Question booking dinner reservations 45 days out

[cantgetin]

On 11/15/2023 at 2:30 PM, lisabucsfan1 said:

 

 

We too are on the NYE cruise and having a horrendous time booking reservations for dinners. I was lucky to secure a table for the 4 couples traveling together for 2 meals (at 6pm!) but even trying to book for 2 couples seems impossible this week. The app as been flakey at best and atrocious at worst.

 

 

Yup!  Atrocious totally describes it.

[tbmrt]

12 hours ago, lisabucsfan1 said:

 

thanks... super familiar with all of the finagling with the app and brunch options (this will be my 6th sailing)... but the first time I've had this many problems!

I'm thinking this could be because of a very full New Years cruise.  I'm thinking my February cruise from Puerto Rico will be the same due to the cruises that VV cancelled and many people rebooked to my date.

[lisabucsfan1]

On 11/18/2023 at 5:55 AM, tbmrt said:

I'm thinking this could be because of a very full New Years cruise.  I'm thinking my February cruise from Puerto Rico will be the same due to the cruises that VV cancelled and many people rebooked to my date.

 

I was on full sailings earlier this year, but maybe more people are aware of the app & how to use it... it's definitely been a sore spot from day 1. LOL

[tbmrt]

Is anyone going on the 2/24/24 S. Caribbean cruise from Puerto Rico?  I'm really looking forward to it.  Have been to all the ports except Guadaloupe and have great memories of them.

[warmwinds]

Well it is 1:03 Miami time (10:03 my time) and I guess I'm lucky it only took ONE HOUR to book all my dinner (and brunch) reservations.  Cannot tell you how many times it crashed, had to start over, but got everything I wanted within 15 minutes.  Whew.

 

Now just have to figure out the shows (which we didn't do last cruise) - they are not til you board, right?

[cantgetin]

For my last 14 night cruise, I got 4 nights booked, then a zillion crashes.  Turned the project over to my TA who got everything.

[warmwinds]

1 hour ago, cantgetin said:

For my last 14 night cruise, I got 4 nights booked, then a zillion crashes.  Turned the project over to my TA who got everything.

That's the part that confuses me - do they have access to all the time slots, even the next day?  Or do you call your TA in the middle of the night?

 

In my case, now, the actual day is right now, Thanksgiving, so I would not bother anyone today.  Would you call your TA on Thanksgiving and say "I couldn't book these last night"?

[cantgetin]

1 minute ago, warmwinds said:

That's the part that confuses me - do they have access to all the time slots, even the next day?  Or do you call your TA in the middle of the night?

 

In my case, now, the actual day is right now, Thanksgiving, so I would not bother anyone today.  Would you call your TA on Thanksgiving and say "I couldn't book these last night"?

It depends on your relationship with your TA.  My TA normally stays up at night to help clients with reservations.  She asks that we send her an email in advance listing approximately what we want and any other notes on what is acceptable.  For example, I listed "start with Pink Agave and rotate thru everything except Test Kitchen....about 8pm". I also told her that I'd try to do it on my own first.--she told me to pm her on FB if I wanted her to jump in.  SO, after I got my 4 made and tried for a while with only getting kicked out, I pm'd her.  She had them all within 15 minutes.  It helps that she's in Central time and I'm Eastern time in the sense that she isn't up all night for clients.

 

As to what's available the next day, the answer is "whatever has been released and wasn't grabbed the night before.  You can also call Shoreside Sailor Services the next day and they can do it for you....don't know if they're open today, but most of them are not US based.

Would I call my TA on Thanksgiving?  No, but I don't call her ever.  We communicate thru email, text, or private messages on line.  Honestly, we would have had the communication in advance and she would have told me whether this day was special to her or not....she tells me to contact her any time, but I do try to be respectful of her and realize that I'm one of many clients.  Reality--if you have your act together in advance, it will take her under 15 minutes to do the dinner res.  Normally, I'd respect the holiday UNLESS she had told me otherwise.