diff --git a/astroquery/alma/core.py b/astroquery/alma/core.py
index e327fb25ea..078c9b70a5 100644
--- a/astroquery/alma/core.py
+++ b/astroquery/alma/core.py
@@ -228,7 +228,7 @@ def stage_data(self, uids):
         payload = {'dataset':['ALMA+'+clean_uid(uid) for uid in uids]}
         log.debug("First request payload: {0}".format(payload))
 
-        self._staging_log = {}
+        self._staging_log = {'first_post_url':url}
 
         # Request staging for the UIDs
         # This component cannot be cached, since the returned data can change
diff --git a/astroquery/simbad/core.py b/astroquery/simbad/core.py
index 6fe7b89e93..7649ab6f69 100644
--- a/astroquery/simbad/core.py
+++ b/astroquery/simbad/core.py
@@ -892,17 +892,20 @@ def nb_errors(self):
 class SimbadVOTableResult(SimbadResult):
     """VOTable-type Simbad result"""
     def __init__(self, txt, verbose=False, pedantic=False):
-        SimbadResult.__init__(self, txt, verbose=verbose)
         self.__pedantic = pedantic
         self.__table = None
-        if not self.verbose:
+        if not verbose:
             commons.suppress_vo_warnings()
+        super(SimbadVOTableResult, self).__init__(txt, verbose=verbose)
 
 
     @property
     def table(self):
         if self.__table is None:
-            self.__table = votable.parse_single_table(BytesIO(self.data.encode('utf8')), pedantic=False).to_table()
+            self.bytes = BytesIO(self.data.encode('utf8'))
+            tbl = votable.parse_single_table(self.bytes, pedantic=False)
+            self.__table = tbl.to_table()
+            self.__table.convert_bytestring_to_unicode()
         return self.__table
 
 bibcode_regex = re.compile(r'query\s+bibcode\s+(wildcard)?\s+([\w]*)')