Food and dining on P&O ships

[Selbourne]

1 hour ago, Megabear2 said:

I'd say the complete opposite of Selbourne (sorry it's becoming a habit today).  When you say flexibility you presumably mean if you aren't ready by 6.30 you can go a little later or earlier.  With the flexible dining you can actually book a table for the same time in the same restaurant on your first night if its timed up to 6.30pm.  Therefore if your parents wanted to dine early every day at a regular time they could and you could join them as and when.  Obviously you don't all have to eat at the same time every day if you don't wish. By doing this everyone can be flexible - assuming you're all happy to be a unit.

 

Of Britannia's three dining rooms only one is club dining nowadays so the flexibility option would in my experience offer you the easiest opportunity to drop in and out time wise.  Of course your parents may prefer the club dining as they wish to dine with others, but they could also have the option to share in the freedom dining rooms when you do not wish to dine together.

 

The staff on Britannia are in my experience very welcoming to young children in all the restaurants and will bend over backwards to help where they can.

Don’t worry - we are allowed to have different opinions 😉. You are, of course, quite correct. I had overlooked the fact that Freedom Dining has changed on some ships and is now not as advertised, being a sort of hybrid mix of freedom and club dining. The scenario that you describe would work perfectly in this instance. 

[jh1809]

On 4/21/2023 at 5:35 PM, oAlgo said:

Hi, We´re going on Britannia to the Fjords on the 5th of May and the dining bookings opened today, but the website only allows me to pre-book the Limelight Club.
Isn´t it possible to pre-book Sindhu or Epicurean?
I know I can do it once on board, but would be nice to already have all our specialty meals pre booked.
TIA!

I noticed that for my cruise on Arcadia this summer, rather hidden away in the cruise personaliser it says that the specialty restaurants will be available to book from two weeks before the start of the cruise. It seems likely that that would be the same across the fleet.

[Selbourne]

5 minutes ago, jh1809 said:

I noticed that for my cruise on Arcadia this summer, rather hidden away in the cruise personaliser it says that the specialty restaurants will be available to book from two weeks before the start of the cruise. It seems likely that that would be the same across the fleet.

As discussed earlier in this thread, it seems to now vary by ship. With Arvia and Iona you can pre book most speciality restaurants before you cruise. With the other ships it says that you can only pre book selected restaurants but, in reality, some are finding that you can’t even do that and can only pre book the Limelight Club, even though the cruise Personaliser clearly states that other restaurants can be booked 2 weeks in advance. It’s all a bit up in the air at the moment. 

[Host Sharon]

27 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

I did try to stop the posts being here. My posts were actually about fares and I was going to suggest they were moved to the good deals available thread, it was however 3.30am so thought I'd do it today.

 

I've now notified Sharon accordingly.

Unfortunately the technology won't allow individual posts to be merged to a thread, only two threads can be merged so you will have to repost bargain offers in the correct place please.  

 

[oAlgo]

12 hours ago, jh1809 said:

I noticed that for my cruise on Arcadia this summer, rather hidden away in the cruise personaliser it says that the specialty restaurants will be available to book from two weeks before the start of the cruise. It seems likely that that would be the same across the fleet.

As I said, on Britannia at this moment it says that I can pre-book the specialty restaurants (we embark in 12 days), but when I go to do it, it says "Please enquire on board" on all of them except the Limelight Club. Seems like it works on some ships and not on others.
I am checking every day and will report if I can book any of them before I get on the ship.
I´m planning to book specialty restaurants for every night except the 2 scenic fjord cruising evenings, which I will probably eat as fast as possible in the buffet just to get back out to see the views again, or order a meal in the cabin and have it in the balcony with a nice wine (if it´s not too cold)

Edited April 23, 2023 by oAlgo

[tring]

5 minutes ago, oAlgo said:

As I said, on Britannia at this moment it says that I can pre-book the specialty restaurants (we embark in 12 days), but when I go to do it, it says "Please enquire on board" on all of them except the Limelight Club. Seems like it works on some ships and not on others.
I am checking every day and will report if I can book any of them before I get on the ship.
I´m planning to book speciality for every night except the 2 scenic fjord cruising evening, that I will probably eat as fast as possible in the buffet just to get back out to see the views again, or order a meal in the cabin and have it in the balcony with a nice wine (if it´s not too cold)

 

The self service is good on the scenic cruising nights if you can get a table by a window.

