Dining Times in Specialty Restaurants on Onward

[Nippy Sweetie]

We are in suites at the moment on Onward. We'd thought we'd go to the speciality restaurants most nights but it hasn't turned out that way. This is mainly because of their 6.30 or 8.30 timings for sittings. We complained as we prefer to eat at 7.30ish. After a lot of fuss we did finally make it to Prime C at a time to suit but it was awkward being made aware that we were having special treatment.

As it happens, we found that we liked Discoveries and ask to share a table if possible. So far we've had delightful dinners with all sorts of people and it's turned into a highlight. 

We do go to Aqualina for breakfast most but not every mornings. It's very quiet there and the views are wonderful.

[Mackdogmolly]

33 minutes ago, Nippy Sweetie said:

We are in suites at the moment on Onward. We'd thought we'd go to the speciality restaurants most nights but it hasn't turned out that way. This is mainly because of their 6.30 or 8.30 timings for sittings. We complained as we prefer to eat at 7.30ish. After a lot of fuss we did finally make it to Prime C at a time to suit but it was awkward being made aware that we were having special treatment.

As it happens, we found that we liked Discoveries and ask to share a table if possible. So far we've had delightful dinners with all sorts of people and it's turned into a highlight. 

We do go to Aqualina for breakfast most but not every mornings. It's very quiet there and the views are wonderful.

We really like Discoveries too, and find the food to be just fine 

[marinaro44]

46 minutes ago, Mackdogmolly said:

We really like Discoveries too, and find the food to be just fine 

Agree.  And changing menus.

[blag]

2 hours ago, Nippy Sweetie said:

We are in suites at the moment on Onward. We'd thought we'd go to the speciality restaurants most nights but it hasn't turned out that way. This is mainly because of their 6.30 or 8.30 timings for sittings. We complained as we prefer to eat at 7.30ish. After a lot of fuss we did finally make it to Prime C at a time to suit but it was awkward being made aware that we were having special treatment.

As it happens, we found that we liked Discoveries and ask to share a table if possible. So far we've had delightful dinners with all sorts of people and it's turned into a highlight. 

We do go to Aqualina for breakfast most but not every mornings. It's very quiet there and the views are wonderful.

We always eat in the eat in the Specialty restaurants, but never at the set times. Ask the Maitre D responsible for both to accommodate you at times that suit you. You are paying for the meal, and you are entitled to special treatment. I am sorry to hear that you felt awkward about this, but, really, there was no need.

 

[Nippy Sweetie]

@blagof course we did. They made a huge hoohaa about it. Just not worth it.

[kent4489]

12 minutes ago, Nippy Sweetie said:

@blagof course we did. They made a huge hoohaa about it. Just not worth it.

We also always dine in the specialty restaurants, usually at 8:00, but a few times we requested 7:30. It was never a problem, nor did they make us feel awkward. So sorry you had this experience.

[blag]

1 hour ago, Nippy Sweetie said:

@blagof course we did. They made a huge hoohaa about it. Just not worth it.

Maybe your huge hoohaa is my minor blip?

[PirateWife]

8 hours ago, Nippy Sweetie said:

We are in suites at the moment on Onward. We'd thought we'd go to the speciality restaurants most nights but it hasn't turned out that way. This is mainly because of their 6.30 or 8.30 timings for sittings. We complained as we prefer to eat at 7.30ish. After a lot of fuss we did finally make it to Prime C at a time to suit but it was awkward being made aware that we were having special treatment.

As it happens, we found that we liked Discoveries and ask to share a table if possible. So far we've had delightful dinners with all sorts of people and it's turned into a highlight. 

We do go to Aqualina for breakfast most but not every mornings. It's very quiet there and the views are wonderful.

We've always had a choice of times except when the reservation times we wanted were already booked full. Did you make your reservations on the first day of your cruise? With the Onward having more suites than the other ships, there might be more demand to eat in the specialty restaurants.

[takemewithyou]

38 minutes ago, PirateWife said:

We've always had a choice of times except when the reservation times we wanted were already booked full. Did you make your reservations on the first day of your cruise? With the Onward having more suites than the other ships, there might be more demand to eat in the specialty restaurants.

So true!  More suites on Oneard makes a big difference in getting reservations.

[Nippy Sweetie]

It was made crystal clear by umpteen levels of management that there were two sittings only. It was a concession to us that we could go at 7.30. 

[Janet&Carl]

I have just checked in and have a couple of questions - the boarding information states "

Your arrival time is an appointment to complete the required wellness screening prior to boarding.

At the Terminal

We’re doing everything we can to ensure our ships sail with healthy guests and crew by implementing wellness checks for all guests."

 

What is a wellness check ? do I need any documents for this ?

