Specialty Dining

[excitedofharpenden]

6 hours ago, Dynacruiser said:

I have seen long lines.
 

Time really depends on the cruise. Could be quick or could be early depending on

• number of stations and staff available 
• how knowledgeable staff is and ability to troubleshoot. Some can be slow. 
• how fast guests select.  Some can be slow. 

You don't control the above factors but you can control how long it takes you to select your dates AND times.  I suggest you pre-prepare a spreadsheet or calendar or just a simple list, day-by-day.  It helps to also have a list of your excursions or activities each day.  You may not know when White Night is but the staff will give you potential dates when you board. 
 

if you have a mobility issue and you are in a suite, ask your butler to book for you or as above poster suggests, tell them to bring you a chair.  

 

From my own personal point of view (and we are all different), this is way over thinking it. One of the reasons I love Azamara so much is how relaxed arrangements for dinner are. Actually, the whole cruising experience. I just go with the flow and really enjoy it. 

 

Phil 

[Host Jazzbeau]

One thing they could do to speed up the process would be to create a Maitre d'-like function:  someone to greet you, explain the process, hand out copies of the special nights in MDR and the Chef's Table nights, and help people get their ducks in a row before they sit down at the booking station.

[hamrag]

6 hours ago, wjfan417 said:

B2B cruisers can book specialty restaurants at the B2B meeting normally held the day prior to the second cruise.

Wow, that's excellent from Azamara, thank you for confirming the process! 

[tgg]

1 hour ago, hamrag said:

Wow, that's excellent from Azamara, thank you for confirming the process! 

 

On our last cruise, there were at least 40 or 50 B2B passengers at the meeting. The line for booking specialties was very long because there was only one person doing the reservations.

[Toronto Guy]

1 hour ago, tgg said:

 

On our last cruise, there were at least 40 or 50 B2B passengers at the meeting. The line for booking specialties was very long because there was only one person doing the reservations.

Ha!  That sounds about right.  Back to square one.

It drives me absolutely nuts that you have to go stand in a giant slow moving line on the pool deck for the privilege of booking specialty restaurants at a preferable time/day the moment you get on board.  The last time, I think I was the only passenger who adhered to my actual boarding time - and everybody who didn't got exactly what they wanted...and by the time i got to the front of the line, they closed the reservation desk and told me to go to the restaurant that night to book what I wanted....only to find out everything was gone.  Not happy.  That line reminds me of sailing on Carnival in the mid-80s.  I'm pretty sure they are using the same IT system from then too. 😉

Edited August 27 by Toronto Guy

[hamrag]

11 hours ago, tgg said:

 

On our last cruise, there were at least 40 or 50 B2B passengers at the meeting. The line for booking specialties was very long because there was only one person doing the reservations.

Thanks for the heads up, the option remains to get to the booking desk just as the new arrivals are boarding on day 1 of the second cruise. Not at all concerned, we've never had a problem with this.

[sczcardfan]

23 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

One thing they could do to speed up the process would be to create a Maitre d'-like function:  someone to greet you, explain the process, hand out copies of the special nights in MDR and the Chef's Table nights, and help people get their ducks in a row before they sit down at the booking station.

Having this information available online somewhere would be incredible...but given Azamara's IT issues, I know it is only a dream.

[federalexpress]

To the original poster, and appreciating every cruise or ship might be different, but if you're in a CC suite, you just take advantage of your priority boarding, figure out your schedule and read it out to the booking people. I had no queue and it was done in a minute.

 

I could and did change bookings later subject to e.g Azamazing off ship evenings, White Nights- though bear in mind for the latter, the two speciality restaurants tend to be very quiet. In fact it was nice to dine in them and after go and enjoy the atmosphere.

 

The split booking is a pain because one it too early, the other too late, but we found if we turned up 7.30-7.45, we almost always got seated. It probably helps to get to know the people up there. They will generally try their best to fit you in.

 

And on a seperate but related topic, don't forget the Patio if it's open in the evening. We ate there more often than the MDR. It's very pleasant on a warm evening and the food is freshly cooked albeit fairly plain, but that can make a nice change from the other restaurants.

[Empehi]

Confused!

My first Azamara cruise.... you mean you have to book all your MDR times when you get on board? Or is everyone on this board just talking about Specialty Dining? And doesn't most of the Specialty Dinng have an up-charge?

