Dining Reservations No Longer Guaranteed

[May B]

12 minutes ago, Queenie1603 said:

 

Hi, we are now onboard the Viking Sky and all the speciality restaurants requests I made through guest services have been honoured and showing in my On board reservations. We were only able to make one booking for the Restaurant but will just turn up when we fancy eating and see what happens. I still don’t know why there booking service didn’t work this time. 

Thank you for coming back with this great report!

 

Enjoy.

[neecerz69]

I am just so angry about this. As a business, how can you "guarantee" something...and then not just fall short of it, but be told, and I quote "sorry, there's nothing I can do". Our first cruise, and I am so upset about this, maybe wrongfully so, but don't promise something and not deliver.

[millybess]

28 minutes ago, neecerz69 said:

I am just so angry about this. As a business, how can you "guarantee" something...and then not just fall short of it, but be told, and I quote "sorry, there's nothing I can do". Our first cruise, and I am so upset about this, maybe wrongfully so, but don't promise something and not deliver.

Can you give this post some context?  Are you on a cruise now and can't get a reservation at the 2 specialty restaurants?  Are you trying to book online?  

[DRJVH]

First time Viking this year. Reading all the comments on excursions and dining not available to DV guests makes me wonder what we have let ourselves in for. It all sounds very elitist. Excursions should be open to everyone who has paid.  If you don’t want to do an excursion, so be it but there should be some fairness to everyone. Maybe this will be our one and only cruise with them, other cruise lines at least give you the opportunity. Specialty restaurants do nothing for me but if Viking “guarantee” one night per cruise and they can’t deliver, sounds a bit like false advertising to me. 

[May B]

3 hours ago, DRJVH said:

First time Viking this year. Reading all the comments on excursions and dining not available to DV guests makes me wonder what we have let ourselves in for. It all sounds very elitist. Excursions should be open to everyone who has paid.  If you don’t want to do an excursion, so be it but there should be some fairness to everyone. Maybe this will be our one and only cruise with them, other cruise lines at least give you the opportunity. Specialty restaurants do nothing for me but if Viking “guarantee” one night per cruise and they can’t deliver, sounds a bit like false advertising to me. 

Why do you think they can’t deliver? I haven’t seen anybody say they are onboard and can’t get a res. at a specialty restaurant. Perhaps I’m not reading carefully enough.

 

 

[OneSixtyToOne]

5 hours ago, DRJVH said:

First time Viking this year. Reading all the comments on excursions and dining not available to DV guests makes me wonder what we have let ourselves in for. It all sounds very elitist. Excursions should be open to everyone who has paid.  If you don’t want to do an excursion, so be it but there should be some fairness to everyone. Maybe this will be our one and only cruise with them, other cruise lines at least give you the opportunity. Specialty restaurants do nothing for me but if Viking “guarantee” one night per cruise and they can’t deliver, sounds a bit like false advertising to me. 

 

Excursions not being available refers to optional excursions. I have not heard of anyone being unable to book an included excursion. Some optional excursions are in high demand and if possible, additional tours will be added (I've already seen this on our upcoming cruise for the Sorento & Pompeii excursion). Sometimes adding additional tours is not possible because of the nature of the tour. For example, The Alhambra restricts the total number of guests allowed per day by all cruise lines so Viking is limited to a single bus. Similar restrictions may also apply to their "Privileged Access" tours. Lack of qualified tour guides has been a big issue post-COVID. A lot of them found other jobs.

 

Dining is much ado about nothing. Our last cruise had no advanced reservations available but we were able to book as soon as we boarded. They were actually not allowing additional reservations on the first day to give an opportunity to those who had not yet reserved a table. On our upcoming cruise there are no tables for two but we are able to book a table where we will be seated with other pax. I'm sure once onboard we can change our reservation get a table for 2, if not it's an opportunity to meet new people (something I really enjoy about river cruising). With the COVID restrictions waning, they are opening up more tables to the advance reservation system.

