Places to ask for extra specialty restaurant reservations without a butler?

[reposado]

Would it be in front of the front of the restaurant? Or I remember you can go to the "help desk"(forget what they call it) and reserve it there?

Thanks in advance.

[LHT28]

On the O class ships  it is Deck 5  at the restaurant reservations desk

 The R ships they used to do at the podium at the entrance to the Terrace  (Port side )

[mountain grandma]

49 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

On the O class ships  it is Deck 5  at the restaurant reservations desk

 The R ships they used to do at the podium at the entrance to the Terrace  (Port side )

On the R ships now they also have a desk on Deck 5 (starboard side) for restaurant reservations instead of the Terrace podium.  Makes it very easy.  
 

Billie

[Hawaiidan]

on cruises with more than 10 days  it's easy, in my experience to  get almost any thing if your  open to share and flexible.     Seems everyone stresses over this and pays to get a butler and such.....   Never needed one  but its a popular thread....   RELAX.... you wont go hungry..

Also if the ship is rolling a bit  tons of cancels happen   that you can walk in to a restaurant many times when people do not show up  without a cancel   try that when there is motion on the ocean !!........think positive   its easy 

[reposado]

Thanks for the replies and a follow up question. Can the restaurant reservations desk book extra reservations days in advance or only for the day of?

 

[Hawaiidan]

2 minutes ago, reposado said:

Thanks for the replies and a follow up question. Can the restaurant reservations desk book extra reservations days in advance or only for the day of?

 

yes.....the world is your oyster...   you can try to book anything on board if available.... unless things have changed....I always could    but I dont take less than 14 day cruises too.  The longer the cruisee  the more the options

[LHT28]

1 hour ago, reposado said:

Thanks for the replies and a follow up question. Can the restaurant reservations desk book extra reservations days in advance or only for the day of?

 

AFAIK  only for the day  if there are  spaces available

[jondfk]

It’s even worth stopping by the desk on the way to the GDR.  Cancellations happen even to the last minute and we saw people get a “right now” booking multiple times on our recent R class sailing.

[LHT28]

18 minutes ago, jondfk said:

It’s even worth stopping by the desk on the way to the GDR.  Cancellations happen even to the last minute and we saw people get a “right now” booking multiple times on our recent R class sailing.

Might have a better chance  when sailing at less than capacity  but usually  those on the waitlist are called first  when a cancellation happens

[mountain grandma]

18 hours ago, LHT28 said:

AFAIK  only for the day  if there are  spaces available

Not true, Lyn.  You can make reservations for days other than that one when you are on board.  We have done so many times in the past

and as recently as last October/November  on the Riviera and in March/April on the Sirena.

 

Billie 

[LHT28]

1 hour ago, mountain grandma said:

Not true, Lyn.  You can make reservations for days other than that one when you are on board.  We have done so many times in the past

and as recently as last October/November  on the Riviera and in March/April on the Sirena.

 

Billie 

Must be  something new 

Pre covid  we could only do it for the same day

 

With the limited capacity lately it may be easier

[ORV]

3 hours ago, mountain grandma said:

Not true, Lyn.  You can make reservations for days other than that one when you are on board.  We have done so many times in the past

and as recently as last October/November  on the Riviera and in March/April on the Sirena.

 

Billie 

Was this in addition to your allotment that you had already reserved? 

[mauibabes]

And according to Lilly Tomlin, “and that’s the truth” because we were with Billie on Riviera last year and they offered Specialty reservations multiple days in advance. 
Things change, policies on board based on staffing and capacity change according to the necessities of the itinerary. 
Good Luck and great to hear from you Billie. 

Ciao, Mauibabes 

[Pizzasteve]

10 minutes ago, mauibabes said:

And according to Lilly Tomlin, “and that’s the truth” because we were with Billie on Riviera last year and they offered Specialty reservations multiple days in advance. 
Things change, policies on board based on staffing and capacity change according to the necessities of the itinerary. 
Good Luck and great to hear from you Billie. 

Ciao, Mauibabes 

We had this experience as well. If you have a special date, in our case a birthday, they found us a spot in the Italian restaurant and baked a special cake too!  For a 10 night cruise we had 7 nights of specialty reservations by 'front loading' our first 4 dates then checking early on days we wanted another.  We were in a normal Veranda with consierge level.  As a side note, the consierge was not willing/able to help with dining.

 

Smiling and patiently waiting our turn seemed to help. 😉

Edited June 23, 2022 by Pizzasteve

[mountain grandma]

Yes, Orv it was in addition to our allotted dining reservations that we had pre-booked prior to the cruise.  Having a dedicated reservation desk on deck 5 made it very easy and I think it was a welcome addition to the services provided. Also, I am Gluten-free and I would receive a copy of the menu the night before for whichever dining venue I was going to and then I returned it to the reservation desk the next morning so that was another plus for having the dedicated desk so handy and centrally located on the ship.  
 

Billie

[AMHuntFerry]

2 hours ago, Pizzasteve said:

We had this experience as well. If you have a special date, in our case a birthday, they found us a spot in the Italian restaurant and baked a special cake too!  For a 10 night cruise we had 7 nights of specialty reservations by 'front loading' our first 4 dates then checking early on days we wanted another.  We were in a normal Veranda with consierge level.  As a side note, the consierge was not willing/able to help with dining.

