Dining reservations

[Random Cruizer]

Just off the Sapphire Princess, Whittier to Vancouver. I didn't make reservations ahead. On ship, nobody would make them for me in person--not at the dining rooms nor the help desk. You had to call the dining reservation number, you could only call between 8 am and 5 pm, and you could only make a reservation for that night--you couldn't make them days ahead or for the whole week. The only time I was worried we wouldn't get a table at all was when we tried walk-up at 8:15 pm, had to go to three of the five to find a table. We didn't take a chance after that, and I called in a reservation every morning.

 

One other thing--I could never use the app to make a reservation for my whole party (3 of us, 2 rooms)--it said no tables for all dining rooms every time. When I did make a reservation on the phone, I always got "go at 8, but the app will say your reservations is for 8:30" or "the app will say it's for 8:40, but it's really for 8."

 

Very frustrating to be told to use the app by everyone when the app didn't work.

Edited July 8 by Random Cruizer

[mthomp5]

40 minutes ago, Random Cruizer said:

Just off the Sapphire Princess, Whittier to Vancouver. I didn't make reservations ahead. On ship, nobody would make them for me in person--not at the dining rooms nor the help desk. You had to call the dining reservation number, you could only call between 8 am and 5 pm, and you could only make a reservation for that night--you couldn't make them days ahead or for the whole week. The only time I was worried we wouldn't get a table at all was when we tried walk-up at 8:15 pm, had to go to three of the five to find a table. We didn't take a chance after that, and I called in a reservation every morning.

 

One other thing--I could never use the app to make a reservation for my whole party (3 of us, 2 rooms)--it said no tables for all dining rooms every time. When I did make a reservation on the phone, I always got "go at 8, but the app will say your reservations is for 8:30" or "the app will say it's for 8:40, but it's really for 8."

 

Very frustrating to be told to use the app by everyone when the app didn't work.

Thanks for sharing your experience.  We had to do the same as you on one of our cruises — called every morning for a reservation. Sometimes had to wait a long time and once I had to leave for an excursion in the morning so came back to slim pickings.  
 

App works for some. But App doesn’t seem to works for me either. So I understand your frustration. 

[Retired-N-Happy]

13 hours ago, OceanoPair said:

Was able to make Reservable same time each night reservations for Discovery(Nov/Dec 2024), Discovery(Mar/April 2025 B2B), and Emerald(Jan 2026) without any problems once the app  opened up. App worked flawlessly. Would suggest to anyone who wants Reservable same time every night to make them before Specialty Dining, so as not to have make day by day reservations around your Specialty Dining reservations. Not sure what would have happened if I had checked the "same time every night" box, but I didn't want to chance it. The only thing that puzzled me is the availability to book Traditional or Reservable on the Grand( Jan 2025) when we have Suite Dining. The old system would only allow Specialty Dining as we didn't have to make reservation being in a suite.

Are you Platinum or Elite?  If you are, then you can reserve supposedly with no problem on any ship in the fleet besides the Sun into 2026, which has been reported on the boards by multiple posters.

I'm only Ruby.  Have a reservation next April on the Enchanted and can't make reservations until I make final payment.

[Retired-N-Happy]

6 hours ago, blackfly said:

We are a group of 6, 3 couples with separate booking numbers.  Want to sit together at reservable times each night.  Jan 19 Enchanted Princess.  No one in our group has been able to access the reservation function of the app.  Once reservations become available how do you do a group reservation?  Can one person book for everyone?  Say we have to wait for final payment does everyone have to be paid up?  

Yes, in a perfect world all three couples would need to make final payments and your three booking numbers would have to be connected in order for the six of you to sit together.  Once your final payments have gone through, have one person call in with your 3 booking numbers and hopefully get what you want.

[arizonaperson]

@SeaCBear you wanted to know, should you try anything else? Yes keep trying to get dining reservations. Do you have a travel agent? If you do, I would enlist their help and see what they can do for you. Of course you’re going to  have to be flexible because perhaps all the early times are already booked? I believe you said you have a cruise this fall in 2024. Hope you find what you get it all straightened out. And don’t forget there is a walk-in restaurant with this new dining. I’m not sure if you said what ship you are on.

[arizonaperson]

2 hours ago, Random Cruizer said:

Just off the Sapphire Princess, Whittier to Vancouver. I didn't make reservations ahead. On ship, nobody would make them for me in person--not at the dining rooms nor the help desk. You had to call the dining reservation number, you could only call between 8 am and 5 pm, and you could only make a reservation for that night--you couldn't make them days ahead or for the whole week. The only time I was worried we wouldn't get a table at all was when we tried walk-up at 8:15 pm, had to go to three of the five to find a table. We didn't take a chance after that, and I called in a reservation every morning.

