Jump to content

Specialty Restaurants on the Riviera


Europeantraveler1
 Share

Recommended Posts

In early February of 2018 my husband and I will be taking our very first cruise on an Oceania ship....the Riviera for their trip entitled, "Island Paradise".

Originally our cruise included Nassau, San Juan, Philipsburg/St. Maarten; St. John's, Anitqua; Castries, St. Lucia; Gustavia, St. Bart's and back to Miami. We know the itinerary will change because of the last two hurricanes that destroyed so much of the Eastern Caribbean islands...we just don't know yet where we will end up going!! If anyone happens to be privy to any itinerary changes for this cruise....please let us know!!

We have cruised on a number of different cruise ships with our last three on HAL (Niew Amsterdam; Noordam; and Konningsdam). We really LOVE the HAL line but were curious to try out the Riviera because of all the wonderful reviews we've read!!!

We are staying in an A4-Concierge Veranda stateroom and are wondering if anyone can tell us how many reservations will we be allowed to make for the specialty restaurants.

Also, while I'm posting here,......I'm curious to know if anyone can give us their opinion of the comparison of the newer HAL ship, Koningsdam, to the Riviera (pros and cons). Just curious as we LOVED everything about the Koningsdam on our cruise to Greece this past April.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

At this point in time I doubt even the people at Oceania know what ports they will be going to

We are on the same itinerary in Dec so maybe we can give you the ports we will go to when we know

You are allowed 1 reservation in each of the 4 specialty restaurants

it should be noted on your invoice along with the date you can make the reservations

aside from the obvious differences in Hal what are you looking for?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I haven't been on the Koningsdam specifically, only on older HAL ships. In the meantime, we cruised on other lines, so it's been two years since we were on those two lines.

The beds and the food were better on Oceania ships and I like the inclusion of all non alcoholic drinks and specialty restaurants on Oceania ships. With better food, I mean a wider variety of food in the breakfast buffet including fresh berries, French baguette that is really French, more interesting desserts and ice cream, overall more interesting preparations. On HAL ships, the food sometimes reminded me of hospital fare for patients with ulcers.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

LHT28: I looked closely at our cruise papers and don't see any specifics on how many specialty restaurant reservations we can make...only that we can begin reserving sometime in December.

"What are you looking for?"......just curious as to what are the 'obvious' differences between the Riviera and HAL (the Koningsdam in particular). FLORIDIAN stated a few of the differences between the Riviera and older HAL ships but now that the Koningsdam has arrived....any comments??

Link to comment
Share on other sites

LHT28: I looked closely at our cruise papers and don't see any specifics on how many specialty restaurant reservations we can make...only that we can begin reserving sometime in December.

"What are you looking for?"......just curious as to what are the 'obvious' differences between the Riviera and HAL (the Koningsdam in particular). FLORIDIAN stated a few of the differences between the Riviera and older HAL ships but now that the Koningsdam has arrived....any comments??

 

Since you're on the Riviera in a Concierge room you get 1 reservation in each restaurant regardless of the length of the cruise, as Lyn told you. The confusion comes in for people with the R ships(the smaller ones) that have additional reservations depending on the number of days in the cruise. The concierge level is put in the same category as everything above it for determining how many you get. The reasoning for this is that there are 4 specialties on the O ships vs 2 on the R ships.

 

If they really wanted to add value and increase bookings on the Concierge level perhaps they should consider giving it the same allowance as the PH on the reservations for the O ships.

 

See this page for more info. https://www.oceaniacruises.com/faq/

Click on the link for Dining.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have not been on the new ship so cannot comment I am sure someone who has sailed both ships will comment

just looking at the ships

 

HAL K - built 2016 99,500 grt

pax = 2650

length approx 975 ft

2 set dinner seatings

fee based specialties

2 pools

no self serve laundries

childrens programs

childrens playroom

probably more shows

 

O class ships

Riviera built in 2012 66084 grt

pax 1250

length approx 785ft

open dining

no charge specialties

no children's program (except on Alaska cruises)

1 pool

several self serve laundries

1 main show per night

 

Oceania is probably a quieter experience ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

One point about the size of the ships when you have lots of ports of call.

 

We were on an NCL cruise in 2010 on a 2300 passenger ship (GEM) and trying to leave the ship when in port was a real trial. We almost never have had a problem leaving an Oceania ship, even with Marina/Riviera.

 

The highlight on the NCL cruise was when we were all trying to leave the ship in Venice and our "colors" were called -- admittedly the person calling the colors had NO idea how much room there was on the gangway. (In that case I considered it a gangplank.)

 

A woman in back of me tried to knock me down because she thought was was the only person on the ship who had to get to the airport ... This was very unpleasant. But she didn't knock me down and she didn't get ahead of me either -- we were also heading for the airport.

 

The ship did NOT handle this well.

 

To be fair, we also had a difficult time leaving Marina in Rio (November 2013) because we had the last docking place and needed vans to get to the terminal. (Regent was #1 in line.) The vans were small and the lines were vast. (Unless you went down to the crew exit, hint hint.)

 

But smaller ships definitely have an advantage when you want to get off, whether at a port of call or final departure.

 

Mura

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Getting back to the original topic, specialty restaurants (thank you Earl), it's often possible to get additional reservations. Do a search on the topic and you'll see lots of threads.

 

It does depend on your fellow passengers. If you are on a cruise where most people are like us -- that is, we tend not to use all of our available reservations (!) -- it is easier to get extra reservations than it is if most passengers want extra reservations. You can't predict that before you are on board.

 

It can be the luck of the draw. But as others have said, if you are flexible about times and sharing, you have better odds of getting extra reservations if you want them.

