Dining Frustrations

[PeloAl]

A couple weeks ago I booked a cruise on Wonder for June 2024 and the only dining time available was 5pm. That is way too early for us. My TA put us on the waitlist for my time. We prefer late dining but that’s full with no waitlist options . 
I’ve never run into this issue so wondering if anyone’s had luck getting off the waitlist

[need2cruz]

25 minutes ago, PeloAl said:

A couple weeks ago I booked a cruise on Wonder for June 2024 and the only dining time available was 5pm. That is way too early for us. My TA put us on the waitlist for my time. We prefer late dining but that’s full with no waitlist options . 
I’ve never run into this issue so wondering if anyone’s had luck getting off the waitlist

Yes, For my Odyssey sailing in January we wanted the 5:30pm dining which was full.  I had my time dining reserved.  My travel agent put us on the wait list for 5PM and I was skeptical that it would get switched, along with surprised that it was "sold out".  About a month later I noticed there was no more options to reserve my time slots.  This is because we were switched to the early dining time.   We had booked the January cruise in October and the opening came sometime in November.

[Vancity Cruiser]

2 hours ago, PeloAl said:

A couple weeks ago I booked a cruise on Wonder for June 2024 and the only dining time available was 5pm. That is way too early for us. My TA put us on the waitlist for my time. We prefer late dining but that’s full with no waitlist options . 
I’ve never run into this issue so wondering if anyone’s had luck getting off the waitlist

You can always chose mytime dining. Then once on board go to dining room and set mytime reservations for the time you want everyday.

[Peter D]

It's strange that your TA put you on a wait list for My Time Dining.   I thought that was always a default if you could not get a main dining time (early or late).  If you keep checking with your TA, you might get it changed officially and then you can book your dining times through the cruise planner.  Good luck.

[momwifeparalegal]

6 hours ago, PeloAl said:

A couple weeks ago I booked a cruise on Wonder for June 2024 and the only dining time available was 5pm. That is way too early for us. My TA put us on the waitlist for my time. We prefer late dining but that’s full with no waitlist options . 
I’ve never run into this issue so wondering if anyone’s had luck getting off the waitlist

We’re having just the opposite. Only 8:30 or later slot. My 1 year old will not wait till 8:30 to eat dinner. That’s his bedtime. So I’m hoping someone on board can help once we arrive.

[PeloAl]

9 hours ago, momwifeparalegal said:

We’re having just the opposite. Only 8:30 or later slot. My 1 year old will not wait till 8:30 to eat dinner. That’s his bedtime. So I’m hoping someone on board can help once we arrive.

I have the opposite problem. My boys are 21 and 22 and at 5:00pm in June it’s still broad daylight. No way are they eating early bird dinners

[Jolly Ogre]

The key is to book early. I never have an issue getting the times I want. I booked my dining at the end of June for my cruise in December 2024.

[Pattycruise]

Sorry to hear this,it can be an issue when you book lcoser to saiing-even 6 months out!
WIth that said, you cannot always rely on what dining time you are given.
I've had a few saiings where they changed me to My time-from early seating-without notice.  I ususally check the app and go to the Main Dining room when I board to ensure I have what I wanted (shared table/early seating).  My husband caughtt the My time dining change inthe app on the 2 cruises I failed to check!
Additionally, I've requested linked cruises be placed at the same dining/table and that was not done on a few sailings.  Fortunately we were able to get that straightened out as well.
My TA informed me 2 weeks ago that one of my 3 reservations had a dining time changed to My time-WHAT???  So he had to get that cabin on the waitlist for early dining.  I was just informed that the 3rd cabin is now back on early seating.  (February cruise booked in March of '23!!)
I share this because in addition to being on the wait list, even if you get moved you should check the app -to see what time they gave you, just in case you mysteriously get changed by the time you board the ship.

[Reigert2008]

5 minutes ago, Pattycruise said:

I've had a few saiings where they changed me to My time-from early seating-without notice

This had happed to us on the Liberty out of Texas In 2022  and on Wonder out of Florida in 2023.  It was so annoying. On Liberty they never really got it straight and the solution was for us to go to the My Time room at the same time each day and then had to wait for the previous party to finish, even though the staff had us a reservation.  On Wonder, they got us a temp table the first night and then a perm table the rest of the cruise.

 

both ways were annoying,  the my time room is too busy and you have tables being cleaned while you are still dining and the staff never get into a rhythm.

 

on Wonder, the first night our server didn’t really care about us since we were not on his list for the week,but once we got moved to our table it was much better.

 

I wish they would do something to not let people who have a traditional spot (early, late) make specialty reservations.  In my opinion, if you’re not going to be in the traditional times every night, then you should move to the my time and not take up a space that you’re not going to use.  It would free up the spaces for people who are not doing specialty dining and make it easier for us to dine at the times we want and not get bumped. It would also allow the wait staff to have full tables each evening and maximize their tips.

[Pattycruise]

1 minute ago, Reigert2008 said:

 On Wonder, they got us a temp table the first night and then a perm table the rest of the cruise.

One time I had asked for a table change and she told me to go to my first table the first night and they would put a card at my door for my new talbe.
Thankfully I knew to check the app and saw my table change, so went to my new table on night 1.
Always check the app if you make any requests while onboard.  (well even when you board to ensure it is correct)

[Eighty8]

I'm curious about this.

 

We recently booked for a 2025 cruise. 8 of us total across 4 cabins. 4 younger kids. So absolutely a requirement for us that we have early dining. My Time or Late is simply not an option.

Our TA confirmed this with us when booking, the receipt/invoice from them also said 530P (Confirmed). 

I logged into they app and it currently shows 8PM dining. I just assume this has to do with app being screwy and it being 15 months out from this cruise? 

[Xaa]

Call your TA @Eighty8

[Eighty8]

6 hours ago, Xaa said:

Call your TA @Eighty8

I plan to. Just curious if the app is even reliable when the cruise is 15 months out. 

[WAAAYTOOO]

1 hour ago, Eighty8 said:

I plan to. Just curious if the app is even reliable when the cruise is 15 months out. 

The app isn’t even reliable when you’re on the cruise itself !

[fireclan]

I do not trust the information in the app. 

I booked some My Time dining times for my husband and I on the current cruise we are on. The reservation times were NOT the same in our apps. I also purchased Chef's Table for Christmas dinner. My app reservation said 6:30. Guess what? Everyone else was there at 6:00 so we were 30 minutes late. Not only am I embarrassed for holding up a very special dinner, I'm pissed off about it. 

I will be skeptical about app info going forward.

[CruiseMsclDad]

Every time in my cruising history, on RCCL and other lines, as long as I took care of the problem as soon as we got aboard we might have had to be flexible for that first night, but it would be all sorted out for the rest of the cruise, I also confess we have never sailed on a "full" ship, that might have had something to do about it.