Paid Cabin Upgrade - lost dining and boarding times

[WiCruiseDreamer]

Looking for some suggestions on how to resolve this problem. We paid for an upgrade from a balcony for 3, to a 2 Havana Cabana cabins for 4. Our party is mom, two kids and aunt. In order to make this happen, Carnival split our reservations and booked us into two cabins which each accommodate two. Mom and one child is one cabin, and aunt in the other with the second child. Before the upgrade, the single cabin had late dining and boarding at 1pm. Now the family has been split, as have the reservations. For dining, we are split between 'waitlist' for late dining - although it was confirmed before the upgrade - and waitlist for Your Time for the other cabin. For boarding, we are split with 1pm boarding and 2:30 or later boarding. But I am pretty sure Aunt and minor child will not be able to board without Mom who doesn't have the same boarding time. Our travel agent tells us our reservations are 'linked'. But we still have different boarding and dining times.

 

Our TA has been unsuccessful in getting this resolved despite multiple calls to Carnival. We sail in 13 days. We paid more than $3,000 for this upgrade, and now we are told we have no recourse. Anyone have any suggestions on how to escalate this with Carnival?

 

 

 

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Ok, a few things confuse me right now. You are saying you were upgraded from a Balcony for 3 people to 2 Havanas cabins. You went for 3 cruisers to 4, from what you are saying. Your reservation was not "Split" but rather a new reservation for a 2nd cabin was created. Your 1st cabin was a balcony for 3, I am guessing that either this balcony could not accommodate more than 3, there were no other balconies available for 4, no other balconies for 2 or you decided to splurge and get a Havana cabin. I do not know why the arrival appointment and dining times changed for the original booking, but do understand how the 2nd booking would be wait listed as well as have a different arrival appointment.

 

One of the disadvantages of using a TA is that only the TA can speak to Carnival on your behalf so that complicates things. You have no way of knowing exactly what the TA has done other than what they have told you.

 

As to escalating or resolving these "issues" I would ask to speak to the TA's supervisor as well as others have said to contact the Maitre'd by email or John Heald by FB. Both will do their best to help you with this issue, however, at this late time, it may not be exactly to your preference.

 

Another suggestion, see if you can all switch to YTD, even if wait listed. If nothing else, with YTD, you can all sit together and chose when you wish to eat. With YTD, you can request the same waitstaff each night and still get that more personal service that scheduled dining has.

Edited June 12, 2018 by WiCruiseDreamer
correct some verbiage.

[bakersdozen12]

If you cannot get it fixed, you all can show up together for the later boarding time. As for dinner, you are now assigned Anytime. You all can show up together, at the same time, at 8:15 pm (when late dining starts), be seated together, and you can request the same waitstaff every single night.

 

Enjoy the Havana area, it's wonderful!

 

 

Actually no, they cannot all show up to Your Time Dining if half of the party has an assigned dining time. All those in the party have to have YTD to be seated in YTD. If you reread all of the OP’s posts, half are waitlisted for YTD and half are waitlisted for one of the assigned dining times.

 

To the OP: while I do understand that this is frustrating, I think you have to realize that stuff like this happens when you make a change to your booking so late in the game. You decided to add a person. That’s on you. I’m sure Carnival will do all they can to accommodate you as far as the dining times are concerned. And you can all board at 2:30. You do not have to show up earlier and wait at port.

 

 

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[S.S.Oceanlover]

Ok, a few things confuse me right now. You are saying you were upgraded from a Balcony for 3 people to 2 Havanas cabins. You went for 3 cruisers to 4, from what you are saying. Your reservation was not "Split" but rather a new reservation for a 2nd cabin was created. Your 1st cabin was a balcony for 3, I am guessing that either this balcony could not accommodate more than 3, there were no other balconies available for 4, no other balconies for 2 or you decided to splurge and get a Havana cabin. I do not know why the arrival appointment and dining times changed for the original booking, but do understand how the 2nd booking would be wait listed as well as have a different arrival appointment.

 

One of the disadvantages of using a TA is that only the TA can speak to Carnival on your behalf so that complicates things. You have no way of knowing exactly what the TA has done other than what they have told you.

