online booking requesting table

[ciska40]

Hi,

did anyone ever booked online with the HAL and requested a sertain tablenumber?? I found the layout for the diningroom with the tablenumbers for the Zuiderdam and now I want to book online and request that table is that possible???

 

Ciska

[lougee1043]

Hi,

did anyone ever booked online with the HAL and requested a sertain tablenumber?? I found the layout for the diningroom with the tablenumbers for the Zuiderdam and now I want to book online and request that table is that possible???Ciska

 

you can make the request to hal --- final decision is made by the maitre d onboard the ship

[HeatherInFlorida]

Ciska, Lougee is right and I just want to add that I suggest you make a call to Ship's Services to request the specific table rather than email. They may suggest you send your request in writing, but a little conversation with a real live person never hurts:) .

 

I know they make every effort to accommodate you and many CCers have been very successful in the past. Ships Services passes it on to the Maitre D' and I'm sure the only problem would arise if more than one passenger has requested the same table.

 

I've never tried because I don't know the HAL dining rooms well enough to know where the serving stations are. I wouldn't want to be right next to one if possible. So I leave it to chance and so far we've been very lucky.

 

Good luck.

[RJ2002]

Can someone explain exactly how the table requent and assignment process works.

 

Here is my situation. I had an email from my TA stating that I "had a table for 2". However, in a follow-up email direct with HAL Ship Services, they said I had a "request for a table for 2 and that the table size is not confirmed until on board". The information from HAL seems to be consistent with what others have said in other threads.

 

However, in some threads, I have read that when a specific table size was requested in advance, folks were told the table size was 'waitlisted'. Does this mean that HAL will honor a certain number of specific table size requests in advance until they run out of that size?

[hammybee]

RJ: Good question and I don't think anyone other than HAL knows. It might even operate differently, ship to ship and cruise to cruise. The dynamics of dinner seating have to be far more challenging than the politics of wedding planning.

 

My speculaton is that HAL strives to satisfy all preferences based upon the constraints of capasity. They are working with a fixed number of seats at each seating and within this, they try to balance passenger preferences, seating time, table size, location, specific tables, solo cruisers, family cruisers couples and so on.

 

If more people want early or late seating than they have seats, some of those people are going to be dissappointed. The more requests they receive for a particular table, the greater the likelihood some will be dissappointed.

 

I also speculate that cabin category probably influences the likelihood of getting the seating and table you prefer. Some passengers pay a premium to sail and should be accommodated, before those paying a fraction of the cost. ( I am one of those that pays a fraction and don't expect the same considerations as those that are paying many times what I did for the same cruise)

[sail7seas]

Guests who book suites are guaranteed their dining time of choice.......or at least they have been up until now.

 

Anyone can make a request for dining time. Sometimes at the time of booking you will be told it is full and have to make a second choice and can be waitlisted for the one of choice.

 

Anyone can call Ships Services and request a particular table by number. NO ONE is guaranteed that will be their table.

 

The request is forwarded to the Maitre d' on the ship. Sometime during the last few days of the previous cruise to yours, he starts making dining assignments.

 

He will consider all requests and they always do their best to accomodate all of them.

 

They cannot please everyone, obviously.

 

If it comes down to who gets a particular seating if there are multiple requests for it, the date of booking is one of the big factors taken into consideration. Someone who booked 6 months ago has priority to someone who booked last week.

 

 

 

[berylde]

Where did you find the lay-out of the dining room with table numbers?

Thanks in advance for reply

[The Tsar]

Can you please share the layout with the table numbers.

[bruce-r]

Where did you find the lay-out of the dining room with table numbers?

Indeed, a link to this would be appreciated.

[HeatherInFlorida]

Some CC members have these seating charts. I had the upstairs Maasdam at one point, but can't find it. I do have the Prinsendam seating chart if anyone needs that. Just email me and I'll send it.

[tarps14]

For the Zuiderdam lower dining room chart, do a search for "Zuiderdam seating chart". You will get several (5-10) posts. Read through them and there will be a link on one from poster "Candy". She has several links in her signature that gives really good info. One of them will be the link to the dining room seating chart. Hope this helped. I cannot open some links because I don't have Microsoft Office on my laptop. Otherwise I would have posted the link directly.

 

As a side note, I have contacted the ship services coordinator for our cruise in Jan-07 and she has noted our request for a specific table number and will send it to the ship when the date gets closer. I did contact her by email and it took about 3-4 days before she responded. I asked to be notified when she sent the info to the ship and she stated she would do that. We'll see. Good luck-

[tarps14]

*Feb-07* Geez, don't even know when I'm cruising!:eek:

[bruce-r]

Candy's Profile

[ciska40]

I found it on the cc board I have it on my computer so if you email me your emailadress I will forward it.

 

Ciska

[ciska40]

My emailadress is ciskadegraef@casema.nl

[berylde]

Thanks for the offer

Berylde@aol.com

[ciska40]

berylde do you want a copy?

 

 

Ciska

[ciska40]

Bruce Robertson,

 

I have tried to send you the tableseating but your email came back. It said that they see my email as spam????

Do you have another emailadress where I can send it too.

 

Ciska

[berylde]

Yes--copy please

Berylde@aol.com

[bruce-r]

Bruce Robertson,

 

I have tried to send you the tableseating but your email came back. It said that they see my email as spam????

Do you have another emailadress where I can send it too.

 

Ciska

Thanks for trying. I sent you another email from a different address. It should work. Stupid Comcast, my internet service provider, is too restrictive.