WiseGirl

26 minutes ago, Robkat said:

 

When you made your reservations, was it indicated that there was a $90 charge, but when you continued, it zeroed out?  Did you both make your reservations in the App?  

 

@Robkat - I just made a couple Specialty dining reservations (we bought the new Premier package yesterday) for an October 2025 cruise.  It shows a "cover charge" of $90, but just below that the total amount is $0.  I had checked the Premier package so I believe this is simply the way the app does the booking.  I do not expect to be charged $90 for each restaurant as they "only" cost $39.  Not sure if this makes sense, but I think the app is working fine when you have the Premier package and is easy to use. 

11 minutes ago, canadarocks said:

I believe if you are Platinum or Elite, you can book dining as soon as you book your cruise. If you are not either of those, I think you have to wait until the cruise is fully paid. 

We are Platinum.  The app just let me book dining for the first night of our cruise which is in October 2025! 

It didn't let me do it yesterday, but I had just purchased the Premier package.  Maybe it take a day or so to register in their system.  

On 8/27/2024 at 3:50 PM, canadarocks said:

We’re Platinum and sailing on the Enchanted in February. Don’t pay anything until November and I’ve booked all of our Specialty Dining already. There’s a lot of them and I had no issue with choice of time or restaurant. But I’m sure that’s because I did it early! 

Sorry for a simple question, but we haven't sailed much on Princess recently.  How far ahead can you book the specialty dining?  We just booked a fall 2025 Canada/New England sailing on the Majestic and I bought the new Premier package. 

We sailed on the Sapphire Princess in Alaska this past May (in a suite) and I couldn't figure out how to reserve the complimentary first night specialty dinner ahead of time.  The app kept wanting me to pay for it and by the time we boarded the ship the times were very limited.  The staff was not very helpful to get us in to Sabatinis, but we did manage to squeeze in for a meal.  

IMO Princess doesn't make it easy even for suites.  We've sailed Royal Caribbean (in a suite) and a concierge contacts you a couple weeks before boarding to personally help arrange dining reservations.  The difference in how the two lines handle it is pretty striking.  We don't wish to eat in specialty restaurants every night, but getting them reserved ahead of time would be nice.

On 2/21/2023 at 11:20 PM, LadyZolt said:

This has happened to many people lately.  Log into your account online. At the top, you'll see your initials.  Click them and select Profile -- then on the right, select My Loyalty.  You should then see your Crown and Anchor number.  Write it down or otherwise know what it is (LOL!), and then delete it from that box so the box is empty.  Then, re-enter it and choose "SAVE" at the bottom.  This should force the system to update your C&A and your points hopefully will then appear.

 

Disclaimer:  I found this solution on another thread in here a few weeks ago, and it worked for me.  🙂

I just had this happen to my account today and this fixed it - thank you very much for saving me a bunch of time!  I logged in about a month ago and my points and status were fine and today it showed zero points and pre-Gold.

We're also booked on the March 22nd Regal out of Port Everglades.  Our medallions arrived today, but I haven't opened the boxes.  It is hard to be excited for a cruise that we might abandon.

We made final payment in December and didn't buy travel insurance so we are prepared to take the financial hit on this one if we decide not to board the ship.  I'm posting mainly in support and solidarity for those of us booked on cruises in the near future.  It is sad and stressful and the information changes from day to day.  We're in our 60s so in a "higher" risk category, but neither of us is too worried about contracting the virus.  The other factors (quarantines, missing ports) are more concerning to us at this time. 

We are taking it one day at a time to see what happens.

I'm so sorry for the OP and your situation (I think we're on the same cruise?) and for cruisinrachel - it broke my heart to read your posts.

This is very much a story that is still unfolding, both for the near term cruises and for the cruise industry.  I wish for everyone to stay healthy and that you will be at peace with whatever decision you make for yourselves and your families.

How was your cruise?

We're back from the Carnival Victory cruise and the holidays are over! The cruise was fun - there is always fun to be had on a ship! It was our first Carnival cruise so it was a new experience. It was my SO's sons very first cruise and he had a great time meeting new friends all over the ship.

As far as the La Casa excursion, I'll give you my honest opinion. It was a very nice, fairly private location with attentive service, but we didn't feel that it was worth the $119 per person. My reasons are:

First, I was really looking forward to doing some snorkeling off the beach after reading many other positive reviews. However, we got there around 2:30 PM and it was quite windy so the water was churned up. We waited a couple hours to snorkel hoping that it would calm down. The water was still very murky and we only saw a couple of very small fish. So... for us the snorkeling was disappointing and honestly, I'm not sure it would be that great even if the water was clear. There were quite a few rocks and neither of us really saw a reef. They don't control the weather and I understand that, but just realize that the weather conditions are a huge variable in your snorkeling experience. One of the women that got there in the morning told me that the snorkeling was good earlier in the day. I had also hoped to do some kayaking, but it was a little rough to do that and they didn't even have the kayaks available.

Second, I'm not a huge "lay in a lounger" sort of person. I like to be a bit more active. I live in a warm climate with palm trees so the nice weather wasn't as big a factor for me as it might be for others. There was a couple in our group from the Midwest (where I lived originally) and they were very happy just to lay on the beach, swim in the ocean, and be waited on. They loved their day at La Casa and would likely give a very different review than mine.

We thought the food was good, but not great. The lunch offerings were chicken mole, Mayan fish, and chicken or steak (or both) fajitas. The drinks were plentiful - you could have as much as you want and the bartender was accomodating if you wanted to try something different.

We enjoyed our afternoon at La Casa, but I probably wouldn't spend the money on it again. I definitely wouldn't do it if the ship docks in the afternoon like ours did (at least in December - the daylight in the summer would be a whole different story). We didn't get there until around 2:30 PM and it was dark by the time we left the house. And as I already said, the water was stirred up by the afternoon making for poor snorkeling.

I believe someone asked about going to La Casa as a solo traveler. There would be absolutely no problem with that. There are lots of areas to hang out either in sun or shade. The staff is very friendly and attentive as are most of the other guests. I don't think there was wifi available, but I'm not 100% positive. None of us tried to use it while we were there.

Hopefully this helps someone else who is trying to make the cost justification. It is JMO and your reasons for booking this excursion might be very different.

When is your cruise? Would love to hear your review before I set sail in may

We cruise this week. I'd be happy to report back, but it'll be after Christmas before I'll have time. Busy time of year!

We're booked on this excursion on an upcoming Victory cruise. There are over 70 reviews of it on the Carnival web site - check them out. It has a five star rating and almost everyone gives a rave review of their experience with this excursion. The service, food, drinks, beach and snorkeling all get high marks.