Smudge10 Posted June 12, 2014 #1 Share Posted June 12, 2014 We first experienced La Reserve on a European Trip on Riviera three years ago. I was celebrating and paid for our travel companions to join us, and we had a lovely meal with very nice wine pairings. All in a lovely, exclusive setting! We had so much fun, we begged for a chance to do it again, and they said all of the nights (10) were full, but the last night had three openings, and they set out an additional setting to seat the four of us. Needless to say, the Maitre de got a good tip! On our next cruise on the Riviera in the Caribbean (last February), we were surprised to learn that La Reserve was only open 6 of the 10 nights. We booked two of them for our party, and had lovely experiences both evenings. We are booked on a Baltic cruise in July, and I was stunned to learn that for a 12 night cruise, they only had three (3) La Reserve dinners planned! With 1200 guests, and a maximum of 24 diners (assuming that each diner eats at La Reserve only once), that means that a maximum of 6% of the passengers choose to eat at La Reserve! Why is this? Our first cruise, all 10 nights were sold out. Upcoming cruise: Seems like they are struggling to fill 3 nights out of 12. Any insight anyone has will be welcome. David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LEESRE Posted June 12, 2014 #2 Share Posted June 12, 2014 On our last cruise on Riviera, in May, they said that there was not much interest in it so only opened when they could fill it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hondorner Posted June 12, 2014 #3 Share Posted June 12, 2014 The normal policy is to offer 3 dates per cruise at first, then open additional evenings if there is enough demand. I understand they prefer a minimum of 12 to add an evening. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimandStan Posted June 12, 2014 #4 Share Posted June 12, 2014 We first experienced La Reserve on a European Trip on Riviera three years ago. I was celebrating and paid for our travel companions to join us, and we had a lovely meal with very nice wine pairings. All in a lovely, exclusive setting! We had so much fun, we begged for a chance to do it again, and they said all of the nights (10) were full, but the last night had three openings, and they set out an additional setting to seat the four of us. Needless to say, the Maitre de got a good tip! On our next cruise on the Riviera in the Caribbean (last February), we were surprised to learn that La Reserve was only open 6 of the 10 nights. We booked two of them for our party, and had lovely experiences both evenings. We are booked on a Baltic cruise in July, and I was stunned to learn that for a 12 night cruise, they only had three (3) La Reserve dinners planned! With 1200 guests, and a maximum of 24 diners (assuming that each diner eats at La Reserve only once), that means that a maximum of 6% of the passengers choose to eat at La Reserve! Why is this? Our first cruise, all 10 nights were sold out. Upcoming cruise: Seems like they are struggling to fill 3 nights out of 12. Any insight anyone has will be welcome. David I think that you may be remembering the past with rose colored glasses on, David, because, although you don't mention how long your first Cruise was, I've never heard of a voyage where the La Reserve option was offered for as many as eleven nights. Perhaps because of the Wine Spectator partnership, the Wine Dinners at La Reserve have always been scheduled as Occasions rather than an every night feature. That said, I've heard from several sources who I perceive to be "in the know" (both inside and outside the company), that Oceania would prefer that the La Reserve space be used more frequently. Unfortunately, because no employees are specifically assigned to La Reserve (think about it, they all work primarily elsewhere) , the Wine Dinners are staff intensive, and the general pool of restaurant and catering staff must be solicited (or volunteer) to take on the overtime before ANY additional events may be scheduled. I believe that is why Oceania starts by offering two or three nights, and builds the list according to passenger interest from there. Cruise ship staff have little enough time off as it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smudge10 Posted June 12, 2014 Author #5 Share Posted June 12, 2014 (edited) Jim and Stan, Thank you for replying! Actually, I believe that I did mention that the first cruise was 10 days. I may be wrong, but I am pretty sure that every night hosted a La Reserve dinner. In fact, the maitre de (Darko was his name) was there every night. On our last cruise, Darko (who remembered me from two years previously, which was impressive) spent time in other restaurants. When I was suprised at that, he expressed his disappointment that he wasn't able to work every evening at La Reserve because insufficient people signed up for it. My impression was that working in the "normal" restaurants wasn't what he had signed up for. If they do start out with 3 evenings, do they push the o ther evenings in any way, or just depend upon native demand? When I called to reserve spots, I was told that one of the 3 evenings was full for a "private party". Maybe by now they have opened another date. I will have to call to find out. David Edited June 12, 2014 by Smudge10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lola911 Posted June 12, 2014 #6 Share Posted June 12, 2014 I am with Stan. I don't think you are remembering correctly. We have been on the O ships 