How to Get Everyone at the Same Dinner Table

[Tazzycat]

We have ten people going together on a Christmas cruise. Some of us booked with a TA, some booked directly with Carnival.

We all want first dinner seating at 6pm.

 

Is it impossible to get all 10 of us at one dinner table, or maybe seated at two close tables? How do we arrange this, when my TA can't coordinate dinner chairs for people who did not book with her, and Carnival won't discuss anything with people who have a TA?

 

Do we have to wait until we board to make a special request from the guy in charge of the restaurant? I hate to put that kind of pressure on the staff at the last minute, but I am stuck.

 

I would love to hear your advice on this one. It would be easier to arrange this now, over a month before we sail, but I am unsure how to go about doing it.

 

Thanks

[*Mach*]

We have ten people going together on a Christmas cruise. Some of us booked with a TA, some booked directly with Carnival.

We all want first dinner seating at 6pm.

 

Is it impossible to get all 10 of us at one dinner table, or maybe seated at two close tables? How do we arrange this, when my TA can't coordinate dinner chairs for people who did not book with her, and Carnival won't discuss anything with people who have a TA?

 

Do we have to wait until we board to make a special request from the guy in charge of the restaurant? I hate to put that kind of pressure on the staff at the last minute, but I am stuck.

 

I would love to hear your advice on this one. It would be easier to arrange this now, over a month before we sail, but I am unsure how to go about doing it.

 

Thanks

 

 

You'll need to gather up all the booking numbers and contact your TA. Carnival pays the TA to do the work and won't help you out. That's the TA's job.

Ask to have all of the bookings 'linked' and make sure everyone has the same dining time scheduled.

Best of luck!!

:)

[KatSt]

We were at a table for 10 on the Elation last year so there shouldn't be a problem with the number of people in your group sitting at one table.

 

As Host Mach said, get all your booking numbers and have your TA call Carnival and have them linked together.

[gail811]

And then, make the dining room your first stop when you get on board. The maitre d' is usually there for an hour or two and you can request changes if necessary. We have had great luck doing that in the past. We had 10 of us and they had us split between a table for 8 and one for 4 with a walkway between us. Next night they had us at a table for 12!

 

[travelqueen555]

We have this same problem. TA has cross referenced those that booked through her, but can't do anything about others who booked through different TA. Our group actually has used three different TA's. Will Carnival not help us with this to get all seated in the same area of dining room? We are a group of 30 persons, did not book as a group. I was planning on calling Carnival after all final payments have been made.

[bcs819]

We have this same problem. TA has cross referenced those that booked through her, but can't do anything about others who booked through different TA. Our group actually has used three different TA's. Will Carnival not help us with this to get all seated in the same area of dining room? We are a group of 30 persons, did not book as a group. I was planning on calling Carnival after all final payments have been made.

 

This is not true. We booked and my sister and her BF booked with one travel agent. Friends from Ed's work booked through their own agent. Then their friends booked thru their own agent. I called my TA with all 4 booking numbers and she had us linked. After all these comments online, I was worried there would be a problem, so I called Carnival myself. They confirmed that everyone was linked. When we checked in, we compared sign and sail cards for dinner time and table and we were all together.

 

Tell your TA if she provided better customer service, she might get more of the bookings the next time

[travelqueen555]

Thanks Bernie,

I will try again to give TA all the booking #'s and see if she will cross reference all of them. Next cruise I may just book through Carnival myself. Would that have made a difference?

[wizard-of-roz]

Thanks Bernie,

I will try again to give TA all the booking #'s and see if she will cross reference all of them. Next cruise I may just book through Carnival myself. Would that have made a difference?

 

Not necessarily. A good TA will do it for you. Supply all the numbers and do stop by the Matre 'd once you've boarded. Just have everyone's numbers with you and let the M'd know!

[tylerdad]

We have this same problem. TA has cross referenced those that booked through her, but can't do anything about others who booked through different TA. Our group actually has used three different TA's. Will Carnival not help us with this to get all seated in the same area of dining room? We are a group of 30 persons, did not book as a group. I was planning on calling Carnival after all final payments have been made.

 

 

Last year when we went on the Spirit their were 13 of us. We were the only ones that booked direct with Carnival the rest used different TAs

 

We just gave all the booking numbers to our PVP and had no problems

 

Any of the TAs should be able to do this as well

[cb at sea]

Just make sure everyone has picked the same dinner seating...it's hard to link an early seating with a late seating!!!

