What is the menu normally on the first night in the Grand Dining room?

[oskidunker]

Thanks. Has anyone done the wine pairings and found them worthwhile?

[pinotlover]

1. There is no set menu for Embarkment Day in the GDR. The menu typically rolls on about a 14 day schedule, while cruise lengths may be 7,10,12,14, etc. One never knows where they are on the food rotation on Embarkment Day.

 

2. Their recommendations for food pairings listed on the nightly menus are hit and miss. They are definitely not professionally done.

[mauibabes]

Here is a suggestion, based on our 5 segments sailed on Riviera and Marina since O’s return, I would not plan on dinner in the GDR.  We found that the Specialty restaurants were never booked up on night 1 so the Reservations Staff Desk was offering Specialty reservations to anyone who wanted one. All 5 segments,  we ate in a Specialty restaurant on the first night. 
 

Wine pairings are always up to the guest and their tastes so who knows whether it is good or not.  Since we never go with the pairings, we would have no basis for a recommendation.  I can say we have found some amazing wines offered in the Specialty restaurant wine lists.

Just go and enjoy.

Mauibabes

 

[pinotlover]

30 minutes ago, mauibabes said:

Here is a suggestion, based on our 5 segments sailed on Riviera and Marina since O’s return, I would not plan on dinner in the GDR.  We found that the Specialty restaurants were never booked up on night 1 so the Reservations Staff Desk was offering Specialty reservations to anyone who wanted one. All 5 segments,  we ate in a Specialty restaurant on the first night. 
 

Wine pairings are always up to the guest and their tastes so who knows whether it is good or not.  Since we never go with the pairings, we would have no basis for a recommendation.  I can say we have found some amazing wines offered in the Specialty restaurant wine lists.

Just go and enjoy.

Mauibabes

 

Mauibabes’s recommended is fine if you schedule that reservation for 7:30-8:00.

 

We normally do the GDR for the first evening. Typically we don’t rush aboard and have the early buffet lunch, but have a nice leisurely lunch ashore and wait for mayhem to calm before boarding. Therefore, we may not be particularly hungry that first night. Also, there are the exhausted ones from just flying in and you see literally falling over in the plates trying to stay awake past the first course.

 

More importantly, if one’s Day 2 is a port day, and we’re doing typical private shore tours, then the tour leaders are typically doing meet and greets on Embarkment eve. These are not the giant RC M&Gs, but smaller ones for all the guests participating in the shore excursions. It’s a chance to clarify and coordinate tour details, plus meet your fellow tour members. Alcohol is typically involved.

 

Historically, these were done after the safety drills. Since the formal safety drill appears to no longer be held, I guess start times for those functions are now more flexible. Still, locking one self into a set dinner time on Embarkment night is not practical. Do you realize how many incredible sail aways there often are on Embarkment Day??? 
 

Plenty of time to eat in the Specialties. Be careful loading down your schedule on Embarkment Eve. There’s a reason that 6:30 reservation may well be available. I prefer flexibility that first evening.

[jondfk]

I don’t know how typical our experience was on regatta in April, but, lunch featured an enormous turkey carved to order, I’ve seen reports about this elsewhere for embarkation lunch,

 

it wasn’t a great surprise then when a turkey roulade showed up for dinner.  Ordered it, enjoyed it, and hope to see it again when we sail in September.

[edgee]

21 hours ago, pinotlover said:

21 hours ago, pinotlover said:

Plenty of time to eat in the Specialties. Be careful loading down your schedule on Embarkment Eve. There’s a reason that 6:30 reservation may well be available. I prefer flexibility that first evening.

 

Your description of your embarkation day schedule sounds like good advice for a minority of folks. Most do not necessarily have  meet and greet for self arranged tour groups. Also, some, depending on their cabin category, may have had trouble finding specialty reservations for evenings during the middle of the cruise and find that first night opportunities are available at preferred times. Lastly, service in the GDR is often slow and disorganized on the first night of a cruise...eating in a specialty restaurant is a great way to avoid that situation. One of our most memorable sailaways was the marvelous view leaving NY Harbor while dining at a window table in Toscana.

Edited August 14, 2022 by edgee
clarity

[Aussie Gal]

We are booked on the Regatta for a November cruise.  I have been trying to find out when we can book our speciality restaurants.  Can someone tell me how many weeks or months before we embark are we able to prebook them.

