14 days till departure cant book restaurants

[Caravan 37]

Was invited to select dining when logging in to P&O this morning but all dates are greyed out and still says coming soon or enquire onboard?

Thought the dining was open from  midnight 14 days before?

This usual? 

Wanted to get in early so logged in at 7am (drew the line to staying up till midnight) and glad I didn't now 

Thanks!

[yorkshirephil]

42 minutes ago, Caravan 37 said:

Was invited to select dining when logging in to P&O this morning but all dates are greyed out and still says coming soon or enquire onboard?

Thought the dining was open from  midnight 14 days before?

This usual? 

Wanted to get in early so logged in at 7am (drew the line to staying up till midnight) and glad I didn't now 

Thanks!

Which ship are you on? as you can't prebook on all ships.

[Caravan 37]

Hi - Arvia 1 Oct

[yorkshirephil]

Just now, Caravan 37 said:

Hi - Arvia 1 Oct

Arvia is usually OK, you will probably have to keep trying, I don't know whether the system is automatically turned on or it needs a person to do it. I assume you have been able to print your baggage labels and print/download your boarding pass? 

[Caravan 37]

Yes done all that last week (3 weeks before)  - just thought I'd avoid a scrum by booking first thing early doors Sunday morning - ah well........

Thanks

Edited September 17, 2023 by Caravan 37

[Interestedcruisefan]

4 minutes ago, Caravan 37 said:

Yes done all that last week (3 weeks before)  - just thought I'd avoid a scrum by booking first thing early doors Sunday morning - ah well........

Thanks

What restaurants do you expect a scrum booking for ?

[Caravan 37]

Thought it might be difficult to get specific dates/ times for pay restaurants? Or is that not the case? Read a lot about it on this board.

[Selbourne]

1 hour ago, Caravan 37 said:

Was invited to select dining when logging in to P&O this morning but all dates are greyed out and still says coming soon or enquire onboard?

Thought the dining was open from  midnight 14 days before?

This usual? 

Wanted to get in early so logged in at 7am (drew the line to staying up till midnight) and glad I didn't now 

Thanks!

Seems to be a bit all over the place at the moment. Some bookings open at the stroke of midnight and others a day or two later. As I’m sure you know, when it says ‘Coming Soon’ bookings can be made pre-cruise, but when it says ‘Enquire on board’ you can’t book until you embark. 
 

It’s worth checking regularly though, as the most popular times are likely to be snapped up quickly. Admittedly it was school holidays, but I made our Iona bookings when they opened at midnight and by lunchtime most of the slots we had booked were gone. There was still availability for very early or late bookings, but we prefer to eat at around 8pm. Much before that is too early for us and 9pm or later risks missing the late show. If I hadn’t booked as soon as they opened we would have been making compromises with regards to timings. However, if like many on this forum, you like to eat very early, I wouldn’t panic. Those slots seemed to remain available for ages, as did many of the very late slots (9pm or later). 

[Caravan 37]

4 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

Seems to be a bit all over the place at the moment. Some bookings open at the stroke of midnight and others a day or two later. As I’m sure you know, when it says ‘Coming Soon’ bookings can be made pre-cruise, but when it says ‘Enquire on board’ you can’t book until you embark. 
 

It’s worth checking regularly though, as the most popular times are likely to be snapped up quickly. Admittedly it was school holidays, but I made our Iona bookings when they opened at midnight and by lunchtime most of the slots we had booked were gone. There was still availability for very early or late bookings, but we prefer to eat at around 8pm. Much before that is too early for us and 9pm or later risks missing the late show. If I hadn’t booked as soon as they opened we would have been making compromises with regards to timings. However, if like many on this forum, you like to eat very early, I wouldn’t panic. Those slots seemed to remain available for ages, as did many of the very late slots (9pm or later). 

Thanks  - it was because I read of your ( and others) experiences that I was keen to book, for 8pm slots, ASAP- I'll keep and eye on the book page for today and see what happens. Yes I can see that some are not  bookable pre cruise. Fingers crossed 

[Selbourne]

1 minute ago, Caravan 37 said:

Thanks  - it was because I read of your ( and others) experiences that I was keen to book, for 8pm slots, ASAP- I'll keep and eye on the book page for today and see what happens. Yes I can see that some are not  bookable pre cruise. Fingers crossed 

Good luck. My sense is that as you are cruising off-peak, rather than in the peak school summer holidays (as we did), you won’t have any difficulty, but worth checking regularly as you say. 

[Caravan 37]

1 minute ago, Selbourne said:

Good luck. My sense is that as you are cruising off-peak, rather than in the peak school summer holidays (as we did), you won’t have any difficulty, but worth checking regularly as you say. 

👍

[silversurf]

Can you still get half price speciality dining on the first couple of days when you board? We are on Ventura.

Thanks

 

[Interestedcruisefan]

3 hours ago, Selbourne said:

Good luck. My sense is that as you are cruising off-peak, rather than in the peak school summer holidays (as we did), you won’t have any difficulty, but worth checking regularly as you say. 

Yes any time before you get on  board itself pre-booking restaurants shouldnt be a scrum

 

On Fjords cruises the Norwegian taster in epicurean (that only happens on one night) does need booking as soon in advance as you can. Other epicurean you should be fine upto a couple of days before you board

 

Also limelight dinners shows can get booked up but again a couple of days before you board normally ok

 

Subject to the booking system working ok of course

 

Once on board 710 club is the place you need to book asap or you will find nothing left

[Interestedcruisefan]

40 minutes ago, silversurf said:

Can you still get half price speciality dining on the first couple of days when you board? We are on Ventura.

