Dine My Way - new MedallionClass enhancement

[Nicole&Pete]

All,

 

I have another question, does anyone know how far out before sailing one can see the events calendar of things going on onboard? I would like to know show times before I decide on dining times. 

 

Thanks

 

Nicole

[Tedferg]

3 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

I do not think boarding groups are available for anyone on far away cruise dates.  As for DMW, keep trying and it eventually responds and works.

I have not heard of boarding groups. I know they had suggested times to stagger boarding but no one paid attention to them 

[Steelers36]

29 minutes ago, Nicole&Pete said:

All,

 

I have another question, does anyone know how far out before sailing one can see the events calendar of things going on onboard? I would like to know show times before I decide on dining times. 

 

Thanks

 

Nicole

When you are on a cruise, you often don't know many of the entertainment details until the Patter is published for the next day.  I cannot recall how far ahead things get posted to MC App.  Changes may occur, but perhaps there is info loaded a week ahead?  I am thinking by then, dining time selections will be thin and you may be into lining up.  I am already seeing time slots gone for a cruise departing in OCT 2022!!  (But I do think only limited inventory has been loaded up).

[TonyM99]

Only found out today via the Crusie Critic thread for our cruise about these changes - Reading some of the comments on this thread er seem to be in the minority as we have always enjoyed TD late sitting and have always viewed it as a big part of our cruise experience - On virtually all of our Princess cruises we have lucky with the table selection normally 8 person and have met some great people from all over the world a number of which we still keep in touch with a one couple have become firm friends. So we would like to still have that same "Old" traditional dining But looks like that's changing - General opinion here seems to be even if we manage same table at same time our Dinner guests could well be different each night - So constant first night experience which will certainly dampen our enjoyment - So guess have to wait and see how this develops as out cruise which is virtually fully booked is not until April 22 

Also having today set up app etc - every time I try and log onto Dine My Way I just get a message that its not available right now !! 

[Steelers36]

11 minutes ago, Tedferg said:

I have not heard of boarding groups. I know they had suggested times to stagger boarding but no one paid attention to them 

It is in the MC App - just not working for most future cruise dates.  It seems like they will be enforcing these to stagger people.  Who knows once Covid-19 is pretty much eradicated if they will dispense with these and go back to the past situation?

 

Think of being at the airport and the airline calls boarding group 1.  An alert airline agent paying attention and looking to enforce things is going to turn away someone who presents a BP with boarding group 4.  I imagine Princess would be doing similar thing at the entrance to the terminal buildings.

[Steelers36]

3 minutes ago, TonyM99 said:

Also having today set up app etc - every time I try and log onto Dine My Way I just get a message that its not available right now !!

Yes, you have to repeat and keep trying and you will get in.  There are two places within the App to get to DMW.  As you have read no doubt, when booking same time each night for entire voyage, there is no table-size selection.  You will by default assigned to the smallest size table to hold you and cabinmate.  By the time you get to booking, you may be offered a 4-top for example.  You will have to wait and keep checking back as tables fill until they get to the 8-tops.  Hopefully, they will listen and realize they need to add this selection choice as some like larger tables like you and some like to dine alone.

 

[Thrak]

I am soooo not worrying about dining groups. I'm not worrying about boarding groups. I'm not sure when I'll arrive so have no idea about boarding time. I don't see why I would want to have to setup all that sort of stuff so far in advance. Just let me complete the required stuff and I'll worry about that other stuff later. Much later.  I think I'm lucky that my next booked cruise that really has any chance of sailing isn't until May. Things should be working much better by then.

[Nicole&Pete]

1 hour ago, TonyM99 said:

Only found out today via the Crusie Critic thread for our cruise about these changes - Reading some of the comments on this thread er seem to be in the minority as we have always enjoyed TD late sitting and have always viewed it as a big part of our cruise experience - On virtually all of our Princess cruises we have lucky with the table selection normally 8 person and have met some great people from all over the world a number of which we still keep in touch with a one couple have become firm friends. So we would like to still have that same "Old" traditional dining But looks like that's changing - General opinion here seems to be even if we manage same table at same time our Dinner guests could well be different each night - So constant first night experience which will certainly dampen our enjoyment - So guess have to wait and see how this develops as out cruise which is virtually fully booked is not until April 22 

Also having today set up app etc - every time I try and log onto Dine My Way I just get a message that its not available right now !! 

