I'm early dining but the Olds booked last minute!

[Ak4n3]

I booked since 2018 for the Panorama for hubby and kidlets.  I asked the parentals if they wanted to join us, they said no. 

 

Fast forward to Oct 30, 2019, now they asked me what my cruise plans were. I hurriedly  booked them to join us on our same Panorama cruise, and could only get an interior guarantee for them because that was the cheapest I can find.  Pops said that they're fine with that arrangement and don't mind whatever Carnival would give them at the last minute.  They don't even have a dining assignment, the YTD and either of the seating are not available for them.

 

Since my stateroom scheduled early dining, will it be easy to get my parents to join me for early seating?  Should I wait for to speak to the maitre'd once on board?  Any insight would be appreciated.

[adventuredancer]

make sure to link their booking with you so that you can sit together. you didn't say when you were leaving. have you tried calling carnival directly? one time DH & i ran into some people we know at the terminal. we decided to ask if we could sit together. they couldn't move us/them and do the seating arrangements unless we all did ytd (which wouln't have worked across 4 different couples).

[Ak4n3]

26 minutes ago, adventuredancer said:

make sure to link their booking with you so that you can sit together. you didn't say when you were leaving. have you tried calling carnival directly? one time DH & i ran into some people we know at the terminal. we decided to ask if we could sit together. they couldn't move us/them and do the seating arrangements unless we all did ytd (which wouln't have worked across 4 different couples).

Yes, our booking is linked.  Calling Carnival is a good idea, we board January 2020 so I'm torn to emailing now or wait 4 days before boarding and bug John Heald.   

 

We did YTD before when all 6 of us cruised together, neither the kidlets or the olds liked to wait for our whole party to be called.  Our family likes early dining and having the table ready for us at dinner time.  

 

If push comes to shove, I would have to give up my early dining just so we can have dinner together...but I don't want to....I hope not... 

Edited November 6, 2019 by Ak4n3

[marci4tony]

Why would you "bug" John?

[Ak4n3]

15 minutes ago, marci4tony said:

Why would you "bug" John?

I saw on his book of faces page that he or his assistant can help people with two separate bookings but same dining time to request as one table, something like that. Mine is different as my parents don't have any assigned dining time at all.

[coevan]

Your parents should have some type of assigned or YTD seating on their cruise documents. 

[Organized Chaos]

If you logon to their booking, they should be waitlisted for one of the dining times. You can change their waitlist to Early dining, if it isn't already. If enough people cancel or get moved, those on the waitlist get moved up the list. They'll either receive an email before the cruise telling them which dining time they were given, or they'll find out on embarkation day during check-in.

 

You can try to contact the Maitre D' by email and request they be given Early dining. There's no guarantees, and even if they grant the request, your parents may or may not get a response back. Or you can speak to the Maitre D' on embarkation day and make the request. If it's granted, they probably can't make the change until the second night.

[antmaril]

The Olds?  This literally made me laugh out loud.  

 

Good luck making your plans.  I hope it all works out for you.  

[Mutumbojimbo]

I would keep checking their documents, a Dining Time should be set eventually, but I think sometimes they may get closed off so Carnival can have space for the people that have guaranteed choice of dining due to their loyalty status. I would also call and get your bookings linked, we did a cruise with 4 other people and did that which made sure we were all seated together. My last thought is that helping with this sort of request is one of the things that John Heald and his staff do, this seems like a reasonable request to me, just beware that if you ask for a ship-on-a-stick along with your request, there will probably be folks on facebook who will stir up a fuss 😉 

[Ak4n3]

24 minutes ago, coevan said:

Your parents should have some type of assigned or YTD seating on their cruise documents. 

 

Their cruise documents still say none

 

 

19 minutes ago, Organized Chaos said:

If you logon to their booking, they should be waitlisted for one of the dining times. You can change their waitlist to Early dining, if it isn't already. If enough people cancel or get moved, those on the waitlist get moved up the list. They'll either receive an email before the cruise telling them which dining time they were given, or they'll find out on embarkation day during check-in.

 

You can try to contact the Maitre D' by email and request they be given Early dining. There's no guarantees, and even if they grant the request, your parents may or may not get a response back. Or you can speak to the Maitre D' on embarkation day and make the request. If it's granted, they probably can't make the change until the second night.

 

 

I've been trying since we booked to get anything set up for them, but once I clicked on save, the red message pops up.  I can't click or unclick either "none" or the ytd choice in the waitlist.  

 

Hopefully, I can set them up even as a wait list for early dining later on.  I still have about  50 days before sailing.

[Ak4n3]

32 minutes ago, Mutumbojimbo said:

My last thought is that helping with this sort of request is one of the things that John Heald and his staff do, this seems like a reasonable request to me, just beware that if you ask for a ship-on-a-stick along with your request, there will probably be folks on facebook who will stir up a fuss 😉 

 

Oooohhh, ship on a stick!  😛 Hmmm...what to do, what to do... 

[Ak4n3]

37 minutes ago, antmaril said:

The Olds?  This literally made me laugh out loud.  

 

Good luck making your plans.  I hope it all works out for you.  

 

My sister and I are very irreverent, but we love the parentals just as much as the next person.  They don't mind us calling them that at all... well, unless they already written us out  of their will without telling us. 😱

 

Thank you, I hope so too.

