I need to vent!

[Juanita462]

If you don't get confirmation on your fixed dining try asking for

Edwin Stall at Guest Relations - he guarantees to fix any problem

and did for us. Sometimes it is who you speak to that determines

whether you get any results or not.

 

Thanks for the heads up - I looked at our final statement and our

TA has put early requested when she told us that we would get

that time for sure. Will be after her to check up on it and amend

the statement.

[MightyQuinn]

I have a confirmation from my TA, it doesn’t mean squat. :(

Agreed. I was suggesting that the OP get the actual HAL booking confirmation. Not all TAs routinely provide it - they prefer to issue their own version. The HAL one should mean a little more....:p:p

[hammybee]

Although there have been no reports of it lately, those with confirmed Open Seating have arrived onboard to learn they were assigned to fixed seating. In all three cases, a large group had trumped individual bookings.

 

We passengers created a commodity out of our dining preferences, style, time, table location and size. This is happening on all mass marketed cruise lines. So now, priority dining is a perk of Deluxe Suites and larger group bookings.

 

For the masses, a dining request is becoming more like a guaranteed cabin in that there will be a chair at a table, somewhere, at some time. I have no doubt the Dining Room Managers do their best to accommodate everyone and sometimes it is necessary to disappoint people. The Solo cruiser stands the best shot at getting what they want, when they want it.

[Cruzman]

For many of us who prefer traditional dining, this thread reminds us as to why we are resentful of the entire AYWD concept. Being forced to accept anytime dining is not a choice, and it is not as I wish! I have come to understand that the only way to be sure that you will get traditional dining on HAL, is to book an SC suite or higher. If I can't afford one, I simply cruise on a different line. It is unfortunate that it has come to that.

[ship dog]

I'm not a happy camper today! I finally got my cruise documents today 19 days before I leave. I booked this cruise 15 months ahead of time and got confirmed for early traditional dining. This is important to me as I am going solo. I got my tickets and I am confirmed in OPEN SEATING!!! I've got a call into my TA right now and I am waiting for a call back. Has this happened to anyone else...and was it resolved:mad: ?

I had a similar experience twice with Princess. It left us spending time on our first night in a line trying to get early seating. :( Many people had the same trouble as we had. We also booked early and our status was confirmed. We were lucky and managed to get seating. I phoned Princess after the cruise, the lady explained that although we were booked they had not received final payment (by our TA) until one day before the closing date therefore those who paid earlier got the seating first :confused:

I was skeptical, so for our next cruise our TA paid the final payment somewhat earlier and no problem, we were confimed early and kept our place.:) Since then our TA pays earlier and no problems! Its a strange business this cruising:rolleyes:

[cruz chic]

I think it has to do with your cabin category. If your in a suite, no problem, if your in a low category, (which most solos are), they drop you like a bag of dirt.

Mark…

Bingo....we've got a winner.....this is so true.

[cruz chic]

I have no doubt the Dining Room Managers do their best to accommodate everyone and sometimes it is necessary to disappoint people. .

But the fact of the matter is that I booked 15 months out and was confirmed. Not getting fixed confirmed at the time of the booking is a deal breaker for me. If HAL does not make this right I will be hard pressed to ever step foot on another one of their ships. It's that important to me. I've got a lot of days with HAL, but to me it's about the lack of respect. If I had been put of a wait list it would have been somewhat different.

[cruz chic]

If you don't get confirmation on your fixed dining try asking for

Edwin Stall at Guest Relations - he guarantees to fix any problem

and did for us. Sometimes it is who you speak to that determines

whether you get any results or not.

 

Thanks for the heads up - I looked at our final statement and our

TA has put early requested when she told us that we would get

that time for sure. Will be after her to check up on it and amend

the statement.

Thanks for the info. I will keep this in mind.

[Cal Cruiser]

I know how you feel: I booked my cruise 15 months ahead and we saw our papers and we had waitlisted on the dining part of them????I called our T/A and HAL and complained about waitlisted and booking 15 months ahead???

