ricka47

I had all of my dinner reservations made and wanted to change a few. But, the system was "unavailable" all weekend and, as of Monday AM, appears to be down still. Maybe the IT folks will come to work today and fix it.

Our last Princess cruise was 20 years ago, and they had just implemented a form of "My Way" dining, which was so bad that we switched to TD midway. They gave us beepers, and we had to wait up to 45 minutes for a table. For this cruise, I have some specialty restaurants booked but mostly made reservations in the MDR for 6:20 PM. Do they actually have a table set aside, or is there just a line for people with reservations, and it's first-come, first-served? I'm guessing that there are people who make reservations and forget to cancel them or have something else come up or stay at the bar too long. I plan to cancel the reservation if we change plans, but I would think that many don't do that, which would make actually holding a table for a reservation impossible?

I can do that now that they fixed it. Turns out they cancelled my first one for some reason.

Right - but I can't scroll within the day to see if there is a specialty restaurant booking. I ended up calling, and there was no reservation. They refunded the $70 and then made a new reservation. The time that I had originally booked was not available, but there was one for 20 minutes earlier.

For us, the annual policy has been the way to go. For years, we went without, and once my wife sprained her ankle on a tour. That caused no out-of-pocket to us but taught us a lesson. We then bought the yearly policy and used it three times in the same year for a broken foot for me, an infection for my wife, and an illness for my granddaughter. Every dollar was covered. We won't be without the yearly policy again!

Found it - thanks!

On the phone, but I'd rather use the PC. I didn't know there was a web version. The Princess web site just says to use the app. I'll check that out - thanks!

Thanks for the idea - but there's no option to scroll sideways.

I asked our TA to see if she can call them to see if there really is a reservation and where my $70 went. If she can't do that, I'll have to try to call them myself. But I'm not looking forward to doing that, as customer service by phone is such a hassle today.

Nope, just an option to book a new one.

There may be a number of us in the (pardon the pun) same boat. Twenty years ago, we did our first and only Princess cruise, and they had just implemented "My Way" dining, which was such a disaster that we switched back to traditional dining. Twenty years later, we have an app that appears to have its own AI changing and canceling things for us!

The ones that I made in the MDR are showing OK. But not the one specialty reservation. I'm not one of those who like to wait until boarding to fix that kind of stuff.

I was looking under "Dine My Way">View or Book Individual Reservations. It gives me the option to go ahead and book another reservation for the first night but I don't want to have another $70 charge. Should I be looking elsewhere? I also didn't get an email confirmation - does Princess send those?

It's been 20 years since we've been on Princess, and things have changed! Yesterday, I made our dining reservations and made a specialty reservation for the first night. All of the MDR reservations are showing in the app, but the specialty one does not. Yet, the charge went through, and I see the $70 charge on my AMEX account. Does this take a few days to show up, or do I need to contact them?

This seems to be about the going rate. We just booked with EC Minibus, and it was £240 for a trip from London to Southampton in July. They seem to have good reviews, and the service from their online folks has been great. Yet, as noted, there are cheaper methods available.

I just looked at the Visa that we have and it does charge 3%. So, thanks for the help, I switched to one without the extra charge!

Same in the U.S. I have the same $20 bill sitting in my wallet for almost a year now!

Great information - thanks all! I didn't know that about Visa being accepted more than Amex. I had planned to use Amex but will bring the Visa as well.

We're doing a 12-day British Isles cruise with a stop in Normandy in July. We're also spending four nights in London pre-cruise. While I plan on using cards for most expenditures, I'm trying to determine how much cash in pounds to bring for tips and other more minor expenses. Or is it better to exchange when we arrive instead of here in the US before we leave?

Thanks - we may just use the Princess transfer to the airport afterward as well.

That's good to hear about sailing out of Southampton. We have not done that before, and it sounds like it is a good experience. We just booked the 7/19 sailing and need to book airfare. That may cost more than the cruise! We plan to fly into London a few days early, so we need to find transportation to the port and then to the airport afterward. There appear to be many services available - any suggestions?

We just booked our first Princess cruise since 2002. While we enjoyed that one, we just found that Royal Caribbean and Celebrity were more to our liking at the time. But we’ve noticed a notable lowering of food quality on both of those lines - even pre-Covid. On our last RCI (Harmony of the Seas) sailing, we got a deal on the dining package and never visited the MDR once. We also try to sail on Oceania when we can afford it as the food is incredible. But our cruise in July on the Regal (12-night British Isles) is more about the itinerary and less about food. Yet, we like to eat, and, from reading the threads here, it appears that the lowering of food quality that we see on RCI and X is apparent on Princess also? Perhaps it is just a fact of post-Covid life that we pay more for less.

It will be my wife's 70th birthday when we are on the Insignia in December. I asked our O Travel Planner (no TA on this one) to note it but I'm not sure what they will do. I'm curious what others have done to make a special event memorable on board?

Good to know - thanks!

That's good to know. I have used that one and it was an easy process. I am vaccinated but, due to medical concerns, my wife is not. I note on the O site that they refer to Inspire as the online service to use. But, unlike Binax/eMed, they require registration. Has anyone had any issues getting slots for the online testing with Inspire?