Dining Question

[Salem615]

Hello

 

My family decided kind of last minute to take a cruise the end of September. One of my family members is terminally ill and she wanted to do one last cruise.

We managed to get rooms but the only dining option was the late dining at 8pm. This is really too late for my family member who is ill.  Is there a way to contact anyone and try to get at least "your time dining?" She really loves eating in the dining room and I would hate to have to have her settle for the buffet every night. 

[1025cruise]

If you post on John Heald's Facebook page 2-3 days before the cruise with all of the cabin numbers and names, he will send the request to the Maitre D. No guarantee that this will work, but you can try. You can also go see the Maitre D when you get on the ship, and they will see if they can accommodate you.

[TravelE]

3 minutes ago, 1025cruise said:

If you post on John Heald's Facebook page 2-3 days before the cruise with all of the cabin numbers and names, he will send the request to the Maitre D. No guarantee that this will work, but you can try. You can also go see the Maitre D when you get on the ship, and they will see if they can accommodate you.

 

This is the best advice. You can also call Carnival or your TA and request to be waitlisted for "Your Time Dining" and make sure all your cabins are linked together for dining.

 

Good luck and enjoy the cruise!

[Salem615]

Thank you

I will give it a try. 

[DeniseTr]

On 7/22/2024 at 7:24 AM, 1025cruise said:

If you post on John Heald's Facebook page 2-3 days before the cruise with all of the cabin numbers and names, he will send the request to the Maitre D. No guarantee that this will work, but you can try. You can also go see the Maitre D when you get on the ship, and they will see if they can accommodate you.

Make it private so only he can see it. 

[teknoge3k]

1 hour ago, DeniseTr said:

Make it private so only he can see it. 

 

You cannot privately message or post to John Heald on Facebook. You have to respond to his daily posts he does for Q&A. Either he or Jacinta will respond.

[sparks1093]

On 7/22/2024 at 9:24 AM, 1025cruise said:

If you post on John Heald's Facebook page 2-3 days before the cruise with all of the cabin numbers and names, he will send the request to the Maitre D. No guarantee that this will work, but you can try. You can also go see the Maitre D when you get on the ship, and they will see if they can accommodate you.

All of the maitre'ds have an Email address and it might be easier to just cut out the middleman. Unfortunately I don't have the format for the email but a search should find it.

[pinto18]

Also maybe contact Special needs? But I would imagine any maitre'd would accommodate you for a reason like that

 

[Elaine5715]

27 minutes ago, sparks1093 said:

All of the maitre'ds have an Email address and it might be easier to just cut out the middleman. Unfortunately I don't have the format for the email but a search should find it.

The Maitre emails have been shut down.  

[Elaine5715]

On 7/22/2024 at 8:48 AM, Salem615 said:

Hello

 

My family decided kind of last minute to take a cruise the end of September. One of my family members is terminally ill and she wanted to do one last cruise.

We managed to get rooms but the only dining option was the late dining at 8pm. This is really too late for my family member who is ill.  Is there a way to contact anyone and try to get at least "your time dining?" She really loves eating in the dining room and I would hate to have to have her settle for the buffet every night. 

Simply see the Maître once onboard.  It is always their call and people find them quite accommodating for this type of request

[DeniseTr]

3 hours ago, teknoge3k said:

 

You cannot privately message or post to John Heald on Facebook. You have to respond to his daily posts he does for Q&A. Either he or Jacinta will respond.

Don't include cabin/cruise info on FB. Wait till he responds to send the info directly to him.

[sparks1093]

20 minutes ago, Elaine5715 said:

The Maitre emails have been shut down.  

Regrettable. 

[teknoge3k]

2 hours ago, DeniseTr said:

Don't include cabin/cruise info on FB. Wait till he responds to send the info directly to him.

 

You have to post that information to him, on a public post, if you want anything from him. He tells you to post it to him several days before the cruise. You cannot send private messages directly to John Heald on Facebook. It's not an option. 

[Elaine5715]

2 hours ago, sparks1093 said:

Regrettable. 