 

[Selbourne]

10 minutes ago, Host Sharon said:

Unfortunately the technology won't allow individual posts to be merged to a thread, only two threads can be merged so you will have to repost bargain offers in the correct place please.  

 

Where have you moved the posts Sharon? I appreciate that we had drifted off topic (as most threads do) but I don’t believe that there was anything contentious and it was an interesting debate, but I can’t find them?

[Megabear2]

2 hours ago, Selbourne said:

Where have you moved the posts Sharon? I appreciate that we had drifted off topic (as most threads do) but I don’t believe that there was anything contentious and it was an interesting debate, but I can’t find them?

I'm afraid they've been deleted, see above they couldn't be merged without the whole thread.  I'll try to give you my figures again on bargain offers.

[Selbourne]

6 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

I'm afraid they've been deleted, see above they couldn't be merged without the whole thread.  I'll try to give you my figures again on bargain offers.

What a shame. Don’t worry. It was primarily to respond to ICFs comments and to illustrate that we are paying very little more for a balcony than he is prepared to pay for an inside. I fail to see why they had to be deleted. Very few threads on this forum don’t drift into other things. No harm in that IMHO as long as they are cruise related 🤷‍♂️

[Host Sharon]

3 hours ago, Selbourne said:

Where have you moved the posts Sharon? I appreciate that we had drifted off topic (as most threads do) but I don’t believe that there was anything contentious and it was an interesting debate, but I can’t find them?

As I said, I was not able to move individual threads so have hidden them to bring this thread back on track. There wasn't anything contentious but you will need to repost on the correct thread please. I appreciate there is thread drift on most but this one was created purely to help everyone with the new dining arrangements and it isn't helpful if they come here and only see bargain offers.

[Ardennais]

Buffet tonight:

 

[carlanthony24]

27 minutes ago, Ardennais said:

Buffet tonight:

 

What ship are you on and does that mean themed buffet nights are back?

[Ardennais]

Britannia. Yes. We’ve also had Indian and British. 

[terrierjohn]

34 minutes ago, Ardennais said:

Britannia. Yes. We’ve also had Indian and British. 

Can you obtain a schedule of the planned theme dinners from customer service, like you could pre covid.

[Ardennais]

4 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

Can you obtain a schedule of the planned theme dinners from customer service, like you could pre covid.

Didn’t know you could do that! I’ll ask someone if I remember. 

[carlanthony24]

5 hours ago, Ardennais said:

Britannia. Yes. We’ve also had Indian and British. 

Perfect thank you.

[terrierjohn]

4 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

Can you obtain a schedule of the planned theme dinners from customer service, like you could pre covid.

 

39 minutes ago, Ardennais said:

Didn’t know you could do that! I’ll ask someone if I remember. 

They used to have a listing by day which showed arrival and departure time, dress code, themed buffet dinners, any time changes, plus some other items I cannot remember.

[Ardennais]

3 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

 

They used to have a listing by day which showed arrival and departure time, dress code, themed buffet dinners, any time changes, plus some other items I cannot remember.

I remember now that there used to be a sort of overview in the cabin on arrival. Nothing this time and I keep everything! 

[terrierjohn]

4 hours ago, Ardennais said:

I remember now that there used to be a sort of overview in the cabin on arrival. Nothing this time and I keep everything! 

Yes there was an overview of the entertainment, but I guess the app has meant there is no need for that. Although the app only gives you one week at a time, whereas even on a 35nt cruise you had most of the entertainment listed as you boarded.

[Megabear2]

When dining opens for your cruise on Arvia/Iona is it only the first week that's bookable at that point?  If so does the second week open before boarding or can you only do it onboard?

 

Mine has just opened overnight for 14 May and I've obtained my bookings for week 1 and The Limelight Club in week two however nothing is bookable in week 2 including pay and non pay restaurants. I get a message saying Availability Has Changed for everything including the MDRs.

 

If this is normal and they will open at a later date do you have any idea when it might happen?  I'd hoped to sort things before boarding if possible.  

 

Thanks.

[purplesea]

 

2 hours ago, Megabear2 said:

When dining opens for your cruise on Arvia/Iona is it only the first week that's bookable at that point?  If so does the second week open before boarding or can you only do it onboard?

 

Mine has just opened overnight for 14 May and I've obtained my bookings for week 1 and The Limelight Club in week two however nothing is bookable in week 2 including pay and non pay restaurants. I get a message saying Availability Has Changed for everything including the MDRs.

