Main dining waitlist

[Brookem823]

I’m about to book a Fantasy sailing in late April with a 4 and 2 year old. I really wanted main dining and as of a few days ago it was available. Well, I waited too long and now it isn’t. My TA said she has us on the waitlist. I know most people say this comes through but I’m concerned with booking only 80 days out.

Has anyone had any luck with booking this late and getting off the waitlist? Is there anything I can do to up our chances? Possibly the waitlist is small since main was available just last week?

 

[Maggie'sMom]

I’m about to book a Fantasy sailing in late April with a 4 and 2 year old. I really wanted main dining and as of a few days ago it was available. Well, I waited too long and now it isn’t. My TA said she has us on the waitlist. I know most people say this comes through but I’m concerned with booking only 80 days out.

Has anyone had any luck with booking this late and getting off the waitlist? Is there anything I can do to up our chances? Possibly the waitlist is small since main was available just last week?

I don't know for sure if there's anything that will increase your chances. I've read to call frequently, or have your TA call in your case, to check on the status of the waitlist. I'd say ask your TA to call once a week to check on it. The idea being the squeaky wheel gets the grease. If you don't get off the waitlist before your cruise, stop by the restaurant listed for dining changes when you board. There's a chance you can get it changed then.

 

[GPaLarry]

We booked our cruise late (party of 12) and were given second seating. Two weeks ago we were moved up, through the waitlist, to main. I kept checking with DCL by phone and chat about once a week. Either coincidence or because they got tired of me it came through. As I was told early on, keep checking with DCL...and at check in and at guest services first thing on board (last resort). Good luck!!

 

[DisneYE]

We booked our cruise late (party of 12) and were given second seating. Two weeks ago we were moved up, through the waitlist, to main. I kept checking with DCL by phone and chat about once a week. Either coincidence or because they got tired of me it came through. As I was told early on, keep checking with DCL...and at check in and at guest services first thing on board (last resort). Good luck!!

This.
Especially the last resort part of going to GS, who will direct you to one of the lounges where MDR managers are to try to accommodate ppl's requests.
We've done this and in 2/4 cruises where we had 2nd seating we were moved to 1st.
The other 2 the ship was 100% full and there was no chance.

 

[coast2coastmickey]

We booked a cruise less than 30 days out, and travelled in December. We were able to get main dining seating by requesting it once, then doing nothing until about a week before when I got a booking confirmation that showed the change. So yes, it's possible, but I'm not sure if my experience is typical. The phone representative stated that since we have an infant, that would help in the consideration.

 

[DCLCrazy64622]

I’m about to book a Fantasy sailing in late April with a 4 and 2 year old. I really wanted main dining and as of a few days ago it was available. Well, I waited too long and now it isn’t. My TA said she has us on the waitlist. I know most people say this comes through but I’m concerned with booking only 80 days out.

Has anyone had any luck with booking this late and getting off the waitlist? Is there anything I can do to up our chances? Possibly the waitlist is small since main was available just last week?

I’ve been told that if you go to the head waiter and plead your case, they can move things around. Especially seeing that you have such young children. Good luck! We’ve always gotten first seating when on the waiting list, if that gives you hope.

 

[lorenni]

I think you need to be OK with the possibility of not doing the main dining rooms. Even at 7 my kid is not OK eating at 8:00pm - his BEDTIME is 8:00pm and the fact that it’s vacatjon doesn’t change the other fact that if we get much past 8 he’s a bag of rats.

I booked a last minute cruise for next month and we’re just not going to eat in the MDR. We’ll use room service, Cabanas and the options on the pool deck instead.

If having main dining is a deal breaker for you, I would not book this cruise.

 

[buzzrelly]

We booked the Wonder around this time last year for an April cruise. Of course, the Main Seating was gone but we added ourselves to the wait list right away and I would call weekly to see if our request had come through. As early as a day ahead of time, we were still seeing late dining in our reservation. I had every intention of going to speak to them right away once we boarded the ship, but then when we checked in and got our key cards, we noticed they said Main Dining. We were so happy. I have no idea how it happened, but hopefully it'll work out for you too. Good luck!

