Waiting to book specialty restaurants - or walk-ins?

[travelgip]

Do the specialty restaurants book up before the start of the cruise where I need to book online?  Not sure what nights I want to do them (I have 3 credits 7-night cruise)  My last cruise long ago I could look at each nights menus in the included restaurants and if I didn't like the menu that night I could go to the maître de for whichever specialty restaurant I wanted that day and get a table (or reservation for that night)  

What are the best nights to do the specialties?  Sea days - I have 2, first day, last day?

Thank you

[Two Wheels Only]

Only about 30% of the reservations are available before the cruise. The rest open on embarkation day. 

 

[PATRLR]

You should not count on being able to walk-in (or show up without reservation) to the Specialty Restaurants at prime dining times.  Early evening, late evening, maybe, but not prime time.   Popular venues such as Cagney's will have less availability than others.

 

As was stated, about 30% of the reservations are available before the cruise, the rest are released day of.  Most of those, especially prime time reservations, get booked up the first day of the cruise.

As for which days, we tend to choose the sea days so we don't feel rushed getting back from a port and we like to unwind on deck after spending all day in a port.   Others have said things like they prefer port days because they don't want to ruin the "do nothing" aspect of a sea day.  I think everyone is different when it comes to which days to do Specialty Dining. 

[MyTMo777]

Yes, you can book ahead, even on the ship, and should if you want to eat during prime time (6-8 pm). However, we have walked in to specialty restaurants numerous times - just walked up and asked if they had availability. We've never waited more than 5 minutes when doing that, but I don't recall what time we did that. We've also used the TVs on board that show which restaurants have availability and used that to help us decide. It just depends on how flexible you are and how much it matters to you to be in a certain restaurant on a certain night at a certain time.