"Dining Confirmed Onboard" - will ealrly check in increase you chance of prefernce?

Our booking shows that dining will be allocated on-board - that is, we don't get to choose between the dine when we feel like it or picking one of the two set dining times.

Does anyone know when this allocation is made? If you check in early, will you get first choice of the remaining dining options?

Our booking shows that dining will be allocated on-board - that is, we don't get to choose between the dine when we feel like it or picking one of the two set dining times.

 

Does anyone know when this allocation is made? If you check in early, will you get first choice of the remaining dining options?

From what you have posted I assume you have an early saver or saver fare.

Dining is usually sorted in the cruise prior to the one you are on, so getting on board early will not effect what you are given.

There will be a card on your cabin telling you what dining you have been given.

If you are not happy with it you can join a very very long q to see the md on boarding day.

He will take what you would prefer and it will be sorted if possible over the next day. There is no guarantee he will be able to change it for you though

From what you have posted I assume you have an early saver or saver fare.

 

Dining is usually sorted in the cruise prior to the one you are on, so getting on board early will not effect what you are given.

 

There will be a card on your cabin telling you what dining you have been given.

 

If you are not happy with it you can join a very very long q to see the md on boarding day.

 

He will take what you would prefer and it will be sorted if possible over the next day. There is no guarantee he will be able to change it for you though

You can only change if someone wants to change the other way

Don't worry about seeing the Maître d on boarding day. We usually eat as assigned for the first night or two and then have a quiet word about changing.

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Indeed a sheet if paper showing your assigned dining time etc will be in your cabin when they open so getting to port earlier will make no difference.

If you have a preference do update your Cruise Personaliser to show what you prefer. Worked for us.

Dave

Indeed a sheet if paper showing your assigned dining time etc will be in your cabin when they open so getting to port earlier will make no difference.

 

If you have a preference do update your Cruise Personaliser to show what you prefer. Worked for us.

 

Dave

Which was probably down to luck. On any type of saver fare there is no guarantee that one would get ones preference.

They do try and accommodate people changing dining on board but they can't do the impossible.

Even paying a select fare does not actually guarantee your dining choice! It is always confirmed on arrival in your cabin.

We were in a mini suite on Arcadia in July, booked select in June 2014 asked for a table of 8 and although we got the sitting of our choice we were on a table for 4. It was fine but not what we asked for.

Thanks for the replies everyone

If you have a preference do update your Cruise Personaliser to show what you prefer. Worked for us.

Currently it's not giving me an option to change it, but I'll keep an eye open.

Thanks for the replies everyone

 

 

 

Currently it's not giving me an option to change it, but I'll keep an eye open.

I think the people who went into the cp ,may have paid an early saver fare to get that option. Did you pay early saver..15% deposit and balance or a saver fare..payment of 100% when booking.

If the latter you will not get the option come up.

I think the people who went into the cp ,may have paid an early saver fare to get that option. Did you pay early saver..15% deposit and balance or a saver fare..payment of 100% when booking.

If the latter you will not get the option come up.

It was the latter - payment 100%. So we shall see what turns up.

From what has been posted Early sitting seems to be the popular choice on cruises at the moment, and freedom dining. So likely to be given late sitting.

On your return do post what you were given and table size...Helps other people make decisions.

On our last two Ventura cruises we booked a late cheapie and got Freedom dining, so good luck

Forget any info you get pre cruise, it's all done on the ship except for confirmed reservations. Leaving it until the second night is not the best way to go. By then the dining layout has been established. Can't emphasise this enough. Go to see the MD and ask for what you want. We have never failed on numerous cruises.

David.

Forget any info you get pre cruise, it's all done on the ship except for confirmed reservations. Leaving it until the second night is not the best way to go. By then the dining layout has been established. Can't emphasise this enough. Go to see the MD and ask for what you want. We have never failed on numerous cruises.

 

David.

As I posted they do try and accommodate everyones wishes onboard, however they cannot do the impossible.

You have been very lucky if all of your wishes have been accommodated all of the time.

Some people have posted that they have queued up on boarding and have had to wait a couple of days until the MD could finish all of his jiggling around and they get the card in their cabin.

Our booking shows that dining will be allocated on-board - that is, we don't get to choose between the dine when we feel like it or picking one of the two set dining times.

 

Does anyone know when this allocation is made? If you check in early, will you get first choice of the remaining dining options?

Hi there Barnum.

Your first port of call will be your cabin where there should be a card detailing where your sitting and table number.

If that pre- allocation doesn't suit you then head for the restaurant and check what time the Maître d (actually they call them Restaurant Managers on P&O) will be available for requests.

I've always requested second sitting and always been allocated my preference. The reason I head for the restaurant, and have witnessed the queue to change, is to check my table position.

That to me is also important.

Hope that helps.

PS. It is a known fact that there are more requests for early sitting than second sitting. Something I've never quite understood.

As I posted they do try and accommodate everyones wishes onboard, however they cannot do the impossible.

You have been very lucky if all of your wishes have been accommodated all of the time.

Some people have posted that they have queued up on boarding and have had to wait a couple of days until the MD could finish all of his jiggling around and they get the card in their cabin.

I think I just said most of that as well.

We were unhappy with the early dining we were given on Arcadia, we went straight to rest manager s baking for a change to lat but never got it. Ended up eating in speciality restaurants. This is the big risk you take when booking the deducted rate.

At least you can think you have saved lots of money with the saver fare and so will have plenty of spare to spend on the speciality restaurants. :)

At least you can think you have saved lots of money with the saver fare and so will have plenty of spare to spend on the speciality restaurants. :)

If we booked a saver rate and got an unfavourable allocation meaning we had to eat in speciality restaurants we would remove any auto tips. The speciality fees include tips so we would then manually tip our cabin steward.

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We booked a saver fare on a recent P and O cruise and were allocated Freedom Dining. We asked the Restaurant Manager when the restaurant opened on the first night if we could change to second sitting on a table of 8.

This was confirmed immediately and we had some of the best dining companions on any cruise we have taken. We had so many laughs every night of our cruise.

Thanks for the extra posts folks. It's our first P&O cruise (fifth in total). We've been on Royal Caribbean and Princess. Neither of them have this restriction on bookings. I guess it's a P&O thing.

We'll be happy on any sitting, but like the flexibility of picking when to eat on a day by day basis. But it's no deal breaker.

 

 

 

 

 

 

PS. It is a known fact that there are more requests for early sitting than second sitting. Something I've never quite understood.

QUOTE

 

It's quite easy to understand really. Medical opinion and actual experience convince many people that eating late in the evening is really not a good idea.

 

http://www.globalhealingcenter.com/natural-health/does-it-matter-how-late-we-eat/

 

David.

 

 

 

 

 

 

PS. It is a known fact that there are more requests for early sitting than second sitting. Something I've never quite understood.

QUOTE

 

It's quite easy to understand really. Medical opinion and actual experience convince many people that eating late in the evening is really not a good idea.

 

http://www.globalhealingcenter.com/natural-health/does-it-matter-how-late-we-eat/

 

David.

 

We always book late sitting , as early is too early, and we don't want freedom. Having said that we always have to go for a good walk around after dinner to enable food to go down before retiring, and I always have very strange dreams on holiday as my digestion is working.

We love the second seating for Dinner. Much more relaxed, but we all have our own preferences.

Have a great cruise

Much prefer late sitting. When at a port we will have been out all day, so the last thing we want to do is rush to get ready for dinner. We like to have a pre dinner drink and take our time getting ready.