How likely are you to get off a waiting list for dining times?

[castlegazer]

Can you all help because this may be a deal breaker for us on this cruise idea that I am desperately trying to convince my husband of.

I absolutely can not have a late dining seating as we have a 2 1/2 year old and I just got a quote for a cruise that had only waiting list available for the earlier seating. It is our preferred sailing date.

How likely is it that we would be moved off of the waiting list to get our preferred seating time at the earlier seating rather than the 8:30 pm seating?

 

[thewagman]

FYI from our 2 cruise experiences:

On our first 4-day Wonder cruise, we had the late seating assignment. Upon boarding, they provide you with a
location to go to make a change in dining assignments.
We were able to get the earlier seating then.

When we booked our Magic 7 day Eastern we had to get on a waiting list for the early seating. About 2-3 weeks before the cruise, our travel agent left us a message to say we had cleared for the earlier seating as we had hoped.

Hope this helps,
DS

 

[castlegazer]

Well, it definately provides me with hope and tells me not to scrub the idea of the cruise during that date due to a seating assignment.

Thank you thewagman!

HEY WAIT! WELCOME TO THE DIS! THANKS FOR MAKING YOUR FIRST POST WITH ME!

 

[Lloyd Dobler]

You can also call to check for openings every once in a while. I've made this work every time we've needed it. Just call and see if there are any openings in main dining. It only takes a few minutes, and if there are, they'll make the change. A reservations CM once told me that they only consult the waitlist once a day, so you can even get what you want if you're not on the top of the waitlist if there's an opening when you call. The week just before final payment is due is when things usually open up. I'd call every day during this week.

If all else fails, you can usually have them make the change once you're on board, but I like to make sure I've got things settled before that.

Good luck!

 

[dis4me]

not to be negative but we didn't get the early seating even though we were waitlisted for 8 months. We didn't however go to the change dining time becaue we ad problems with our room.It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be However I don't reccommend it wth a 2 year old.
I emailed the TA everyday around the 70 day mark when I thought people were going to start cancelling but nothing ver openend up. So just be prepared in case.
Good Luck and Ihope you get early seating. I am in the same predicament right now.

 

[cgdmom]

Do you by any chance have any kind of a medical issue? My dd has lots of food allergies. I just called to get my palo and spa ressies for REAS package and found out that they had changed me from late seating to early seating! I was wait listed but had not been informed of this change. When I asked how this happened she said that they put " medical people " at the early seating. I don't know if this helps but if you do have a food allergy give it a try. You do need to fax them a signed medical form. I also called dcl directly and spoke to someone named carol that had info on what special dairyfree foods were available on the cruise----or just go and try to have your seating changed right away when you board( get there early) good luck!

 

[castlegazer]

Originally posted by dis4me
not to be negative but we didn't get the early seating even though we were waitlisted for 8 months. We didn't however go to the change dining time becaue we ad problems with our room.It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be However I don't reccommend it wth a 2 year old.

You're not being negative, you're being honest, its what happened to you. And, yeah, it would be a dissaster if we had the late seating with a two year old.

Nope, no medical issues, but maybe I can come up with one...hmmmmm.

Thank everyone for your thoughts, if anyone else has had luck or no luck please write in as it helps to take a poll of sorts to convince me.

We watched the dining change line on a cruise we were on that was not DCL and people were screaming and crying - but let me just state for the record that that was the most non-well-behaved cruise I have ever been on. I would hope that we don't have to be subjected to begging at a desk to be put in the early dining. I do think it worked for everyone we watched in that line, though, but again, not a DCL cruise where everyone has a young child along it seems.

 

[debm]

We love the late seating and we have 4 kids under 10. On our last cruise in May our youngest was 21 months. Yes, even though he usually isn't too tired by 9PM he was on the cruise. Our days were full and he was getting up earlier. So we would just have the servers have his food ready by just after we sat down at 8:30 every night and then when he was finisthed I would take him up to Flounders. he would watch TV there and fall asleep. I felt very comfortable leaving him there at that age. I hadn't done it on our last 2 cruises because he would usually just nurse to sleep anywhere. And one night he was asleep in the stroller and we just wheeled him into dinner. But after dropping him at Flounders the rest of us were able to eat a more peaceful meal and I knew that he was happy too. And by going to the earlier show he was more awake and loved watching them. Plus you have more time to be relaxed and get ready for dinner than trying to make a 6 PM time. We dont' like being dressed up for the shows and just dress for dinner after the show--if we aren't already in something for dinner. I wouldn't turn down the cruise based on a dinner time. It really doesn't feel that late at all. Plus you are usually sleeping in later than usual. Have fun!!