 

Smiling and patiently waiting our turn seemed to help. 😉

And in true O-fashion (where variations are everywhere!), our concierge (also veranda) was happy to get us an extra Red Ginger reservation. 🤪

Edit: and it was for a future day (not same day).

Edited June 24, 2022 by AMHuntFerry

[LHT28]

Good to know  you can now ask for advance reservations when on the ships

 I hope when they are back at full capacity cruises it is still the case

Enjoy

[slinkie_dawg]

Is there a charge for extra reservations in the specialty restaurants on the Sirena?  We're sailing in 2 weeks.

[pinotlover]

23 minutes ago, slinkie_dawg said:

Is there a charge for extra reservations in the specialty restaurants on the Sirena?  We're sailing in 2 weeks.

NO!

[mauibabes]

Slinkie,

Don’t waste a Pre sailing Specialty dining reservation on the first night. When you board, go straight to the Deck 5 Reservation Desk and book Red Ginger or Tuscan Steak as there will be considerable availability and booking then will not count against your Specialty allocation. If you are offered a later reservation than you would like, take it anyway. Then in the evening drop bye the restaurant when you would like to dine and see if the Maitre d can accommodate you. 9 times out of 10 they will be able to slip you in, especially in these times of reduced sailing capacities. 
Sailing in two weeks, ENJOY!

Ciao, Mauibabes

[DENIE]

6 hours ago, mauibabes said:

Slinkie,

Don’t waste a Pre sailing Specialty dining reservation on the first night. When you board, go straight to the Deck 5 Reservation Desk and book Red Ginger or Tuscan Steak as there will be considerable availability and booking then will not count against your Specialty allocation. If you are offered a later reservation than you would like, take it anyway. Then in the evening drop bye the restaurant when you would like to dine and see if the Maitre d can accommodate you. 9 times out of 10 they will be able to slip you in, especially in these times of reduced sailing capacities. 
Sailing in two weeks, ENJOY!

Ciao, Mauibabes

This is exactly what we did on our Riviera cruise - just as you advised some time ago! 😃

We happened to walk in after embarkation to check out Red Ginger, and someone saw us and came over to chat.  The actually encouraged us to book a reservation because they said the first night in the GDR is usually a bit chaotic.  Got our cruise off to an amazing start!!

 

[slinkie_dawg]

mauibabes, thanks for the response.  I just want to make sure I understand:  Currently I have made a reservation for Red Ginger on night 2; and Tuscan on the last night of the cruise.  Then I will try to pick up and extra specialty night on the spur of the moment.  Did I do the right thing, am I thinking the right way?

[LHT28]

1 hour ago, slinkie_dawg said:

.  I just want to make sure I understand:  Currently I have made a reservation for Red Ginger on night 2; and Tuscan on the last night of the cruise. 

I would not wait to try the specialties  till the last night

If you can book a night earlier in the cruise  I would do that  then see if you can get other  reservations  during the cruise 

JMO

[mauibabes]

Slinkie,

You did not say if you are a veteran Oceania cruiser but just in case, here are a few thoughts from 15 years of Oceania dining experiences. Day 2 is perfect for RG.  Here is your little secret, on embarkation day, dinner reservations are never booked up so as soon as you board Sirena, go to the Reservation Desk on Deck 5 and book a reservation for that night in Tuscan Steak. You are waiting way too long to dine there. Doing it this way, that extra reservation does not count against your Specialty dining allocation.  Actually any extra reservations you pick up on board do not effect your allocation. Every day there will be reservations available at that Desk so drop bye and get what you can.  If the time available is later than you would like, take it anyway.  At dinner time when you would like to dine, drop bye the restaurant and ask the Maitre d if he or she can accommodate you any earlier than your later reservations.  We find 9 of 10 times they will slide us in. The Maitre d’s control their restaurant capacities so just dropping bye and asking nicely for any reservations can often be accommodated. A nice “Thank You” on your way out of any restaurant can be quite beneficial toward some future drop in reservation requests. We had a night in Polo and the Filet Mignon was not good, tough and a bit of gristle so I asked for him to come bye the table and quietly explained the problem. Of course he offered to get another plate for us but that was not necessary. There were 6 of us and he told us to come back to Polo any night and he would accommodate us.  We did not make an issue of it like some do and it was appreciated. Our table was ready for us anytime we were hungry for Filets or Lobster or whatever. They aim to please. 
 

I am sure you have already seen the menus for both restaurants but IMHO you must try the Watermelon and Duck Salad, the Miso Glazed Chilean Sea Bass and we always ask for a Rack of Lamb for the table for guests to taste. It is fantastic!  
InTuscan Steak, you are combining entrees with Polo so go for the gusto. My wife loves the Grandma’s Classic Lasagne so if you do not see it on the menu, ask anyway just in case the Chef has a pan set aside.  You can get any of the Pasta dishes in an appetizer size or full entree so definitely try anything that sounds good. You will love the breads and Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinegar cart, OMG!
 

Enjoy, Mauibabes 🤪🙏👍🤙🍷