Meals: YUL to FLL on Muse Sep 28 to Oct 12

[meow!]

The restaurants on this voyage has now been opened for booking. We started by booking La Dame and Atlantide on the first and the last nights respectively to avoid formal dress (those two nights are designated casual across the ship). We booked Keiseki, Silver Note and La Terrazza for second, third and fourth nights, when the ship will be sailing on the Saint Lawrence Seaway, and therefore in calm waters. We booked the other restaurants for the subsequent nights, through the first half of the voyage, and leave the last few days open for subsequent choices.

 

The only restaurant we did not book is Indochine, since most people on this forum expect it to be wide open for last minute choice. Can one book in more than one restaurant (to eat dinner twice) on any given night? Will it be unfair to book a restaurant and then decide not to go there? By the way, we cannot see the list of restaurants we booked after booking them, can our travel agent print out the list of restaurants we have booked and e-mail it to us?

.

[tgh]

How do /will the newbies manage ?

Is this a kind of "Cunard-ish" class separation by default type exercise ?

The newbies are the aspirational and upwardly mobile passengers that SilverSea needs to replace the "never again" group who are looking elsewhere.

I can remember one of my first cruises ..I did not have a clue.

As a neophyte , my after cruise comments to a ta would be somewhat pithy if I had found that experienced cruisers got all the good dining options and I was just taking my chances by filling up vacant tables where ever...

[UKCruiseJeff]

meow!

 

It is thoughtful of you to concern yourself about being fair to others when making bookings that you may then cancel.

 

Perversely, you may in fact be helping others because by letting your table go when on board it "should" theoretically be released by the MD to someone wishing to choose that restaurant spontaneously who otherwise might not be able to.

 

It would be wise to obtain and take with you a print of your "reservations" however you achieve it in order to deal with any "misunderstandings" you may encounter later.

[meow!]

How do /will the newbies manage ?

Is this a kind of "Cunard-ish" class separation by default type exercise ?

The newbies are the aspirational and upwardly mobile passengers...

Thank you for your reply. This will be our fourth Silversea voyage, the last one being in 2010, and things have changed so much ever since!

[meow!]

meow!

 

It would be wise to obtain and take with you a print of your "reservations" however you achieve it in order to deal with any "misunderstandings" you may encounter later.

Thank you kindly for your reply!

[onetravelbug]

By the way, we cannot see the list of restaurants we booked after booking them, can our travel agent print out the list of restaurants we have booked and e-mail it to us?

.

If you look at the web page where you made your dinning reservations, you will notice that there is a "print" icon in the upper right corner. Click on this and you will get a 2 page copy of all your dinning, spa. & tours that were made. If you only want a list of your dinning "reservations" then print them off between 120 days & 90 days which is before you can book the tours. It is a little more use of paper than just printing a one line per day list of your reservations, but you will have a copy as a reminder after leaving on your trip.

[les37b]

How do /will the newbies manage ?

 

Is this a kind of "Cunard-ish" class separation by default type exercise ?

 

The newbies are the aspirational and upwardly mobile passengers that SilverSea needs to replace the "never again" group who are looking elsewhere.

 

I can remember one of my first cruises ..I did not have a clue.

 

As a neophyte , my after cruise comments to a ta would be somewhat pithy if I had found that experienced cruisers got all the good dining options and I was just taking my chances by filling up vacant tables where ever...

 

 

 

There is no class separation like you may have found on Cunard. Whatever makes you suggest that? If it's because 2 restaurants are officially labelled as formal, the dress code is a suggestion and guests will not be turned away. All guests can eat in any of the restaurants.

 

 

Meow, my muse trip is not far away now - the next one out. After reading your comment, I thought I'd check again in my.silversea to see if restaurants are full. There are a couple of nights that La Dame and the Japanese are wait listed, which is common on any silversea ship that the small up charge restaurants are full. The only restaurant (other than the unknown Atlantide unavailability in Monaco) that is wait listed is Silver Note on one night. So there was no rush to book so far out, but at least it's put your mind at ease as it's done.

 

I will let you know if Silversea lose my reservations and I had to pay the Maitre D to find me a table. Don't hold your breath on that happening though. Silversea IT is pants but their reservations are far better than BAs and I think it absurd the suggestion it's done deliberately.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Silver Spectre]

Spot on Les.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[meow!]

If you look at the web page where you made your dinning reservations, you will notice that there is a "print" icon in the upper right corner. Click on this and you will get a 2 page copy of all your dinning, spa. & tours that were made. If you only want a list of your dinning "reservations" then print them off between 120 days & 90 days which is before you can book the tours. It is a little more use of paper than just printing a one line per day list of your reservations, but you will have a copy as a reminder after leaving on your trip.

