Food and dining on P&O ships

[CliveJ]

3 minutes ago, TigerB said:

 

Epicurean: £24 is what you pay pp, you won't pay any more, unless you get drinks. If you booked onboard it would have been £30. So, you have essentially received a 20% discount for booking ahead.

 

Sindhu:  As you have booked ahead, you will get 20% discount on each item of food; then at the end they also knock your £10 pp from the whole bill.

 

Usually, at least a suit or jacket is required in the MDR, including Chef's Table, on formal nights. That said, lots of fellas enter the dining room wearing a suit, and then remove their jacket when the sit down. I suppose it's down to your restaurant host / head waiter on the evening in question.

OK - that's excellent info., thank you ! Will try some bookings.

[majortom10]

We booked earlier today for 4th March and with Peninsular Club discount paid £21.60pp for Epicurean and £9pp for Sindhu. Not interested in Chefs Table or Limelight Club but disappointed we couldn't book Beach House and for a time in MDR.

 

[Selbourne]

With the advance bookings, can you make one booking for a group larger than your cabin? Our party of 6 is spread across 3 cabins, but I’d like to make one booking on behalf of us all. 

[terrierjohn]

5 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

With the advance bookings, can you make one booking for a group larger than your cabin? Our party of 6 is spread across 3 cabins, but I’d like to make one booking on behalf of us all. 

Now that's stretching P&Os IT capability a bit too far.

[Colsers]

On 2/15/2023 at 6:35 PM, TigerB said:

 

Meridian doesn't have tablecloths, apart from the formal nights; they are wooden tables, but look cleaner than those in 🥄🥄🥄 . It also has a few tables next to the picture windows at the stern, whereas Zenith looks down onto those.

Both have a good mix of different sized tables.

We only ate in Zenith so I cannot compare the experiences; both though were busy on formal nights so book ahead.

Entertainment and dining has now opened for our upcoming cruise on Arvia, there is no availability after 6.15pm for dinner bookings, do they open nearer the time anyone know?

[terrierjohn]

1 minute ago, Colsers said:

Entertainment and dining has now opened for our upcoming cruise on Arvia, there is no availability after 6.15pm for dinner bookings, do they open nearer the time anyone know?

Other posters have said there is an 8:00pm slot as well, which suggest My Holiday is catering for those who prefer fixed club type dining, and leaving the virtual queue for freedom diners, Oh if only that were true!!!!

[Colsers]

1 minute ago, terrierjohn said:

Other posters have said there is an 8:00pm slot as well, which suggest My Holiday is catering for those who prefer fixed club type dining, and leaving the virtual queue for freedom diners, Oh if only that were true!!!!

Do you mean their's a choice of dining (freedom and club dining)? Can you download the my holiday app before boarding?

[TigerB]

27 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

With the advance bookings, can you make one booking for a group larger than your cabin? Our party of 6 is spread across 3 cabins, but I’d like to make one booking on behalf of us all. 

 

Yes, you can.

On our recent Arvia cruise we travelled with my sister and brother-in-law, and I made all the advance bookings in the MDR for us all. We shared the bookings for the speciality restaurants, booking two each. You don't require cabin numbers at that stage, just link them with the restaurant host when you attend.

In September we travelled as a party of eight, but the maximum table size available to book in the speciality restaurants was six. I simply booked two tables of four and, once onboard, visited the restaurants to link the bookings and make sure we were sat together.

[Selbourne]

26 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

Now that's stretching P&Os IT capability a bit too far.

Hence my question 😂 If I can’t book for all 6 of us, we would end up with 3 tables for 2, which would then need unravelling when we turn up. I’d also like to get our Caribbean tier discount on all 6 covers, especially as I’m paying!

[solentsam]

22 minutes ago, Colsers said:

Do you mean their's a choice of dining (freedom and club dining)? Can you download the my holiday app before boarding?

if on Iona or Arvia there is only freedom dining. yes you can download my holiday page  https://myholiday.pocruises.com/ (its not an app) but will not work unless you are either on board or very close to the ship 

Edited February 18, 2023 by solentsam
added web page

[Selbourne]

1 minute ago, TigerB said:

 

Yes, you can.

On our recent Arvia cruise we travelled with my sister and brother-in-law, and I made all the advance bookings in the MDR for us all. We shared the bookings for the speciality restaurants, booking two each. You don't require cabin numbers at that stage, just link them with the restaurant host when you attend.

In September we travelled as a party of eight, but the maximum table size available to book in the speciality restaurants was six. I simply booked two tables of four and, once onboard, visited the restaurants to link the bookings and make sure we were sat together.

Thanks. I was meaning the speciality restaurants, not the MDR. As far as I can tell, the ability to pre book tables in the MDR when on Freedom Dining is unique to Arvia?
 

If I can book (and pay for) 6 people in one booking in the Speciality restaurants then that’s great. From all the reviews I’ve read recently, I can see us potentially avoiding the MDR other than for breakfast! Chefs Table doesn’t particularly appeal with it being in the buffet, but if the others in our party want to try it can we also book a table for 6 for that, or are you forced to share a table with others?

