"Chef's Table" Reservations - a major hassle at best!

[WendysMom]

We're sailing with our daughter and SIL in December. They've been overseas for a year and we haven't seen each other, so we thought Chef's Table would be a treat since they're gourmet cooks. I checked with Carnival, and was told to ask John Heald for the reservations via his blog, so I wrote, outlining what, why, when, etc. I got a quick response that said to make the request on his Facebook page, so I did...and never heard another thing. A month passed and on our M&M site, a couple people mentioned that they had confirmations, so I wrote again. Short story long, I wrote four times and heard nothing whatsoever by way of a reply. By then, several others had confirmations.

 

I did a tongue-in-cheek post on Facebook, asking what one had to do to get Chef's Table reservations and got several nasty posts suggesting that my lack of response probably had a lot to do with my not including please and thank you! I attempted to outline what I'd done but these folks got worse and worse. THEN- one woman said she had gone thru Heald's posts and saw that my request had been received and it was made. I dropped it at that - who wants to be viciously attacked on FB, but my daughter answered, telling them again, that we had never received confirmation of anything. All of a sudden, the "BIG MAN" himself chimed in and said he'd never heard of me before! (I have all the posts, and BTW, did say please...)

 

It dawned on both of us that for the woman who was being so nasty to have been able to go thru Mr. Heald's private posts, she had to be a Carnival employee, and if that's how they treat people, Facebook or not, there needs to be some retraining done! I sent corporate a letter, and in their reply, they said that Chef's reservations can "only be made through the Maitre'd upon arrival for your cruise," at which time, they will tell you whether there is space for you or not. (Remember, it was a Carnival staffer who told me to go to Heald in the first place...)

 

Final curveball - my daughter requested Chef's Table reservations for the four of us - through Mr. Heald's blog/Facebook page. He had no idea that she was my daughter, and she had a confirmation in two days. Yes, we're going to go, but I guarantee that this will be our last cruise with Carnival. The difference in price just isn't worth the hassle!

[kbmeow]

We're sailing with our daughter and SIL in December. They've been overseas for a year and we haven't seen each other, so we thought Chef's Table would be a treat since they're gourmet cooks. I checked with Carnival, and was told to ask John Heald for the reservations via his blog, so I wrote, outlining what, why, when, etc. I got a quick response that said to make the request on his Facebook page, so I did...and never heard another thing. A month passed and on our M&M site, a couple people mentioned that they had confirmations, so I wrote again. Short story long, I wrote four times and heard nothing whatsoever by way of a reply. By then, several others had confirmations.

 

I did a tongue-in-cheek post on Facebook, asking what one had to do to get Chef's Table reservations and got several nasty posts suggesting that my lack of response probably had a lot to do with my not including please and thank you! I attempted to outline what I'd done but these folks got worse and worse. THEN- one woman said she had gone thru Heald's posts and saw that my request had been received and it was made. I dropped it at that - who wants to be viciously attacked on FB, but my daughter answered, telling them again, that we had never received confirmation of anything. All of a sudden, the "BIG MAN" himself chimed in and said he'd never heard of me before! (I have all the posts, and BTW, did say please...)

 

It dawned on both of us that for the woman who was being so nasty to have been able to go thru Mr. Heald's private posts, she had to be a Carnival employee, and if that's how they treat people, Facebook or not, there needs to be some retraining done! I sent corporate a letter, and in their reply, they said that Chef's reservations can "only be made through the Maitre'd upon arrival for your cruise," at which time, they will tell you whether there is space for you or not. (Remember, it was a Carnival staffer who told me to go to Heald in the first place...)

 

Final curveball - my daughter requested Chef's Table reservations for the four of us - through Mr. Heald's blog/Facebook page. He had no idea that she was my daughter, and she had a confirmation in two days. Yes, we're going to go, but I guarantee that this will be our last cruise with Carnival. The difference in price just isn't worth the hassle!

 

 

I am going to apoligize for the nastiness on FB. Also the person who said you had a confirmation may have gone threw the messages on his FB and lied to you. You can not message him privately on Facebook. So it could have been a overzealous person trying to " help"

[StingRaysfan]

I am going to apoligize for the nastiness on FB. Also the person who said you had a confirmation may have gone threw the messages on his FB and lied to you. You can not message him privately on Facebook. So it could have been a overzealous person trying to " help"

 

I'm going to agree... I'd guess it's not a Carnival employee but someone who scroll down the page looking for your name and posts. You cannot send him a private message but if you click "everyone" on the top right corner under the pictures you can see what everyone posts him. You probably misunderstood that.

