Making reservations for others

[Mrs f.]

I have been put in charge of getting reservations in one of the specialty restaurants for 6 of us.  4 of us are  in A2 and 2 in C2.  When reservation window opens, can I make a reservation for the 6 of us?  If so, is it fairly obvious when I log in?  I have correct names and booking numbers for all.  Thanks.

 

 

[shepherd really]

1 hour ago, Mrs f. said:

I have been put in charge of getting reservations in one of the specialty restaurants for 6 of us.  4 of us are  in A2 and 2 in C2.  When reservation window opens, can I make a reservation for the 6 of us?  If so, is it fairly obvious when I log in?  I have correct names and booking numbers for all.  Thanks.

 

 

It's pretty straightforward.  Just be aware that you can't add another party to your booking unless they are paid in full.  

[Mrs f.]

I'll ask them. Thanks.

[Mrs f.]

Do I just need their booking numbers? Any other info?

[GrammieK]

Booking number and names are all you need, but concierge level reservations open before C2. If you wait until C2 reservations open, it may be difficult to get a table for 6 at the time you want. I was unable to do it online, but my TA did it for me. 

[Mrs f.]

We are A2.    The TA can do it?????

[GrammieK]

Yes, at least ours did. Your window for reservations opens up 15 days before your traveling companions in C2. 
I’ve read here that some people have been able to do it on line, but when I tried on line it wouldn’t accept it even though our friends were fully paid. That’s when I called my TA and she took care of it. Good luck!

[Mrs f.]

Thanks

[Riverroad]

For our cruise in July I was unable to make specialty restaurant reservations for 6 online. We were in a PH and I tried at 12:01 on the day reservations opened for PH. Everyone was paid in full. I could do 4 but not 6. I called O 3 times and none of the reps I spoke to could do it either. I thought it might be Covid rules but they said that wasn’t it. I gave up and decided to wait til we boarded. The minute we got on the ship in NY, I raced to the reservation desk which was outside the GDR. We were now 7. In 5 minutes, the woman at the desk got us reservations for the days and times we wanted, maybe because we were in a PH. There was a complicated reason why I couldn’t ask my TA to do it so perhaps she could have.

Bottom line, unless O has fixed their system, you can’t make reservations for 6 online.

[Mrs f.]

12 minutes ago, Riverroad said:

For our cruise in July I was unable to make specialty restaurant reservations for 6 online. We were in a PH and I tried at 12:01 on the day reservations opened for PH. Everyone was paid in full. I could do 4 but not 6. I called O 3 times and none of the reps I spoke to could do it either. I thought it might be Covid rules but they said that wasn’t it. I gave up and decided to wait til we boarded. The minute we got on the ship in NY, I raced to the reservation desk which was outside the GDR. We were now 7. In 5 minutes, the woman at the desk got us reservations for the days and times we wanted, maybe because we were in a PH. There was a complicated reason why I couldn’t ask my TA to do it so perhaps she could have.

Bottom line, unless O has fixed their system, you can’t make reservations for 6 online.

Thanks. I'll try online but if not will follow your advice about asking onboard 

[LHT28]

You can also call O  to see if they can do it

July might have had different seating rules   than now

[Mrs f.]

5 minutes ago, LHT28 said:

You can also call O  to see if they can do it

July might have had different seating rules   than now

Ok

[TakingFlight]

Our cruise is in October. Our friends were able to make reservations online for 8 of us in each of the specialty restaurants. We did this the day reservations opened for our category. We are all in A concierge cabins. 

[Mrs f.]

I'll  give it a try

[LHT28]

1 hour ago, TakingFlight said:

Our cruise is in October. Our friends were able to make reservations online for 8 of us in each of the specialty restaurants. We did this the day reservations opened for our category. We are all in A concierge cabins. 

It helps that you were all in the same Cat

when you try to invite those in the lower cat than  yours  online before their booking date   the system may not take  their booking number

[TakingFlight]

Makes sense and seems very logical. How things should work and how they actually work in the cruising universe are a mystery to me most of the time. 

