No specialty dining reservations available months before cruise date?

[Phantom_Celery]

First time on Viking. Is it common for reservations for Manfredis’s and Chef’s Table to be completely booked for all nights all times months before the cruise starts? Currently all options are greyed out even though reservations are allegedly open for my cabin class (and received a notification). Does this mean because I waited a couple days after they opened until I had time to log in that I simply won’t be able to reserve at all (and will miss out), or is there some trick / onboard way to do it?

 Thanks!

[Snowcat1]

Your delay in trying to book reservations probably contributed to everything being booked. Most people, me included, booked the minute we were able to. But they hold some reservations back so you should be able to book when you board the ship.

[CurlerRob]

27 minutes ago, Phantom_Celery said:

First time on Viking. Is it common for reservations for Manfredis’s and Chef’s Table to be completely booked for all nights all times months before the cruise starts? Currently all options are greyed out even though reservations are allegedly open for my cabin class (and received a notification). Does this mean because I waited a couple days after they opened until I had time to log in that I simply won’t be able to reserve at all (and will miss out), or is there some trick / onboard way to do it?

 Thanks!

There have been numerous threads on this board discussing specialty reservations - this is one of the latest ones, and has some good info worth a look:

 

 

Overall, don't panic - pax have constantly reported that once on board, they have had few issues in accessing the specialties - either by using the Viking app, registering with the restaurant desk or just showing up and asking. There appears to be a lot of churn in the reservations once the cruise starts. 🍺🥌

 

[Phantom_Celery]

23 minutes ago, Snowcat1 said:

Your delay in trying to book reservations probably contributed to everything being booked. Most people, me included, booked the minute we were able to. But they hold some reservations back so you should be able to book when you board the ship.

I guess this is the world of big ship cruising……

[Spurlady]

Try the chat feature on My Viking Journey.  If you are in a DV room, I believe that you are guaranteed a reservation.  They should be able to help.

 

[Peregrina651]

4 hours ago, Spurlady said:

Try the chat feature on My Viking Journey.  If you are in a DV room, I believe that you are guaranteed a reservation.  They should be able to help.

 

 

Alas, the word "guaranteed" currently does not appear in the description. I noticed when I went looking for something the other day.

 

I've snipped a bit from the website description of the Stateroom Features for PV and DV (because they line up so nicely). Here's the link to where I snipped it from: https://www.vikingcruises.com/oceans/ships/viking-star.html.  I also don't know that they mean by "priority" reservations in their description or if priority implies "guarantee."

 

 

 

[Jim Avery]

6 hours ago, Phantom_Celery said:

I guess this is the world of big ship cruising……

But Viking is a "small ship" and this is such a contrived perk.  Do you really know what you want to eat months in advance?

[photopro2]

8 hours ago, Peregrina651 said:

Alas, the word "guaranteed" currently does not appear in the description. I noticed when I went looking for something the other day.

Thanks for the heads up @Peregrina651 You spotted that before I did! The word "guaranteed" in that context was just advertising hype and was being ignored from a practical point of view - I am happy to see it go. Exactly what "priority" means remains to be seen.

 

I very much agree with your advice to the OP that there is no need to panic. Recent posts do suggest that reservation slots are added to MVJ from time to time and so it is a good idea to recheck the platform regularly. Also, in the vast majority of cases, this becomes a non-issue once on board and we have almost always been able to dine in speciality restaurants on our preferred dates, although perhaps not at exactly our preferred times. 

 

6 hours ago, Jim Avery said:

Do you really know what you want to eat months in advance?

No Jim, but we do sometimes know far in advance that we wish to celebrate an anniversary in a specialist restaurant on a particular date. Or maybe we want to eat in one of those restaurants on an evening we know we can have a later start (and chance to recover) the next day 😁

 

[TayanaLorna]

I think "priority" means ES has priority over PS, PS over PV, PV over DV and DV over V.  V has no priority.

[Phantom_Celery]

8 hours ago, Jim Avery said:

But Viking is a "small ship" and this is such a contrived perk.  Do you really know what you want to eat months in advance?

No, but it would be nice to try each of the restaurants at least once. Nicer still if it’s not a scramble to do so.

[Jim Avery]

1 hour ago, Phantom_Celery said:

No, but it would be nice to try each of the restaurants at least once. Nicer still if it’s not a scramble to do so.

In a bit over 9 months on Viking ships, all but 11 days in a DV, we have never booked a restaurant prior to boarding.  Once onboard we have never had a problem dining where we want, when we want, including Manfredi's private room.  You are causing yourself unnecessary worry.

[Cubs Fan]

Last June was our 1st Viking Ocean Cruise and we had difficulties getting reservations that were not 8:30 pm, etc.  At that time there were no shared table due to some continuing Covid protocols and we were only 2 people.  We noticed that there were lots of larger tables available when we dined in the Specialty Restaurants.  This year I was concerned about the same issue for our July 7th cruise so I chose the Shared Table option and I think there was only 1 time I couldn’t get.  Once you get on board, you should be able to make some arrangements at the “Dining Desk” which is located next to the Customer Service area.

