Carnival switched my dinner time after it was confirmed!

[eiamapia]

Hi,

I would love any advice that would help to fix this situation.

 

My family is cruising in a few days on the Freedom and we were confirmed early dining. My mother ended up buying a room on the same cruise and I called Carnival two days ago and asked if she could be placed with us at dinner. I was told that she would have to be wait listed for early dining which was fine.

 

I got an email today congratulating me on being placed on the LATE dinner, something I absolutely did not want. I immediately called Carnival again and was told nine different ways that there is nothing they can do now, it's too late. This was one of their employees mistakes and they can't fix it?

 

They only thing I can do is talk to the wait staff when I get on the boat and I really would like their mistake fixed before that.

Help?

[ProgRockCruiser]

All I can suggest is call again, and escalate it to a supervisor perhaps. Or hit their FB page with a query.

 

if that doesn't get you anywhere, as soon as you get on board go talk to the maitre-d'.

 

If none of that works, you might be forced to show up at the early time, with your print out of confirmation of early seating time if you have it, and ask them to figure out where they are going to seat you.

 

Sounds to me like they did mess up your reserved time, and by freeing up your original slot, someone on the waitlist got added, and now there is "no available tables" for you. Sorry to hear about that.

[grumpyjr88]

Would switching to your time dining be an option for you? Then you can still go early.

[ABQrobin]

You can always switch once onboard the ship.

We usually do YTD so that we can eat whenever we want, which is usually early. Only time we did Early dining, we were seated at a table with several other couples, one couple hated early and switched to Late after the first night, one couple preferred the buffet since they could eat some of everything, that meant our table of 8 was just left to 2 couples most nights. It was very odd, and the waiters always wanted to wait to see if the others showed up or not, so our meals never got served as fast as the other tables. We went back to YTD after that, since its just the 2 of us most cruises it works better for us.

Our last cruise we were waitlisted for YTD and when we checked in for boarding we were already confirmed, printed on our S&S cards.

 

.

[Havingfun2010]

Hi,

I would love any advice that would help to fix this situation.

 

My family is cruising in a few days on the Freedom and we were confirmed early dining. My mother ended up buying a room on the same cruise and I called Carnival two days ago and asked if she could be placed with us at dinner. I was told that she would have to be wait listed for early dining which was fine.

 

I got an email today congratulating me on being placed on the LATE dinner, something I absolutely did not want. I immediately called Carnival again and was told nine different ways that there is nothing they can do now, it's too late. This was one of their employees mistakes and they can't fix it?

 

They only thing I can do is talk to the wait staff when I get on the boat and I really would like their mistake fixed before that.

Help?

 

If I'm reading it right, you had two issues. First you booked and were confirmed early dining, but than you requested to be linked with your mother. So what should Carnival do? Make you mother eat at late dining? Or put you all together at one seating? Oh, what should they do? Either way, someone is not happy. Your confirmation is no longer valid, once you made a change/request. It's not Carnival's mistake, they just wanted to sit you together, at what is available. On the ship, see if it can be changed and enjoy your dinner with your mother.

[beerman2]

It seems worse than it is. Just take a few minutes when you get on board go talk to maitre 'd and see if he can fix it.

 

Good chance they will/can fix it. They've been through this before.

 

YTD is another option and show up early.

 

Good luck it will work out.

[sc4125]

If I'm reading it right, you had two issues. First you booked and were confirmed early dining, but than you requested to be linked with your mother. So what should Carnival do? Make you mother eat at late dining? Or put you all together at one seating? Oh, what should they do? Either way, someone is not happy. Your confirmation is no longer valid, once you made a change/request. It's not Carnival's mistake, they just wanted to sit you together, at what is available. On the ship, see if it can be changed and enjoy your dinner with your mother.

 

 

OP I had these same questions - if your mother was waitlisted for early dining with you and they were unable to accommodate her, would you have just left her to fend for herself? I'm sure that the employee you spoke to assumed you wanted to have your mother with you at dinner and the late seating was the only way to accommodate that request. I'm not sure what you want them to do now or what you wanted from them in the first place??

[jedi bobs]

You could also try John Hearld the brand ambassitor, he is taking requests and questions right now.

[ProgRockCruiser]

OP I had these same questions - if your mother was waitlisted for early dining with you and they were unable to accommodate her, would you have just left her to fend for herself?

