Is it possible to dine at the same specialty restaurant more than once?

[andrcan]

We were considering cruising with Virgin and stumbled upon this question: What if we like dinner at one of their multiple specialty restaurants and want to go there again? On a traditional cruise, we just pay and go. On Virgin, the website says we can only book once. So, what options do we have to get in for the second time? Do we have to pay, do we have to trade our booking quote from another restaurant, or is it a communist-style outright "not entitled"? Thanks.

[_tacocat_]

You can only book once per restaurant on the app, but onboard, you can physically go make another reservation at a restaurant if there are any available.  If not, they seem to save some slots for walk ups or have a virtual queue in case any tables cancel

[andrcan]

3 minutes ago, _tacocat_ said:

You can only book once per restaurant on the app, but onboard, you can physically go make another reservation at a restaurant if there are any available.  If not, they seem to save some slots for walk ups or have a virtual queue in case any tables cancel

Oh, thanks that's just fantastic! I heard about walk in slots but wasn't sure. So it's true! (c) 

[cantgetin]

It depends on the length of your cruise.  On cruises of 5 days or less, you can only book one advance reservation on the app for each restaurant.  On a 14 night cruise, you can book 3 reservations at each restaurant.  In addition, you can walk up at any of the restaurants and they'll advise you of the likely wait time without a reservation.  Most of the time, the wait is  really long (not)....usually about 10 minutes.

[Cloud9 Bob]

The two answers above give all the info. It's pretty easy while sailing at below capacity. Interesting to see if it stays that way should they ever get to max capacity of 2700 on a future sailing. I had no trouble (June 15, 2022) eating at the Test Kitchen twice on a 5 day itinerary.

[_tacocat_]

2 hours ago, Cloud9 Bob said:

The two answers above give all the info. It's pretty easy while sailing at below capacity. Interesting to see if it stays that way should they ever get to max capacity of 2700 on a future sailing. I had no trouble (June 15, 2022) eating at the Test Kitchen twice on a 5 day itinerary.

I wonder if they’ll expand hours of restaurants once capacity increases. I can’t see them getting 2700 people through the 6 restaurants each night, and it doesn’t seem fair that some people have to get “stuck” with the galley for dinner

[westguy99]

I am booked for two 7 day med cruises this summer. One in a regular balcony cabin and the other a rock star. I was able to book the Wake 3 times on each cruise.

 

If you are on a shorter cruise I would recommend hitting each of the restaurants once. They are all good. No reason to book any twice unless you are going for more than 5 days. 

[Cloud9 Bob]

32 minutes ago, _tacocat_ said:

I wonder if they’ll expand hours of restaurants once capacity increases. I can’t see them getting 2700 people through the 6 restaurants each night, and it doesn’t seem fair that some people have to get “stuck” with the galley for dinner

 

Funny you mention that. I met quite a few people on my last cruise that told me they ate at The Galley or Dock at every meal. Go figure. Hope it all works out for V.V. in the end though.

[andrcan]

51 minutes ago, westguy99 said:

I am booked for two 7 day med cruises this summer. One in a regular balcony cabin and the other a rock star. I was able to book the Wake 3 times on each cruise.

 

If you are on a shorter cruise I would recommend hitting each of the restaurants once. They are all good. No reason to book any twice unless you are going for more than 5 days. 

Thanks. It's a 7 day cruise we're after and I agree, trying all restaurants makes total sense. We may opt out of some due to health restrictions though. 

[andrcan]

58 minutes ago, _tacocat_ said:

I wonder if they’ll expand hours of restaurants once capacity increases. I can’t see them getting 2700 people through the 6 restaurants each night, and it doesn’t seem fair that some people have to get “stuck” with the galley for dinner

My thoughts exactly: based on the number of seats and the hours, the specialty restaurants cannot physically accommodate all the guests on the ship if it's at full capacity. I guess they count on those who go dine at the food court.

[KCHASTEEN]

18 hours ago, andrcan said:

Thanks. It's a 7 day cruise we're after and I agree, trying all restaurants makes total sense. We may opt out of some due to health restrictions though. 

