How to set dinning time preferences on reservation for mera?

[basketballdad]

Just checking my upcoming cruise and under the "stateroom and booking details" it says dinning preferences not set.  I swear we put in early dinning times when we booked the Fantastic experience.  I can see how to put in a dinning time request on line.  Any ideas?

[JT1962]

58 minutes ago, basketballdad said:

Just checking my upcoming cruise and under the "stateroom and booking details" it says dinning preferences not set.  I swear we put in early dinning times when we booked the Fantastic experience.  I can see how to put in a dinning time request on line.  Any ideas?

That seems to be another glitch in the infamous MSC website/ IT systems. I have 4 current bookings, all showing the same message, but Early Dining was requested and listed on the booking confirmation email.  The same thing happened on my recent Divina sailing, but I was assigned Early Dining on the cruise.

[Morgsmom]

3 hours ago, basketballdad said:

Just checking my upcoming cruise and under the "stateroom and booking details" it says dinning preferences not set.  I swear we put in early dinning times when we booked the Fantastic experience.  I can see how to put in a dinning time request on line.  Any ideas?

You likely won't find out until you get your boarding cards

[JamieLogical]

3 hours ago, basketballdad said:

Just checking my upcoming cruise and under the "stateroom and booking details" it says dinning preferences not set.  I swear we put in early dinning times when we booked the Fantastic experience.  I can see how to put in a dinning time request on line.  Any ideas?

 

I have the same issue on my upcoming bookings. My booking confirmations both show early dining, but the website says no preference selected and does not seem to give me a way to choose one.

[Ryan82]

Because they have to take everyone's preferences and allocate closer to when the ship sails. If everyone requests say early then clearly some folk will be bumped to later...

[JamieLogical]

1 hour ago, Ryan82 said:

Because they have to take everyone's preferences and allocate closer to when the ship sails. If everyone requests say early then clearly some folk will be bumped to later...

 

Not sure why they can't do it like Celebrity where they just make it part of your booking and it's first-come-first-served. If you book last minute, you get stuck with late dining.... I have definitely booked some late Celebrity sailings and only been able to choose late dining.

[Ryan82]

Hey @JamieLogical some passengers (like me) want late dinning. I'd imagine its mainly families that want early dinning. They also gave to accommodate for Aurea anytime guests as on some older ships there is no Aurea restaurant 

[JamieLogical]

On 2/8/2023 at 3:15 PM, Ryan82 said:

Hey @JamieLogical some passengers (like me) want late dinning. I'd imagine its mainly families that want early dinning. They also gave to accommodate for Aurea anytime guests as on some older ships there is no Aurea restaurant 

 

Sure, but on Celebrity, you can choose among the remaining dining times at the time of your booking. In my experience, the late dining fills up more slowly than the early and "anytime" options that Celebrities has, so late bookings are often left with only late dining as a option.

 

I just think MSC should work the same way. You choose your dining preference from the available times at the time of your booking. If early dining is already "full", then you shouldn't be able to book it. Celebrity does allow you to join a "waitlist" if your desired dining time is no longer available at the time of booking.

[Morgsmom]

Unfortunately you will find MSC (and certainly it's website) is less than "logical" 🙂

 

[CruisingFox27]

A few weeks ago, all bookings seemed to lose the dining preference. I've not checked ours again for a couple of weeks but will look again tomorrow. We're 7 weeks out now. 

[mowogo]

On 2/8/2023 at 1:15 PM, Ryan82 said:

Hey @JamieLogical some passengers (like me) want late dinning. I'd imagine its mainly families that want early dinning. They also gave to accommodate for Aurea anytime guests as on some older ships there is no Aurea restaurant 

MSC late dining does run quite late where you can realistically expect to be getting your main course at 9:30-10pm which can drive a lot of others that want to dine during the early evening time and find the European late too late (Late seating time was 8:30 and 9pm this week on the Meraviglia.)

[perakcruiser]

On 2/8/2023 at 7:25 PM, JamieLogical said:

Not sure why they can't do it like Celebrity where they just make it part of your booking and it's first-come-first-served. If you book last minute, you get stuck with late dining.... I have definitely booked some late Celebrity sailings and only been able to choose late dining.

MSC has a so much more complex business than the other lines with the option to board at different or even any port of the trip. Imagine how complex the cabin allocation is, it is the same for the restaurant sittings. With this in mind they handle it quite well.