Day 1 of the new Premier Package has arrived

[Coral]

12 minutes ago, Astro Flyer said:

@Coral As I recall that was their first specialty dining option…IIRC it was about $5 with a margarita…that was a long, long time ago. ☺️

 

It shows how long we have been cruising!!!!!

[Teechur]

1 hour ago, walkingsoon said:

Is it just me, or is pushing to the front of the line, engaging in a foot race onto the ship and then fighting to get all your entitlements not rather tasteless? Just another version of 'chogging'.

 

I've seen on other lines that getting seats at the specialty restaurants onboard turns out to be a lot easier than the hype here on CC would have you believe. Hopefully, the same will be true for Princess, despite their shifting to a megaship glutton-pandering model.

Demeaning Princess cruisers and the cruise line. Perhaps a different brand would be a better fit for you? 

[Coral]

7 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

Brings back memories of when DCL first launched. The MDR food was miserable and the only way to book Palo (the SD Restaurant on Magic and Wonder) was to rush to the restaurant immediately upon boarding. The available slots for the 3 and 4 day itineraries were all booked up long before everyone in line could be served. People not only had to rush to the restaurant once they boarded, but also had to strategize to figure out which Magical Express Bus to get on when leaving from WDW. Not much fun starting your cruise with a 2 hour wait in the Palo queue. 

I still want to cruise Disney one of these days!

[Abercrombie2019]

5 hours ago, lx200gps said:

 Has anyone yet had any luck seeing such upgrades on their bookings?

We upgraded from Plus to the new Premier the first week it was announced, by calling our CVP.  The app showed the premier package immediately, however, we could not book SD without being charged.  We signed out of the app, restarted the phone and then signed back in.  That solved the booking problem.

The personalizer still shows that we have Plus, but when we go into “Beverages” or Travel Summary, it lists all of the items of the 

plus Package and then lists the Premier Upgrades.

[canadarocks]

25 minutes ago, Abercrombie2019 said:

The personalizer still shows that we have Plus, but when we go into “Beverages” or Travel Summary, it lists all of the items of the 

plus Package and then lists the Premier Upgrades.

We have the exact same, and we had no issues booking all of our Specialty Dining for our February cruise. 

[lx200gps]

2 hours ago, walkingsoon said:

Is it just me, or is pushing to the front of the line, engaging in a foot race onto the ship and then fighting to get all your entitlements not rather tasteless? Just another version of 'chogging'.

 

I've seen on other lines that getting seats at the specialty restaurants onboard turns out to be a lot easier than the hype here on CC would have you believe. Hopefully, the same will be true for Princess, despite their shifting to a megaship glutton-pandering model.

Any chance you could explain how boarding early and making a phone call is "pushing...engaging in a foot race... and fighting"...?

Edited September 1 by lx200gps

[Astro Flyer]

59 minutes ago, Coral said:

Around the same time, they rolled out Sterling Steakhouse in the Sun Class ships. I want to say it was around $6. I remember being on the Sun Princess in Acapulco eating on Deck 15 outside a steak at sunset. It was amazing.

 

Was Sabatini's on those ships when they were built? Or was it later retrofitted?

I don’t recall the steakhouse but when sailing on Dawn Princess (Sun-class & not the original former Sitmar ship I sailed) to Alaska in 2000, I recall a free Italian restaurant on an upper deck.

 

Your Cornhuskers look much improved this season. 👍🏈

 

[Coral]

2 minutes ago, Astro Flyer said:

I don’t recall the steakhouse but when sailing on Dawn Princess (Sun-class & not the original former Sitmar ship I sailed) to Alaska in 2000, I recall a free Italian restaurant on an upper deck.

 

Your Cornhuskers look much improved this season. 👍🏈

 

Oh yea! That was amazing! I loved that restaurant on the Sun Class ships. Alfredos can't even touch it. We ate there frequently.