 

and 

Do you still have to book into the specialty restaurants for a specific time if you are in a suite ? 

 

Our cruise is not fully booked to date there is approximately 150 rooms occupied - will this make the availability for dining different as we prefer "any time" dining when we are in port and I was surprised to read that there were set time sittings

 

[lisiamc]

1 hour ago, Janet&Carl said:

I have just checked in and have a couple of questions - the boarding information states "

Your arrival time is an appointment to complete the required wellness screening prior to boarding.

At the Terminal

We’re doing everything we can to ensure our ships sail with healthy guests and crew by implementing wellness checks for all guests."

 

What is a wellness check ? do I need any documents for this ?

 

and 

Do you still have to book into the specialty restaurants for a specific time if you are in a suite ? 

 

Our cruise is not fully booked to date there is approximately 150 rooms occupied - will this make the availability for dining different as we prefer "any time" dining when we are in port and I was surprised to read that there were set time sittings

 

For the wellness check, I believe they are still asking for proof of vaccination, and then there are a few questions about any recent symptoms you may have had. 
 

I also believe they will ask you to book in for the speciality restaurants even if you are in a suite. If you don’t book them all when you board, your butler can also make bookings for you.

 

The set times for dining are only for the speciality restaurants. For Discoveries (the main dining room), the Windows Cafe and the Patio Grill, there is no need to book in advance. If you go to Discoveries at a really popular time, you may need to wait for a few minutes.

Edited October 19, 2022 by lisiamc

[Nippy Sweetie]

We tried to book at the reservations desk and also via our butler. Both explained ad  infinitum that the sittings were 6.30 and 8.30. No problem at Discoveries. 

Set dining times are key reasons we avoid some cruise lines so we were extremely irritated to find that despite their being included for suites we were faced with those times unless we really made waves. Just not worth it.

Actually we found that many of the promised suite inclusions didn't happen unless we pushed for them. Very disappointing. I'm sure that the suggestion that there are many more suites on Onward is a factor. They would need many more butlers than currently available.

Edited October 19, 2022 by Nippy Sweetie

[uktog]

I wonder if the problem is many of the butlers are ex speciality restaurant waiters promoted without butler training. They know it suits their former colleagues to use the set times only so don’t really act as your advocate. 
One of the challenges currently being faced is in many areas people have been promoted beyond their level of competence without proper training. Waiters becoming butlers, waiters becoming restaurant managers but not prepared to manage former peers and assistant stateroom attendants becoming stateroom attendants. We certainly experienced the impact of the latter two on our cruises we’ve just finished 

[blag]

13 hours ago, takemewithyou said:

So true!  More suites on Oneard makes a big difference in getting reservations.

Just as a matter of interest, how many Suites are there on Onward? And how many on the other three ships?

Do any other categories of stateroom have Specialty dining included?

[Riocca]

32 minutes ago, blag said:

Just as a matter of interest, how many Suites are there on Onward? And how many on the other three ships?

Do any other categories of stateroom have Specialty dining included?

Probably very relevant to this topic, Onward has an additional 18 CC suites over the other ships so a 40% increase in the number of suites having access to the speciality restaurants. Veranda Plus also have one free night per seven days but that’s the same for all ships.

Back when the upcharge was $5 pp the speciality restaurants were often quite very quiet but when they increased the cost they became much busier. So originally it was not difficult to get a time that suited, now to cope with demand they’ve increased the number of tables and introduced times to allow table turns. We usually book for 8pm which gives a window of 7.30 - 8.30 which works fine for us, we are quite flexible.

Over the years we’ve noticed that quite a few cruise lines try to work the same way with speciality restaurants not only to meet demand but to maximise their revenue.

 

 

[marinaro44]

If you give people reservations at 7 in a limited capacity venue you reduce the number of people who can dine there.  If a table is seated at 7 you can't seat anyone at that table at 6 or at 8, so you turn the table once instead of twice that night.  Scheduling for two "seatings" is common practice in cruise ship specialty restaurants, especially on ships where the specialties are very popular.  If you start seating people at 7, then you'll get complaints from those who can't get a reservation because you've effectively reduced the availability of tables.

 

Is it really that big an issue to go at 6:30 instead of 7, or at 8 instead of 7:30?  Just go a few minutes late or early as is your preference.

[uktog]

1 hour ago, marinaro44 said:

If you give people reservations at 7 in a limited capacity venue you reduce the number of people who can dine there.  If a table is seated at 7 you can't seat anyone at that table at 6 or at 8, so you turn the table once instead of twice that night.  Scheduling for two "seatings" is common practice in cruise ship specialty restaurants, especially on ships where the specialties are very popular.  If you start seating people at 7, then you'll get complaints from those who can't get a reservation because you've effectively reduced the availability of tables.

