RDJ

Oh wow I had no idea! Well let’s hope that bug is the one bug they don’t fix lol

If you are elite or platinum then you don’t have to wait for final payment to make your reservations, you get early access!

I received an email from Princess saying this same thing today.

Like some others have said, we miss the old Princess too, but all cruise lines have evolved. They obviously have reasons for changing their business model and we have to adjust and grow with it if we want to keep cruising. We remember even a few years before Covid feeling like cruises already started nickel and diming. Prices have really gone up which is hard, but they have for everything right? We went to Vegas a few months ago and found no servers taking cocktail orders walking around. Lots of things have changed including cruises. We still feel it’s one of the best ways to travel, unpack once, see lots of places, food and entertainment is included, etc. We’ve found if you reach out to make personal connections with staff, they return the connection with personal service. Vacation and travel is all what you make it!

It did take 3 calls and some patience! I’m surprised how they can’t just make the reservation on our behalf as a work around for the flawed system. Enjoy your UK trip, we are doing that next year!

We like the Plus package. We are drinkers and we by no means worry about the 15 drink limit or feel like we have to drink more to justify. What we like is that we get to try different drinks, things we don’t normally drink or try at home. We can try it and if we don’t like it then we order something else! One day might be no alcohol and one day might be 10 drinks. When we did the math we found that as long as we averaged a certain amount overall, it would at least be a wash. Sometimes there’s not a savings, but the benefit is the cruise feels more all inclusive with the package. Without it we felt guilty on the days we chose to drink more. Now with that being said we only do that on Princess! The drink packages on other cruises we’ve tried cost way more than the Plus deal (just learned that lesson on Carnival).

Update! Sure enough after trying twice a day, just now I was able to finally make the dining rez for crown (without paying the cruise balance). My 3rd call to Princess last weekend said to give it some time as they were going to fix on their side and it did work! It finally saw the credit and got both nights booked!

The website says this as well, we qualify in the early access group which I assume why it lets me reserve now (issue is just that it wants to charge). I keep checking back daily to see if it’s changed lol

I’ve seen that too. But I’ve made reservations for the many other non-specialty dining on other nights already (despite the mention of main dining in that snapshot). Nor has Princess stated that to me after my 3 phone calls. Plus it will let me reserve, if I’m willing to just pay for it.

It was new for us but Carnival isn’t our primary choice

That’s interesting, we’ve already made reservations for our main dining on all other nights. We are specifically looking for the Crown grill on the remaining two nights. We paid for and ate at Sabbatinis once years ago and we disliked it, too much seafood for our tastes.

We are not due for final payment for a while yet. But in 3 calls to princess, no one has said that is a requirement.

This is my concern! Offer it as an included promotion but then make it too difficult to properly use.

I have the premiere package which comes with 2 speciality dinners. When I try to make the first reservation, it’s wants to charge my credit card (the total is not $0.00). I have tried both the app and the web version of the app. I have called Princess 3 times and they haven’t been able to help. First they said they fixed it and I just needed to wait 24hrs, didn’t work. Then they said it’s because I wasn’t Ocean Ready so I did that, it still didn’t work. The last time they just said they’d put in a technical ticket with their IT team. I don’t want to miss out on the time slots, should I just pay now and deal with the refund later? I’ve read some had difficulty getting the refund, etc plus that’s not how I want to spend my first day onboard. Any one else have this happen and have Princess actually fix it? I don’t get why they just can’t make the reservation for us if the app isn’t working correctly.

That’s my understanding as well

We have tried walking up and we have tried going when they first open and we always turned away. We have not tried walking up at 8, we’d never eat dinner that late lol

We have been on several as well and so far have had zero luck getting into Crown Grill because we had no reservations! Maybe one day!

I have premiere but my total shows $78? I haven’t made any other reservations yet.

We have loyalty with Princess and was told Carnival will not match (but RC with Celebrity will) Have you found different than that? We have British Isles booked on Princess next year for our big anniversary and looking forward to it

We’ve been on 16 cruises (not typically carnival) and this was a first for us. I suppose next time we can say sorry we aren’t ready to order that yet. It seems like a waste because I don’t know if I have room for dessert at the beginning lol!

We did the best excursion in Ketchikan and it was amazing! We saw so many black bears including a momma and baby. They were snatching up the salmon run! If your budget allows, seeing glaciers from a helicopter is a completely different experience.

We just got back from an 8 night Carnival cruise, we did the anytime dining. It was convenient for our large group of 10 because we could checkin with the app and wait in a lounge with drinks until ready. I will add we always would checkin on the app as soon as the app opened for dinner which was 5:30. However when a couple wanted to go at a different time, the app was annoying. There was a time we went for breakfast in the main dining room, the place was empty and no one waiting around. They simply would not seat us because the app had not assigned us a table number yet (it was delayed and glitchy). Even they (the staff) complained because it prevented them from seating us. You had to keep exiting the screen and go back in because there was no ‘refresh’. Many times they didn’t know where the table number was and we’d get a tour of the entire dining room. Also every time our group of 10 checked in, they would try to seat us at a table for 8 instead. Also, they made us order dessert at the same time as our main meal. On other lines we are used to them asking AFTER we’ve eaten dinner.

Before ‘Princess Plus’, we bought the drink package once and kept track of what we drank. We did not drink enough to offset the cost including coffees. But since ‘Princess Plus’ with the addition of wifi and gratuities, we’ve ran the numbers and we have found that we do drink enough for it to be worthwhile in our case. Also, we like the feeling of it being more ‘all inclusive’, we can try a new drink we might not have otherwise been willing to spend money on and order something else if we didn’t like it. We like not having to think about what the bill will be at the end of the cruise. If someone is only 1-2 drinks a day kind of person, then likely doesn’t make sense (specially if just beer/wine). If I had to guess it would be somewhere in the middle, half and half!

In my cruising experience so far, which is more Princess then other lines… it used to be traditionally formal… but in the last 10 years it continues to reduce. My husband and I look forward to dressing up for the dining room, but if my feet hurt then I’m changing right after and still continuing my night around the ship in jeans. I think what is formal or dressy is open to interpretation these days and that’s ok! The majority still make an effort to dress up and we like to see that 😊 and to those that don’t, enjoy your vacation however you want to! Times are changing, rule enforcement is lessoning, and people are allowed to be people! Now if only the cruise lines backed off on all the covid rules too 😉

I bring one of those hang on the door (bathroom) shoe holder plastic things and use it to store and organize all my toiletries and smaller items.