Hello we are the same as you, we like the traditional dining set up too with same people and same waiter. With the cruise we have booked next year though we are in port suite late so to be able to pick a later time than 7:15 would be useful (it's quite early for us to eat to be honest). They have still got us in at 7 every night because we booked late seating but table for 2 (we requested 6 at the time of booking). I'm not sure if we book the same table each night with a larger group it will be the same waiter and same table at the specific time or what?

[Nicole&Pete]

1 hour ago, Steelers36 said:

When you are on a cruise, you often don't know many of the entertainment details until the Patter is published for the next day.  I cannot recall how far ahead things get posted to MC App.  Changes may occur, but perhaps there is info loaded a week ahead?  I am thinking by then, dining time selections will be thin and you may be into lining up.  I am already seeing time slots gone for a cruise departing in OCT 2022!!  (But I do think only limited inventory has been loaded up).

Right ok thanks for the info. This could be an issue for a lot of people then , usually we book late seating and we know one of the shows will fit in but with this it is very hard to plan dinner times without knowing the show times. 

[Steelers36]

6 minutes ago, Nicole&Pete said:

Right ok thanks for the info. This could be an issue for a lot of people then , usually we book late seating and we know one of the shows will fit in but with this it is very hard to plan dinner times without knowing the show times. 

If you have cruised Princess before, the major showtimes don't vary too much, so I would go with that.  It would be helpful if DMW highlighted the times that fit within the Early and Late TD windows so that shows are no problem.

 

[Nicole&Pete]

4 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

If you have cruised Princess before, the major showtimes don't vary too much, so I would go with that.  It would be helpful if DMW highlighted the times that fit within the Early and Late TD windows so that shows are no problem.

 

Thanks Ive not actually cruised with princess before, I did see an example patter which showed 8:30 and 10:30 I think but Im not sure if thats right.

[Steelers36]

Just now, Nicole&Pete said:

Thanks Ive not actually cruised with princess before, I did see an example patter which showed 8:30 and 10:30 I think but Im not sure if thats right.

Oh, that seems very old.  I would say 8pm and 10pm and also perhaps 7:45, 9:45.  Sometimes a 7:30pm start if having extra show on.  This is more by memory as I don't save Patters.  

 

I think it would be safe to anticipate major showtimes for begin anywhere from 7:30pm to 8:00pm and 9:30pm to 10:00pm.  Many shows are shorter in length now than they used to be several years ago.  Some are a short as 30 minutes or so, but 45 mins is a typical max.  

 

No doubt someone else will advise more definitely than my memory.  We typically have dined early (always) and make the early show if going to a major show.

[1965]

58 minutes ago, Thrak said:

I am soooo not worrying about dining groups. I'm not worrying about boarding groups. I'm not sure when I'll arrive so have no idea about boarding time. I don't see why I would want to have to setup all that sort of stuff so far in advance. Just let me complete the required stuff and I'll worry about that other stuff later. Much later.  I think I'm lucky that my next booked cruise that really has any chance of sailing isn't until May. Things should be working much better by then.

We set sail Nov. 3, hopefully. I, too, am so not worrying about those things. I do wish my app would actually show our upcoming cruise instead of 2 cruises that were cancelled months ago. I would like to be able to enter my passport info. I sure hope the app problems are corrected soon. 

