Fixed or Flex time dining with scooter on Carnival Vista? And splitting dining?

[mom22frogs]

Hi, first post here but it's my 2nd cruise. I'm taking a friend along who uses a scooter. Friend can walk a limited distance, like say to move around in my house without wheels, but uses the scooter full time for anything longer. We're going on the Carnival Vista (woo-woo!) and have a deck 11 balcony room that puts us pretty close to those forward elevators. Right now we have the flex dining, because the early fixed (which is what I did last time) was already full. 

 

-Is it correct that fixed dining is in the Reflections dining room (middle deck 3) and flexible dining is the Horizons room in the aft? 

-Where will they have my friend park the scooter? Would they have her drive to the table and then they park it? Leave it at the table? Leave it at the front of the restaurant? 

-Is one or the other dramatically easier with the fixed vs. flex? It seems so tidy to come down the elevators, roll into the Reflections, and just boom have a table. It would also simplify dealing with my friend's allergy to peppers. One waiter the whole week could keep track.

-Should I be calling Carnival about the issue with the peppers? It's literally just peppers, like bell peppers, jalapenos, peppers.

-So then the twist. Can I *split* our dining reservations? My ds has ASD and he struggles with the noise of the dining rooms. He only hit the MDR *one time* on our week on the Magic, and that was the night I gave him a sedative, haha. Like seriously. He did great it the specialty restaurants where they are smaller and quieter. So I'm trying to figure out what works for him. He likes to play till all hours, show up late, eat. So his idea was that I take him to the flex dining room when he's done playing. My friend and I however would want to eat much earlier, irrespective of fixed or flex. So can we split dining for our cabin across times or across styles of dining? Could I put ds flex and me and my friend fixed? LOL

-Is there a difference in noise between Reflections and Horizons? If one is dramatically, noticeably quieter, that would be better for my ds.

 

Does that sound crazy yet? I'm not sure why I'm not seeing it straight, lol. With his autism, my ds will tend to show up really hungry, boom. On the Magic we were really close to the lido and I just went up and got him a plate of food off the buffet. Maybe I should just plan on something like that again or do room service for him? I could. I just liked having him eat with us a little. The night he ate in the MDR, he ate an entire steak. It was really adorable. 

 

Anything obvious there that I'm missing about which way I should go with this or what happens when you bring a scooter to the dining rooms? I was assuming we'd just talk with the maitre d once we get on the ship and get switched to fixed time if that's better for us. We'll eat specialty the first night, so I'm not worried about that. I just wasn't sure whether I should be moving us to fixed. Maybe it's a lot easier to get seated with wheels if you're fixed instead of flex? Or it doesn't matter? The flex dining room, if it's the Horizons, seems brighter with the windows, which I think would be good. If one or the other is quieter, that could drive it too. He said the MDR on the Magic was loud, which was why he didn't want to go.

 

Thanks! 

[1025cruise]

Hmm.

In terms of the scooter, a lot of the time you drive to the table, switch to a chair, and then the wait staff take the scooter and store it out of the way, and will return it when you are done. If getting out is hard, they might move you so you are at a table where it can be accommodated. Or, you can leave the scooter at the entrance and walk to the table if its feasible.

 

In terms of DS, if he just wants to play and then eat, running him up to Lido might be best. Maybe plan for one night where you "medicate" and all of you eat dinner.

 

Your plan to switch dining times onboard won't necessarily work. If you think flex time works best, you should sign up for that. Otherwise, pick a fixed seating time. I would also alert Carnival to your allergy. While having the same wait staff at a fixed seating is better, they will work with you in flex.

 

[meatloafsfan]

1025 covered the scooter issue really well.

 

For your son - I recommend talking to the Maitre'd on embarkation day. Explain the situation with your son, they will do what they can to make it work for you. At the same time, you can inform them of the allergy. Even with anytime dining, you can still be sat in the same section (with the same servers) each night. They may also be able to let you know what time is best for your son for when the dining room is the quietest.

[mom22frogs]

On November 5, 2019 at 12:29 PM, meatloafsfan said:

Even with anytime dining, you can still be sat in the same section (with the same servers) each night.

Ooo, I didn't know this!!!

On November 5, 2019 at 9:50 AM, 1025cruise said:

a lot of the time you drive to the table, switch to a chair, and then the wait staff take the scooter and store it out of the way, and will return it when you are done.

Perfect

On November 5, 2019 at 9:50 AM, 1025cruise said:

In terms of DS, if he just wants to play and then eat, running him up to Lido might be best. Maybe plan for one night where you "medicate" and all of you eat dinner.

And it hadn't occurred to me that I might do different plans for the two weeks. One week I'll have my friend, the other week it's just me and ds. So that 2nd week maybe I get me and him in the dining room more with the flex dining and do the lido more the first week, something like that. Good point.

So I need to figure out if the check in desk for the flex is on the same floor as where we'd go in for the flex/Horizons dining room. If it's on the same room, then I think we're cool. But if it's on a different floor, that's a pain. Elevators happen, but I don't want it to take 3 elevator rides to get to dinner, lol. 

[mom22frogs]

On November 5, 2019 at 9:50 AM, 1025cruise said:

I would also alert Carnival to your allergy. While having the same wait staff at a fixed seating is better, they will work with you in flex.

Yeah, I think given the complexity fixed would be better the first week with my friend and then flexed the 2nd week with my ds. If the checkin desk for flex is on a different floor from where we'd go in to the flex dining, that will seal the deal. I don't mind a walk/drive, but I don't want to have to do additional elevators. 

[1025cruise]

My understanding is that on the Vista, the sign in desk is near the coffee shop, not the dining room.

[mom22frogs]

On November 7, 2019 at 9:40 AM, 1025cruise said:

My understanding is that on the Vista, the sign in desk is near the coffee shop, not the dining room.

So play like I'm really dumb here, cuz I'm feeling dumb about this. Do we *both* have to go to that location and then down to the dining room? That would mean elevators to deck 5, elevators to deck 3/4. Sigh, sigh.

 

And then a weird question. Does the Reflections dining room tend to get smoke from the casino? I'm noticing on the deck plans they're very close. 

 

If there's going to be smoke taking the elevators and going to the Reflections, then I'd probably rather stick with the flex dining in the Horizons, even if the elevators are less convenient. 

Edited November 8, 2019 by mom22frogs