Booking Steakhouse in advance - could/should be smoother.

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

I will say that Carnival has made some progress in regard to making reservations ahead of time for their Steakhouses. It used to be that one had to wait until onboard the ship (unless they had a connection within Carnival to do it ahead of time). Now they have an online form you can submit. Confirmations from the online submission generally arrive within a couple of days from what I've read. I suppose the Steakhouse hostess need to go into her books and manually make the reservation.

 

For the last few sailings we've taken on Celebrity I was able to book easily online. For our Eclipse sailing on Saturday I went online a few months ago - right into my reservation. From that point I would select one of 3 restaurants. I am then taken to a booking page for that restaurant which has pull down fields to enter the number in my party, the date desired, and the time desired. Once you enter the number of people and the date it will display the remaining time slots available.

 

From a web design standpoint, I can't imagine that would be very difficult to implement, and I am not sure why Carnival, being the largest cruise line in the world, does not integrate that kind of feature on its website. Granted, with Celebrity, when you make your bookings you pay in full with a credit card, though it is fully refundable up to 24 hours prior to your reservation, so its not like you can't change your mind.

 

Scratching head as to why Carnival does not have similar functionality to benefit their guests... ! :confused:

 

Tom

[gtalum]

Holland America has a system to reserve specialty dining. I'm surprised Carnival didn't adopt the same system. The current system is, frankly, just plain stupid and inefficient.

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

Holland America has a system to reserve specialty dining. I'm surprised Carnival didn't adopt the same system. The current system is, frankly, just plain stupid and inefficient.

 

Carnival appears to sometimes take pride in "marching to a different drummer" - even when their drummer is obviously out in left field somewhere.

 

Tom

[gtalum]

What's most amazing is that generally Carnival is brutally efficient when it comes to expenses and revenue. The current process is ridiculously labor-intensive (read: expensive) for them and probably reduces customer traffic.

 

A simple bit of html code would save them a lot of time and money and probably increase customer traffic at the steakhouses.

[JKJG3]

I sail on the Dream the first week of the May, and about 2 weeks ago tried to book the Steakhouse for one evening.

 

Under the "manage my cruise" tab on the website, I submitted the form for the steakhouse and received no reply for two weeks.

 

A few days ago; I re-submitted the form and have a confirmation from the steakhouse manager a few hours later.

 

I dunno?!

[Billzilla66]

I had no problems booking the steakhouse on the Legend for the first night, so it seems to work fine for me. I'm just saying...:rolleyes:

[gtalum]

I had no problems booking the steakhouse on the Legend for the first night, so it seems to work fine for me. I'm just saying...:rolleyes:

 

Oh it works, usually. It's just inefficient and inconsistent from ship to ship.

[ryanpatricksmom]

I've booked the steakhouse probably six times over the years on a few different ships and I've never seen the steakhouse more than half-full. Are there some ships where reservations are tough to come by?

[joepeka]

I've booked the steakhouse probably six times over the years on a few different ships and I've never seen the steakhouse more than half-full. Are there some ships where reservations are tough to come by?

I wonder about this too. We've never had a problem waiting until on-board and making a reservation for the day and time we preferred. Maybe we've just been lucky?? :confused:

[meekaG]

i will be on the liberty and would like to go to the steakhouse one night, but i would like to see what the MDR menu is and decide then. do you know what i mean? i dont want to make reservations right now, online, for a random night and then find out that i like the menu in the MDR for that night better. would it be okay to wait, check out the MDR menu in the day time, and then make reservations in the steakhouse for that night?

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

i will be on the liberty and would like to go to the steakhouse one night, but i would like to see what the MDR menu is and decide then. do you know what i mean? i dont want to make reservations right now, online, for a random night and then find out that i like the menu in the MDR for that night better. would it be okay to wait, check out the MDR menu in the day time, and then make reservations in the steakhouse for that night?

 

Usually they'll still have a table or two - though not necessarily at the time you'd prefer. It can vary widely by ship and sail date, I have been on many that were sparsely attended on some nights (you'll find us in there EVERY night), and others where there were no reservations left for the sailing - and that was early in the week. Usually you can go to the dining room and request to see the menus for future nights. With that you should have a better idea which night to pick. Having said that, I have been shown menus - and then two days later they end up switching menus/nights... and nobody bothered to tell me! :eek: :D

 

Tom

[joepeka]

i will be on the liberty and would like to go to the steakhouse one night, but i would like to see what the MDR menu is and decide then. do you know what i mean? i dont want to make reservations right now, online, for a random night and then find out that i like the menu in the MDR for that night better. would it be okay to wait, check out the MDR menu in the day time, and then make reservations in the steakhouse for that night?

