Dinner reservations for (currently free) specialty restaurants on Mardi Gras?

[ChrisNCruiser]

Hello! I'm going on Mardi Gras for the first time in three weeks. Can anyone who has sailed her tell me if one needs to (or can) make dinner reservations for Chibang, Pig and Anchor, or Cucina Del Capitano for a specific night / time once I'm onboard? I like the fact that they're currently free but see that I can't make reservations online in advance. Also, let me know if I'm incorrect about the free part 😛 Thanks! 

[WorkerBee74]

24 minutes ago, newpherchris said:

Hello! I'm going on Mardi Gras for the first time in three weeks. Can anyone who has sailed her tell me if one needs to (or can) make dinner reservations for Chibang, Pig and Anchor, or Cucina Del Capitano for a specific night / time once I'm onboard? I like the fact that they're currently free but see that I can't make reservations online in advance. Also, let me know if I'm incorrect about the free part 😛 Thanks! 

 

Someone can (and I'm sure will ahha) correct me if I'm wrong, I don't think you can make reservations.  What you can do is 'check in' for a table as early as 5:30 for dinner and they'll put you on a list/tell you when your table is ready through the HUB app, but I don't think you can say 'I want to dine on day 4 at 6pm' when you get on the ship.  

[WorkerBee74]

Also yes, those venues are still all free.  We sail on Saturday so I am very happy that they still are - sounds like they're going to be for the whole 'inaugural season' so would be until July 2022 sometime.  

[ray98]

No reservations....it utilizes a check-in method from the Hub app.

[csm5986142]

Someone recently posted a screenshot of what your HUB App (dining) will look like after the restaurants open (check out the wait times).

 

Mardi Gras back to full capacity - Carnival Cruise Lines - Cruise Critic Community

 

[CruisingFromLA]

4 hours ago, WorkerBee74 said:

Also yes, those venues are still all free.  We sail on Saturday so I am very happy that they still are - sounds like they're going to be for the whole 'inaugural season' so would be until July 2022 sometime.  

 

Honestly, I think Carnival will have no choice but to keep these 3 restaurants included for free as there is no room in the MDR to accommodate everyone. Have you seen how small the Anytime Dining MDR is on the Mardi Gras? It is puny.

[WorkerBee74]

26 minutes ago, CruisingFromLA said:

 

Honestly, I think Carnival will have no choice but to keep these 3 restaurants included for free as there is no room in the MDR to accommodate everyone. Have you seen how small the Anytime Dining MDR is on the Mardi Gras? It is puny.

 

Not yet but I'll see on..... Saturday.  I'm a bit excited 😛  

[ChrisNCruiser]

Thanks everyone for your replies - we prefer to eat early so it looks like I'll jump onto the hub app right at 5:30 or a minute before. 

[TomCruise48]

App tells you the length of your expected wait time, but it is not always correct. We reserved Cucina with app saying under 10 minutes and waited 45 minutes for our table to be assigned. With recent cruises sailing at near rated capacity, MG dining staff has been overwhelmed. This week they started moving staff from slower restaurants to busy restaurants and things are a little better than last week. 

[Pellaz]

On 3/29/2022 at 5:58 PM, WorkerBee74 said:

 

Someone can (and I'm sure will ahha) correct me if I'm wrong, I don't think you can make reservations.  What you can do is 'check in' for a table as early as 5:30 for dinner and they'll put you on a list/tell you when your table is ready through the HUB app, but I don't think you can say 'I want to dine on day 4 at 6pm' when you get on the ship.  

 

Yep, that's correct, IF you have YTD.  If you have set-time dining you'll have to wait until X o'clock before you can make reservations at Chibang or the Cucina for that evening....  Where X is somewhere around 7:30 pm.  🙂  

Guy's Smokehouse/Brewhouse does not require dinner reservations at all. 

[Knights on the Beach]

On 3/29/2022 at 9:59 PM, csm5986142 said:

Someone recently posted a screenshot of what your HUB App (dining) will look like after the restaurants open (check out the wait times).

 

Mardi Gras back to full capacity - Carnival Cruise Lines - Cruise Critic Community

 

 

On 3/30/2022 at 11:19 AM, newpherchris said:

Thanks everyone for your replies - we prefer to eat early so it looks like I'll jump onto the hub app right at 5:30 or a minute before. 

 

We decided to eat early almost every night last month - it was just easier to get a table faster and then we could get to the evening shows before all the good seats were gone.