Specialty dining booking questions MSC Europa

[Dashikda]

Hello everyone!

I'm newbie here. Carefully read some discussions here but still have some questions.

We are 2+2 toddlers sailing Dec 22 2022 From Abu Dhabi for 3 nights.

MSC Application shows that my embarkation time  is 3 pm.

1) I need somehow to book specialty dinner for the 1st night. How easy is it usually to book them? Can i book in advance (i've found reply NO in one topic here dated 2020, maybe something has changed from that time)? I'm worried that all specialty restaurants would be fully booked be those who are cruising from Doha and Dubai (Abu Dhabi is the 3rd stop of this ship and it a few cabins available, most of the cruisers would be from Dubai)

I already did status match so i am MSC diamond member (and have 1 specialty dinner).

I also put in the cart "The finest four - 4 dining expierences" for specialty restaurants.

So if I am charged fror this I should have 3 dinners+2 lunches specialty prepaid. Will they make efforts to find places for me?

If I ask anyone who is boarding in Doha or Dubai to reserve a place for me for Dec 22, will restaurant manager onboard accept this reservation?

(The main point is that I met my husband Dec 22 2012 while cruising so I want to celebrate it Dec 22 2022 at the 1st day of this short cruise, not any other day 😃 )

BTW, maybe anyone knows what are usual opening times for lunch and dinner for MSC Kayto Teppanyaki and Butcher's Cut? Are there any restaurants that are open for dinner only? I understand, that 2 venues on MSC Europa are absolutely new for MSC, but what about others?

 

2) I'm pretty sure that our cabin won't be occupied (there were no 2 night cruises from Doha advertised). Is it a chance that i can arrive berofe 3pm and allowed to come on board at 11 or 12?

 

Thanks a lot in advance for everyone who read! 😃

 

[perakcruiser]

5 hours ago, Dashikda said:

I'm worried that all specialty restaurants would be fully booked be those who are cruising from Doha and Dubai

This will never happen. 

 

5 hours ago, Dashikda said:

So if I am charged fror this I should have 3 dinners+2 lunches specialty prepaid. Will they make efforts to find places for me?

No need to worry at all. Go on board and make your bookings, by no means any of the speciality restaurants will be full on this cruise. 

 

5 hours ago, Dashikda said:

2) I'm pretty sure that our cabin won't be occupied (there were no 2 night cruises from Doha advertised). Is it a chance that i can arrive berofe 3pm and allowed to come on board at 11 or 12?

That also should be absolutely no problem to board in Abi Dhabi at 11 or 12. 

[Dashikda]

@perakcruiser, Thank you, sounds awesome 😃

 

[perakcruiser]

1 hour ago, Dashikda said:

@perakcruiser, Thank you, sounds awesome 😃

 

You´re welcome. And as you are from Dubai nobody needs to tell you that you should download and set up the Careem app before the cruise 😉 

[Stockjock]

I just went through this on Grandiosa.  I called to book specialty restaurant reservations not long after I got in my room and all went mostly smoothly.  Glad I did it early, as I noticed an error on their part (they booked two specialty restaurants at the same time, as they messed up the dates), and it later took quite some time with multiple calls required to get through in order to correct their mistake.

Which leads me to my 2nd suggestion.  Once you book those reservations, doublecheck that they got them right on your planner (MSC and Me and/or on your TV).  Had I not checked, I wouldn't have known that they duped my reservation at 2 different restaurants on the same night, and of course that meant that they didn't book a reservation that I had requested and confirmed.

As a side note, while nice, they acted as if the duplicate was my fault, which was irritating.  Even if it was (it wasn't), certainly they would have noticed 2 reservations made at the same time, on the same night, at 2 different specialty restaurants.

Edited November 21, 2022 by Stockjock

[Dashikda]

9 hours ago, Stockjock said:

As a side note, while nice, they acted as if the duplicate was my fault, which was irritating.  Even if it was (it wasn't), certainly they would have noticed 2 reservations made at the same time, on the same night, at 2 different specialty restaurants.

Thank you for your comment!

Oh, great that you've noticed this. And great that you were not charged for the second reservation change (as I understood from reading this forum you could be charged for everything that may cause lost profit while on board MSC 😂)