I followed your instructions and found that none of my "reservations" were recorded!

I should try again after this weekend and call my travel agent.

[UKCruiseJeff]

I followed your instructions and found that none of my "reservations" were recorded!

I should try again after this weekend and call my travel agent.

 

 

Hi, from a stormy early morning in the UK.

 

This must be immensely frustrating for you. When you try next time, I suggest you try the following.

 

If you are using a PC, then before you start open up a text document in whatever writing programme you use. Each time you get to the point where you have completed a dinner booking, and hopefully some sort of confirmation, before you move from the page press on your keyboard the Windows key and the PrtScn buttons at the same time. This photographs what is on the screen. It should sort of momentarily flash as though it is photographing. Move to the text document and press "ctrl" and "v" and this will paste what you have just photographed into your text document. Repeat this for each of your bookings.You'll end up with a document that at least shows at your end you thought and believed that you had made the bookings and they appear to have been accepted.

 

This isn't a perfect solution by any means .... it would be better if the bookings were recorded properly .... but it will at least demonstrate you have made bookings that the system appears to have accdepted and lost and is better than nothing if you have to argue your corner on the ship. You can also send the document to your TA and ask them to work with SS to sort it out.

 

Hope this is helpful ... :)

[travelingduo]

I did all of my dinner reservations for 16 days last week and printed my confirmation with no difficulty. I simply hit the print icon on the reservation page. After reading this thread, I checked again today and all of my reservations are there. Hope you get this sorted. I would be inclined to call SS directly rather than my TA and have them confirm your requests as they will be happy to assist you.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[les37b]

Meow, how were you able to book any of the restaurants at all? All the restaurants will be visible as soon as your cruise is booked but even if you click reserve (and you can do this) it won't record as an actual booking until 120 days out.

 

Try again in a couple of days and your first night will become bookable and your booking recorded. The last night of your cruise won't be bookable until another 16 days I'm afraid until each night is inside the 120 days booking restriction.

 

Hope that helps, though rest assured there really is no need panic to book as explained in my previous posting which commences within a couple of weeks.

 

Once an actual reservation is made, it will show up in the calendar with the number of places you've actually booked. I'm sure this will be the case once your cruise dates fall inside 120 days. If you were able to physically book them, it sounds like a glitch that's been rectified.

 

On tours, although it's 90 days out the first day will become bookable, I have noted others say that sometimes it does go past the expected date which I suspect may be to do with the logistics of some of the packages they are putting together.

 

Just woke up after a good nights sleep to a lovely sunny day here in the UK. Let's hope it stays that way.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Edited May 29, 2017 by les37b

[Joc123]

I have only sailed on SS once - I'm not likely to do so again with all the pre booking that is required. I know it's mainly on Muse that this is required but on our cruise on Shadow we didn't get to go to LChampagne because we didn't pre book or line up to book when we boarded. We actually believed the advertising and asked our butler to make a booking for us. It was too late, we were wait listed but never got to dine there. I really think that every passenger on any cruise should be given the opportunity to dine at least once at these restaurants. Clearly SS don't.

[les37b]

I have only sailed on SS once - I'm not likely to do so again with all the pre booking that is required. I know it's mainly on Muse that this is required but on our cruise on Shadow we didn't get to go to LChampagne because we didn't pre book or line up to book when we boarded. We actually believed the advertising and asked our butler to make a booking for us. It was too late, we were wait listed but never got to dine there. I really think that every passenger on any cruise should be given the opportunity to dine at least once at these restaurants. Clearly SS don't.

 

 

 

I kinda agree that all guests should be given the opportunity to book any restaurant they'd like at least once and I would have no problem if they implemented such a scheme on advance bookings to limit "hogging". I know on my last cruise, I was wait listed for la Champagne on both the nights we attempted to book for. Once onboard we were offered both as pre bookings must have been cancelled. We took one night and put the other back into the pool. We only ever intended on one night so just hedging bets.

 

Can I ask how seabourn manage to achieve this without needing reservations in the smaller restaurants or are things not that dissimilar really?

[Joc123]

The new Thomas Keller Grill is the only restaurant that can be pre booked online. It is not absolutely necessary but the option is available. They also say they will not allow you to go for a second time until all passengers have had the opportunity to book. I'm not sure how this works in practice. We left our name at the restaurant and they rang if they had a vacancy, we ended up eating there 3 times in 26 days.

[meow!]

Thank you all for your input. So each reservation becomes possible at 120 days before the day of the meal (not the start of the voyage). So we will check regularly to book day by day ... meow!:D

[les37b]

The new Thomas Keller Grill is the only restaurant that can be pre booked online. It is not absolutely necessary but the option is available. They also say they will not allow you to go for a second time until all passengers have had the opportunity to book. I'm not sure how this works in practice. We left our name at the restaurant and they rang if they had a vacancy, we ended up eating there 3 times in 26 days.

