Special Restaurant Reservations

[calexand]

Due to a late flight we will not be boarding the ship until after 5:00 pm. Will we still be able to get the bookings of our choice at the Restaurants? Is there a mad dash as people board? How much priority do PH actually have in their bookings?

[nparmelee]

We found we were able to make reservations the day before we wanted to go to the specialty restaurants and one time that same morning and we were in an A2 category not a PH. It was no big deal on our cruise anyway.

[mike35]

Ditto to Nadine's comments (Oh m'gawd, I sound like a "ditto-head"). While we thoroughly enjoyed Polo and Toscana, we found the quality and variety in the Grand dining room to be consistently outstanding.

 

Mike

[Pecoraro]

If you don't mind eating late (after 8:45) you could probably eat there every night. We ate at Polo 8 out of the 12 nights and only had reservations for three of the nights. We thought the service and food to be exceptional and never tired of the experience.

[drwong]

Due to a late flight we will not be boarding the ship until after 5:00 pm. Will we still be able to get the bookings of our choice at the Restaurants? Is there a mad dash as people board? How much priority do PH actually have in their bookings?

 

I think the only "priority" PH and Suite owners have is in being able to select seatings three hours before everybody else. After that, it's on a first-come, first-served basis. If you board at 5 pm, expect to find a long line in front of the Terrace Cafe with people from the lower-level cabins trying to make seating requests.

 

HOWEVER, if you have a Gold boarding card, you should discreetly go directly to the Polo Grill. Mike (or whoever the maitre'd will be on your cruise) has access to the same seating database and can help you get seating assignments without forcing you to stand in line behind the hoi polloi. ;)

 

Just note that the specialty dining rooms are usually booked up on "special" nights like at-sea days or where the ship will be sailing through scenic waters like the Dalmatian coast or the Swedish archipelago.

[Napi's Mom]

Just reading this really irritated me!...Read over it and you will see how very condesending the writer is quote "you won't have to wait in line with the Hoi-Polloi" ...it's enough to make me not wish to eat at the specialty Rest. if this is the attitude of the people who eat there.

[Pecoraro]

Just reading this really irritated me!... "you won't have to wait in line with the Hoi-Polloi"

 

Before you get all excited do you even know what the phrase means?

 

From Websters: Hoi polloi is a borrowing of the Greek phrase hoi polloi' date='[/i'] consisting of hoi, meaning “the” and used before a plural, and polloi, the plural of polus, “many.” In Greek hoi polloi had a special sense, “the greater number, the people, the masses.”

 

Now since the OP paid for a suite part of their perks is to get preferential booking for the specialty restaurant which is ahead of the many!!! Not quite the negative phrase that you imagined.

[drwong]

Sorry you were irritated by my comments - no offense was intended. If you've been on the board long enough, you'll note that a lot of my comments are tongue in cheek, as I consider myself squarely among the hoi polloi (see comments on Italian knock-off goods). :D Quite frankly, I was shocked when an Oceania staffer approached us while we were waiting in line and said that Gold cabin card holders could go directly to the Polo Grill and make their dinner reservations (most would let their butler do it!).

 

One thing we like about Oceania is its egalitarianism, compared with the class pretentions of Cunard and other more "traditional" cruise lines. On Oceania, we all eat in the same dining rooms, we all buy the same overpriced drinks, we all swim in the same small pool, we all fight over the same deck chairs, and we all disembark in the same pitching and rolling tenders. Concierge Class passengers may get a few more benefits and privileges, like having their own private balconies with their own deck chairs and a butler to make restaurant reservations for them, but hey, they're paying big money for the right.

[digby]

Due to a late flight we will not be boarding the ship until after 5:00 pm. Will we still be able to get the bookings of our choice at the Restaurants? Is there a mad dash as people board? How much priority do PH actually have in their bookings?

 

If you are in a PH then you need do nothing more than make the request to your butler and he will do all the 'dashing' for you.

[ClaudiaF]

Well Iam impressed..when did we go to the "gold standard"?:rolleyes:

[shedevil]

Well Iam impressed..when did we go to the "gold standard"?:rolleyes:

 

The color of the cabin key for PH was Gold. The color for concierge cabins was silver. I saw some white keys while on board but don't know what cabins those were for..... I still think the best way to get reservations in Polo and Toscano was for the butler to bring my dinner course by course to my cabin. :D No waiting, no worries, great view from my table and same wonderful food.

