Specialty Reservation Question

[ORV]

I'm not privy to that information but when we were in that situation we didn't for that specific thing, but a tip for overall service. 

[dsegel]

2 hours ago, ORV said:

It's not just the servers available, it's the reservation timing. If I go in at 6:30 odds are I won't be leaving until at least 8-8:30. There are people reserved for 7:00, 7:30, 8:00 8:30 etc. If they filled all tables when the restaurant opens then the people reserved at those times would not have a table to be seated at. 

 

Yes, this makes sense as well.  I specifically remember that the tables were set for certain number of people.  For instance, we were seated at a four person table that was only set for two.

 

[Paulchili]

1 hour ago, dsegel said:

 

Ha, ha, I know we always do.  What i mean is do they give their butler an extra tip for getting them a reservation.

No - that is part of butlers’ job description. No need to tip extra for that.

Edited September 8, 2019 by Paulchili

[Mrs f.]

Clo....i shall let you know tomorrow. I think we book tonight after midnight.  On Nautica last winter the times were 6:30, 7:30, 8:30.  

 

[clo]

Just now, Mrs f. said:

Clo....i shall let you know tomorrow. I think we book tonight after midnight.  On Nautica last winter the times were 6:30, 7:30, 8:30.  

 

I'm lucky living on the Left Coast.  That three hour time difference will make a huge difference for me.  I'm not a night person 🙂

[Mrs f.]

Just now, clo said:

I'm lucky living on the Left Coast.  That three hour time difference will make a huge difference for me.  I'm not a night person 🙂

Neither am I.  

[Mura]

As to tipping the butler for getting reservations, we never have.  Yes, we tip them at the end of the cruise depending on what they did for us.  Many times they have gotten extra reservations for us even though we hadn't requested them.  Since we are not super fans of the specialties (as opposed to the GDR or Terrace) we have rarely used many extra reservations.  Maybe if the menus changed frequently we would feel differently ... but they don't!

 

 

 

 

[pinotlover]

On our 20 day Nautica Cruise we struggled to use our three guaranteed reservations in each of the Specialties. Our Butler offered more and we turned him down. Having seen the exact same menus in those venues for years it just don’t make them special to us anymore. Not once , in the Specialties, on our cruise were any fresh nightly specials offered. Even the nightly special pasta was out of the freezer. On late night departures and overnights we ate ashore. Let the newbies have the additional reservations! Other nights we primarily ate in the GDR. A couple of the meals in the GDR was better than anything we had in either Specialties. Our lone dinner in the Terrace was a disaster for reasons Lyn has often discussed. 

 

In retrospect, we have friends that will go to our favorite local restaurant three or four times per month and order the exact same thing every time month after month. That’s them not us. They’d love O Specialties, the menu never changes and if they could have gotten 20 reservations they’d eaten the same thing 18 times at least. We enjoy trying new dishes and new recipes with flavorful dishes. Each to his own.

Edited September 9, 2019 by pinotlover

[Mrs f.]

5 hours ago, clo said:

I'm lucky living on the Left Coast.  That three hour time difference will make a huge difference for me.  I'm not a night person 🙂

Clo-

   Just made our reservations for Marina specialty-   times offered were 6:30, 7:30, 8.00, 8:30

[sunlover12]

 

10 hours ago, pinotlover said:

On our 20 day Nautica Cruise we struggled to use our three guaranteed reservations in each of the Specialties. Our Butler offered more and we turned him down. Having seen the exact same menus in those venues for years it just don’t make them special to us anymore. Not once , in the Specialties, on our cruise were any fresh nightly specials offered. Even the nightly special pasta was out of the freezer. On late night departures and overnights we ate ashore. Let the newbies have the additional reservations! Other nights we primarily ate in the GDR. A couple of the meals in the GDR was better than anything we had in either Specialties. Our lone dinner in the Terrace was a disaster for reasons Lyn has often discussed. 

 

In retrospect, we have friends that will go to our favorite local restaurant three or four times per month and order the exact same thing every time month after month. That’s them not us. They’d love O Specialties, the menu never changes and if they could have gotten 20 reservations they’d eaten the same thing 18 times at least. We enjoy trying new dishes and new recipes with flavorful dishes. Each to his own.

We haven't been on Oceania enough where eating in the specialties has become monotonous.  The GDR is good but I can't say that I had any meals there that exceeded what we had in the specialties.  I enjoyed the dinners we had in the Terrace because of the variety.  There was something new each time we went there. One night there was a profiterole station, another night there was some very good smoked fish of various kinds,  and the day we were in Warnemunde-Berlin it was a German theme in Terrace.  Lots of variety and never monotonous.  

[susiesan]

My booking shows the following for making specialty dining reservations:

 

Dining Reservations are available 45 to 7 days prior to sail date.

 

Your 7-Day Voyage in a Deluxe Ocean View (C2) offers you 1 reservation per restaurant in Red Ginger and Tuscan Steak.

 

A bit vague. The cruise is Jan. 25, 2020 on Sirena. I will periodically check to see when the reservations actually open. Does Sirena have the Red Ginger entrees available at the Terrace buffet? AS that is my fave rest, if I can't get a reservation there I will just eat the Red Ginger food at the buffet. The miso glazed sea bass to die for.

[LHT28]

2 minutes ago, susiesan said:

My booking shows the following for making specialty dining reservations:

 

Dining Reservations are available 45 to 7 days prior to sail date.

