What's it mean I'm waitlisted for dinner?

[tutzig]

Well, since you asked, dining time in my case is a big deal because we like to eat as a family, which includes my 5 and 10 year old. If they had to wait until 8 pm to eat, it would be a big deal for the whole ship because everyone on board would hear the 5 year old screaming in meltdown from his low blood sugar. And it would mean that they both would miss out on Camp Carnival night time activities - or at least get interrupted doing them, as they run from 7-10. Then, it means that Mom and Dad would miss the show because we go back to the room with the kids at 10. We are not late night people and are ready for bed by then.

 

I realize that should I not get my early dining time as preferred, I have other options such as the Lido deck, or to put my kids in Camp for dinner. But that is not what I want to do, and believe it or not, it would be a big disappointment for me on my vacation to have to chose a late dinner as a family with no camp and shows, or dinner on the Lido deck as a family, passing up the wonderful service and food in the dining room, or no family dinner and sending the kids to Camp for dinner.

 

I have heard other people on these boards comment that families with kids should be given their dining preference for just this reason. Obviously, I agree with that and hope and pray that CCL takes this into their decision.

 

So far, I am 3/3 with dining time and have been very grateful not to have to visit the maitre D' upon arrival to change times.

 

And please, for all those people who think cruising is for adults only, please don't bother to flame me. My kids have never once had a melt down in the dining room, but rather sit quietly and talk about the day with mom and dad as they enjoy their dinner. Sometimes it is food off the kids menu, but last time around, my 5 year old was eating prime rib and chicken off the adult menu and loving it. And my ten year old had chocolate melting cake every night for dessert. Trust me, they would be very upset they had to chose between camp and family dinner in the dining room.

 

 

Amen to that.. Our kids are a little older, 10 and 8, but we always eat as a family if possible.

 

We were able to get early dining when they cruised with us last year. Our kids would not have waited until a late seating for dinner. It would not have been a good time for them.

 

It is honestly upsetting that so many people get on a message board and think that they are a "GOD" or something. They have to add something to almost every thread to get their post count up.

 

I can understand, someone saw their reservation was changed from early/late seating to waitlisted. I saw the exact same thing. They get worried and turn to the one place they could get a response without calling Carnival. Listen I am a Travel Agent, I know how long you can wait sometimes to get a person on the phone. So maybe they didnt browse all the threads first and asked a question. I thought this is a place for people to ask questions and get answers.

 

The first response to their question provided them an answer and also advised them that they were not the only one in a polite way... And than it went south from there....

 

Mr. Segway, you were not the only one to ask this question, it happened to alot of other people..

[kelz66]

No one was ever assigned a time until they received their S & S card. Your documents have and will say "requested time".

 

nothing has changed. :rolleyes:

[zqvol]

I booked my cruise, selected 2nd seating for dinner, and paid for the cruise in full. Up to now my reservation said 2nd seating for dinner. Now when I check my reservation it tells me I'm WAITLISTED for 2nd seating dining. What's this mean? :confused:

 

It means nothing. All cruisers have always been waitlisted. It is nothing more than a different way of writing down what has always happened.

[jbroons]

Well, since you asked, dining time in my case is a big deal because we like to eat as a family, which includes my 5 and 10 year old. If they had to wait until 8 pm to eat, it would be a big deal for the whole ship because everyone on board would hear the 5 year old screaming in meltdown from his low blood sugar. And it would mean that they both would miss out on Camp Carnival night time activities - or at least get interrupted doing them, as they run from 7-10. Then, it means that Mom and Dad would miss the show because we go back to the room with the kids at 10. We are not late night people and are ready for bed by then.

 

I realize that should I not get my early dining time as preferred, I have other options such as the Lido deck, or to put my kids in Camp for dinner. But that is not what I want to do, and believe it or not, it would be a big disappointment for me on my vacation to have to chose a late dinner as a family with no camp and shows, or dinner on the Lido deck as a family, passing up the wonderful service and food in the dining room, or no family dinner and sending the kids to Camp for dinner.

 

I have heard other people on these boards comment that families with kids should be given their dining preference for just this reason. Obviously, I agree with that and hope and pray that CCL takes this into their decision.

 

So far, I am 3/3 with dining time and have been very grateful not to have to visit the maitre D' upon arrival to change times.

 

And please, for all those people who think cruising is for adults only, please don't bother to flame me. My kids have never once had a melt down in the dining room, but rather sit quietly and talk about the day with mom and dad as they enjoy their dinner. Sometimes it is food off the kids menu, but last time around, my 5 year old was eating prime rib and chicken off the adult menu and loving it. And my ten year old had chocolate melting cake every night for dessert. Trust me, they would be very upset they had to chose between camp and family dinner in the dining room.

 

Do they go in "adult only" hot tubs?:)

[MrSegway]

I appreciate everyone's input. Having cruised with another cruiseline before (see my signature block).... their dining was assigned when you booked. So this was my expectation with Carnival. So yes it was a surprise to go from "Late Dining Requested" to "Late Dining Waitlisted". In either event it was a change from my perspective.

 

And yes I should have done a quick search on the forum to see if there were prior posts. But since I checked my reservation one day to the next, and immediately saw the change, I ASSUMED that I was the only impacted. And so made the post first. I think this is a great forum and I like to do my homework before calling customer support.

 

And yes our dining time is important to us. If we can't eat later, then our preference would be to do the flexible dining. So not trying to make a big deal out of it, just trying to understand Carnival's process.

