Just booked a last minute VV cruise for July 10th - no dinner reservations to be had

[lynnber]

Have never sailed Virgin and had this last minute opportunity to book. Did so today and immediately went to the app to get reservations - there are no dinners available! Does this mean we will be dining in the food court for the cruise? Is there something we can do to make sure we get actual sit down meals? Kind of looking forward to trying a new line, but am equally uncomfortable with not knowing the ins and outs.

 

[Cloud9 Bob]

No worries...They hold back many reservations. On embarkation go to the Razzle Dazzle restaurant. There you can book your meals for any restaurant. Have a general idea of which restaurants you want and when beforehand.. Be flexible, if you dont mind 6 PM, its a plus. You will be fine. Walkups are usuallly possible too, but not as reliable and you may have to wait .

[kaysha2004]

Virgin doesn't open their dining reservations for booking until, I think, 90 days before the cruise, so when the floodgates open, everything is booked really fast.  It's not as bad as it sounds.  My experience has been that after the first night, people start cancelling or booking elsewhere because there are evening activities they want to attend.  Do go to Razzle Dazzle to start the process.  Pink Agave has a bar where you can have your dinner at the bar as a walkup if there's no tables available.  Earlier is better.  Depending on the length of your cruise, you may not get to eat at all the restaurants, anyway, unless you go to two of them on the same night.

[jon81uk]

Less than half of the reservations are available in advance, they hold most back for booking onboard.

[cantgetin]

Reservations open for normal cabins 45 days before cruising.  A large number of reservations are not available at that time and are held back until after boarding.  As noted, there will be a location where people will be available to assist you in making dining reservations on board.  While in the past it has been in the Razzle Dazzle restaurant, on our most recent cruise on Scarlet Lady it was done in Pink Agave.  Whichever is used on your trip, there will be crew around to direct you to the correct location. The sooner you get there, the more options you will have. These will also be available on the app....but you can go to the restaurant location and stand there trying to get them on th app while you wait your turn to be helped!

No, you will not be stuck in The Galley for all meals.  However, the nightly dinner specials in The Galley are often very good.

Edited June 25 by cantgetin

[Eric&Pam]

There will be a team of folks to help book dining reservations at Razzle Dazzle.....head there when you first board.

[cantgetin]

7 hours ago, Eric&Pam said:

There will be a team of folks to help book dining reservations at Razzle Dazzle.....head there when you first board.

As I said above, on our last cruise (May 2024, Scarlet) the dining assist was in Pink Agave. On previous cruises, it was in RD.   There were plenty of crew members on the 7th floor to direct you to the right place.

[MNcruisingcouple]

You can also make dinner reservations through the app on embarkation day as soon as you connect to the ship's wifi.

[Essiesmom]

I just finished my checkin for July 14 and was playing around with booking dinners, but it would let me choose time and restaurant, but then freeze.  Not concerned.  I won’t starve.  EM

[cantgetin]

34 minutes ago, Essiesmom said:

I just finished my checkin for July 14 and was playing around with booking dinners, but it would let me choose time and restaurant, but then freeze.  Not concerned.  I won’t starve.  EM

As above, somewhere between 35% and 50% of dinner reservations are held back until embarkation.  You can make reservations as soon as you can log onto the ship's wifi using the app or you can go to the restaurant that has a help team--normally Razzle Dazzle, but on our most recent cruise was Pink Agave.  As you said, you won't starve.  There are also nightly specials in The Galley ...some of them are really good.

[bmc alabama]

On 6/24/2024 at 10:37 PM, lynnber said:

Have never sailed Virgin and had this last minute opportunity to book. Did so today and immediately went to the app to get reservations - there are no dinners available! Does this mean we will be dining in the food court for the cruise? Is there something we can do to make sure we get actual sit down meals? Kind of looking forward to trying a new line, but am equally uncomfortable with not knowing the ins and outs.

 

We will see you on the ship!

[Bill Miller]

Essiesmom, I've enjoyed your comments on Celebrity, MSC & Carnival. Looking forward to your thoughts on Virgin.  We've sailed a good bit on Celebrity but enjoy many of the things Virgin does better.

[Essiesmom]

Thanks.  I’ll be doing a Live from for this cruise, duplicating on the MSC board as when I get off Valiant Lady I will move down the pier and board Magnifica.  I promised Essie should be on these cruises.

 

[Travel-and-See]

Both times I cruised I booked pretty last minute and didn't have any reservations. I would just scroll the app and see what was available.  You can keep checking - often people cancel and new reservations open up.

 

You may have a hard time getting dinner at the Wake and Extra Virgin - they seem to be the trickiest to get, with Pink Agave being close behind.  Test Kitchen, Razzle Dazzle, and Gunbae are easy reservations to get in my experience. 

 

So you will for sure not be left with the food court and pizza - plenty of more food! 

[PJDH4]

Hope you are enjoying your cruise!  Can you let us know how you did with getting reservations at various restaurants once on board?  We booked a cruise on Valiant Lady about a month out and there are no reservations available on the app for us either.  Thanks!

Edited July 12 by PJDH4

[cantgetin]

If you end up with a night where you don't have a reservation, go to the restaurant of your choice right at opening (5:45-6:00) and ask to be waitlisted.  It usually works.

If nothing shows up prior to boarding, you can call VV sailor services shoreside or your TA and see if they can get anything thru their portal.  You can keep checking the app as nice people do cancel.  And you can book thru the app as soon as you connect to the ship's wifi. It is the one that is called "mermaid" something.  Sometimes it can be accessed from the terminal, other times not until you actually board.

