Not Happy with Dinner seating time

[FIREFIGHTERMICKEY]

When I booked thsi cruise I speciffically asked for main Dining. I also stated I did not want to book it unless we got that. I didnt care about anything else,Just the time we eat.... I didnt see this until I logged in on DCL website. Well to make a long story short I can not get main dining and it really has ruined our outlook on the cruise. I really dont want to eat a buffett every night and part of the reason we cruise is for the Dining and the service.
I called dcl ONLY TO BE MET BY RUDE EMPLOYEES....Yes i complained and I even got Rude service from Mcalpines Right hand man or so thats what Im told. Guys just a word of caution.. Be careful when you book the cruise. They get you sucked in and there is no escaping. This will be our 5th cruise and possibly our last. I think disneys customer service (On land) is becoming worse by the day...

 

[Evil Queen 2]

Maybe you will get switched to main dining closer to time you cruise. I just found out today that we had been upgraded and switched to main dining for our cruise next week. When we received the documents last week we were still down for Cat 9 and late dining. Maybe some pixie dust will come your way closer to cruise time.

 

[jilljill]

Were you told which seating you were assigned when you booked the cruise? When you received your mailed confirmation did you look at it to see what seating you have?
All you need to do is to call DCL or your TA and ask nicely to be waitlisted for main dining. Many people have been having their main dining waitlist come thru closer to sailing. You still have 78 days until you sail so your waitlist may come thru. If you don't get main before you sail go to the dining change location on the ship and ask if they can move you to main seating.

 

[SnowWhite2]

You are still within your cancellation period so if it is a deal breaker, cancel the cruise and rebook on one where you can get main dining.

 

[FIREFIGHTERMICKEY]

You are still within your cancellation period so if it is a deal breaker, cancel the cruise and rebook on one where you can get main dining.

This is the only time we can cruise.

 

[FIREFIGHTERMICKEY]

Were you told which seating you were assigned when you booked the cruise? When you received your mailed confirmation did you look at it to see what seating you have?
All you need to do is to call DCL or your TA and ask nicely to be waitlisted for main dining. Many people have been having their main dining waitlist come thru closer to sailing. You still have 78 days until you sail so your waitlist may come thru. If you don't get main before you sail go to the dining change location on the ship and ask if they can move you to main seating.

I do understand we have 78 days, But if it doesnt change we are basically out what we pay for Table service. We are a family that eats at 5:00 not 9:00.The problem I have is the change without our apprroval

 

[GOUSFBULLS99]

I'm with you, late dinner sucks! Talk to the maitre d' and he can get it changed. You may have to deal with it the first night, but they can usually find a spot for you. Been there, done that.

 

[FIREFIGHTERMICKEY]

I'm with you, late dinner sucks! Talk to the maitre d' and he can get it changed. You may have to deal with it the first night, but they can usually find a spot for you. Been there, done that.

Yes we did it once and never finsihed meals. We were tired and just didnt want to eat. A disney cast member had the nerve to tell me that he eats at second seating and never saw a child asleep. I JUST LAUGHED MY HEAD OFF.

 

[mmackeymouse]

Well, of course I would suggest you be more open minded about a dining time. A cruise is a great time to relax and live and let live, so to speak.

I can tell you this much, when we receive requests at our work, we are much more likely to respond positively to people that are humble with their requests, than people that come in saying, "We have to have this, and if we do not have this, we will not be coming to your office, and there is no flexibility whatsoever."

Just saying...

 

[Caropooh]

I do understand we have 78 days, But if it doesnt change we are basically out what we pay for Table service. We are a family that eats at 5:00 not 9:00.The problem I have is the change without our apprroval

What category room are you in?
I guess I don't quite see how you are out what you paid for table service? You will still be eating meals, right? Have you asked to be waitlisted for first seating yet? As others have said, alot of people have very good luck with that.

 

[pfp258]

Wow...I really don't understand such frustration and anger! I thought when we booked our six Disney cruises we were told at the time of booking which dinner seating we would have. We have two daughters 13 and 15. We cruised for the first time on Disney when they were 3 and 5 and we had late dinner seating and guess what?? The world didn't end and our cruise wasn't ruined. We have had both early and late seating depending on how early we booked and somehow we made it work.
Remember you catch more flies with honey than vinegar. Your tone in the post was abrasive and perhaps that is why Disney personnel couldn't accomodate you. Putting negativity out into the world just brings negativity back to you.

 

[lbgraves]

If your confirmation print out that DCL sent you after you booked the cruise has main dining then you have every right to be upset. I would be as well. They cannot change your dining on a whim. If you don't have the printed confirmation unfortunantly you don't have much to back yourself up with when you call DCL. I am guessing that you booked yourself and don't have a TA or they probably would not have talked to you as much as they did today.

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Try to go to Rocking Bar D/Wavebands when you get onboard and try to have your dining changed to main. They hold back main dining seatings. Also, others may not want main seating and will change to second seating, opening up a slot for you.

 

[cats mom]

I'm with you, late dinner sucks! Talk to the maitre d' and he can get it changed. You may have to deal with it the first night, but they can usually find a spot for you. Been there, done that.

Please be careful about giving this advice. I think it needs to be ammended to read MAYBE he can get it changed.

Yes, sometimes DCL is able to grant requests for dining changes once onboard... but not always.


Just last month I was standing near guest services and witnessed a grown woman pitching a royal fit. She said she had read online that she could switch dining times once onboard. (Dis boards info perhaps?)

Apparently she had already been to Rockin' Bar D where she was told they could not accomodate her request, so she stormed out to guest services to rant and rave.

The DCL folks were being as nice as they could while still trying to explain that there just weren't any more tables to be had on early dining, but they were definitely standing firm.

As it turns out, she was on the same rotation as us, so I know she never got her time switched because I saw her in the dining rooms several nights... eating very, very late at night.

 

[frdeb1999]

Deffinately agree with the advice of not saying that they can deffinately switch you. We were waitlisted and then checked with them upon arriving and were told that we could'nt get switched. It isn't a given. If they're full there is nothing they can do. Although I honestly don't know how you could book and not know what seating time you have. It won't let you book if main is full, you have to switch the time first. We went to topsiders/beach blanket for a couple of the meals and were very happy with both the food and service. They don't have buffets in the evening. A alternative as you can pick the time and we rarely had to wait to be seated. We even told our servers and maitre d that we would be doing this since we are used to eating at 6pm and deffinately could'nt do 815 every night. They completely understood and told us many people do this when stuck with late seating. Just a option, if you can't be switched. Although I deffinately would'nt let it ruin my cruise!

 

[Minnie116]

A disney cast member had the nerve to tell me that he eats at second seating and never saw a child asleep. I JUST LAUGHED MY HEAD OFF.

Then he never cruised with my kids. On the 1st night, my 5yo DS fell asleep at the table, on the 2nd night, both my son and my DD8 fell asleep at the table.

 

[Inkmahm]

Then he never cruised with my kids. On the 1st night, my 5yo DS fell asleep at the table, on the 2nd night, both my son and my DD8 fell asleep at the table.

One of my favorite pictures is pirate night with the son of a friend of mine stretched out on two chairs, sound asleep for the entire dinner. The photographer put the rolled up menu in his hand and a bottle of booze in his other hand for the picture.

And we had EARLY dining. No way would he have been awake any night for late dining.

 

[nobodycares]

Cruized twice - first trip (4 nights) got STUCK with the latest late seating rotation and frankly didn't like it at all. We just don't eat dinner that late.

During onboard rebooking for cruise #2 I nicely but firmly insisted that it would be a dealbreaker if I didn't get main seating and amazingly the onboard agent was able to override something with somebody and I received confirmation of main seating for the second cruise. We enjoyed our main dining time very much on cruise #2. (Note: There was a family next to us and their young son fell deeply asleep at Main dining just about every night.)

Rebooked on board for cruise #3 and was told late seating only. Basically got a "too bad" attitude about my request for main seating and it being a requirement for our purchase. Got home and cancelled cruise #3. For the amount of money that I am spending to cruise on DCL, I am not willing to compromise my seating preference time. I wasn't going to leave my seating time to chance, after I had paid in full, to hope that upon boarding maybe they could or would switch us to main seating.

Just my personal position that I wouldn't compromise on my dinner seating time. We would not have been happy cruising again with late seating, especially on a 7 night cruise. We survived late seating on a 4 night, but it was not for us.

Again, it comes down to being satisfied with every aspect of my very expensive DCL vacation. To us, the dining time is a very large important part of the trip and non-negotiable.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Just another reason why booking far in advance is best though I guess not everyone is able to plan so far off. You get best cabin choices and always 1st dining is available. We did rebook our Oct. 09 cruise while onboard after booking it from home long ago. I was told if I rebook it, I am essentially cancelling the old ressie and making a new one and main dining was no longer available. For the few hundred $ savings plus $200 obc, it was worth it to me.
If this is truly a deal breaker for you then cancel. Why pay so much to be miserable? Though I don't understand how you just now realized you have late dining.

 

[FIREFIGHTERMICKEY]

Wow...I really don't understand such frustration and anger! I thought when we booked our six Disney cruises we were told at the time of booking which dinner seating we would have. We have two daughters 13 and 15. We cruised for the first time on Disney when they were 3 and 5 and we had late dinner seating and guess what?? The world didn't end and our cruise wasn't ruined. We have had both early and late seating depending on how early we booked and somehow we made it work.
Remember you catch more flies with honey than vinegar. Your tone in the post was abrasive and perhaps that is why Disney personnel couldn't accomodate you. Putting negativity out into the world just brings negativity back to you.

fIRST OFF YOU HAVE no CLUE WHAT YOUR TALKING ABOUT. I was very very very polite with them. I even explained a dietary need for early seating. If you have nothing posative to say keep it to yourself.