 

One other thing--I could never use the app to make a reservation for my whole party (3 of us, 2 rooms)--it said no tables for all dining rooms every time. When I did make a reservation on the phone, I always got "go at 8, but the app will say your reservations is for 8:30" or "the app will say it's for 8:40, but it's really for 8."

 

Very frustrating to be told to use the app by everyone when the app didn't work.

Sounds frustrating for sure, but your voyage was still under the “Old dining rules.”

most Cruise critic members on many of these dining threads are looking for the new rules

[Random Cruizer]

8 minutes ago, arizonaperson said:

Sounds frustrating for sure, but your voyage was still under the “Old dining rules.”

most Cruise critic members on many of these dining threads are looking for the new rules

 

gotcha, just wanted to give a current on the ground experience.

[arizonaperson]

2 hours ago, Retired-N-Happy said:

Yes, in a perfect world all three couples would need to make final payments and your three booking numbers would have to be connected in order for the six of you to sit together.  Once your final payments have gone through, have one person call in with your 3 booking numbers and hopefully get what you want.

Maybe they would all have to make final payment in full? ( no one knows that for sure)

With that being said, I’ve seen many people post that they are not paid in full, they are not platinum, they are not elite, and this is their first Princess cruise, and they have been able to make dining reservations. So who knows what the rules are ?

Edited July 8 by arizonaperson

[Retired-N-Happy]

9 minutes ago, arizonaperson said:

Maybe they would all have to make final payment in full? ( no one knows that for sure)

With that being said, I’ve seen many people post that they are not paid in full, they are not platinum, they are not elite, and this is their first Princess cruise, and they have been able to make dining reservations. So who knows what the rules are ?

True, there is no rhyme or reason as to what is currently going on with Princess and their IT system.  But, to play it safe you should have a better chance of getting what you want if you have paid off your cruise if you are not Platinum status at a minimum.  I would hypothesize that the few who have posted that they were able to get reservations without status or paying in full fall into the glitches in the current system and are not true on every ship and every sailing.  If it was true then I would be able to get slots for our April Enchanted cruise which I can't at this point since we're not paid in full according to the App.

Edited July 8 by Retired-N-Happy

[arizonaperson]

@Retired-N-Happy maybe 9 mos away is too early for your particular voyage or who knows at this point .I have seen as I’m sure you have a lot of inconsistencies. Frustrating for sure ,but I just don’t think Princess is going to come out and give everybody the rules because they certainly have not yet. Yes lots of people get the screen that say you must be paid in full, you must be elite ,you must be platinum, but others are saying it’s not true .
Maybe the passengers that are able to book their dining reservations know much more about how to do apps or web version than others? Maybe they haven’t fully checked in ,maybe their birthdate is wrong ?

So many variables and perhaps the screen just comes up you can’t make dining reservations until you’re paid in full, if it feels like it?

Somehow passengers are able to make reservations for dining and others are not. That is definitely what I’m seeing, but why they’re able to do it over somebody else is anyone’s guess honestly. We just don’t have all the facts yet..

I still think if passengers that are having issues if they have a travel agent which I highly recommend ,you should enlist their help.

Edited July 8 by arizonaperson

[Retired-N-Happy]

Sun Princess reservations are now available for 2025.  Another poster on another thread mentioned that he was able to get September 2025 locked in and we were able to get our 14 days in January locked in as well tonight.

[polmcs]

On 7/6/2024 at 12:16 PM, LouCoop said:

@arizonaperson Hi we  booked a cruise on the Saphire Princess. When I go to different dining rooms 2 of them show up with reservation times every 20 minutes. The remaining dining rooms you cannot reserve. Can't find which dinning room is for traditional as they do not for any of them offer an early and late time reservation option. Do you know which dining room is for traditional on the Saphire?

I’m in the exact same boat here (so to speak). Have booked the 32 day South Pacific circle out of LA for Oct 2025 on the Sapphire. Only 2 out of the 5 MDR show up as available and time slots are every 20 mins, so in line with the current DMW rules. 
 

I’m looking for traditional late seating, so expect to be in the International dining room, but it states no slots are available. What’s especially galling is that today, I received an email from Princess, referencing my booking, stating that I can now make my reservation under the new rules. Err, no I can’t! 

[arizonaperson]

@polmcs who knows the rules yet. October 2025 is way over a year away as you know. Just seems it’s too far in future to reserve dining in my opinion,but keep trying & I’ll try to update list at that time.

[polmcs]

3 minutes ago, arizonaperson said:

@polmcs who knows the rules yet. October 2025 is way over a year away as you know. Just seems it’s too far in future to reserve dining in my opinion,but keep trying & I’ll try to update list at that time.

I see from other replies, that 1 year for reservations might be key here, but it does not excuse Princess sending me an email this morning, informing me that dining reservations are enabled for my cruise if in fact, they are not yet available.

