Restaurant bookings

[happy v]

I am trying to understand the new booking system. If you book a table for 8pm and it is accepted. Why do I have to carry my phone around. Surely if I turn up on time it should be ready, or why book in the first place 

[david63]

If you are booking one of the speciality restaurants, and as far as I am aware those are the only ones that you can book a specific time for, then you do not need to carry your phone with you - you can, and should, turn up at that time.

[happy v]

I thought you had to book all the restaurants now 

[arlowood]

24 minutes ago, happy v said:

I am trying to understand the new booking system. If you book a table for 8pm and it is accepted. Why do I have to carry my phone around. Surely if I turn up on time it should be ready, or why book in the first place 

I can only assume that the table you book for 8pm will probably be occupied by pax who have booked or turned up earlier than 8 - say between 6 and 6.30pm. So I'm guessing the booking system algorithm works out the likely times a certain table will be free for others to use and then calls you forward about 15mins before that time.

 

If service is slow or people linger to chat rather than leaving the table then your allocated table may not be available when predicted. I think that is the reason you are asked to keep your phone open and live on the booking page so that you are  alerted at the appropriate time.

 

All of the above is conjecture but may explain why you can't just roll up at the time you pre-booked and expect to be seated immediately.

 

My experience of the booking system on our Arcadia cruise earlier this month was pretty dire as I could not maintain a reliable connection to the ships intranet system. So the virtual queue was impossible to operate unless I logged in at a location where the Wifi was stable and sat there until I was notified. Not convenient at all. Of course this could be a symptom of the wifi issues on the older ships like Arcadia and Aurora - it may not apply to the newer ships where the wifi was built in from the start.

[david63]

7 minutes ago, happy v said:

I thought you had to book all the restaurants now 

If you are referring to Freedom Dining then you cannot book a table for a specific time - you just join a queue and your phone will notify you when your table is available.

[happy v]

52 minutes ago, david63 said:

If you are referring to Freedom Dining then you cannot book a table for a specific time - you just join a queue and your phone will notify you when your table is available.

Ahh, just like before, with more faff😉 thank you 

Edited September 25, 2022 by happy v

[terrierjohn]

56 minutes ago, david63 said:

If you are referring to Freedom Dining then you cannot book a table for a specific time - you just join a queue and your phone will notify you when your table is available.

 

4 minutes ago, happy v said:

Ahh, just like before, with more faff😉

One thing to remember is that just like pre covid, if you want a table for 2 then the wait times will be longer.  We prefer to share a table so on our June cruise on Britannia we never waited more than 5 minutes before the app told us our table was ready.

[happy v]

1 hour ago, terrierjohn said:

 

One thing to remember is that just like pre covid, if you want a table for 2 then the wait times will be longer.  We prefer to share a table so on our June cruise on Britannia we never waited more than 5 minutes before the app told us our table was ready.

Thanks John. We are happy to share unless we haven't got much time to be somewhere else 

[EM35]

3 hours ago, happy v said:

Ahh, just like before, with more faff😉 thank you 

You can just go to the restaurant and request a table. They will give you a pager, as pre covid, if you don't want to use the app. The advantage of the app is you can request your table from anywhere on the ship. 

[smokey01]

On 9/25/2022 at 10:27 AM, david63 said:

If you are referring to Freedom Dining then you cannot book a table for a specific time - you just join a queue and your phone will notify you when your table is available.

We have just got back from Iona and we were able to pre book the main dining rooms before the cruise. This is new and I am not sure whether it is allowed on the other ships. We booked for 8pm every night and just showed up at our chosen main dining room and got seated immediately. Once onboard you could not select a specific time, it was virtual queue  only.

[david63]

6 hours ago, smokey01 said:

We have just got back from Iona and we were able to pre book the main dining rooms before the cruise.

That is certainly something new and looks as if, at last, P&O may be moving over to the Princess model.

[Bin man]

Hi smokey 01 could you tell me how you were able to book the mdr prior to going .I have checked in on line iona but not seen anywhere you can do this any clues would be helpfull

[tring]

On 9/25/2022 at 12:27 PM, david63 said:

If you are referring to Freedom Dining then you cannot book a table for a specific time - you just join a queue and your phone will notify you when your table is available.