Edited February 10, 2023 by OneSixtyToOne

[oskidunker]

These alternate restaurants are over rated i prefer  the Dining room. Didnt even try. Been on princess, Oceania and Celebrity and wished I stayed in the dining room. Poorer service . Poorer food. I may try  Manfredis if  something opens but dont really care. 
 

there is no way I can sit through a three hour dinner while being served small bites every 20 minutes. That was a friends experience .no thanks.

[EchoIsland]

We just returned from 10 nights on the Viking Sea.  As we had a GTY cabin we did not have access to make advance dining reservations.  Once onboard we were able to dine twice at Manfredi's and once at the Chef's Table, at a table for two each time.  Dining time was less than 2 hours in each case.  My only concern was that those restaurants never seemed to be completely filled and once we would have preferred an earlier reservation.  We questioned this and were told they reserve on a half hour basis ... which to me did not explain the empty tables.  🤔

[millybess]

52 minutes ago, oskidunker said:

These alternate restaurants are over rated i prefer  the Dining room. 

We like the World Cafe and Manfredis for dinner. We did make reservations for Chefs Table on our upcoming cruise, but whether we keep them is dependent on the menus. 
 

Viking used to have the menus online for each date for each cruise, but they don’t do this anymore. IMO, if they published the  Chefs Table menus for each cruise this would solve a lot of problems for people not being able to book this particular restaurant. 

[Camden lady]

I have been on 4 (soon to be 5 Viking cruises) and have never had a problem getting reservations at the specialty restaurants.  Other nights I just walked down to the main dining room (the Restaurant) and was promptly seated wherever I wanted (always by a window) or I ate at the World Cafe if I didn't want to change clothes from my excursion.  For excursions, I always got the included ones if that was what I wanted.  I got the optional ones I wanted (maybe not at the time I wanted but still got them).  If they were sold out on MVJ,  I would just ask once on board and somehow they always came through.  I find it disturbing that people get so angry when things don't work out the way they want them to.  Have a little patience and some faith that Viking will do everything in their power once you are on board to make this a cruise you will be so glad you took.  Sometimes there are circumstances in life that are beyond their control but I will tell you from my experience, they will do whatever they can to assist you to get what you want be it reservations in the specialities or excursions that you desire.  

[Iloveketo]

2 hours ago, EchoIsland said:

We just returned from 10 nights on the Viking Sea.  As we had a GTY cabin we did not have access to make advance dining reservations.  Once onboard we were able to dine twice at Manfredi's and once at the Chef's Table, at a table for two each time.  Dining time was less than 2 hours in each case.  My only concern was that those restaurants never seemed to be completely filled and once we would have preferred an earlier reservation.  We questioned this and were told they reserve on a half hour basis ... which to me did not explain the empty tables.  🤔

Staffing could also be an issue… just a thought… I don’t know for sure…

[Heidi13]

7 hours ago, EchoIsland said:

We just returned from 10 nights on the Viking Sea.  As we had a GTY cabin we did not have access to make advance dining reservations.  Once onboard we were able to dine twice at Manfredi's and once at the Chef's Table, at a table for two each time.  Dining time was less than 2 hours in each case.  My only concern was that those restaurants never seemed to be completely filled and once we would have preferred an earlier reservation.  We questioned this and were told they reserve on a half hour basis ... which to me did not explain the empty tables.  🤔

 

You have a couple of reasons for empty tables.

 

Each of the alternative restaurants can handle a maximum number of covers each night (120 if memory is correct), which are spread out across the opening hours to ease the load. The entire room is not fully booked at 18:00 and then again at 20:00. Each galley has an electronic board that tracks the number of covers each night and the number of each entree ordered.

 

Since reservations are made so far in advance, the percentage of no shows is another factor for empty tables and why you can often get a table many nights by turning up at the host/hostess desk.

[sabrefan]

This is a very interesting subject, was on Orion last June 2022 in a PV cabin, could only get 8:00 pm reservations in specialty restaurants. Of course I think this was somewhat impacted by covid restrictions back then. We have an upcoming Viking Homelands coming up on Jupiter in a DV cabin and dining reservations open up later next month. It will be interesting to see what is available now that covid is being treated differently versus last June.

