New to Princess- confused about default dining option assigned

[Ready2go11]

After many loyal years with Holland America, we are trying a 4 night Thanksgiving cruise on the Royal Princess this year. Our booking includes the information below. What in the heck does dining migrated to ocean mean?  I googled it and it looks like it has something to do with the medallion app but I am not making the connection in terminology. 
 

Thanks in advance for the help. 

 

 

Special Requests

Dining Preferences:

Dining Requests: DINING MIGRATED TO OCEAN

[topspot]

If you download the medallian app on your phone, you will be able to make reservations for the time and dining room that you wish.  You can also pick table size and if you would like to share with others or dine with just your party.

[AtlantaCruiser72]

This is the default descriptor/placeholder that the Princess GDS reservation system has since traditional dining was discontinued. 
 

Princess now has “Dine My Way” aka Freestyle dining. No pre set times or allocated tables/dining companions. All open seating in all dining venues. Reservations are not required, but can be made via the Medallion Class app in advance of sailing if you wish, or even once onboard. When making reservations you can link friends traveling with you, choose which dining venue you prefer, the time, and whether you wish to have a table for just your party, or if you wish to share with others. Table #s are not assigned and you may have different waitstaff each evening. You “may” be able to arrange the same table/section/waitstaff once onboard but it is not guaranteed. 

[Moondogy]

It also means if you want to do it online, there is a link on the summary page of your cruise on princess website. Click on the link and it takes you to the Ocean.com site where you will need to log in again there (username and PW the same as princess site) there you can enter everything you could on the app plus do DMW also.

[4x4bob]

On 7/14/2022 at 4:32 PM, Ready2go11 said:

After many loyal years with Holland America, we are trying a 4 night Thanksgiving cruise on the Royal Princess this year. Our booking includes the information below. What in the heck does dining migrated to ocean mean?  I googled it and it looks like it has something to do with the medallion app but I am not making the connection in terminology. 
 

Thanks in advance for the help. 

 

 

Special Requests

Dining Preferences:

Dining Requests: DINING MIGRATED TO OCEAN

In your special requests example you posted, a word was left off which would have made the Dinning Preferences requests more easy to under stand.  It should have read "Ocean Ready" which is the title of their Ap that ties to their medallion. 

[Steelers36]

On 7/14/2022 at 7:36 PM, topspot said:

If you download the medallian app on your phone, you will be able to make reservations for the time and dining room that you wish.  You can also pick table size and if you would like to share with others or dine with just your party.

@Ready2go11 will not be able to make any dining reservations until they have made Final Payment on the cruise.  Only loyalty levels Platinum and Elite have early access to DineMyWay.

[caribill]

This still does not say what "dining migrated to Ocean" means.

 

Even if this is default wording, what is it supposed to mean?

[2022cruisey]

With the Medallion app, Ocean is the part of it where you book your dining. So the area where you book dining times has been migrated to the Ocean part of the app.

[YWW]

On 7/14/2022 at 4:36 PM, topspot said:

If you download the medallian app on your phone, you will be able to make reservations for the time and dining room that you wish.  You can also pick table size and if you would like to share with others or dine with just your party.

No guarantee the Medallion app works since there are currently lots of issues with the app. If you use your Medallion app to make reservation for the time and dining room, and if it asks "Reserve for the same time each day?" and if you answer yes. Be careful even if it comes back with a confirmation because this particular feature of this app doesn't work. We recently used this feature to reserve a private table in the main dining room in our upcoming 10-day Alaska cruise. We picked out a time that was available and said "yes" to reserving the same time each day for our journey. To our shock a week later when we checked the daily calendar to confirm our dinner reservation, nothing was reserved except for the second day. So we called Princess and spoke to an expert in the Dine My Way about this problem. He said the app doesn't provide an error message or warning when it can't find availability for the entire journey. If it detects availability on one day only, it'll confirm instead of telling you no such time or place available for rest of the journey. So the rep had to manually reserve the dining time and place for us. Bottom line is DON'T trust this app. Double check your confirmation.

[sloopsailor]

14 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

@Ready2go11 will not be able to make any dining reservations until they have made Final Payment on the cruise.  Only loyalty levels Platinum and Elite have early access to DineMyWay.

 

Not true. Our next cruise is 8 months out and I have had all my dining times and table types entered for all fifteen nights. We've only made a deposit on this cruise. This is only our second Princess cruise so we certainly are not Platinum or Elite status. 

 

Also, we're changing times and restaurants each night and hoping to get a table in different locations in the rooms for variety. I was able to very easily make reservations for every venue and time we wanted.  

Edited July 16, 2022 by sloopsailor

[sloopsailor]

41 minutes ago, YWW said:

No guarantee the Medallion app works since there are currently lots of issues with the app. If you use your Medallion app to make reservation for the time and dining room, and if it asks "Reserve for the same time each day?" and if you answer yes. Be careful even if it comes back with a confirmation because this particular feature of this app doesn't work. We recently used this feature to reserve a private table in the main dining room in our upcoming 10-day Alaska cruise. We picked out a time that was available and said "yes" to reserving the same time each day for our journey. To our shock a week later when we checked the daily calendar to confirm our dinner reservation, nothing was reserved except for the second day. So we called Princess and spoke to an expert in the Dine My Way about this problem. He said the app doesn't provide an error message or warning when it can't find availability for the entire journey. If it detects availability on one day only, it'll confirm instead of telling you no such time or place available for rest of the journey. So the rep had to manually reserve the dining time and place for us. Bottom line is DON'T trust this app. Double check your confirmation.

