Dining Reservations

[kelleherdl]

Just now, commodoredave said:

We are staying in a balcony cabin. Does one have to be in a residence to call for dining reservations, or is it also available to the proletariat class?

The dining reservations desk is conveniently located at the top of the stairs in the atrium. You can of course use the app or call, but you will pass the podium multiple times a day. In the evening for walkups go to the individual restaurant. We never had a problem dining early.

[commodoredave]

1 minute ago, kelleherdl said:

The dining reservations desk is conveniently located at the top of the stairs in the atrium. You can of course use the app or call, but you will pass the podium multiple times a day. In the evening for walkups go to the individual restaurant. We never had a problem dining early.

Thanks. Some posters mentioned that they called EJ office before the cruise to book dinnig venues. Is this for just Residence class, or all classes of cabins?

[kelleherdl]

1 minute ago, commodoredave said:

Thanks. Some posters mentioned that they called EJ office before the cruise to book dinnig venues. Is this for just Residence class, or all classes of cabins?

Advance reservations, two per cabin (all classes), can indeed be booked in advance through your TA or by calling EJ directly.  

Edited January 23 by kelleherdl

[commodoredave]

Just now, kelleherdl said:

Advance reservations, two per cabin (all classes), can indeed be booked in advance through your TA or by calling EJ directly.  

Thanks.

[uktog]

1 hour ago, commodoredave said:

We are staying in a balcony cabin. Does one have to be in a residence to call ahead of the cruise for dining reservations, or is it also available to the proletariat class?

It is indeed available if you call ahead for the "great unwashed" 🙂 

[breadandbutter]

21 hours ago, JTor said:

We had the champagne set up in our cabin without any request, though it’s possible the TA did the request.  Certainly should be possible though as we were in the most basic cabin!  Frankly, with free drinks (including champagne) everywhere on board I don’t know who uses the alcohol in the cabin, unless you have a big suite and are entertaining others there or something.  I did meet one man on board who liked to have a special kind of liqueur with his BREAKFAST (!),  so it made sense for him.

 

On 1/23/2024 at 10:01 AM, commodoredave said:

Thanks. Some posters mentioned that they called EJ office before the cruise to book dinnig venues. Is this for just Residence class, or all classes of cabins?

How far in advance can you make dining reservations?

Thank you

[Dr. Cocktail]

4 hours ago, breadandbutter said:

 

How far in advance can you make dining reservations?

Thank you

60 days….

[mike@sea]

But since every suite is guaranteed one reservation at Sakura and Marbles each per cruise, why bother ? Why not relax and book it once onboard at the designated desk ? Especially if doing a B2B, which will not get you a reservation for the 2nd cruise before departure anyways. 
Isn’t it easier to do it altogether , once onboard? 

That’s how I will be doing it for my upcoming March cruises. In case it does not work out very well, I will gladly report it here. 
On MS Europa2 it works like that without any problems by the way. No pre reservation possible and necessary. 

 

[Dr. Cocktail]

1 hour ago, mike@sea said:

But since every suite is guaranteed one reservation at Sakura and Marbles each per cruise, why bother ? Why not relax and book it once onboard at the designated desk ? Especially if doing a B2B, which will not get you a reservation for the 2nd cruise before departure anyways. 
Isn’t it easier to do it altogether , once onboard? 

That’s how I will be doing it for my upcoming March cruises. In case it does not work out very well, I will gladly report it here. 
On MS Europa2 it works like that without any problems by the way. No pre reservation possible and necessary. 

 

Basically, because you may not get the time that you want!

 

The restaurants are very full and even extra reservations when we were on were very contingent on the time that you were willing to accept.

[aero777]

3 hours ago, mike@sea said:

But since every suite is guaranteed one reservation at Sakura and Marbles each per cruise, why bother ? Why not relax and book it once onboard at the designated desk ? Especially if doing a B2B, which will not get you a reservation for the 2nd cruise before departure anyways. 
Isn’t it easier to do it altogether , once onboard? 

That’s how I will be doing it for my upcoming March cruises. In case it does not work out very well, I will gladly report it here. 
On MS Europa2 it works like that without any problems by the way. No pre reservation possible and necessary. 

 

Even though we have a TA, I called 60 days out to book Marble for Valentines Day and had my choice of dining times. Also booked Sakura and Anthology and again had no problem getting the dates and times I wanted. Call took 5 to 10 minutes, super easy.

[mike@sea]

I will stick to my plan to make reservations once boarded. I am on vacation then and while I do like to go for dinner around 19:00, I am also flexible, especially if I have nowhere else to be. I believe the original idea was never for guests to make reservations ahead. Hence, no online possibility to do so. 
But as said, I will happily report here, if not making reservations ahead turns out to be not such a good idea. 😉

[frankhi]

You not making reservations ahead of time is great for us that do, wish there were more like you.

[PutnamNY]

Our Explora Journeys travel advisor took care of our restaurant bookings for Marble, Anthology and Sakura at the time of booking the cruise. Very simple and fast. 

[mike@sea]

17 hours ago, frankhi said:

You not making reservations ahead of time is great for us that do, wish there were more like you.

The majority of customers is not on CC, so I believe there are indeed „more like myself“.