[neecerz69]

On 2/10/2023 at 4:02 PM, Camden lady said:

I have been on 4 (soon to be 5 Viking cruises) and have never had a problem getting reservations at the specialty restaurants.  Other nights I just walked down to the main dining room (the Restaurant) and was promptly seated wherever I wanted (always by a window) or I ate at the World Cafe if I didn't want to change clothes from my excursion.  For excursions, I always got the included ones if that was what I wanted.  I got the optional ones I wanted (maybe not at the time I wanted but still got them).  If they were sold out on MVJ,  I would just ask once on board and somehow they always came through.  I find it disturbing that people get so angry when things don't work out the way they want them to.  Have a little patience and some faith that Viking will do everything in their power once you are on board to make this a cruise you will be so glad you took.  Sometimes there are circumstances in life that are beyond their control but I will tell you from my experience, they will do whatever they can to assist you to get what you want be it reservations in the specialities or excursions that you desire.  

While I do understand what you are saying, my biggest issue is don't "guarantee" that we will be able to book 1 reservation in each restaurant 60 days prior to travel. I'm a planner. Just getting on the boat and hoping that I get something other than a 5pm or an 8pm, and the possibility of being put behind someone who was NOT guaranteed such is what angers me. The say "under promise but over deliver" comes to mind. Do not make a guarantee, post it everywhere (including our Viking travel agent telling us this) as a thing, then tell me "well what do you want me to do?" Not cool (yes that was a direct quote). 

[Iloveketo]

8 minutes ago, neecerz69 said:

While I do understand what you are saying, my biggest issue is don't "guarantee" that we will be able to book 1 reservation in each restaurant 60 days prior to travel. I'm a planner. Just getting on the boat and hoping that I get something other than a 5pm or an 8pm, and the possibility of being put behind someone who was NOT guaranteed such is what angers me. The say "under promise but over deliver" comes to mind. Do not make a guarantee, post it everywhere (including our Viking travel agent telling us this) as a thing, then tell me "well what do you want me to do?" Not cool (yes that was a direct quote). 

On our fully booked cruise to Panama and Central America in January on the Star we couldn’t get the time we wanted at a table for 2 prior to the cruise. Usually we have been able to do it prior to the cruise, even at the DV cabin category, but not this time. We had booked DV so we were entitled to 1 reservation at each of the specialty restaurants. Once on the ship we did get 1 reservation at each, but we were not able to book a 2nd one at the Chef’s Table. We would have been allowed to change to a different day to get a different menu, but we would have had to cancel the original one. The reason given for this was so everyone would be able to get what they were promised according to their cabin category. Viking tries very hard to give everyone what they promise. There was someone before us, who I assume was in the much more expensive suites, because they were able to book 3 nights at each specialty restaurant. So, they didn’t let me get more than I was entitled to at the expense of the person who paid more and was entitled to more. So, at least you shouldn’t have to worry about someone behind you getting something that you are entitled to. I hope this gives you a little less to be concerned with. 
BTW 6 is the earliest they serve dinner at the Restaurant, Manfredi’s, Chef’s Table or World Cafe. I wish I could eat dinner at 5. The only way I can do that is by ordering room service. 
We should be able to make reservations on line prior to boarding as it states. I’m a planner, too, but it will work out. I have a cruise in 3 weeks and I have everything packed, but our shirts.  Lol 

I sincerely hope you have an enjoyable cruise. 

[Iloveketo]

On 2/10/2023 at 4:44 PM, millybess said:

We like the World Cafe and Manfredis for dinner. We did make reservations for Chefs Table on our upcoming cruise, but whether we keep them is dependent on the menus. 
 

Viking used to have the menus online for each date for each cruise, but they don’t do this anymore. IMO, if they published the  Chefs Table menus for each cruise this would solve a lot of problems for people not being able to book this particular restaurant. 