 

 

So  look at 45 day before embarkation day

You can also find the EXACT  date  on O's website  under  "MY OCEANIA"   just sign on  it will have the date  listed on the side  under booked cruises

Mine is usually listed on my invoice  on the page with the itinerary

[dsegel]

8 minutes ago, susiesan said:

Does Sirena have the Red Ginger entrees available at the Terrace buffet? AS that is my fave rest, if I can't get a reservation there I will just eat the Red Ginger food at the buffet. The miso glazed sea bass to die for.

 

I've never been on the Sirena.  I've been on Marina and Riviera.  I have never seen the buffet offering any of the food from the Specialty restaurants, though I could be wrong.  They do often have the same offerings in the buffet as the GDR.

 

Your best bet would be to go to the dining reservations desk early in the morning and request the Red Ginger.  If they are full, they will call you if they have an opening.

[ORV]

4 hours ago, susiesan said:

My booking shows the following for making specialty dining reservations:

 

Dining Reservations are available 45 to 7 days prior to sail date.

 

Your 7-Day Voyage in a Deluxe Ocean View (C2) offers you 1 reservation per restaurant in Red Ginger and Tuscan Steak.

 

A bit vague. The cruise is Jan. 25, 2020 on Sirena. I will periodically check to see when the reservations actually open. Does Sirena have the Red Ginger entrees available at the Terrace buffet? AS that is my fave rest, if I can't get a reservation there I will just eat the Red Ginger food at the buffet. The miso glazed sea bass to die for.

It's not vague, it's just worded poorly. As Lyn stated you are eligible to book at 45 days from the embarkation date. You can book anytime from there up until 7 days before your cruise. They need to get the reservation info to the ship and that is the cutoff date, hope that clears it up a little bit. 

3 hours ago, dsegel said:

 

I've never been on the Sirena.  I've been on Marina and Riviera.  I have never seen the buffet offering any of the food from the Specialty restaurants, though I could be wrong.  They do often have the same offerings in the buffet as the GDR.

 

Your best bet would be to go to the dining reservations desk early in the morning and request the Red Ginger.  If they are full, they will call you if they have an opening.

I've seen items from the Specialties in the Terrace, but the most frequent is the Miso Sea Bass. 

[schmerl]

5 hours ago, susiesan said:

My booking shows the following for making specialty dining reservations:

 

Dining Reservations are available 45 to 7 days prior to sail date.

 

Your 7-Day Voyage in a Deluxe Ocean View (C2) offers you 1 reservation per restaurant in Red Ginger and Tuscan Steak.

 

A bit vague. The cruise is Jan. 25, 2020 on Sirena. I will periodically check to see when the reservations actually open. Does Sirena have the Red Ginger entrees available at the Terrace buffet? AS that is my fave rest, if I can't get a reservation there I will just eat the Red Ginger food at the buffet. The miso glazed sea bass to die for.

 

My invoice has the exact date at which we can make our dinner reservations. 

[clo]

27 minutes ago, schmerl said:

 

My invoice has the exact date at which we can make our dinner reservations. 

Mine does also.  I assumed that all of them do.

[pinotlover]

The one night we ate in the Terrace, on our recent Nautica cruise, it was Red Ginger night. Since we like the Red Ginger we opted to give the Terrace its sole try for the cruise. I could write a page on how bad  and poorly prepared that meal was. 

[susiesan]

My invoice is from a TA and does not show dates to make dinner reservations. I have not made the final payment yet, maybe that is when the dates show up.

[schmerl]

1 minute ago, susiesan said:

My invoice is from a TA and does not show dates to make dinner reservations. I have not made the final payment yet, maybe that is when the dates show up.

 

We have only put a deposit down so far and exact date to make reservations is on our invoice. 

[LHT28]

1 minute ago, susiesan said:

My invoice is from a TA and does not show dates to make dinner reservations. I have not made the final payment yet, maybe that is when the dates show up.

Mine are on the  1st invoice

Maybe you should talk to your TA

[susiesan]

10 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

Mine are on the  1st invoice

Maybe you should talk to your TA

Since the dinner reservation dates don't show up on my Oceania account/booking I doubt my TA would be able to see the dates. As I said before, my O account shows dinner reservations can be made 7 to 45 days prior. I will be making reservations for friends who are joining us on the cruise, newbies to O. They asked me to make the dinner reservations for the 4 of us.

[jwindham]

I struggled with this until my friend that I cruise with told me to go to Booked Cruises and it is out to the side as soon as you get to that site. When you sign in and get to the Overview page, just click at the top on Booked Cruises and there it is. Hope this helps. Julia

[LHT28]

1 hour ago, susiesan said:

Since the dinner reservation dates don't show up on my Oceania account/booking I doubt my TA would be able to see the dates. As I said before, my O account shows dinner reservations can be made 7 to 45 days prior. I will be making reservations for friends who are joining us on the cruise, newbies to O. They asked me to make the dinner reservations for the 4 of us.

well obviously  something is not right  with you or your booking as others can see the exact  date they can start booking the restaurants 🤔

You can book in between that time frame  but 45 days is the earliest you can book

Worst case  start with the sailing date & count backwards 45 days  on the calendar 

 

[susiesan]

Now all of a sudden today I see that I can make dining reservations Dec. 11. That was not there yesterday. Noted on my calendar.😋

[ORV]

I thought I explained this in my last post. Do you have me on ignore? It's not rocket science folks.