 

As to escalating or resolving these "issues" I would ask to speak to the TA's supervisor as well as others have said to contact the Maitre'd by email or John Heald by FB. Both will do their best to help you with this issue, however, at this late time, it may not be exactly to your preference.

 

Another suggestion, see if you can all switch to YTD, even if wait listed. If nothing else, with YTD, you can all sit together and chose when you wish to eat. With YTD, you can request the same waitstaff each night and still get that more personal service that scheduled dining has.

 

I agree with this 100%. I think that would be the easiest resolution but OP has said she hates YTD.

 

Why I don't know, unless she wants to sit at a big table with others.

 

Bill

[iamsteph]

Actually no, they cannot all show up to Your Time Dining if half of the party has an assigned dining time. All those in the party have to have YTD to be seated in YTD. If you reread all of the OP’s posts, half are waitlisted for YTD and half are waitlisted for one of the assigned dining times.

 

To the OP: while I do understand that this is frustrating, I think you have to realize that stuff like this happens when you make a change to your booking so late in the game. You decided to add a person. That’s on you. I’m sure Carnival will do all they can to accommodate you as far as the dining times are concerned. And you can all board at 2:30. You do not have to show up earlier and wait at port.

 

 

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Actually, I misread the OP's post. I just reread it, and see now that they are each waitlisted for something different. But actually, if they both end up assigned to anytime dining, then my advice is actually sound.

[SlackerMom423]

This was Carnival's error. We already had a dining time for three guests. A reservation for three people is a table for four with an empty seat. Rather than add our fourth passenger to our reservation, Carnival took away our late dining spot and gave it to someone else. We were then bumped to the end of the line despite having reserved our slot months ago.

 

This is the "hospitality" industry. When a guest opens their wallet and upgrades, they shouldn't be shafted. We were not delinquent in booking late and we aren't expecting special treatment. We just want our original reservation back, when they should never have bumped us. It also goes without saying that a family traveling together should board together.

 

But the most infuriating thing about this situation has now gone beyond the actual problem. It has become about the complete lack of customer service with Carnival. No one cares. We have spoken to one smug and uncooperative Carnival rep after the other. Our TA cares. He cares a lot. He is going above and beyond escalating this for us. Why isn't Carnival? Smells a lot like "take the money and run". Now that we are fully paid, they just...don't...care.

 

Not giving up hope, but this is my first time with Carnival (We usually book RCL) and we are not getting me off on the right foot.

 

On the up side. TOTALLY stoked about the Havana Cabana Cabin! Promise to report back.

[firemanbobswife]

This was Carnival's error. We already had a dining time for three guests. A reservation for three people is a table for four with an empty seat. Rather than add our fourth passenger to our reservation, Carnival took away our late dining spot and gave it to someone else. We were then bumped to the end of the line despite having reserved our slot months ago.

 

This is the "hospitality" industry. When a guest opens their wallet and upgrades, they shouldn't be shafted. We were not delinquent in booking late and we aren't expecting special treatment. We just want our original reservation back, when they should never have bumped us. It also goes without saying that a family traveling together should board together.

 

 

I disagree. You are not guaranteed a table for 4 with 3 people and 1 empty seat. There are LOTS of tables that aren’t booths so it’s a good possibility that you would have been assigned a round or rectangle table that could seat 6,8, or even 10.

 

As far as boarding, while yes you are a family, each child is with an adult so there is no need per say for everyone to get the earlier time. It’s already been mentioned that no one is denying you the ability to board together. It’s just simply that you will have to do it at the later time.

[SlackerMom423]

I agree with this 100%. I think that would be the easiest resolution but OP has said she hates YTD.

 

Why I don't know, unless she wants to sit at a big table with others.

 

Bill

 

Lots of reasons, not the least of which is that we have a food allergy to deal with and have found that while at sea it's always easiest to handle when you have the same server every night. I could go into a million other reasons why we really dislike it, but that is an entirely new thread for another day. ;);)

[dcdiva]

Thanks for all the helpful suggestions. Our travel agent is continuing to work on the problem and after continuing to escalate things, Carnival is at least talking to our TA. So hopefully, we'll get some kind of resolution.