They are very diligent about asking if there are any allergies or food restrictions.  My husband can't eat certain things because of meds he takes - they asked constantly, even at the grog walk, and made changes wherever necessary. 

[cantgetin]

They will alter recipes in the restaurants based on dietary needs. They normally ask, but if they don't, you can bring it up.  It is also helpful if you call the restaurant in advance so that anything that needs a lot of preparation can be handled before you get there.  The one where this is most important is Test Kitchen. If there is any doubt, the chef will come out and speak with you about your needs.

In Test Kitchen, don't accept the word from a server that they prepare things in advance and "can't change it."  They WILL adapt to your needs, especially if known in advance.

[John84]

On 7/6/2022 at 2:30 AM, andrcan said:

My thoughts exactly: based on the number of seats and the hours, the specialty restaurants cannot physically accommodate all the guests on the ship if it's at full capacity. I guess they count on those who go dine at the food court.

 

I don't have access to the full capacity figures but I got the impression from our cruise last week that they aren't utilising the full capacity of the restaurants on "low" occupancy cruises. So I expect this means that although they are sometimes selling out on quieter sailings they could take more diners if they were busy. We never saw a restaurant full even when it was no longer bookable on the app. I'd estimate they could do 

 

I also got the impression the dining venues have more space than you think. I'm relatively confident that at least a couple could handle 200+ guests in a sitting, and wouldn't be at all surprised if the single sitting capacity of all the bookable dinner locations was more than 1,000 guests which would mean they could fit all guests on a full ship into 3 sittings. Restaurant bookings when we were onboard went from 18:00 until at least 21:00 so the hours wouldn't really need to change much if at all to allow 3 sittings.

 

Also, I think the percentage of guests not utilising booked venues every night is notable. We used the galley on our 6th night as I wanted a break from larger richer meals and was very happy with what we had. I also saw a lot of people just relaxing in spaces like On The Rocks having pizza or something from the galley and enjoying the live music. You could also choose to do your larger meal for lunch at many of the venues like Wake, and personally I wouldn't want to do that AND have another big meal for dinner.

[torontominnie]

Does anyone know if it's possible to eat in stages? Ie could I get appetizers at one restaurant then wander over to another for the main course (or another appetizer for that matter)? Thanks!

[Cloud9 Bob]

Let's assume you are on a 5 day itinerary. You could theoretically do that but it would have a downside. I wouldn't recommend it for Test Kitchen as their meal is designed to be eaten in a sequence as it's more of a tasting menu. Then, assuming you made reservations for appetizer, entrée and dessert you would use up three of your allotted restaurant reservations. If you tried it as a walkup and the restaurant was busy, then you might have to wait to be seated. Possible, yes but it wouldn't be something I would enjoy doing, as for me I would enjoy what each restaurant has to offer in its entirety and then move on the next evening to a different ambience.

[neverendingcruising]

On our first voyage we wanted to at least see all of the restaurants since it was 4 nights and there are 6 restaurants. Each venue has a bar area so we went to Pink Agave's bar before dinner and the bartender offered to bring us food. Not sure if that's typical or not. 

[cantgetin]

18 hours ago, torontominnie said:

Does anyone know if it's possible to eat in stages? Ie could I get appetizers at one restaurant then wander over to another for the main course (or another appetizer for that matter)? Thanks!

You could, but it would be awkward at best.  If you want to eat in all 6 on a 4 night cruise, do brunch in Razzle Dazzle and The Wake and dinner in the others.

[_tacocat_]

21 hours ago, torontominnie said:

Does anyone know if it's possible to eat in stages? Ie could I get appetizers at one restaurant then wander over to another for the main course (or another appetizer for that matter)? Thanks!

If you’re planning to do that, it’s probably best to make a reservation for your main course restaurant, and walk into the appetizer restaurant right when they open (6?) to get a seat at the bar or a table if you explain that you’re only going to be there for a short period and they have space available.  Then go to your main restaurant and try to get into the dessert.  That way you’re not wasting 3 ressos in one shot. Multiple bookings in the same evening also might not be possible because they block some on your agenda for 1.5-2 hrs and you can’t book a conflicting appointment.

