specialty restaurant reservations

[pinotlover]

3 minutes ago, cruisingxpert said:

Yuck.  I hope you had option for 7 and 8pm  or am I going to have one of my bookings at 9:30pm😨

It became a game once the system kicked in, where I was canceling and rebooking reservations to fit time slots. Some restaurants had 6:30, 7:00, 7:30; 8::30 and later slots; while others only had 6:30, 7:30, 8:30 etc slots. So I was juggling things around so not to get the really late slots due to the allotments.

[Gray Eagle02]

I had no problem getting 6:30 PM reservations on 31 Oct. I had eight reservations ( we’re in a Vista Suite) and with the exception of the first night, when I made a reservation for 7:PM— when we wanted to be in our suite for the sail away--all of my reservations were at 6:30PM.

[cruisingxpert]

45 minutes ago, Gray Eagle02 said:

I had no problem getting 6:30 PM reservations on 31 Oct. I had eight reservations ( we’re in a Vista Suite) and with the exception of the first night, when I made a reservation for 7:PM— when we wanted to be in our suite for the sail away--all of my reservations were at 6:30PM.

I imagine that was because you are in a Vista Suite.  

My booking window opens on Nov 24th for a PH -will report on what happens.

[edgee]

1 hour ago, cruisingxpert said:

I imagine that was because you are in a Vista Suite.  

My booking window opens on Nov 24th for a PH -will report on what happens.

I think you are way too pessimistic. In 8 cruises on Oceania, all in Concierge class, so reserving way later than PH or higher, I have always been able to get 6:30 or 7 for 2 in all specialty restaurants. Sometimes not on my first choice of days, but overall never an issue.

[cruisingxpert]

51 minutes ago, edgee said:

I think you are way too pessimistic. In 8 cruises on Oceania, all in Concierge class, so reserving way later than PH or higher, I have always been able to get 6:30 or 7 for 2 in all specialty restaurants. Sometimes not on my first choice of days, but overall never an issue.

That's not what we are talking about.  "Pinotlover" posted that they just booked their specialty restaurants for their Jan 28th cruise and they could only have  6:30 for one slot 7:30 one time for another slot. See Post 120.  

Apparently you can't book the same time for each specialty but Gray Eagle was able to and I suspect any Oceania/Vista/Owner suites won't have this issue.

[pinotlover]

11 hours ago, cruisingxpert said:

That's not what we are talking about.  "Pinotlover" posted that they just booked their specialty restaurants for their Jan 28th cruise and they could only have  6:30 for one slot 7:30 one time for another slot. See Post 120.  

Apparently you can't book the same time for each specialty but Gray Eagle was able to and I suspect any Oceania/Vista/Owner suites won't have this issue.

That you! Either their upper suite made the difference or that 31 Oct sailing was so empty, they hadn’t initiated the change yet.

[Gray Eagle02]

52 minutes ago, pinotlover said:

12 hours ago, cruisingxpert said:

 

That you! Either their upper suite made the difference or that 31 Oct sailing was so empty, they hadn’t initiated the change

Sorry for the confusion. My sail date is on the Riviera departing on 28 Jan. My ability to make dining reservations opened up at final payment which was 30 Oct. I made those reservations either on Oct 30 or 0ct 31.

[cruisingxpert]

6 minutes ago, Gray Eagle02 said:

Sorry for the confusion. My sail date is on the Riviera departing on 28 Jan. My ability to make dining reservations opened up at final payment which was 30 Oct. I made those reservations either on Oct 30 or 0ct 31.

Thank you for clarifying.  That is what I thought you were saying- that you made your bookings on that date for a 2022 sailing.  While Oceania may have changed the booking system and is not letting people book the same time frame for every dinner, I still think that wouldn't apply to Oceania Suites and above.

I will find out on the 24th whether the new system is in effect for PH categories.

 

[cruisingxpert]

1 hour ago, pinotlover said:

That you! Either their upper suite made the difference or that 31 Oct sailing was so empty, they hadn’t initiated the change yet.

As Gray Eagle said, he wasn't affected by the change.  3 days to my be able to book for a Feb cruise.  Will let you know if it happens to me or if you have just made enemies with the booking machine😛

[pinotlover]

12 minutes ago, cruisingxpert said:

Thank you for clarifying.  That is what I thought you were saying- that you made your bookings on that date for a 2022 sailing.  While Oceania may have changed the booking system and is not letting people book the same time frame for every dinner, I still think that wouldn't apply to Oceania Suites and above.

I will find out on the 24th whether the new system is in effect for PH categories.

 

We are in a PH for our cruise.

 

Be interesting to see how you come out. I just thought that since Oceania had eliminated the early boarding perks for upper suits, making it FC FS, they were likewise tweaking the dining reservation system.

Edited November 21, 2021 by pinotlover

[ORV]

I'm not sure I understand this. Are you saying that you can't book the same time period more than once? So with 4 restaurants you have to take a different time for each one?  Not sure I care much for this. 

[cruisingxpert]

15 minutes ago, ORV said:

I'm not sure I understand this. Are you saying that you can't book the same time period more than once? So with 4 restaurants you have to take a different time for each one?  Not sure I care much for this. 

