HAL changes restaurant reservations?

[Mike B Landlubber]

I’m on a lengthy cruise on Rotterdam, my first on the big new ships, so I wanted to try all the specialty restaurants. Months before the cruise I made and paid for reservations in all the specialty places, including one in Morimoto and one for a special Rijstaffel dinner, which I’d never heard of, but was looking forward to as I am cruising in SE Asia next year. My first reservation was in Tamarind. A few days later, Navigator showed another reservation in Tamarind, despite my only making one in each restaurant. I figured I must have made a mistake during reservations, shrugged and went a second time and thought no more of it. A few days later, I was checking back through the emails confirming my original reservations and I saw that I had a reservation for Morimoto on the day of the second Tamarind. Checking Navigator showed no more opportunities for Morimoto. I didn’t mind that HAL had apparently needed to cancel Morimoto, but was annoyed they changed it to a different restaurant without even advising me. This caused me to do an audit of all my restaurant reservations. I found that the Rijstaffel reservation had been changed to a Tamarind reservation! There was no sign of Rijstaffel in Navigator. I can accept HAL having to adjust availability of restaurants, but I don’t like them changing canceled reservations to my least favorite restaurant without advising me! I’m going to speak to Customer Service and get the remaining Tamarind reservation changed to Pinnacle or canceled. Is this common? Up until now I’ve generally only had one or two specialty restaurants scheduled per cruise from HIA or other package, and not encountered it. Or am I completely missing something?

Edited June 9 by Mike B Landlubber

[Sebbiesgrammy]

This "glitch" in the system's restaurant identity is due to the fact that both Morimoto dinner and special Rijstaffle dinners are served in the Tamarind space.  Enjoy them all. 

 

[Mike B Landlubber]

1 hour ago, Sebbiesgrammy said:

This "glitch" in the system's restaurant identity is due to the fact that both Morimoto dinner and special Rijstaffle dinners are served in the Tamarind space.  Enjoy them all. 

 

I suspect you are right—At lunch today I saw signs for Rijstaffel in the Tamarind on the day mentioned above. I suspect I missed out on Morimoto since I assumed they would put me in the right place. I will know next time!

[Navybikermom]

I had reserved the Rijstaffel also and it was served in Tamarind, which confused me for a bit. It’s a delicious meal, so I hope you enjoy it!

[Sebbiesgrammy]

There is no Morimoto restaurant per se. They have the special Morimoto dinner in Tamarind so your Navigator app is correct.  Also, you can always check and try to get more specialty reservations on board. Morimoto uses Tamarind only one evening for each cruise segment as best I can tell.  

[ChinaShrek]

All dinner reservations made in advance of a cruise should be checked in person once you are on the cruise. Not only can there be internet glitches but they may change things to accommodate groups. 

[SeaMatesNYC]

1 hour ago, ChinaShrek said:

All dinner reservations made in advance of a cruise should be checked in person once you are on the cruise. Not only can there be internet glitches but they may change things to accommodate groups. 

You are so correct. Two cruises ago my Rudi’s reservation went from Sea day prime spot to last day at 8:30 as someone bumped me AFTER boarding. After much discussion Maitre ‘D staff was able to return to original date time, but not before being offered “5:30 or 8:30”. Always keep an eye on your reservations lest games are played and your slots given to other priority passengers. 

[Mike B Landlubber]

To close this out…The reservations people explained that Tamarind would be all Rijstaffel on that day, not serving their regular menu. True to their word, they even changed the costumes for the waitresses to something I assume is Indonesian. So I got what I had reserved and was happy! 🙂

[lcand1923]

I booked, and paid for, Specialty Dining Reservations before boarding my Alaska Legends Cruise.  All disappeared from the Navigator App once I boarded.

 

I stood in the Dining Services line once onboard and rebooked everything.

 

i had one more glitch that got worked out, but I am continuing to monitor my reservations.

 

i know the Casino is starting to give out meals and this cruise has a LOT of President’s Club and 5 Star Mariners.