Traveling with International Guests - Dining Issues

[ancestry]

OWe have cruised many times but this is the first time we are traveling with a party from another county. We are US based and they are Canadian.

 

We were able to link our reservations together for the purpose of check in and getting our set-sail passes. I can see theirs. They can see mine. 

 

However we were having all kinds of problems making our on board entertainment reservations and dining reservations together.

 

We kept getting a computer error which said “Unfortunately these reservations may not be combined to create a single reservations. Please proceed to make separate reservations for each party.”  

 

Three long phone calls to Royal Caribbean. No one seemed to know why. Finally during the last call the customer service agent said the problem is because the reservations are in different currencies (US dollars and Canadian dollars) and that entertainment and dining reservations will need to be made by each party separately rather than linked because of the currency issue. 

 

The customer service agent got us the dining times we wanted and reserved them for each party since we both have my time dining. I’m concerned that even though both parties were able to reserve my time dining at 7:45 PM that we may not be seated together since the dining reservation isn’t showing for a party of five but rather a party of three and a party of two. The agent said that would not be a problem and the five of us should just show up together and say we want to eat at the same table and we would be seated together. I don’t feel confident with this answer. 

 

Any one have experience with this? Does the different currency answer make sense?

 

 

 

Edited April 13, 2019 by ancestry

[taglovestocruise]

26 minutes ago, ancestry said:

OWe have cruised many times but this is the first time we are traveling with a party from another county. We are US based and they are Canadian.

 

We were able to link our reservations together for the purpose of check in and getting our set-sail passes. I can see theirs. They can see mine. 

 

However we were having all kinds of problems making our on board entertainment reservations and dining reservations together.

 

We kept getting a computer error which said “Unfortunately these reservations may not be combined to create a single reservations. Please proceed to make separate reservations for each party.”  

 

Three long phone calls to Royal Caribbean. No one seemed to know why. Finally during the last call the customer service agent said the problem is because the reservations are in different currencies (US dollars and Canadian dollars) and that entertainment and dining reservations will need to be made by each party separately rather than linked because of the currency issue. 

 

The customer service agent got us the dining times we wanted and reserved them for each party since we both have my time dining. I’m concerned that even though both parties were able to reserve my time dining at 7:45 PM that we may not be seated together since the dining reservation isn’t showing for a party of five but rather a party of three and a party of two. The agent said that would not be a problem and the five of us should just show up together and say we want to eat at the same table and we would be seated together. I don’t feel confident with this answer. 

 

Any one have experience with this? Does the different currency answer make sense?

 

 

 

The agent is spot on about MTD.  With MTD you just walk up together and ask for a table for 5, without reservations you may have a 5 minute wait. You could also make a trip to the dining room as soon as you board and make reservations for the week for your group.   The part about currency differences is total BS. The shows are free and so is dining.  We were on Oasis with a group of ten,  my wife made all the nightly reservation for all 10 through the cruise planner. 

[Thorben-Hendrik]

1 hour ago, ancestry said:

Does the different currency answer make sense?

I think the agent was very creativ!👍

[Clarea]

3 hours ago, ancestry said:

 ...

Any one have experience with this? Does the different currency answer make sense?

 

 

 

 

I know the currency for which the cruise was booked does affect some things in the booking.  I don't know if this is the cause of your issues.  However, if Ken sees this, perhaps he can explain more as he has experience with Canadian bookings.

[brillohead]

Since you have MTD, this is really a non-issue, since nobody will have a table assigned to them.

If it will ease your mind, you can stop at the dining room after boarding and confirm that they have the reservations all linked.  

[Ourusualbeach]

3 hours ago, ancestry said:

OWe have cruised many times but this is the first time we are traveling with a party from another county. We are US based and they are Canadian.

 

We were able to link our reservations together for the purpose of check in and getting our set-sail passes. I can see theirs. They can see mine. 

 

However we were having all kinds of problems making our on board entertainment reservations and dining reservations together.

 

We kept getting a computer error which said “Unfortunately these reservations may not be combined to create a single reservations. Please proceed to make separate reservations for each party.”  