[daleandrews]

16 hours ago, LHT28 said:

It helps that you were all in the same Cat

when you try to invite those in the lower cat than  yours  online before their booking date   the system may not take  their booking number

 

We are scheduled on Marina November 1 for 19 days.  We are in PH and had no trouble reserving all of our allotted specialty reservations on the first day reservations opened.  We added two friends, travelling Concierge for each dinner, even though their reservation opening date had not yet occurred.  The system allowed us to add them as guests for each of our reservations even though their total number of guaranteed reservations was less than ours.

[GrammieK]

Wow!  You hit the jackpot!

[Riverroad]

1 hour ago, daleandrews said:

 

We are scheduled on Marina November 1 for 19 days.  We are in PH and had no trouble reserving all of our allotted specialty reservations on the first day reservations opened.  We added two friends, travelling Concierge for each dinner, even though their reservation opening date had not yet occurred.  The system allowed us to add them as guests for each of our reservations even though their total number of guaranteed reservations was less than ours.

In July, I had no trouble adding 2 friends to our reservation when we were in PH and they were in Concierge. What I couldn’t do was add another couple, also Concierge, for a total of 6. The system wouldn’t allow it and 3 O reps couldn’t do it either. No explanation provided but I was told it was not Covid rules.

[Mrs f.]

2 hours ago, daleandrews said:

 

We are scheduled on Marina November 1 for 19 days.  We are in PH and had no trouble reserving all of our allotted specialty reservations on the first day reservations opened.  We added two friends, travelling Concierge for each dinner, even though their reservation opening date had not yet occurred.  The system allowed us to add them as guests for each of our reservations even though their total number of guaranteed reservations was less than ours.

Was it easy to do. Self explanatory?

 

Not sure I understand....you added concierge level guests to all your penthouse reservations?  Aren't they capped at a lower number?

[daleandrews]

Yes, our friends otherwise had a lower cap and their Specialty reservation opening date had yet to occur.  I had read in another thread here that you could nevertheless add guests from a lower cabin category once yours was open so I decided to try it.  The only problem we had was that two of the eight nights that we could reserve I had trouble adding.  I called O and they explained that since our cruise was actually comprised of two underlying cruises I had to be sure that half of our allocated reservations were apportioned in each segment.  The rep from O then added two nights later in the cruise, added the same Concierge guests in, and the system took the reservations.  So I now have reservations for the 4 of us on each of our nights.  I think this all of this also comports with information supplied by O on the FAQ pages.

[daleandrews]

A couple other idiosyncrasies in making dinner reservations.  When I was first prompted to enter the names and reservation numbers of guests I wanted to add to our table I entered the name and reservation number of the husband of the couple we are traveling with.  The response on the screen was that the system was unable to identify the guest.  I then tried the name and reservation number for the wife of the couple and the system took that entry without a problem.  Thereafter it asked me if I wanted to add another guest, and I entered the husband's name and reservation number -- the same one the system had "not been able to find" originally -- and it took the name this time with no trouble.  I surmise from this that there must be a principal passenger referenced in the system for each booking and that that passenger's name and number has to be entered first.  Also of interest -- while I was prompted as to whether I wanted to add another guest after adding the first one, no such prompt is given after adding the second guest.  I suspect that is why everyone trying to reserve a table for more than 4 people is having a problem with the system -- it looks like the system immediately cuts off when the fourth guest has been added. Also, as referenced above, if you are on a cruise with several underlying segments, and you are allowed more than one reservation per restaurant, be sure to space your reservations so that one for each restaurant is in each segment of the cruise.  The system won't allow you to have multiple reservations at any restaurant within one segment.  Hope this helps!!

 

[Mrs f.]

If I call O to make reservations, who do I ask for?

[LHT28]

59 minutes ago, Mrs f. said:

If I call O to make reservations, who do I ask for?

Just tell the phone rep you want to make Specialty dining reservations

[Mrs f.]

1 hour ago, LHT28 said:

Just tell the phone rep you want to make Specialty dining reservations

Thanks