Waitlist for Dinner Seating

[VMS]

We are booked for the Wonder 4 night cruise for next March, and have the first dinner seating. My parents are thinking of taking the cruise, and I submitted a quote request for them through DU. I requested also for them the first seating so that we can all eat together. The quote came back with a Second dinner seating and a note that they are waitlisted for the first. What is the likelihood that they can be changed to the first seating? The cruise is so far away, I find it hard to believe that the first seating is all gone already.

 

[newhampshire4]

March 2004 is only 10 mos. away, and a lot of people are/have booked cruises 1-2 years out at which time you request dinner seating, so an early seating filled that far in advance isn't surprising. Being only 2, I bet they have a better chance than a larger family switching... ?? Probably best to leave as it and hope they get switched, otherwise, I'm sure you wouldn't have any problem yourself switching to late to join them. As that 60 day mark approaches and final $ is due, things can change quickly!

 

[Señor Ferrari]

Call every once in a while to check if anything has opened up. During the week before final payment is due, call every day. This is when most cancellations happen. The waitlist is not consulted right away when something opens up. They only use it to fill openings once a day. Calling to check will increase your chances.

If all else fails, you can ask for a switch once you're on board, and they can usually accomodate you.

 

[hilltopfamily]

Originally posted by Señor Ferrari
Call every once in a while to check if anything has opened up. During the week before final payment is due, call every day. This is when most cancellations happen. The waitlist is not consulted right away when something opens up. They only use it to fill openings once a day. Calling to check will increase your chances.

If all else fails, you can ask for a switch once you're on board, and they can usually accomodate you.

Senor Ferrari--- thanks for this information, but as I have booked through a travel agent & not DCL directly, can I call DCL every day and check on this? I don't think my TA would appreciate hearing from me daily on this matter with my asking her to check that often with DCL on my behalf (I've already bugged her 3 times about it in the past). I know this is what they are paid for, but I worry that this would be a bit more than they bargain for!

 

[Señor Ferrari]

hilltop,

Good question. I believe that your travel agent "owns" your reservation, and must make any changes on your behalf. In the past, I have booked directly rather than through a TA, even when it cost me more money, just because I didn't know if the agent would be as persistant as I would be in trying to get this change.

Maybe you could call the agent and explain the situation. See what they're willing to do for you. The commission they get (and I have no idea how much this is) is supposed to cover their service for making these arrangements for you. I guess you could see how they handle this and that could affect your decision to go through them in the future.

Again, you can also ask to switch once on board. Although there are no guarantees at this point, I'm told they very often can accomodate these requests. Fortunately, I've never had it come to that. We often book cruises maybe 3-4 months in advance, and almost always they have to waitlist us for main seating. I've always been able to change.

Good luck!

 

[disneyeveryyear]

My TA accidentally sent me her copy of Disney confirmation (with commissions listed) - oops! ( I called her and sent it back.)

The agency was making a little over 10%.

So, you can see it's not chicken feed.

What I do to check on seating, is call DCL myself to see if there are any openings. They will tell you that. They don't have to pull your reservation for that information. Then if it becomes open, call your TA immediately and if you can't speak with your TA, speak with any TA at that agency and have them do it for you. If you are at work with conference calling (or have it on your home phone [also called three way calling on your home phone] keep DCL on the phone and conference in your TA. That should take care of it.

My TA is great, but I still check on things myself. She checks about 1/week and I do the same. She was recently at the Disney College of Knowledge and there was another TA there who had clients who were going to cancel their cruise if they couldn't get main dining by the 60 day cancel date. The DCL person told the TAs that 95% of all requests will be taken care of by the second night of dining. There are a lot of kids who choose to eat in the club and therefore their parents switch to late dining. So, don't give up and check in at the port if you need to.

I figure if I don't get early seating, it's not worth worrying about. I would actually like connecting rooms first.

 

[j3tesposito]

Does anyone know what the likelyhood is of getting the dinner seating changed from late to early?? Do you think they might take into account that I have an 8 month old? I would love your thoughts. Thanks.

Tammy

 

[JOC]

We were waitlisted for early seating last December; when we got our cruise documents about a month prior to the cruise it said that we had main (early) seating. We booked through Dreams Unlimited; I never called them to check on the waitlist request, it just happened. I was just planning on trying to change once we boarded the ship but was pleasantly surprised when the documents came.

 

[hilltopfamily]

thanks for all the responses!

I feel much more relaxed now about the liklihood of getting a change. I have seen all the benefits of late seating, especially with rushing to get ourselves in addition to 3 kids ready to go, but DH & I hate the thought of eating such a large meal that late in the evening. DH even said he would have to eat a lot lighter than usual, and with the great food we are expecting, I sure don't want to pass up a desert or two!!!

I will try calling DCL directly as recommended just to check on any openings, and then I will not feel bad about also calling TA from time to time (though not daily). As you stated Senor Ferrari--though in a nicer manner---they are making some money from us and should not object to a little more work on our behalf. Since this is our first cruise, I am beginning to see the benefits of booking directly with DCL. This time we went through cruise.com but may consider that more with future cruises (if I like this half as much as I think I'm going to ). Again, thanks so much!