[Mutumbojimbo]

2 minutes ago, Ak4n3 said:

 

Oooohhh, ship on a stick!  😛 Hmmm...what to do, what to do... 

Personally, I'd ask for the dining reservation and the Ship on a Stick, the people who fuss are just internet strangers with A LOT of time on their hands. If you really play your cards right you might even end up with some cookies or chocolate covered strawberries too

[Ak4n3]

2 minutes ago, Mutumbojimbo said:

Personally, I'd ask for the dining reservation and the Ship on a Stick, the people who fuss are just internet strangers with A LOT of time on their hands. If you really play your cards right you might even end up with some cookies or chocolate covered strawberries too

 

I'm sure that he and his staff can and will try to cater to customers' requests (within reason) as a way to foster goodwill for the corporation.  Makes for good publicity.  Well, how would you know if they can't give you something unless you ask, right?  

[marci4tony]

Please remember - he is only one person - and the "face" of 28 ships with an estimated capacity of 225,000 daily cruise guests, he may or may not be able to assist.  I would recommend contacting Carnival at the below information.  They will be more than happy to help, and if unable to do so, will point you in the right direction of someone who can.

 

Have questions about your current reservation?

Contact our Customer Service team.

(800) 764-7419

Mon-Sun 7:00am to 12:00am EST

[Ak4n3]

16 minutes ago, marci4tony said:

Please remember - he is only one person - and the "face" of 28 ships with an estimated capacity of 225,000 daily cruise guests, he may or may not be able to assist.  I would recommend contacting Carnival at the below information.  They will be more than happy to help, and if unable to do so, will point you in the right direction of someone who can.

 

Have questions about your current reservation?

Contact our Customer Service team.

(800) 764-7419

Mon-Sun 7:00am to 12:00am EST

 

Thanks for the info.  I called Carnival Customer service, the only thing they can do for me at this point is to link my parents' and my booking.  They still can't assign any dining for them and can't put them on wait list. 

 

Oh well, I'll keep an eye on the dining availability online,  maybe I'll luck out.  

 

 

[Kenster]

On 11/6/2019 at 4:58 PM, Ak4n3 said:

 

My sister and I are very irreverent, but we love the parentals just as much as the next person.  They don't mind us calling them that at all... well, unless they already written us out  of their will without telling us. 😱

 

Thank you, I hope so too.

I sometimes referred to mine as the APs.  (Aged Persons.)

[tallnthensome]

It’s mind blowing the things people want to bug John Heald with ...... I can’t imagine the eye rolling and facepalming this poor guy must do all day ..... 

[Nic6318]

40 minutes ago, tallnthensome said:

It’s mind blowing the things people want to bug John Heald with ...... I can’t imagine the eye rolling and facepalming this poor guy must do all day ..... 

 

Hi

 

He has been doing this for a lot of years. Nothing is new for him and does have staff to help.

[Organized Chaos]

On 11/7/2019 at 11:35 AM, Ak4n3 said:

 

Thanks for the info.  I called Carnival Customer service, the only thing they can do for me at this point is to link my parents' and my booking.  They still can't assign any dining for them and can't put them on wait list. 

 

Oh well, I'll keep an eye on the dining availability online,  maybe I'll luck out. 

 

It's odd that you can't at least save a waitlisted time, and that the customer service rep. can't waitlist you for one of them on their end. The wait-list exists specifically for occasions when one or more of the other dining times are full. How can the wait-list be full, too? LOL I agree, just keep checking. If all else fails, you'll learn their assigned time at check-in and you might have to request a change with the Maitre D' if they don't get Early.

[antmaril]

On 11/6/2019 at 5:58 PM, Ak4n3 said:

 

My sister and I are very irreverent, but we love the parentals just as much as the next person.  They don't mind us calling them that at all... well, unless they already written us out  of their will without telling us. 😱

 

Thank you, I hope so too.

I get it.  I would be considered one of “The Olds” and this wouldn’t bother me at all.  That’s why it made me laugh.  You sound like fun people.  

 

Have a a great time!  

[Roscoe13]

10 hours ago, Organized Chaos said:

 

It's odd that you can't at least save a waitlisted time, and that the customer service rep. can't waitlist you for one of them on their end. The wait-list exists specifically for occasions when one or more of the other dining times are full. How can the wait-list be full, too? LOL I agree, just keep checking. If all else fails, you'll learn their assigned time at check-in and you might have to request a change with the Maitre D' if they don't get Early.

I thought the exact same thing until our little cruise group added two more this past Monday for a sailing on the Panorama 1/18/2020.  I told the 2 people ready to book to call my PVP and book through her and make sure our bookings were linked.  They did but were not able to get late or early dining and are waitlisted for YTD.

 

I said, WTH, let me see your booking info and they sent me a screen shot that shows just that.  Not that big of deal to us as we always have to meet with the Maitre D on the first day as my wife has Celiac to go over menu's, etc.  We will bring up the seating situation then as well and hopefully we can all dine together from the first night forward.

 

I really think it has something to do with the brand new ship.  Perhaps a change in MDR assignment protocol for those booking at or after final payment date?

Edited November 9, 2019 by Roscoe13

[Ak4n3]

The parentals have their assigned cabin number (that was quick, I was not expecting that until December or a week before our sailing).  They are not waitlisted for any dining.  Hopefully, something will turn up and we can be seated together.