[TigerB]

21 minutes ago, Colsers said:

Do you mean their's a choice of dining (freedom and club dining)? Can you download the my holiday app before boarding?

 

No, there's not; it's just as terrierjohn has pointed out, those times appear to be available to book at the moment.

 

If you are in the terminal and can pick up the ship's wi-fi, you can download and log into My Holiday by using the last few digits on your boarding pass. But that is probably only useful if you are boarding at Southampton and waiting a while. If you are flying out, you may well get on the ship fairly quickly, so that advice would be redundant.

Before flying out, you can make limited bookings on your Cruise Planner.

[TigerB]

26 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

Thanks. I was meaning the speciality restaurants, not the MDR. As far as I can tell, the ability to pre book tables in the MDR when on Freedom Dining is unique to Arvia?
 

If I can book (and pay for) 6 people in one booking in the Speciality restaurants then that’s great. From all the reviews I’ve read recently, I can see us potentially avoiding the MDR other than for breakfast! Chefs Table doesn’t particularly appeal with it being in the buffet, but if the others in our party want to try it can we also book a table for 6 for that, or are you forced to share a table with others?

 

Ah! My mistake, I thought you were going on Arvia.

My advice about the speciality restaurants still applies, as you have gathered.

 

The larger tables in the MDRs seat six and eight, so your party can sit together without having to share with others.

[Selbourne]

1 minute ago, TigerB said:

 

Ah! My mistake, I thought you were going on Arvia.

My advice about the speciality restaurants still applies, as you have gathered.

 

The larger tables in the MDRs seat six and eight, so your party can sit together without having to share with others.

No worries. My question about not having to share was relating to the Chefs Table, which I believe is held in a cordoned off area of the buffet.

[TigerB]

2 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

No worries. My question about not having to share was relating to the Chefs Table, which I believe is held in a cordoned off area of the buffet.

 

They use the same tables in there as they do when it is used as part of the buffet, so the largest table will seat six. Obviously, there aren't as many as there are in the MDRs; however, as you're booking ahead they'll be able to accommodate you, even if they have to put two four seaters together.

[Selbourne]

Just now, TigerB said:

 

They use the same tables in there as they do when it is used as part of the buffet, so the largest table will seat six. Obviously, there aren't as many as there are in the MDRs; however, as you're booking ahead they'll be able to accommodate you, even if they have to put two four seaters together.

Thanks. What I wouldn’t want if they put two tables for 4 together is a couple joining us to fill the last 2 seats. The last time we used Club Dining in the MDR my wife and I were seated with a group of 6 who clearly were miffed that they had to share, hence why we always use Freedom Dining now as we can share when we want to and dine alone if we prefer.

 

I know how the MDR and the speciality restaurants work, but the Chefs Table concept is new to us (well, it’s not, but we have done the proper Chefs Table which was restricted to 12 guests in a private dining room at £75 a head - I know that this is a very different experience) but our travelling companions don’t like sharing with strangers. 

[TigerB]

2 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

Thanks. What I wouldn’t want if they put two tables for 4 together is a couple joining us to fill the last 2 seats. The last time we used Club Dining in the MDR my wife and I were seated with a group of 6 who clearly were miffed that they had to share, hence why we always use Freedom Dining now as we can share when we want to and dine alone if we prefer.

 

I know how the MDR and the speciality restaurants work, but the Chefs Table concept is new to us (well, it’s not, but we have done the proper Chefs Table which was restricted to 12 guests in a private dining room at £75 a head - I know that this is a very different experience) but our travelling companions don’t like sharing with strangers. 

 

You'll be okay, I'm sure.

When you book ahead, you can tick a box to indicate whether you want a private table or are prepared to share; well, that was the case when I booked our MDR slots, so I would expect it to be the same for Chef's Table.

For peace of mind just pop to the restaurant as soon as it opens and have a word with the Restaurant Host. "Right fella/lass, don't be thinking about putting a pair of boring farts on our table who will bang on all evening about how many cruises they've done, and it's not like it was in the old days". 🤭

[Colsers]

1 hour ago, solentsam said:

if on Iona or Arvia there is only freedom dining. yes you can download my holiday page  https://myholiday.pocruises.com/ (its not an app) but will not work unless you are either on board or very close to the ship 

Thank you solentsam. Yes just as I thought, Freedom dining before you sail on Arvia if you want to dine between 5-6pm, anything later then you need to chance it until onboard and book through the website you gave.

Our Azura cruise recently had this way of booking entertainment, however dining in mdr was booked in advance ie. 2nd sitting table of 6 at time of booking. It's unfortunate, for us anyway, as we know what time we like to dine and would rather have this put in place before we board so we can relax and not have to go online to book dining. Amazingly we have been able to book limelight club dining in advance as we were paying in advance! Albeit a smaller venue and they need to monitor the numbers I suppose. 🤔

[Colsers]

1 hour ago, TigerB said:

 

No, there's not; it's just as terrierjohn has pointed out, those times appear to be available to book at the moment.