 

some of the restaurants are also quicker to schlep between to than others. Gunbae is all the way aft on 15, extra virgin and test kitchen are in the same deck (6) and razzle dazzle and pink agave are on the same deck (5).

 

random tip- room service has some stuff from each of the restaurants. Meatballs & pappardelle from extra virgin, the sea bass from pink agave, similar dish to the razzle dazzle cauliflower and I forget what else.

[RotaryMike]

On 7/5/2022 at 4:27 PM, cantgetin said:

It depends on the length of your cruise.  On cruises of 5 days or less, you can only book one advance reservation on the app for each restaurant.  On a 14 night cruise, you can book 3 reservations at each restaurant.  In addition, you can walk up at any of the restaurants and they'll advise you of the likely wait time without a reservation.  Most of the time, the wait is  really long (not)....usually about 10 minutes.

what about on a 6 night cruise,  we're booked on 6 night SL New years cruise,  thanx, Mike in CT

[jon81uk]

6 hours ago, RotaryMike said:

what about on a 6 night cruise,  we're booked on 6 night SL New years cruise,  thanx, Mike in CT

From the VV app

 

Eatery Booking Restriction
We limit Sailors to one dinner reservation per eatery during short voyages (1-5 days) and three dinner reservations per eatery on longer sailings (6+ days). If you loved it, we always reserve some walk-ins, so you can pop by for a chance to return.

 

so on a six night trip you should be able make multiple reservations and not have to try for walk ups.

[CruisingWalter]

On 7/5/2022 at 1:13 PM, andrcan said:

We were considering cruising with Virgin and stumbled upon this question: What if we like dinner at one of their multiple specialty restaurants and want to go there again? On a traditional cruise, we just pay and go. On Virgin, the website says we can only book once. So, what options do we have to get in for the second time? Do we have to pay, do we have to trade our booking quote from another restaurant, or is it a communist-style outright "not entitled"? Thanks.

 

As others have noted, you can't pre-book multiple dinners at the same restaurant, but you can change your bookings once onboard. It's kind of weird they make you jump through those hoops but since there is no main dining room, they're probably trying to avoid everyone trying to get into the same restaurant over and over before the cruise. We ate a The Wake twice during our cruise. 

 

Highly recommend Brunch at both The Wake and Razzle Dazzle. Also, the Afternoon Tea in Sip Champagne Lounge is the best we've experienced of the 8 cruise lines we've sailed. We have a full food review on our YouTube channel if you want to see what the dining experience is really like at all the restaurants. The food really did live up to the hype. 🙂   https://youtu.be/pBolzKvXjMU

 

[cantgetin]

The issue is not that you can only EAT dinner in each specialty restaurant once.  It is that on short cruises, you can only make advance reservations in each restaurant once.  You can make additional reservations after boarding or you can do "walk up" and see if/when you can get a table.  Given that there are 6 restaurants and this is the policy on cruises of 5 nights or fewer, it doesn't seem like a problem.  It has been reported that the shift to 3 advance reservations per restaurant occurs when the cruise is at least 6 nights long.  I cannot confirm this, but on our 14 night cruise, the policy was 3 advance  dinner reservations at each restaurant. You can also have breakfast and lunch at The Wake and Razzle Dazzle, in addition to your dinner reservations in these locations.

[neverendingcruising]

The app specifically mentions 3 bookings per restaurant on 6+ night voyages. 

[RotaryMike]

we've got a 6 night Scarlett booked at the end of December, dining reservations opened today.  i could not book a 2nd night for any restaurant. i called sailor services and was told that even on a 6 night sail we couldn't book a repeat.

  have others had the same problem ?  thanx, Mike in CT

[RotaryMike]

Update, just called sailor services,  in only 10 minutes I was able to book 2nd nights at each of 2 restaurants that the app wouldn't let me book.