 

e

 

[Dynacruiser]

On 8/26/2024 at 1:01 PM, Host Jazzbeau said:

One thing they could do to speed up the process would be to create a Maitre d'-like function:  someone to greet you, explain the process, hand out copies of the special nights in MDR and the Chef's Table nights, and help people get their ducks in a row before they sit down at the booking station.

 

Jazzbeau's idea is too good, that I may volunteer to play this role on my next cruise.  It's a very simple way to speed up the process!

[Dynacruiser]

1 minute ago, Empehi said:

Confused!

My first Azamara cruise.... you mean you have to book all your MDR times when you get on board? Or is everyone on this board just talking about Specialty Dining? And doesn't most of the Specialty Dinng have an up-charge?

 

e

 

 

You can come in ANY time at the MDR, no reservations, usually no or short wait..  and yes, specialty restaurants are not free, unless you are in a suite.

[Scots Caz]

3 minutes ago, Empehi said:

Confused!

My first Azamara cruise.... you mean you have to book all your MDR times when you get on board? Or is everyone on this board just talking about Specialty Dining? And doesn't most of the Specialty Dinng have an up-charge?

 

e

 

no for Discoveries (MDR) no booking, just turn up when you like

this post is about Speciality ... suite passengers can eat there every evening with no extra cost (but still need to book), others do pay a supplement.

[Traveling Fools]

So let me get this right:

 

1. Many Azamara veterans are opposed to passengers being able to pre-book specialty restaurants on-line pre-cruise.  The rationale is suite passengers would snap up most of the available tables in both specialty restaurants. And, having all passengers wait until boarding before being able to book these restaurants levels the playing field making it more fair to everyone.

 

2. It is OK that B2B'ers get to book specialty restaurants the day before the second leg of their B2B cruise begins. AND, there seems no opposition to this preferential treatment.

 

Why is that?

 

Just a FYI; The number of cabins available on each Azamara ship is:

 

• Journey: 355 Cabins
• Onward & Pursuit: 352
• Quest: 361

 

The number of suites per ship in Azamar’s fleet is:

 

·         Journey 42

·         Onward 44

·         Pursuit   44

·         Quest     44

 

Across the board suites comprise 12+% (no more than 12.5%) of the cabins on each ship  Certainly not a crushing number and, with the different seating in the two restaurants, not a number that would corner the seating market in those restaurants.

 

tgg cited the following:

 

On 8/26/2024 at 6:32 PM, tgg said:

On our last cruise, there were at least 40 or 50 B2B passengers at the meeting. The line for booking specialties was very long because there was only one person doing the reservations.

 

The percentage spread between those two numbers ranges between 11&14%.  What justifies those passengers getting preferential pre-boarding booking privileges?  It is clearly a double standard.

 

Admittedly, I have been on one Azamara cruise, but have a second one booked.  But for being a subscriber to and active participant of CC, I would have never known about Azamara's protocol for booking specialty restaurants.  AND, what percentage of Azamara veterans and mostly newbies DON'T subscribe to or even know about CC?

 

 

[Grandma Cruising]

Onward actually has 62 suites!

[marinaro44]

How else to handle b2b guests?  They are the first to board for the cruise.  Make them sit in the port's waiting area and board them again by stateroom category?  Maybe they want to go out and explore.

[excitedofharpenden]

My only suggestion would be to limit the number of nights one could pre-book on embarkation day to say two on shorter cruises and three or maybe four on longer ones. Other than that the system works OK as far as I'm concerned. 

 

Phil 

[Grandma Cruising]

I like that idea, would be very fair.

[uktog]

34 minutes ago, excitedofharpenden said:

My only suggestion would be to limit the number of nights one could pre-book on embarkation day to say two on shorter cruises and three or maybe four on longer ones. Other than that the system works OK as far as I'm concerned. 

