Why not abolish the waitlist rule for dining?

Is it me but wouldn’t it make life a lot easier for both travel agents and customers,  if the current “Waitlist” system, of only being able to request a certain dinner sitting at the time of booking be amended? Surely it would be a lot simpler for the travel agent to be able to tell the client “Yes first sitting is available or No it isn’t”. I’m sure logistically this system is needed due to the sheer number of amendments being made and this  system probably gives the cruise line an easier job, but this system can also cause some problems for the customer.

I booked a cruise last week for one of my clients. At the time of booking, anytime dining was all showing available, so we added this choice and the booking was completed. A few days later it came to light that anytime was not showing on the cruise lines system. So I called the cruise line to discuss the matter further. I was advised that unlike other cruise lines who showed if the dining was waitlisted before booking, this particular cruise line would show the dinner sitting available even if it was on waitlist. Now if you are a family with young children, have dietary requirements or just prefer a certain time this can cause a lot of problems.

If I’m honest and fair to the Cruise lines, you can still pretty much always get the dining time that you want. You can arrange this even if the dining choice is not confirmed before you get on board. Although with this option it is a little more inconvenient, the good news is you can get it changed. To arrange this, you will have to queue up to see the Maitre’d once on board. From here he will get this all swapped around for you. So it can take a little time, but it can be changed.

So if you have to have a certain sitting, how do you get around this? The only guaranteed way is to book early, but with prices coming down and down this is not necessarily the best option.  The waitlist issue is not always going to be a problem,  as a lot of the cruise lines can tell you straight away if the dinner sittings are on waitlist or not. If this information is not readily available, we can always call and check for you. From here we can see if the requested dinner sitting really can be confirmed before you board.