Only one dinner per restaurant include brunch?

[fndecker]

Does the app distinguish between brunch/breakfast and dinner? If I wanted to make a reservation for brunch at the wake, but then also wanted to make a reservation for dinner, would it block me?

[cantgetin]

Dinner reservations and brunch reservations are separate things.  You can make dinner reservations in advance, limited to one per restaurant on short cruises, 3 per restaurant on longer cruises. You can change these reservations and book more at any restaurant after boarding (space available, obviously). Brunch reservations can only be made after arrival at the terminal (they say after boarding, but you can actually access the VV wifi from the terminal), and do not have anything to do with dinner reservations.

[Luminelle]

1 hour ago, cantgetin said:

Dinner reservations and brunch reservations are separate things.  You can make dinner reservations in advance, limited to one per restaurant on short cruises, 3 per restaurant on longer cruises. You can change these reservations and book more at any restaurant after boarding (space available, obviously). Brunch reservations can only be made after arrival at the terminal (they say after boarding, but you can actually access the VV wifi from the terminal), and do not have anything to do with dinner reservations.

Apparently you’re no longer able to connect to the WiFi in the terminal 

[cantgetin]

4 hours ago, Luminelle said:

Apparently you’re no longer able to connect to the WiFi in the terminal 

Sorry for the wrong info then....it worked when we were there.  It did not  work in Barcelona in October, but a lot was different about BCN, and VV doesn't have a terminal reserved for them there--you use a generic terminal.

[Fogcityca13]

We only had 1,100 sailors in November, so we were able last minute book brunch around 12 a few days. Once at The Wake and twice at Razzle.

 

They’ve made some changes to the ships WiFi and I could not see it from the terminal. I was in the rockstar lounge and walked over to the windows right next to the ship and did not see the ship WiFi.

[jcarter4551]

You can’t book brunch until on ship Wi-Fi and I couldn’t access the Wi-Fi until on the ship. 

[cantgetin]

7 hours ago, Fogcityca13 said:

We only had 1,100 sailors in November, so we were able last minute book brunch around 12 a few days. Once at The Wake and twice at Razzle.

 

 

We had 1400 on board and never had trouble getting in at RD for brunch, usually around noon.  We were turned away once at The Wake, but they made us a reservation for the next day.  Another time I got in without a reservation.

[misguy]

We are onboard the Valiant Lady, and you can also just go to the restaurant of your choice and get in for brunch.  We have done both.  If you go into the Wake at 12:00 you can also order the Filet which is on the lunch menu not the brunch menu.  

[chefchick]

Would you say not to worry about “brunch” reservations for the last day of the cruise?  We are doing a “side to side” cruise with MSC so we have a 10:30 disembark time with Scarlet Lady…what time do they want you out of your cabin and is a walk up “generally” available for razzle dazzle or the wake on disembark day?  I’ve tried to reserve, but they are not showing any availability.

[cantgetin]

27 minutes ago, chefchick said:

Would you say not to worry about “brunch” reservations for the last day of the cruise?  We are doing a “side to side” cruise with MSC so we have a 10:30 disembark time with Scarlet Lady…what time do they want you out of your cabin and is a walk up “generally” available for razzle dazzle or the wake on disembark day?  I’ve tried to reserve, but they are not showing any availability.

On the disembarkation day, I would strongly recommend a reservation if you want to eat somewhere other than The Galley.  Seating at the restaurants ends much earlier than on normal days; you'll be able to see the times on the app.  We had a 10:45 disembark time; about 10:15 they started announcing that everyone needed to make their way to the exit and get off.  It was a bit interesting, because per the written schedule, everyone needed to be off by 10:30, but the app had a 10:45 which we had selected.  In reality, they wanted everyone off at 10:30.  That is also the "out of your cabin" time--no need to drag carry ons to breakfast like on other lines.  You will encounter the elevator waits like on other lines--we did the "go up to get down" number.

Bottom line, if you can't get a breakfast reservation, there is always The Galley...but you can also book that last day reservation as soon as you are on board!

I guess it might also depend on how full your sailing is.  And all of the above is just my experience.  Your situation may differ.

Edited December 11, 2022 by cantgetin

[cantgetin]

Interesting.  On Valiant, we got a physical paper in our room the day before detailing how disembarkation would work, including luggage.  But yes, out in the hall by 10 pm or you're taking it off yourself. The one thing that is very different is that they ask you to keep your embarkation tags ON the luggage that you place in the hall; if you've already removed them, the crew will retag them.  It would have been better to let us know that when we boarded!

 

The info was also on the app, but much easier to have it all. 

