Specialty Dining Reservations for a Royal Suite?

[Dr. Pam]

Good evening 

🙂We will be onboard the Solstice in February for a cruise through Asia.  We never eat at buffets as we prefer to be seated and served. We will enjoy dining at Luminae for most of our meals.  However, we are hoping to dine at some specialty restaurants while onboard.  So my question is, do we have to make reservations ahead of our cruise or do they hold some tables to accommodate suite guests while onboard? We are 44 days out and I am trying to semi-plan our itinerary.

 

Thanks,

 

Pam

[RichYak]

You should get a call from a shoreside concierge in the next 2-3 weeks who will take care of your requests.

[Dr. Pam]

Just now, RichYak said:

You should get a call from a shoreside concierge in the next 2-3 weeks who will take care of your requests.

Thanks, RichYak.  We did have that service on our last cruise (before COVID) as we were in a RS.  However, do we have to reserve ahead of time, or can we "last minute" our dining while onboard?

Thanks🙂

[Georgia_Peaches]

On our last RS experience we were able to reserve in advance via the shoreside concierge. We provided a list of restaurants and desired dates/ times. The shoreside concierge made the reservations and sent us a confirmation. There was only one hiccup in our reservations for Tuscan Grille…our reserved dinner occurred on a night when Tuscan was closed for a private event. Apparently shoreside and the M’d of Tuscan had a communication breakdown. So I suggest confirming your reservations on embarkation day. 

[RichYak]

7 minutes ago, Dr. Pam said:

Thanks, RichYak.  We did have that service on our last cruise (before COVID) as we were in a RS.  However, do we have to reserve ahead of time, or can we "last minute" our dining while onboard?

Thanks🙂

Reserve when the shoreside concierge calls you. That's part of what they do.

[Dr. Pam]

Thank you for your replies.  I understand the concierge making our reservations in advance.  The cruise we are on is quite port intensive with long days and depending how we are feeling after we return from our adventures.....are we able to dine in specialty restaurants without a reservation?  Do they hold a few tables for upper level suite guests?

 

Thanks again,

 

Pam

[RichYak]

3 minutes ago, Dr. Pam said:

Thank you for your replies.  I understand the concierge making our reservations in advance.  The cruise we are on is quite port intensive with long days and depending how we are feeling after we return from our adventures.....are we able to dine in specialty restaurants without a reservation?  Do they hold a few tables for upper level suite guests?

 

Thanks again,

 

Pam

Make all the reservations you think you might want. Cancel the ones you choose not to attend in real time.

[What A Market]

Definitely book with Shoreside Concierge as noted. And definitely confirm with your butler upon embarkation as Georgia Peaches notes. 
 

As for “last minute” reservations, I would say maybe or maybe not. My experience with Penthouse and Royal Suites on S Class ships has been that the butler can usually get me a reservation in a specialty restaurant with a day notice. 
 

 

[Dr. Pam]

Thank you!  

[billc23]

12 hours ago, Dr. Pam said:

Thank you for your replies.  I understand the concierge making our reservations in advance.  The cruise we are on is quite port intensive with long days and depending how we are feeling after we return from our adventures.....are we able to dine in specialty restaurants without a reservation?  Do they hold a few tables for upper level suite guests?

 

Thanks again,

 

Pam

It depends. On the day of they do not hold a few tables for upper suite guests. Even if the restaurant is not at capacity space wise, they may not have the staff allocated to that restaurant to provide great service. It is best, and courteous to other passengers, to let the restaurant know at least a day ahead of time that you would like to dine there. They will usually be able to accommodate. However, once you are on the ship they may not be able to accommodate you if the restaurant is at capacity space wise without impacting other passengers. 

 

If you wish to dine in a specialty restaurant on the day of I would advise speaking to the M'd when you return from port with your request: "I know it is last minute but would it be possible..." 

 

Another cruise line that I have been sailing on allows online booking of restaurants 120 days from sailing - most have no fee but are capacity limited. They also have a few walk in restaurants that do not take reservations - similar to Luminae. A few passengers book the reservation required restaurants for every night and then cancel at will on the day of their reservation. Most passengers consider this rude and inconsiderate behavior because it precludes others from dining there if the restaurant is at capacity.