Privée private dining venue

Although Oceania has been our cruise line of choice, we will be newbies on our upcoming Riviera cruise. And we have never been on the Marina.

Oceania says that Privée may be reserved solely for exclusive parties of as many as ten privileged guests. Please explain if that means that a prospective host may invite eight other folks to (1) enjoy a dinner in Privée or (2) the first ten folks who reserve a spot constitute the party guests?

It seems to me that in the case of scenario (1) the host would pay $250 for the privilege of reserving Privée and in scenario (2) each of the10 participants would pay $250 for the privilege. [Of course, the "host" in scenario (1) could split the $250 venue charge 10 ways and that would be very reasonable.]

Thans

You book it and you pay the $250. You invite your guests and how you want to handle/divide the $250 is up to you.

You book it and you pay the $250. You invite your guests and how you want to handle/divide the $250 is up to you.

I am appalled that anyone would think to charge an invited guest.

You book it and you pay the $250. You invite your guests and how you want to handle/divide the $250 is up to you.

Exactly.

If you are inviting known friends/family, they should be your guests.

OTOH, if, for example, you form a group of 8 or 10 people on roll call for tours and you all agree to have a dinner there, then the cost should be shared much like the cost of a tour.

JMO.

Stan and Jim

Just wanted to assure you that the reason I put the word "host" in parenthesis when inquiring about the sharing of the $250 Privée room cost was because i envisioned the group would most likely consist of congenial and compatible folks my wife and I met during the cruise rather than a group of family members or lifelong friends. My humble apologies for causing you to be appalled.

And thanks to everybody who responded in a friendly and meaningful way to my inquiries about Privée and La Reserve by Wine Spectstor.

A single cruiser makes a reservation for Privée not a Group. That cruiser is charged the fee at time of booking, and the fee is paid at that time. If any of that fee is split among the guests, that is a separate transaction between the host and the guests. If corkage fees, beverage fees, or other costs, are involved, the guests can opt to have those fees added to their individual bills at final payment of the evening.

This isn’t rocket science. An individual makes the reservations and pays, to Oceanla, the fee to secure the reservation.

Privée and La Reserve, both are really great-you'll enjoy the night, both worth the price.

In Privée , each guest gets to pick and choose off the menu of both Polo Grill and Toscano. Take the best of both menus. We generally work out with the best of the appetizers. The main course often becomes an after thought!

We often have preplanned wine Dinners. Oceania does well on corkage fees!

Privée is a well hidden secret and the best venue on the ship for we disparaged Foodies. I wish the R ships could/would make room on those ships to create that venue! On my last Marina cruise last November, Privee was booked every evening. We had it one evening and tried to book a second evening once aboard and were a couple months to late.

On my last Marina cruise last November, Privee was booked every evening. We had it one evening and tried to book a second evening once aboard and were a couple months to late.

The Room room charge then was $1000, and the meal was an individually planned gastronomic extravaganza. Think La Reserve on steroids. I can still taste the blue lobster....

The photo above shows the original Privée glassware, Chargers and service plates, which were Italian and edged in silver....they stopped using them when the price went down :(

On my recent Riviera cruise Privee was used by the staff to host selected passengers on several occasions. That would impact availability for private bookings.

Now that Privée is gaining traction, it is my hope that they will go back to the original, more luxurious concept.

The Room room charge then was $1000, and the meal was an individually planned gastronomic extravaganza. Think La Reserve on steroids. I can still taste the blue lobster....

The photo above shows the original Privée glassware, Chargers and service plates, which were Italian and edged in silver....they stopped using them when the price went down :(

We are very happy with the way it is now. A wonderful place to have dinner. :):):)

We are very happy with the way it is now. A wonderful place to have dinner. :):):)

Agree 100%, RJB! In fact I have reserved it for two nights on Marina's 1-16 sailing to Tahiti, both as 'non-hosted'. I posted on our roll call to see if anyone would like to join - and pay the $25 pp - and got enough takers, all strangers, J&S, that I set up the second one to accommodate all.

Donna

Agree 100%' date=' RJB! In fact I have reserved it for two nights on Marina's 1-16 sailing to Tahiti, both as 'non-hosted'. I posted on our roll call to see if anyone would like to join - and pay the $25 pp - and got enough takers, all strangers, J&S, that I set up the second one to accommodate all.

