New to HAL Question Regarding Dining Times and being Waitlisted

[katiebeth]

Hello,

We have never sailed on HAL before (have sailed Celebrity exclusively for the past several years) but have booked the Westerdam for a 7 day Eastern Caribbean Christmas cruise departing on Dec. 24. We were sold on the itinerary and have heard good things about HAL. We are very much looking forward to our cruise.

Apparently, the only dinner seating currently available is the 8:30 p.m. (main lower). We are traveling with our two children ages 10 and 12 and 8:30 p.m. is really too late for them. We are waitlisted for the 6:15 p.m. seating (early lower). My question is how accomodating is HAL in terms of trying to make sure you get the seating you request? It really would be a major problem for us in terms of the children if we end up at the 8:30 p.m. seating.

We are booked in a SB category deluxe verendah suite and it was my understaning based on the HAL website that suite guests are given some preference in terms of trying to accomodate table size and dining time requests. However, the HAL booking agent I spoke was not terribly reassuring in terms of HAL trying to accomodate our request. The only thing she would say is that HAL does give it consideration.

Would love to hear from those of you who have sailed with HAL regarding your experiences with the dining times.

Thanks,
Nancy

[Atomica]

From my understanding, HAL will try their best to get you the dining time requested. If they do end up giving you the late seating, you can always try seeing the Maitre'd when you are onboard :) Best of luck!

[dakrewser]

AS I understand it, early lower is the most popular dining time. You might have better luck getting early upper. While HAL will try to accomodate you, they're also trying to accomodate everyone else so if the DR is full for that seating, there's nothing that can be done unless someone wants to give uo their seats to switch.

Don't be disappointed if the change can't be made for the first night - the DR can be very fluid and sometimes a table will open up a day or two later.

[familyofd]

Here is what happend when we went there were 14 or so of us and our
dumb travel agent never told hal that we needed a early seating and all wanted to be together, so when we got our documents we called our agent and she said Oh you have to wait till you get on the ship to request
that, that wasnt good enough for us, so my mother contacted HAL and they said have your travel agent fill out this paper which they sent in a email , and then send it back to us, so we forwarded to our agent and waited to hear back from her but we never did so we called her again
and she said she \never got anything so we resent it, she filled it out
and sent it to hal, but we still didnt know until we say the Marire d on the ship what seating we got, I guess with all our begging and pleading they got all of us on 2 tables , kids on one and adults on another and actually there were 3 of the same kind of tables near us like that(with groups of
kids and then adults).

So all in all they did do their best to make us happy, also if you do have to go see the Matire D look on the sheet when he will be available that 1st day and if you are one of the 1st 10 people it goes real quick!
Enjoy your cruise :)

[twinkletoes4445]

AS I understand it, early lower is the most popular dining time. You might have better luck getting early upper. While HAL will try to accomodate you, they're also trying to accomodate everyone else so if the DR is full for that seating, there's nothing that can be done unless someone wants to give uo their seats to switch.

Don't be disappointed if the change can't be made for the first night - the DR can be very fluid and sometimes a table will open up a day or two later.

I seem to remember reading in the brochure (and my TA also mentioned this), that if you are staying in the PS or a deluxe suite you do get priority dinner seating. She said ours were guaranteed for that reason (we're in a deluxe suite). It was one of the perks.

[LandLockedInAZ]

Apparently, the only dinner seating currently available is the 8:30 p.m. (main lower). We are traveling with our two children ages 10 and 12 and 8:30 p.m. is really too late for them. We are waitlisted for the 6:15 p.m. seating (early lower). My question is how accomodating is HAL in terms of trying to make sure you get the seating you request? It really would be a major problem for us in terms of the children if we end up at the 8:30 p.m. seating.



Although I understand this may not be the way you were picturing it, if it turns out you can't get a switch, it is possible to take the children to the Lido for an earlier dinner or order room service, then get them involved in the Club HAL activities while the adults dine in the dining room. Our DD, although a bit older than your children, didn't want to join us at 8:30 most evenings because she preferred to join the Club HAL activities and we were fine with that. Our only requirement was that she join us for the first evening (so she could meet our waitstaff, tablemates and know where our table was located) and each formal night.

[KAKcruiser]

Call back and talk to a different agent. S suites (SA, SB, SC) are given preference for dining. They should be able to confirm you. If the agent won't do this, ask to speak to a supervisor. Good luck.

[cruiserfromohio]

Typically with HAL the demand is for early seating; being one who likes to eat later that make it easier for me! Since you have a deluxe suite, the very least HAL should do is put you at the top of the wait list. Given all the moving around that goes on the first night or two of the cruise, you should make your early seating with no problem. Make sure HAL knows both your time preference and your cabin category. Have your TA make sure both is clearly understood by the HAL person on the other end of the line. If you feel your TA is no willing to make your situation well known to HAL -- call them yourself, as was suggested earlier. Good luck, but I think in the end everything will come out OK.

[katiebeth]

Thanks everyone for taking the time to post. I am sure things will work out one way or the other. I did call HAL direct but they will not discuss anything with me (including where we are on the waitlist) because we booked through a TA. (Celebrity is the same way).

Anyway, I e-mailed my TA so I am sure he will follow-up.

Looking forward to our first cruise on HAL.

Nancy

[4 cruisers]

Nancy, I've been looking for your on these boards and hope you'll see this post!

There is a thread about discount coupons for the Hotel Arts in Barcelona on the Europe board!!!

Also, there is info on the Delta pilots voting on May 31st on the airline thread. We need to say prayers about that one!!!

A source for help on your HAL cruise might be Steve Garrod (shipcafe.net). He works for HAL and his website is wonderful. I know he'll answer you if you e-mail him on his site. He has great info and connections!