 

 

Well I'm not arguing against a fairer system for sure, though did think it was more than one restaurant that needed a reservation.

 

I don't think there is an easy solution or any system perfect purely down to the logistics and numbers potentially wanting to eat - particularly if the grumble is not wanting to place a reservation and just turn up.

 

I will give a fair review on my return and comment if I see or hear if anyone is sent to the pizza place. It does highlight why it is best to book and I've honestly no objection in this regard.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[les37b]

Thank you all for your input. So each reservation becomes possible at 120 days before the day of the meal (not the start of the voyage). So we will check regularly to book day by day ... meow!:D

 

 

Correct.

 

You will be able to book the first day on 120 days and the second day of the cruise the day after.

 

Honestly though, there is no risk booking this far out of not getting whatever you want and that's including the much smaller pay restaurants. Some on mine are full but they are still pre bookable even with less than 2 weeks out.

 

120 days is the trigger. It simply can't take a booking for anything further out than this.

 

Let us know if you find this to be exactly the case in a few days when day one becomes bookable.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[MissSophia]

 

I will give a fair review on my return and comment if I see or hear if anyone is sent to the pizza place. It does highlight why it is best to book and I've honestly no objection in this regard.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

Les.....I'm sure you will give us a very fair and balanced review but please don't dwell too much on the PizzaGate affair...it may well ruin your experience 😴

 

Sophia ☺️

[MissSophia]

There is no class separation like you may have found on Cunard. Whatever makes you suggest that? If it's because 2 restaurants are officially labelled as formal, the dress code is a suggestion and guests will not be turned away. All guests can eat in any of the restaurants.

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Les...are you saying then that if one turns up in less than formal dress at the two restaurants 'requiring' formal attire you will not be turned away? Surely this now becomes more confusing for those yet to sail on the Muse....and how can you be so sure of this.

 

The 'true' Cunard White Star Class service finished when the beautiful and iconic Queen Elizabeth 2 was dumped in Dubai with the ship.

The current fleet have been 'Carnivalised'...you pay for the grills...and boy do you pay....for little more than Grill dining and a private lounge....but the one difference is that all guests are dressed the same each evening in accordance with the daily published dress code....which actually is adhered to after 6pm.

Would love to hear about your Cunard vs Silversea experiences....to me it's as different as chalk is to cheese.

 

Really looking forward to your views of the Muse and wish you a very happy voyage on her......because despite all the negatives she is a lovely ship.

 

Sophia ☺️

[Tothesunset]

...you pay for the grills...and boy do you pay....for little more than Grill dining and a private lounge...

... Would love to hear about your Cunard vs Silversea experiences....to me it's as different as chalk is to cheese...

 

Sophia ☺️

In a like for like suite I can only say that our December crossing on the QM2, while very pleasant, was a total rip-off compared to SS.

 

I really, really resent being nickeled and dimed at every opportunity.

 

But the ship is large, the crew well trained and there are those ephemeral years of tradition. Clearly the Cunard brand still appeals to many cruisers.

[les37b]

Les.....I'm sure you will give us a very fair and balanced review but please don't dwell too much on the PizzaGate affair...it may well ruin your experience 😴

 

Sophia ☺️

 

Don't panic. I've already taken care of any possibility of that happening. Thankfully I've taken onboard how to avoid the pitfalls of other people's mistakes, so no dwelling from me, but thanks for your concern.

[MissSophia]

In a like for like suite I can only say that our December crossing on the QM2, while very pleasant, was a total rip-off compared to SS.

 

I really, really resent being nickeled and dimed at every opportunity.

 

But the ship is large, the crew well trained and there are those ephemeral years of tradition. Clearly the Cunard brand still appeals to many cruisers.

 

Hi TTS.....do hope you and your lovely lady are both well..along with furry baby...😊

 

You are correct of course with regard to the QM2 and l know you asked for my thoughts before sailing.....and whilst l wouldn't sail on her again the Transatlantic experience is a one off and we have to remember that she's a liner and not a cruise ship....the grill suites are like for like with SS but that's where it ends......

 

S ☺️

[UKCruiseJeff]

By an eery coincidence, our neighbour left a few days ago from Southampton on the QM2 TA .......

[MissSophia]

Don't panic. I've already taken care of any possibility of that happening. Thankfully I've taken onboard how to avoid the pitfalls of other people's mistakes, so no dwelling from me, but thanks for your concern.

 

That's great Les....I never panic...too old and also too well experienced to go down that road...😝

I'm not at all concerned either....just wishing to gently advise at times and guide our new cruisers in the right direction.

Sophia ☺️