I'm pretty sure if that had been presented to the OP as the only viable choice, the OP would indeed have switched the whole party to late dining, or perhaps split the party if more appropriate. The OP gave no indication of being made aware of such a situation.

 

I'm sure that the employee you spoke to assumed you wanted to have your mother with you at dinner and the late seating was the only way to accommodate that request. I'm not sure what you want them to do now or what you wanted from them in the first place??

From what the OP wrote in the original post, it did not sound like a Carnival employee made any assumptions on behalf of the OP, rather it sounds like Carnival admitted the switch to Late-dining was an error, but it is "too late" to fix it now.

 

It is quite possible the OP would have been happier with a bulk switch to "your time dining" instead of Late.

 

Regardless, the OP should be able to negotiate something once on board after speaking with the maitre d'.

 

Good luck OP, do let us know how things work out after your cruise!

[dmdiver]

We were waitlisted for anytime dining once & when we got to the ship saw that we had been assigned late dining. We simply went to the maitre'd and he switched us to early dining since ATD was still full. It didn't take but a minute of our time. Hopefully you will be able to get a better dining arrangement. I know I don't like to eat that late, either.

[Essiesmom]

Carnival does not guarantee your dining request unless you are Diamond loyalty level. They confirm that you have requested a certain seating. Even we lowly platinums have no guarantee of our seating any more. EM

[mskaufman]

On our recent cruise (last month) we were waitlisted for YTD. Three days before the cruise I received an email confirming that we were on late seating and the YTD request could not be accommodated. When we checked in the S&S card had us on YTD.

 

You never know.

[summersigh]

You could also try John Hearld the brand ambassador, he is taking requests and questions right now.

I would contact John Heald at the site that cannot be named here as well;p. Posts in the morning to him are normally dealt with that day. It would be easier and less stressful if you can get this straightened out before you board the ship.

[Alaskan Joe]

Hi,

I would love any advice that would help to fix this situation.

 

My family is cruising in a few days on the Freedom and we were confirmed early dining. My mother ended up buying a room on the same cruise and I called Carnival two days ago and asked if she could be placed with us at dinner. I was told that she would have to be wait listed for early dining which was fine.

 

I got an email today congratulating me on being placed on the LATE dinner, something I absolutely did not want. I immediately called Carnival again and was told nine different ways that there is nothing they can do now, it's too late. This was one of their employees mistakes and they can't fix it?

 

They only thing I can do is talk to the wait staff when I get on the boat and I really would like their mistake fixed before that.

Help?

 

Like everybody else says "go to the maitre 'D when you first board the ship". My dw wife and I do this first thing every cruise. We would go and see if we could see the menus for the whole week to see which night was a bad menu (at least for us), then we would quickly go to the steak house and book it for that night. On the second cruise while we were doing the menu thing we noticed that our dinning time was LATE:eek:. We were like, "we booked early dinning:confused:" the maitre 'D said I will put in at the early seating:D. Now this was RCCL however, we had this same thing happen on the Carnival Valor out of San Juan. We noticed we had been reassigned to the last seating, again we talked to the Maitre 'D and he took care of us. So our next cruise 14 days Alaskan we have booked our steak house for the very first night (because of the wine special you get), "so no need to visit MDR upon arrival" my dw says. I told her yes there is, we need to still confirm the early dinning time and the table size. Remember though be nice:halo: not angry:mad: it will get you farther, and I think a Benjamin will get you a lot farther;).

[kdawg954]

A benjamin . . . on the first night? Yea that is not happening lol

[eiamapia]

Thanks for the advice. I will talk to the staff when I get on the boat for sure and I will definitely be kind as I am not an angry or snarky person. What I am is a planner and I like things to be set but I'm sure it will work out. Maybe I will try to talk to John as well :) Thanks again!

Happy cruising, friends!