 

While it's true we added another person at a late date, we only did so with the assurance "everything would transfer over" to the new cabins, including dining. In fact, nothing transferred. Everything was cancelled including our specialty restaurant reservations, prepaid wifi, water, soda packages, etc. I haven't discussed all that here because we've been able to get some issues resolved or re-booked. It's only dining and boarding that remain a problem. If there was any indication that we'd lose dining assignments, we wouldn't have gone for the upgrade or added the other person.

 

As for Your Time dining, we are simply not fans. We prefer a set dining time, with the same table and wait staff each day. At this point, we'd make do with Your Time dining so we can actually dine together. But, it's simply not our preference.

 

Again, thanks for all the helpful suggestions. I am hopeful that we will find a workable solution. We are all very much looking forward to this cruise!

[StolidCruiser]

deleted

[SlackerMom423]

I disagree. You are not guaranteed a table for 4 with 3 people and 1 empty seat. There are LOTS of tables that aren’t booths so it’s a good possibility that you would have been assigned a round or rectangle table that could seat 6,8, or even 10.

 

As far as boarding, while yes you are a family, each child is with an adult so there is no need per say for everyone to get the earlier time. It’s already been mentioned that no one is denying you the ability to board together. It’s just simply that you will have to do it at the later time.

 

I believe the dining on this ship is mostly two tops pushed together to make variations of 2, 4, 6, 8 and so on. And NO. We shouldn't miss out on lunch and a chair by the pool for a few hours because of this mistake. I did my due diligence and checked in on time and secured an early boarding time. We were ensured that our reservations would carry over to the new cabin, when in fact, we lost all the records, including our drink packages and wifi purchase which I had to cancel, repurchase, and I am still waiting on reimbursement for the original purchase, so we have essentially paid twice.

 

Regardless, no one on this board will ever convince me that Carnival is treating us well in this situation. My career is in the hospitality industry. It's just bad etiquette to screw over the people who upgraded and opted to pay more. If anything we should be made to feel appreciated for the extra business. This is certainly not the way I would ever treat a guest or client where I work. But it certainly IS a great way to get me to book on RCL next time.

Edited June 12, 2018 by SlackerMom423

[firemanbobswife]

I have changed cabins and never had any issues. Dining, Specialty Restaurant Reservations, Check in time all remained the same. It sounds like your TA did a flat cancel and rebook or messed it up in some way. And yeah, Carnival can’t talk to you because the TA owns your booking. That would explain why you are getting the not so warm and fuzzy feelings from them. Of course they will blame Carnival as that’s all they can do. But it’s not Carnival’s fault. They can’t make changes to your booking without the go ahead from your TA. So basically they called Carnival on your behalf and either canceled all your existing things or failed to ask if it would affect anything BEFORE any changes were made. Your TA either didn’t ask the question or they did and told them to proceed anyway.

 

I understand your frustrations but it all boils down to this: There are only “x” amount of dining times per seating. If it’s full, they can’t just add one more person. I’m sure it can be resolved onboard. Not ideal I agree, but it’s all you can do if nothing opens up between now and then.

 

There are also only “x” amount of check in time slots per group. They can’t just add another one so that you can all board together. Unfortunately by you adding another person, you now had to have the same check in time available to both parties in the other cabin. If there weren’t any left in the earlier one, then you would be moved to the later one where there were 2 slots. This late in the game, that’s all that was left and nothing anyone can do. They can’t make an earlier time appear and print on the boarding passes.

 

I know this has got to be extremely stressful, but try and relax. Once you get past the first day, it will be smooth sailing.

[firemanbobswife]

I believe the dining on this ship is mostly two tops pushed together to make variations of 2, 4, 6, 8 and so on. Regardless, but no one on this board will ever convince me that Carnival is treating us well in this situation. My career is in the hospitality industry. It's just bad etiquette to screw over the people who upgraded and opted to pay more. If anything we should be made to feel appreciated for the extra business. This is certainly not the way I would ever treat a guest or client where I work. But it certainly IS a great way to get me to book on RCL next time.

 

You would be incorrect. They are not. Regardless you were reserved space for 3 people. Should you have been assigned a 4 top, you would have most likely had a single cruiser join you at the table especially if the seating was full.