 

If this is normal and they will open at a later date do you have any idea when it might happen?  I'd hoped to sort things before boarding if possible.  

 

Thanks. 

I am on this cruie too, but can't book anything! 

[Megabear2]

4 minutes ago, purplesea said:

 

I am on this cruie too, but can't book anything! 

The Arvia situation just got more insane!  I have booked and paid for select dining choices for my first week, together with MDR, Olive Grove and The Limelight Club (that one believe it or not is for week 2). I did this at 2.30am this morning (the cat woke me up so decided to have a hot drink and see if it was working!).  I have receipts.  Just now after speaking to my BIL I went back in, just in case.  Now you can't book any dining at all, all greyed out and coming soon!  This seems to suggest either the slots are now all full (unlikely I thought but you can never tell) or they're resetting the website yet again.  Thankfully I have receipts because my itinerary no longer has any dining in it.

 

And it's a Sunday/Bank Holiday so no one's working at P&O.  There's absolutely no way at all I'm wasting my time on this while I'm on QM2 so it now looks like I won't be speaking to anyone about this latest mess until after the Jubilee weekend because yet again we get off QM2 on a Sunday/Bank Holiday.

 

I am so unimpressed.

[purplesea]

5 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

The Arvia situation just got more insane!  I have booked and paid for select dining choices for my first week, together with MDR, Olive Grove and The Limelight Club (that one believe it or not is for week 2). I did this at 2.30am this morning (the cat woke me up so decided to have a hot drink and see if it was working!).  I have receipts.  Just now after speaking to my BIL I went back in, just in case.  Now you can't book any dining at all, all greyed out and coming soon!  This seems to suggest either the slots are now all full (unlikely I thought but you can never tell) or they're resetting the website yet again.  Thankfully I have receipts because my itinerary no longer has any dining in it.

 

And it's a Sunday/Bank Holiday so no one's working at P&O.  There's absolutely no way at all I'm wasting my time on this while I'm on QM2 so it now looks like I won't be speaking to anyone about this latest mess until after the Jubilee weekend because yet again we get off QM2 on a Sunday/Bank Holiday.

 

I am so unimpressed.

 

 

 

By having receipts you have a least got proof that you have booked and paid for dining.

I too want to book Olive Grove and a few more.

I have got enough stress going on at the minute, trying to work out how to get up to Southampton, plus other issues, without having to monitor this too!

 

[Megabear2]

1 minute ago, purplesea said:

 

 

 

By having receipts you have a least got proof that you have booked and paid for dining.

I too want to book Olive Grove and a few more.

I have got enough stress going on at the minute, trying to work out how to get up to Southampton, plus other issues, without having to monitor this too!

 

Totally unfair of them to not to have it right.  I wondered how many other night owls might have booked and assumedly now face my problem.  Yours on the other hand is even worse.

 

If push comes to shove I will have to use Quays or buffet but not really want I expected.  It's just very much a down after all the excitement of the last few days.

 

I hope you get sorted for your transport okay.

[terrierjohn]

10 minutes ago, Megabear2 said:

The Arvia situation just got more insane!  I have booked and paid for select dining choices for my first week, together with MDR, Olive Grove and The Limelight Club (that one believe it or not is for week 2). I did this at 2.30am this morning (the cat woke me up so decided to have a hot drink and see if it was working!).  I have receipts.  Just now after speaking to my BIL I went back in, just in case.  Now you can't book any dining at all, all greyed out and coming soon!  This seems to suggest either the slots are now all full (unlikely I thought but you can never tell) or they're resetting the website yet again.  Thankfully I have receipts because my itinerary no longer has any dining in it.

 

And it's a Sunday/Bank Holiday so no one's working at P&O.  There's absolutely no way at all I'm wasting my time on this while I'm on QM2 so it now looks like I won't be speaking to anyone about this latest mess until after the Jubilee weekend because yet again we get off QM2 on a Sunday/Bank Holiday.

 

I am so unimpressed.

You are stressing yourself unnecessarily, there should still be time to book venues even if you dont board till 4:00 pm. However I doubt there will be much of a queue so late in the day, so maybe aim to arrive a little after 3, and if you explain that you cant stand for long they will probably let you wait in the downstairs area which should enable you to log on to the ships app using the last 6 numbers on your boarding pass.