Senior Citizen Posted December 17, 2010 #26 Share Posted December 17, 2010 What are early seatings? There are no seatings. You choose a time yourself. And I suspect if you want to eat early, say 6 or 6:30 it will be easier to get a reservation than if you want to eat at 8. By early seating, I meant the 6:30 seating. People were saying that they were booked up early in the sailing but I think it is the tables for two that get booked up fast. While there are no early/late "seatings" like on other cruise lines, you can't just walk into a specialty restaurant and expect to be seated. For the inaugural cruise in January, reservations have been accepted for over a month now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wripro Posted December 17, 2010 #27 Share Posted December 17, 2010 I am well aware that you cannot just walk into a specialty restaurant and expect to be seated. Hence this thread and the previous one dedicated to this issue. But you can for a requested time, not a set time. As I said 6:30 should be much easier than 7:30 or 8. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare LHT28 Posted December 17, 2010 #28 Share Posted December 17, 2010 But you can for a requested time, not a set time. . When you book online they give you a few times to choose from 6:30, 7:00, 7:30, 8:00 pm... to me that is a SET TIME :confused: Maybe I think of it differently than you ;) Lyn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StanandJim Posted December 17, 2010 #29 Share Posted December 17, 2010 When you book online they give you a few times to choose from6:30, 7:00, 7:30, 8:00 pm... to me that is a SET TIME :confused: Maybe I think of it differently than you ;) Lyn Lyn- I dont know that you have thought this through..... By definition, restaurant reservations must have a "set" TIME. The question here is about seating times, which don't exist on Oceania. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare LHT28 Posted December 17, 2010 #30 Share Posted December 17, 2010 Lyn- I dont know that you have thought this through..... By definition, restaurant reservations must have a "set" TIME. The question here is about seating times, which don't exist on Oceania. If I have a reservation for 7pm in Polo I am guessing the seating time is 7 pm :confused: But I could be wrong since as you say they do not have a seatingtime Ok it is just getting more confusing so I give up:eek: I will just show up when my reservation tells me to ;) Lyn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wripro Posted December 18, 2010 #31 Share Posted December 18, 2010 You make a reservation in restaurants on land for a set time as well. That does not mean the restaurant has seating times. As for the choices available online I have never done this yet, always made them on board for requested times. It seems they are offering options for every half hour. Again, not a seating time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TKS Posted December 18, 2010 #32 Share Posted December 18, 2010 This is just a reminder from a post I read a few months ago. If you book online, print out your reservations and take them with you when you leave for the cruise. It seems a few people's reservations were lost in the O online system a while back, and those people were not happy with the options they were given onboard instead. I have not experienced this myself, so it's heresay, but I think it's safer to have that piece of paper than just assume no errors can occur during the busy first day onboard. Hope this helps someone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruin Steve Posted December 18, 2010 #33 Share Posted December 18, 2010 You make a reservation in restaurants on land for a set time as well. That does not mean the restaurant has seating times. As for the choices available online I have never done this yet, always made them on board for requested times. It seems they are offering options for every half hour. Again, not a seating time. Wow! You are really going a long way to keep maintaining a semantics argument... "Set times" vs. "Seating Times"... Does it matter? Did anyone really not understand what the poster meant when they said early seating times were booked? Why are you going on and on defending this point of semantics? Assuming there actually was a point here, that is... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StanandJim Posted December 19, 2010 #34 Share Posted December 19, 2010 Wow! You are really going a long way to keep maintaining a semantics argument... "Set times" vs. "Seating Times"... Does it matter? Did anyone really not understand what the poster meant when they said early seating times were booked? Why are you going on and on defending this point of semantics? Assuming there actually was a point here, that is... I'd have to side with Wripro on this one. "Understanding" that the original poster inadvertently used the wrong phrase, does not mean that the statement did not need correcting; even more so because the two concepts are so similar. That said, and whatever the semantics issues are, I'm sure that we all agree that Oceanias' specialty restaurants do not have "pre-defined seating times" in the way that HAL, Cunard, or Princess handle what they call traditional dining. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruin Steve Posted December 19, 2010 #35 Share Posted December 19, 2010 I'd have to side with Wripro on this one. "Understanding" that the original poster inadvertently used the wrong phrase, does not mean that the statement did not need correcting; even more so because the two concepts are so similar. That said, and whatever the semantics issues are, I'm sure that we all agree that Oceanias' specialty restaurants do not have "pre-defined seating times" in the way that HAL, Cunard, or Princess handle what they call traditional dining. You are also then ignoring the obvious... Nobody was talking about the Main Dining Room--where, clearly, there is "Open Seating" versus the "Traditional" Dining seatings... But this thread was CLEARLY discussing the Specialty Restaurant reservations--so we're NOT talking about "traditional" dining... We were talking about making reservations for the SPECIALTY restaurants...which is, pretty much the same on ANY line--including Oceania... You make a reservation for a PARTICULAR time...within a certain window of possible seating times... Say the restaurant is open from 6 pm to 10 pm, they will, generally let you make a reservation for 6:00, 6:30, 7:00, 7:30, 8:00, 8:30 or 9:00... It would be somewhat humorous to hear the discussion if you said you wanted to reserve a table arriving at some ambiguous time...or if you wanted a table at, say, 7:41:53... If someone told me they wanted to make a reservation at Jacques for the first night of the cruise but were told that the early seating times were booked, I would clearly know that what they were talking about was trying to make a reservation for 6:00, 6:30 or, perhaps, 7:00 pm... Ever try to make a reservation at ANY restaurant, land or sea and have them tell you that 6:00 pm and 6:30 pm were booked solid? Did you then ask, "What about 6:12? Or 6:26? You can call them "Seating times" or "reservation slots" or "reservation times" or "available table openings" or whatever you want... It's not even really semantics... Think IN CONTEXT... And, in context, it was clear about what we were talking about on this thread: Making reservations for the Marina's Specialty Restaurants... Trying to complain that "Seating times don't exist" is an argument that, even if it had any validity, just didn't have to be made... I guess some folks will just argue anything... And that said, I won't...I actually avoided this inane tangent on purpose for the longest time, but just couldn't take it anymore... No, StanandJim, the statement did NOT "require correcting"... It wasn't incorrect if read properly and in context...and even if it were, everything anyone writes on this board does NOT require correcting... I'd throw this one in with the inane posts where someone rants on about some poster's obvious immaterial typo... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wripro Posted December 19, 2010 #36 Share Posted December 19, 2010 Bruin Steve, Sorry I so offended you with my clarification of "set" vs. "seating" times. I truly did not mean to upset your entire weekend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senior Citizen Posted December 19, 2010 #37 Share Posted December 19, 2010 My son, who graduated from Stanford with a double major in English and Psychology, thinks we have waaaaay too much time on our hands. He thinks our hang-up over semantics warrants therapy. And no, he is not trying to drum up business---he is a lawyer. Thanks for all your input. It's been fun. I'll toast all of you when we are at our 6:30 pm "early seating" dinner in Jacques! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orchestrapal Posted December 19, 2010 #38 Share Posted December 19, 2010 Sounds like way way past time to close this thread! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sldispatcher Posted December 20, 2010 #39 Share Posted December 20, 2010 Based on experience with prior Oceania cruises (of which I have none), how much trouble do people REALLY have on these other ships in the Oceania fleet in terms of procuring reservations at the Polo/Toscana combo? Even above their set number of "guaranteed" dining allotments? (yes, I know Marina is different because of ratio of people to slots to eateries). However, past experience is often a good predictor of future events. I have a feeling that on Marina, with a little flexibility, everyone will leave very satisfied with their dining experiences..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare LHT28 Posted December 20, 2010 #40 Share Posted December 20, 2010 Based on experience with prior Oceania cruises (of which I have none), how much trouble do people REALLY have on these other ships in the Oceania fleet in terms of procuring reservations at the Polo/Toscana combo? . It depends If you are flexible with times & sharing tables then you may have a good chance Itinerary also plays a role here too If a TA then less chance, port intensive you may have a better chance Lyn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CintiPam Posted December 20, 2010 #41 Share Posted December 20, 2010 Based on experience with prior Oceania cruises (of which I have none), how much trouble do people REALLY have on these other ships in the Oceania fleet in terms of procuring reservations at the Polo/Toscana combo? Even above their set number of "guaranteed" dining allotments? My experience, based on three port-intensive Oceania cruises in the past two years, is that it is easy to get your allotted amount (the last cruise by simply booking on-line when my cabin category was permitted to do so), and also easy to go above the guaranteed number provided you make your request (at the little podium as you enter for breakfast at the Terrace Cafe on the three smaller ships) on the morning you would like to so dine, and, most importantly, are polite and flexible on both the time of the reservation and willingness to share your table with another couple. Flexibility and a smile go a long way IMO.:) So I agree with Lyn's analysis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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