Changing Dining Preferences On board

[Skidemon1280]

We are sailing on the Carnival Freedom in May and just booked. We were assigned late dining and wait listed for the early. We will. Have a 1yr old with us and the late dining will not work for us. If we don't get changed to early can we change to the early onboard? Has anyone had success with talking to the maitre'd? 

[jmcathome]

Good luck. Early Dining is the preferred dining option. When you get onboard go to the Maitre d and explain. hopefully he can arrange. If not try YTD  better chance of getting it.

[Skidemon1280]

35 minutes ago, jmcathome said:

Good luck. Early Dining is the preferred dining option. When you get onboard go to the Maitre d and explain. hopefully he can arrange. If not try YTD  better chance of getting it.

Early or YTD will work fine for us just certainly not late. Thanks for the tip. 

[PhillyFan33579]

Fun Times usually lists the time/location where the Maitre D will be on embarkation day. They will do their best to accommodate you, but sometimes they can’t accommodate your request.  Worst case scenario, you can always eat at the Lido buffet if you get stuck with late dining. 

[summersigh]

You can always FB John Heald outlining your problem with the 1 year old and late dining.  He will tell you when to send him a reminder and then he will contact the maitre d with your request before you board.  That way you may find it's all taken care of before you get on the ship.

[dmdiver]

One of our Freedom cruises, we were waitlisted for ATD and ended up assigned to late dining.  We went to the maitre d once we boarded & he was able to switch us to early dining, but we had to be seated with another couple.  Fortunately, they were very nice people, so not a problem.

[crusinpsychRN]

They can usually accommodate you on day 2.

[bethshebas]

1 hour ago, crusinpsychRN said:

They can usually accommodate you on day 2.

That is my experience as well

[MistyRo76]

We had luck getting some in our group changed on our recent Paradise cruise. So I think you should be fine. Worst case - there is always the Lido buffet if they aren't able to accommodate you. 

 

I will also say, that we took our (then) 14 month old on a cruise and we stuck with our normal late dinner. Our daughter was on a pretty strict routine - always to bed at 8PM and very regimented with her nap schedule. But she did great. Within a day or so, she was completely adjusted. We usually got her something to eat from room service to have in the cabin around her normal dinner time. Then we would take her to dinner and she would have some fruit or something else from the menu. Once she finished eating, we would pull her stroller up to the table and lay her in it. Within minutes, she was usually asleep! It worked great for us. Kids can surprise you sometimes at how flexible they can be!