jacketwatch

Hi K: I need some advice if you please. Some friends are joining us this summer on the Star Princess. Naturally we wanted to dine together. He told his TA who is different from ours to cross reference their dining with ours. This was about 6 wks. ago. I called Princess today and was told they are cross referenced with us but while we are confirmed they are #248 on the wait list so I called my friend who called his TA. Well his TA forgot to make the dining request to be seated with us! So is there any advice you can give me to try to expedite this? Princess said there is a good chance it will go through despite such a high wait list number. The cruise is June 11. Any advice appreciated. Thank you. Larry

kfusto

Larry, I know you sailed with Princess before. Can Captain's Club help you at all? Fax them or email them and ask for assistance.

or...

Is your TA in the same city as his? If they are, I would have one of the TAs (preferably the one who does the most Princess business) email his/her District Sales Manager and ask for a favor. I know all of my DSMs and they are a good resource. If they are not in the city, pick the one with the best relationship with Princess and try that.

Those two things come to mind right away and I, like you, would rather know now and not later.

If I think of anything else, I will post back.

Good luck!

jacketwatch

Thanks so very much. I will try the Captains club angle first. My friend has already expressed his disappointment to his TA who also happens to be his neighbor. he told him he is now considering cancelling the trip if he can't get the seating and table he requested weeks ago. Hopefully he can pull some strings. I booked with Costco but I can try to call them tomorrow. It won't hurt. Thanks again and I hope this will get sorted out. Larry

clarasong

We have usually found that this sort of thing can be sorted out on the boat..they do try to be flexible, and we have even changed dining rooms on the Star, which we took from Thailand to Venice about 3 years ago, as the people next to us had babies that cried non stop.

Theresa

Usually it can be sorted out on the ship.

But if it can't..... you can always do anytime dining and eat with them each night that way. If your trip is port intensive, you should have no problems with anytime dining.

jacketwatch

Actually anytime dining may not be a good choice because my wife and our friends will have special meal requests (Indian food) which I think may require a fixed seating to be prepared fresh every night. I amm hopeful we will get it sorted out. I followed kfusto's advice and emailed Princess thru my Captains Circle avenue so we will see. Thank you. Larry

kfusto

Larry, any luck with this?

jacketwatch

Not yet. That is I have yet to hear from Princess. I did email them about 1 wk. ago thru the Capts. Circle avenue and resent the message yesterday. I must say its disappointing there's been no reply after 1 week. I'll call them again Sat. if I haven't heard by then. Thanks for asking and I'll update this thread as info becomes available and please feel free to add anything that possibly could be of use. Cheers, Larry.

kfusto

Do they have a fax? I find that with some lines they keep up better than they do with email.

Don't give up!

jacketwatch

Well I called them just a bit ago (I've never been patient. Couldn't wait till Sat. ) and did speak to someone in the CC area. They said they did not get the 1st email but looked for the 2nd one and replied. Unfortunately there isn't much they can do. Our friends are wait listed. CC can't override others who are wait listed ahead of them which really is the fair thing to do. A rep I spoke to at Princess told me to hang on because there are often cancellations just B4 final payment is due which I find odd. I would assume those who cancel lose at least some $$. Have you seen this B4? He said there are often many cancellations of this type. Oh well its now really up to our friends. If we can't eat together he said he would cancel his trip. That would be unfortunate. We'll see. Thanks again for you help and concern. Larry.

Theresa

One can cancel before final payment with no penalty - you get your full deposit back. At least in the US it is this way. I know in the UK it is different.

Though some agencies may have their own penalty, Princess itself does not penalize you if you cancel before final payment.

-Theresa

jacketwatch

Aha! So thats it. Thanks Theresa.