 

Mura

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In early February of 2018 my husband and I will be taking our very first cruise on an Oceania ship....the Riviera for their trip entitled, "Island Paradise".

Originally our cruise included Nassau, San Juan, Philipsburg/St. Maarten; St. John's, Anitqua; Castries, St. Lucia; Gustavia, St. Bart's and back to Miami. We know the itinerary will change because of the last two hurricanes that destroyed so much of the Eastern Caribbean islands...we just don't know yet where we will end up going!! If anyone happens to be privy to any itinerary changes for this cruise....please let us know!!

.

 

We will be in the Caribbean on the way to the Amazon in November. The parent company of Oceania is suppose to provide information to booked guests regarding changes to itinerary in the next couple of weeks. While it will likely be better in February than November, the way things look now, Antigua is likely to open for cruise ships soon (if it hasn't already) and St. Bart's will likely open by the end of the year. Puerto Rico will likely be skipped for our November cruise but a lot of us are hoping that they have recovered sufficiently to receive cruise ships by February.

 

Oceania will likely contact you when more is known about the recovery time for these islands. In the meantime, Cruise Critic is keeping track of the status of the affected islands in the Caribbean. Here is a link -- if you scroll down you'll see many updates on the islands. As suspected, St. John's, Antigua is open already. Hope that this helps. https://www.cruisecritic.com/news/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I doubt that O's parent company will be contacting guests. But I know O, directly or through your TA depending on how you booked, will update you if there is an itinerary change on your sailing. As previous poster advised for updates on the islands status a general site such as CC is good. That can give you an idea of what to expect even uf your itinerary is not changed.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just got a message from our TA....Punta Cana replaces San Juan for our Feb. 6 cruise out of Miami on the Riviera. I don't know if this is the first of many itinerary changes for this cruise as we were scheduled to visit St. Maarten, St. John's, Antiqua; Castries, St. Lucia; and Gustavia, St. Bart's. Perhaps by Feb.6th rebuilding may have occurred on those islands that were so badly affected by the hurricanes.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hey European, hopefully your TA will update you on a 2nd change. The itinerary will likely have to change again in the weeks ahead.

 

In addition to dropping San Juan, St. Maarten is now out - St. Kitts is the replacement.

 

I can't see St. Barts remaining - that small island was decimated by the hurricane. St. B requires tendering but Gustavia is largely kaput so rebuilt facilities to accomodate visitors in 4 months is doubtful.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote=wristband;54177733

I can't see St. Barts remaining - that small island was decimated by the hurricane. St. B requires tendering but Gustavia is largely kaput so rebuilt facilities to accomodate visitors in 4 months is doubtful.

According to this site people of St Barts think they will be open for business by Nov

 

only time will if they are right or not

 

http://stbarth.com/hurricane-irma

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just got off the Riviera in Venice a few days ago, from an A4 cat stateroom, and we were able to book a reservation for a table for 2 at a specialty restaurant, in addition to our previously booked 4. There's a reservation desk in the foyer on level 5 or you can go to the front desk in Red Ginger, also on level 5. You're guaranteed 4 reservations but are able to book more once on board. We eat on the early side so I think there may be more flexibility in finding a table. We also noticed a waiter walking around the Terrace Cafe, during lunch on embarkation day prior to allowing passengers to their staterooms, asking people if they would like to make a reservation at any specialty restaurants.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was on line to make a dinner reservation on the Serina at around 7 am that morning .Ther was a couple in front of me that requested to move Ther reservation from 9 pm to 8 pm. They where told no problem. When I got to the desk I asked if I could have there 9 pm reservation. She told me know because the tables are booked for that reservation only all night.Is this the reason it's hard to get reservations?

 

Sent from my SM-J320V using Forums mobile app

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was on line to make a dinner reservation on the Serina at around 7 am that morning .Ther was a couple in front of me that requested to move Ther reservation from 9 pm to 8 pm. They where told no problem. When I got to the desk I asked if I could have there 9 pm reservation. She told me know because the tables are booked for that reservation only all night.Is this the reason it's hard to get reservations?
That is one of the reasons.

Say when they booked the 9 pm reservation there were tables available at 8 pm. By them booking 9 pm that means one of those 8 pm could not be used. So when they move fro 9 to 8 they is still in effect just blocking one table and it is still blocked for 9 ***** as they allow more that 1 hour for dinner.

 

Now that is simplified becasue there would be 7 pm bookings that could be done by 9 etc but that is how a 9 pm booking moved to 8 can still block the 9 pm.

 

That said, I did not realize they took 9 pm bookings. We've had 8:30 reservations several times and easily closed down the venues. Maybe they don't take 9 if that would be the only table.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

so are you essentially saying take any time on the day you want for the specialty restaurants when your booking window opens, and then change the time to the time you prefer when on board?

you can try that but it may not always work

they book so many tables for certain time slots

 

some diners may take longer for dinner than others so they always have some empty tables so the later reservations can be accommodated

Link to comment
Share on other sites

so are you essentially saying take any time on the day you want for the specialty restaurants when your booking window opens, and then change the time to the time you prefer when on board?

 

The feeling being that it is better to have a bird in the hand....

b_132525.jpg

One may ask for a change on the ship, but there is no guarantee that the request will be granted, so it IS nice to know that the original Reservation is still there to fall back on.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Every cruise is different. We have been on cruises where where staff circulated throughout the Terrace at lunchtime looking for takers for the specialties and there was a chorus of “no’s.” Not all passengers are enamored of the specialties. On some cruises we have had friends who dined in the specialties every night On other cruises extra reservations may be more difficult to obtain. It’s a crap shoot

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share

  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...