Boarding Day Lunch Reservation Question

[samiam0403]

Hi all - hoping one of you more seasoned Royal cruisers can answer a quick question. I'm currently booked on Mariner in October, and weeks ago made a lunch reservation at Chops for 1230 on boarding day. Online check in was recently opened, and the earliest I can check in/board is 1300. There are now no open reservations for lunch on boarding day at all - at any restaurant. So my question is - will they hold my reservation? Let me board earlier? Let me call and change the reservation? Or maybe they hold back some reservations for walk ups? Or should I just suck it up and cancel? Any advice is greatly appreciated!   

[HicksRA]

I wouldn’t cancel. I’d just leave it and try to get a table upon arrival. You can cancel onboard if you can’t get a table. But it’ll be OBC. 

[Hogbay]

Just be there to board when you can ,if it's 1300 so be it . Have waited longer than hour for first course . So many times they have squeeze us in saying that they are fully booked but was empty tables everywhere. Enjoy your Chops lunch 🙂

[later]

Are they even going to be open for lunch if boarding time starts at 1 pm.

 

it typically is only open for lunch up to 1:30 pm.

[Dat Cruisin Couple]

To the OP, they probably won't hold the reservation and no one with reservations was able to board before their checkin time, so that is doubtful.  Like others have said, you might get lucky and be able to walk in. If it was me, I would cancel.

[samiam0403]

Thanks all, for the replies. I'm thinking I'll just keep the reservation, be ready to board at 1300 on the dot, and see what happens. Worst case, I don't make it to Chops before they close, and spend a few minutes of my cruise at Guest Services getting my ~$20 refunded. (And considering it's a free casino cruise anyway, if I lose the $20, I've got no complaints!) No matter what happens, I'm just looking forward to being on a cruise again!

Edited August 8, 2021 by samiam0403

[nelblu]

45 minutes ago, samiam0403 said:

Thanks all, for the replies. I'm thinking I'll just keep the reservation, be ready to board at 1300 on the dot, and see what happens. Worst case, I don't make it to Chops before they close, and spend a few minutes of my cruise at Guest Services getting my ~$20 refunded. (And considering it's a free casino cruise anyway, if I lose the $20, I've got no complaints!) No matter what happens, I'm just looking forward to being on a cruise again!

Don't be surprised if boarding/departing is much later.   My Oasis Sept 5 departure has been pushed 2 hours ( 4 to 6)because of newly installed protocols.  As I live in NJ, I'm not expecting to have lunch on board.

[TYMAN]

1 hour ago, samiam0403 said:

Thanks all, for the replies. I'm thinking I'll just keep the reservation, be ready to board at 1300 on the dot, and see what happens. Worst case, I don't make it to Chops before they close, and spend a few minutes of my cruise at Guest Services getting my ~$20 refunded. (And considering it's a free casino cruise anyway, if I lose the $20, I've got no complaints!) No matter what happens, I'm just looking forward to being on a cruise again!

We have a 12:00 Chops lunch booked for boarding day on August 30th on the Mariner. We got the 1pm boarding time but plan on being at the door at noon. I'm pretty sure we won't make the lunch, but I'm going to keep the reservation just in case. I'll let you know how it goes.......I'm thinking worse case I get OBC. 

[samiam0403]

27 minutes ago, TYMAN said:

We have a 12:00 Chops lunch booked for boarding day on August 30th on the Mariner. We got the 1pm boarding time but plan on being at the door at noon. I'm pretty sure we won't make the lunch, but I'm going to keep the reservation just in case. I'll let you know how it goes.......I'm thinking worse case I get OBC. 

Thanks! That would be great. I'm of the same mind - try to board in time to make the lunch reservation, and if not I've got no problem sitting in my car listening to music until my real boarding time. 

[ampurp85]

I read they are pretty strict about boarding times unless you are in a suite/pin. 

 

I think the Chops situation is still set for the original boarding times when people would come on as early as 11am. I believe they will honor the reservations starting at 1pm.

[TYMAN]

16 hours ago, ampurp85 said:

I read they are pretty strict about boarding times unless you are in a suite/pin. 

 

I think the Chops situation is still set for the original boarding times when people would come on as early as 11am. I believe they will honor the reservations starting at 1pm.

Thanks. Hopefully you're right about the 1pm start....anyway, we are in a suite so that might help. 

[HBCcruiser]

2 hours ago, TYMAN said:

Thanks. Hopefully you're right about the 1pm start....anyway, we are in a suite so that might help. 

If you are in a suite you can board earlier. Check with your concierge when you get the email. We had Chops lunch booked for 12:30 which I thought would be tight. My DDs had a 12:30 boarding time while we had a 12:00 time. We boarded at 11:30 and were onboard by noon. This was on the AOS July 2021. 

[ChicagoCubsFan]

We have never eaten in a specialty restaurant for lunch on boarding day.  Can some one tell me how I go about getting a reservation?

[RFerrington]

1 minute ago, ChicagoCubsFan said:

We have never eaten in a specialty restaurant for lunch on boarding day.  Can some one tell me how I go about getting a reservation?

You can purchase individual specialty dining OR dining plans through the Cruise Planner if you want to or you can wait until you're on board and purchase.  Typically, it is less expensive to pre-purchase specialty dining but they do offer on board discounts from time-to-time.  If you want to know for sure that you have a reservation for a particular restaurant at a particular time, it is probably best to pre-purchase.  One caveat.  If you purchase a dining plan, you will NOT be able to reserve ahead of time as your trade-off for a lower price is having to wait until you board to make your reservations.

[HBCcruiser]

4 hours ago, ChicagoCubsFan said:

We have never eaten in a specialty restaurant for lunch on boarding day.  Can some one tell me how I go about getting a reservation?

 

As stated above you can purchase on the Cruise Planner ahead of time. If you have the Dining Package you will be reimbursed if you pre-purchase a specialty lunch for embarkation day. I was! 

[cruizzing]

18 minutes ago, HBCcruiser said:

If you have the Dining Package you will be reimbursed if you pre-purchase a specialty lunch for embarkation day. I was! 

@hbcruiser Was it reimbursed to your original payment or issued as OBC? BTW- thoroughly enjoyed your "Live" - thanks for taking the time.

[HBCcruiser]

5 minutes ago, cruizzing said:

@hbcruiser Was it reimbursed to your original payment or issued as OBC? BTW- thoroughly enjoyed your "Live" - thanks for taking the time.

Thank you! I am so glad you enjoyed it. We had such a great time - always too short though. It was credited as  OBC which we spent. 😜

[cruizzing]

1 minute ago, HBCcruiser said:

Thank you! 

Thank YOU! 😊