Was this a fluke or miracle?

[YWW]

60 days out (a few weeks ago) we immediately logged in the MVJ to secure the excursions and specialty restaurants reservations. We did OK snapping up most of the excursions we wanted with a few sold out. However, no luck selecting specialty restaurant reservations for the first 10 days of the cruise since nothing was available so we did the best we could selecting 8pm or later dinner reservations for the rest of the cruise which was way too late for dinner for us. Our plan was to get on board to secure specialty restaurant reservation and to change to earlier dining time. Fast forward to couple of days ago. I logged in to MVJ just to check on things and I was absolutely stunned to see lots of dinner times and dates available with both Manfredi's and Chef's Table from day 1 on out. Same thing happened in the excursions that sold out excursions previously were now available. Needless to say I took advantage of this and booked the exact dinner time and day we wanted as well as signing up the previously sold out excursions. Question to the seasoned Viking Ocean cruisers ... has anything like this ever happened to you? Why would sold out excursions and specialty restaurants unavailable dates and times suddenly open up again?

[philw1776]

Not I said the cat.
But reservations easy to get once onboard in my experiences.

[CILCIANRQTS]

A better terminology when you can’t get reservations early in the process would be “Not currently available”, as “Sold Out” at that point certainly does not mean all possible slots have been taken already.

[MELSMOM47]

I thought we didn’t need to book the regular dining room. Just the two specialty restaurants. Did I mess that up?

[LindaS272]

4 minutes ago, MELSMOM47 said:

I thought we didn’t need to book the regular dining room. Just the two specialty restaurants. Did I mess that up?

No—you don’t need to book the MDR.

[CDR2001]

 From our limited experience, I think the new availability of excursions and dining has to do with folks changing their minds and cancelling, as well as perhaps things opening up. 

Edited April 22, 2023 by CDR2001

[MELSMOM47]

Thanks!

[LindaS272]

1 hour ago, YWW said:

60 days out (a few weeks ago) we immediately logged in the MVJ to secure the excursions and specialty restaurants reservations. We did OK snapping up most of the excursions we wanted with a few sold out. However, no luck selecting specialty restaurant reservations for the first 10 days of the cruise since nothing was available so we did the best we could selecting 8pm or later dinner reservations for the rest of the cruise which was way too late for dinner for us. Our plan was to get on board to secure specialty restaurant reservation and to change to earlier dining time. Fast forward to couple of days ago. I logged in to MVJ just to check on things and I was absolutely stunned to see lots of dinner times and dates available with both Manfredi's and Chef's Table from day 1 on out. Same thing happened in the excursions that sold out excursions previously were now available. Needless to say I took advantage of this and booked the exact dinner time and day we wanted as well as signing up the previously sold out excursions. Question to the seasoned Viking Ocean cruisers ... has anything like this ever happened to you? Why would sold out excursions and specialty restaurants unavailable dates and times suddenly open up again?

Viking told someone on one of these threads that they might decide to open up all the reservations for the CT & Manfredi’s. I think during Covid they had only opened 30-50% for reservations beforehand but have gotten lots of complaints.

 

As for the excursions—depending on the cruise, many are being shifted around as Viking is able to secure more vendors.

[Jim Avery]

Only Viking understands how it works and mostly I am not sure of them.  We never bother.  Just go day by day once onboard.  It's really an attempt to create "perks" for the upper class..🥃

[FlyerTalker]

It's a psychological ploy to get you to book future cruises in a higher category, so that you don't have this issue in the future.

 

😀

 

(As good an answer as any)

[CCWineLover]

2 hours ago, YWW said:

60 days out (a few weeks ago) we immediately logged in the MVJ to secure the excursions and specialty restaurants reservations. We did OK snapping up most of the excursions we wanted with a few sold out. However, no luck selecting specialty restaurant reservations for the first 10 days of the cruise since nothing was available so we did the best we could selecting 8pm or later dinner reservations for the rest of the cruise which was way too late for dinner for us. Our plan was to get on board to secure specialty restaurant reservation and to change to earlier dining time. Fast forward to couple of days ago. I logged in to MVJ just to check on things and I was absolutely stunned to see lots of dinner times and dates available with both Manfredi's and Chef's Table from day 1 on out. Same thing happened in the excursions that sold out excursions previously were now available. Needless to say I took advantage of this and booked the exact dinner time and day we wanted as well as signing up the previously sold out excursions. Question to the seasoned Viking Ocean cruisers ... has anything like this ever happened to you? Why would sold out excursions and specialty restaurants unavailable dates and times suddenly open up again?

Curios - what itineraries and what date are these for?

[stcroixguy]

Same thing happened to me.  We are doing the viking shores and fjords may 22.  I logged into my viking journey yesterday and lots of openings for dining at the speciality restaurants.  