I remember when the option for Chef’s Table menu was available at time of booking. I miss that! We have a cruise in 3 weeks. We booked PV so I was able to book 2 times at each restaurant, but I may switch days once I can see what the menu is. We did the Mexican back in January.  I was so excited, because I had been trying to get it for a while now.  Joke was on me, because I couldn’t eat the main course, beef cheeks. 

[donaldsc]

It is beyond understanding why everyone is finding it so complicated with dining arrangements.  It is absurdly simple.  

 

1. There are 4 restaurants on board.  Two of them (the buffet and the main restaurant) are available every night  w/o reservations.  You just walk in and they seat you.  You might have to wait a few minutes if you are at a busy period such as when the restaurant just opens but this happens on any ship.  We typically ate between 7 and 8 PM and there was never any wait.  

 

2. There are 2 by-reservation restaurants - Manfredi's which an Italian restaurant and the Chef's table which does 4 rotating menus over several nights of the cruise.  The menu is usually available for 2 or 3  nights.  When we did our Caribbean cruise we did 3 of the 4 fixed menus - Xiang which is Chinese, Asian Panorama and California cuisine.   The by-reservation system is the one that some people appear not do to understand although it appears on this thread that some also have difficulty with the buffet and main restaurant arrangements.  Depending upon your status you can make a reservation or reservations at Manfredi's and one of the Chef's table restaurants before you board.  We had no problems getting advance reservations at the restaurant of our on the day that reservations for our cabin class opened although we did not get our preferred time.  This does not mean that you will only be able to dine at Manfredi's once or at one of the Chef's Table however that you will be stuck with the time of your pre cruise reservation.

 

3. Once you get on board they open up additional reservations that you can book w/o problems and we did not have to rush to the dinner reservation desk as soon as we got on board to get restaurant spots.  We reserved for 2 additional days when we got on board and could have gotten additional days if we wished.   Again we did not get the exact times for our dinners although they were close.  On the day of the dinner we appeared at the restaurant at the time we really wanted and never had any time getting seated early.

 

To summarize.  Four restaurants - 2 walking w/o reservations and 2 with reservations needed.  Two reservations can be made before you board - Manfredi's and 2 Chef's table.  Additional reservations can easily be made on board.

 

DON

[duquephart]

7 hours ago, Iloveketo said:

On our fully booked cruise to Panama and Central America in January on the Star we couldn’t get the time we wanted at a table for 2 prior to the cruise. Usually we have been able to do it prior to the cruise, even at the DV cabin category, but not this time. We had booked DV so we were entitled to 1 reservation at each of the specialty restaurants. Once on the ship we did get 1 reservation at each, but we were not able to book a 2nd one at the Chef’s Table. We would have been allowed to change to a different day to get a different menu, but we would have had to cancel the original one. The reason given for this was so everyone would be able to get what they were promised according to their cabin category. Viking tries very hard to give everyone what they promise. There was someone before us, who I assume was in the much more expensive suites, because they were able to book 3 nights at each specialty restaurant. So, they didn’t let me get more than I was entitled to at the expense of the person who paid more and was entitled to more. So, at least you shouldn’t have to worry about someone behind you getting something that you are entitled to. I hope this gives you a little less to be concerned with. 
BTW 6 is the earliest they serve dinner at the Restaurant, Manfredi’s, Chef’s Table or World Cafe. I wish I could eat dinner at 5. The only way I can do that is by ordering room service. 
We should be able to make reservations on line prior to boarding as it states. I’m a planner, too, but it will work out. I have a cruise in 3 weeks and I have everything packed, but our shirts.  Lol 

I sincerely hope you have an enjoyable cruise. 

 

As soon as folks figure out that Chef's Table is no great shakes reservations will become much easier to obtain.

[Hobson1754]

1 hour ago, duquephart said:

 

As soon as folks figure out that Chef's Table is no great shakes reservations will become much easier to obtain.

Surely that’s down to preference and I would hazard, particular Ship/Chef - we ate at CT 3 times on our last cruise (no problem getting reservations once on board), we thought it was excellent and only once at Manfredi’s, which in our opinion wasn’t ‘all that’!!

