Linking reservations when you are trying to surprise the other party

[Jey12]

Part of our family has booked a cruise and we are going to surprise them by joining. I hope we can pull this off, unless they decide to join the DIS and see this post of course. We don't need our rooms to be near each other, but want to sit with them for dinner rotations. How long can we wait to link the reservations? I don't want them to call or check on their cruise reservation and find out ours are linked to theirs. We are hoping they will want the 2nd seating time for dinner, but the concern is linking will increase party size from their 6 to a total of 10 with our family. Obviously the staff will need to plan for a bigger table in the dining rooms, and I'm not sure how easy that would be last minute? We are CC members and they are not, and I don't know if that will make a difference? It has been 3 years since our last cruise and I cannot remember if when I pulled our reservation up online if it showed that we were linked with our friends on that cruise or not? I do know on our first cruise we were assigned the wrong dinner time and had to request a change once we were on the ship. We weren't promised anything but within a few minutes the CM's were able to find us a spot together and at the time we wanted. Of course our reservations on this previous cruise had been linked for months prior and we both were aware of it.

Has anyone tried this before and were you able to link rooms for dinner without the other person knowing? Should we wait until we're on the ship and request the rooms be linked and hope for the best? We would like to board the ship before they do, so if our reservations are linked will that also cause an issue?

 

[dreamer2014]

My in-laws called and had our reservations linked for dinner and I would have no idea if they didn't tell us. So far I haven't seen anything when I get online. I think you should be ok.

 

[WeLoveDisneyAlways]

My parents and I have linked reservations. First you will need their confirmation # to be able to link them, it does not show online unless you go into linked reservation section and see it. Everytime we call DCL asked if we'd also like to make changes to our linked reservation so if your family calls for any reason DCL will tell them. No harm in trying they find out through DCL they'll be just as shocked

 

[OKW Lover]

If your reservations are linked then either party will be able to see that when they go to book activities like shore excursions, dining and spa. Either party can also make or cancel activities made by the other party, which could mess up plans.

 

[tink too]

I'm not sure if this is possible or not, because we've never tried it, BUT isn't there a way to just link dining assingments?

I'm pretty sure some cruise mates did this on our last cruise. This meant they'd be seated together in the MDR's, but had no other attachment to each other's reservations (for example, shore excursions, adult dining or spa appointments).

 

[canadiandisneyfamof4]

Did they use a TA or go through DCL. I would call the TA or DCL and have them make a note on the reservation - the same way that I have a note requesting my dining rotation.

 

[clten]

Call your TA or DCL, you'll need their reservation #, and ask to be linked for dining only. That will give the onboard staff that do the dining assignments notice that you want a bigger table. (The dining assignments are done a couple weeks in advance of the sailing by the Head Servers/Dining Room Managers, so if you want to wait to add notice, I'd do it at least 3 weeks before your sailing.)

If you just link reservations (and don't specify just for dining), then you get some of the other things that people have described -- seeing the other reservation/names for booking excursions, adult dining, spa, etc. So as long as you make sure they avoid the "full linking" you should get what you need. And since you are returning cruisers and they are not, you'll be able to go online first and see if it is done properly. When you go into your reservation, and go to book an excursion and can see their names (even if they are greyed out and not selectable), you are fully linked and need to change it.

 

[mrsklamc]

I guess I'm the party pooper, but I would be livid if family members decided to do this. I am a super-detailed planner and I do things differently on each vacation depending on who is going to be joining us. Hopefully this is not the case with your party OP, but if you hadn't thought about it I wanted to throw it out there just in case.

 

[lucky1]

I guess I'm the party pooper, but I would be livid if family members decided to do this. I am a super-detailed planner and I do things differently on each vacation depending on who is going to be joining us. Hopefully this is not the case with your party OP, but if you hadn't thought about it I wanted to throw it out there just in case.

I would agree... Especially on a cruise, where you are in confined spaces and might not have an opportunity to "get away" at dinner. I hope the OP knows their family well enough and maybe this isn't the case.

 

[Jey12]

Thank you for the suggestions and experiences everyone! Very helpful!

Call your TA or DCL, you'll need their reservation #, and ask to be linked for dining only. That will give the onboard staff that do the dining assignments notice that you want a bigger table. (The dining assignments are done a couple weeks in advance of the sailing by the Head Servers/Dining Room Managers, so if you want to wait to add notice, I'd do it at least 3 weeks before your sailing.)

If you just link reservations (and don't specify just for dining), then you get some of the other things that people have described -- seeing the other reservation/names for booking excursions, adult dining, spa, etc. So as long as you make sure they avoid the "full linking" you should get what you need. And since you are returning cruisers and they are not, you'll be able to go online first and see if it is done properly. When you go into your reservation, and go to book an excursion and can see their names (even if they are greyed out and not selectable), you are fully linked and need to change it.