[dcdiva]

With all due respect, it's not our TA who made the error. It was Carnival. I won't go into all the details as to why we know that, but \it was not our TA's mistake.

[A&Jfamily]

If you cannot get this resolved, I can offer 2 possible suggestions:

 

1)board with mom and child 1 at 1 pm and go to Maitre D to fix dining. Give Aunt a certified letter (just as if she was traveling with her alone) and have her board at 2:30 with child 2. Sadly, there is no waiting area and your times are what they are, so plan accordingly.

 

2)make a reservation for a specialty restaurant the first night, and speak to the Maitre D the next day, with everyone boarding together at 2:30 pm.

 

While I understand your frustration, these things do happen when reservations are ruled by a computer system. Like others, I don't use a TA for cruises for this reason as it is much easier to deal with Carnival directly. Neither of these should be deal breakers and it is unfortunately the way the reservation system works.

 

Also, if you end up with YTD, it is very easy to turn that into a fixed dining experience; when you go to the MDR each night, simply request the staff that you had the first night. We actually like YTD because if the service 1st night isn't spectacular, we try again with a different team night #2 until we have one we like and is worth repeating.

[firemanbobswife]

With all due respect, it's not our TA who made the error. It was Carnival. I won't go into all the details as to why we know that, but \it was not our TA's mistake.

 

OK. The other things I mentioned still remain true. I’m sure it will work out in the end even if it takes some extra time once you get onboard. Who knows, you may also get a notice before you leave that your dining request has been granted. They do the final seat assignments during the cruise before yours so don’t be surprised if you get an email.

 

Also look at the bright side, even if you all check in at the later time there should be no lines and your cabins will be ready. Take your time getting to the port and make it a nice, leisurely morning. After all you will be on a cruise and all this aggravation will melt away once you’re in the Havana area. It’s the ONLY way I would do Vista again! If they would have had a casino and food there I never would have needed to leave [emoji846].

[SlackerMom423]

I have changed cabins and never had any issues. Dining, Specialty Restaurant Reservations, Check in time all remained the same. It sounds like your TA did a flat cancel and rebook or messed it up in some way. And yeah, Carnival can’t talk to you because the TA owns your booking. That would explain why you are getting the not so warm and fuzzy feelings from them. Of course they will blame Carnival as that’s all they can do. But it’s not Carnival’s fault. They can’t make changes to your booking without the go ahead from your TA. So basically they called Carnival on your behalf and either canceled all your existing things or failed to ask if it would affect anything BEFORE any changes were made. Your TA either didn’t ask the question or they did and told them to proceed anyway.

 

I understand your frustrations but it all boils down to this: There are only “x” amount of dining times per seating. If it’s full, they can’t just add one more person. I’m sure it can be resolved onboard. Not ideal I agree, but it’s all you can do if nothing opens up between now and then.

 

There are also only “x” amount of check in time slots per group. They can’t just add another one so that you can all board together. Unfortunately by you adding another person, you now had to have the same check in time available to both parties in the other cabin. If there weren’t any left in the earlier one, then you would be moved to the later one where there were 2 slots. This late in the game, that’s all that was left and nothing anyone can do. They can’t make an earlier time appear and print on the boarding passes.

 

I know this has got to be extremely stressful, but try and relax. Once you get past the first day, it will be smooth sailing.

 

First of all this is not on our TA. He has been great. The rep at Carnival that was assigned to do this was new and didn't know what they were doing and screwed this up. Our TA actually had to cut off our phone call and tell me that he was going to have to call me back because the person at Carnival who he was working with on the other line was having such a hard time with the computer system. It was a glitch, or human error on the part of Carnival. Our TA is as angry as we are.

 

I get that seating is hard and complicated, but we are talking about ONE chair. Not a large group.

 

It's the check in that really irks me. Here is what I do NOT understand. Check in, is check in. If four of us stand together and get our keys it isn't any harder than if it's only two of us. In fact, one could argue that it is LESS efficient and takes up MORE time to split up a party and do two different check ins. It ties up an extra attendant. Putting us together would be in Carnival's best interest in speeding up the queue.

