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Seating in The Restaurant


Marykatesmom
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in the Restaurant and specialty dining , they will seat you. But if you enjoy those near you in line or have made arrangements to dine with others, just tell them that and they will accommodate you.

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Yes, World Cafe is seat yourself. For dinner, you should have no trouble finding a table. Sometimes at breakfast it can get busy right before the excursions start, but we never had to wait long before a table was vacated, cleaned and re-set.

 

The Restaurant, Chef's Table and Mandredi's have staff stationed at the entrance. You provide them with your cabin number and party size, and they will seat you. Depending on when you arrive, you may have to wait a bit.

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For the Chef's Table and Manfredi's, you must have reservations. For the Restaurant, there are no advance reservations, but you are taken to a table.

 

This is correct, but if you don't have a reservation, you can just show up and MIGHT get a table. Will depend on timing and how busy they are.

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For the Chef's Table and Manfredi's, you must have reservations. For the Restaurant, there are no advance reservations, but you are taken to a table.

 

Quick question. We are 2couples, we have made our reservations for each restaurant but could only make them for a party of two. Do we need to advise restaurant that we need a TABLE for 4 prior to our reservation. Thanks

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We are onboard with another couple. Both couples have reservations at the same time at the same restaurant. (3 each). Yes, Tables of 2. We went to the Restaurant on day 1, spoke to the young lady there. She noted our two rooms would be at a table for 4. Easy to do.

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Quick question. We are 2couples, we have made our reservations for each restaurant but could only make them for a party of two. Do we need to advise restaurant that we need a TABLE for 4 prior to our reservation. Thanks

 

We had the same situation and we simply went to the restaurants the first chance we had and asked them to combine our reservations to a table for 4. They were very accommodating.

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Another couple called Viking and Viking said it was seat yourself in The Restaurant which did not make sense to me so I came here to double check.

 

Just another example of those answering the phones not having a clue! It drives me crazy. These are simple, basic questions and they are not getting them right. Not good.

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in the Restaurant and specialty dining , they will seat you. But if you enjoy those near you in line or have made arrangements to dine with others, just tell them that and they will accommodate you.

 

And you can ask if you can share a table. We did this a number of times on our last cruise. The staff has a good feel for the flow of the crowd and seem to know when a table of 6 or 8 will come together quickly enough so that the first couple seated will not be sitting forever waiting for the table to fill.

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We are onboard with another couple. Both couples have reservations at the same time at the same restaurant. (3 each). Yes, Tables of 2. We went to the Restaurant on day 1, spoke to the young lady there. She noted our two rooms would be at a table for 4. Easy to do.

 

Thanks, will do.

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If two passengers go into the restaurant and end up sitting on a large table (either because there's nothing smaller available or because that is where the staff have directed them), will the waiters take the orders with just two people sitting at the table, or must the passengers wait for others to be seated at the large table?

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Just another example of those answering the phones not having a clue! It drives me crazy. These are simple, basic questions and they are not getting them right. Not good.

 

Another question that they got wrong was you could not cancel the Silver Sea's package until you board which is the exact WRONG answer. Someone remembered that they are getting an OBC and could use it to pay for the package which they already purchased. I talked her through cancelling it on MVJ since I did the exact same thing. It was very easy. They told her to talk to her TA.

 

Someone else called about using the OBC for gratuities and was told it was OK to use for Viking Ocean but not Viking River. Is that correct?

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If two passengers go into the restaurant and end up sitting on a large table (either because there's nothing smaller available or because that is where the staff have directed them), will the waiters take the orders with just two people sitting at the table, or must the passengers wait for others to be seated at the large table?

 

It is rare that they will seat you at a larger table unless you have asked; if you ask for a table for two that is what you will get. At the larger tables, they wait for everyone to be seated before taking orders, which is why they will not start one if they do not think they will be able to fill it quickly.