 

[lookingforward]

Debm, you just gave me a whole new perspective on the late seating. We booked for a sept. cruise on the Wonder and they also told us that early seating was full. I have a 5 year old daughter but it makes sense to see the early show and it gives her more time to have a nap if she gets tired from the beach or pool. My son and his friend are 11 and I think they can handle late seating. One question..do they have kids events scheduled AFTER late seating or is it too late by then?

 

[dis4me]

Looking forward What we did with our 8 and 9 year old and late seating was this: We fed them on deck 9 frm Plutos to hold them over. Then at dinner we got them an appetizer and dessert or entr and dessert. The servers were very good about getting them out promptly so they could mke the events at the club. At about 10 pm they do wind down stuff s my kids wnted to be there by 9pm. THe only thing they didn't like was the club went to dinner at 530 so they either ha o go todinner with the club or find something else to do.

 

[HappyMommy2]

Castlegazer, we were waitlisted for main dining for our upcoming cruise, but I called DCL recently (2 months out from cruise) and the CM told me she'd try to expedite my request, and sure enough a few days later we were switched to main dining.

We have two very small children who tend to be early risers even on vacation, so it's better for all of us to be able to finish dinner and retire at a reasonable time. I'm sure, though, that if for some reason we'd been stuck with the late seating, it would have worked out all right. Don't consider that a deal-breaker for your cruise plans!

 

[debm]

So glad that helped "looking forward." My older kids don't usually go to the lab but there are still activities in both the club and lab after late dinner. Usually though they are quiet activities and by a certain time they are on mats in the Club watching a movie and many kids fall asleep. My son in the 5-7 year olds would go to the club usually right after the show. He didn't even want to go to dinner. But since there is so much food available onboard he was never hungry. We just tried to remember to get him his favorite chicken and fries on Deck9 before taking him to the Club. Or some nights he liked eating with the Club but we had to get him out at the tail end of dinner so he could make the shows. Those are his favorite thing to do ---so that was very important. And you can't check out a child during a "transition" period when they are moving from one place to another. Such as when they leave the Club to go to Topsider's or when they are walking back. The counselors allow 15 minutes for those transitions so that is just one thing to be aware of. So a couple of times we just walked up to Deck 9 and checked him out while he was eating dinner there. (Of course we made sure he was finished)
You'll have a good time and will have to adjust no matter what dining time you have. We had early seating during our first cruise. For my husband and I though, eating dinner on the cruise is our only time all year that we don't have 4 kids wanting something at the same time. So the fact that they want to go play or eat earlier doesn't bother us one bit!! Have fun!

 

[jodifla]

We plan to cruise in Sept. on the Wonder. Even with an early seating, I don't think DS, 2.5, will make it through dinner.

Our plan is to feed him around 5 with room service/Plutos/Beach Blanket, then do the show, back to the room for a bath and for mom and dad to change, then dropoff at Flounder's while mom and dad enjoy the late seating.

If there's a night we can't do Flounder's, perhaps we'll attempt the restaurant. More likely we'll just do a dinner buffet if there is one, or room service.

 

[scrapperjill]

Quick question about dinner seating and medical problems??? We are assigned late seating (which we preferred) we were given first seating at first and changed it to late...call me crazy but it seems like a better time for us...less rush and everything. But we now have our preferred late seating...but our daughter dose have medical problems. My questions now are...since she has medical problems...(not food related) will we be switched to early seating??...I haven't filled out the medical forms yet but will need to real soon.

I hope we don't get changed to early seating.

 

[castlegazer]

I have a question for all of you who dropped off at Flounders while you all went back to dinner - did you have reserations at Flounders or did you just go up and see if they had room that night? How hard was it to get room in Flounders for evenings?

 

[castlegazer]