 

The Steakhouse was something they implemented using the hamburger grill to make a steakhouse on the ship when there wasn't space for one. On the Sun Princess, they did it outside under the stars. Later, I think they moved it inside the buffet area.

 

Football - we can only hope! It has been a long time. 

[memoak]

3 hours ago, Beuwolf said:

One thing they could do is add Crown Grill lunch.  I think they do this on Holland. 

On the Grand they are using the. Crown Grille at Lucy for a Salty Dog pop up to give plus and premiers an extra option

[Stosh68]

I’m on the Majestic with the Premier package that starts today.   I was able to book four nights of specialty restaurants on the app when I upgraded my old premier to the new one two weeks ago.   I could have booked all 7 days online if I wanted.  
 

The only problem I’m having is a supposed computer glitch that only recognizes parts of my package.   Internet works, drink packages not recognized.   Talked to customer service via the app and they acknowledged I have the package and that they are having computer problems, imagine that.  Any charges covered by premier would be removed from my folio.

 

 

[DiRonT]

3 hours ago, Coral said:

They used to offer speciality dining for lunch on sea days. I remember going to Desert Rose (Tex-Mex/Southwestern themed) on the Grand or Golden Princess.

OMG haven't thought about the Desert Rose on the Grand in many, many years - really good margaritas!

[Sea Hag]

1 hour ago, Coral said:

I still want to cruise Disney one of these days!

You should do that. We did one once. And it's going to be only once for us. We loved parts of it. Great cabin with split bathroom. We really liked the traveling to different dining rooms each night with the tablemates and wait staff going along with us. The little Disney passenger princesses in their little Disney princess dresses were so charming - for the first couple of days. My DH caught a bad cold, probably from all the charming little princesses. I'm really glad we did one, but I can't see us ever doing it again.

[startedwithamouse]

5 hours ago, lx200gps said:

Superb restaurant, we've eaten there multiple times on any of our cruises that have one. To maximize your chances of getting your desired booking, make very sure to board as early as you possibly can and immediately call the DINE line or visit any of the Specialty restaurants to make the booking(s). On our last few cruises we had boarded even before the DINE line opened (boarding around 10:30AM) but we kept at it and made the call; got every one of our desired restaurants and times by about 11AM.

Thank you for the tip.

 

We've eaten at Catch a few times too, and it's been superb each and every time.

[Coral]

20 minutes ago, Sea Hag said:

You should do that. We did one once. And it's going to be only once for us. We loved parts of it. Great cabin with split bathroom. We really liked the traveling to different dining rooms each night with the tablemates and wait staff going along with us. The little Disney passenger princesses in their little Disney princess dresses were so charming - for the first couple of days. My DH caught a bad cold, probably from all the charming little princesses. I'm really glad we did one, but I can't see us ever doing it again.

I probably will need to retire first... Ugh.  I have heard great things. It would be nice to try once.

[Kay S]

1 hour ago, Astro Flyer said:

 I recall a free Italian restaurant on an upper deck.

 

 

 

On the previous Regal Princess, there was such a thing.  I think they called it  Alfredo's.  (That was such a beautiful small ship.)

[cruisinsince75]

2 hours ago, Coral said:

I still want to cruise Disney one of these days!

 Food was not great!  Might do it again when the grandkids get older, but they are also expensive.

[cruisinsince75]

Just now, cruisinsince75 said:

 Food was not great!  Might do it again when the grandkids get older, but they are also expensive.

Both Disney and the grandkids!🤣

[Anonymous234]

Please post speed test (download/upload/ping) for MedallionNet® Max.  I notice in all the press releases they make no mention of the actual speed aside from saying the gamers used it.  They still refer to the laughable gig speeds from 2018 (laughable because they are referring to the overall speed of the entire ship rather than indivdual user speed which has been historically throttled to oblivion even with Starlink).  I would only be paying for the package deal for the faster internet so I want to make sure it is worth it.  Thanks

Edited September 1 by Anonymous234

[Cheriro]

On 8/31/2024 at 4:45 PM, cruising.mark.uk said:

Have you actually asked at the restaurants?