 

Is it really that big an issue to go at 6:30 instead of 7, or at 8 instead of 7:30?  Just go a few minutes late or early as is your preference.

Agree and do you really really notice the impact of dining a little earlier or a little later?  Sounds like it’s just making a nippy point as we would say. 

[blag]

21 minutes ago, uktog said:

Agree and do you really really notice the impact of dining a little earlier or a little later?  Sounds like it’s just making a nippy point as we would say. 

Molehills and mountains.

[excitedofharpenden]

2 hours ago, marinaro44 said:

If you give people reservations at 7 in a limited capacity venue you reduce the number of people who can dine there.  If a table is seated at 7 you can't seat anyone at that table at 6 or at 8, so you turn the table once instead of twice that night.  Scheduling for two "seatings" is common practice in cruise ship specialty restaurants, especially on ships where the specialties are very popular.  If you start seating people at 7, then you'll get complaints from those who can't get a reservation because you've effectively reduced the availability of tables.

 

Is it really that big an issue to go at 6:30 instead of 7, or at 8 instead of 7:30?  Just go a few minutes late or early as is your preference.

Bingo!  If you want flexible dining times then the MDR is the place to go, but even then you need to allow some flexibility. Or even the buffet. They do a lovely job on dressed tables. I think its unreasonable to expect an extra pay speciality restaurant to have flexible dining. There are other guests who want to eat there. And it's more formal anyway. 

 

Phil 

[federalexpress]

I'm with Nippy Sweetie on this. I want to dine at the time I want, not at the time that is convenient to the restaurateur. On land this is easy. I avoid venues that cram in two sittings. I hadn't realised they did this when I booked my first cruise. They certainly don't mention it on the website.

[asnaleah]

I don’t recall being limited in dining times pre-Covid. Also, on our final billing invoice, Azamara states no shuttles and the Azamazing event will be on board. This is for the 2/25 Buenos Aires-Rio sailing.

[Janet&Carl]

11 hours ago, marinaro44 said:

 

 

Is it really that big an issue to go at 6:30 instead of 7, or at 8 instead of 7:30?  Just go a few minutes late or early as is your preference.

 

 

For me the issue is flexibility which you dont get with set dining times as opposed to any time  dining.  Why should I have to book in advance - (lets say at least 10 nights in advance on a 12 night cruise) when I dont' know what time I will want to eat - I'm on holiday - I want to be flexible.  I  might be ashore having a late lunch and then not be ready to eat at a booked time of 6.30 - or I might book for 8.30 and have missed lunch and will be hungry and want to eat earlier.   Its about flexibility and being able to use the facilities I have paid for at a time convenient to me.  

[Grandma Cruising]

3 hours ago, Janet&Carl said:

 

 

For me the issue is flexibility which you dont get with set dining times as opposed to any time  dining.  Why should I have to book in advance - (lets say at least 10 nights in advance on a 12 night cruise) when I dont' know what time I will want to eat - I'm on holiday - I want to be flexible.  I  might be ashore having a late lunch and then not be ready to eat at a booked time of 6.30 - or I might book for 8.30 and have missed lunch and will be hungry and want to eat earlier.   Its about flexibility and being able to use the facilities I have paid for at a time convenient to me.  

Trouble is there is limited seating in the two speciality restaurants, so if they didn’t take reservations and everyone wanted to eat at the same time one night, then a lot of people would be disappointed! You can eat anytime at all other venues on the ships - no reservations needed for Discoveries MDR, Windows buffet or the Patio.

[lisiamc]

3 hours ago, Janet&Carl said:

 

 

For me the issue is flexibility which you dont get with set dining times as opposed to any time  dining.  Why should I have to book in advance - (lets say at least 10 nights in advance on a 12 night cruise) when I dont' know what time I will want to eat - I'm on holiday - I want to be flexible.  I  might be ashore having a late lunch and then not be ready to eat at a booked time of 6.30 - or I might book for 8.30 and have missed lunch and will be hungry and want to eat earlier.   Its about flexibility and being able to use the facilities I have paid for at a time convenient to me.  

The other issue is that Prime C and Aqualina originated as speciality restaurants, with the idea that most people would eat there 2 - 4 times during their cruise. The evolution into a de facto suite restaurant, where some/most(?) suite passengers eat every dinner of their cruise is more recent, and it sounds like this is the issue causing you trouble. If Prime C and Aqualina were reserved solely for suite passengers, then there would be less pressure to have two seatings to squeeze us plebs in occasionally too. I am glad that it is not solely for suites, and I can put up with choosing a dining time for the nights we will eat in there. 

 

As other posters have mentioned, there is no need to choose a time if you are eating in any other venue.

Edited October 20, 2022 by lisiamc