Dynamic Dining Issues April 5, 2014

[makunc1]

Lesson I learned today (took 2 hours to learn it): Get a supervisor over the phone to make all dining reservations for you, especially if it is a party of 8. Tried the Cruise Planner, and there is DEFINITELY not the same inventory online compared to what the supervisors have at their fingertips. The initial person I spoke with told me to call back in a week because they are updating their systems. She was not the brightest bulb on the Christmas Tree! I asked to speak to a supervisor, and got a gentleman named Jason Smith, who navigated me through 5/7 of my dinner reservations. I can't make the other 2 because of a glitch in the system that is being fixed (they deleted a reservation that did not go through but their system is still showing it as valid). Moral of the story, call and ask to speak to a supervisor. He was patient and a pleasure to deal with. The internet Cruise Planner, and initial customer service representative, however, were not. It is still ridiculous to have to book dining a year out, but at least I can say it is almost done. One other thing, I know I read somewhere that The Grande is casual on the first night. He said otherwise, but he also said that things could change once it starts up. I have a feeling it won't be formal the first night because of luggage concerns, and it is one of the reasons I booked it the first night, but we will soon see once the Inaugural sets sail.

[marci22]

That would be good if it was casual on the first night. I cancelled my Grandes because I didn't want to have to commit to bringing all those clothes.

[DEIx15x8]

Haven't heard that about the Grande but it's smart. Would be great if they advertised it more. We booked day 2 and the first day on the return sea leg for each of our sailings. We enjoy the formal night and I want them to be enforced for once, but I know a lot of people have said that they are not going to experience the Grande because they do not do formal nights. I'm also sure the people who do actually do formal nights are not wanting the first night for the luggage reasons you said, so they could make a lot of people happy if they make this official and publicize it. For the very rare few that may actually be planning for formal night on day one they'll probably be rather disappointed when they show up and no one else is dressed. I wouldn't be surprised if this was a decision made after the 15th based on feedback and booking numbers, but wonder what other decisions they may be making without telling us.

Edited June 5, 2014 by DEIx15x8

[carsaw]

We had to call 4 times yesterday to change our first night to the Grande. They did confirm that the first night is casual but since took all that time to make the adjustment we ended up with 1 hour later than the first call. In addition, that's just another night we are double booked because they were not able to cancel the other restaurant. Every time we have called there for help with one thing, something else always gets messed up. I have a feeling this mess will continue even on the ship. :eek: