Dinner seating on Carnival

[Heidi M]

Has anyone had problems with getting the dinner seating they requested on Carnival? I have been on 4 Carnival cruises and have gotten the wrong seating 3 of the 4 times. I usually have been able to get it changed after I spend an hour of my time complaining. Dinner seating is very important for me because we are not anywhere near ready to eat at early seating (I alway request late). Anyway I am just curious if others have had this problem with Carnival. I am thinking it might me time for me to find a new favorite cruise line since they can't seem to get this simple task straight.

 

[Kathy N]

Hi Heidi,
In regards to your requested dining time, the cruise lines never quarantee you will receive the sitting you ask for during booking. I do think that those that book earliest are most likely to get there choice first. I have cruised just 12 times, but I have always received our requested dining time, but I have always booked 10 months to a year before sailing. It is not a matter of Carnival "getting it straight", but more of a first come, first served kind of thing, influenced also by the size of different groups, etc.
All the Maitre'ds seem to try very hard to accommodate everyone they can.
I hope on your next sailing things work out the first time.

 

[ArkJudy]

We've cruised three times, twice on Carnival and once on Royal Caribbean, requesting late seating every time. Our request was not met only once, on our last Carnival cruise. We boarded early, saw that we were scheduled for early seating, went to where the dining staff was meeting people to meet their requests, told them what I wanted, and had it changed in a matter of minutes. No problem -- no hour long wrangling, no tip was required. Sorry your experiences have not been the same.

 

[dgregg]

Hi Hedi,

I have cruised twice on Carnival and the first cruise they gave us early seating when late was requested and we went to have it changed and they said they could not change it. We had a person in our party who takes medication at a certain time and has to have a meal with their pills so after telling them we did not have a choice due to this problem they changed it for us.

On the second cruise we requested late and received late seating although we had our table changed from an 8 top to a table for two since it was our anniversary. They were extremely accomodating.

We have now booked our third cruise and had early seating and now are requesting late, I hope it works out!

Better luck in the future.

 

[JohnG]

Many of the Carnival ships now have four seatings. Something like 5:45, 6:30, 8:00 and 8:45.

 

[A.Jones]

I've sailed on Carnival 3 times this year and we always request early seating. They have a 5:45 seating and also a 6:15 seating and then of course the later seatings. We have never not gotten what we wanted and the last 2 cruies we went on we had our table switched with no problem either time. No complaints here.........best of luck to you.

 

[marie swinford]

Need Dinner help times fast!

We are leaving this Saturday the 21st on Explorer of the Seas (our first cruise). We are a family of four with 2 children ages 13 and 10. We have requested late seating and are having second thoughts. Can anyone give us their ideas about late vs early seating with children this age? Thanks so much!