Dining and Shore Excursion Choices

[rjscott]

I plan to eat enough at Tea Time so that no matter how long it takes to seat us I will just look at the menu and say "Nothing for me, I'm still full. Just a coffee and the dessert menu please."

 

I like the way you think! ;)

 

Becki

[id4elizabeth]

PopsA - I thought you were only to be found in the Torshavn - or was that someone else...

[PopsA]

Only if I'm missing. 😉 Besides, I can't live on cocktail nuts and the little bits of fruit at the bottom of a drink for long.

Edited April 2, 2015 by PopsA

[NeilP57]

It will be interesting to see how this all works out in practice. My guess is that those in cabins other than the lowest category will book a 6:30 slot as this is like buying a free option for a dining preference. It will automatically be released for those nights they have booked into a speciality restaurant but for all the reasons stated above by Ruth (roothy123) and I can think of a few more they may not show at 6:30 and there will be plenty of room. Such passengers can still show up later and get fed by joining the line (or queue as we Brits call it) for open dining so there is no real disadvantage in taking a fixed 6:30 booking. Then if they wish to eat early they are certain of a table at 6:30, hence the free option.

 

I guess at 6:45pm there will be a quite a few people waiting for the 6:30 'no shows' but my view is that they will all be found seats, but in the coming weeks, once we start to get real feedback all this speculating will be replaced by solid feedback.

[kathy9]

We are on the April 11th sailing in a DV cat and I opted for open seating. I do not like eating at 630 or at 830 so I am hoping to get a table at my preferred time of 730 or so. I was surprised that they are doing both the fixed and open. We will see how it all plays out...only the reviews will tell!

Kathy

[Vineyard View]

We enjoy the flexibility of open seating as well. With all the dining options, I believe that it will all work out. We are generally early diners and like to mix it up...group tables, tables for two, al fresco, room service....so we generally don't have a lot of issues with seating....I hope that for those who do prefer a set time every night that it will work out for all.

[Bear_Music]

We booked 8:30 (we usually eat between 7 and 8 anyway) on the theory that a lot of these days we'll have been out trudging around and we'll want to relax a bit before getting into dinner mode. This is especially true of days like Florence and Rome, where we're spending the day well away from the ship.

 

There will be plenty of options if we want to eat earlier.

[cassandra44]

I agree with you Bear Music...we really enjoy flexibility rather than fixed seating and we were certainly hoping that Viking would opt for flexible seating...as they did on the river cruises.

I think our concern is that Viking's decision to go with fixed and flexible seating in the same dining room might be problematic. We'll just have to wait and see how it all works out but we are certainly going to be guinea pigs.

We opted for Oceania very soon after the cruise line started up and it worked very well (with the exception of bad airline connections) so hopefully that will be the case here.

[roothy123]

We are on the April 11th sailing in a DV cat and I opted for open seating. I do not like eating at 630 or at 830 so I am hoping to get a table at my preferred time of 730 or so. I was surprised that they are doing both the fixed and open. We will see how it all plays out...only the reviews will tell!

Kathy

 

Well, I hope you come back on here in a few weeks and tell us how it went. Other than the cruise date, I'm a lot like you (DV, open seating, etc.), so I'll be curious to see how long you wait when you go between 7 and 7:30. Just a question: For Manfredi's, were you able to get a decent time, and for Chef's Table, were you able to get your preference (early or late)? I'm flexible on the day, and the table size, but am hoping I get good times.

[roothy123]

SO, does anyone know anything about the waffle samples (where, when), or did I dream that?

[loum140]

SO, does anyone know anything about the waffle samples (where, when), or did I dream that?

 

Hi Roothy -- you didn't imagine it. I noticed it yesterday in My Viking Journey under the heading "Entertainment". There will be a daily Waffle Hour in the Explorers' Lounge offering samples. (Probably when DH and I are off the ship exploring our ports of call!!!!!) Marsha

Edited April 2, 2015 by loum140
info

[id4elizabeth]

...not on sea days! I can just feel the pounds and inches adding up just thinking about nice warm waffles...stawberries and whipped cream on top...drizzled with chocolate...or honey...mmmmm

[rjscott]

Oh, for heaven's sake! I thought I'd left that behind me with our 'Tulips & Windmills cruise. It seemed like every walking tour ended with a stop for hot chocolate and waffles. No syrup there; fruit toppings like cherries or just whipped cream. My husband will be in heaven. Hopefully we'll be off in port when the waffles are served. :p

 

Becki

[CTLeeA]

Well, I hope you come back on here in a few weeks and tell us how it went. Other than the cruise date, I'm a lot like you (DV, open seating, etc.), so I'll be curious to see how long you wait when you go between 7 and 7:30. Just a question: For Manfredi's, were you able to get a decent time, and for Chef's Table, were you able to get your preference (early or late)? I'm flexible on the day, and the table size, but am hoping I get good times.