[MELSMOM47]

When I log on I see that I have no availability because I already have a reservation. Do I need to cancel to see if there are dates/times that I might prefer? 🤔

[Jim Avery]

1 hour ago, FlyerTalker said:

It's a psychological ploy to get you to book future cruises in a higher category, so that you don't have this issue in the future.

 

😀

 

(As good an answer as any)

And it seems to work as many people get in quite a lather over not being allowed to book a dinner rez months out.😎

[FlyerTalker]

"I'm sorry sir, but we are completely booked up and there is no room for you and your party."

 

"If Prince Harry showed up to have dinner here, would you be able to seat him?"

 

"Well, we'd be able to accommodate him."

 

"Guess what - Harry's not showing up tonight, so why don't you give me his table."

 

 

Edited April 22, 2023 by FlyerTalker

[Moonlion]

3 hours ago, MELSMOM47 said:

When I log on I see that I have no availability because I already have a reservation. Do I need to cancel to see if there are dates/times that I might prefer? 🤔

The MVJ website is very clunky.  Once you book an excursion, you can't see what other times are available unless you cancel your reservation.  Then you have to hope that, if another time you want is sold out, you can get your original time back.  Alternatively, you can use the chat function and ask the online agent if there is availability at other times.  I've done that several times and it usually works well. 

[MICHE99]

Everything should work as well as Cruise Critic 🤷🏼‍♀️ 

[YWW]

19 hours ago, CCWineLover said:

Curios - what itineraries and what date are these for?

Mediterranean & Adriatic Sojourn from Barcelona to Athens June 9-30.

[YWW]

21 hours ago, CILCIANRQTS said:

A better terminology when you can’t get reservations early in the process would be “Not currently available”, as “Sold Out” at that point certainly does not mean all possible slots have been taken already.

When no dates and times were available for the first 10 days of our cruise for the specialty restaurants, I actually called Viking customer service to enquire why. She said all dates and slots were all taken by the passengers in the higher cabin categories. However, she added that I should check back every so often should things open up or simply wait till after boarding to enquire availability. 

[YWW]

15 hours ago, Moonlion said:

The MVJ website is very clunky.  Once you book an excursion, you can't see what other times are available unless you cancel your reservation.  Then you have to hope that, if another time you want is sold out, you can get your original time back.  Alternatively, you can use the chat function and ask the online agent if there is availability at other times.  I've done that several times and it usually works well. 

If something opens up on a sold out excursion, it should say how many openings are still left. At least that was what happened to the sold out excursions we wanted. Either Viking added more tours or passengers canceled. Just a guess.

[Moonlion]

2 minutes ago, YWW said:

If something opens up on a sold out excursion, it should say how many openings are still left. At least that was what happened to the sold out excursions we wanted. Either Viking added more tours or passengers canceled. Just a guess.

For excursions that offer multiple times (for example, included excursions often have 4-5 time slots available), you can't see what other times are available once you've booked the excursion. If you cancel your booking, only then can you see all the other available or sold out times. When I used the chat function, even the online agent was surprised that we couldn't see the other available times once booked. The agent was able to look up on their system what was left for the excursion. 

[Peregrina651]

On 4/22/2023 at 11:13 AM, YWW said:

Question to the seasoned Viking Ocean cruisers ... has anything like this ever happened to you? Why would sold out excursions and specialty restaurants unavailable dates and times suddenly open up again?

 

Okay, I'm seasoned. Here's what I think -- and it is supposition based on two things.

 

1. Once upon a time, in the good old days, before the pandemic, all of the seats in the specialty restaurants were available for pre-departure booking. Since the re-start in 2021, for whatever reasons, only a small percentage have been made available -- and we have seen the raft of complaints and angst that scheme generated.

 

2. Last week folks were complaining about not being able to get into MVJ; there is a whole thread about it. Seems to me that anytime techies are in there working, changing things, adding things, deleting things, we have troubles getting in.

 

Therefore, I'm wondering if the techies were in there last week restoring the old "all seats are available for booking" scheme. It would account for the sudden availability of so many time slots. (Cancellations could only account for a few openings).

 

But as I said this is only a guess and we won't know for sure until we hear reports from those who are actually using MVJ to make reservations.

 

 

[CCWineLover]

On 4/23/2023 at 11:25 AM, Peregrina651 said:

 

But as I said this is only a guess and we won't know for sure until we hear reports from those who are actually using MVJ to make reservations.

 

 

Also seasoned on Viking Oceans - and agree with your suppositions.

 

I do have a data point in the last day regarding specialty reservations.  On our June cruise, there was just about nothing open when we could book at 60 days.  (some 9:00 reservations).  Just went in yesterday and literally a whole slew of reservations (mostly 6:00 and 6:30) for nearly every day of the cruise were suddenly available to pick - so we did!

 

This would seem to support the theory that Viking has implemented the pre-COVID restaurant booking scheme.  Now whether they are still holding some % back (but a much lesser %) is another question.