HAL STRATEGY BAIT AND SWITCH?

[dockman]

So you make a reservation at your local Steves steaks in your hometown which is a nice intimate room and get a confirmation saying your Steves steak dinner is confirmed to be served at Joes Happy Hash House...

 

In what world does that make any sense at all?

 

As said I suspect it will all be fine but also wonder if anyone at HAL will bring this to the attention of the website designer and if anyone will bother to fix it so other passengers don't have to go through the same game of calling and going round and round on the phone and then told oh it's all ok but no i can't send that to you in writing....wasting your time as well as a lot of HAL staff on the phone and on the ship having to deal with the same question again? The staff is already overworked and undertrained so why make it worse?  If there is some drop down menu that is confusing then fix it so it will be clear.

[Gsel]

Just checked my reservations in the Pinnacle later this year. No mention of delivery to cabin or dining room. Also did not see a drop down menus when I made another reservation. 

[Haljo1935]

7 hours ago, afdds said:

HALJO1935, Thank you for the tip about the spa Kiosk.  We will head that way as soon as we board.  

Happy Anniversary and enjoy your cruise!

[dockman]

Reminds me of sites with FAQ that is theoretically designed to answer the most frequent questions without having to deal with phone calls, waiting on hold, explaining it to staff and hoping that the staff understands and knows the answer..

 

Why is it that it seems to me that it is rare that my question ever seems to be on the list of frequently asked questions....you know little rarely thought of questions like..."how much does it cost"  "what time does it leave"  etc etc

 

There are many big name websites that could eliminate a lot of phone calls and staff time by very carefully going over their website and figure out what could be a frequent question on this or that subject and put  nice clean simple answers there that can easily be found and understood....it's almost like they want to force you to call and waste everyones time.  Maybe ask the staff what are the most frequent questions you are asked?  Duh.

[badtwin]

Two comments.

 

We were on Koningsdam April 24- May 4 and there were spots available at Pinnacle and Canaleletto (didn't check Tamarind) for dinners many nights and lots for lunch during the whole week.  We added a Pinnacle lunch the morning of our last day. Maybe it wasn't a major HIA cruise but it seemed times were available in specialty restaurants.  

 

Second, I agree HAL website is hard to search and its FAQs leave something to be desired, but often on this forum the problem isn't that the poster can't find and answer - it's that they don't like the answer they found.  For example, when an OBC credit offer is supposed to only apply to future bookings but the poster insists they should be the exception to the rule.  Or there is a price drop they want but they want to keep their OBC and other perks.  

 

Been using the HAL website too long to have any hope it will improve dramatically in the future.

[Skorpora]

If it was me, I'd just show up at the Pinnacle at my reservation day and time. If they try to redirect me to the MDR, I would say no, my res is at the Pinnacle and I am not going to the MDR, so find me a table. 

[AncientWanderer]

A little off topic, but just a cautionary tale…no reservation is cast in stone.  We were bumped from a pre-purchased specialty restaurant because they scheduled a Cellar Master’s dinner for our night.  The annoying part was we would have just shifted to the Cellar Master’s dinner, but it was sold out.  🙄

 

So if you have a special occasion you are celebrating, can’t hurt to confirm and reconfirm.  Just so you can book a happy alternative, if need be.  The flexible cruiser is the happy cruiser.  😊

 

 

[QuattroRomeo]

Yes AncientWanderer, that must have been annoying! Again, customers' satisfaction was ignored. It certainly would have been possible for them to reach out to those of you already booked, to see if you would be interested in the Cellar Masters Dinner instead. I don't know why they don't get that customers are important..😕 The on board employees work so hard to please us, but their efforts can be undermined by the "off board" employees!

[POA1]

FWIW, on our upcoming cruise, there is no location choice or delivery option on the PG, Tamarind or Canaletto reservation page on the website. I can pick people, date and time, but that's all.

 

If anyone has delivery location on their dining reservation page, can they please screenshot it?

[disneyochem]

We have four HAL cruises in the next couple of months—Noordam, Westerdam.  Each one of our specialty dining meals show that it will be delivered in the dining room.  I’m pretty confident that we’ll be eating in the appropriate space!

 

Here’s a screen shot of our upcoming Westerdam cruise—

 

 

 

Edited May 24 by disneyochem

[dockman]

17 hours ago, Skorpora said:

If it was me, I'd just show up at the Pinnacle at my reservation day and time. If they try to redirect me to the MDR, I would say no, my res is at the Pinnacle and I am not going to the MDR, so find me a table. 

understood....but frankly the last thing i want when planning an extra nice extra fee dinner on a cruise is to add the potential of a conflict with staff over anything.  It would be very difficult for me to not think about and dread something that could take the fun and joy that should be a given. 

 

Once upon a time the extra fee restaurants on cruise ships were primarily created for people who were celebrating some event like a birthday or anniversary....that gave them a more intimate special experience....then the execs discovered that hey we can sell this extra fee dining to any and all so the "exclusivity" or use for special occasion got lost in the quest for $$.

 

  I do remember that once when you went to the ONE extra fee restaurant that most everyone there was celebrating a birthday or anniversary or divorce or retirement or whatever and the overall vibe was celebration with many birthday cakes and happy people.