Dining Waitlist

[mompells]

We are going on the new Sunrise on 6/10/19/.  We usually like the early dining.  When I booked our cruise, they didn't have any early dining left.  We are now on the waitlist for YOUR TIME dining.  What are our chances of getting this?  We DO NOT want late seating dining.  Carnival told me on the phone that I might not get an answer until I am on the ship.  They said that I would have to go to the maitre d' once we get on the ship.  This really worries me.  We will be VERY un-happy if we don't get the YOUR TIME dining.  Anyone have any insight or experience with this situation?  We are only a table for 2.  TIA

[shof515]

I am also on the same cruise and i have your time dinning. It is my prefer dinning time and i love it. With your time dinning, you can still go to the dinning room at like 6pm for early dinner if you want with no problems. On all of the ships i had with your time dinning, i never had to wait for a table. 

[mompells]

But right now we are "wait listed" for YOUR TIME dining.  I understand that if we get it, we can go at anytime, but we aren't even guaranteed to get that option.  They told me that the only option open at this time is the late dining time. 

[shof515]

with final payment in middle of march, they might be a few cancellations and your wait list will change to confirm. If not, the matrie d on board the ship does a good job of making things right. 

[noxiousdog]

I've never had a problem switching.

[StolidCruiser]

More often than not, waitlists are cleared within a few weeks of sailing.  When not, those remaining waitlist issues can usually be resolved onboard.  While this may worry you, it's the way things work when those who have booked before you took up all the spots in the dining time you want.

 

Worst case scenario, in rare situations, is your waitlist situation cannot be resolved and you will be "stuck" with a dining time not of your preference.  It has happened to us once (even with priority status) and we "rolled with it" by dining elsewhere when the assigned time didn't work for us.  You may, however, not be able to "roll with it" based on your comments.

 

Being a party of two can work for you and against you depending on if you insist on limiting your requirement to only a table for two.

 

The popularity of Your Time Dining has grown such that the dining room configurations are challenging the staff to meet the demand; change in this regard is slow to implement when such dynamics present themselves.

 

If the possibility of not getting your preferred dining time will make you VERY unhappy, it might be better to cancel now rather than risk the worst-case scenario ruining your cruise.  Either way, I hope things work out for you.

[dmdiver]

We were waitlisted once for YTD.  When we boarded, we had been assigned to late dining.  We went to the maitre d and he was able to move us to early dining as long as we were willing to share a booth with another couple.  It worked out fine - the other couple was nice & we had some good conversations.  I would not want to be stuck with late dining, either.  

[evandbob]

Wait lists will get cleared once the Platinum and Diamond guests get settled with their dining time preferences, usually just prior to sail date.

 

If the Op gets "stuck" with late dining, they can always ask the maitre'd to switch them to anytime, the hours to meet will be posted in the first days fun times.

[sternfanla]

Once on board go the the maitre'd to see if they can accommodate you. if you are  Platinum or Diamond I think this will help you out. I have done this a couple of times and being Platinum has helped me out. One time someone in front of me was a Red card holder and the maitre'd said they were not able to accommodate their request for the late dining time but when I went up to him he was able to find a spot for me.

[SKrauss]

Hello! I will be sailing on the Sunrise on 5/27/19 - getting off as you are getting on 6/10/19! We booked this cruise on Black Friday and Early/Late Seating were both waiting list only at that time... We are Gold on Carnival after this cruise will be Platinum so IDK if loyalty helps us clear the list faster but by the first week of December we got the email with our desired seating. What level of membership are you?

Edited January 25, 2019 by SKrauss

[PhillyFan33579]

Most likely they will be able to accommodate your request on the ship, if not beforehand.  However, as previously mentioned there are times when dining preferences can’t be accommodated.  If that happens, don’t let it ruin your cruise.  You can always eat at the Lido buffer if the issue is you want/need to eat earlier in the evening.  Or take advantage of the speciality restaurants on the ship. 

[mompells]

This is only our 3rd. Carnival cruise.  We've done 1 Princess and 5 Royal Caribbean.  So.....unfortunately, our loyalty level is not going to help the situation.

[Snick500]

We were on waitlist for My time dining on the Horizon.  About a week before the cruise it was no longer waitlisted.  I wouldn't worry about it at all.  This was our first Carnival cruise and won't be our last!

Edited January 26, 2019 by Snick500
Addition

[coevan]

it's 6 months away, relax, you will most likely get the seating requested. 

[HillBilly Bob]

On 1/25/2019 at 11:42 AM, shof515 said:

If not, the maitre'd on board the ship does a good job of making things right. 

Slipping them a twenty won't hurt either.  

[klmb318]

I just booked last minute for 3/30 sailing. Your time dining was not listed as an option, early dining was wait-listed and late dining the only open choice. How can I get your time dining? I am a party of one, and dont take long to eat!!! Just an early bird (awake at 4am and in bed by 9), late dining is not going to work for me. Should I select the wait-listed early time?

[PhillyFan33579]

On 1/26/2019 at 11:35 AM, Snick500 said:

We were on waitlist for My time dining on the Horizon.  About a week before the cruise it was no longer waitlisted.  I wouldn't worry about it at all.  This was our first Carnival cruise and won't be our last!

 

Not to sound negative, but I wouldn’t pass on opinions on this site based on one cruise on Carnival. Before I turned Platinum, there were several times we didn’t get early dining, which we prefer, and the maitre’d was not able to accommodate us on the ship.

[BigBuoys]

I was going to say everyone in this thread was pretty much saying it was going to happen.

 

The odds are not in your favor and you might want to prepare to either accept your fate or find a plan B. No one is doing you an disservice. You booked later. You get the options of what’s left. That’s just the way the cookie crumbles. That’s life.

 

If a spot opens up - great. But if there isn’t the space to accommodate your request, the maitre d isn’t going to make someone else change their reservation just to appease you.

Edited March 2, 2019 by BigBuoys

[JMAE]

I would keep checking because they have to hold slots for the Platinum & Diamond card holders.  So depending on the number of those guests they may open slots up.  Also, one week before you cruise I would email the maitre d' with your request.  Keep in mind they do not have to respond, but often do. 

[Snick500]

5 hours ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

 

Not to sound negative, but I wouldn’t pass on opinions on this site based on one cruise on Carnival. Before I turned Platinum, there were several times we didn’t get early dining, which we prefer, and the maitre’d was not able to accommodate us on the ship.

They are not asking for early dining if it is full.  They said Your Time Dining.  I have cruised other lines and they are going to get into a dining room under Your Time Dining.  I passed on MY experience, and there is no reason to have someone worry about Your Time, My Time, whatever time dining.  Someone will help them on board get into YT dining.  I had zero Carnival cruises before and was waitlisted.  We got in.  The cruise has free fine dining.  The buffet is not fine dining.  So many tables were empty every single night on our cruise.  To me, there would no dining staff that is going to send you to eat at the buffet or fast food.  You will be accommodated when you go to the Your Time desk.  No guarantee of time, but show up early and in you will go.  If not, there would be a real Problem.  Relax, be happy, and enjoy your cruise.  The crew is there to help you.

[PhillyFan33579]

12 minutes ago, Snick500 said:

They are not asking for early dining if it is full.  They said Your Time Dining.  I have cruised other lines and they are going to get into a dining room under Your Time Dining.  I passed on MY experience, and there is no reason to have someone worry about Your Time, My Time, whatever time dining.  Someone will help them on board get into YT dining.  I had zero Carnival cruises before and was waitlisted.  We got in.  The cruise has free fine dining.  The buffet is not fine dining.  So many tables were empty every single night on our cruise.  To me, there would no dining staff that is going to send you to eat at the buffet or fast food.  You will be accommodated when you go to the Your Time desk.  No guarantee of time, but show up early and in you will go.  If not, there would be a real Problem.  Relax, be happy, and enjoy your cruise.  The crew is there to help you.

 

I have 25 cruises on Carnival, number 26 starts 3 weeks from today, so I think I know a little more about Carnival than you do.  Everyone on Carnival is assigned one of three dinning times: Early, Late or YTD. You have to eat at your assigned dining time.  Carnival, and especially the Maitre’Ds on each ship, do their best to accommodate as many passengers’ requests as possible. But sometimes it’s not possible, and passengers get stuck with a dining time they aren’t happy with.  However, if you aren’t happy with your dining time, you just can’t show up when you want to because they won’t seat you in most situations if you don’t have YTD.  

 

As for empty tables in the MDR, that happens every night on every cruise. This is because a fair number of passengers eat at speciality restaurants and/or the Lido buffet every night. However, there is no rule saying you have to eat in the MDR every night, which is why the Maitre’d will not reassign a table that is assigned to someone else, even if it has been empty every night of the cruise. 

 

Just because you got cleared from the waitlist for YTD does not mean that everyone else who is waitlisted for YTD will be accommodated. 

 

Twice in the past, once on Paradise and once on VIsta, we were assigned late dining and waitlisted both times for YTD. On both cruises we talked to the Maitre’D on embarkation day and we were not able to change our time from late dining. 

[TNMIMI6]

On 1/25/2019 at 11:27 AM, mompells said:

We are going on the new Sunrise on 6/10/19/.  We usually like the early dining.  When I booked our cruise, they didn't have any early dining left.  We are now on the waitlist for YOUR TIME dining.  What are our chances of getting this?  We DO NOT want late seating dining.  Carnival told me on the phone that I might not get an answer until I am on the ship.  They said that I would have to go to the maitre d' once we get on the ship.  This really worries me.  We will be VERY un-happy if we don't get the YOUR TIME dining.  Anyone have any insight or experience with this situation?  We are only a table for 2.  TIA

We just got off the Glory Journeys cruise 2/28. This cruise started booking 2 years ago. We didn't book it until late October 2018. Sail date was 2/16/2019. I had requested Early as my husband is a diabetic. We were assigned late but were waitlisted for early. On 2/11/19, I contacted John Heald and explained the situation to him. On 2/14/2019, we received an email that our request couldn't be fulfilled. We resigned ourselves to the fact we would have to eat supper on Lido to keep my husband's blood sugar stable. When we received our S&S cards at embarkation, we had been assigned early dining.

 

[Snick500]

It seems like other people’s opinions/experience aren’t very welcome on this board if someone else has more cruises than them. The crew will help you when you have a problem, especially if you are patient. Your Time Dining desk is on deck 5 on the Horizon.  We went there first to get a dining time, and then went to the dining room at the time that suited them. We didn’t barge in.  If someone else had a different experience, ok.  It still doesn’t change my experience or stop me from telling someone not to worry because it can be worked out.  Heck, maybe they catered to us as first time Carnival cruisers?  We had a great time and the crew were extremely helpful and friendly.

[mompells]

Has anyone else that was wait listed been contacted yet?

[Jenjer]

I am in the same boat as you. We booked more than a year out to get in the Havana I swear when we booked we had YTD (wanted early but YTD is fine)  but I noticed as I started our check in that we have Late dinning and YTD is waitlisted. We have been on around a dozen cruises but its our first Carnival.  I will try and get us switched to YTD, I hope the matre d can accommodate us because if not this will be our first and our last Carnival cruise, that's the deal breaker for my family. Fingers crossed it works out.