Thank you.

Jennie

 

 

[mauibabes]

Jennie,

Your Booking Statement provides the specific start date for your Specialty reservations. Your TA can provide it as well. It is tied to your Stateroom level with the Upper Suites being the first to book at 90 days, PH’s next at 75, Verandas  at 60 and then the lower categories. Once you are on board, you can add reservations based on availability.  Should you have a Butler, you can expect he will be able to get reservations for you whenever you request. 
Enjoy,

Mauibabes

[Aussie Gal]

Thanks so much. I did find the time date in my account and I have to wait until 60 days. We are allowed 3 bookings in each restaurant which is great. I just have to wait another 4 weeks until I can nook them!

Jennie

[edgee]

10 hours ago, Aussie Gal said:

Thanks so much. I did find the time date in my account and I have to wait until 60 days. We are allowed 3 bookings in each restaurant which is great. I just have to wait another 4 weeks until I can nook them!

Jennie

Be sure and sit by your computer and book on your date reservations become available. Do it at exactly midnight U.S. Eastern Daylight Savings (Miami) time. Many people do this..advantage for you is it will be daytime!

[pinotlover]

2 minutes ago, edgee said:

Be sure and sit by your computer and book on your date reservations become available. Do it at exactly midnight U.S. Eastern Daylight Savings (Miami) time. Many people do this..advantage for you is it will be daytime!

Do not try to log in early and wait. You must log in after 12:00 Eastern Time. I’ve found waiting until 12:01 as working better actually. The midnight surge is sometimes too much for their system.

[ORV]

13 hours ago, Aussie Gal said:

Thanks so much. I did find the time date in my account and I have to wait until 60 days. We are allowed 3 bookings in each restaurant which is great. I just have to wait another 4 weeks until I can nook them!

Jennie

Just how long is this cruise?

[mauibabes]

Aussie Gal,

Eventhough you will get 3 reservations in each restaurant, in my experience, we have been limited to one round of reservations to allow everyone access to them. We booked additional rounds when we boarded. If you can get a second round booked on line, you are fortunate. 🤞
We too try to book about midnight on the first day possible but I have never had any luck at 12:00 + a.m. to execute my reservations, it always seemed to take 5-10 minutes longer to to get the reservations to click in. IMHO, I think their on line reservation process can be cumbersome so hopefully you can work through it better than I. 
Have a fantastic trip.

Mauibabes

[edgee]

44 minutes ago, mauibabes said:

Aussie Gal,

Eventhough you will get 3 reservations in each restaurant, in my experience, we have been limited to one round of reservations to allow everyone access to them. We booked additional rounds when we boarded. If you can get a second round booked on line, you are fortunate. 🤞
We too try to book about midnight on the first day possible but I have never had any luck at 12:00 + a.m. to execute my reservations, it always seemed to take 5-10 minutes longer to to get the reservations to click in. IMHO, I think their on line reservation process can be cumbersome so hopefully you can work through it better than I. 
Have a fantastic trip.

Mauibabes

We have had a different experience. No problem booking the number of reservations that are shown as being allowed on the invoice. In fact you are entitled to them in advance. Reservations in excess of your entitled amount are on a space available basis after you get on the ship.

Edited August 16, 2022 by edgee

[mauibabes]

Thanks edgee because it is always good to hear my experience was not always the norm. That is why I always suggest to others to follow up with Oceania because things change, OFTEN.

 

Mauibabes

[sunlover12]

Last week we booked 4 specialty dining reservations (2 in each restaurant) on our October Sirena cruise 11 hours after it opened up for us. It became available for booking at 11pm and we booked them at 10am the following day. We had no problem getting the times and dates we wanted. I think it just depends on the cruise but we've never had a problem with making specialty dining reservations. 

[ORV]

2 hours ago, sunlover12 said:

Last week we booked 4 specialty dining reservations (2 in each restaurant) on our October Sirena cruise 11 hours after it opened up for us. It became available for booking at 11pm and we booked them at 10am the following day. We had no problem getting the times and dates we wanted. I think it just depends on the cruise but we've never had a problem with making specialty dining reservations. 

What category room are you in? That makes a world of difference. 