 

That is how it should be working here on Azura, but often the app falls of the intranet (even if you are fairly near the restaurants) and you are not notified.  It is easier to pick up a pager IMO.  Very long waits in formal nights at peak times, (about an hour) so we have booked Sindu and the Glass House for our remaining formals.  Apparently ok if you go before 6.30pm, but not our style.

 

Booking for speciality restaurants is just like booking anywhere at home, you just turn up at the alloted time, so no need to carry phone with you.  They allow a fair while between bookings and some tables empty, even when the restaurant is fully booked.  Hence we assume it is kitchen ability rather than table availability, which is limiting.  

 

 

 

Edited October 10, 2022 by tring

[Bin man]

As we only want to book the mdr for the whole cruise at 6pm we booked at the restaurant desk and actually did not use the app to book last year on iona .But the question is can you book mdr on Iona before you go as commented by smokey01

[Amelia Noylam]

5 hours ago, Bin man said:

Hi smokey 01 could you tell me how you were able to book the mdr prior to going .I have checked in on line iona but not seen anywhere you can do this any clues would be helpfull

Hello Bin Man

If you log into your account and press on dinning, it will give you a date for you to be able to book MDR, Limelight Club etc also do the same for the entertainment. 

 

 

[Bin man]

Thankyou Amelia had a look and it looks like its 2 weeks before we go so will have another look then 

[Sawdan]

We found the booking system worked quite well. Particularly the dining. We booked 3 a few days before sailing and then a few more once onboard. The rest we did day by day. Sometimes we got the times we wanted and sometimes when the times were not available we joined a queue. We did this around 30 mins before we wanted to eat and the table was usually ready by the time we got there. If you leave your phone on the my holiday page it notifies you and you have 15 mins to get there. TBH though wether we booked or not we got seated pretty quickly anyway. 

   All I would say though is if you want to dine at any of the speciality restaurants book as early as you can to get the best times. My only gripe would be that the 2 smaller MDRs Aqua and Opal were always booked so didn't get chance to dine in those ones. 

Casbantam

[davecttr]

I am confused with this 'new' booking the MDR business. As I understand it Iona does not have a fixed sitting option and when i was aboard you had to either join the virtual queue using the app or take pot luck turning up. Are you saying they have now changed to a table reservation system with times like a onshore restaurant that you can book even before you board the ship? If so it seems like they are opening a can of worms.

[Sawdan]

It was a trial using the booking system we were the guinea pigs. Yes it is a big can of worms but don't worry it is freedom so you can just turn up but they are trying to manage larger numbers by having them book to spread them out to avoid bottle necks.

[david63]

Going back to when Freedom Dining was first introduced on Ventura booking was how it worked but the problem was that you had to turn up in person on the day to make the reservation which resulted in queues starting to form at about six in the morning!

 

Other cruise lines have a booking system - in fact some have had it for years, and with improvements in technology I can see no reason why it should not work on P&O without it creating a "can of worms"

[jh1809]

For those wanting to dine at the same fixed time every evening, don't forget that on most ships club dining is still an option (though I don't know whether that applies to Iona).

[Fionboard]

Iona is freedom only and I expect Arvia will be too. One of the reasons I will not use them.

[Sawdan]

8 hours ago, jh1809 said:

For those wanting to dine at the same fixed time every evening, don't forget that on most ships club dining is still an option (though I don't know whether that applies to Iona).

Club dining should still be an option imo on Iona. it would make things easier. 

   Of course if you want to eat at a certain time each day of your cruise you can always visit the restaurant and they will normally sort this for you. 

[davecttr]

2 hours ago, Sawdan said:

Club dining should still be an option imo on Iona. it would make things easier. 

   Of course if you want to eat at a certain time each day of your cruise you can always visit the restaurant and they will normally sort this for you. 

Club and anytime dining require a different organisation within the galley. If there is one galley per mdr this is less of a problem. how many galleys does Iona have?

[Splice the mainbrace]

What is club dining? Set sitting times?