Not really, they were getting a ton of emails for vanity requests weeks and months ahead of sailings including sailings that they were not on.  The seating plans are set about 3-4 days before each sailing.  

[sparks1093]

11 hours ago, Elaine5715 said:

Not really, they were getting a ton of emails for vanity requests weeks and months ahead of sailings including sailings that they were not on.  The seating plans are set about 3-4 days before each sailing.  

Much better to have all the requests go to only one person? Seating is part of their job (and I'm sure an assistant was tasked with keeping track of it all). I've only had to email a maitre'd once and he was able to accommodate us. (It was our second sailing on the same ship in a few months and we wanted the same waitstaff that we had on our first sailing.)

[jsglow]

1 hour ago, sparks1093 said:

Much better to have all the requests go to only one person? Seating is part of their job (and I'm sure an assistant was tasked with keeping track of it all). I've only had to email a maitre'd once and he was able to accommodate us. (It was our second sailing on the same ship in a few months and we wanted the same waitstaff that we had on our first sailing.)

I think it's more geared toward limiting 'special requests' in general. Not everyone can have that 'window table for 2, with the same waiters, with my place setting backwards because I'm left handed' option.   

[sparks1093]

5 minutes ago, jsglow said:

I think it's more geared toward limiting 'special requests' in general. Not everyone can have that 'window table for 2, with the same waiters, with my place setting backwards because I'm left handed' option.   

Still strikes me as inefficient and it's still part of their job. They've never been able to accommodate all requests anyway.

[Elaine5715]

5 hours ago, sparks1093 said:

Still strikes me as inefficient and it's still part of their job. They've never been able to accommodate all requests anyway.

The maitre may farm out table re-assignments to assistant maitres but the dining room is their domain.  They set the tone.  As a solo diner who used to prefer assigned early times, there was a noticeable difference in how assignments were made based on the maitre.  

[sparks1093]

35 minutes ago, Elaine5715 said:

The maitre may farm out table re-assignments to assistant maitres but the dining room is their domain.  They set the tone.  As a solo diner who used to prefer assigned early times, there was a noticeable difference in how assignments were made based on the maitre.  

All true but irrelevant to why their email is no longer available. 

[Elaine5715]

25 minutes ago, sparks1093 said:

All true but irrelevant to why their email is no longer available. 

The emails were cut off due to the volume and entitlements.  The maitres set assignments 3-4 days, not weeks ahead.  When the maitres failed to respond in a "timely" manner for a cruise in 6 months for a window seat with a view of the "action" for two but not near anyone, the next step was another complaint to JH.  The maitres are dealing with current guests' demands not people who may or may not end up sailing in the weeks ahead.  

[sparks1093]

51 minutes ago, Elaine5715 said:

The emails were cut off due to the volume and entitlements.  The maitres set assignments 3-4 days, not weeks ahead.  When the maitres failed to respond in a "timely" manner for a cruise in 6 months for a window seat with a view of the "action" for two but not near anyone, the next step was another complaint to JH.  The maitres are dealing with current guests' demands not people who may or may not end up sailing in the weeks ahead.  

And I still am of the opinion that it's an inefficient process because instead of only the occasional passenger reaching out to Heald all of them are. All the maitre'ds had to do was have a canned response automatically sent outlining what you just said.

[jsglow]

@Elaine5715, you hit the key word...... entitlement.

They cut off access to eliminate 98% of that.

[Elaine5715]

21 minutes ago, sparks1093 said:

And I still am of the opinion that it's an inefficient process because instead of only the occasional passenger reaching out to Heald all of them are. All the maitre'ds had to do was have a canned response automatically sent outlining what you just said.

The website already has a "canned" response.  Most of these people want an exception. 

[sparks1093]

12 hours ago, Elaine5715 said:

The website already has a "canned" response.  Most of these people want an exception. 

So what? It's all part of customer service.

[Elaine5715]

6 hours ago, sparks1093 said:

So what? It's all part of customer service.

So, is the answer "no"