3-times and never is La Reserve serving specialty wine dinners every night or majority of cruise nights. There are 3 different menus to choose from and 3 separate nights scheduled. Book all 3 if you want to experience the different menus, but they do not take reservations every evening for La Reserve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare cruisingxpert Posted June 12, 2014 #7 Share Posted June 12, 2014 I remember Darko. He was passionate about La Reserve. It was our first time on Oceania. We only booked one and wanted to do another and they couldn't get enough people to sign up. We have been back twice since then and haven't seen Darko since. I miss him. Alex who replaced him is very nice but doesn't have the knowledge that Darko had CJ Sent from my Z10 using Tapatalk 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mura Posted June 13, 2014 #8 Share Posted June 13, 2014 Just to add my remembrances, We've done La Reserve on each of our Marina cruises. There weren't many evenings offered... on any of our three cruises (October '11, November '13, May '14). I did see a while back that if enough people requested they would add another evening, but then you need to recruit participants. (Not 24, but probably at least the 12 that has been mentioned.) The staff we saw in La Reserve when we were there were definitely staff we've seen in all the other restaurants, so it clearly isn't easy to staff those dinners unless enough people request them. It's not like everyone is manning the barricades to demand dinner in La Reserve (even with 1250 passengers). On our last cruise (just left Marina on June 7th) I attended a cooking demo featuring La Reserve and when the chef asked how many attendees had dined at La Reserve, the woman next to me asked "how" I was able to attend. I said, "We paid for it!" She was quite surprised. I gathered that she thought you have to be invited, as if it's a perk like being invited to the Captain's Table. So it seems that not everyone is aware of just what La Reserve is even though it has always seemed to me that Oceania makes it quite clear what the dining opportunities are. Mura Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare LHT28 Posted June 13, 2014 #9 Share Posted June 13, 2014 (edited) So it seems that not everyone is aware of just what La Reserve is even though it has always seemed to me that Oceania makes it quite clear what the dining opportunities are. Mura There are those that do not know afternoon tea is served daily in Horizons ;) I think some people just do not bother read the brochure or the daily CURRENTS or understand what they are reading :rolleyes: Lyn Edited June 13, 2014 by LHT28 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mura Posted June 13, 2014 #10 Share Posted June 13, 2014 Very true, Lyn. Just as our dinner companions a few cruises ago were unaware that the husband did NOT have to wear a tie and/or jacket to the GDR for dinner. Or that it's permissible to bring alcohol on board, within reason. I remember a man who was in an absolute rage a number of years ago. In fact, this may have happened on a Renaissance cruise but it could easily happen on Oceania as well. This man's cruise had been booked by a TA and he had been totally unaware that he was not permitted to smoke on board. In fact, as I think of it, this probably was Renaissance since the ban at the time was total as opposed to O's policy of permitting very limited smoking. (Ren was planning that same change itself but didn't have time to put it into effect.) Mura Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newbie60 Posted June 13, 2014 #11 Share Posted June 13, 2014 Our our December 2013 Riviera 10 night cruise, La Reserve was open three nights and none of them were sold out. We attended one only. We had plenty of advance information and chose the menu which held enough interest for us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare LHT28 Posted June 13, 2014 #12 Share Posted June 13, 2014 possibly the menu has been the same since the inception & with so many repeat cruisers there is not as much interest in paying for the same menu again just a thought Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roothy123 Posted June 13, 2014 #13 Share Posted June 13, 2014 I don't ever remember seeing La Reserve in use more than a few nights per cruise. However, I never tried to book it, so who knows, maybe it was available more than that with just no takers. Since La Reserve is a small space, I doubt it's in jeopardy of "going somewhere" but then I remember the little-used private cabanas that used to be rented out on the "R" ships. They were little used, and eventually turned into something else! Yes, some people don't know about tea in Horizons. One person I spoke to didn't even know that most of Oceania's cruise prices include airfare. Airfare would certainly be one of the first things I would find out about a cruise before booking it, especially considering the nature of the flights needed for most Oceania cruises (far, to and from different locations, etc.