Just off Riviera

[wripro]

23 hours ago, pinotlover said:

Wripro;

 

I was being humorous! Of course one should never book before noon! I was only doubling down on Lyn’s post and all the posters coming here continuing asking that question.

 

Sorry for the lost pretext! 🍷

Sorry I missed your joke. But I'm sure you won't be surprised at how many people actually do book flights way too early.

[rucruisn2]

9 hours ago, Shawnino said:

Sorry for OP's issues.

Oceania's specialty restaurant reservation system really feels to me like the worst-of-all-worlds. I really couldn't care less that they are "included" in the fare--I'd happily pay $30/head to get in when/if I wanted. I'd happily accept pre-assignment by someone at head office if I could get vague criteria met ("sea days, kind of early"). As it is I need to stay up til 1am for them to open my cabin class online to try to get something close to useful times.

 

When we were on Riviera last year neither the desk on 5 nor our concierge (my goodness he was useless--"no" to everything, not just dining) ever had any extra slots. Why the desk on 5 was even staffed was beyond me. Funny though: twice we lined up at the MDR and the Maitre d' kindly asked us if we'd like to go to a specialty of our choice on-the-spot, as her dining room was overrun. 

 

I guess it all works out if you have a PH+/Butler, but we don't, and we find the current system inconvenient/inefficient. 

I stayed up late when our booking window opened up and couldn't get anything earlier than 8:30.  On board we talked to the useless concierge, who agreed with us and said he would "see what he could do" and would call us.  Never heard from him.  And stopped in the specialties as well.  Nothing worked.  Oh well, maybe I didn't gain too many lbs.  

[pinotlover]

Some Cruisers pay for Concierge and above cabins to get early dinner reservation opportunities. 

 

We typically do longer cruises = more than 10-12 days. On those cruises getting Specialties Reservations or extra reservations once aboard is easy. For those on short cruises, with cabins in steerage, I can understand the frustration but read paragraph 1.

[clo]

On 12/23/2019 at 5:49 PM, ruthnlarry said:

Our best meal was at Toscana.

And our least favorite was there. It wasn't the food. The service just seemed a little stilted or something. We've not been able nail t do down. Our fave was Jacques (the escargots, the sole!) and second Polo (oh yeah!).

[clo]

2 hours ago, pinotlover said:

with cabins in steerage

Is that a demeaning word - "steerage"?

[Mura]

1 minute ago, clo said:

And our least favorite was there. It wasn't the food. The service just seemed a little stilted or something. We've not been able nail t do down. Our fave was Jacques (the escargots, the sole!) and second Polo (oh yeah!).

We agree with you there, Clo, although your fave dishes in Jacques wouldn't be mine!  But we also love Polo.  My first meal there (and often my last depending on the length of the cruise) is the prime rib with the shrimp cocktail appetizer ...

 

We like Toscana, but even in Renaissance days it was never our favorite.  And as I've said before, we aren't Red Ginger fans.

 

Mura

[Mura]

2 minutes ago, clo said:

Is that a demeaning word - "steerage"?

I would say that "steerage" isn't a room category that exists these days ... it certainly did in the days of the Titanic and other ultra ships of earlier times ... But when we refer to "steerage" on Oceania or other modern lines, I think we're just talking about the cheaper rooms ... even an inside room on a modern ship is better than what the third class passengers got in the old days!

 

Not that I sailed at that time ...

[clo]

1 minute ago, Mura said:

we aren't Red Ginger fans.

We gave up our Red Ginger res. Got a second for Jacques 🙂

[clo]

5 minutes ago, Mura said:

But when we refer to "steerage" on Oceania or other modern lines, I think we're just talking about the cheaper rooms ..

I hadn't seen the term used here before. It 'felt' kinda "back of the bus" to me. Whatever.

[pinotlover]

7 minutes ago, clo said:

Is that a demeaning word - "steerage"?

Clo;

 

Didn’t mean it in a derogatory way. Just as the less expensive cabins. People booking a 7-10 day cruise on an O ship with an 1 reservation per restaurant guarantee should expect some difficulty in the lower cabins.

[KirkNC]

Interesting.  We were on the same cruise but only booked a few weeks before so when I went to book speciality restaurants it was hard to get anything other then 8:00 or 9:00, however when we got on the ship we made a bee line to deck five and were able to juggle them around to 6:00 or 6:30, sharing.  We met some great cruisers, enjoyed every meal.  We only ate dinner in the GDR once, it was good as well.  Overall we found the food to be very good, some of the best we have had on a cruise but this was our first O cruise so can't tell if anything is going down hill.  We ate one night in each speciality (Jacques was scary good) and also really enjoyed Terrace.  The variety there is very good.

 

The hostess in Red Ginger said its always hard on a short cruise to get the time you want.  The couple in front of us threw a fit because they could not walk in and get a seat.

Edited December 25, 2019 by KirkNC

[Mura]

48 minutes ago, clo said:

I hadn't seen the term used here before. It 'felt' kinda "back of the bus" to me. Whatever.

Maybe try reading a few books about the Titanic -- there are a number of good ones out there.  Even on Kindle.

 

On our first Renaissance cruise the library had a biography of a woman who was a room steward on the Titanic and other ships ... she survived several sinkings!  At the time a number of people wondered why a book like this would be in a cruise ship library but I found it very entertaining.

 

She survived the Titanic because third class passengers (steerage passengers) were afraid to get into the life boat and so the assisting crew members asked her to get into the boat to show the others that it was okay.  Otherwise, she probably would have died that night.

 

And then a couple of years later she survived the Brittanic sinking!  And if I'm remembering correctly she survived yet a third sinking!