waitlisted for early seating

[robsmom]

Has anyone ever been wait listed for the early dinner sitting? I just got a quote from Dreams Unlimited but would be waitlisted for the early dinner seating. Since I have a child who will only be 5 on the cruise, late seating is not an option. Have you seen this happen before, when would I know if I cleared the waiting list if I accept this offer? Would it be in time to cancel the cruise?

thanks.

 

[GenieDana]

Don't sweat it, you'll get early seating if you want it. If you don't get before check-in at the Port, then go to deck 3 forward as soon as you board and change it there. Board early to better your chances (first come, first serve).

There will be plenty enough early seaters wanting to change to late seating (because they feel it cuts off excursion time, or they like to finish eating at 10:00 P.M., or whatever their reasons).

Good Luck!

 

[geffric]

On our first cruise we were waitlisted for early, when we got to our cabin and saw the seating card it had been changed to early seating.. IMHO DCL really wants the younger kids at early seating and does everything possible to make that happen. I don't think that you will have an issue.

 

[Alex]

I have to disagree with GenieDana. There were several families with young children who could NOT get switched to early dining on the cruise last week. It depends on how booked the ship is etc. While they do try I think it's wrong to give the impression that it is guarenteed.

 

[takemeaway]

We were waitlisted for early seating and received confirmation that we got it about 45 days before sailing. When checking our reservation, we saw that the seating assignment had been changed.

 

[disneystyle]

We have always had late seating with two kids 3 and 5 and for the most part the children are always up and bushy tailed and ready to go to the clubs after their dinner before the adults have dessert. We love late seating. Everyone is up much later on the ship than usual bedtime at home.
We are sailing in two weeks and the other family we cruise with REALLY wanted early seating, so we are giving it a try, but I do think we will feel rushed and not as hungry so "early". Not as hungry may be a good thing.

 

[RebeccaLovesDisney]

We were waitlisted for early seating when we booked (4 months before our cruise) and found out when we checked in that we had gotten early seating. After your reservation is made by your TA you may want to also call DCL directly to make sure you are also on their waitlist. Once when I called DCL directly about something else I found out that although our reservation with the TA said we were waitlisted, DCL didn't have it in their system.

 

[robsmom]

Thank you for your replies. I don't think I am going to book with the waitlist. Even if it is likely that I will get into first seating, I just can't take the risk. When at school/day care, my son still takes naps but on weekends and vacations he is at the age that he really doesn't need one and I don't make him take one. The downside of this is because his body is used to the nap, he gets tired earlier (and cranky!!) and I have visions of dragging him to a late dinner.


thanks again.

 

[jwann]

robsmom -
PLease don't miss the best vacation in the world! Your son could eat with the kids club when they eat (5:00 or so) or you could always feed him from the food windows around the pools (chicken strips, wraps, etc.) when he's hungry. We also have small children and for some reason we tried second seating on our 2nd cruise. It did NOT work for the kids so they just ate with the kids club or room service for dinner and then played in the clubs when the grown ups ate. It WAS very enjoyable to have dinners without kids as well.

 

[4kidsandadog]

We were one of those waitlisted families on Alex's cruise.... we didn't get to switch to 1st seating and most days, it really didn't matter. After the first 3 nights (we wanted the kids with us for the first time in each restaurant), the kids wanted to spend time in the clubs and often ate earlier with them. My 3yo sometimes fell asleep just before or during dinner, but it wasn't a problem.

My only problem with the late seating (other than I just prefer eating earlier) was that there were too often other activities going on during that time that I wanted to do... activities that weren't double-scheduled, but were only during the 8:30 dinner.

I say go for it. You'll enjoy yourself regardless of which seating you wind up with.

Karen

 

[Little Twin Stars]

Originally posted by RebeccaLovesDisney
After your reservation is made by your TA you may want to also call DCL directly to make sure you are also on their waitlist.

I thought Disney would always ask you to speak to your TA first if you book with a TA.

Now I think I have to call DCL and hopefully they are willing to put us on the waitlist, although I have already made my request thru TA 2 months ago.

 

[LisaGoeke]

We were on the waitlist of course when we boarded we were still scheduled for late seating. I took everyone's advice and went to request to be changed to early seating (we boarded about 1 p.m.) They told us most likely since our party was so big (8 people) that it wouldn't happen. A few hours later we had a message on our telephone telling us that we indeed were switched to early seating!

 

[GenieDana]

Alex,

Did I say guaranteed? How did YOU get that impression from reading ways to better your chances????

I think its wrong to flame, especially after putting words in my post!

From a moderator too - shame!

 

[HooKooDooKu]

We were wait listed for 1st seating.
Boat sailed at only 80% capacity.
DCL left us at 2nd seating.

However, once on board we had no difficulty getting changed to 1st seating.

You go to the same place as where they are taking Polo reservations. In the same room is a 2nd table where they are handling requests for dinning changes. They seem to be connected via computer to the ships database and make seating changes on the spot. I assume that if you want a more specific request (such as "I'd like to be assigned to server 'X' for rotation "ABC", this is where they will try to fullfil your request (assuming spaces are available).

 

[Alex]

First of all I don't call disagreeing with someone "flaming"
Secondly I got that from your statement
"Don't sweat it, you'll get early seating if you want it."
I can point you towards several people that desired early seating and could not get it even though they did all these things.
Most of the time I believe you can but I don't want anyone to get the impression that it is guarenteed to happen as that could lead to a large disapointment.

 

[Little Twin Stars]

Just called DCL.

I requested my TA to put us on early seating waitlist. And DCL told me that we ARE put on the waiting and also said that we should contact the TA instead of DCL if we book our cruise with a TA.

So I beleive that as long as you have put the request with the TA, the TA will do it for you.

IF unfortunately you are still not given early seating, just go to change the seating as soon as you go on board, although no one can guarantee that you would be given early seating.

 

[LAMPSKIES]

Our first cruise Feb. 2000 we had early DD's were 8 and 10 we had early seating and liked it. We were part of the cancelled 11/30/03 Eastern sailing and got switched to the Dec. 1 Wonder and got "stuck" with the late seating. We will NEVER do the early again. We're from the mid-west. That means 2 time changes on the Eastern sailing.......sooooo 8:30 is 6:30. It was a lot easier. I thought about all of the disers that I've been reading about trying to switch on Tuesday night when I saw a family running down the hall saying "hurry up were late". (early seating)

 

[blueswoman]

Originally posted by LAMPSKIES
Our first cruise Feb. 2000 we had early DD's were 8 and 10 we had early seating and liked it. We were part of the cancelled 11/30/03 Eastern sailing and got switched to the Dec. 1 Wonder and got "stuck" with the late seating. We will NEVER do the early again. We're from the mid-west. That means 2 time changes on the Eastern sailing.......sooooo 8:30 is 6:30. It was a lot easier. I thought about all of the disers that I've been reading about trying to switch on Tuesday night when I saw a family running down the hall saying "hurry up were late". (early seating)

Thanks, Lampskies--it's always helpful to hear varying opinions on this subject. I will let everyone know about my own experiences with our multi-aged group (ages 2, 5, 8, 11) , whether we end up staying with late seating or get to move to earlier. There are 10 in our party so I'm not holding my breath. It has been interesting to hear the pros and cons of each time slot.

 

[4kidsandadog]

There are 10 in our party so I'm not holding my breath.

Our head server did say the reason he was not able to get us switched to the early seating (in addition to the ship being full) was that we were a larger party (6). Your kids are about the same ages as mine were and 2nd seating really wasn't all that bad, except for maybe the nights after we had had a busier day than usual (excursions).

Karen