 

But folks don't stress.....I enjoyed my dinner no matter where I ate - Polo, Toscano, Tapas, Grand Dining, my cabin.....the food is great and you are cruising on a wonderful cruiseline. Just relax and enjoy!

[Pecoraro]

Maybe some folks need to get the chip off their shoulder and realize others are just sharing a little information.

 

Without a doubt you are correct with that statement!!!!!!!!!

[drwong]

Yes, platinum is a good marketing idea for Oceania. Insecure people will pay for status so that they can try to impress themselves. How better to impress than to have a status color card on a ship, which card actually entitles you to nothing at all -- other than perhaps feeling superior because you elected to spend more money.

 

I continue to be astonished that anybody would notice different color cards while on board.

 

I would like to believe that nobody on Oceania is insecure enough to want to pay for "status" - there are plenty of other cruise lines who will gladly take your money and let you do that. Gold and Silver cardholders (and potentially Platinum, Claudia ;) ) aren't paying for status, but for a bigger stateroom, a wider balcony, a more centrally-located cabin, etc. The card color is largely irrelevant - I don't care what color my card is, as long as it permits me to get back onboard the ship and gets me drinks from the bar! :p

 

Regarding those annoying butlers, I prefer to make my reservations in person - I like to see the chart, to see which tables are still available and at what times. Otherwise, you'lll be going back and forth with your butler to find a mutually-agreeable time. If there are no reservations at 8:30 on Monday, so be it. Card color or a butler isn't going to get you a table when none is (are?) available. And I've never heard of a white card holder getting bumped by a gold one (thankfully).

 

JustBill - I'm grateful to see that somebody actually reads (and remembers!) my old posts! :D

[esther e]

We just booked our 3rd Oceania cruise. The first one we had an OS and the second a PH. Never knew about (or cared) colored cards. The only way we discovered them was last November when we and our friend who was traveling with us, went up to make a reservation and stood in line, waiting. Someone came by and announced to everyone that if they were holding a white card to stay in this line; a gold or silver (platinum) go to the other line. We had to look at our card to see what color it was. Never before knew there was a difference in color. Or as I said, cared.

[BeBeReader]

Esther, I can always count on you for an intelligent post.

 

OK, Sheila. I hear you.

 

Both of you have hearts of gold.

 

BeBe

[Napi's Mom]

:eek:Wow, I can't believe my little comments started such a rather nasty series of comments! I apologize to whom-ever I misunderstood, and was "just being their own funny self", I guess! I have never felt less than anyone else in any way (except in talent, intellegence, and other similar qualities, to some people I have known ). In all other ways I have always felt equal to any, regardless of position, wealth or other ways of measuring worth of a person, so I was offended by the comment about the Hoi Polloi . I wasn't expecting to start a war! I'm looking forward to our trip (Sans Butler!) and hope to meet many very nice people . (One of the nicest people we ever met on cruise was in Tahiti on the R4, whom we ate dinner with...had a long intellegent conversation with, about many varied subjects ..and at the end of the meal we realized he was the newly retired Commandant of West Point! We are just a couple of the "Little People" and he had dealt with Presidents etc., but was interested in what we had to say, and as we were just 4 for dinner, it was an involved exchange for a couple of hours!) No status differences there.

Please lets get back to pleasant and informative exchanges, and even the "lower decks " will have something of value to say!

[raffeer]

After finishing this fascinating thread I couldn't resist digging out our cards from our Oceana cruises.

I found that my husbands cards were gold, mine silver. Since we have only travelled in an OS I can only assume, as old professor of mine used to say, the colors mean "something, anything or nothing". And yes the butler did make reservations, and yes, there were times when reservations were not available. The Grand Dining room was a more than satisfactory alternate.

[REJM]

:D HELLO ALL;

*-:) Just talked to a friend who travels with Oceania. He said the "Color of Cards" has to do with how often you may have travelled with them. He said that everyone is treated the same, with excellent service, and in fact, everyone feels like they are on a "family" cruise of adults only. Funny, he never even gave the "Color of Cards" a second look, and the topic never came up during his cruise(s). I'm glad of that, but thank you all for bringing everything up on these "posts," as the topics enhance all our experiences together.

*:cool: Have a Safe and wonderful cruise everyone. Travel safe!