[lynnber]

Just got off the cruise this morning. Thank you all for reassuring us. We got onboard 3:15 and went right to Razzle Dazzle. The line for reservations took about a half hour - used that time to watch the safety video on our phones - and we were able to get all the restaurants we wanted. We had very various times - one night we could eat until 9:45, but that gave us an excuse to check out the Asian Night Market in the Galley for some great nibbles around 6:00 PM. 

[Liao]

On 7/14/2024 at 4:12 PM, lynnber said:

Just got off the cruise this morning. Thank you all for reassuring us. We got onboard 3:15 and went right to Razzle Dazzle. The line for reservations took about a half hour - used that time to watch the safety video on our phones - and we were able to get all the restaurants we wanted. We had very various times - one night we could eat until 9:45, but that gave us an excuse to check out the Asian Night Market in the Galley for some great nibbles around 6:00 PM. 

I have watched a ton of YT videos about VV, probably too many.  Many have said they were never able to get a reservation at The Wake or Extra Virgin, that would be a bummer for me, but my sense is that on a 15 day cruise my chances are more likely, I sure hope so.  

[cantgetin]

32 minutes ago, Liao said:

I have watched a ton of YT videos about VV, probably too many.  Many have said they were never able to get reservation at The Wake or Extra Virgin, that would be a bummer for me, but my sense is that on a 15 day cruise my chances are more likely, I sure hope so.  

On a TA, you should have NO trouble getting reservations--we didn't,  We made a lot of changes after boarding.  New thing on the last one was a person outside Pink Agave each morning who was making new reservations or changing existing ones.  You can also do this on the app, but it is sometimes easier to talk to her about what IS available.  They also did walk ups and wait lists at every restaurant including the two you named.  The ONLY reservation that was slightly hard to get was 11 or later at The Wake for brunch and that was only if you were trying to do a walk in.  We even got wait list dinner at The Wake at least once (if they get a no show or cancel, they notify you).  NEVER had a problem getting a dinner reservation that we wanted on this last trip, and almost always within 15 minutes of what we wanted...and this was our most full sailing on VV.

You are allowed to book 3 dinners in advance at each restaurant, but can add more after boarding.  There will also be at least 1 dinner show on your cruise (multiple nights) and people won't know those nights till after boarding....thus more restaurant spots opening.

I understand that on a 5 night cruise,  people may not get what they want, but on 14-15 nights, basically no problem.  We just like to go with something booked in advance each night, but even that is not really needed.

[Liao]

4 minutes ago, cantgetin said:

On a TA, you should have NO trouble getting reservations--we didn't,  We made a lot of changes after boarding.  New thing on the last one was a person outside Pink Agave each morning who was making new reservations or changing existing ones.  You can also do this on the app, but it is sometimes easier to talk to her about what IS available.  They also did walk ups and wait lists at every restaurant including the two you named.  The ONLY reservation that was slightly hard to get was 11 or later at The Wake for brunch and that was only if you were trying to do a walk in.  We even got wait list dinner at The Wake at least once (if they get a no show or cancel, they notify you).  NEVER had a problem getting a dinner reservation that we wanted on this last trip, and almost always within 15 minutes of what we wanted...and this was our most full sailing on VV.

You are allowed to book 3 dinners in advance at each restaurant, but can add more after boarding.  There will also be at least 1 dinner show on your cruise (multiple nights) and people won't know those nights till after boarding....thus more restaurant spots opening.

I understand that on a 5 night cruise,  people may not get what they want, but on 14-15 nights, basically no problem.  We just like to go with something booked in advance each night, but even that is not really needed.

Great information, thanks!  This board has been so helpful.  The YT vids, while entertaining, are so often filled with drama and the instagram crowd, it’s challenging to sort through the weeds.

[cantgetin]

3 minutes ago, Liao said:

Great information, thanks!  This board has been so helpful.  The YT vids, while entertaining, are so often filled with drama and the instagram crowd, it’s challenging to sort through the weeds.

You Tubes by people like Where's Walter Travels are always well done and accurate as of the time posted.  There are small changes on VV and small differences between ships, but nothing major in my experience.  Yes, far too many videos are "Look at MEEEEE" or "Here is my 10th drink of the day" or "Why no unlimited drink package?"  You can get a lot of good, but there is a lot of fluff out there too....or people with a strong point of view.  Enjoy your cruise.

[Liao]

1 hour ago, cantgetin said:

You Tubes by people like Where's Walter Travels are always well done and accurate as of the time posted.  There are small changes on VV and small differences between ships, but nothing major in my experience.  Yes, far too many videos are "Look at MEEEEE" or "Here is my 10th drink of the day" or "Why no unlimited drink package?"  You can get a lot of good, but there is a lot of fluff out there too....or people with a strong point of view.  Enjoy your cruise.

I will take a look on YT for Walters videos.  Thanks 

[cantgetin]

2 minutes ago, Liao said:

I will take a look on YT for Walters videos.  Thanks 

He has several on Virgin.  Here is a link to one.  There is another totally on food and some more recent updates.

 

[Liao]

23 hours ago, cantgetin said:

He has several on Virgin.  Here is a link to one.  There is another totally on food and some more recent updates.

 

Thanks for this!  One of the best cruise vlog reviews I have seen, of any line.  It’s nice and refreshing to see an adult do this without all the drama.