 

And I still stand firm in my belief that we should not be penalized for upgrading. I don't buy that for a second.

[firemanbobswife]

First of all this is not on our TA. He has been great. The rep at Carnival that was assigned to do this was new and didn't know what they were doing and screwed this up. Our TA actually had to cut off our phone call and tell me that he was going to have to call me back because the person at Carnival who he was working with on the other line was having such a hard time with the computer system. It was a glitch, or human error on the part of Carnival. Our TA is as angry as we are.

 

 

 

I get that seating is hard and complicated, but we are talking about ONE chair. Not a large group.

 

 

 

It's the check in that really irks me. Here is what I do NOT understand. Check in, is check in. If four of us stand together and get our keys it isn't any harder than if it's only two of us. In fact, one could argue that it is LESS efficient and takes up MORE time to split up a party and do two different check ins. It ties up an extra attendant. Putting us together would be in Carnival's best interest in speeding up the queue.

 

 

 

And I still stand firm in my belief that we should not be penalized for upgrading. I don't buy that for a second.

 

You don’t get your keys at check in. They will be in your mailbox when your cabin is ready. You’ll show your boarding pass and ID out front then go through security and up to the waiting area. It’s that quick and easy. Staggered check in is enforced so there is little to no wait. You will be shocked at how fast the line goes.

 

As far as seating, yes it’s “only one” but if the computer has all the slots full, then they are full. It can’t assign something that isn’t available. How many other people might be waiting for “just one” more seat?

 

It’s too bad you got a bum CSR at Carnival. I thought they had experienced people deal with the TAs with their own phone number or extensions to call? Anyway, I only deal direct with Carnival via my PVP. I have had bad experiences with TAs. I can assure you NONE of this would have happened with my PVP. Oh well, too late now.

[riffatsea]

NO one should be penalized for upgrading.

It is just really hard for me to see how it wasn't the fault of your TA?

When I am on the phone with a random person at the 800 number on carnival I always tell them not to change anything but just change the room. Make sure everything else stays the same and since it is the same booking code everything always is the same. Nothing is ever lost.

I just wonder about all this and would be after the TA to make things right for you however they can!

[A&Jfamily]

First of all this is not on our TA. He has been great. The rep at Carnival that was assigned to do this was new and didn't know what they were doing and screwed this up. Our TA actually had to cut off our phone call and tell me that he was going to have to call me back because the person at Carnival who he was working with on the other line was having such a hard time with the computer system. It was a glitch, or human error on the part of Carnival. Our TA is as angry as we are.

 

I get that seating is hard and complicated, but we are talking about ONE chair. Not a large group.

 

It's the check in that really irks me. Here is what I do NOT understand. Check in, is check in. If four of us stand together and get our keys it isn't any harder than if it's only two of us. In fact, one could argue that it is LESS efficient and takes up MORE time to split up a party and do two different check ins. It ties up an extra attendant. Putting us together would be in Carnival's best interest in speeding up the queue.

 

And I still stand firm in my belief that we should not be penalized for upgrading. I don't buy that for a second.

 

The problem appears to me that the computer system does not appear to see this as an upgrade, though financially it is. In my experience with Carnival, when I have changed rooms like this they have had to hold the new ones, then shut out the old ones - but I have never done it this late in the game with such things as boarding times and dining pretty much already selected. Honestly, I am not surprised this happened as I just think this is probably a pretty unusual circumstance.

 

Carnival will be happy to check you in together at 2:30. Does it really matter if you board at 1:30 or 3 after you check in? Is it worth all this stress? Will this matter in a year or even 6 months?

 

I am terribly afraid that unless you step back and take a deep breath and realize that you are about to take a lovely vacation, you are going to go into this with a bad attitude and looking for the negative. Life has handed you a lemon...time to make some lemonade.

[bingomamma19]

First of all this is not on our TA. He has been great. The rep at Carnival that was assigned to do this was new and didn't know what they were doing and screwed this up. Our TA actually had to cut off our phone call and tell me that he was going to have to call me back because the person at Carnival who he was working with on the other line was having such a hard time with the computer system. It was a glitch, or human error on the part of Carnival. Our TA is as angry as we are.

