UPDATE FOR RESERVATIONS AT MANFREDI'S AND CHEFS TABLE

[Mimiya11]

8 minutes ago, photopro2 said:

Could I just ask what cabin category you are in?

If you're in a DV cabin then that is certainly good news, as it is those that are predominantly being affected by the difficulties.

 

We are in PV. 

When we booked (this, our first Viking cruise), we had no idea that there were all these booking challenges. 

 

[Mimiya11]

8 minutes ago, OneSixtyToOne said:

I had the same experience on a different booking. Reservations were suppose to open at 8:00 PM Pacific Time. Logged in a little after 7:00 AM and they were already open.

I wish I checked even earlier then.   11pm is pretty late for me 😉 

 

[Mimiya11]

On 12/23/2022 at 11:29 AM, CDNPolar said:

We love the Chef's Table, and we book every 3-4 days when the menu changes and get the time and table size we want every time.  Last cruise we ate all 5 menus of the Chef's Table.

 

Thanks for your insight on this. 

Our plan is to check the Chef's Table menus once on board and book as many as possible. 

Love the concept.      

[photopro2]

2 minutes ago, Mimiya11 said:

We are in PV. 

That follows the usual pattern then. The problems with on-line booking relates mostly to those in DV cabins. However, as these make up the majority of passengers, it has resulted in a large number of people being affected on each cruise. 

[Fieldofdreams]

7 hours ago, Mimiya11 said:

Have really appreciated some of the sage words of advice from other's experiences.   So just wanted to share my dining reservation experience that just happened.   

 

While dining reservations were supposed to open at 8pm Pacific time which is 11pm here in Toronto, for fun, I went on MJV and the reservations were open!!  It is only about 1:30 pm here.  

 

Anyway, tables for 2 were open, but times were varied.   One Manfredi reservation I got was at 6:30, another 8pm.   No surprise there. 

 

While Chef's Table times had good options for earlier diners, many of the dates that I had wanted only had late dining.   

 

Glad I checked and will definitely go on the app once we board in March.   We do want to see the Chef's Table menus to book accordingly.

 

Thanks Mimiya

[bookbabe]

18 hours ago, millybess said:

Pre Covid they would post the Chefs Table menus for each day before booking. Doing that again would help. 

This.  We’ve got two CT reservations for our February cruise, and depending on the menu we will likely cancel.  There’s only a few menus we are really interested in, so if it’s one of not those we won’t go.  (Fish allergy, and while I know people say that they will make substitutions, we aren’t really fans of “foam and swirls” dining, so we’d likely enjoy the regular venues more anyway.)

[Wisconsin Travelers]

As first time Viking ocean cruisers, I must say that I'm very annoyed about this specialty restaurant booking business.  When we booked our cruise (South America departing January 21), the only things still available was a guarantee cabin - and that affords us NO options to book specialty dining rooms until we are on board.  Makes me feel like a real second class citizen, but they sure were quick to take our money way earlier than other cruise lines require!  Excursions were another issue.  Our TA is gifting us with a large amount of OBC - but it won't be reflected on our account until we are on board.  So booking shore excursions with OBC funds can't happen now either.  And nearly all of the excursions are sold out.  Right now I'm feeling like I've paid a substantial amount of money to take this "higher end" cruise compared to the more standard cruise lines (Celebrity, Holland America, Princess), but I certainly don't feel like I'm getting any kind of extra value for the price.  On Oceania we can book specialty dining rooms ahead of time no matter what cabin category we have booked.  I guess we'll find out in a few weeks if Viking Ocean is really worth the extra expense.  All of this talk about difficulty booking desired dining times and table size has me doubting that whatever else they do will make up for the nasty taste I've got in my mouth right now!

[photopro2]

Wisconsin Travellers, having read through your post a number of times I’m still at a complete loss to see why your experience seems to have left a “nasty taste”

 

The lowest cost categories of cabins on Viking Ocean have never included pre-voyage table bookings. They are also last in line for shore excursions. This is all made clear in the Viking promotional material and you did not provide any explanation as to why you feel it should be different for you.

 

It was completely your decision to book a “guarantee” cabin. If you did not like the restrictions that came along with that lower price offer you were free to walk away from the deal and take another cruise at another time, possibly with another company.

 

The side-line you mention regarding on-board credit is equally baffling to me, all that I can say is that I think the clue is in the name.

 

This and other threads have highlighted the difficulties that customers in DV cabins have had in making the advanced bookings promised by Viking as being included within their booking category. In contrast you appear to have had exactly the experience that your booking category specifies, hence my surprise at your dissatisfaction.

 

I have high hopes that you will enjoy your time with Viking and find, in the end, that booking a cabin at the "guarantee" rate represents good value overall.

