Assigned seating question

[Playtennis]

Just having booked a cruise in December I noticed on our invoice that there is a "Dining Pref".  We are arbitrarily listed as "Late seating"...which we do not want!  Can anyone clarify just what this means?  Are we going to have assigned seating and time of dining?  I'm assuming that applies to the Grand Dining Room and only for dinner.

Keith

[Rob the Cruiser]

We ignore the late seating "suggestion". You are welcome to dine in the Grand Dining Room at any time it's open. There is no assigned seating. 

[RJB]

22 minutes ago, Rob the Cruiser said:

We ignore the late seating "suggestion". You are welcome to dine in the Grand Dining Room at any time it's open. There is no assigned seating. 

Good, as we are way past the time we would accept assigned seating.

[Rob the Cruiser]

Another input: The Grand Dining Room can be a zoo the first evening of the cruise. From our experience, it's easy to book a reservation for one of the specialty restaurants for the first night.

Edited June 2, 2020 by Rob the Cruiser

[ORV]

Is this the Oceania board? I've never seen such a designation on my invoice or the online reservation, and I've been on a few of them.  Is this something new? 

[Paulchili]

18 minutes ago, ORV said:

Is this the Oceania board? I've never seen such a designation on my invoice or the online reservation, and I've been on a few of them.  Is this something new? 

Agree. Maybe this is for the future trying to have fewer diners at a time in the MDR?

[Playtennis]

26 minutes ago, Paulchili said:

Agree. Maybe this is for the future trying to have fewer diners at a time in the MDR?

I thought it was strange too especially since I hadn't seen anything suggesting that from O

Here's what I got:

[Paulchili]

4 minutes ago, Playtennis said:

I thought it was strange too especially since I hadn't seen anything suggesting that from O

Here's what I got:

That is new and I think they are trying to spread the diners. We'll see how that works.

Can you try to change it to early?

Edited June 2, 2020 by Paulchili

[ToxM]

Is this an invoice from a TA?

Mine from my TA yesterday was marked Open sitting..


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[pinotlover]

10 minutes ago, Paulchili said:

Agree. Maybe this is for the future trying to have fewer diners at a time in the MDR?

Bingo!!! We have a winner!!!

 

I believe it is past time for people to stop relating past ancedotal experiences to future ( once Oceania starts sailing again) situations. Truth is, We don’t know!”

 

A perfect example of this is in the thread discussing new embarkment and disembarkment procedurals. We don’t know yet what those will fully entail. We don’t know! So when someone comes here and asks “ How early can we show up and board” ; anyone claiming their past experiences of “ showing up with the OSers With a 1:00 boarding time” is fine, is being purposefully fraudulent! 
 

Once sailing on Oceania restarts, and we get reports of the actual implementation ( not our interpretation of what’s written) of the new policies, those actually sailing can  perhaps give advice. Since a majority of posters here have zero intentions of sailing anytime in the next couple of years, talking about what the Pilgrims did on the Mayflower won’t have much purpose.

To the OP;

 

If our November cruise goes, I will attempt to answer your question after we sail.

[LHT28]

51 minutes ago, ORV said:

Is this the Oceania board? I've never seen such a designation on my invoice or the online reservation, and I've been on a few of them.  Is this something new? 

 

4 minutes ago, Playtennis said:

I thought it was strange too especially since I hadn't seen anything suggesting that from O

Here's what I got:

Maybe from TA  invoice  & not  O ??

I have not seen that  either  but  maybe it is the New Oceania

[ToxM]

Of course on my actual booking on the Oceania system (that I linked my account to on the website yesterday) has my mums surname wrong - so thats been flagged to the TA to get corrected (It is right in the TA invoice).


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[Playtennis]

ToxM

It was from our TA. I will advise her to mark ours "Open Seating"

Thanks all!

[ORV]

While they may change in the future to spread out the crowd in the dining room I believe this specific situation is a matter of a TA generated invoice and not an actual Oceania invoice. 

[Playtennis]

Confirmed by Oceania - the dining pref of Late seating is strictly for the specialty resautants and doesn't indicate when you need to dine.

[LHT28]

1 minute ago, Playtennis said:

Confirmed by Oceania - the dining pref of Late seating is strictly for the specialty resautants and doesn't indicate when you need to dine.

I am not sure I understand

When you book the specialties you have several options to choose from time wise

starting from 6:30pm till 9pm

You will not know until you go to book

[Mura]

Perhaps the method of choosing a table in the specialties will change so that there is an early and a late seating.  But I'd be interesting in knowing what is considered "late".  7:30?  9:00?

[LHT28]

57 minutes ago, Mura said:

Perhaps the method of choosing a table in the specialties will change so that there is an early and a late seating.  But I'd be interesting in knowing what is considered "late".  7:30?  9:00?

Agreed

wonder if you will be able to choose the night  you want or just assigned one at random

all 2 tops spaced 6 ft apart ??

maybe 2 seatings with a cleaning inbetween 

 

 I guess time will tell what the "new" Oceania will be like

[Mura]

Assuming Covid-19 continues for a while, it certainly will affect how any cruise line deals with seating at mealtime.

 

It sure was easier in the "old days"!  In that case, smaller ships should be BETTER.

 

Shouldn't they?

 

Mura

[RJB]

15 hours ago, LHT28 said:

Agreed

wonder if you will be able to choose the night  you want or just assigned one at random

all 2 tops spaced 6 ft apart ??

maybe 2 seatings with a cleaning inbetween 

 

 I guess time will tell what the "new" Oceania will be like

One of the beauties on Oceania was we could choose what we liked. If your idea is correct I  wonder how many of us will like the "new"  Oceania.

[StanandJim]

24 minutes ago, RJB said:

One of the beauties on Oceania was we could choose what we liked. If your idea is correct I  wonder how many of us will like the "new"  Oceania.

Neither Oceania, nor the Pandemic exist in a vacuum.

Changes will reflect the new normal in a post quarantine World.

You may as well ask if you will "like" traveling in general, or eating in public restaurants in general.

 

[pinotlover]

As a minimum, I would expect the 7:00-7:30 crowded rush in the Terrace to be gone. People wandering around looking for table or chairs will have to be controlled by new policy. The outside portion of the Terrace will help, but I’ve seen multiple days and nearly entire cruise s where it has been closed due to weather.
 

Mura;

 

The space in the Terrace on R ships ( small in your description) is very limited, providing little if any spacing. That doesn’t include all the people squeezing by the tables to get to theirs. I believe any new changes in seating will impact the Terrace more than other restaurants, R or O ships.

[DrHemlock]

Oceania may need to change their advertising logo from "Your World. Your Way." to "Your World...Any Which Way We Can!"

[Mura]

1 hour ago, pinotlover said:

Mura;

 

The space in the Terrace on R ships ( small in your description) is very limited, providing little if any spacing. That doesn’t include all the people squeezing by the tables to get to theirs. I believe any new changes in seating will impact the Terrace more than other restaurants, R or O ships.

I think you are absolutely right!

[RJB]

3 hours ago, StanandJim said:

Neither Oceania, nor the Pandemic exist in a vacuum.

Changes will reflect the new normal in a post quarantine World.

You may as well ask if you will "like" traveling in general, or eating in public restaurants in general.

 

You are right.  We may not like the new norm for traveling in general and will have to change how we do things, or not.  Eating in restaurants is a little different as the spacing is a much easier to do. They will just have to figure a way to exist with less revenue for a while until a vaccine is found and they can get back to normal.  The quarantine can not last forever.  I sure hope.  Just need to stay safe.