Requested dinner reservations

[terrydtx]

On 6/21/2024 at 12:50 PM, lorimay said:

Is it ridiculous on a true luxury cruise line? Regent does the exact same thing. 

I believe Viking Ocean does the same with fewer specialty restaurants to choose from.

[IWantToLiveOverTheSea]

33 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

I believe Viking Ocean does the same with fewer specialty restaurants to choose from.

I think you're right.  Viking even opens their excursions in tiers (guests in suites get to book before other groups, etc.)  That policy is causing some grief, as excursions don't seem to be in as big supply (for all cruise lines) compared to maybe 5 or 10 years ago. 

 

 

[terrydtx]

16 minutes ago, IWantToLiveOverTheSea said:

I think you're right.  Viking even opens their excursions in tiers (guests in suites get to book before other groups, etc.)  That policy is causing some grief, as excursions don't seem to be in as big supply (for all cruise lines) compared to maybe 5 or 10 years ago. 

 

 

Most of Vikings included excursions tend to be more shuttle bus drive by or walking city tours type excursions, which we did not want. We were one and done with Viking Ocean in 2019. I much prefer the SM excursion credit as we can then chose and book excursions we are interested in.

Edited July 8 by terrydtx

[Cruising Maryland]

On 7/3/2024 at 4:01 PM, EJL2023 said:

Personally, I think you should also. 

I made final payment, and all the reservations opened up. Justt for those who were curious.

[Adornme75]

Perhaps you’re in a Penthouse or concierge or you paid within 45 days of your sailing date.in a veranda suite. For the rest of us it’s 45 days before sailing for reservations to open up.

[IWantToLiveOverTheSea]

8 hours ago, Cruising Maryland said:

I made final payment, and all the reservations opened up. Justt for those who were curious.

Reservations for all 50 days?  I AM curious (and jealous)!

[pinotlover]

20 hours ago, terrydtx said:

Most of Vikings included excursions tend to be more shuttle bus drive by or walking city tours type excursions, which we did not want. We were one and done with Viking Ocean in 2019. I much prefer the SM excursion credit as we can then chose and book excursions we are interested in.

We booked private shore tours on Viking similar as we do on Oceania. In both cases, it’s pick and choose what you want to do.

[Cruising Maryland]

1 hour ago, IWantToLiveOverTheSea said:

Reservations for all 50 days?  I AM curious (and jealous)!

It was booked as a Grand Cruise not as a B2B, So it makes sense that they all open up.

[ORV]

13 hours ago, Cruising Maryland said:

I made final payment, and all the reservations opened up. Justt for those who were curious.

 

6 hours ago, Adornme75 said:

Perhaps you’re in a Penthouse or concierge or you paid within 45 days of your sailing date.in a veranda suite. For the rest of us it’s 45 days before sailing for reservations to open up.

 

3 hours ago, Cruising Maryland said:

It was booked as a Grand Cruise not as a B2B, So it makes sense that they all open up.

I see in another post you mentioned you are in an A1 for a 50 day cruise. Have you actually booked your reservations? That would seem odd as here is the breakdown as to when you can actually book. Perhaps when you book a Grand Voyage one of the perks is being able to book your Specialties once final payment is made. According to the chart below you shouldn't be able to book them until Oct 7th. 

 

Having said that there is a ton of stuff I don't know about special cases and Grand Voyages. Somewhere I've seen a chart of all the additional things you get when you book these. 

 

• Owner’s Suite, Vista Suite and Oceania Suite 
  Advance reservations may be made on the date final payment is due and has been received until 7 days prior to sailing, which varies between 90 and 150 days, depending on length of sailing. 
• Penthouse Suite 
  Reservations may be made 75-7 days prior to sailing, if the booking is paid in full.
• Concierge Level Veranda 
  Reservations may be made 60-7 days prior to sailing, if the booking is paid in full. 

[Cruising Maryland]

21 minutes ago, ORV said:

 

 

I see in another post you mentioned you are in an A1 for a 50 day cruise. Have you actually booked your reservations? That would seem odd as here is the breakdown as to when you can actually book. Perhaps when you book a Grand Voyage one of the perks is being able to book your Specialties once final payment is made. According to the chart below you shouldn't be able to book them until Oct 7th. 

 

Having said that there is a ton of stuff I don't know about special cases and Grand Voyages. Somewhere I've seen a chart of all the additional things you get when you book these. 

 

• Owner’s Suite, Vista Suite and Oceania Suite 
  Advance reservations may be made on the date final payment is due and has been received until 7 days prior to sailing, which varies between 90 and 150 days, depending on length of sailing. 
• Penthouse Suite 
  Reservations may be made 75-7 days prior to sailing, if the booking is paid in full.
• Concierge Level Veranda 
  Reservations may be made 60-7 days prior to sailing, if the booking is paid in full. 

I am not in an A-1 room, I have friends who are in an A-1 room. I am in a suite, I think my question was more for my friends. I have started making reservations as I am paid in full, I think I have 10 or so made and they have gone through. 

[goletans]

14 hours ago, Cruising Maryland said:

I made final payment, and all the reservations opened up. Justt for those who were curious.

I think this means that at final payment, folks drop the cruise and this "opens up" dining options for others.

[Cruising Maryland]

2 minutes ago, goletans said:

I think this means that at final payment, folks drop the cruise and this "opens up" dining options for others.

O actually says you can make reservations after final payment according to your cabin/suite level, so if people haven't made the final payment yet, they wouldn't have any dinner reservations so there in nothing to "open up"

[goletans]

True. But if folks have made dining reservations, and then dropped/canceled their cruise, then the dining reservations they made will be available to others.

