Confused - Open Seating/Reservations Marina

I am going to beat that poor dead horse one more time :)

Here is the direct quote from the brochure received today page 5:

"Every restaurant on board is complementary and features open seating, so you may dine wherever and whenever suits your taste and schedule."

So marketing still rules....

Well, that isn't exactly correct. Only the GDR, Terrace (and Waves) are really open seating, and even then sometimes you have to wait for a table in the GDR. We've never waited very long, though. (Sometimes when we would have preferred to share -- we usually want to share --we have ended up at a two-top. Never had the opposite happen, but then again we have never requested a two-top!)

But on Marina and Riviera Privee and La Reserve are fee-based. It's true the other specialty restaurants are free ... but you DO need reservations.

Oh well. Maybe no one proof read that brochure very closely.

Mura

deleted

I am going to beat that poor dead horse one more time :)

Here is the direct quote from the brochure received today page 5:

"Every restaurant on board is complementary and features open seating, so you may dine wherever and whenever suits your taste and schedule."

So marketing still rules....

What is actually at play here is a semantic issue. La Reserve is a Wine venue which more than occasionally offers food pairings, while Privee is a private party room.

I am going to beat that poor dead horse one more time :)

 

Here is the direct quote from the brochure received today page 5:

 

"Every restaurant on board is complementary and features open seating, so you may dine wherever and whenever suits your taste and schedule."

 

So marketing still rules....

Since the original postings were in January, 2011 and still seem to hold true over six years later, it seems Oceania is not interested in changing their brochures.

I don't think anyone said - but the specialty restaurants that need reservations are free. No charge. (Well, except as part of your cruise fare!). La Reserve mentioned above is different - fee-based.

We too have been successful in getting other reservations once on the ship. Especially if you aren't fussy about restaurant or are willing to share.

If you are booking for more than one cabin, ask about that! You can do it but I have only done it once.

Frances, I DID mention that yes, the specialties are free of charge, and I don't think I was the only one.

Jim is right that Privee and La Reserve are in a different category ... they aren't "restaurants" as such.

It's also true that many people seem confused about the process of booking reservations ... which really is not that difficult.

Now, since this thread started out a long time ago but has been resurrected .... maybe it's time to put it to bed ...

Mura

Fine with me to end discussion. It just struck me funny when I read the line in the brochure and now we know how people can still get confused even years later.

Some people are just constantly more easily confused than others. Making dining reservations in the Specialties is a perfect example. It's not brain surgery, but there are always some that are confused.

I recently helped a friend set up their account, for their cruise, on O's website, which he had never visited! He was complaining about O not offering any tours in their brochures! He had booked the cruise, from brochures through his TA, and had never explored O's website. If I hadn't intervened, he would have gotten on the ship with no dining reservations or shore tours . I also directed him to CC and his roll call. I could understand not finding CC, but to book a cruise and be so dense as to never go to the cruise line's website to explore options! Now that's confusing!

Since the original postings were in January, 2011 and still seem to hold true over six years later, it seems Oceania is not interested in changing their brochures.

I realize this is an old thread, but since it was recently reopened I'll join in.

It's not that much of a stretch to say the specialty restaurants are "open seating" in cruise ship parlance because you select the time at which you wish to dine and make reservations for that time. They're not "fixed seating", again in cruise ship parlance, because you're not limited to one or two time slots fixed by the cruise line.

It's really no different than dining at a restaurant on land. About an hour ago I made reservations for tomorrow evening at a local restaurant. I chose from time slots available at 15 minute intervals. As I used my choice of time and date, I would consider the restaurant to have "open seating" even though reservations were made.

I realize this is an old thread, but since it was recently reopened I'll join in.

 

It's not that much of a stretch to say the specialty restaurants are "open seating" in cruise ship parlance because you select the time at which you wish to dine and make reservations for that time. They're not "fixed seating", again in cruise ship parlance, because you're not limited to one or two time slots fixed by the cruise line.

 

It's really no different than dining at a restaurant on land. About an hour ago I made reservations for tomorrow evening at a local restaurant. I chose from time slots available at 15 minute intervals. As I used my choice of time and date, I would consider the restaurant to have "open seating" even though reservations were made.

Since this thread is so old that it probably has spider webs on it, I doubt if being off topic is a big deal. As I recall, you sailed on NCL and I believe have now sailed on Oceania. May I ask your thoughts on Oceania? Really curious about whether going from a large ship with more amenities to a relatively small ship met with your expectations.

IMO, moving up from NCL to Oceania is much better than what we did (going from Regent to Oceania and ultimately back to Regent). Thanks in advance for your response.

Since this thread is so old that it probably has spider webs on it, I doubt if being off topic is a big deal. As I recall, you sailed on NCL and I believe have now sailed on Oceania. May I ask your thoughts on Oceania? Really curious about whether going from a large ship with more amenities to a relatively small ship met with your expectations.

 

IMO, moving up from NCL to Oceania is much better than what we did (going from Regent to Oceania and ultimately back to Regent). Thanks in advance for your response.

I've touched on this in posts I made after we returned from our first Oceania cruise, so I'm not going to say anything more than we liked some things, didn't like others.

After we returned we booked two 7 night NCL cruises and a 36 night Oceania cruise, so you can see that we think there's a place for both.