😉

[frankhi]

Well that's good news, but I don't understand what being on cc has to do with who makes advanced dining reservations. Please elaborate. Thanks 

[PaulMCO]

3 hours ago, frankhi said:

Well that's good news, but I don't understand what being on cc has to do with who makes advanced dining reservations. Please elaborate. Thanks 

He is quite right.  There is nothing that says 60 days prior you can make reservations in advance.  If you are micro organized, you can go through the poorly designed web site and find in the facts that you can make advance reservations (when it does not say).   If you do not and look at the specific restaurant it might say reservations are recommended.

Edited January 31 by PaulMCO

[shrkdive1]

We were just on the Jan 31st sailing.  We booked 1 each reservation at Marble and Sakura in advance by calling Explora. On the ship we were able to get an extra reservation on the last night in Marble but had to take an early 6:30pm time slot which was ok for us.  Note that the ship only had ~600 passengers so was not sailing full.

[mike@sea]

Just noticed that EJ deployed a new website user interface version, which will allow you, once it works ( which is not yet the case as I am writing this ) , to log into your profile, then go to menu symbol on the pages upper left side ( as the bookings don’t automatically appear ), select My Explora account at the bottom, then My Trips, then open the dedicated reservation and all new menu items appear on the left side of your screen, including „Restaurant Reservations“.

Huzzah! 

[Dr. Cocktail]

5 hours ago, mike@sea said:

Just noticed that EJ deployed a new website user interface version, which will allow you, once it works ( which is not yet the case as I am writing this ) , to log into your profile, then go to menu symbol on the pages upper left side ( as the bookings don’t automatically appear ), select My Explora account at the bottom, then My Trips, then open the dedicated reservation and all new menu items appear on the left side of your screen, including „Restaurant Reservations“.

Huzzah! 

Progress!!!  My cancelled reservations have finally disappeared and all by bookings are now listed in order of date of departure.

 

As you said, still not functional for my upcoming sailing but definitely in the right direction.

 

ps - did you end up making your dining reservations or are you "winging it"?  I know that the March 1st sailing currently has close to 800 (!) passengers.

Edited February 15 by Dr. Cocktail

[mike@sea]

I did not make dining reservations yet. I am torn now, if I better should do so, looking at the number you just quoted. Wow. That would mean that we sail at almost full capacity. Cool in a way. Perfect for the entertainment due to an enhanced atmosphere and hopefully good for excursions, which hopefully will not all be cancelled again. 

I would have made reservations today, if it already worked online. Maybe I will send an email tomorrow asking for reservations. It’s a b2b, so I can still test their onboard reservation for the 2nd part of the trip. 

 

[Dr. Cocktail]

1 hour ago, mike@sea said:

I did not make dining reservations yet. I am torn now, if I better should do so, looking at the number you just quoted. Wow. That would mean that we sail at almost full capacity. Cool in a way. Perfect for the entertainment due to an enhanced atmosphere and hopefully good for excursions, which hopefully will not all be cancelled again. 

 

 

We thought that it was too quiet last time but hopefully I won't be bemoaning the crowd this time!

 

The young and eager staff were actually a bit bored - I think that they will all enjoy being a lot more challenged this time around.

 

I totally agree re the Shorex.

[kelleherdl]

On 2/15/2024 at 3:19 AM, mike@sea said:

Just noticed that EJ deployed a new website user interface version, which will allow you, once it works ( which is not yet the case as I am writing this ) , to log into your profile, then go to menu symbol on the pages upper left side ( as the bookings don’t automatically appear ), select My Explora account at the bottom, then My Trips, then open the dedicated reservation and all new menu items appear on the left side of your screen, including „Restaurant Reservations“.

Huzzah! 

Guests should definitely log into their accounts. I did this morning and noticed that one segment of one our ‘extended journeys’ disappeared. I’ve already messaged my agent to confirm that it’s still there on the booking portal.  In their haste to delete non-confirmed options they may have inadvertently deleted a confirmed reservation.

 

i agree. When the new guest portal is fully up it will be much better.

 

Dennis

[mike@sea]

I am sure that for the crew and also for the whole overall atmosphere, a full(er) ship is much better in most ways. It enhances the workflow and resembles what they have been trained for. 

I often observed that flight crews on sold out flights work their best, whereas half empty planes or compartments lowers the overall quality and given attention of the crew. I guess it’s similar on ships. we‘ll see. 

Really looking forward to my first Explora. And yes, after those numbers , I did make reservations for Sakura and Marbles this morning. They replied within two hours and I received days one and two, which is great. I did not really care which days and let them decide. The hour I got is exactly what I asked for as preferred , although I also gave them a certain range. 
 

So far, so good. Now all I have to do is be in Barbados on time… best including luggage.

[mike@sea]

Same here Dennis. for my next years b2b.  Only first portion appears. But I am sure they will sort it out. Also could not find Barbados in their airport list when I entered my flights for the upcoming cruise. Instead chose „other airport“. 

 

Edited February 16 by mike@sea

[kelleherdl]

8 hours ago, mike@sea said:

Same here Dennis. for my next years b2b.  Only first portion appears. But I am sure they will sort it out. Also could not find Barbados in their airport list when I entered my flights for the upcoming cruise. Instead chose „other airport“. 

 

My TA did get back to me. She assures me that her file shows the full Extended Journey with both segments. It’s still disconcerting that EJ is having such poor website development go live without adequate testing of both functionality and data import.