Earlier this year, Carnival-owned Princess Cruises rolled out a new approach to dining across its fleet to give passengers greater flexibility and choice when it comes to their dining experiences. The cruise line now offers three table service options for main dining – traditional seating times, reservable dining times and walk-in anytime open seating – designating separate dining rooms for each one.
After completing updates to its Princess app, the cruise line invited passengers to use the app ahead of their voyage to set their dining preferences and make main dining room reservations, if desired. But for many passengers, making dining reservations ahead of time in the app wasn’t as easy as it sounded.
Related: Carnival Cruise Line won’t make an old school dining change
Once their cruise is paid in full, most Princess passengers are granted access to dining reservations in the Princess app. While some passengers are able to successfully make their dining reservations in the app, many others have reported ongoing issues with the system.
For some passengers, not being able to make their dining reservations in the app prior to their cruise meant spending some of their precious cruise vacation time standing in line to make dining reservations once on board the ship.
Image source: Princess Cruises.
Princess Cruises launches 24/7 phone line for dining reservations
To overcome its app challenges and offer more convenience to passengers, Princess Cruises has now introduced a new 24/7 phone line specifically dedicated to cruise dining reservations called the Dine Line.
Passengers can call the Dine Line at 1-833-805-DINE from on or off the ship, before or during their Princess cruise to make or adjust dining reservations for traditional, specialty, and experiential dining options across the entire Princess fleet. They can also use the service to make reservations for group dining for parties of eight to up to 50 guests.
Related: Princess Cruises embraces a growing beverage trend
Experiential dining options available to reserve through the Dine Line include 360: An Extraordinary Experience aboard Discovery Princess and Enchanted Princess; as well as Love by Britto and Spellbound by Magic Castle available on Sun Princess and Star Princess, the cruise line's newest ship launching in fall 2025. Passengers sailing on the first voyages aboard Star Princess will soon be able to make their dining reservations too.
Additional experiential dining experiences, like the Chef's Table, and Caymus Winemaker Dinners, will soon be available to book through the Dine Line as well.
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The Dine Line can also be used to purchase Princess cruise packages
Along with making and changing dining reservations, passengers can use the Dine Line to purchase the cruise line’s onboard cruise packages, Princess Plus and Princess Premier packages. The cruise line’s top-tier Princess Premier package is a nearly all-inclusive package offering unlimited specialty dining, an unlimited Premier beverage package, unlimited MedallionNet Max Wi-Fi, and more.
Princess Captain's Circle Platinum and Elite members, passengers booked in Suites, and those sailing in the cruise line’s luxury Sanctuary Collection can use the Dine Line immediately after booking, even if their cruise reservation is not yet paid in full. All other passengers can access dining reservations once their cruise reservation is paid in full.
Related: Princess, Norwegian Cruise Line add new itineraries
While reservable dining is so popular on Princess cruise ships that the cruise line now has a dedicated phone service to dining reservations, its other two main dining options are still available. Passengers who want the traditional cruise ship dining experience can opt for traditional seating in a dedicated dining room with the same waiter, same table and same time each night. Traditional dining offers an early and a late seating each evening.
Those who want more dining flexibility can choose from reservable dining times or enjoy walk-in dining in the open-seating dining room. With three main dining options, plus a phone line dedicated to helping passengers with dining reservations, it's clear the cruise line takes personalized dining seriously.
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