 

Donna[/quote']

Probably the best dining venue at sea, bar none.

I posted on our roll call to see if anyone would like to join - and pay the $25 pp - and got enough takers' date=' all strangers, J&S, that I set up the second one to accommodate all.[/quote']

 

Probably the best dining venue at sea, bar none.

 

We would be curious what prompted people who don't know each other to want to pay money for a meal in a rather small-looking stark room that they could have at no charge elsewhere? The idea of the original concept we can embrace, but the current concept, no.

 

As to best venue, have you tried the Regent Explorer?

We would be curious what prompted people who don't know each other to want to pay money for a meal in a rather small-looking stark room that they could have at no charge elsewhere? The idea of the original concept we can embrace, but the current concept, no.

 

As to best venue, have you tried the Regent Explorer?

I guess we all have our opinions. Not small or stark at all. Very classy. Not very much changed from the original concept. Wonderful way to dine for us.

We would be curious what prompted people who don't know each other to want to pay money for a meal in a rather small-looking stark room that they could have at no charge elsewhere? The idea of the original concept we can embrace, but the current concept, no.

 

As to best venue, have you tried the Regent Explorer?

To try something new and make new friends. I think the room is lovely. All a matter of personal taste.

As said above, it is not a small dark room and if sailing and/or dining at the right time there, a beautiful sunset can be seen. We did it for 4 people for an anniversary dinner with OBC (you have to be on board to book it though) and I still feel that it the best use we ever made of OBC. We also kicked off the dinner with the bottle of champagne that came with the room-a best use of that champagne.

DH is in the "why pay for something you can do for free in other venues" school but I still enjoyed it. I think it was interesting to make a shared table out of the experience.

No, not dark in the least

In fact, in my original photo's above, the shades were drawn because of an afternoon of almost blinding sunshine. It is usually quite lovely and scenic up there. The original Oceania public relations push called this a "Penthouse view".

It offers, by far the best dining service and experience to be had aboard ship. Impeccable private service to be exact.

With a party of ten, and copious amounts of wine constantly flowing at our wine Dinners, it makes for a delightful dinner and memorable experience.

Additionally, as stated, one gets to pick and choose, at random, from both adjoining restaurants menus. At $25 per head, or even twice that, it a great evening.

Like any venue, It is not, and should not be considered a venue for everyone’s taste.

I'm not planning on going, because it doesn't really appeal to me. However I am curious, to access the restroom, do you have to walk all the way out through Toscana...... or if there one in there?

I'm not planning on going, because it doesn't really appeal to me. However I am curious, to access the restroom, do you have to walk all the way out through Toscana...... or if there one in there?

There is not a restroom associated with or in Privée.

...it is not a small dark room.

With a party of ten, and copious amounts of wine constantly flowing at our wine Dinners, it makes for a delightful dinner and memorable experience.

Funny how words get changed around. We said "stark", not "dark", with the people being strangers instead of a party of ten.

I'm not planning on going, because it doesn't really appeal to me. However I am curious, to access the restroom, do you have to walk all the way out through Toscana...... or if there one in there?

You would be walking pretty much the same distance as you would if you were lucky enough to score one of the tables at rear of Toscana with the full view.

Yes you do.

We would be curious what prompted people who don't know each other to want to pay money for a meal in a rather small-looking stark room that they could have at no charge elsewhere?

It’s a matter of one’s attitude and preference.

If you do not like to participate in roll calls trying to find out something about your fellow cruisers or trying to form groups for private tours then you most likely would not want to dine with “people you do not know ”.

Others like to do that and when such groups are formed - like maybe doing 4 or 5 tours together - then it could be fun to relax with your new found “friends” at a nice dinner.

We are not the most outgoing people but have met some VERY nice people on our cruises. Most of the time it would be on trivia teams or on excursions that either I organized or joined. A few of these people have become very close friends. While we usually dine alone, we have had several very nice dinners close to the end of cruise with the trivia team or our tour group. Granted, most of them were in the MDR because we are on Nautica a lot but we (and the rest of these groups) would be happy to pay $25 apiece for this very special dinner in a wonderful setting, which is neither small or stark.

As always, to each their own - Vive la diferance :)