That is what Pinotlover says happened to them.  My dining window opens at 12:01 Nov 24 so I will post what I find and see if the same thing happens to me.  Seems like Oceania is trying to be more egalitarian🙂

Checking in 21 days prior to boarding does not give any benefit to higher categories like before.  When I checked in I knew other passengers that had Concierge, Oceania Suite and balcony cabins.  We all checked in as soon as we could and we were all able to choose the earliest boarding time of 11am.  Another person waited 2 days and earliest check in was 12:30.

[samiam99]

I booked all four of mine at the same time 2 people no problem

 

[cruisingxpert]

5 minutes ago, samiam99 said:

I booked all four of mine at the same time 2 people no problem

 

When did you do it, was your cabin category Oceania and above and was it for a cruise in 2021 or 2022? 

I booked same time for all dinners for my Dec 2021 cruise.  If what Pinotlover says is true, it seems to have happened recently

[samiam99]

I booked them on November 9 for my cruise on Marina for January 8 2022. I had to pay my final payment to do so even though Oceania moved final payment to 30 days. I am in a concierge balcony so 45 days out was earliest I could book. No problems getting times I wanted. I suspect a lot are waiting till final payment comes due but I chose to pay a couple weeks early so I could book my choices. I also booked a reserva dinner and was able to book it a couple of months ago even though I had not paid in full. Hope that answers you questions cruisingxpert. 

[cruisingxpert]

4 minutes ago, samiam99 said:

I booked them on November 9 for my cruise on Marina for January 8 2022. I had to pay my final payment to do so even though Oceania moved final payment to 30 days. I am in a concierge balcony so 45 days out was earliest I could book. No problems getting times I wanted. I suspect a lot are waiting till final payment comes due but I chose to pay a couple weeks early so I could book my choices. I also booked a reserva dinner and was able to book it a couple of months ago even though I had not paid in full. Hope that answers you questions cruisingxpert. 

Thank you.  That's very interesting.  I wonder if you could book Marina for any time slot because  the South America cruises don't appear to be really full.  I guess I will find out at 12:01am on Wednesday

whether "pinotlover" situation was a glitch or a new protocol.

 

La Reserve can be booked in advance for 2022 but not for 2021 cruises.  I have it booked for my Feb cruise but can't do it online for my Dec cruise.

[Homerody]

2 minutes ago, cruisingxpert said:

Thank you.  That's very interesting.  I wonder if you could book Marina for any time slot because  the South America cruises don't appear to be really full.  I guess I will find out at 12:01am on Wednesday

whether "pinotlover" situation was a glitch or a new protocol.

 

La Reserve can be booked in advance for 2022 but not for 2021 cruises.  I have it booked for my Feb cruise but can't do it online for my Dec cruise.

Isn't @pinotlover on the 28 Jan Marina SA sailing?

[cruisingxpert]

3 minutes ago, Homerody said:

Isn't @pinotlover on the 28 Jan Marina SA sailing?

Good question.  Marina and Riviera both have a Jan 28th departure. 

That brings up another question.  Who will get the usual berth for Oceania and who gets stuck on the other side?😁

[LHT28]

2 minutes ago, cruisingxpert said:

Good question.  Marina and Riviera both have a Jan 28th departure. 

That brings up another question.  Who will get the usual berth for Oceania and who gets stuck on the other side?😁

Did they change departure port  from Santiago to Miami ??

[cruisingxpert]

Just now, LHT28 said:

Did they change departure port  from Santiago to Miami ??

Good catch.  I forgot about where it departs.

[pinotlover]

Our FP date was 28 November. We made it on Friday 11/19 so we could make our dining reservations, plus not wanting our TA to be going through the exercise during all the Black Friday madness. We are in a PH for the cruise, so dining bookings opened up for us on 11/14 , if we were paid.

 

I just rechecked. The system would allow only one 6:30 time slot. It did allow 2 , but only 2, 7:00 slots, and then we got a 7:30 as the next slot we were allocated.

 

I was making the reservations as sharing with four of us. Never attempted to do a dining alone two top.

Edited November 21, 2021 by pinotlover

[cruisingxpert]

9 minutes ago, pinotlover said:

I was making the reservations as sharing with four of us. Never attempted to do a dining alone two top.

@Homerody asked if you were on the Marina sailing.  I thought you were on the Riviera sailing.  They both depart Jan 28th.

[pinotlover]

14 minutes ago, cruisingxpert said:

@Homerody asked if you were on the Marina sailing.  I thought you were on the Riviera sailing.  They both depart Jan 28th.

Marina sailing 1/28/22, Santiago- BA.

[cruisingxpert]

2 minutes ago, pinotlover said:

Marina sailing 1/28/22, Santiago- BA.

@samiam99 is on Marina on Jan 8th and had no issues booking for 2 alone which I would have

thought would be harder than 4 people so maybe it was just a glitch in the system

[Jancruz]

Can someone tell me if you are still having trouble with the restaurant times as Oceania has not changed anything and we  are trying to figure out if it is a glitch in the system..

Jancruz1