We boarded the Caribbean on Thursday.  I went to the speciality restaurants on day 1 and managed to book 2 additional reservations for dates and times that were showing as unavailable on the App and had been for some time.

We ate at the Crown Grill tonight.  When we arrived for our 1920 booking, there were only 6 occupied tables and the App was showing only a 2040 slot available for the rest of the evening.  We left just before 9 and, in the intervening period a further 3 tables were occupied.  I'm almost certain it would have been possible to walk up and secure a table for tonight anytime after 1920.

I know the new Premier 90 doesn't start on the Caribbean until the next cruise.  But, from my experience it seems almost certain that they hold back plenty of capacity from the App for on-board bookings, suites and walk-ins.  If that is the case (and if it's a fleetwide policy) it will be interesting to hear whether they'll continue to do that after implementation of Premier 90.

We went to Crown Grill yesterday & was told we took the last reservation for the 5th. Haven’t went to any other SD because we are good eating in the Reserve. 

[Cheriro]

17 hours ago, 555 said:

Would you happen to know what times were open?

I believe there was a 5 and the rest were 8 or later. 

[Retired-N-Happy]

9 hours ago, Beuwolf said:

One thing they could do is add Crown Grill lunch.  I think they do this on Holland. 

They have sea day lunch and embarkation day lunch at the steak house as well as Italian on Royal.

[Retired-N-Happy]

9 hours ago, memoak said:

1. I would not want to pay dinner prices for a lunch

2. I really don’t want to eat a big piece of meat at 1:00

On Royal the lunch menus are different than the dinner menus at the specialty venues.  And they are also cheaper.  An 8 oz filet is the largest steak available at lunch.  If you have unlimited, which this thread is about, nobody has a gun to your head to eat all 8 oz for lunch.  And since you have unlimited, the price would not matter.

And there are some that won't purchase the Premier upgrade because they stay in a suite, are happy with their one included embarkation dinner and enjoy their reserve dining the rest of the cruise.  😉😉

[Retired-N-Happy]

8 hours ago, walkingsoon said:

 

I've seen on other lines that getting seats at the specialty restaurants onboard turns out to be a lot easier than the hype here on CC would have you believe. Hopefully, the same will be true for Princess, despite their shifting to a megaship glutton-pandering model.

With the unlimited dining package on RCI, reservations can't be made until embarkation day, so it's a zoo trying to get what you want.  The only time we ever partook in it was on the second week of a B2B.  I made friends with one of the hostesses at the steak house when we are there for lunch during our first week and she said all I needed to do was visit her on Friday afternoon before Saturday's embarkation and she would hook me up with all the reservations we needed for the following week.  She was a godsend and eliminated a major hassle for us.

[Retired-N-Happy]

8 hours ago, gailisacruzin said:

Random thought. If they start serving lunch in speciality restaurants and the premier package includes unlimited SD.  What’s stopping someone to book one at lunch and another for dinner.  Not saying I could eat that much.  

Nothing at all.  They have lunch available at multiple venues on RCI's larger ships on embarkation as well as sea days.  So you could have lunch at the steak house and dinner at another specialty venue with no problem.  The largest meal at the steakhouse for lunch was shrimp cocktail, soup or salad for an appetizer, an 8 oz filet with asparagus and mashed potatoes and a choice of dessert.  Nobody is forcing you to eat everything.

[memoak]

7 minutes ago, Retired-N-Happy said:

Nothing at all.  They have lunch available at multiple venues on RCI's larger ships on embarkation as well as sea days.  So you could have lunch at the steak house and dinner at another specialty venue with no problem.  The largest meal at the steakhouse for lunch was shrimp cocktail, soup or salad for an appetizer, an 8 oz filet with asparagus and mashed potatoes and a choice of dessert.  Nobody is forcing you to eat everything.

Sorry I don’t cruise on RCI