 

I called Viking after reading these posts since we're also in the same boat (OK, OK lame pun) regarding apparently viewed as being in riff-raff category by Viking and therefore allowed to eat when the others are all done....I spoke with a very pompous individual who laughed that we're getting upset since the ship hasn't had it's first leg yet. I told him that if Viking had provided us with info, we would be far less paranoid. He went on to deny that the MDR will be filled with fixed sitting and that those of us in steerage would have to wait until they have finished dinner before we would be seated. He also said that the other cruise forum, which reports that open dinner seating is between 5:30 pm-7:30 pm is incorrect. Who knows? I'm sure I could call another Viking agent tomorrow and get a different story.....what I know is that with Celeb opening seating, on the first night, we had to wait about 45 min for a table...they encourage us 'anytime diners' to make reservations, which seems to defeat the purpose of anytime dining. As the cruised progressed, our wait times decreased until we had no wait at all as long as we were willing to share a table. Viking: if you're reading these posts...maybe you could give this subject some thought before we board....if you agree to seat us with those early fixed seating passengers, we promise not to drool, scratch ourselves or otherwise act in an obnoxious manner thereby giving away our lowly cabin category.

[kathy9]

Well, I hope you come back on here in a few weeks and tell us how it went. Other than the cruise date, I'm a lot like you (DV, open seating, etc.), so I'll be curious to see how long you wait when you go between 7 and 7:30. Just a question: For Manfredi's, were you able to get a decent time, and for Chef's Table, were you able to get your preference (early or late)? I'm flexible on the day, and the table size, but am hoping I get good times.

 

I will post all about and write a review.

I did get my preferred times at Manfredi's (sea day at 7:15 pm) and Chef's table we went for 08:30 on the 12th.

I am sure it will all come together over time...may not be on the first few cruises though! I don't think I will go hungry!

Kathy

[roothy123]

I'll also probably be in port when the waffles are served (like when tea might be served) but I'm going to go seek out the waffles on the sea day. At least that day we'll have plenty of hours to go to the fitness center....maybe.

 

All I can say about open seating is that I doubt very seriously that Viking's open seating will be like Celebrity's. Celebrity ships carry many, many more people than the Star and yes, we had to come back almost 30 minutes later several times on one of their smallest ships. After a few days we ended up just coming a bit earlier, and not caring about what table we sat at (even the two person tables were practically connected to the next two person table). I would just forget how Celebrity does it, just as I am going to try to forget how Oceania (which does it quite well) does it when I board. Come on end of April - we need live experiences to go on instead of all this speculation.

[PopsA]

I sure hope the wait times are acceptable for the nights we haven't booked into the specialty restaurants. Although we like to eat fairly early we chose to not lock ourselves into one table, server, and set of dining partners. For us part of the fun is having different dining partners and wait staff, while also physically moving around the dining room. After the experience of meeting so many fun and interesting people here on CC it will be entertaining to share an evening meal with many them, you, who, you know what I mean. And even some of you that haven't been so much fun will likely be more fun in person, hopefully.

 

But in the unlikely event the wait time is ridiculous, I'm talking 5 - 7 minutes. We could also retreat to our miserable little cabin and suffer the indignity of room service. Oh the humanity!

 

As a side note there is a good chance they will serve sauerbraten, once if not twice, given all the horse we have beaten to death on this subject.

[id4elizabeth]

PopsA - :D

[roothy123]

 

As a side note there is a good chance they will serve sauerbraten, once if not twice, given all the horse we have beaten to death on this subject.