[Thrak]

We pretty much gave up on traditional dining. We've actually had some great dinner companions. One couple that we sailed with for 28 days we still keep in contact with and have not only sailed with again but also met several times during their winter migrations when they head south. We're booked on a cruise with them again in May. However, the last time we had TD we were at a table for 8. The other 6 people formed a bit of a clique and did everything together. It's annoying to be at a table for 8 and be the only 2 people who are actually at dinner. When the others were there they talked with each other about the things they had been doing that day, what they were doing later, and what they were doing the next day. It was not a good experience. After that we started doing anytime dining and it has worked out pretty well. Sometimes we eat at a table for two, sometimes we share, and sometimes we just eat at the buffet or grab a burger or something. We don't like late dining because that precludes any of the evening events such as Liars Club, Trivia, Pub Night, etc.

[TonyM99]

44 minutes ago, Thrak said:

We pretty much gave up on traditional dining. We've actually had some great dinner companions. One couple that we sailed with for 28 days we still keep in contact with and have not only sailed with again but also met several times during their winter migrations when they head south. We're booked on a cruise with them again in May. However, the last time we had TD we were at a table for 8. The other 6 people formed a bit of a clique and did everything together. It's annoying to be at a table for 8 and be the only 2 people who are actually at dinner. When the others were there they talked with each other about the things they had been doing that day, what they were doing later, and what they were doing the next day. It was not a good experience. After that we started doing anytime dining and it has worked out pretty well. Sometimes we eat at a table for two, sometimes we share, and sometimes we just eat at the buffet or grab a burger or something. We don't like late dining because that precludes any of the evening events such as Liars Club, Trivia, Pub Night, etc.

Thats certainly a shame - I must say on our 13 Princess Cruises to date we have only had one cruise where out table was not too good and even then it wasn't that bad - All the rest have been very good and met some really nice and interesting people as I said earlier a number we have seen again and one we meet up and stay with a number of times a year 

Someone earlier mention Main Show timings from our experience these have tended to be around 20.00 and 22.15 - So we enjoy a nicer relaxed second sitting (which seems a bit earlier these days and then often head to The Theatre 

[USCcruisecrazy]

This may be addressed in the 26 pages of inputs, but I stopped after the first 3 pages...if we choose what would basically be TD (same table...same wait staff...same dining room) is it still possible to adjust those times depending on the activities for the day or must it still be the same time?  I'm guessing same time, but if not, that would be awesome!  some ports are earlier or later than others...even though we choose late TD every cruise, it would be nice to have dinner a little earlier based on shows we may want to see.  Thanks in advance for any clarification that can be provided.

[RRFan]

43 minutes ago, USCcruisecrazy said:

This may be addressed in the 26 pages of inputs, but I stopped after the first 3 pages...if we choose what would basically be TD (same table...same wait staff...same dining room) is it still possible to adjust those times depending on the activities for the day or must it still be the same time?  I'm guessing same time, but if not, that would be awesome!  some ports are earlier or later than others...even though we choose late TD every cruise, it would be nice to have dinner a little earlier based on shows we may want to see.  Thanks in advance for any clarification that can be provided.

I don't think anyone will know until the first of the summer AK cruises on Majestic have completed and those passengers come and report back to us.  My guess is that this will be just like traditional dining--if you're not there within 15-20 min of your assigned time, your table will be available for others who have walked up and requested a table that size.  If you know ahead of time that you won't be there for a particular evening (maybe you have a late excursion planned or a specialty dining reservation) just let your waiter know and they will make that table available for walk-ups.  If you get back late or want to eat earlier than usual, just decide whether you want to eat in the Lido or walk up and wait for a table (as anytime).  Or perhaps we will be able to adjust individual times with the app once it's working correctly?   Just my guesses.

[sailaway2joy]

The DMW portion of my Medallion app has not worked since last week. I checked with Princess and got the standard answer that they are aware and working on it.  Has any others had this problem?    Prior to this I was able to schedule dining times on future cruises in 2022 but not on the August Alaska cruise.  

[Steelers36]

29 minutes ago, RRFan said:

Or perhaps we will be able to adjust individual times with the app once it's working correctly?   Just my guesses.