[uktog]

I think our concern will be we have a very special birthday onboard and will want to be sure of a booking in Manfredi that night - as its Day 2 there is not a lot of time to fix it

[May B]

3 hours ago, uktog said:

I think our concern will be we have a very special birthday onboard and will want to be sure of a booking in Manfredi that night - as its Day 2 there is not a lot of time to fix it

Here’s hoping it will work out fine.

 

I wonder if there’s a guest services email you can write to in advance, explaining your details.

[Kentishincanada]

How interesting Hobson1754, we came to exactly the same conclusion on our Oct 2022 Sky sailing.  We had no problem securing reservations for CT once on board.  We had three truly exceptional meals in CT and the staff there were fantastic.  Our one evening meal at Manfredi’s was very hit and miss - the service was frenetic, the steak quite tough and generally the worse evening meal on the cruise.  This was in sharp contrast to our first Viking cruise in 2016 when we really enjoyed Manfredi.  We thought it was an isolated experience but your post seems to concur.

[photopro2]

Thanks donaldsc for your excellent summary of dining arrangements. I would just like to make two corrections, one minor and the other more significant.

 

13 hours ago, donaldsc said:

Two of them (the buffet and the main restaurant) are available every night  w/o reservations.  You just walk in and they seat you.

 

In the buffet you will not be seated but simply select your own seat and waiters will come to you for your drinks order.

 

13 hours ago, donaldsc said:

Depending upon your status you can make a reservation or reservations at Manfredi's and one of the Chef's table restaurants before you board. 

 

More importantly, regarding the above, I would like to point out that for some time now the majority of passengers in DV cabins (including ourselves on our last two cruises) have been completely unable to make any advance reservations using the My Viking Journey portal.

 

Immediately the booking window opened in November for our recent cruise I contacted customer services. They confirmed the problem with MVJ was a “known issue” and even they were not able to make reservations for tables for two but only for shared tables at the times we requested. My response was that we could accept any alternative times that were available, to which I received the following reply from a customer services agent by email:

 

“I have left the reservations as they are, as the tables for two have predominantly been taken up on all legs of the cruise. On a particular time, we have just one table for 2 and a sharing table is normally available alongside it, however we only reserve 70% of our alternative dining spaces prior to departure, so you will be able to modify the bookings with our Restaurant Reservations Desk, which is located in the entrance to the World Café.”

 

Viking continue to state in their advertising material that DV cabins have “1 guaranteed priority reservation at each alternative restaurant 60 days prior to departure”. In practise, it seems that this guarantee currently only applies to reservations onto a shared table and can only be made through guest services.

 

In fairness I should say that we were, indeed, accommodated once onboard although at later times: 7.30 at Chef’s Table and 8.00/8.30 in Manfredi’s.

 

However, this does not negate or excuse the fact that the advance bookings relevant to the DV cabin category (that are promoted as a cabin benefit) are still not being made available as advertised. I fail to see how a reservation that we can only make through customer services and then need to modify once on board can honestly be described in Viking's advertising as a “guaranteed priority reservation…..60 days prior to departure”

 

Please note this issue only relates to those in DV cabins. You may not have experienced any difficulty yourself, donaldsc, as your post suggests you may be in a higher grade cabin.

[CDR2001]

2 hours ago, May B said:

Here’s hoping it will work out fine.

 

I wonder if there’s a guest services email you can write to in advance, explaining your details.

This is for UKTOG, .. I’m not very good with the quote option here!

On our last cruise, our friends were celebrating 50th anniversary. We got our preferred reservation by asking the dining host at Manfredi’s the day prior. Like you, the special day was Day2 onboard. I’ve also had good luck with the Chat on MVJ. 

Edited February 12, 2023 by CDR2001
More info

[May B]

1 hour ago, CDR2001 said:

This is for UKTOG, .. I’m not very good with the quote option here!

On our last cruise, our friends were celebrating 50th anniversary. We got our preferred reservation by asking the dining host at Manfredi’s the day prior. Like you, the special day was Day2 onboard. I’ve also had good luck with the Chat on MVJ. 

That reminder about the chat feature on MVJ is a good one. Thank you!