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Another question that they got wrong was you could not cancel the Silver Sea's package until you board which is the exact WRONG answer. Someone remembered that they are getting an OBC and could use it to pay for the package which they already purchased. I talked her through cancelling it on MVJ since I did the exact same thing. It was very easy. They told her to talk to her TA.

 

Someone else called about using the OBC for gratuities and was told it was OK to use for Viking Ocean but not Viking River. Is that correct?

 

Yes, if you are dealing with a travel agent, they want your TA to be making these calls, which is really better since the TAs work with a different set of customer service agents.

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Someone else called about using the OBC for gratuities and was told it was OK to use for Viking Ocean but not Viking River. Is that correct?

You're taking your thread off topic and into another forum, but yes: grats are not charged to your account on VR so there's no opportunity to use OBC.

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You're taking your thread off topic and into another forum, but yes: grats are not charged to your account on VR so there's no opportunity to use OBC.

 

Really? We charged our gratuities to our on board account on our last VR in 2015. Have things changed since then? Are we no longer able to put them on our on board account?

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Really? We charged our gratuities to our on board account on our last VR in 2015. Have things changed since then? Are we no longer able to put them on our on board account?

 

It wasn’t an option on the Rhine last year, and the UK FAQ makes it clear that grats are payable by cash or credit card (although they’re cash only in certain countries which would preclude charging to ones account anyway).

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It wasn’t an option on the Rhine last year, and the UK FAQ makes it clear that grats are payable by cash or credit card (although they’re cash only in certain countries which would preclude charging to ones account anyway).

 

Thanks for the heads up. I am going to have to look into this further.

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It is rare that they will seat you at a larger table unless you have asked; if you ask for a table for two that is what you will get. At the larger tables, they wait for everyone to be seated before taking orders, which is why they will not start one if they do not think they will be able to fill it quickly.

 

Ok, so it's finger's crossed for a small table then - if I go to eat, I want to be served promptly not sit around waiting for persons unknown. However, being a glass half full sort of person, if there are no small tables, we can always go and eat somewhere else. :)

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Ok, so it's finger's crossed for a small table then - if I go to eat, I want to be served promptly not sit around waiting for persons unknown. However, being a glass half full sort of person, if there are no small tables, we can always go and eat somewhere else. :)

 

"Finger's crossed" is unnecessary pessimism. If you go to Manfredi's or the Chef's Table, it will generally be with reservations in advance. You will have reserved a table for two and that is what you will get. If you go to the World Cafe, you sit where you choose and you don't wait for service, since it is a buffet. If you go to the Restaurant, there are a very large number of tables for two, and you would rarely have a problem.

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"Finger's crossed" is unnecessary pessimism. If you go to Manfredi's or the Chef's Table, it will generally be with reservations in advance. You will have reserved a table for two and that is what you will get. If you go to the World Cafe, you sit where you choose and you don't wait for service, since it is a buffet. If you go to the Restaurant, there are a very large number of tables for two, and you would rarely have a problem.

 

THIS!!!

 

On Viking OCEAN Table for 2 is a non problem.

On Viking River, only a couple tables for 2 on the Aquavit Terrace. Completely different.

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THIS!!!

 

On Viking OCEAN Table for 2 is a non problem.

On Viking River, only a couple tables for 2 on the Aquavit Terrace. Completely different.

 

I don't understand the point. This is a board for Viking Ocean Cruises.

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We are traveling with another couple and just yesterday we both made our specialty dining reservations. I called Viking customer service first and was told that I just had to “invite” our fellow travelers in order to reserve a table for 4. There was no option to invite anyone so I called Viking back and got 3 different answers about how we could arrange to sit with with our friends. None of them have worked. The last answer was to just arrange it shipboard and that there was no guarantee that we would be seated together. Why is this so difficult for Viking? Isn’t traveling with others commonplace? This is our first Viking cruise and so far they are way behind Crystal in customer service.

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