Yes, you can use the Review/Book individual evenings option and scroll across to the day you want to override and book something else for that evening.  So, looks like it works as @USCcruisecrazy wished above.  I do think it still advisable to let your regular wait team know if not coming the next night.

 

Also, for @USCcruisecrazy, I wouldn't be so sure about that "same table" thing.  Hopefully, the MD's will sort out the mess, but we customers do not know if the MC App has assigned us the same table each night since there is no disclosure on that.  But when the App places people at various sizes of table over the course of a voyage (I have seen this myself and believe at least one other post mentioned it), then I am not so sure we are guaranteed same waiters and same table-mates which were key attributes of TD. 

 

I am very interested to see the reports come in from the initial cruises.

[dreaminofcruisin]

1 hour ago, USCcruisecrazy said:

This may be addressed in the 26 pages of inputs, but I stopped after the first 3 pages...if we choose what would basically be TD (same table...same wait staff...same dining room) is it still possible to adjust those times depending on the activities for the day or must it still be the same time?  I'm guessing same time, but if not, that would be awesome!  some ports are earlier or later than others...even though we choose late TD every cruise, it would be nice to have dinner a little earlier based on shows we may want to see.  Thanks in advance for any clarification that can be provided.

 

My "guess" .... and at this point that's all it is for anyone....is the following:

TD as it is known is no longer a booking option. However, in the DMW, you can select the same dining room same time each night. One would 'guess' this would be the same waiter. You could then, on any night, change your time and dining room to another available time and dining room. Whether or not you get the same waiter, might be doubtful, though possible. It seems that Princess has a lot of "Grand Plans" about this that their Marketing people have been broadcasting....pretty much telling you that you will get what you like. Whether that happens remains to be seen...my guess is initially there will be a lot of growing pains and maybe the app will evolve to be better over time.

[Host CJSKIDS]

Annoying as it is, it only offers me 8:40 each night if I try the MDR which isn’t what I would want.  I was able to book speciality dining using dining credit but canceled one to change it and the dining credit never showed back up.  So glitchy still. 

[cruzrbachoua]

4 minutes ago, Host CJSKIDS said:

 I was able to book speciality dining using dining credit but canceled one to change it and the dining credit never showed back up.  So glitchy still. 

How were you able to do this?  When I go to book it only shows my credit makes me have to sign in as hubby as well to get his credit essentially making 2 reservations for the specialty...BUT I can make both of us a reservation for MDR and do everything else for the both of us signed in as me....what couple would make specialty dining reservations separately?

[memoak]

1 hour ago, cruzrbachoua said:

How were you able to do this?  When I go to book it only shows my credit makes me have to sign in as hubby as well to get his credit essentially making 2 reservations for the specialty...BUT I can make both of us a reservation for MDR and do everything else for the both of us signed in as me....what couple would make specialty dining reservations separately?

What couple ? The one that is now longer talking to each other

[Nicole&Pete]

On 6/15/2021 at 8:21 PM, Steelers36 said:

Oh, that seems very old.  I would say 8pm and 10pm and also perhaps 7:45, 9:45.  Sometimes a 7:30pm start if having extra show on.  This is more by memory as I don't save Patters.  

 

I think it would be safe to anticipate major showtimes for begin anywhere from 7:30pm to 8:00pm and 9:30pm to 10:00pm.  Many shows are shorter in length now than they used to be several years ago.  Some are a short as 30 minutes or so, but 45 mins is a typical max.  

 

No doubt someone else will advise more definitely than my memory.  We typically have dined early (always) and make the early show if going to a major show.

Thanks for the info, we are at ports late so we were thinking maybe an 8:20 dinner but that sounds too late to get to the shows. 

[Nicole&Pete]

4 hours ago, sailaway2joy said:

The DMW portion of my Medallion app has not worked since last week. I checked with Princess and got the standard answer that they are aware and working on it.  Has any others had this problem?    Prior to this I was able to schedule dining times on future cruises in 2022 but not on the August Alaska cruise.  

Yes I've had the same problem I could book times and now it says DMW is not available. I'm assuming it will work itself out soon.