Speciality Dining - booking slots on board

[Cheshire Blue]

Might be a daft question !

 

We have bought a package of 5 nights speciality dining and understand we need to book these asap after boarding the ship.  OK 

 

The first night is provisionally allocated and I understand details of this will be in our cabin.  On this basis I assume after boarding the ship - my very first stop is the cabin (to see what I have been allocated - place and time slot) and then hot foot it to one of the restaurants to change the above (if not happy with the allocation) and then to also book times and dates for the remaining (4) evening meals.

 

Understand I can go to any of the Speciality Restaurants to achieve the above (or possibly elsewhere ?).   This is my confusion.  Where should I best go to achieve the above ?   (i.e. which restaurant should i target first or is there some place else where I can best achieve this) ?  I have seen references to the Speciality Dining stand ???    Where would that be ?  Also to someone outside the OVC ? 

 

Apologies if the above is a daft question 

 

One further point - if we proceed as envisaged and eat 5 of our 9 evening meals in a Speciality Restaurant, this means that our fixed time (8.30) dining in the MDR will be only used for 4 of the 9 evenings.  For five of the nine evenings the 4 person table will be empty.  Would it be better / possible for us to change our MDR dining from fixed to Anytime (so releasing the MDR table for all 9 nights) ?    If this is an option - again how would I achieve this ? 

 

Thanks in advance  

 

 

[jelayne]

No need to go to your cabin to see your 1st night restaurant when you make your reservations they can tell you what your have assigned.  You can head to one of the specialty restaurants, or the  table set up for making specialty reservations which is somewhere near where you board ( out of the entrance so not blocking people but  very close by) or the stands outside the Oceanview it doesn’t matter.   Be prepared with the dates times restaurants you want and alternatives.  If you like early times or late times you will find more availability,  6:30-7:30 book quickly. 

[jwlane]

12 minutes ago, Cheshire Blue said:

Would it be better / possible for us to change our MDR dining from fixed to Anytime (so releasing the MDR table for all 9 nights) ? 

Don't worry about it.

[SusanBentley1947]

Anytime dining is likely to be booked.  Just put a plan together after you board for when and where you would prefer to dine.  Using your itinerary and port schedule it should be easier.

Relax.  It will be clear once you board.

[Cheshire Blue]

12 minutes ago, jwlane said:

Don't worry about it.

Sadly - worrying is part of my nature - hopefully will relax on holiday !  

 

Thanks to all for the advice anyway.  

[chemmo]

5 minutes ago, Cheshire Blue said:

Sadly - worrying is part of my nature - hopefully will relax on holiday !  

 

Thanks to all for the advice anyway.  

As others have said, easy to sort. Strongly recommend you do sort on boarding.

 

As Jelayne said, occasionally you do need to be prepared to be a bit flexible for time with the most popular restaurants.

 

Re your MDR dining slot,  just as a matter of good manners, first time you dine there let the waiter know the days you will/will not be there. There are usually a variety of tables in late seating not occupied so you are not taking up space someone else needs.

 

Hope you have some lovely meals and a fantastic cruise.

[George C]

We never had issues our last 3 cruises were high end suites so we had free specialty for the entire cruise. We just book when we board.

[nasus2]

Went to speciality dining desk outside ocean view as soon as I boarded - very nice lady made all my bookings for me and I had a good choice of times 

[chemmo]

13 hours ago, George C said:

We never had issues our last 3 cruises were high end suites so we had free specialty for the entire cruise. We just book when we board.

George, packages are different and as nasus2 says…

 

1 hour ago, nasus2 said:

Went to speciality dining desk outside ocean view as soon as I boarded - very nice lady made all my bookings for me and I had a good choice of times 

So I agree most of the time there are no issues booking once on board. However, on occasions there can be. If lots of people have booked packages or pre booked individual restaurants then the advice I would always give to package bookers is to sort as you board to get the best chance of the exact times you want. 

Edited July 27, 2022 by chemmo

[Cheshire Blue]

17 minutes ago, chemmo said:

George, packages are different and as nasus2 says…

 

So I agree most of the time there are no issues booking once on board. However, on occasions there can be. If lots of people have booked packages or pre booked individual restaurants then the advice I would always give to package bookers is to sort as you board to get the best chance of the exact times you want. 

Thanks for all the advice - very helpful.  Trick now is to get an early boarding time !   

 

[chemmo]

9 minutes ago, Cheshire Blue said:

Thanks for all the advice - very helpful.  Trick now is to get an early boarding time !   

 

As your options come up book the earliest. If it isn’t as early as you would like, however, keep looking as earlier times often open up.