 

Thanks all........

[45014]

If you read the brochure, it says that dining requests are exactly that, A REQUEST. I know that some people must eat to maintain control of a medical condition, but, for some people they feel that because they eat at a certain time at home, that is when they have to eat on a vacation. Don't forget the time sometimes changes in the ports and the ship adjusts the ship time with the island time. They dining time would be reflective of the change.

[dlbaqua]

I noticed the change today, too and came here to get the information on the change. I knew y'all would know. We sailed on HA last summer with anytime dining and I really hated it, we requested assigned dining and they gave us anytime dining. I was hoping that Carnival wasn't going to do the same thing. Glad to hear they aren't (at least not yet)

[dan40]

If you read the brochure, it says that dining requests are exactly that, A REQUEST. I know that some people must eat to maintain control of a medical condition, but, for some people they feel that because they eat at a certain time at home, that is when they have to eat on a vacation. Don't forget the time sometimes changes in the ports and the ship adjusts the ship time with the island time. They dining time would be reflective of the change.

 

 

 

Some lines change ships time as they cross time zones. Carnival usually maintains 'home port' time throughout the cruise. Unless it is a repositioning cruise, then Carnival changes time as they cross lines.

 

Dan

[Texaslandshark]

Well call me crazy but if you booked almost a year out you shouldn't be one of the folks that are "in question". First come-first served ought to count for something. When it gets closer to sailing and it's kind of dicey for Carnival to accomodate everyone I can see it.

If you can't "confirm" it over a year out then I'd like to know not so much what Carnival's "policy" is, but what the problem is. Sound half-way reasonable or is it a case of Carnival can't improve on anything because it's perfect the way it is?:confused:

[A&Jfamily]

Do they go in "adult only" hot tubs?:)

 

Believe it or not, last trip not one of us got in a hot tub at all. The pool was too cold for the 5 year old, and I didn't bother to look if the hot tub next to it was adult only as it was closed the first couple of days. Never bothered...but never saw any kids in it either...so perhaps people were following the rules.

[Luluwa]

I finally called today and asked for someone on the phone who knew why suddenly were all waitlisted. This male employee said, .....

"It was a glitch, we updated the reservations system several days ago and it has a glitch, don't worry about it, your dining time is the same as you requested." :p

[jbroons]

Believe it or not, last trip not one of us got in a hot tub at all. The pool was too cold for the 5 year old, and I didn't bother to look if the hot tub next to it was adult only as it was closed the first couple of days. Never bothered...but never saw any kids in it either...so perhaps people were following the rules.

 

 

You know that I was kidding....and I see that you've become a Carnival loyalist. I'm glad I chose Carnival for our first cruise!!

[Fancy_Goods]

I just think for CCL to implement a change on the web suddenly listing everyone on every sailing as "waitlisted" is pretty poor IT practice!

 

 

The change is not a "pretty poor IT practice", it's a MARKETING change that was not implemented very well.

[sundercruiser]

People are in a "tizzy" because Carnival was boneheaded enough to use the WRONG word. "Waitlisted" implies that what you requested has been filled, and now you have to hope that one of the "lucky" ones will drop out and give you their space. The issue isn't "newbies" or "clueless cruisers" who don't understand that it's always been a request. The issue is using the wrong word to describe people's dining request status. Calling it "waitlisted" is CONFUSING. Instead, Carnival should have used the word "Requested," which is precisely what the status is: Requested but not yet confirmed. "Waitlisted" implies you lost out, and somebody else has "your" spot. "Requested" implies you're in the same boat with everybody else, with just as much of a shot at the spot as the next guy.

 

Since the change has appeared on everybody's reservation, all at once and at the same time, it's evident that it's a change that Carnival IT made once, in one place. Ergo, to change the word "Waitlisted" to "Requested" would take them maybe ten seconds, and would lead to dramatically less confusion. How many tens or even hundreds of hours have PVPs and other call center staff had to devote, in total, to answering questions this one erroneous word has generated?

 

So much for the much-vaunted Carnival "efficiency." Humph!

[sappygirl]

People are in a "tizzy" because Carnival was boneheaded enough to use the WRONG word. "Waitlisted" implies that what you requested has been filled, and now you have to hope that one of the "lucky" ones will drop out and give you their space. The issue isn't "newbies" or "clueless cruisers" who don't understand that it's always been a request. The issue is using the wrong word to describe people's dining request status. Calling it "waitlisted" is CONFUSING. Instead, Carnival should have used the word "Requested," which is precisely what the status is: Requested but not yet confirmed. "Waitlisted" implies you lost out, and somebody else has "your" spot. "Requested" implies you're in the same boat with everybody else, with just as much of a shot at the spot as the next guy.

 

Since the change has appeared on everybody's reservation, all at once and at the same time, it's evident that it's a change that Carnival IT made once, in one place. Ergo, to change the word "Waitlisted" to "Requested" would take them maybe ten seconds, and would lead to dramatically less confusion. How many tens or even hundreds of hours have PVPs and other call center staff had to devote, in total, to answering questions this one erroneous word has generated?

 

So much for the much-vaunted Carnival "efficiency." Humph!

I agree Carnival should have used differant terminolgy for this but people should also realize that they will still have a dinner time no matter what wording they used. If they do not end up getting the dinner time they requested to begin with all they have to do is what they would have done before, have it changed when you get there. If people would just stop and think for a few moments before reacting they would not get in such a tizzy.:)