 

I get that seating is hard and complicated, but we are talking about ONE chair. Not a large group.

 

It's the check in that really irks me. Here is what I do NOT understand. Check in, is check in. If four of us stand together and get our keys it isn't any harder than if it's only two of us. In fact, one could argue that it is LESS efficient and takes up MORE time to split up a party and do two different check ins. It ties up an extra attendant. Putting us together would be in Carnival's best interest in speeding up the queue.

 

And I still stand firm in my belief that we should not be penalized for upgrading. I don't buy that for a second.

 

You paid for an upgrade for the 1 room you had, but added a 2nd room. At this late stage in the game, the seating and check in are pretty much well established, so that is not a guarantee at booking that you can get the same for the 2nd room.

 

I know you keep saying your TA is great, but I have a PVP since 2009 that has been the best. He remembers my name and family every time I call, he has added rooms with additional people at the last minute and synced everything up, he has helped flawlessly with rebookings etc. A good PVP is an asset you cant even put a price on. They are your Carnival Rep and you call them directly to handle things. A middle man (TA) is not going to have that direct ability.

 

I hope everything works out, but in the end--don't let an hour and a half difference in check in time wreck your vacation. I guarantee you that your dining can be fixed once on board--many many people never even step foot in the MDR, there are always empty tables.

[dcdiva]

NO one should be penalized for upgrading.

It is just really hard for me to see how it wasn't the fault of your TA?

When I am on the phone with a random person at the 800 number on carnival I always tell them not to change anything but just change the room. Make sure everything else stays the same and since it is the same booking code everything always is the same. Nothing is ever lost.

I just wonder about all this and would be after the TA to make things right for you however they can!

 

I am just going to say this one more time, and then I am done. This is NOT on our TA. It was a Carnival error. That is not in question.

[robc1972]

I am just going to say this one more time, and then I am done. This is NOT on our TA. It was a Carnival error. That is not in question.

 

Of course the TA says its not his fault, I would blame someone else too.

[bingomamma19]

Of course the TA says its not his fault, I would blame someone else too.

 

Exactly :)

[dcdiva]

Of course the TA says its not his fault, I would blame someone else too.

 

Of course Carnival says it’s not their fault. They would blame someone else too.

[WiCruiseDreamer]

The point is that this was not just an upgrade, but an upgrade and creation of a new reservation as well. Just because you have 1 booking and wish to add a second does not give you more priority then someone making a new reservation at the same time you are doing yours. You made a few changes to your booking that caused the changes to dinning arrangements and boarding arrangements.

When you took 1 of the cruisers from the original booking, that booking then became a booking for 2, not a booking for 3 or 4. Yes, they linked your bookings, but the linking is for reference and the possibility to dine together. Had this been done 3 months ago, the dining issue most likely would not exist. The table you originally had either sat 4 or 8 or even 10. Those other chairs would have already had people assigned to them, with others wait listed for any changes. You made a change, again, not Carnival or your TA, but you changed your booking from 3 to 2. When the agent, whether TA or Carnival, changed the booking from 3 to 2 the software used for bookings automatically detected the change and acted as it has been programmed to.

I too work in the hospitality area and I understand that last minute changes can come with complications. I do my best to make sure the guest making the changes still has the best AVAILABLE options, but will not change the options of other guests just because the guest that has made changes needs something different now.

The logic of all 4 checking in at the same earlier time being more efficient then when at the arrival appointment times set is false. Paperwork is set out according to the arrival appointment times with the exception of Priority and FTTF. So, when cruisers arrive earlier then their slotted time, and staff let them in, the person working the "check in" area now has to find paperwork that is filed/staged for a later time. This will not only slow checkin for you, but for those behind you.

Again, you made 2 decisions, you decided you wanted to upgrade and add another person to your trip. Whether it was your choice to have 2 cabins or that was all that was available, that 2nd cabin became a new booking, and dining times and arrival appointments were selected separately because even though linked, it is still a separate booking. Your TA should have known this and explained it to you. To assume that Carnival will make it right due to an error or miscommunication by the TA is just erroneous on your and your TA's part.