Were We Late For Dinner?

[johneeo]

I guess I need to get this clarified. If dinner is at 6 pm, but they open the doors at 5:45 pm to allow people to start getting seated, and we get to the dining room at 6:01 pm, we are 16 minutes late?

 

No, you would be 1 minute late.

[Ocean Boy]

Maybe they could install bells in the dining room like back in high school. If you are not in your seat when the bell rings you have to go down to the naughty room to get a late pass.

[jmf123]

Maybe they could install bells in the dining room like back in high school.

 

Love it! :p I am an advocate of closing the dining room doors at the appropriate time as in the past. I also have enjoyed the delicate melodious chimes alerting HAL passengers as the dinner hour approached each evening. ;)

[wolfcathorse]

NO! You were not late. I was on this same cruise and found all the staff and crew helpful. I'm sorry you ran into the 1 staff/crew that wasn't on top of things. It was the ass't maitre'd's fault for assigning you a table that had people at it the second night. Then he compounded it by not writing it on your card. Lastly he must have forgotten to click "save" on the computer as the entry giving you that table didn't stay in the system.

[bus man]

NO! You were not late. I was on this same cruise and found all the staff and crew helpful. I'm sorry you ran into the 1 staff/crew that wasn't on top of things. It was the ass't maitre'd's fault for assigning you a table that had people at it the second night. Then he compounded it by not writing it on your card. Lastly he must have forgotten to click "save" on the computer as the entry giving you that table didn't stay in the system.

 

With all due respect, I disagree with your first assertion. There are really two questions being asked here: (1) was the OP late? and (2) was it his fault? The answers are (1) yes, and (2) no.

[tonit964]

I'm amazed the OP was able to get early dining, booking only two days before the cruise.

Toni

[cruisegirl1]

To the OP – after reading your account, if you believe you were late by no fault of your own, why do you care what those seated near you think?

 

Best wishes,

M

[DragonMouse]

If their seating service is at 6:00 and they arrive at 6:00 how on earth can they be considered late? If they open the doors to begin seating at 5:45 then some people may be seated before 6:00 others will be seated a little after. It's not like everybody walks into the "Wonka" factory at the exact same time...elbowing and biting each other to be first.

 

They were SEATED by 6:15...perfectly reasonable time...however...rather sloppy service by the head waiter who SHOULD have asked them to wait while HE ran around to find another table. I still say their table was given away prematurely...Their table should not have been released as a "no show" till AFTER 6:15. But I blame a "murkey" reservation system most like attributed to the late cruise reservation.

 

And really if they ARE late by a few minutes...I just don't understand the big deal. :rolleyes: We had people arrive both before us and after us and it didn't seem to matter. Nobody starved. People are on vacation...

 

ON the positive note...the OP did admittedly have excellent service for the rest of the cruise. You can't hold a "grudge" on 15 minutes of error.:)

[readytogo2]

Personally I have no idea why the OP came on here to ask if he was late or not...who cares what others think, the only thing that should matter is his wife's well being. I do feel for you and your wife.

Last year I traveled on the Grandeur with my son,age 28, he has Aspergers Syndrome ,it is high functioning Autism. He also has OCD and has tics/twitches. As soon as we boarded the ship, I immediately went to the Dining Room to speak to the maitre'd requesting a table for 2. I did not want my son to be made uncomfortable if there were any reactions form table mates that had no understanding. I have to also add that my son is obsessed with checking his watch. My son also asks inappropriate questions, for example, if he noticed someone walking in late for Dinner, he would ask why that person or persons were late. So you see, if my son was the man who was checking his watch, then the OP would be judging him also. We all judge at times,even though we shouldn't.

[Ocean Boy]

If their seating service is at 6:00 and they arrive at 6:00 how on earth can they be considered late? If they open the doors to begin seating at 5:45 then some people may be seated before 6:00 others will be seated a little after. It's not like everybody walks into the "Wonka" factory at the exact same time...elbowing and biting each other to be first.

 

Have you ever taken a look at the group waiting for the dining room doors to open?:eek::D

[xpcdoojk]

So, as we approach the table, we saw our waiter and asked what was up. He asked to see our sea pass card to confirm the table was ours. He looked at the card, and with the no table printed on it, said we needed to get a table assigned.

 

Oh yeah, did I mention we ate there the night before????

 

The table was in the middle of the MDR, and as painful as it was for Mrs E. we walked back to the entrance of the MDR to find out what was going on. A waiter at the entrance asked if they could help us. We explained that we needed to find out where our table was for the night. He looked at the card and didn't understand why there wasn't a table number on it. We explained booking late and getting a table number. He then asked why we didn't write the number on the card so we wouldn't forget it.:rolleyes:

 

Again we explained we had a table, but now there were people sitting there.

 

Finally a head waiter showed up, and we explained what happened. He said we must be mistaken and "escorted" us to the table. Of course when we got there, the other people were still there. DUH. Back to the MDR main entrance.:(

 

He looked through all the available seats and informed us the only table that had room was a table for ten. I expressed dismay that it was now after 6 p.m. and didn't want to disrupt the other table. He said not to worry and "escorted" us to that table. This time the ten top table had...you guessed it, ten people seated at it.

 

He told us to follow him back to the entrance and he would find a different table. I stopped him, and explained that walking was very painful for Mrs E.

 

Anyways we walked back to the entrance, and he found a different table. This time a table for two. But it was on deck 3. I was getting angry now. I told him to go to that table, make sure there was room, and then come back to the fourth floor and get us when he was sure there was an open table.

 

He refused, and said we needed to follow him. At this point Mrs E. was in tears form the pain. I told him she needed to take the elevator down one flight. He insisted the stairs would be fine, it was only one flight down.

 

We followed him down the stairs and to the new table.

 

Proudly Mrs E. walked to the new table. Tears pouring down her face from the pain.

 

We finally got seated at 6:15 and as we sat down, a person at the table next to us looked at us, then their watch, then at us again, and shook their head.

 

To those already seated at the adjoining table, we appeared late.

 

WERE WE?????

 

 

No, you were not late, but at that point they should have seated you at a table for two. That said the people who you joined were not expecting you to join them so, they were probably not affected because their waiter probably had already taken their orders so to them you were nothing more than a surprise. Late is when you arrive at a table that you have established tablemates, where the waiter has to delay taking their orders in order to serve everyone together.

 

That said, I am sorry to hear about your wife's condition, and I hope for your sake things get better.

 

One other side note, while you were not late, I do feel that you are acting out a bit on this thread for dramatic effect...

 

jc;);)

[Saberj]

If their seating service is at 6:00 and they arrive at 6:00 how on earth can they be considered late?

 

The question was: "So, were we late for dinner?"

 

As far as I'm aware, they won't actually serve you while you are walking around the dining room. You have to be at your table in order to get dinner. So yes, they were in fact late to dinner.

 

But again, it's not like it was their fault, nor is it a big deal. But the answer to the question is a pretty simple one.