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arima22 Posted June 13, 2014 #14 Share Posted June 13, 2014 possibly the menu has been the same since the inception & with so many repeat cruisers there is not as much interest in paying for the same menu again just a thought That is a question I have... we are signed up for La Reserve in August this year. Looked at our 2015 cruise and the menu is still the same. Was going to wait on reserving for 2015 to see if the menu changed, but from your statement, you have not seen a change in menu for some years. La Reserve was only offering 3 nights, 1 for each menu, on our 2014 Baltic cruise. Will be interesting to see how well they are booked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oceanbill457 Posted June 13, 2014 #15 Share Posted June 13, 2014 On our Marina cruise in April, we found La Reserve not worth the price. The wine selections were particularly poor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare LHT28 Posted June 13, 2014 #16 Share Posted June 13, 2014 That is a question I have... we are signed up for La Reserve in August this year. Looked at our 2015 cruise and the menu is still the same. Was going to wait on reserving for 2015 to see if the menu changed, but from your statement, you have not seen a change in menu for some years. La Reserve was only offering 3 nights, 1 for each menu, on our 2014 Baltic cruise. Will be interesting to see how well they are booked. I have no factual proof that the menus have ever changed but if not it may be time for some tweaking ;) They have tweaked Polo & Toscana a few times over the years Lyn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mura Posted June 13, 2014 #17 Share Posted June 13, 2014 When we were on Marina earlier this month I believe the head chef said that various revisions are underway for the specialty restaurants. In particular there will be changes on Insignia for the world cruise. They really can't repeat menus in the GDR every two weeks when people will be on board for six months. As to La Reserve, I believe changes will be coming there too ... but not necessarily entire menus. We did repeat the Exploration menu on this cruise but it was 2-1/2 years after we had it the first time AND we were a group. I think more people said they preferred to do that menu so we were outvoted. But we enjoyed it again. I doubt we'd have repeated it if the time frame had been less, however. Our favorite remains the Connoisseur menu, but that's definitely more expensive. Mura Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pacheco18 Posted June 13, 2014 #18 Share Posted June 13, 2014 I have no factual proof that the menus have ever changed but if not it may be time for some tweaking ;) They have tweaked Polo & Toscana a few times over the years Lyn All the menus on the r ships have been tweaked after the refurb Biggest difference is lunch in GDR. Every day different Taste of the World feature. On this cruise so far Provence caribbeAn Scandinavia Asia Can't recall others Also there are dishes from both Jacques and red ginger nightly. I only recall one dish being offered in the past but I could be mistaken Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare LHT28 Posted June 13, 2014 #19 Share Posted June 13, 2014 All the menus on the r ships have been tweaked after the refurb Biggest difference is lunch in GDR. Every day different Taste of the World feature. On this cruise so far Provence caribbeAn Scandinavia Asia Can't recall others Also there are dishes from both Jacques and red ginger nightly. I only recall one dish being offered in the past but I could be mistaken I was referring to the specialties & La Reserve they rarely changed over the years ...some menus have been tweaked in recent yrs The GDR there is always something new when we have cruised ...some good some not so good ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pacheco18 Posted June 13, 2014 #20 Share Posted June 13, 2014 I think u missed my point Polo and Toscana -- the specialties --have been tweaked post refurbishment. A few items have been deleted and others added The GDR theme lunch taste of the world Is now a permanent feature Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimandStan Posted June 13, 2014 #21 Share Posted June 13, 2014 I think u missed my point Polo and Toscana -- the specialties --have been tweaked post refurbishment. A few items have been deleted and others added The GDR theme lunch taste of the world Is now a permanent feature Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app Um.....yeah.....and that is certainly good information.......except this is a Thread about La Reserve :confused: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pacheco18 Posted June 13, 2014 #22 Share Posted June 13, 2014 (edited) Read post 16 That is what I responded to Sorry u deem my post inappropriAte Feel free to ignore Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app Edited June 13, 2014 by pacheco18 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare LHT28 Posted June 13, 2014 #23 Share Posted June 13, 2014 I think u missed my point Polo and Toscana -- the specialties --have been tweaked post refurbishment. A few items have been deleted and others added The GDR theme lunch taste of the world Is now a permanent feature maybe we both missed the point :D Glad to know they have some new dishes in the Specialties Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lola911 Posted June 14, 2014 #24 Share Posted June 14, 2014 We did the La Reserve menu leaning towards Italian and we had a fabulous evening. Didn't know anyone, but it turned out well. We embraced the food and the wine selections and had a great time. Staff was superb and I only wish I could attach some photos of the fun we had. I guess I am replying to the person who thought the wine a bit lame. It is worth a reservation...love that Prosecco! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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