 

[cheermom2four]

There's always a chance of it changing to main dining. For one, we've always had late dining (and even with a then 5 year old) intentionally. This upcoming cruise we had main dining and just changed it to late because we just like it better. So we opened up a spot for a family of 4 just 45 days out when we had changed. Dont give up hope. Plans change daily for people.

 

[nicdu]

Yes. We just booked a vgt a few weeks ago for a cruise leaving tomorrow. We were automatically assigned second dining. I called once to be put on the waitlist, and early last week I got moved to main dining.

 

[eva2015]

Our kids were also 4yr and 2yr on our first cruise. We booked about 6-7 months out but were assigned late dining. When I called to get on the wait-list the agent said they prioritize families with young kids and we had a good chance to getting main dining. We were switched a couples months before the cruise. Our next cruise, we also had late dining when we booked. We had a placeholder so I had to call to book and asked to be on the wait list. Again we were switched a few months out.

 

[kiford]

While there's always the possibility that you will be out of luck and unable to change it when boarding, given that it only booked up a little while ago, I would think there is a good chance you'll be able to arrange something. Usually main dining fills up months ahead of time. Although we always have second seating and don't want main seating, when we book - which is usually no less than 6-9 months ahead of time - we're always told that the main dining is already filled.

 

[Lisa F]

I’m about to book a Fantasy sailing in late April with a 4 and 2 year old. I really wanted main dining and as of a few days ago it was available. Well, I waited too long and now it isn’t. My TA said she has us on the waitlist. I know most people say this comes through but I’m concerned with booking only 80 days out.

Has anyone had any luck with booking this late and getting off the waitlist? Is there anything I can do to up our chances? Possibly the waitlist is small since main was available just last week?

I would think with how close you are to the top of the waitlist given that it was available just a few days ago, your chances are good.

 

[Sytrace]

I don't know for sure if there's anything that will increase your chances. I've read to call frequently, or have your TA call in your case, to check on the status of the waitlist. I'd say ask your TA to call once a week to check on it. The idea being the squeaky wheel gets the grease. If you don't get off the waitlist before your cruise, stop by the restaurant listed for dining changes when you board. There's a chance you can get it changed then.

Calling weekly will not change the place on the wait list. It has nothing to do with being a "squeaky wheel" and everything to do with availability and how many are on the wait list ahead of them. Sometimes it gets moved sooner rather than closer to sail date and sometimes it does not get moved at all. As you said, if it does not get changed before sail date, one could ask once on the ship.

 

[MillauFr]

We booked our cruise late (party of 12) and were given second seating. Two weeks ago we were moved up, through the waitlist, to main. I kept checking with DCL by phone and chat about once a week. Either coincidence or because they got tired of me it came through. As I was told early on, keep checking with DCL...and at check in and at guest services first thing on board (last resort). Good luck!!

Yep same thing happened to us. We were assigned late and later moved up to early.

 

[tcufrog]

Depending on where you live in relation to the where the port is, late dining might be better even with young kids. When we cruised with young kids we originally wanted main dining until we realized that late dining lined up better with our usual dinner time because of the time change. The port was one time zone east of our home time zone.

 

[Marriedwith2kids]

Our last cruise, we were booked last minute on a full SWDAS Fantasy (literaly as we had missed the Magic due to airplane emergency landing in Washington - but thats a story for another time). We were second seating but were able to change to main once on board. Again, for our upcoming March cruise, we were second seating but asked to be put on the wait list. We were switched to main seating a couple of weeks ago. Therefore, based on my experience, your chances are very good you’ll get main seating. Fingers crossed!

 

[NAB]

If they don’t change you for the whole week you may get changed a few nights if you are on the waiting list. We were early seating and had Palo booked ,they called and asked if they could use our table that night for this purpose.

 

[calliest]

I just did a 5 day marvel cruise on the magic with a 2, 5, and 7 year old. We had the second seating and it was perfect. Even though normal dinner at home is around 5:30-6 PM. The second seating is my preference now. It gave us time for naps, kids clubs, lunch at cabanas or the pizza by the pool, slides, first theater show etc. Good luck!

 

[dtrain]

We're on the waitlist for The Dream this April. Today I was looking at our reservation on DCL and saw that Main Dining was selectable so I clicked it. Never had that happen before but I'm happy to take care of it myself this time.