Anyway my (UH) complaining did some good and I have late seating upper floor in the main dining room. Just what I wanted. I guess the squeeking wheel gets the grease.

[Mary Ellen]

I wish you well, but sadly I have to agree with Jim that any confirmation from HAL means SQUAT!. As I've mentioned before we've had "Confirmed Main Upper" on our cruise docs - only to be informed we have 'open' seating at the pier. :mad:

 

May your luck be better than ours was...

[CowPrincess]

I know that when I cruised solo, my tablemates (fixed dining) were an important part of my overall cruise experience. I hope you get this resolved in your favour -- I totally understand your being PO'd at HAL. Total lack of respect, total lack of consideration. They KNOW you're solo -- why they'd pull this is beyond me :( especially given how far in advance you booked.

[cruz chic]

I wish you well, but sadly I have to agree with Jim that any confirmation from HAL means SQUAT!. As I've mentioned before we've had "Confirmed Main Upper" on our cruise docs - only to be informed we have 'open' seating at the pier. :mad:

 

May your luck be better than ours was...

Your story came to my mind when this happened although I couldn't remember the details. This is why I'm worried.

[Cruzin Terri]

Bingo....we've got a winner.....this is so true.

I was in an SS and got dropped. Surely there are more tables on the upper level of the dining room than only for the Deluxe Suite passengers. I also booked 13 months out and did not wait until the last minute to pay the final payment.

Terri

[CowPrincess]

HAL screwed up our dining arrangements once. Didn't know it till we arrived at the dining room. We had dinner, then stood at the Maitre D's station until he fixed it. It took a while, but he got it sorted out. We made it clear that we weren't leaving till he DID get it fixed.

 

This is an important part of your vacation lorekauf. If you're in AYWD (what a misnomer THAT is!!!), keep after the Maitre D' till you get what you want.

 

Not to hijack this thread, but now I'm getting worried that our "confirmed" late fixed dining will turn out to be something else.

[marle7]

We have an email from HAL confirming late traditional seating at a table for two for the first leg of our cruise and late confirmed seating at a table of 4 for the second leg, when friends will be joining us.

 

If HAL changes that at the pier, it will be the first and last time we cruise with them as well. There shouldn't be that kind of stress when first boarding a ship for a vacation.

 

I hope this works out for you!

[Cruzin Terri]

We have an email from HAL confirming late traditional seating at a table for two for the first leg of our cruise and late confirmed seating at a table of 4 for the second leg, when friends will be joining us.

 

If HAL changes that at the pier, it will be the first and last time we cruise with them as well. There shouldn't be that kind of stress when first boarding a ship for a vacation.

 

I hope this works out for you!

Interesting that they will change for each leg. They told me it could not be done since as far as I was concerned it was "ONE" cruise.

Terri

[cruz chic]

We made it clear that we weren't leaving till he DID get it fixed.

 

This is an important part of your vacation lorekauf. If you're in AYWD (what a misnomer THAT is!!!), keep after the Maitre D' till you get what you want.

 

Not to hijack this thread, but now I'm getting worried that our "confirmed" late fixed dining will turn out to be something else.

I will be doing the same thing....standing there until it is done. I was reading on another cruise board about the poster Kyros cruise on the Statendam. It is a very interesting read. She talked to the Maitre D' and he was saying that he doesn't want to make any passanger unhappy. I hope this isn't just idle talk because I will not be happy if this isn't fixed. I want to get past this and think it is fixed but the problems that people have had isn't making me comfortable.

[LadyFurn]

On our Eurodam cruise last week we received our requested late seating (8:15) and we originally booked an inside cabin about 2 weeks ahead of time so the suite theory does not work (for this particular cruise, anyway) plus it was not booked way early...:confused:

[ekerr19]

I have a confirmation from my TA, it doesn’t mean squat. :(

I think it has to do with your cabin category. If your in a suite, no problem, if your in a low category, (which most solos are), they drop you like a bag of dirt.