[arizonaperson]

1 minute ago, polmcs said:

I see from other replies, that 1 year for reservations might be key here, but it does not excuse Princess sending me an email this morning, informing me that dining reservations are enabled for my cruise if in fact, they are not yet available.

Totally agree. Perhaps call Princess and talk to someone (good luck on getting any type of answer to your email) or if you have a travel agent maybe utilize their help. At this point honestly nobody knows.

Keep trying to book dining reservations.

[FLAlaska]

January 2025 reservations opened up 

[doghog]

11 hours ago, arizonaperson said:

@polmcs who knows the rules yet. October 2025 is way over a year away as you know. Just seems it’s too far in future to reserve dining in my opinion,but keep trying & I’ll try to update list at that time.

IMO, I disagree. We like to book as early as possible to ensure we get the dining time, two top in a location we want for DMW. Something we were able to do before the new change! 🙄

Edited July 9 by doghog

[Amtrack Springfield]

We have been trying to book our dining reservations since July 1st. We are on the Sun Princess for fourteen days starting November 9th, 24. We are Elite and keep getting error message. There are no private or shared tables.

[Z0nker]

12 hours ago, polmcs said:

I’m in the exact same boat here (so to speak). Have booked the 32 day South Pacific circle out of LA for Oct 2025 on the Sapphire. Only 2 out of the 5 MDR show up as available and time slots are every 20 mins, so in line with the current DMW rules. 
 

I’m looking for traditional late seating, so expect to be in the International dining room, but it states no slots are available. What’s especially galling is that today, I received an email from Princess, referencing my booking, stating that I can now make my reservation under the new rules. Err, no I can’t! 

The communication is the worst part. If you’re going to have a buggy system, at least try to manage expectations. 

[FLAlaska]

27 minutes ago, Z0nker said:

The communication is the worst part. If you’re going to have a buggy system, at least try to manage expectations. 

My biggest issue with Princess . Their communication is awful.

[susancruzs]

I booked my traditional dining for my April Coral cruise, same time, 5 p.m., shared table, 23 days.  Small ship, two dining rooms didn't want to wait.

[Retired-N-Happy]

4 hours ago, Amtrack Springfield said:

We have been trying to book our dining reservations since July 1st. We are on the Sun Princess for fourteen days starting November 9th, 24. We are Elite and keep getting error message. There are no private or shared tables.

The problem is that reservations on the Sun in 2024 have been opened for awhile.  We have a booking for October, paid it off early and the options are slim so we'll wait till we get on board.  We have another reservation on the Sun for January and reservations opened up last night for 2025, so we're locked in for our 14 nights.

[arizonaperson]

2 hours ago, susancruzs said:

I booked my traditional dining for my April Coral cruise, same time, 5 p.m., shared table, 23 days.  Small ship, two dining rooms didn't want to wait.

So just like what I posted? Is this correct information?

 

Coral Princess -2025

Provence-Traditional 5 pm ( private & shared table)& 7:30 pm( only private table)

Bordeaux- reservable 5 pm-8:40 pm every 20 minutes(early dining times you may share a table or have a private table and the later times private table only)  & Walk ins

Edited July 9 by arizonaperson

[SmooshSmash]

On 7/7/2024 at 10:44 PM, OceanoPair said:

Was able to make Reservable same time each night reservations for Discovery(Nov/Dec 2024),...without any problems once the app  opened up. App worked flawlessly.

............

First dining room, nothing available, 2nd one, time slots every 20 minutes, 3rd one, time slots 5 and 7:30 PM,

The same with me, Nov 2024 Discovery. But the only dining room that was available every 20 mn was the one that is the most inconveniently located. The one you need to go up and down the stairs to get to, Ketchikan.

Skagway, nothing available and Juneau, only two time slots available 5 and 7:30. 

So I had to book Ketchikan because I like to eat around 6:30. 

There must be a reason for that identical setup but I really don't get that. Why make the dining room easiest to get to, hardest to reserve/or unavailable?

[arizonaperson]

@SmooshSmash. So do I have this incorrect for your November 2024 voyage on Discovery Princess?
The reason why Skagway says unavailable is because it is the walk-in restaurant -no reservations will be made.

Please correct -so I may have exactly which dining room is the traditional one and which one is the reservable every 20 minute one, thank you so much for your help.

I don’t have a deck plan in front of me so I don’t know which dining room is in the middle ,which ones in the aft etc. If you can help me out, I have a thread started ship by ship that I will correct.

this is currently what I have listed.

Discovery Princess-2024 & 2025

Ketchikan-Traditional 5 pm & 7:30 pm

Juneau-reservable every 20 minute slots ( shared & private table up & including 6:20pm and private table only 6:30 pm on)

Skagway- walk in & Reserve collection dining