Dining Time and Group Dining Request Form Questions

[riggins]

Hi guys-

Friday night I booked a cruise directly with HAL for next summer. I booked 2 cabins - one cabin me, DH, and our 2 kids and one cabin for my parents. The agent who booked it asked specifically about our dining requests. I told her we preferred a table for just the 6 of us during one of early seatings. She said no problem and she said she would link the reservations and note our table preference. I specifically asked her if one of the early times was available because it was showing "Waitlisted" online. She said yes, it was available and our dining was all set.

 

Yesterday, I realized that I hadn't received the e-mail confirmation for my parents cabin, so I called and asked them to send it to me. The agent on that 2nd call sent me the confirmation, but also said he was sending me something to fill out for our dining. He said that if we wanted to sit together, we'd have to complete a Group Dining Request Form and fax it back. I told him the 1st agent didn't mention the form, and he said she must have forgotten it. So, today I printed it out along with my confirmations and I'm confused.

 

First, our confirmations show that we are "Waitlisted" for Early/Upper dining. I'm not suprised since this is what I saw online, but I'm irritated that the first agent said we were confirmed for early dining. I'm new to HAL, so I'm not sure exactly what this means. What are the chances that we get the early time?

 

Second, what's the deal with this Group Dining Request Form? It looks like something a travel agent should complete for a large group.

 

Thanks for the help. Given my experience with my two calls with HAL, I have more confidence in you guys right now!

 

Thanks

Leslie

[CPMichael]

I am not sure why you would have to complete a group dining request form for your dining party of only 6. I would ignore that.

 

The cross reference should take care of making sure your two cabins dine together. I would recommend that you make sure that the two are crossed referenced again, as there seems to be some confusion by the cruise line, as to how many cabins you have (hence the group request form).

 

There is really no way to tell what your chances of getting your dining time. I dont know how the HAL PVP's deal with that. As a travel agent, we have other avenues to persue in getting that done --I am not sure theirs are the same. I am surprised they cannot confirm this for you.

 

The alternative of anytime dining may be an option for you, if you cannot get confirmed. You can ask for a set time with the same staff every night and they may be able to accomodate a standing reservation for you in lieu of traditional dining.

 

Hope this helps!

[Doh15]

Can anyone else weigh in on this? We are an extended family (total of 14 pax) who booked separately, but linked our reservations. This morning when I called ship services to check that the reservations were linked and ask how they were splitting us up, the person insisted to me that simply linking reservations is not sufficient to dine together and we had to fill out a group dining request form (she said she would email me one, but it hasn't shown up and when I thought I'd google to see if it was posted online, this thread came up).

 

Is linking our reservations enough, or do we need to fill out the group dining form (and if the latter is true, is it available online anywhere or do I need to call ship services back)?

[kelleherdl]

I will chime in.

 

We booked our stateroom direct through our PCC at HAL (2 persons). My sister booked same category stateroom (SY, 3 persons) through an on-line agency. We requested dining linkage with both PCC and online agency (6-top). We did get confirmation from both that our request was linked and confirmed. This was for fixed-early (upper).

 

We got assigned a 6-top, with only 5 persons assigned.

 

Whether this can happen for a table of 12???? are there any? Maybe try for adjacent 6-tops?

 

OP said he was booked direct. Maybe he could get h/self assigned to a PCC and have it coordinated that way.

 

Dennis

[Doh15]

thanks

 

After further investigation it does seem the issue is that we have more than a table's worth. Originally we could have fit in one table, but some more family members joined and we need the form to sit "together".

[Krazy Kruizers]

A few years ago we requested to dine with another couple.

We gave our TA their confirmation number. Our TA had to fill out a special form and it was for just a table for 4 people.

But a form had to be filled out.