Thank you so much. I think I will wait until closer to sail time, but before the dining team sets the tables. Getting their reservation number won't be difficult. I'll simply ask if I can have it just in case we need to get in contact with them while they are on their cruise. They went through DCL and we will be going through a TA, not sure if that will matter closer to the sail date or not? At least we won't have the same TA and I know I can ask her without fear of the surprise accidentally being shared with the wrong family member.

I guess I'm the party pooper, but I would be livid if family members decided to do this. I am a super-detailed planner and I do things differently on each vacation depending on who is going to be joining us. Hopefully this is not the case with your party OP, but if you hadn't thought about it I wanted to throw it out there just in case.

I would agree... Especially on a cruise, where you are in confined spaces and might not have an opportunity to "get away" at dinner. I hope the OP knows their family well enough and maybe this isn't the case.

I always appreciate additional thoughts, because our intent isn't to spoil anyone's vacation. We have been asked on several occasions to please join them on this trip already. I even made mention of how I didn't want to impose on their vacation and was assured if we decided to go they would be thrilled. And they weren't just being polite either. They have even tried to offer different options so we could join them, and were rather disappointed this couldn't be an all family cruise. Mainly because originally this cruise was my idea and we ended up making other summer vacations plans. When they booked they kind of thought they would be joining us, or we'd at least pull the trigger and book too. We're a small family that lives kind of close together but are far enough apart we don't get to do many things together. We both have kids around the same age and have talked about how much fun they would have together on the ship. We don't plan to pull a "Cousin Eddie" and infringe on any plans of theirs, aside from dinner but they were going to eat with or without us. We plan on dining in Palo one night and Topsiders another, so even with dinner there will be a break.

Because of already having another big vacation planned over the summer we are not 100% sure something won't come up and cause us to need to sail at at a later time, and we don't want any hurt feelings because of this. We're even planning on surprising our kids with the trip for this very reason. I try to avoid family funk at all costs.

 

[tinkerone]

I always appreciate additional thoughts, because our intent isn't to spoil anyone's vacation. We have been asked on several occasions to please join them on this trip already. I even made mention of how I didn't want to impose on their vacation and was assured if we decided to go they would be thrilled. And they weren't just being polite either. They have even tried to offer different options so we could join them, and were rather disappointed this couldn't be an all family cruise. Mainly because originally this cruise was my idea and we ended up making other summer vacations plans. When they booked they kind of thought they would be joining us, or we'd at least pull the trigger and book too. We're a small family that lives kind of close together but are far enough apart we don't get to do many things together. We both have kids around the same age and have talked about how much fun they would have together on the ship. We don't plan to pull a "Cousin Eddie" and infringe on any plans of theirs, aside from dinner but they were going to eat with or without us. We plan on dining in Palo one night and Topsiders another, so even with dinner there will be a break.

Because of already having another big vacation planned over the summer we are not 100% sure something won't come up and cause us to need to sail at at a later time, and we don't want any hurt feelings because of this. We're even planning on surprising our kids with the trip for this very reason. I try to avoid family funk at all costs. [/QUOTE]

my sister and I did much the same thing on our trip to wdw last oct. it was a group of my family going (brother, sister, nieces, nephew) and they asked us to please come with them. i'm the one who always does the bookings for my family so other than the paper work they had sent to them from wdw and their plane tickets they had nothing that would tie my reservation with theirs. myself and another sister said, no, sorry, it just isn't right for the timing. you'll have fun without us.
long story short, my sister and I walked in to the airport, which is two hours from home, the day of the flight, and said 'hi, maybe we will go after all'. they were estatic so I imagine your family will be in heaven as well.
have fun!

 

[dreamer2014]

I guess I'm the party pooper, but I would be livid if family members decided to do this. I am a super-detailed planner and I do things differently on each vacation depending on who is going to be joining us. Hopefully this is not the case with your party OP, but if you hadn't thought about it I wanted to throw it out there just in case.

I just want to note that you don't have to have the confirmation number to link up (for dining at least). My in-laws surprised us by booking the same cruise, and "reassured" us that they had already had our reservations linked They tried to get a cabin right next to ours but thankfully that wasn't as option. It makes me feel better to know someone else sees a problem with this scenario.

Although, in your case OP this seems like it will be good for your situation

 

[mrsklamc]

OP I am glad you didn't take offense at my post. Glad to hear it will be a fun time for all!

 

[lbgraves]

Someone who works shoreside actually makes the dining assignments before they are sent to the ship's dining managers about two weeks prior to the cruise.