 

It must be hit or miss. I made all of our dinner reservations over two weeks ago for our March 2023 cruise and all the reservations are still intact on the Dine My Way page of the app. However, for variety they aren't all for the same time and place, but rotating through the different restaurants and at different times depending on expected activities. 

[Steelers36]

2 hours ago, sloopsailor said:

 

Not true. Our next cruise is 8 months out and I have had all my dining times and table types entered for all fifteen nights. We've only made a deposit on this cruise. This is only our second Princess cruise so we certainly are not Platinum or Elite status. 

 

Also, we're changing times and restaurants each night and hoping to get a table in different locations in the rooms for variety. I was able to very easily make reservations for every venue and time we wanted.  

I can say two things.  I have suspected this may be the situation in some cases as I could not logically explain the fullness of regular DR reservations on a couple of our voyages long before FP Date.  The second thing is you are lucky - I think.

 

Perhaps there is a 3rd thing - and no offense - why is Princess opening up DMW to non-Platinum and non-Elites when the policy states otherwise and it is a specific benefit for those loyalty levels?

 

(I am assuming you are not in a Suite - and you wouldn't even need DMW if you were since you would be dining in Club Class and need no reservations other than Specialty Dining).

[Steelers36]

On 7/14/2022 at 7:36 PM, topspot said:

You can also pick table size and if you would like to share with others or dine with just your party.

This is one of the major flaws in DMW:  NO, you cannot select a table size.  We used to be able to request a preferred table size when booking and it was stored in POLAR and we would see it in Cruise Personalizer.  As time went by, all sizes might not be shown there.  

 

With DMW, all you can do is select SHARING or PRIVATE.  With SHARING, you have zero control over the table size and won't know it until you show up for dinner.  You will need to speak with the on-board DR mgmt to try and get the size you want.  A couple might like sharing at a 4-top, 6-top, 8-top, or 10-top.

 

With PRIVATE, the system is attempting to find a table to fit the size of your dining party.  If not found, it may come back with nothing available, or it may say you have to SPLIT the party up (say it was two couples).  This is completely dumb, but it is what they have done.

 

[sloopsailor]

38 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

I can say two things.  I have suspected this may be the situation in some cases as I could not logically explain the fullness of regular DR reservations on a couple of our voyages long before FP Date.  The second thing is you are lucky - I think.

 

Perhaps there is a 3rd thing - and no offense - why is Princess opening up DMW to non-Platinum and non-Elites when the policy states otherwise and it is a specific benefit for those loyalty levels?

 

(I am assuming you are not in a Suite - and you wouldn't even need DMW if you were since you would be dining in Club Class and need no reservations other than Specialty Dining).

 

Where does the policy say only Platinum or Elite are allowed to reserve before final payment? The only reference I have found is in the Captain's Circle loyalty benefits chart where it says, and I quote: "early access to Dine My Way reservations". No where does it say that ONLY Platinum or Elite are allowed to book reservations early.

 

And I am in the cheapest mini-suite category, so no, not in a suite or even Club Class. And I don't think I am lucky. I think that the app works fine for most people. 

[wowzz]

Of course, you could just turn up at the MDR of your choice when you are hungry !

[Steelers36]

1 hour ago, sloopsailor said:

 

Where does the policy say only Platinum or Elite are allowed to reserve before final payment? The only reference I have found is in the Captain's Circle loyalty benefits chart where it says, and I quote: "early access to Dine My Way reservations". No where does it say that ONLY Platinum or Elite are allowed to book reservations early.

 

And I am in the cheapest mini-suite category, so no, not in a suite or even Club Class. And I don't think I am lucky. I think that the app works fine for most people. 

 

Okay, you have jogged my memory.  I can tell you that I had a series of emails with Princess (a CR contact) way back when DMW was first released.

 

You raise a good point from this perspective (Captain's Circle Benefits).  A question back then was would Princess open up DMW (and Arrival Groups) some days ahead of the rest of the folks so that we would have first access.  One example of this process is when new voyages are released for sale, Elites have a 1 day jump on everyone else.  So, would DMW open up some days prior for Elites and Platinum? 

 

I do think the biggest question for this approach was for Arrival Groups and would Princess open those up earlier for Elites, then Platinums, etc?  (That has never happened to my knowledge).

 

The true approach to DMW is indicated on the Princess.com Dining page. 

 

Go to this page on Princess.com:  https://www.princess.com/ships-and-experience/food-and-dining/dine-my-way/

 

Look down at the first section "Access Dine My Way".  Here you will read:

 

• Most guests will be able to access once your cruise is paid in full.
• Early access for Captain's Circle Platinum and Elite members as well as guests booked in Club Class and Suites.

