Specialty Restaurant Dinner Reservations

[sabrefan]

Tomorrow I am able to make dinner reservations for an upcoming cruise. Does anyone know at what time in the morning are you able to do this online?

[Cruseforme]

Give or take ...00:01 EDT(1 Min after midnight).     It may take several minutes to load, but in our experience, it’s been pretty close to that time.   

[Roccaforte]

I’m a night owl so I sign into my account right at midnight. Just did this last week and even though we’re in a penthouse several days were blocked - just didn’t show as available in one restaurant.  There aren’t that many suites so I’m wondering if groups can make priority reservations that fill the venue.  We had to take alternate days but got the times we wanted with the couple we’re traveling with (also PH). 🤔. Not a big deal - just curious.

[LHT28]

maybe they have a group  on your sailing that has booked the restaurant for that night 

I would keep checking  back

Either that or O is getting wise to those booking at midnight  😉

 

[pinotlover]

One of our sailings was with “ Wine and Food Trails” in a Group of 55. We had the Polo Grill prebooked for one evening. Some larger groups sometimes prebook a couple of nights because of size.

 

FWIW that evening counts towards their guaranteed bookings.

[DeeniEncinitas]

On 8/28/2019 at 8:03 AM, LHT28 said:

maybe they have a group  on your sailing that has booked the restaurant for that night 

I would keep checking  back

Either that or O is getting wise to those booking at midnight  😉

 

Just inquiring. We live in San Diego so 9pm here or actually 1 minute after I can book our restaurants ? Midnight back east?🤞Hope so!

Denise😊

[LHT28]

7 minutes ago, DeeniEncinitas said:

Just inquiring. We live in San Diego so 9pm here or actually 1 minute after I can book our restaurants ? Midnight back east?🤞Hope so!

Denise😊

YUP

Midnight  EST/EDT

[clo]

18 hours ago, DeeniEncinitas said:

Just inquiring. We live in San Diego so 9pm here or actually 1 minute after I can book our restaurants ? Midnight back east?🤞Hope so!

Denise😊

That's what I'm planning on 🙂

Cath

[Mura]

I confess that I've never worried about jumping on making reservations the first chance I have ... But I also have to confess that we are usually in a suite, and so we can still book earlier than most other passengers.

 

We've never had a problem getting the dates and times we wanted.

 

As I (and many others) have frequently said availability much can depend on the length of the cruise (the longer the better) and also the desires of other passengers ... I mean: how interested are they in getting as many specialty reservations as possible?  If most passengers are like us -- not all that interested in the specialties -- you have better chances.  Of course, you can't know what the other passengers are like until you are actually on board ...

 

Mura

[clo]

If I'm not interested in one of the specialty restaurants, is there any advantage to booking one?  Can I give it away?  Swap it for a second time at a favored place?  From what I can tell, no, but would appreciate words from on high 🙂

[Paulchili]

You should book ALL your allotment of reservations. You might be able to use it as a bargaining chip to change for your more favored restaurant.

The swap is not guaranteed and it depends on availability and popularity of restaurant but your odds of getting an extra reservation at, say Jacques, is better if you give up say Toscana in exchange rather than simply asking for an extra reservation at Jacques without giving up something.

That said, I am not saying that you must swap to get an extra reservation but if they are hard to come by then trading might help.

By trading I mean trading with the reservation manager - not another passenger.

Edited August 31, 2019 by Paulchili

[clo]

3 minutes ago, Paulchili said:

You should book ALL your allotment of reservations. You might be able to use it as a bargaining chip to change for your more favored restaurant.

The swap is not guaranteed and it depends on availability and popularity of restaurant but your odds of getting an extra reservation at, say Jacques, is better if you give up say Toscana in exchange rather than simply asking for an extra reservation at Jacques without giving up something.

That said, I am not saying that you must swap to get an extra reservation but if they are hard to come by then trading might help.

By trading I mean trading with the reservation manager - not another passenger.

Thanks.  You answered JUST what I was asking.  I'm not going to enter a debate but we have no interest in Red Ginger (for a few reasons) but I'll book it and then see what's what.  I understand it's quite popular with some people.

[Paulchili]

8 minutes ago, clo said:

Red Ginger (for a few reasons) but I'll book it and then see what's what.  I understand it's quite popular with some people.

That fact just may help you in “trading it” for another restaurant.

If you cannot “trade” it then just cancel it so that someone else can use it rather than just not show up (but I think you already knew this 😊)

The more flexible you are with dinner time and table size, the better the odds of landing extra reservations

Edited August 31, 2019 by Paulchili

[clo]

1 minute ago, Paulchili said:

(but i think you already knew this 😊)

Yep.  Grew up in the oh-so-proper South and then moved to SF where manners also mattered.

[ORV]

Head...….trying...…..to...……….explode

[clo]

1 hour ago, ORV said:

Head...….trying...…..to...……….explode

Is there something here that confuses you?

[giustot]

Just made my reservations for November 15th. I had to wait until 12:04 am before it actually let me book. Sharing tables, there was complete availability in every restaurant at every time for the first four nights that I made reservations.

[DrivesLikeMario]

So how far in advance can you book with a regular balcony cabin?  

[LHT28]

6 minutes ago, DrivesLikeMario said:

So how far in advance can you book with a regular balcony cabin?  

45 days

The specific date should be on your invoice  & in MY OCEANIA  on the Oceania website

 

just in case  

https://oceaniacruises.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360005477653-How-many-dining-reservations-am-I-allowed-in-each-specialty-restaurant-

 

 

[DrivesLikeMario]

Thanks! 😊

[arl_nocaps]

When I booked my reservations I had to take a share table , no problem with dates and time.  When I arrived at Toscana had a great table for 2.  😀    Not sure how that happened . This is on the Insignia .

 

[LHT28]

1 minute ago, arl_nocaps said:

When I booked my reservations I had to take a share table , no problem with dates and time.  When I arrived at Toscana had a great table for 2.  😀    Not sure how that happened . This is on the Insignia .

 

Maybe no one wanted to share

I find  many times people want  2 tops or  just share with friends/family

We often will just  get a 2 top in the specialties   unless  dining with friends

GDR  we share

[Mura]

We had a glitch on our last cruise.  I had made a reservation for a shared table in Polo at 7:30.  My invoice said our reservation was for that time, as did the information in our cabin PLUS the reminder tacked on the door.  All said we were to be there at 7:30.

 

But when we showed up we were told we were supposed to be there at 6:30!  I was concerned that the other couple had been inconvenienced but we were told it was not a problem.  And they found as a table for two, although not in the best location.  We didn't complain about that!  We were just glad to have a table after all.

 

So it could have been something like that which had you end up at a table for two.

 

Mura