 

Phil 

Very fair I like that

Also enforce the no show charge - its published but I doubt it is regularly enforced particularly with some frequent cruisers who used to book out en bloc and then make their minds up on the afternoon or later what they are doing.  It should be as advertised - 24 hours before the fee kicks in unless there is a sound reason

[Grandma Cruising]

39 minutes ago, uktog said:

Very fair I like that

Also enforce the no show charge - its published but I doubt it is regularly enforced particularly with some frequent cruisers who used to book out en bloc and then make their minds up on the afternoon or later what they are doing.  It should be as advertised - 24 hours before the fee kicks in unless there is a sound reason

I agree with you, but wonder how they could make that stick for suite guests who have paid nothing!

[nordski]

2 hours ago, excitedofharpenden said:

My only suggestion would be to limit the number of nights one could pre-book on embarkation day to say two on shorter cruises and three or maybe four on longer ones. Other than that the system works OK as far as I'm concerned. 

 

Phil 

Great idea!

 

As some are pointing out, the ability of B2B cruisers to book early for the second leg can be a bit of a problem. When the first leg is short, say 7 days or less, there may be a significant number doing so. 
 

A limit on the number of nights you could prebook would lessen this issue.

[marinaro44]

4 hours ago, Grandma Cruising said:

I agree with you, but wonder how they could make that stick for suite guests who have paid nothing!

Suite guests should be treated like non-suite guests.  Only difference is they don't pay the usual specialty surcharge for going.  Just put the no-show charge on their account.

[federalexpress]

16 hours ago, Traveling Fools said:

So let me get this right:

 

1. Many Azamara veterans are opposed to passengers being able to pre-book specialty restaurants on-line pre-cruise.  The rationale is suite passengers would snap up most of the available tables in both specialty restaurants. And, having all passengers wait until boarding before being able to book these restaurants levels the playing field making it more fair to everyone.

 

2. It is OK that B2B'ers get to book specialty restaurants the day before the second leg of their B2B cruise begins. AND, there seems no opposition to this preferential treatment.

 

Why is that?

 

Just a FYI; The number of cabins available on each Azamara ship is:

 

• Journey: 355 Cabins
• Onward & Pursuit: 352
• Quest: 361

 

The number of suites per ship in Azamar’s fleet is:

 

·         Journey 42

·         Onward 44

·         Pursuit   44

·         Quest     44

 

Across the board suites comprise 12+% (no more than 12.5%) of the cabins on each ship  Certainly not a crushing number and, with the different seating in the two restaurants, not a number that would corner the seating market in those restaurants.

 

tgg cited the following:

 

 

The percentage spread between those two numbers ranges between 11&14%.  What justifies those passengers getting preferential pre-boarding booking privileges?  It is clearly a double standard.

 

Admittedly, I have been on one Azamara cruise, but have a second one booked.  But for being a subscriber to and active participant of CC, I would have never known about Azamara's protocol for booking specialty restaurants.  AND, what percentage of Azamara veterans and mostly newbies DON'T subscribe to or even know about CC?

 

 

 

I suppose AZ figure that suite guests should have first dibs, even if it just getting first to the booking table, because they get free speciality dining. Except it isn't really free because it is paid for in the substantial premium for suites, usually a fair amount in excess of the 50% that would apply simply for the extra space. I think I would feel somewhat aggrieved if any future booking system left me unable to book these restaurants for the nights I wanted. I'd wonder what I paid the premium for.

 

On the other hand, from AZ's point of view, what they would I'm sure prefer is for suite guests to eat mostly at MDR, Buffet or Patio and everyone else to book and pay extra and take advantage of the wide availability.

 

I suppose the art is to plot a middle course...

[manc]

After 17 cruises with Azamara we have had no problem booking as we get on board, being flexible about time and venue, etc. Also on b2b booking the evening before the cruise starts as you can then have a free day exploring the port and returning just before departure. We aren't in any queue at embarkation. Never had to wait more than a few minutes on gettingbon board to book. We use the speciality restaurants each evening as my deaf husband finds the MDR too noisy for him. 

[hamrag]

19 hours ago, Traveling Fools said:

So let me get this right:....

 

.....It is OK that B2B'ers get to book specialty restaurants the day before the second leg of their B2B cruise begins. AND, there seems no opposition to this preferential treatment.

 

Why is that?....

 

 

To answer the question you pose....why is that....part of the answer might be it's a means to spend the generous additional OBC given by Azamara for booking B2B cruises! 😉

[roberts2005]

We just recently finished a b2b on the Pursuit.    We had no issues booking our reservations at the b2b meeting.