 

The second bullet indicates that only Platinum and Elite members (plus anyone in Club Class or a Suite who is not already at those member levels) can access DMW once they have a booking.  All others are supposedly waiting until they have made Final Payment (which can be done anytime they want prior to the due date).

 

Certainly not everyone is getting early access to DMW,  You are some sort of exception situation and I cannot explain it. 

 

I will just note again that no one in CC or a Suite needs to make a DR reservation.  In fact, a message pops up informing the guest they have CC dining as a reminder.  The only need for DMW for those folks is if they wish to book Specialty Dining. 

 

And this is not the only situation where documentation for Captain's Circle Member benefits is vague and not spelled out.  They used to have other old and outdated info before the new set of benefits was released.

 

Bottom line is you got lucky and we have no idea how many others are in the same situation.

Edited July 16, 2022 by Steelers36

[sloopsailor]

3 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

Okay, you have jogged my memory.  I can tell you that I had a series of emails with Princess (a CR contact) way back when DMW was first released.

 

You raise a good point from this perspective (Captain's Circle Benefits).  A question back then was would Princess open up DMW (and Arrival Groups) some days ahead of the rest of the folks so that we would have first access.  One example of this process is when new voyages are released for sale, Elites have a 1 day jump on everyone else.  So, would DMW open up some days prior for Elites and Platinum? 

 

I do think the biggest question for this approach was for Arrival Groups and would Princess open those up earlier for Elites, then Platinums, etc?  (That has never happened to my knowledge).

 

The true approach to DMW is indicated on the Princess.com Dining page. 

 

Go to this page on Princess.com:  https://www.princess.com/ships-and-experience/food-and-dining/dine-my-way/

 

Look down at the first section "Access Dine My Way".  Here you will read:

 

• Most guests will be able to access once your cruise is paid in full.
• Early access for Captain's Circle Platinum and Elite members as well as guests booked in Club Class and Suites.

 

The second bullet indicates that only Platinum and Elite members (plus anyone in Club Class or a Suite who is not already at those member levels) can access DMW once they have a booking.  All others are supposedly waiting until they have made Final Payment (which can be done anytime they want prior to the due date).

 

Certainly not everyone is getting early access to DMW,  You are some sort of exception situation and I cannot explain it. 

 

I will just note again that no one in CC or a Suite needs to make a DR reservation.  In fact, a message pops up informing the guest they have CC dining as a reminder.  The only need for DMW for those folks is if they wish to book Specialty Dining. 

 

And this is not the only situation where documentation for Captain's Circle Member benefits is vague and not spelled out.  They used to have other old and outdated info before the new set of benefits was released.

 

Bottom line is you got lucky and we have no idea how many others are in the same situation.

 

I guess that "Don't YOU Know Who I Am???" message I sent to every Princess email address imaginable worked well for me after all. LOL!

 

This all perfectly matches the inconsistencies that Princess seems to be known for. I will enjoy my lucky break and will savor every minute of my "priority booking" dining times. 

 

Thanks for the friendly chat on this topic. 

[harryfat1]

21 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

@Ready2go11 will not be able to make any dining reservations until they have made Final Payment on the cruise.  Only loyalty levels Platinum and Elite have early access to DineMyWay.

That's my experience as well.  I couldn't book any dining reservation on the app until after final payment.  When I tried to do it prior to final payment, the error message pops up saying we can only book it post final payment.  

 

We are in the lowly Gold level and basic cabins so zero perks on our reservation.

 

As for discussion on selecting "private" table, it will depend on if you want to dine at the popular time or not as well as party size. 

 

We are a party of 6 sailing in 3 weeks and if we opt for a popular time of 7 PM, the option is very limited as only can go to Allegro Dining Room:

 

 

 

 

But if selecting the time slot 20 minutes earlier to beat the rush, one can have more options:

 

 

 

Although one wonders why you would want to select the option to have your party split up when you can dine together?  Unless one is in the dog house with the spouse and she doesn't want to sit with you...

[sloopsailor]

13 hours ago, harryfat1 said:

That's my experience as well.  I couldn't book any dining reservation on the app until after final payment.  When I tried to do it prior to final payment, the error message pops up saying we can only book it post final payment.  

 

We are in the lowly Gold level and basic cabins so zero perks on our reservation.

 

As for discussion on selecting "private" table, it will depend on if you want to dine at the popular time or not as well as party size. 

 

We are a party of 6 sailing in 3 weeks and if we opt for a popular time of 7 PM, the option is very limited as only can go to Allegro Dining Room:

 

 

 

 

But if selecting the time slot 20 minutes earlier to beat the rush, one can have more options:

 

 

 

Although one wonders why you would want to select the option to have your party split up when you can dine together?  Unless one is in the dog house with the spouse and she doesn't want to sit with you...

 

In case readers are not aware, as I was not when first I started making reservations, the only time that ever came up for me was 7:00pm. I soon figured out that this was just a suggestion and the times could be scrolled through at 20 minute intervals for a time more satisfactory. Just click on a time earlier or later and that time should scroll into the window. Keep doing that until your preferred time is selected. Then reserve it. 

Edited July 17, 2022 by sloopsailor