 

Three long phone calls to Royal Caribbean. No one seemed to know why. Finally during the last call the customer service agent said the problem is because the reservations are in different currencies (US dollars and Canadian dollars) and that entertainment and dining reservations will need to be made by each party separately rather than linked because of the currency issue. 

 

The customer service agent got us the dining times we wanted and reserved them for each party since we both have my time dining. I’m concerned that even though both parties were able to reserve my time dining at 7:45 PM that we may not be seated together since the dining reservation isn’t showing for a party of five but rather a party of three and a party of two. The agent said that would not be a problem and the five of us should just show up together and say we want to eat at the same table and we would be seated together. I don’t feel confident with this answer. 

 

Any one have experience with this? Does the different currency answer make sense?

 

 

 

The answer that they gave you about the currency is correct.  Each country is operated as a separate business and reservations between countries cannot be linked.  

 

If you think thats bad you bad you should see the issues that occur when a person from the US makes a booking and tries to transfer it to a Canadian travel agent.😱

[Clarea]

2 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

 ...

If you think thats bad you bad you should see the issues that occur when a person from the US makes a booking and tries to transfer it to a Canadian travel agent.😱

 

Yeah, I'll bet I know a couple of posters here that have run into that problem.

[rncruiser]

When I was traveling with two other couples I got the same message when I tried to book dining for all of us together. I had no trouble with the entertainment reservations. When I called customer service I was told that dining could not be booked because we had all booked the cruise using different travel agents. We all would have had to call customer service to give our permission for one of us to book everyone’s dining. It was too much effort and i just booked our MTD dining times as soon as we boarded. 

[Missbollinger]

This is why when we booked we booked as a group together. We are US and rest of the party are flying in from the UK. Since it was booked in the UK, everything is in GBP, oh well, you can’t win everything!


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[ancestry]

Thanks everyone for the information especially those with the Canadian experience. 

 

Just to clarify we both booked together at the same time on a conference call directly through Royal Caribbean over the phone. We didn’t use travel agents. During the initial booking we were told that everything was linked together. 

[Desert Cruizers]

During our last cruise on Princess, not Royal Caribbean, I went to the dining room and  gave the names of the other couple and received a card with our Table # which I gave a copy to the other couple upon seeing them. Royal Caribbean might handle this a little differently but you should as mentioned, go to dining, give the other parties full name & room # to make sure your all seated together for dining at least. 

[upwarduk]

We had the same problem on Celebrity. We were travelling with a Canadian couple and our reservations were linked. I had booked our Any Time Dining times, but could not add them. She asked her TA to do it, but was told that as it was a different currency, she couldn’t combine it either. But she also told us to go to the MDR on embarkation afternoon, which we did. Our bookings were then combined without any problem for the entire cruise. We were assigned to a particular section at the back of the dining room, where we had the same waiters for the entire cruise.

[travelplus]

MTD is like a land restaurant. Make sure that everyone in your party who wants l to dine with you is together. Also both of you can select the same time in the Cruise planner MTD reservation and show up a few minutes before. Let the desk agent know that going forward this group will for the most part dine together. It's as simple as that. 

[travelplus]

58 minutes ago, upwarduk said:

We had the same problem on Celebrity. We were travelling with a Canadian couple and our reservations were linked. I had booked our Any Time Dining times, but could not add them. She asked her TA to do it, but was told that as it was a different currency, she couldn’t combine it either. But she also told us to go to the MDR on embarkation afternoon, which we did. Our bookings were then combined without any problem for the entire cruise. We were assigned to a particular section at the back of the dining room, where we had the same waiters for the entire cruise.

What does currency have to do with dining together and linking your reservations? 

[upwarduk]

6 minutes ago, travelplus said:

What does currency have to do with dining together and linking your reservations? 

No idea, except that Select Dining on Celebrity is booked through the same section as Speciality Dining, on the cruise planner.

Edited April 14, 2019 by upwarduk

[brillohead]

4 hours ago, travelplus said:

What does currency have to do with dining together and linking your reservations? 

I think it's just that they get processed through different servers/programs in Royal's super-competent IT department. (that's my sarcasm font)

It's like trying to read your email on your Facebook program -- they simply don't work together that way.