Making Speciality Dining Reservation On Board for First Night

[Rebels82]

I know information about where to go/times to make additional dining reservations is in Currents.

Where does one go, as soon as they get on ship before seeing Currents, to make a Speciality Dining reservation/see what is available for the first night?  We will be on Vista. Thanks.

[shepherd really]

6 minutes ago, Rebels82 said:

I know information about where to go/times to make additional dining reservations is in Currents.

Where does one go, as soon as they get on ship before seeing Currents, to make a Speciality Dining reservation/see what is available for the first night?  We will be on Vista. Thanks.

The Concierge desk on deck 5 will be manned by someone to assist you with that.

[LHT28]

1 hour ago, Rebels82 said:

I know information about where to go/times to make additional dining reservations is in Currents.

Where does one go, as soon as they get on ship before seeing Currents, to make a Speciality Dining reservation/see what is available for the first night?  We will be on Vista. Thanks.

There is  a dedicated dinner  reservations desk on deck 5  just look for the line up

 

[Mura]

We haven't had problems getting a specialty reservation on the day we board.  In fact, sometimes it has been much easier.

 

A number of years ago we showed up at the GDR with six people and were asked if we would like eat in Jacques. (This was on an early Marina cruise.)

 

YES!

[DENIE]

On our June 2022 Riviera cruise (Rome-Barcelona), we walked in to Red Ginger as we were exploring the ship at embarkation.  The Maitre De saw us admiring the room and approached us.  She asked if we would like to dine there that evening as the MDR can get very crazy on the first night. We took advantage and had a wonderful dinner the first night!

[Hambagahle]

It depends I suppose on whether the vast majority of people are boarding what is essentially a new cruise or whether the segment you are taking are part of a longer cruise.   

We always reserve Red Ginger for the first night - sort of "celebration we are finally here!" sort of thing.  And it works well for us.  Then we ask our butler to get us more reservations for later nights.  I suppose if we didn't have a butler we would use the dining res. desk...

[Mrs f.]

On 12/30/2023 at 7:18 AM, Rebels82 said:

I know information about where to go/times to make additional dining reservations is in Currents.

Where does one go, as soon as they get on ship before seeing Currents, to make a Speciality Dining reservation/see what is available for the first night?  We will be on Vista. Thanks.

We were on vista in August.  Once we checked in we went to the buffet.  There was a young woman employee with a clipboard walking around asking people if they wanted reservations.   Otherwise we found RAY on deck 5 manning one of the reservation desks.  I think there were 2

[cayman09]

On Sirena now. After embarking I went to the podium in Tuscana and was able to book a table for 4 at 7:00PM that night. Only one person in front of me.

[Redtravel]

If you would like to dine at a specialty restaurant on the 1st night, talk to dining reservation maitr’d at lunch. Likely that you can do it.  Since we really like the menu in GDR on 1st night, we don’t do specialty that night. 

[clo]

12 hours ago, Redtravel said:

Since we really like the menu in GDR on 1st night,

It's somehow better/different?

 

I remember our last cruise from Rio to Buenos Aires. Embarked on a Saturday after we'd had our favorite Saturday Rio lunch of feijoada and caipirinhas. Dinner was room service - after a BIG nap - where we share a (very good) burger 🙂

 

[Cruzin Terri]

Well, things sure have changed.  Tried to get a reservation tonight by going to the reservation desk on Deck 5.  First night on Vista.  Only thing available was 8:30 and sharing.  I said “no thank you”

Interestingly, I then met the Head Waiterof Toscana, whom I knew from prior cruises, in the Terrace Cafe. He asked me if I wanted to eat in Toscana tonight.  I said yes, but would like a table for two earlier than 8:30.  In five minutes I had a table for two at 7pm.  Now, why could that not happen at the reservation desk?

 

[Redtravel]

It happened to us.  We ate at Ember early in the cruise. We loved it.  We talked to the maitr’d after our meal.  We often chatted with him at breakfast in the Terrace Buffet.  Toward the end of the cruise, we asked if we could get a table at Ember. We wanted to try other offerings. We again enjoyed our meal. The only thing that we ate both times was the potato soup. It is excellent.  

[Snaefell3]

2 hours ago, Cruzin Terri said:

Now, why could that not happen at the reservation desk?

Methinks any wise reservation system would hold back a table (or 2?) for the maître d' to use in solving problems, then if no problems arose he'd still want butts in those chairs?

 

Alternatively, you might have gotten the seats of some no-shows.

 

Edited February 1 by Snaefell3

[ORV]

10 hours ago, clo said:

It's somehow better/different?

 

I remember our last cruise from Rio to Buenos Aires. Embarked on a Saturday after we'd had our favorite Saturday Rio lunch of feijoada and caipirinhas. Dinner was room service - after a BIG nap - where we share a (very good) burger 🙂

 

Was that food on Oceania? Was your cruise on Oceania?

[clo]

4 hours ago, ORV said:

Was that food on Oceania? Was your cruise on Oceania?

Oh, sorry I wasn't clear. No our lunch was at The Deck on Avenida Atlantica in Copacabana. And included the powerful caipirinhas, which are cachaca (sugar cane rum), sugar and lime - that's it. So a burger shared for dinner was fine and dandy 🙂 And, yes, it was an Oceania cruise. We have since wished we had simply gone to Rio for a time and then flown to BA.One of the ports we had been to on our own via a house exchange and the beach ones hold no appeal for us. Live and learn. We'd like to go back and do just Rio/BA.