Edited January 8, 2018 by eiamapia

[Essiesmom]

Email the maitre'd and explain your problem and desires. He will be working now on the seating plan for the next cruise. Easier for him to fix it now than have to rearrange later. Email for Freedom is fdmaitred@carnival.com. EM

[Shaded Lady]

Carnival does not guarantee your dining request unless you are Diamond loyalty level. They confirm that you have requested a certain seating. Even we lowly platinums have no guarantee of our seating any more. EM

Really? so 'Dining Time: Your Time 5:45-9:30 (Confirmed)' doesn't mean I'm confirmed for that time? If I made a dinner reservation on a land-based restaurant that was 'confirmed' and I showed up only to be told it had been switched to 2.5 hours later, I wouldn't be very happy! In this case, I'm reading 'confirmed' as pretty darned 'guaranteed'!!!

 

I understand that someone may have messed up as a result of OP's request to have her mother added to early dining with her family, but has anyone else had their dining choice changed by Carnival without their requesting a change to their dining time?

[JerseyGirlJen]

I've noticed that once in a while when I log into my account that my dining or bed type has been changed. I update it whenever it happens. I'm cruising in April and January '19 and I keep an eye on it periodically.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[wanderingjew]

I would contact John Heald at the site that cannot be named here as well;p. Posts in the morning to him are normally dealt with that day. It would be easier and less stressful if you can get this straightened out before you board the ship.

 

At least the OP will get rancid berries

[LondonTowner]

We would never want an early sitting, but are often allocated one. We just speak to Maitre D on board the first afternoon and change to late sitting.

 

Not exactly a problem that needs to be escalated to a management level member of staff.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[Alaskan Joe]

Really? so 'Dining Time: Your Time 5:45-9:30 (Confirmed)' doesn't mean I'm confirmed for that time? If I made a dinner reservation on a land-based restaurant that was 'confirmed' and I showed up only to be told it had been switched to 2.5 hours later, I wouldn't be very happy! In this case, I'm reading 'confirmed' as pretty darned 'guaranteed'!!!

 

I understand that someone may have messed up as a result of OP's request to have her mother added to early dining with her family, but has anyone else had their dining choice changed by Carnival without their requesting a change to their dining time?

 

Read my post highlighted;

 

Like everybody else says "go to the maitre 'D when you first board the ship". My dw wife and I do this first thing every cruise. We would go and see if we could see the menus for the whole week to see which night was a bad menu (at least for us), then we would quickly go to the steak house and book it for that night. On the second cruise while we were doing the menu thing we noticed that our dinning time was LATE:eek:. We were like, "we booked early dinning:confused:" the maitre 'D said I will put in at the early seating:D. Now this was RCCL however, we had this same thing happen on the Carnival Valor out of San Juan. We noticed we had been reassigned to the last seating, again we talked to the Maitre 'D and he took care of us. So our next cruise 14 days Alaskan we have booked our steak house for the very first night (because of the wine special you get), "so no need to visit MDR upon arrival" my dw says. I told her yes there is, we need to still confirm the early dinning time and the table size. Remember though be nice:halo: not angry:mad: it will get you farther, and I think a Benjamin will get you a lot farther;).

 

So yes it happens you do get changed. However, we say "we were confirmed for early seating up until we boarded the ship?" Which by the way was the truth...LoL and the Maitre 'D has always fixed our issue, two different cruise lines.

[Alaskan Joe]

We would never want an early sitting, but are often allocated one. We just speak to Maitre D on board the first afternoon and change to late sitting.

 

Not exactly a problem that needs to be escalated to a management level member of staff.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

 

I feel going from early to late is very easy since early dinning is the most popular selection.

[summersigh]

At least the OP will get rancid berries

If I feel the need to address a problem with John Heald - getting freebies is not a motivation - and we've never been offered any berries of any kind.

 

Rather I'm concerned that my problem be resolved before boarding and John has taken care of that in the 2 times I've contacted him. ;)

[amsred2]

I just want to add a thought. I work in the service industry and we do, occasionally, get something wrong. Even more rare, we get something wrong that we cannot reverse, but it does happen. Many people take on the position that it is a personal attack and that the (agent) doesn't WANT to find a solution. These are human mistakes and can happen as no one...NO ONE...is perfect. Sometimes there is truly nothing to be done except profusely apologize. The best action is to accept the sincere apology and try to make the best of it. Don't let something like this ruin your vacation or taint the lifelong memories you will make.

 

"You can't control what other people say or do, you can only control your reaction to them."

 

(This is not specifically directed at the OP or any post...just a note in the defense of the human machine and a reminder that everyone makes mistakes.)