 

You are so funny, PopsA! Yes, us Cruise Critic regulars have certainly beaten some horses to death! You should see the discussion on just one thread on another cruise line's board. The original poster asked if anyone had noticed changes since Norwegian Cruise Lines took over Oceania. Someone found out that e-cigs can now be used anywhere but the dining venues, which means the e-cig users (though I've never seen any) can use more areas than the cig and cigar users, who are limited to two places. Some people are writing the head of O, and some threatening to ditch O, and others are explaining that (apparently) e-cig vapor is a lot different from cigarette smoke and there's nothing to fear. After reading many, many pages about (possibly) more tendering, e-cig policy, and a few other topics, I haven't seen any evidence that much is changing with the takeover by Norwegian. It has certainly been an amusing thread, however!

 

I'm hoping that the "World Cafe" is a nice cafe, and not the plastic tray, serve-yourself buffet line that some other ocean cruise lines have. If so, and the weather is warm enough to eat outside, that's where we'll probably be at least a few evenings for dinner. Buffet does not HAVE to be icky! Of course, I suspect this one might be a little skewed towards the foods eaten in the countries we'll be visiting, with probably a dose of Norwegian food, so I may have to get out of my comfort zone a little. I doubt, however, I will starve - if nothing else, there's room service!

[rjscott]

[quote name=PopsA;46145640 After the experience of meeting so many fun and interesting people here on CC it will be entertaining to share an evening meal with many them' date=' you, who, you know what I mean. And even some of you that haven't been so much fun will likely be more fun in person, hopefully.

 

[/quote]

 

Gosh, I wonder which category I've fallen into?! :confused: :eek: :p

 

Becki

[PopsA]

Becki,

 

Your in the waffle category. Does it get any sweeter? 🍩🍦🎂🍰🍪

[rjscott]

Becki,

 

Your in the waffle category. Does it get any sweeter?

 

AWWW! Ditto to you, you sweet talker, you! :D I'll be looking for you to join our table for sure! ;)

 

Becki

[cassandra44]

Well I guess some of the posts are rather more negative than we are used to seeing or posting - but I do think there are legitimate concerns about the dining arrangements (especially in this maiden season) and to echo what someone else said we keep getting conflicting advice from Viking..

So I do hope you will find it in your heart to have a little sympathy of those of us who weren't able to book our dining...either in the dining room or the specialty restaurants...and we had no way of knowing this would happen.

I posted our concerns here because we wanted to find out if others were experiencing similar problems...and it does seem a very suitable place to raise these concerns. We had no intention of making others, who haven't had problems, experience any discomfort.

We are very much looking forward to the cruise but we really thought that Viking (if they read these posts) should be aware of these concerns...and they might be able to address some of those concerns in advance.

[cassandra44]

We have also spoken with our neighbours who are going on a similar Baltic cruise on the Star in 2016....They are a group of 6 and are quite concerned they might never be able to eat together in the dining room since they won't be able to make any bookings in advance - something they, too, were unaware of and which was never mentioned by their agent (one of the largest vacation companies in the US). Hopefully if Viking is aware of these issues they might be able to address them in advance rather than waiting for things to happen.....

[Gogoguy]

I called Viking after reading these posts since we're also in the same boat (OK, OK lame pun) regarding apparently viewed as being in riff-raff category by Viking and therefore allowed to eat when the others are all done....I spoke with a very pompous individual who laughed that we're getting upset since the ship hasn't had it's first leg yet. I told him that if Viking had provided us with info, we would be far less paranoid. He went on to deny that the MDR will be filled with fixed sitting and that those of us in steerage would have to wait until they have finished dinner before we would be seated. He also said that the other cruise forum, which reports that open dinner seating is between 5:30 pm-7:30 pm is incorrect. Who knows? I'm sure I could call another Viking agent tomorrow and get a different story.....what I know is that with Celeb opening seating, on the first night, we had to wait about 45 min for a table...they encourage us 'anytime diners' to make reservations, which seems to defeat the purpose of anytime dining. As the cruised progressed, our wait times decreased until we had no wait at all as long as we were willing to share a table. Viking: if you're reading these posts...maybe you could give this subject some thought before we board....if you agree to seat us with those early fixed seating passengers, we promise not to drool, scratch ourselves or otherwise act in an obnoxious manner thereby giving away our lowly cabin category.

 

Nor will we pick our noses or fart at the table. Promise.