Dining times for dinner

[shorton]

I know the main dining room opens for dinner at 7:30 p.m. What time does the informal buffet open? Thanks!

[AussieBoyTX]

18 minutes ago, shorton said:

I know the main dining room opens for dinner at 7:30 p.m. What time does the informal buffet open? Thanks!

 

In my experience, dinner is usually offered either at 7:00 or 7:30 in the main dining room and the buffet is either at the same time, or sometimes as much as 30 minutes earlier. Gala dinners and operational reasons (excursions returning late, for example) could cause both venues to begin service later.

Edited September 21, 2022 by AussieBoyTX

[gogo65]

On 9/21/2022 at 1:01 PM, shorton said:

I know the main dining room opens for dinner at 7:30 p.m. What time does the informal buffet open? Thanks!

Dinner has been 7pm-8:30pm every night on our NW passage cruise. The buffet has not been open at all for dinner.

[Jim_Iain]

On 9/23/2022 at 10:42 AM, gogo65 said:

Dinner has been 7pm-8:30pm every night on our NW passage cruise. The buffet has not been open at all for dinner.

Curious about dining as we are new to Ponant.    It dining open seating and you can arrive anytime between 7PM and 8:30 PM?    Also is this consistent across the fleet or different on different ships.   We are late diners and would probably like to arrive around 8:30.

[AussieBoyTX]

2 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

Curious about dining as we are new to Ponant.    It dining open seating and you can arrive anytime between 7PM and 8:30 PM?    Also is this consistent across the fleet or different on different ships.   We are late diners and would probably like to arrive around 8:30.

Dining in the main dining room is open seating and can hold the entire ship at once. The buffet on Sisterships Deck 6 and the outdoor modified buffet on Explorer Deck 3 sometimes require reservations. 
 

In any event, the salads and mains at buffets close at closing time, so you could arrive right before then and be served. Deserts are available for a while later. Staff will alert you before the buffet is closed, so you won’t miss out. 
 

I really don’t know how late you can arrive at the main dining room and expect service, aside to note that most guests arrive within the first hour and you’ll be eating alone if you’re much later than that. For Gala nights they ask all guests to arrive promptly at opening for best service. 

[LittleFish1976]

Does the timing of dinner vary for Antarctic sailings? Also, will they still have gala nights and require a degree of formality of dress for dinner?

 

I'm sailing on Le Lyrial in February next year.

[AussieBoyTX]

19 minutes ago, LittleFish1976 said:

Does the timing of dinner vary for Antarctic sailings? Also, will they still have gala nights and require a degree of formality of dress for dinner?

 

I'm sailing on Le Lyrial in February next year.

Times are pretty much the same. Expect as early as 7 for the Deck 6 buffet and 7:30 on Deck 2. 
 

There are the two Gala Nights, but people don’t tend to dress as much. I think I wrote I didn’t take a jacket and felt slightly underdressed those evenings — but there were many dressed like me, so I wasn’t actually underdressed wearing a collared shirt and pants. 

[LittleFish1976]

48 minutes ago, AussieBoyTX said:

Times are pretty much the same. Expect as early as 7 for the Deck 6 buffet and 7:30 on Deck 2. 
 

There are the two Gala Nights, but people don’t tend to dress as much. I think I wrote I didn’t take a jacket and felt slightly underdressed those evenings — but there were many dressed like me, so I wasn’t actually underdressed wearing a collared shirt and pants. 

Thanks very much @AussieBoyTX for your response. It sounds like I'd better think along the lines of European dressing rather than the anglophone world.

[AussieBoyTX]

2 hours ago, LittleFish1976 said:

Thanks very much @AussieBoyTX for your response. It sounds like I'd better think along the lines of European dressing rather than the anglophone world.

 

Well, don't take it too seriously. The environment is reasonably relaxed.

[Becky2010]

Does anyone know if on the more formal nights, you can still go less formal to the deck 6 buffet?

[AussieBoyTX]

Absolutely, unless the buffet is closed for safety reasons (very rough seas). I've only seen that once.

[Becky2010]

Thank you!