 

If you are in the terminal and can pick up the ship's wi-fi, you can download and log into My Holiday by using the last few digits on your boarding pass. But that is probably only useful if you are boarding at Southampton and waiting a while. If you are flying out, you may well get on the ship fairly quickly, so that advice would be redundant.

Before flying out, you can make limited bookings on your Cruise Planner.

Thank you TigerB, yes we've used the cruise planner to book a few things in advance, however we were disappointed that the only "freedom" dining we could book in advance for mdr was between 5-6pm!

[amajaa]

Do they ever do any offers on the Specialty Dining on board as I don’t want to book beforehand as have OBC to use up? They used to give discounts and/or a free bottle of wine in Sindhu if you booked an early slot pre Covid.

[TigerB]

12 minutes ago, Colsers said:

Thank you TigerB, yes we've used the cruise planner to book a few things in advance, however we were disappointed that the only "freedom" dining we could book in advance for mdr was between 5-6pm!

 

You're welcome.🙂

What's your desired time for eating? I was able to book a table for four at 18:30 every evening; that though was as soon as the bookings opened on the Cruise Planner, at least two weeks before we sailed.

There could be several reasons why your desired time may not be available. One reason may be that you are joining mid-cruise and folk already onboard may have taken the available slots. Or they are popular times, so are being kept back for the virtual queuing system. Also, we sailed from Southampton, so everyone was in the same boat (pun intended) and all had the same chance of picking slots.

It may well be that, once you are on board, you may strike lucky in booking on My Holiday. If you get lucky on your first attempt but cannot book other nights, you could approach the restaurant host with a smile and ask if you could get the same slot each evening. Asking costs nothing!😉

[TigerB]

6 minutes ago, amajaa said:

Do they ever do any offers on the Specialty Dining on board as I don’t want to book beforehand as have OBC to use up? They used to give discounts and/or a free bottle of wine in Sindhu if you booked an early slot pre Covid.

 

I've not seen anything like that recently, but when we were on Britannia about five years ago there was a table out with crew trying to drum up business; there may have been some kind of incentive, but I've slept since then, so cannot say what it was.

Personally, I like to book speciality restaurants before we board, as for me, the 20% discount and additional Peninsular discount is a more attractive option. We can always find something to spend the OBC on.

[Selbourne]

34 minutes ago, Colsers said:

we were disappointed that the only "freedom" dining we could book in advance for mdr was between 5-6pm!

Of course, the whole point of Freedom Dining is that pre-booking should not be an option at all, at any time! It should be first come, first served, which has always worked very well. The hybrid system on Arvia, where Freedom and selected fixed dining operate in tandem in the same MDR, sounds like a recipe for disaster to me and I’m not at all surprised to read some of the recent reviews of the issues that this causes. It’s fine for those who want to dine at a fixed time every night (which isn’t an advertised service on Arvia) but less satisfactory for those who enjoy the flexibility that proper Freedom Dining affords (which is the advertised service)!

[Selbourne]

34 minutes ago, amajaa said:

Do they ever do any offers on the Specialty Dining on board as I don’t want to book beforehand as have OBC to use up? They used to give discounts and/or a free bottle of wine in Sindhu if you booked an early slot pre Covid.

It always used to be the case that on the first night, when fewer people tend to use speciality restaurants, you could get a half price deal (or similar) on board. You couldn’t get this offer by booking in advance, so it was always wise not to pre book for the first night.
 

However, P&O seem to have changed almost everything now, with pre-booking and / or queues (virtual or physical) being a requirement for most dining or entertainment related activities, so I suspect that this offer has disappeared. 
 

It’s always a fine balance when it comes to OBC. If you pre-book you can get Peninsular discount off the price (as well as any pre-booking discount) but cannot use your OBC. If you book on board your OBC is used up first and, for as long as you have OBC, you get no loyalty discount applied. So it’s a case of how much OBC do you have. If you are likely to use all your OBC on drinks and other things on board, then pre-book. If you have loads of OBC and are going to struggle to use it all, book on board. 

[amajaa]

1 hour ago, Selbourne said:

It always used to be the case that on the first night, when fewer people tend to use speciality restaurants, you could get a half price deal (or similar) on board. You couldn’t get this offer by booking in advance, so it was always wise not to pre book for the first night.
 

However, P&O seem to have changed almost everything now, with pre-booking and / or queues (virtual or physical) being a requirement for most dining or entertainment related activities, so I suspect that this offer has disappeared. 
 

It’s always a fine balance when it comes to OBC. If you pre-book you can get Peninsular discount off the price (as well as any pre-booking discount) but cannot use your OBC. If you book on board your OBC is used up first and, for as long as you have OBC, you get no loyalty discount applied. So it’s a case of how much OBC do you have. If you are likely to use all your OBC on drinks and other things on board, then pre-book. If you have loads of OBC and are going to struggle to use it all, book on board. 

Yes we do have a lot and will struggle to spend it as don’t drink, well only very occasionally so perhaps once or twice on a 14 day cruise we might have a drink.