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Specialty Restaurants and Main Dining Room Questions

RMLLEL

By RMLLEL,
in Oceania Cruises

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RMLLEL

RMLLEL

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This is our first cruise on Oceania.  We are on a 10 day Riviera cruise in June.  There are no sea days. I am trying to figure out which nights to make reservations in the specialty restaurants.  We are in concierge class.    I was wondering if there is any night you would definitely want to eat in the main dining room?  Would you eat in a specialty restaurant second to last night of the cruise?  Last night?  Which night is the Captains Cocktail Party?  Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks.

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GeezerCouple Holiday Sharing Rare

GeezerCouple

Posted
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7 minutes ago, RMLLEL said:

This is our first cruise on Oceania.  We are on a 10 day Riviera cruise in June.  There are no sea days. I am trying to figure out which nights to make reservations in the specialty restaurants.  We are in concierge class.    I was wondering if there is any night you would definitely want to eat in the main dining room?  Would you eat in a specialty restaurant second to last night of the cruise?  Last night?  Which night is the Captains Cocktail Party?  Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks.

 

We are on a 14 day cruise (Marina) with no sea days, and it's a first for us.


What we did was look at the ports each day, and also the times of departing from each port, plus what we had planned for each day (or not).

And then we figured when we'd be least tired, or even had a day where we had no major outings planned, or not yet...

 

GC

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edgee

edgee

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10 minutes ago, RMLLEL said:

This is our first cruise on Oceania.  We are on a 10 day Riviera cruise in June.  There are no sea days. I am trying to figure out which nights to make reservations in the specialty restaurants.  We are in concierge class.    I was wondering if there is any night you would definitely want to eat in the main dining room?  Would you eat in a specialty restaurant second to last night of the cruise?  Last night?  Which night is the Captains Cocktail Party?  Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Captain's cocktail party will likely be second night of cruise on a non sea day itinerary unless that is a late night in port. JMO if you logically guess which night that will be that is a good night to dine in specialty restaurant because after captain's party large numbers of folks converge on Grand Dining Room at once creating service issues. Overwise in choosing specialty restaurant nights may want to avoid late nights in port assuming you want to enjoy those ports into the evening hour.

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Mura

Mura

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We always aim for specialties on a sea day but when there aren't any, we don't have any particular strategies.  On board we may check menus in the GDR and Terrace Cafe to determine where we want to go, but that's irrelevant to the specialties since those menus are set in stone.

 

I never thought of the possible problem caused by the Captain's cocktail party (which we tend not to attend).  The odds are that we've been in the GDR on those nights, but I can't say that we noticed any sudden influx of passengers.

 

Could be I wasn't paying attention!  If so, it didn't seem to affect our food service.

 

 

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JPR

JPR

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Best meals in the MDR are usually the second (sometimes the third) and next to last nights.

 

You can often get into a specialty restaurant as a walk in the first night. So you may want to reserve nights 4-8 in the specialty restaurants.

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su-arizona

su-arizona

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We're on the same cruise with you - also in Concierge - and we've chatted on the Roll Call.  No sea days, and there are three days in a row that I expect will be very long, tiring days of touring - I know we are both touring Seville from Cadiz and Granada from Almeria - and Malaga also has many full-day tours.  So I won't book specialties for those nights, as we probably will choose to dine casually in the Terrace.  But that's just us...we rarely dine in the GDR and head to the Terrace Cafe when we're tired and don't want to get 'dressed up'.  Most dishes from the GDR are also available in the Terrace, plus the grill options.  Like others have said, specialties are rarely booked on the first night and the last night out is usually a Terrace/packing night for us.  

 

Gosh...that doesn't leave much time!  I don't usually enjoy sea days, but this is our first with NO sea days!  

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RMLLEL

RMLLEL

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Thanks everyone for your insights.  This is our first cruise with no sea-days also, Su-Arizona. Love relaxing on sea days but we are looking forward to all the ports.  I think I have figured out when to make our Specialty Restaurant reservations thanks to everyone’s help.

