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1st Night Suite Comp dinner


TBetti
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I am not a suite lifer, but for all my recent cruises the personalizer does not take specialty restaurant reservations for embarkation day. Have you actually checked that you can make one?

 

If you are in a full suite my understanding is that you can either stop by the restaurant or call the dine line from your suite (calls from suites go to the front of the queue) and you will get the time you wish. The restaurants are essentially reserved for you and there are plenty of tables to cover the 150 or so passengers entitled to this perk.

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there are 14 of us, all but 2 are in suites, I know about the dine line, but with this large of a group, I wanted to be assured of a time of not 5:00 pm and not 9:00 pm I know you can only pay for reservations on the my princess web page. I just was wondering if you made the reservation on my princess, how hard would it be to get them to credit your on board account, being the 1st night is complimentary.

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there are 14 of us, all but 2 are in suites, I know about the dine line, but with this large of a group, I wanted to be assured of a time of not 5:00 pm and not 9:00 pm I know you can only pay for reservations on the my princess web page. I just was wondering if you made the reservation on my princess, how hard would it be to get them to credit your on board account, being the 1st night is complimentary.

 

again...have you actually looked in your Cruise Personalizer to see if it is possible to make a reservation for embarkation night? Your question re paying and then securing a refund is probably moot as they do not normally take advance reservations for that night--it is first come first served for suite passengers.

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There was no way to make a reservation for the first night on the Caribbean Princess for our April sailing. After boarding, I tried to call the DINE line and got a recording that essentially said "we are very busy so we are not taking reservations, call us tomorrow." So, I went to the restaurant to find no one there. Then I went to the Suite line at Passenger Services where the dude told me that the information was in a letter in my room. Back to room--no letter (it came on day 3 after I talked to steward). Back to Passenger Services where same dude made a phone call and said that we could choose 5:30 or 7:30. We took 7:30. No problems at all when we arrived for dinner.

 

After that run around, I started on the mini-bar trade out....at least that one took only 2 phone calls.

 

Reality--there has to be an easier way!

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I agree with you, they never answer the dine line as there is a lot of confusion the first day. I was just trying to go around the situation and pay and then try to get credit. Wondering if anyone had tried that. We have been on many cruises, most all of the time in full suites, and it is always a problem the first night. I think princess should rethink their policy.

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The good thing about having a suite on the Royal was letting the concierge make the reservations for us. I don't know if he has a special number to call other than the regular Dine Line, but he got through right away.

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I am not a suite lifer, but for all my recent cruises the personalizer does not take specialty restaurant reservations for embarkation day. Have you actually checked that you can make one?

 

If you are in a full suite my understanding is that you can either stop by the restaurant or call the dine line from your suite (calls from suites go to the front of the queue) and you will get the time you wish. The restaurants are essentially reserved for you and there are plenty of tables to cover the 150 or so passengers entitled to this perk.

 

150 or so? Which ship has 75, or a few less, suites.....:confused:

 

Bob

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150 or so? Which ship has 75, or a few less, suites.....:confused:

 

Bob

 

OK so I overestimated. Better for the OP that the number is even lower. Hopefully they will at some point wrap their head around the fact that it is impossible to make reservations for embarkation night in advance--but have absolutely no reason to worry about their party being accommodated.

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No I haven’t done that since I didn’t think Princess would refund my money. Sabatini’s was not busy at all when we were there for dinner and for breakfast. Crown grill was a bit busier though. We had no issues getting in at either.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

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I'm boarding the Crown in about 3 weeks, am in a suite, have "Complimentary specialty dining dinner on embarkation evening". I hadn't considered reserving this for the embarkation evening until I read this thread. Just checked the Princess site, looks like reservations can be made for the embarkation evening - 3 times are available, but 3 seem available on all evenings, so maybe they always have 3 times (5:30, 7:30 and 9:30). Don't think I'll bother reserving and then looking for a refund...might call Princess.

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OK so I overestimated. Better for the OP that the number is even lower. Hopefully they will at some point wrap their head around the fact that it is impossible to make reservations for embarkation night in advance--but have absolutely no reason to worry about their party being accommodated.

 

Ok, you make a very good point:). Another point to consider is the ease of switching the dinner, as we have done on numerous occasions, to a day or two after embarkation.....:):):)

 

Bob

Edited by Woobstr112G
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I just looked at the cruise personalizer for our October Caribbean Princess cruise and can book either speciality restaurant for embarkation night, for one of the three times noted in another posts.

 

 

Not sure I would go to the trouble of booking & cancelling to be sure and get the suite benefit.

 

43291281092_2e85aef66a_o.jpgSR by Cool Runnings, on Flickr

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OK so I overestimated. Better for the OP that the number is even lower. Hopefully they will at some point wrap their head around the fact that it is impossible to make reservations for embarkation night in advance--but have absolutely no reason to worry about their party being accommodated.

Not impossible. I currently have reservations on two Princess ships for embarkation evening. They were booked through the personalizer. I checked three other booked cruises, and they all would allow me to book and pay for embarkation night, and had three different times available. I have done this before and never had any issues.

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Maybe I’m missing something here (and I usually am), but the implication, I think, is when you make reservations via your personalizer ahead of time, you have to pay via your credit card. These embarkation day dinners with the coupon book are BOGO...so how do you go about getting one dinner refunded?

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Maybe I’m missing something here (and I usually am), but the implication, I think, is when you make reservations via your personalizer ahead of time, you have to pay via your credit card. These embarkation day dinners with the coupon book are BOGO...so how do you go about getting one dinner refunded?

You don't. If you book in advance, you'll pay (if they are even accepting first evening reservations). To use either the suite perk or the BOGO coupon, you have to book on board. You will be given a slot with the suite perk. I don't know if that is a guarantee with the coupon.

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seems like we all have different experiences with first night specialty dining. We were in suite last year on emerald. After we boarded I walked to crown grill and the Matre D was standing there. He said all times were open. We booked a 5:30 slot. Piece of cake. I plan on doing same thing next Feb for our cruise on Caribbean Princess

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seems like we all have different experiences with first night specialty dining. We were in suite last year on emerald. After we boarded I walked to crown grill and the Matre D was standing there. He said all times were open. We booked a 5:30 slot. Piece of cake. I plan on doing same thing next Feb for our cruise on Caribbean Princess

When we went over to the Crown Grill on the Caribbean Princess, it looked like someone had just stepped away from the door. The doors were open and we actually walked in and looked around. We didn't generate any attention, even when I called out, so after maybe 5 minutes we gave up.

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Best experience ever. Just walked into my cabin. Somebody called me to ask when I would like (suite) dinner reservations for. Never happened again.

 

Do call from your room and not from lobby phones. Your suite number appears on the DINE line...usually they will answer the call.

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seems like we all have different experiences with first night specialty dining. We were in suite last year on emerald. After we boarded I walked to crown grill and the Matre D was standing there. He said all times were open. We booked a 5:30 slot. Piece of cake. I plan on doing same thing next Feb for our cruise on Caribbean Princess

 

Last year Princess did not allow booking specialty restaurants in advance, so there was no way it could have been full before you boarded back then.

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Thanks for your input, but we shall see with a party of 14. I will go to the restaurant or the suite line at the pursers office as soon as I board the ship and try to get the reservation. As I said in the previous post they DON'T answer the dine line number. It can ring off the hook. So I guess going in person is the only way. Yes I know they leave a card in the room. Have yet to ever have them call me. Have probably been in suites 10 times or more. Suite perks are going down the drain!

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