If your TA won't do it, give the booking numbers to one of the other TAs that were used...it's totally doable!

[tookoolforyou]

We have a group of 16 going call cruise line tell them you want to make a group if you have enough cabins they will also give you on $100.00 on board credit per cabin and one person gets their cruise part of their fare free they also make sure that your seated togeather

[bcs819]

Not necessarily. A good TA will do it for you. Supply all the numbers and do stop by the Matre 'd once you've boarded. Just have everyone's numbers with you and let the M'd know!

 

key being "a good TA". This irritates me to no end, this is why so many brick-and-mortar TAs are shutting down. Give crappy service and then act surprised when your customers don't come back.

[imsulin]

We have a group of 16 going call cruise line tell them you want to make a group if you have enough cabins they will also give you on $100.00 on board credit per cabin and one person gets their cruise part of their fare free they also make sure that your seated togeather

 

There's a lot more involved in booking a group cruise than what you're stating. It's not the number of people, but the number of cabins. I've booked quite a few group cruises, and what you're posting might be misleading. The CCL Group Dept. will provide you with current information regarding the booking of a Group Cruise. Payment schedules, cancellation policy, and passenger name deadlines may be different than individual bookings.

[imsulin]

key being "a good TA". This irritates me to no end, this is why so many brick-and-mortar TAs are shutting down. Give crappy service and then act surprised when your customers don't come back.

 

That's why I prefer on-line travel agencies like ecruisestore. They give great service and very current cruise information regarding your booking. You'll always know where your payments have been sent! You'll never be hit with the possibility of "shutting down", as they're available 24/7 if you have any questions. And, those low rates and OBC are pretty much guaranteed!. Fie on those well-established brick & mortar agencies who have had to struggle for years with "know-nothing" agents! Give me the on-line ecruisestore type agencies whose 18-year old agents have a wealth of knowledge any day of the week! I would never consider talking face-to-face with a real person when I can have a permanent anonymous status with an on-line TA like ecruisestore. I know they'll take care of me!

[bcs819]

That's why I prefer on-line travel agencies like ecruisestore. They give great service and very current cruise information regarding your booking. You'll always know where your payments have been sent! You'll never be hit with the possibility of "shutting down", as they're available 24/7 if you have any questions. And, those low rates and OBC are pretty much guaranteed!. Fie on those well-established brick & mortar agencies who have had to struggle for years with "know-nothing" agents! Give me the on-line ecruisestore type agencies whose 18-year old agents have a wealth of knowledge any day of the week! I would never consider talking face-to-face with a real person when I can have a permanent anonymous status with an on-line TA like ecruisestore. I know they'll take care of me!

 

 

wow, I neverheard of ecruisestore so decided to look it up. Not good, man, glad I wasn't ever tempted to use them:

 

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g34438-i92-k1374357-ECruisestore_com_has_anyone_used_them_to_book_a_cruise-Miami_Florida.html

[canes20]

Just returned from Sensation and we emailed Carnival a few weeks before our trip and they linked our booking number with my brother-in-law and his wife and we both had used different agents other than Carnival. When we boarded we were seated together.

[travelqueen555]

There's a lot more involved in booking a group cruise than what you're stating. It's not the number of people, but the number of cabins. I've booked quite a few group cruises, and what you're posting might be misleading. The CCL Group Dept. will provide you with current information regarding the booking of a Group Cruise. Payment schedules, cancellation policy, and passenger name deadlines may be different than individual bookings.

 

Jusr curious if anyone knew about changing to a group. Most booked early saver 11 months before cruise at a great rate. We booked without knowing for sure if we would have enough for a group. Now that we do (15 cabins) is it possible to change to group since we booked early savor. The group rate may not have been as great as the early saver rate. Can or TA change mit mto group rate, (if she will) or is it best to try to call Carnival?

[PureVida]

In my own experience recently , they would not let me book as a group as we had 1 room booked as e.s and that left us one room short.they had to be full fares.good luck tho.

[aggieastrosfan]

TA has cross referenced those that booked through her, but can't do anything about others who booked through different TA.

 

Lazy TA. All you have to do is give your TA the booking numbers of the people you wish to eat dinner with. He/she then sends that information to Carnival. That's it. For extra insurance, have the other party do the same thing on their end with their TA.

 

We've done this before and always had our dinner table exactly as we wanted it. And we booked with separate TAs.