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edgee

edgee

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16 hours ago, Mura said:

We always aim for specialties on a sea day but when there aren't any, we don't have any particular strategies.  On board we may check menus in the GDR and Terrace Cafe to determine where we want to go, but that's irrelevant to the specialties since those menus are set in stone.

 

I never thought of the possible problem caused by the Captain's cocktail party (which we tend not to attend).  The odds are that we've been in the GDR on those nights, but I can't say that we noticed any sudden influx of passengers.

 

Could be I wasn't paying attention!  If so, it didn't seem to affect our food service.

 

 

We are fresh from a mid March cruise on Riviera where we enjoyed excellent service in all dining rooms except in the GDR the night of the Captain's party. One of the asst. head waiters told us they were exceptionally backed up in service for that reason and we certainly noticed the difference. Also we always dine at a table for two and on the smaller R ships we have had to wait longer for a table for two on Captain's Cocktail party night. Never had to wait to get a table on the O class ships, as dining room capacity is much more capable of seating surges in number of guests showing up. Unfortunately, while there is plenty of seating capacity on O ships, sometimes there is inadequate staffing to handle things when large numbers of guests show up at the same time.

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GeezerCouple Holiday Sharing Rare

GeezerCouple

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16 hours ago, JPR said:

Best meals in the MDR are usually the second (sometimes the third) and next to last nights.

 

You can often get into a specialty restaurant as a walk in the first night. So you may want to reserve nights 4-8 in the specialty restaurants.

 

Is this pattern (or "best meals) fairly regular?

And obviously, it would depend upon individual taste, etc.

 

IF the first night is an overnight in departure port, would that shift the "2nd and 3rd" night to the "3rd and 4th", e.g., the 2nd and 3rd night "out"?

I'm guessing that a fair number of people would eat off ship on the overnight dinner (?).

We'll have been in Barcelona for several days already, so while we'll see more of the city, we'll probably return for dinner (and rest!)

 

Thanks.

 

GC

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RMLLEL

RMLLEL

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I wish we knew for sure which night the Captain's Cocktail Party will be.  On the second night of our cruise we leave port at 7:00pm and I wasn't sure if they would do the Cocktail Party that night since I was told it usually starts at 5:30.  Thought the crew might be busy getting the ship underway.

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  • 2 months later...
Paulchili

Paulchili

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18 minutes ago, NoWhiners said:

foie gras (just liver with an upscale name)

Nothing could be further from the truth. That’s like saying all meat is the same - wagyu beef is the same as goat meat just with an upscale name 😀

Foie gras is NOTHING like calf liver - love one, wouldn’t touch the other 😊

Edited by Paulchili
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NoWhiners

NoWhiners

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5 minutes ago, Paulchili said:

Nothing could be further from the truth. That’s like saying all meat is the same - wagyu beef is the same as goat meat just with an upscale name 😀

Foie gras is NOTHING like calf liver - love one, wouldn’t touch the other 😊

 

Nope, that is a bad analogy. Goat not equal to beef.

 

I would eat goat meat before foie gras. And I have, no comparison.

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clo

clo

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10 hours ago, Paulchili said:

Nothing could be further from the truth. That’s like saying all meat is the same - wagyu beef is the same as goat meat just with an upscale name 😀

Foie gras is NOTHING like calf liver - love one, wouldn’t touch the other 😊

I'm with you, buddy.  And you can add chicken liver to this no-touch list.  For my 65th b'day I went to the soon-to-be-closed Sonoma Foie Gras and bought two whole lobes.  A splurge but, hey, you only go around once, right?

 

 

heritage foie.JPG

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Paulchili

Paulchili

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35 minutes ago, clo said:

For my 65th b'day I went to the soon-to-be-closed Sonoma Foie Gras and bought two whole lobes.  A splurge but, hey, you only go around once, right?

May have to check that one out before it's too late 😀

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