 

People on that page and on the blog protect and stick up for John Heald from the constant barrage of rudeness and complaints he gets, many times over silly stuff. He's one man and I have NO IDEA how he manages his job.... it would take up 99% of my existence and I would be burned out in a couple weeks. People overuse him and expect so much... I promised myself I would never ask him for anything.. he's a cruise director not customer service and certainly not a maitre'd, excursion desk or guest services. Why not just get on the ship the day of embarkation and head to the dining room for reservations??? I doubt you would have missed out if you did it in a timely manner.

 

In any case, sorry you had such a bad experience. I think he takes care of most of the requests but when some fall through like this he shouldn't even offer to help people prebook anything because when they don't get the special treatment on their timeframe or don't understand how facebook works they get all bent out of shape.\

 

 

 

 

BTW... if someone did go back and see your original posts (and they can) and DID tell you that john said it was confirmed and you missed it... you should probably go see the maitre'd on embarkation day anyway and make sure you are not double booked....

[*Mach*]

There actually is a method of requesting reservations for the Chef's Table via John's blog that doesn't require response from John. It's really very simple... follow this link:

http://johnhealdsblog.com/ask-john/

There, you will see a form led by a drop down box. In that drop down select 'Chef's Table/Steakhouse' and fill out the remaining requested information. In the message box add the names of the guests attending; the cabin numbers; the ship and sail date and a good email address for the confirmation to be sent along to.

The requests are gathered up twice a week and forwarded to the ship where they are taken care of by the Maitre d' or a member of his staff. A confirmation will most often arrive within a week... two weeks at most.

:)

[misstopgun]

We're sailing with our daughter and SIL in December. They've been overseas for a year and we haven't seen each other, so we thought Chef's Table would be a treat since they're gourmet cooks. I checked with Carnival, and was told to ask John Heald for the reservations via his blog, so I wrote, outlining what, why, when, etc. I got a quick response that said to make the request on his Facebook page, so I did...and never heard another thing. A month passed and on our M&M site, a couple people mentioned that they had confirmations, so I wrote again. Short story long, I wrote four times and heard nothing whatsoever by way of a reply. By then, several others had confirmations.

 

I did a tongue-in-cheek post on Facebook, asking what one had to do to get Chef's Table reservations and got several nasty posts suggesting that my lack of response probably had a lot to do with my not including please and thank you! I attempted to outline what I'd done but these folks got worse and worse. THEN- one woman said she had gone thru Heald's posts and saw that my request had been received and it was made. I dropped it at that - who wants to be viciously attacked on FB, but my daughter answered, telling them again, that we had never received confirmation of anything. All of a sudden, the "BIG MAN" himself chimed in and said he'd never heard of me before! (I have all the posts, and BTW, did say please...)

 

It dawned on both of us that for the woman who was being so nasty to have been able to go thru Mr. Heald's private posts, she had to be a Carnival employee, and if that's how they treat people, Facebook or not, there needs to be some retraining done! I sent corporate a letter, and in their reply, they said that Chef's reservations can "only be made through the Maitre'd upon arrival for your cruise," at which time, they will tell you whether there is space for you or not. (Remember, it was a Carnival staffer who told me to go to Heald in the first place...)

 

Final curveball - my daughter requested Chef's Table reservations for the four of us - through Mr. Heald's blog/Facebook page. He had no idea that she was my daughter, and she had a confirmation in two days. Yes, we're going to go, but I guarantee that this will be our last cruise with Carnival. The difference in price just isn't worth the hassle!

I had the same experience WendysMom the first time I booked the Chef's table on the Dream. I sent the request as Mach suggested and after getting no response, posted on FB just as you did and I too was flamed though I did include please and thank you.

 

I was asked why I thought I should get special privilages and why couldn't I book once on board like every one else. I thought it was out of line since John himself promotes this on his blog. I learned from another CC member you could email the steakhouse directly by putting the first two letters of of the ship in front of steakouse at carnival dot com. This is how I secured my reservation in advance.

 

You would think lesson learned but when trying to book again on the Legend, I wanted to go through the "proper channels' and tried the blog method once again to no avail. Some requests just slip through the cracks and mine unfortunatly were lost twice. I emailed the steakhouse and recieved my confirmation within two days.

 

I don't understand why people feel the need to be so nasty and condem those that ask John for something that he is encouraging us to ask him for. Just ignore them and don't let it put a cloud over your cruise experience. They are not Carnival, and they are not John, just individuals that like to stir the pot.

 

I assure you your Chef table experience will be worth the hassle, but just know next time you shouldn't have to endure that hassle.

[StingRaysfan]

I wish we could do the chefs table... The husband is so picky about food that I'm really concerned he wouldn't eat anything... :( Enjoy it for all of us...

[okwriter]

Early last week, I used the method Mach explained on his blog for my upcoming Triumph cruise and had a confirmation within 72 hours. That's way different than just writing it on his blog. Sorry it was such a hassle for you, OP. You have to be pretty tough-skinned to hang out online (including here at CC). Sadly, many people in this world are vicious.