What are the reservation times for Manfredi's

[bellemere]

Planning ahead.

When you go to make reservations for Manfredi's online, what are the times that are offered?

What time do they start ? Are they offered at two hour intervals?

Thank you.

[azdrydock]

Generally reervations start at 6 and are at 30 minute intervals. If you didn't or couldn't do your reservations via MyViking you still have a pretty good chance of making an on board or just walking in at the earlier times. I wouldn't count on it, especially on a sea day, but on the other days there are a lot of cancellations and no shows due to excursion exhaustion.

[mhb1757]

there are a lot of cancellations and no shows due to excursion exhaustion.

 

Haha. I love that A new diagnosis "excursion exhaustion ". :D:D:D

[roothy123]

Yes, I like that term, too.

 

I know you didn't ask about Chef's Table, but just in case you'd like info on that: When Viking Ocean cruises started, I believe they only had a few times you could reserve, so everyone had to choose between those times. However, now they are taking reservations in half hour increments, similar to (or perhaps exactly the same as) what they do for Manfredi's.

[azdrydock]

Yes, I like that term, too.

 

I know you didn't ask about Chef's Table, but just in case you'd like info on that: When Viking Ocean cruises....

 

A word of caution about Chef's Table. On the West Indies cruise the menu was repeated for three consecutive days and the last cycle was the same as the first. There are no choices on the menu so if you weren't careful your reserved meals could all be the same. I am not sure if this is true on Homelands. It would be great if someone on this years cruise can confirm the cycle and menu. I haven't searched the boards so the answers might already be posted

[Dauntless]

Yes, I like that term, too.

 

I know you didn't ask about Chef's Table, but just in case you'd like info on that: When Viking Ocean cruises....

 

A word of caution about Chef's Table. On the West Indies cruise the menu was repeated for three consecutive days and the last cycle was the same as the first. There are no choices on the menu so if you weren't careful your reserved meals could all be the same. I am not sure if this is true on Homelands. It would be great if someone on this years cruise can confirm the cycle and menu. I haven't searched the boards so the answers might already be posted

 

Last year's cycle was 5 different menus for the 15 day cruise. We did all 5. Changed every 3 days.

[roothy123]

From what I've read, the menu does now change every 3 days, but people will need to wait until they board the ship to see what the menus are. The poster mentioned that embarkation day isn't necessarily day 1 of the 3 day rotation. Being in a deluxe veranda on a two week cruise, we only get one trip to Chef's Table (unless we can wrangle more!) so I don't have to worry about a repeating menu. However, I may check on the menus at some point to see what I might be getting on the night I reserved. Really, I think too many people worry about the food that is offered. Yes, there's little choice, but in 2015 I didn't think I'd particularly like the "Spice Road" menu or whatever it was called, as I'm a kind of bland eater. However, other than one small and unimportant offering, I found the food quite good, and it was a fun experience to learn about various spices and cooking techniques. There are quite a few small courses, so even if you don't like one, you won't starve. For our cruise next month, I made a reservation at Chef's Table based on what days and times were available, what we were doing that day (picking a low cruise exhaustion day!) and spacing out our Manfredi's and Chef Table reservations to add variety to our evenings.

[roothy123]

 

Last year's cycle was 5 different menus for the 15 day cruise. We did all 5. Changed every 3 days.

 

Wow! If you remember any "themes" I'd love to hear them! My husband particularly loves Asian.

[Dauntless]

 

Wow! If you remember any "themes" I'd love to hear them! My husband particularly loves Asian.

 

We were in V cabin and we could not book until on board so it is possible. This is off the top of my head, but it seems there were 2 Asian themed, Northern European, Mediterranean and spices of India? I really enjoyed this experience. If you didn't like it you can always drop by World Cafe for Gelato! I did see a substitution for a course for one diner at the next table. It was something completely different and the change may have been made due to food allergy.

[bellemere]

Thanks for input.

[eaglewatchers]

If you want additional reservations at either Manfredi's or Chef's Table, stop at their door early in the cruise and ask for them They are happy to take additional reservations. We even booked some the day of/day before later in our 15 day Homelands cruise. The days that are tougher to get are the final night and days when everyone gets back on board a little later (shortening the dinner hours). We booked our last night dinner in the online system before we left home!

 

Manfredi's is AWESOME. We split our time between that and World Cafe. Only ate once in the main dining room. It was slower and more congested/stuffy. World Cafe had the same food and more "freedom to move." Just watch out for seagulls outside when in port! They'll literally eat your lunch!

[cruzzzinma]

We were in a DV cabin and were able to book one in advance. When we sailed in Feb, their reservation system was in disarray and the online reservations had not transferred to the ship - they didn't have our reservation but they accommodated us. On a ten day cruise, we ate in Manfredi's three times and the Chef's Table twice. One of the Chef's Table menus did not appeal to us so we didn't book it.

 

The easiest way to book reservations is on your stateroom TV. It showed more availability than we were offerered at the specialty station in the cafe.

[stretchcruz]

We were on Barcelona the Baltics and Beyond last month and the only Chef's Table menu we were interested in was French (a friend had told me we could switch out the seafood). We went down there the first night to check out the menus and they said the French was only one night...the first.They told us there were 8 different menus that each go for 3 nights, so the French night the first night was the only one, even though we were on a 3 week cruise. We had reservations for Manfredi's the first night and loved it. We were only allowed one reservation but kept making them....for whenever was available. Many times we showed up early, just to get a glass of wine and sit in the atrium and enjoy the music but we were always seated right away. I think a lot of people make reservations and don't show up, which is sad. We ate there 7 times and loved it.

[bellemere]

Thank you for the info.

[roothy123]

They told us there were 8 different menus that each go for 3 nights, so the French night the first night was the only one, even though we were on a 3 week cruise.

Glad to hear they vary the menu so much. I'm one of those people who like variety and surprises, especially if I go back on the same ship or cruise line - or (once in a great while, sigh!) if I'm on a long cruise. A set menu gets old after a while.

[marylovestotravel]

Glad to hear they vary the menu so much. I'm one of those people who like variety and surprises, especially if I go back on the same ship or cruise line - or (once in a great while, sigh!) if I'm on a long cruise. A set menu gets old after a while.

 

Me too! Much as I like the dining in the specialty restaurants in Oceania, in 5 years I have not seen much of a change. Yes, keep the favourites, but variety lends spice and I would not expect a top notch restaurant to have almost the same menu for that length of time. Much as I appreciate variety in cruise itineraries, some variety should happen in the menus as well. Also, must be boring for the staff to cook and present the same items for years!

 

Mia

[Vineyard View]

It sounds like the Chefs Table has really expanded their offering if there are now 8 different menus! That is great news. I believe they started with only three or four different menus.

 

Manifredis has a deep/large enough offering that we ate there several times and enjoyed each tiime immensely.

 

Can't wait to do it all again!!

[softcastle]

The only thing I'd warn prospective diners against is scheduling reservations past 8:00 pm. Even thought 8:30 is technically an option, the restaurants close at 9, and there was occasional but visible frustration from the staff when people stayed well past close. They remained very kind paragons of professionalism, but you can tell when the veneer begins to wear thin! We had several 8:30 reservations and would arrive early, and they had no problem accommodating us when we got there.