 

Essentially all the servers know how many are on the cruise.  But, as above, you can look that the ipad that the crew member is using to check you in and read upside down.  You can even sometimes get a shoreside crew member to tell you how many are booked if you call in advance to do something else.  They are sometimes a little vague--I was told that they were at "about 50% with a goal of 65%" for my cruise.  It turned out that we cruised at about 51%.

[jon81uk]

13 hours ago, cantgetin said:

It would have been better to let us know that when we boarded!

It’s written on the luggage tags that you need to keep them on. 

[cantgetin]

8 hours ago, jon81uk said:

It’s written on the luggage tags that you need to keep them on. 

OK, i didn't read the luggage tags.  I had actually left mine on (a fluke), but my travel companion took hers off.  No big deal.  We will know for next time.

[misguy]

On 12/11/2022 at 12:44 AM, chefchick said:

Would you say not to worry about “brunch” reservations for the last day of the cruise?  We are doing a “side to side” cruise with MSC so we have a 10:30 disembark time with Scarlet Lady…what time do they want you out of your cabin and is a walk up “generally” available for razzle dazzle or the wake on disembark day?  I’ve tried to reserve, but they are not showing any availability.

We ate in the food court, but will check our notes, I think Razzle Dazzle was open, but I am not sure about the wake.  We got off as quickly as possible, we were driving to Port Canaveral to board the Prima.

[Fogcityca13]

On 12/15/2022 at 2:14 PM, cantgetin said:

OK, i didn't read the luggage tags.  I had actually left mine on (a fluke), but my travel companion took hers off.  No big deal.  We will know for next time.

I made some luggage tags and used the plastic tag holders we’ve used on other cruise lines. The porters didn’t bother with retagging. 

[cantgetin]

21 hours ago, misguy said:

We ate in the food court, but will check our notes, I think Razzle Dazzle was open, but I am not sure about the wake.  We got off as quickly as possible, we were driving to Port Canaveral to board the Prima.

On our cruise, RD, The Wake, and The Galley were open, but the hours were limited since everyone was supposed to be off the ship by 10:30.  We were not in a hurry, so enjoyed a nice restaurant breakfast at RD.  IT was really nice to leave carry ons in the cabin rather than taking them to breakfast....and the places were not packed full of people or luggage like they often are on other lines.

[LibratPDX]

I was able to get a 9:15 reservation at Razzle Dazzle on disembark day (one last taste of that bacon!) and several people had brought their luggage.  I had left mine in my cabin but was ready to go directly after breakfast.  At 10:15, the announcements started.....

 

[raphael360]

What is the best way to get a seat at these restaurants, for brunch say, after boarding. Going to the restaurant on or before they open or Sailor Services??

[cantgetin]

2 hours ago, raphael360 said:

What is the best way to get a seat at these restaurants, for brunch say, after boarding. Going to the restaurant on or before they open or Sailor Services??

You book it on the app after boarding.  If you can't figure that out or the app is misbehaving, Sailor Services can help, but they told us that they couldn't make reservations thru their computers; they could only help us on the app.  The alternative was to go to the restaurant.  If you go to the restaurant, they can definitely make reservations for the next day...I'm not sure if they can access the entire cruise (and I suspect they wouldn't want to if there are people checking in for dinner).  We didn't have any trouble making brunch reservations when the app was working, and were only turned away once when we tried to do a walk up for brunch.  The best way to get dinner reservations is to book them before boarding...if the app is not cooperating, call Sailor Services.  If the app is not working after you board, turn off all programs.  If that didn't help, turn off the phone and restart it, then log onto the app.  If that doesn't work, go to Sailor Services to see if they have any other magic or whether it is down all over the ship.

[neverendingcruising]

Sailor Services is unable to make dining reservations although I have seen them contact someone in the restaurants to make a booking. There is typically someone on deck 7 during the day that can make dining reservations for any available meal or restaurant. I have not tried to make a new reservation at a restaurant in the evening but presumably that is a possibility. 

[jon81uk]

There is usually someone at the red desk on deck seven for dining reservations if you can’t/won’t do it on the app. Or go to the restaurant. Just please consider other guests, I’ve been stuck in a queue trying to check in for dinner while someone in front is trying to make three days worth of reservations!

[raphael360]

3 hours ago, jon81uk said:

There is usually someone at the red desk on deck seven for dining reservations if you can’t/won’t do it on the app. Or go to the restaurant. Just please consider other guests, I’ve been stuck in a queue trying to check in for dinner while someone in front is trying to make three days worth of reservations!

Thank you for the "RED DESK" advise.   🙂