[ORV]

1 hour ago, goletans said:

True. But if folks have made dining reservations, and then dropped/canceled their cruise, then the dining reservations they made will be available to others.

No, that's not the way it works. No matter what level you're at you can't make Specialty reservations until you've made final payment. 

[ORV]

1 hour ago, Cruising Maryland said:

I am not in an A-1 room, I have friends who are in an A-1 room. I am in a suite, I think my question was more for my friends. I have started making reservations as I am paid in full, I think I have 10 or so made and they have gone through. 

That certainly clears things up. It wasn't making sense before, now it does. 

[SATaxman]

I am able to make Dinner reservations tomorrow night. This is only our 2nd O cruise. Trying to remember from last year. I just go through night by night and choose restaurant and then time or vice versa?

[Cruising Maryland]

9 minutes ago, SATaxman said:

I am able to make Dinner reservations tomorrow night. This is only our 2nd O cruise. Trying to remember from last year. I just go through night by night and choose restaurant and then time or vice versa?

Login to your account. Hit manage this booking. Then click on Dining, then make a reservation. Then you can choose restaurant and time. Good luck!

Edited July 9 by Cruising Maryland

[SATaxman]

5 minutes ago, Cruising Maryland said:

Login to your account. Hit manage this booking. Then click on Dining, then make a reservation. Then you can choose restaurant and time. Good luck!

Thanks. 

 

[goletans]

2 hours ago, ORV said:

No, that's not the way it works. No matter what level you're at you can't make Specialty reservations until you've made final payment. 

I agreed with you. After final payment, one will be able to make specialty dining reservations according to their cabin class. "Open up" also refers to becoming available. When a time slot becomes available, it is open to be booked. Availability changes over time.

[ORV]

I just booked my dining reservations for our Aug/September cruise and the system works a little differently than it has in the past, the past being as recent as our cruise this last April. 

 

This is an 18 day cruise, which was never marketed as less, although it was as a segment of a longer cruise. But when trying to book the reservations it's broke down into two segments, but doesn't allow for the last 3 days of the cruise. Not user friendly at all. I can imagine someone coming from another cruise line would this is a very poor website. 

 

Also came up against a message along the lines of "You've used up your allotted amount in this time slot. Never saw that before. 

 

Bottom line I did get 3 at 6:30 and one at 7:30, by sharing. It wasn't perfect times, but it works. We'll see if we can't get it adjusted a little better later. 

 

FYI, I'm in an Oceanview, so this is the bottom of the barrel choices, but it is midnight on the first day. 

[Cruising Maryland]

11 minutes ago, ORV said:

I just booked my dining reservations for our Aug/September cruise and the system works a little differently than it has in the past, the past being as recent as our cruise this last April. 

 

This is an 18 day cruise, which was never marketed as less, although it was as a segment of a longer cruise. But when trying to book the reservations it's broke down into two segments, but doesn't allow for the last 3 days of the cruise. Not user friendly at all. I can imagine someone coming from another cruise line would this is a very poor website. 

 

Also came up against a message along the lines of "You've used up your allotted amount in this time slot. Never saw that before. 

 

Bottom line I did get 3 at 6:30 and one at 7:30, by sharing. It wasn't perfect times, but it works. We'll see if we can't get it adjusted a little better later. 

 

FYI, I'm in an Oceanview, so this is the bottom of the barrel choices, but it is midnight on the first day. 

Interesting that they have a limit on times. This is the first cruise I've made my dinner reservations, past cruises that were pre-pandemic my TA handled. Sincd we only got 1 per restaurant, it made sense. Now that I;m getting 7 per restaurant, I'm paying more attention.

[pinotlover]

8 hours ago, ORV said:

I just booked my dining reservations for our Aug/September cruise and the system works a little differently than it has in the past, the past being as recent as our cruise this last April. 

 

This is an 18 day cruise, which was never marketed as less, although it was as a segment of a longer cruise. But when trying to book the reservations it's broke down into two segments, but doesn't allow for the last 3 days of the cruise. Not user friendly at all. I can imagine someone coming from another cruise line would this is a very poor website. 

 

Also came up against a message along the lines of "You've used up your allotted amount in this time slot. Never saw that before. 

 

Bottom line I did get 3 at 6:30 and one at 7:30, by sharing. It wasn't perfect times, but it works. We'll see if we can't get it adjusted a little better later. 

 

FYI, I'm in an Oceanview, so this is the bottom of the barrel choices, but it is midnight on the first day. 

The time slot issue hit me when trying to book our reservations for our past April cruise. I reported it then and people thought I was somehow mistaken.

[ORV]

9 hours ago, ORV said:

But when trying to book the reservations it's broke down into two segments, but doesn't allow for the last 3 days of the cruise.

So in the light of day I've figured out that not allowing the last 3 days was my mistake, or a silly design of the way it works. I had to advance the calendar manually, I thought for sure if you chose the dining segment of 9/5 -9/10 it would display those dates automatically. Not so much. So now I've made it better by instead of only 2 days between my last two reservations I've pushed the last out from the 7th to the 9th. Still 6:30 and still sharing. 

[MEFIowa]

3 hours ago, ORV said:

... Still 6:30 and still sharing. 

We'll find out about what is available for us at midnight Sun-Mon in our F. Then 12 days later for the C1. Our 22-night B2B on Sirena. But we'll be trying tables for 2.

[ORV]

2 hours ago, MEFIowa said:

We'll find out about what is available for us at midnight Sun-Mon in our F. Then 12 days later for the C1. Our 22-night B2B on Sirena. But we'll be trying tables for 2.

I did check the Private option and all were 9pm. Good luck with that. I'm thinking the early 2 tops on the R ships go to the Owner's, Vista, and a few lucky PH's. Certainly more chance on the O ships, but more people in front of you to.