[vipro]

Want to ask a related question. Ppl said the reservation for advanced specialty dining opens at midnight X days before (where X depends on your cabin category). But what time zone are we talking about here?

 

For those who have booked right when the reservation opens pls share your experiences?

 

Thanks very much

[AMHuntFerry]

2 hours ago, vipro said:

Want to ask a related question. Ppl said the reservation for advanced specialty dining opens at midnight X days before (where X depends on your cabin category). But what time zone are we talking about here?

 

For those who have booked right when the reservation opens pls share your experiences?

 

Thanks very much

It's Eastern Time (ET) so GMT(-5) right now but we're switching to GMT(-4) on March 10th.

 

[vipro]

54 minutes ago, AMHuntFerry said:

It's Eastern Time (ET) so GMT(-5) right now but we're switching to GMT(-4) on March 10th.

 

Thanks so much. It will be the next few months for my opening so I will use GMT -4. 

[SeaWatch12]

On 1/31/2024 at 10:27 PM, Cruzin Terri said:

Well, things sure have changed.  Tried to get a reservation tonight by going to the reservation desk on Deck 5.  First night on Vista.  Only thing available was 8:30 and sharing.  I said “no thank you”

Interestingly, I then met the Head Waiterof Toscana, whom I knew from prior cruises, in the Terrace Cafe. He asked me if I wanted to eat in Toscana tonight.  I said yes, but would like a table for two earlier than 8:30.  In five minutes I had a table for two at 7pm.  Now, why could that not happen at the reservation desk?

 

I found going to the reservations desk on deck 5 of Vista to be useless when requesting a second experience in Red Ginger. The staff member there was very business like, by the book type. Verging towards being unfriendly. 

We stoped in Red Ginger just before they opened on day 7 of the 10 night sailing. The maitre d refused to consider us for a seating anytime before 8:30. We never have dinner that late. 

There was never any staff person in any specialty when I wandered in at various times of the day to take photos. 
I honestly gave up, was tired of being told "no". Maybe they weren't more receptive to us as we were not guests in a suite. Are they more willing to give those in suites additional specialty seatings at a reasonable time?

[Cruzin Terri]

1 hour ago, SeaWatch12 said:

I found going to the reservations desk on deck 5 of Vista to be useless when requesting a second experience in Red Ginger. The staff member there was very business like, by the book type. Verging towards being unfriendly. 

We stoped in Red Ginger just before they opened on day 7 of the 10 night sailing. The maitre d refused to consider us for a seating anytime before 8:30. We never have dinner that late. 

There was never any staff person in any specialty when I wandered in at various times of the day to take photos. 
I honestly gave up, was tired of being told "no". Maybe they weren't more receptive to us as we were not guests in a suite. Are they more willing to give those in suites additional specialty seatings at a reasonable time?

Your theory doesn’t hold either.  We are in a PH 1 and were still refused at the reservation desk.  The only reason we were given a table in Toscana was because the Head Waiter knew us from prior cruises.  It had nothing to do with the type of stateroom we are in.

Terri

[SeaWatch12]

7 minutes ago, Cruzin Terri said:

Your theory doesn’t hold either.  We are in a PH 1 and were still refused at the reservation desk.  The only reason we were given a table in Toscana was because the Head Waiter knew us from prior cruises.  It had nothing to do with the type of stateroom we are in.

Terri

Okay, thanks. Was wondering about that as I have read on the Oceania posts in the past that butlers for suite passengers can get extra reservations. Maybe only for those sailing above PH.  I'm certainly not paying for a higher end suite just to get an extra night in Red Ginger!
For the first time ever on a cruise ship  we went to dinner at the buffet. As it was just the 2 of us, we enjoyed the buffet better than the Grand dining room. Excellent service made the buffet an elevated experience!

[pinotlover]

I hope people aren’t looking for the one size fits all answer to any of this.

 

When in a PH, we use our butler to get extra Specialty reservations. We don’t stand in the line. We never wait and ask for same day reservations . Typically, we plan a day or more in advance and our Butler is successful.

 

However, on short segment cruises, 7-10 days) we have been told by our Butler to not even ask for additional reservations in Jacques, for example. He’d try to get us another elsewhere, if we choose, but Jacques is impossible. 
 

With ir without a butler, on long single segment cruises 20-21 days, getting an extra reservation on Day 16-20 has typically been fairly easy. However, getting it in the same cruise on day 2-10 not so. A lot of variables go into the equation, and one size definitely doesn’t fit all passengers on all cruises.

[pinotlover]

Another variable. First, forget about the 2% in top suites, and ancedotal tales of mostly empty ships post Covid. Oceania has varied in its unpublished policies on the number of extra Specialty reservations allowed on any given cruise.  There are those cruisers that only want to eat in a Specialty and will line up early at the table to attempt in getting the extra nights. The Reservation Clerk can see how often any person or group has gotten extra reservations. Cruisers have been turned down in the past, not because of space, but solely to give others an extra opportunity. This has varied in the past, along with variations on different ships, but it still comes into play.

[Vallesan]

Another variable is the number of passengers on the ship. If you are sailing on a nearly full ship there far less chance of getting extra nights no matter what grade of cabin you have.

[Snaefell3]

One more facet:  Consensus is that food in Ember is great, and the ambient noise is objectionable.  PH+ folks can enjoy its good food course-by-course in the tranquility of their cabins.

 

Oh!  Wait!  Isn't there a thread about folks able to listen to their neighbors' TV?  😁