Thanks

 

I've not seen that on Arvia or Iona last time we travelled earlier this year. Have seen it on previous cruises

[Caravan 37]

3 minutes ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

Yes any time before you get on  board itself pre-booking restaurants shouldnt be a scrum

 

On Fjords cruises the Norwegian taster in epicurean (that only happens on one night) does need booking as soon in advance as you can. Other epicurean you should be fine upto a couple of days before you board

 

Also limelight dinners shows can get booked up but again a couple of days before you board normally ok

 

Subject to the booking system working ok of course

 

Once on board 710 club is the place you need to book asap or you will find nothing left

So - managed to book Epicurean no trouble. Sindhu no trouble. Beach House no trouble. Nothing in Olive Grove/6th St Diner after 6.30 all fortnight but I'm guessing we can change the bookings we made for 6.30 on board? Booked Chefs Table to try on one formal and got 8.30 ok. Phew

[terrierjohn]

46 minutes ago, silversurf said:

Can you still get half price speciality dining on the first couple of days when you board? We are on Ventura.

Thanks

 

Never seen half price on P&O, best is probably a free bottle of wine.

[Caravan 37]

47 minutes ago, silversurf said:

Can you still get half price speciality dining on the first couple of days when you board? We are on Ventura.

Thanks

 

We have done this previously in Epicurean, on Iona I believe, but I don't think it's offered anymore

[Caravan 37]

2 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

Never seen half price on P&O, best is probably a free bottle of wine.

We've definitely had it before but it wasn't advertised much

[Selbourne]

42 minutes ago, Interestedcruisefan said:

On Fjords cruises the Norwegian taster in epicurean (that only happens on one night) does need booking as soon in advance as you can. Other epicurean you should be fine up to a couple of days before you board

That’s not entirely correct, especially if travelling at peak times. It’s true that the Norwegian Tasting menu sells out very quickly (I booked it at midnight and when I looked again the next morning it had already sold out), but peak time slots at Epicurean and Sindhu had also all gone within 24 hours of launching on our cruise. 
 

As we have discussed before, I believe that you dine very early, so your experiences of dining, both in speciality restaurants and MDRs will be entirely different from those of us who dine later. Many very early slots were indeed still available up until the actual cruise, as were some very late slots, but if you wanted to dine at around 8pm (as we did, and as the OP does) then you had to be quick off the mark. Had I not made all of our bookings as soon as they launched at midnight then the only one that I could have still made at the times that we wanted just 24 hours later was the Limelight Club. As I say, that was a school holiday cruise. Hopefully things are less frenetic at off peak times.  

Edited September 17, 2023 by Selbourne

[Selbourne]

1 hour ago, silversurf said:

Can you still get half price speciality dining on the first couple of days when you board? We are on Ventura.

Thanks

 

There were no such offers on either Britannia or Iona recently. I recall these offers years ago and then they morphed into a free bottle of wine and, from memory, even that got diluted to a condition that you had to dine early to get it. We are on Ventura at the end of October, so I can check for you (unless you are on her before us). 

[Interestedcruisefan]

2 hours ago, Selbourne said:

That’s not entirely correct, especially if travelling at peak times. It’s true that the Norwegian Tasting menu sells out very quickly (I booked it at midnight and when I looked again the next morning it had already sold out), but peak time slots at Epicurean and Sindhu had also all gone within 24 hours of launching on our cruise. 
 

As we have discussed before, I believe that you dine very early, so your experiences of dining, both in speciality restaurants and MDRs will be entirely different from those of us who dine later. Many very early slots were indeed still available up until the actual cruise, as were some very late slots, but if you wanted to dine at around 8pm (as we did, and as the OP does) then you had to be quick off the mark. Had I not made all of our bookings as soon as they launched at midnight then the only one that I could have still made at the times that we wanted just 24 hours later was the Limelight Club. As I say, that was a school holiday cruise. Hopefully things are less frenetic at off peak times.  

Good correction there

 

It reminded me though that the restaurant manager at Epicurean advised me in person to book an early slot there for another night if it became available on the app and then go and speak to him to change the time

 

I can't have told him that we like early bookings anyway

 

 

[silversurf]

Thank you Selbourne, but we’re on in a couple of days. Have already booked Epicurian near the end of cruise, but thought we’d try for another soon after we board, if they have offers.

 

[majortom10]

3 minutes ago, silversurf said:

Thank you Selbourne, but we’re on in a couple of days. Have already booked Epicurian near the end of cruise, but thought we’d try for another soon after we board, if they have offers.

 

They had no offers on Iona in March or Arvia which we got off today. The main advantage is 20% discount if booking in advance which you don't get onboard when booking.

[CruisingSarah]

11 hours ago, Caravan 37 said:

So - managed to book Epicurean no trouble. Sindhu no trouble. Beach House no trouble. Nothing in Olive Grove/6th St Diner after 6.30 all fortnight but I'm guessing we can change the bookings we made for 6.30 on board? Booked Chefs Table to try on one formal and got 8.30 ok. Phew

Hi! We are on the same cruise.  I managed to book Epicurean for once in each week at the times we wanted, 8.00 ish, Sindhu on Saturday - that was booking up already, the sushi one booked ok too.   I also booked Chefs Table for second sitting 8.30 for both formal nights, we night change this but st least we have something.  Everything else I looked at, all the free options only had 6.00-6.30 times available and this was several restaurants on every night so I assumed they keep the later times for onboard bookings.  Limelight Club acts didn’t look all that appealing for us so haven’t booked. 
 

Still no cabin allocation but glad it was linked up to allow dining bookings. 

[majortom10]

P&O don't release all availability for booking speciality restaurants 24 days in advance. Those times "greyed out" are not totally fully booked just a specified amount they release. The rest of the availability will be released for when you get onboard to give those that haven't got the availability to book in advance. This is certainly what happened on Arvia these last 2 weeks.