[edgee]

1 hour ago, ORV said:

What category room are you in? That makes a world of difference. 

OP stated she has a 60 day restaurant booking window for specialties. That would indicate Concierge level. I know you would know this ORV, but for others, here is the listing of booking eligibility:

• Owner’s Suite, Vista Suite and Oceania Suite 
  Advance reservations may be made on the date final payment is due and has been received until 7 days prior to sailing, which varies between 90 and 150 days, depending on length of sailing. 
• Penthouse Suite 
  Reservations may be made 75-7 days prior to sailing, if the booking is paid in full.
• Concierge Level Veranda 
  Reservations may be made 60-7 days prior to sailing, if the booking is paid in full. 

All Other Categories 
Reservations may be made 45-7 days prior to sailing, if the booking is paid in full. 

[ORV]

6 minutes ago, edgee said:

OP stated she has a 60 day restaurant booking window for specialties. That would indicate Concierge level. I know you would know this ORV, but for others, here is the listing of booking eligibility:

• Owner’s Suite, Vista Suite and Oceania Suite 
  Advance reservations may be made on the date final payment is due and has been received until 7 days prior to sailing, which varies between 90 and 150 days, depending on length of sailing. 
• Penthouse Suite 
  Reservations may be made 75-7 days prior to sailing, if the booking is paid in full.
• Concierge Level Veranda 
  Reservations may be made 60-7 days prior to sailing, if the booking is paid in full. 

All Other Categories 
Reservations may be made 45-7 days prior to sailing, if the booking is paid in full. 

That was Aussie Gal that said 60 day window. I was curious about Sunlover12 as they said they have no issues getting the times and dates they wanted. Also didn't specify whether sharing or alone, always makes a difference in these things. If they are cruising in Oct it could be a Concierge or PH. 

 

Thanks for posting the chart. Always handy to have.

[GVcruiser]

I am new to Oceania. We are a family group of 7 people that will be in 4 verandah cabins (one paying single supplement). How do we make online reservations for the 7 of us (in different cabins with different booking numbers) to be together at one table?

[LHT28]

8 minutes ago, GVcruiser said:

I am new to Oceania. We are a family group of 7 people that will be in 4 verandah cabins (one paying single supplement). How do we make online reservations for the 7 of us (in different cabins with different booking numbers) to be together at one table?

probably easier to call O & have them do it  or your TA

Be sure to have all the booking numbers  ready

 

[Aussie Gal]

7 hours ago, ORV said:

Just how long is this cruise?

Our cruise is 21 days and is from Singapore to Sydney.  We normally have a PH on Oceania but when we booked this cruise in January, they were all taken.  We moved it over at the beginning of the year from the Marina Transatlantic Rome to Miami.   We were worried about Covid at the time and decided to stay closer to home.  

Thanks to everyone for their suggestions. I will try and make sure that i go online just as the 60 days ticks over.  I believe Oceania is in Miami, so I will work on Florida time.  It will be around 3pm our time and also we are a day ahead,  though we will be in Daylight Savings so I will have to adjust for that. 

[oskidunker]

Am on Sirena Oct first for 17 days. Since its really two cruises I guess we get to reserve before second segment boards oct 11. 

[Riverroad]

4 hours ago, GVcruiser said:

I am new to Oceania. We are a family group of 7 people that will be in 4 verandah cabins (one paying single supplement). How do we make online reservations for the 7 of us (in different cabins with different booking numbers) to be together at one table?

You won’t be able to do it online. I tried to book online for 6 of us for a July cruise and it wouldn’t accept the reservation. I called O 3 times and none of the reps I spoke to could get the system to accept a reservation for 6. No explanation as to why not. We subsequently became 7 when a single friend decided to join us. I decided to wait til we boarded and went immediately to the specialty restaurants reservation desk. Explained the problem and, in about 3 minutes, the reservation person got all 7 of us at one table for the nights we wanted. It may have helped that we were in a PH. BTW, when our butler came to introduce himself, he told me not to ask him to try for extra reservations because the ship was full and he couldn’t get any. First time for us having a butler and I was counting on that perk.

[GVcruiser]

Thanks for the information about group table reservations. We are all in the B3 category so we will be last to reserve and won’t have anyone on board to provide extra help. Hopefully we will be able to get reservations. We are ok with eating after 7:30pm.