This is pretty much the reason we wait until on-board to make the reservation - we aren't sure that far ahead what night we will want to do the steakhouse. We haven't waited until the same day to make the reservation (which is what I think you're suggesting by wanting to check the MDR menu first) but even if the night you decide you want to go, they're full, there will probably be other nights to choose. Also, I think you can get the MDR menu for the full week after you're on-board if you ask for it. I think.... :confused:

[nodogkisses]

Last night I booked three separate reservations for the David's Steakhouse on the Pride for my cruise in a few months. Each night is a new reservation. Within 12 hours, I had three separate confirmations back via email. I also booked The Chef's Art Steakhouse a couple of months back and was emailed my confirmation within a day. No problems with that one, either. And, when I got onboard and confirmed the reservation, it was there. Never have I had a problem making online reservations for the steakhouses pre-cruise.

[sanmarcosman]

Not to mention Carnival's Brand Ambassador receives reservation requests and often mentions the number of reservations he submitted to the ships on any given day. What a waste of resources.

 

Also their web site still has a pdf file on it for the MDR dinner menus from five years ago! I have e mailed Carnival's press office about it and they just send me a general "thanks for sharing" e mail and do nothing about taking down the old menu. :(

[Guest LoveMyBoxer]

I will say that Carnival has made some progress in regard to making reservations ahead of time for their Steakhouses. It used to be that one had to wait until onboard the ship (unless they had a connection within Carnival to do it ahead of time). Now they have an online form you can submit. Confirmations from the online submission generally arrive within a couple of days from what I've read. I suppose the Steakhouse hostess need to go into her books and manually make the reservation.

 

For the last few sailings we've taken on Celebrity I was able to book easily online. For our Eclipse sailing on Saturday I went online a few months ago - right into my reservation. From that point I would select one of 3 restaurants. I am then taken to a booking page for that restaurant which has pull down fields to enter the number in my party, the date desired, and the time desired. Once you enter the number of people and the date it will display the remaining time slots available.

 

From a web design standpoint, I can't imagine that would be very difficult to implement, and I am not sure why Carnival, being the largest cruise line in the world, does not integrate that kind of feature on its website. Granted, with Celebrity, when you make your bookings you pay in full with a credit card, though it is fully refundable up to 24 hours prior to your reservation, so its not like you can't change your mind.

 

Scratching head as to why Carnival does not have similar functionality to benefit their guests... ! :confused:

 

Tom

 

I have no idea what you are talking about. We have booked the steakhouse on the Miracle, Pride and Glory online via our cruise reservation page since 2009! I have done it online each time and then get an e-mail confirmation each and every time. Once on the ship, there is a confirmation card waiting in our room with the date and time.

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

I have no idea what you are talking about. We have booked the steakhouse on the Miracle, Pride and Glory online via our cruise reservation page since 2009! I have done it online each time and then get an e-mail confirmation each and every time. Once on the ship, there is a confirmation card waiting in our room with the date and time.

 

Does the online feature give you available/remaining times, and you book on the spot, or do you wait for an email reply/confirmation?

 

That is the point/difference I am trying to make.

 

Tom

[meekaG]

thank you!

[nodogkisses]

You book on the spot. There is a little drop down for the times--you pick when you want to dine. On the hour and half hours only. The confirmation email just thanks you for choosing the steakhouse and confirms the amount of people and the date/time of your reservation. They then go on to ask you to re-confirm your reservation once onboard. Just looked at my email--they give an extension number for the steakhouse if you just want to phone them once onboard. Then they say they look forward to serving you.

[nodogkisses]

One other thing, you don't pay until you actually are leaving the steakhouse after your dinner. They just take your S & S card and put the charges on there. They do ask, however, that if your plans change, to please let them know.

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

You book on the spot. There is a little drop down for the times--you pick when you want to dine. On the hour and half hours only. The confirmation email just thanks you for choosing the steakhouse and confirms the amount of people and the date/time of your reservation. They then go on to ask you to re-confirm your reservation once onboard. Just looked at my email--they give an extension number for the steakhouse if you just want to phone them once onboard. Then they say they look forward to serving you.

 

So, does it filter out times which may not be available (real time booking engine) or does it offer ALL times, and confirm after the fact? I can't imagine ALL times being available right up until the sail date - particularly 7PM and such.

 

Tom

[freagan]

Not to mention Carnival's Brand Ambassador receives reservation requests and often mentions the number of reservations he submitted to the ships on any given day. What a waste of resources.

 

Chef's Table, not steakhouse.

 

If you are going to be snarky, please get your facts right while doing so.

[sanmarcosman]

Chef's Table, not steakhouse.

 

If you are going to be snarky, please get your facts right while doing so.

 

Thanks for the quick correction. Still a waste of the man's time, imo, and no snarkiness intended.

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

...and no snarkiness intended.

 

I did not perceive any snarky component to your post.

 

Tom

[Guest LoveMyBoxer]

Does the online feature give you available/remaining times, and you book on the spot, or do you wait for an email reply/confirmation?

 

That is the point/difference I am trying to make.

 

Tom

 

YES to available times/remaining times, and yes then it is confirmed in an e-mail.

[Steve-N-Steph]

Well I just submitted our reservations for the Steakhouse on our upcoming Dream cruise in March. The process was fairly easy, however we will see how long it takes to get a confirmation.