations this process will cancel the one for that night.

Yeah, I tried their online support and they mentioned that as well I didn't want to a) I wanted it to be a surprise in the past when they got on board there would be a paper in their cabin telling them to schedule restaurant / reservation at their convenience which is what I was hoping for. b) Yeah I don't want to alter their booking and make plans for them in case it conflicts with whatever they have planned. Looks like the e-gift card is closest to what I wanted she said it gave them a paper to show at service desk and then can do whatever they want with the funds. 

Edited March 27 by macjunkie