[Phantom_Celery]

22 minutes ago, Jim Avery said:

In a bit over 9 months on Viking ships, all but 11 days in a DV, we have never booked a restaurant prior to boarding.  Once onboard we have never had a problem dining where we want, when we want, including Manfredi's private room.  You are causing yourself unnecessary worry.

Great to know, thanks!!

[YWW]

17 hours ago, Phantom_Celery said:

First time on Viking. Is it common for reservations for Manfredis’s and Chef’s Table to be completely booked for all nights all times months before the cruise starts? Currently all options are greyed out even though reservations are allegedly open for my cabin class (and received a notification). Does this mean because I waited a couple days after they opened until I had time to log in that I simply won’t be able to reserve at all (and will miss out), or is there some trick / onboard way to do it?

 Thanks!

Don't lose hope. I was in the same exact boat you were in trying to book the specialty restaurants 60 days out. The first 10 days of our 21-day cruise were totally blacked out (full). I was shocked since I logged in at the exact time when reservations opened up for our DV category cabin. I thought it was a systems problem so I called Viking and rep told me all those 10 days were full with no open time slots because they were all picked by higher category cabins passengers. The remaining 11 days of cruise we could only find dinner time slot at 8 or 8:30pm (way too late for us). Viking rep told us to check the My Viking Journey account frequently or simply ask Viking dining staff once we get on ship. 3 weeks after my initial logged on, a "miracle" happened because all dinner time slots in Manfredi's and Chefs Table opened up for our entire journey. It was a total shock and I took advantage of it and booked the day and time we wanted. The once full excursions also opened up. Some of the seasoned Viking ocean cruisers explained that many specialty restaurants time slots and seats were held back initially but released later. Suggest you check your MVJ account daily for any changes. Good luck.

[photopro2]

4 hours ago, TayanaLorna said:

I think "priority" means ES has priority over PS, PS over PV, PV over DV and DV over V.  V has no priority.

That is certainly correct as far as the hierarchy goes, but it still remains to be seen what "priority" means in real terms. 

 

Having "priority" is rather academic if 100% of the available booking slots have already been taken by those in your cabin category and above, as seem to be the case with the OP. It will be interesting to see if Viking make available sufficient timeslots to fulfil the number of priority bookings theoretically offered to those in DV cabins and above. Fortunately, this may be the case as the post by @YWW suggests.

Edited May 7, 2023 by photopro2
added last line

[May B]

2 hours ago, Jim Avery said:

In a bit over 9 months on Viking ships, all but 11 days in a DV, we have never booked a restaurant prior to boarding.  Once onboard we have never had a problem dining where we want, when we want, including Manfredi's private room.  You are causing yourself unnecessary worry.

Hi Jim, nice to be chatting with you here.

 

It sounds like I have missed something. What is Manfredi’s private room?

 

 

[Jim Avery]

2 hours ago, May B said:

Hi Jim, nice to be chatting with you here.

 

It sounds like I have missed something. What is Manfredi’s private room?

 

 

Hi May,

It's a private dining room for up to 12.   Can be booked onboard.  

[Tsunami74]

18 hours ago, Jim Avery said:

Hi May,

It's a private dining room for up to 12.   Can be booked onboard.  

Is there an additional charge for this>

[Azulann]

1 minute ago, Tsunami74 said:

Is there an additional charge for this>

No additional charge. go to Guest relations and ask about reserving the private dining room. We did that with a group from our roll call on a previous TA cruise We selected off  the Manfredi's menu . It was a lovely  evening. 

[sugarside]

Randomly checked MVJ just now and my dining options were available to book,36 hrs ahead of schedule.

All options ,days and times available .

We have chosen shared tables for the first time and interested to know if we will prefer that option.

Into the Midnight Sun on Viking Venus July 22nd.

[CCWineLover]

8 hours ago, sugarside said:

Randomly checked MVJ just now and my dining options were available to book,36 hrs ahead of schedule.

All options ,days and times available .

We have chosen shared tables for the first time and interested to know if we will prefer that option.

Into the Midnight Sun on Viking Venus July 22nd.

Another example, which has been related on several threads the past month already, that Viking is getting back to the pre-COVID way of doing reservations (opening up more tables for advanced booking).   Personally, I'd rather they didn't since that leaves less tables open to book when onboard.  I'm still baffled why so many people are all upset about not getting advanced dinner reservations.  

We don't even know what we'll feel like at dinner until we are onboard!  And you don't know the Chef's Table Menu schedules either.

We have always had success booking every specialty restaurant at the times we want when we get to the ship - so never worried.

[flyer79]

Our specialty dining reservations start on May 20.   How early can I log in and start checking?

 

Thanks!

[LindaS272]

In April, ours opened at midnight Pacific time on the date.

[sugarside]

Last week mine opened up 36hrs before the posted time on MVJ,it may have been earlier but I had not checked for the last 24 hrs.

I was able to book everything I wanted (anniversary date and birthday ) otherwise I am flexible with days .

[flyer79]

Thanks!  We have an anniversary I’d like to get.  Not sure I’ll be getting up at 3:00 AM but somewhere close 😀