I tried my last voyage to get fixed dinning on my last cruise, spent about 2 hours, but to no avail. I am almost sure that is has come to the need to give the DR manager a couple of twenties to get your wishes. :eek:

Mark…

 

Sorry, but, no - you are wrong. We book Deluxe Verandah Suites and the same thing has happened to us - twice.

 

Please don't start blaming the Suite pax - they are a minority anyway.

 

HAL needs to get their act together when it comes to dining. Seems more people are opting for fixed...

[cruz chic]

On our Eurodam cruise last week we received our requested late seating (8:15) and we originally booked an inside cabin about 2 weeks ahead of time so the suite theory does not work (for this particular cruise, anyway) plus it was not booked way early...:confused:

Was that the 3 day cruise by chance?

[pms4104]

Based on posts above, I will be curious to see what dining is listed on our docs which were delivered today to my T/A.

 

We booked a year out and HAL told our T/A that open was all that was available. Unfortunately for HAL, their website showed that very day that our prefered fixed time was available. When I told my T/A what was on the website, she phoned HAL and got us confirmed for early fixed. When I made final payment, she also confirmed with HAL that our fixed dining still was intact.

 

I understand that suite guests are guaranteed their choice of dining, however HAL should have some type of cutoff for that guarantee ... someone booking a suite 6 weeks out should not get preference over those who are non-suite and booked a year or more out. Further, if suite guests are given fixed, it should be just for the suite people ... not fair if HAL allows suite guests to coattail their non-suite friends and family into their dining guarantee.

 

I apologize to the OP for going on and on ... I sincerely hope you can get your dining squared away before sailing. If HAL confirms anything, they tarnish their reputation by turning this whole dining thing from AYWD (As You Wish Dining) to AHWYTD (As HAL Wishes You To Dine)

[ekerr19]

Bingo....we've got a winner.....this is so true.

 

See my above post and please don't leap to any conclusions - especially one that indicates a Suite pax "took" your confirmed dining...

 

We book Suites from the get go (most all the time) and have been told and received "confirmed" 8:00pm dining, only to get docs indicating otherwise. DH & I are not newbies on HAL either... between us and out kids we easily have paid for over 500 days on HAL - probably half in Suites.

 

If HAL keeps this up, they will lose pax - simple as that.

 

I posted a thread similar to this last December when it happened to us on Westerdam....

[marle7]

Interesting that they will change for each leg. They told me it could not be done since as far as I was concerned it was "ONE" cruise.

Terri

 

I don't know, unless they are going to give us a table for four for the two of us, and just add our friends the second leg.

 

We have an email from someone named Holly Jacobus, Ship Services Coordinator, and she said in the email it had been noted in Polar. Not that I know what Polar is. I just noticed that the email she sent us had also been copied to the Westerdam Dining room Manager.

[Cruzin Terri]

I don't know, unless they are going to give us a table for four for the two of us, and just add our friends the second leg.

 

We have an email from someone named Holly Jacobus, Ship Services Coordinator, and she said in the email it had been noted in Polar. Not that I know what Polar is. I just noticed that the email she sent us had also been copied to the Westerdam Dining room Manager.

I thin a lot has to do with whoever answers the phone and to what extent they will go to help you.

Terri

[u4ea]

Sorry, but, no - you are wrong. We book Deluxe Verandah Suites and the same thing has happened to us - twice.

 

Please don't start blaming the Suite pax - they are a minority anyway.

 

HAL needs to get their act together when it comes to dining. Seems more people are opting for fixed...

 

Sorry,:o As I said "I THINK" so the comment was based on speculation, please read carefully, and I should have been clearer.

Anyway, the comments have been correct in general. It is an important part of the cruise. I WAS let down on my last cruise as regards to getting bumped and I tried but failed to get fixed, but was happy anyway.It is a cruise ;)

As was said, 'be happy and let the wine flow':cool:

Mark...