PH3 Balcony Dining - specific room/ship

We are in one of the aft balcony cabins in a PH3 on Riviera (deck 7) for our upcoming cruise. I know you can be served course by course from any dining room. We have family in a PH3 on deck 10 that we would like to invite to our cabin for breakfast, lunch, or dinner on the aft part of the deck.

If we have four of us, is the table on these balconies suitable to seat four? I don't even think these specific rooms support a third berth. I've heard that they will add extra furniture to these balconies. Do you think that they would bring a table to serve the four of us? Or can we just combine all the furniture (which I think will be two tables and four chairs) to make it work?

I can't speak for the PH cabins. We were in a Vista on Marina in October and the table on the deck seated four people comfortably. I imagine Jim&Stan will come up with a photo for you in terms of the PH accommodations!

Mura

We are in one of the aft balcony cabins in a PH3 on Riviera (deck 7) for our upcoming cruise. I know you can be served course by course from any dining room. We have family in a PH3 on deck 10 that we would like to invite to our cabin for breakfast, lunch, or dinner on the aft part of the deck.

 

If we have four of us, is the table on these balconies suitable to seat four? I don't even think these specific rooms support a third berth. I've heard that they will add extra furniture to these balconies. Do you think that they would bring a table to serve the four of us? Or can we just combine all the furniture (which I think will be two tables and four chairs) to make it work?

There is a small table between each of the sets of reclining chairs that you can see here on the veranda of 7130, but neither is of sufficient height to eat a meal comfortably. Similarly, the bistro table inside the Suite, just won't seat four.

I would suggest that you speak to the Hotel Manager on the ship and explain that you would like a larger, exterior grade, table and chairs for your veranda. Your Butler could bring in a larger table also, but if you do it that way, the table will typically be removed after your guests leave. The Hotel Manager can arrange for it to be left there for the duration of the cruise.

One other point, when you invite your friends down, be sure that BOTH of your Butlers know what is going on. The Butler from Deck 10, will probably be too far away to offer any assistance, but those guys are adept at trading favors and duties so that one person isn't left carrying the entire load. ;)

Hope that this helped,

Please enjoy your Cruise!

There is a small table between each of the sets of reclining chairs that you can see here on the veranda of 7130, but neither is of sufficient height to eat a meal comfortably. Similarly, the bistro table inside the Suite, just won't seat four.

 

I would suggest that you speak to the Hotel Manager on the ship and explain that you would like a larger, exterior grade, table and chairs for your veranda. Your Butler could bring in a larger table also, but if you do it that way, the table will typically be removed after your guests leave. The Hotel Manager can arrange for it to be left there for the duration of the cruise.

 

One other point, when you invite your friends down, be sure that BOTH of your Butlers know what is going on. The Butler from Deck 10, will probably be too far away to offer any assistance, but those guys are adept at trading favors and duties so that one person isn't left carrying the entire load. ;)

 

Hope that this helped,

Please enjoy your Cruise!

Excellent advice. I'll try this and hope for the best! I also think it's a good idea to talk to both butlers about what we are doing.

I was going to ask the same question! In its brochure Oceania mentions 'the EXQUISITELY furnished veranda' in PH and I've been googling (in vain) pictures since then. In my vocabulary exquisite is a strong word.

I've booked 7130, so thanks for the pics but what I see looks very basic, nothing special! Husband I are planning breakfasts and some dinners there. In suites & mini-suites we've had so far, we always enjoyed a small table & 2 chairs + 2 lounge chairs (Celebrity, HAL, Princess). I will certainly follow your suggestion and request some extra as I'm a bit disappointed.

Again you guys have given very helpful advice. We will be on Marina in 7135 and have noticed how sparsely the huge veranda is furnished, and wished something could be done about it before our Sept. cruise. We will request the exterior table and chairs as well. Maybe they'll even toss in a potted plant for decor!

Thanks for being such a great source of cruising information.:)

We recently returned from an AUST & NZ cruise on the Regatta. We were in a Concierge cabin, below the PH's, but a Vista on the same deck. Because we would be going on several tours which left shortly after docking, we planned to have breakfast as early as possible several mornings in our room. Also noted was the fact that the desk had a stool, rather than a chair. This made a less stable sitting situation for eating.

Upon our first meeting with the experienced Caroline, our head cabin attendant, we requested a swap of the stool for a chair. Done, in less than half a day.

The first morning we ordered b'fast, it came on a circular tray, which was put down on the clear round table. DH gave the waiter, a small tip, for which he had a big grin of thanks. (**more later). The next time the same waiter was even more prompt, dug out from in back of the love seat a rectangular top, spread a table cloth over it as it was centered over the small circular table and placed all the dishes on it.

After this, we usually got the topper out ourselves, so the waiter could serve the hot meal aspect faster. I think they were quite busy for these early morning (6:30) orders.

I mention this, because there may be ways to accommodate your need for a larger table, that you may be unaware of, so I think requesting your needs both in advance and early in the sailing is wise. Having the table top right in the room, plus the chair, made a big difference in usefulness.

** Now the about the tip: J&S may recall, we asked for suggestions for small extra tips before we left. Theirs of $2. bills was most helpful! We had to go to 2 different branches of our credit union to collect them, but they were easy to carry, etc. We are not bar flies, so used them for these early breakfasts. As told above, they worked like a charm! There seemed to be some sort of competition to get us our breakfasts on time! As we did not use this service everyday, we gave the "left-overs," along with some other things to Caroline & crew, at the end of the voyage.