Edited December 30, 2022 by photopro2
missing word

[Mich3554]

7 hours ago, Wisconsin Travelers said:

As first time Viking ocean cruisers, I must say that I'm very annoyed about this specialty restaurant booking business.  When we booked our cruise (South America departing January 21), the only things still available was a guarantee cabin - and that affords us NO options to book specialty dining rooms until we are on board.  Makes me feel like a real second class citizen, but they sure were quick to take our money way earlier than other cruise lines require!  Excursions were another issue.  Our TA is gifting us with a large amount of OBC - but it won't be reflected on our account until we are on board.  So booking shore excursions with OBC funds can't happen now either.  And nearly all of the excursions are sold out.  Right now I'm feeling like I've paid a substantial amount of money to take this "higher end" cruise compared to the more standard cruise lines (Celebrity, Holland America, Princess), but I certainly don't feel like I'm getting any kind of extra value for the price.  On Oceania we can book specialty dining rooms ahead of time no matter what cabin category we have booked.  I guess we'll find out in a few weeks if Viking Ocean is really worth the extra expense.  All of this talk about difficulty booking desired dining times and table size has me doubting that whatever else they do will make up for the nasty taste I've got in my mouth right now!

We never book in advance for either of the restaurants on any of our cruises, yet still manage to eat at them several times, regardless of cabin category we book.  Since I have no idea what I want to eat tonight, let alone 3 weeks from now, the idea of booking this far in advance doesn’t work for us.  Usually, we check out the daily menus in the morning to try to figure out where we want to eat that day.  This pretty much always works for us, unless we have made arrangements with another party.

 

[OnTheJourney]

8 hours ago, Wisconsin Travelers said:

All of this talk about difficulty booking desired dining times and table size has me doubting that whatever else they do will make up for the nasty taste I've got in my mouth right now!

The thing is, in the case of Manfredi's and Chef's Table, you're talking about a more limited amount of seating and/or table arrangements. I wouldn't fret too much over it. Once onboard, it's much easier to check with them and very likely find a time that suits you. I had no trouble booking CF online for two reservations a few weeks ago, but, as has been reported, the times for Manfredi's is apparently very limited. I will say, though, that what shows up on MVJ sometimes is not always fully accurate. I ascertained that through one of the chats I had with an agent. For my upcoming cruise, it does appear that all 2-tops are booked except for later times. I'm not really worried about it. The dining room or world cafe are fine with me if it winds up that we can't get in to Manfredi's. Some of these concerns pale compared to things like finding dead bodies in snow banks in Buffalo, or people facing the prospects of no heat, water, or power during winter in the Ukraine. Have to count our blessings sometimes. 

[OnTheJourney]

59 minutes ago, Mich3554 said:

We never book in advance for either of the restaurants on any of our cruises, yet still manage to eat at them several times, regardless of cabin category we book.  Since I have no idea what I want to eat tonight, let alone 3 weeks from now, the idea of booking this far in advance doesn’t work for us.

Well said! It's surely nice to know you have a reservation in advance, but I wouldn't let it put a damper on anticipating how the overall cruise will go. 

 

9 hours ago, Wisconsin Travelers said:

And nearly all of the excursions are sold out.

I'm seeing evidence of this as well for my cruise. I wouldn't say "all" excursions, but certainly those that visit the biggest attractions appear to be sold out. This sort of surprises me being that unless there is no way to add an additional bus for the event, then I guess it's a 'first come first served' approach. I think it's probably the aim towards not having tremendously large groups on excursions, compared to RCL, for example, running 5 busses with probably 400-500 people on the same excursion.The same thing (selling out) seems to happen with the extensions. I will agree that not all appears to run as smoothly as we would hope for given the cost; however, all lines have 'cut corners' I suspect in varying ways. In this post-pandemic craziness, we probably all have to somewhat lower our expectations. Travel, in general, doesn't seem to flow as smoothly as pre-pandemic. Throw in climate change yet - such as the issue with river levels causing havoc to itineraries - and it will result in even more unhappy passengers. Most recently, I just discovered that the hotel for our pre-extension was changed, but there was never an email sent out indicating this. Not a big deal unless one has made arrangements to be picked up at the hotel for a private tour, which was my situation. Also not a huge inconvenience to notify the tour company of a different hotel for pick--up and drop-off, but just seems a bit of a slip for Viking not to have notified everyone. I mentioned this to the agent I chatted with.  Like any cruise line, there are inconsistencies in the accuracy of the information given to customers depending on which agent you wind up talking to. The degree to which we all react to this and other situations that don't go according to our expectations is ultimately our choice. As a Viking Sky "survivor", at this point I look at like...if the boat doesn't sink or run into major problems and noone gets injured and also hopefully not too many covid cases, the rest I can deal with! 

Edited December 30, 2022 by OnTheJourney

[Heidi13]

11 hours ago, Wisconsin Travelers said:

As first time Viking ocean cruisers, I must say that I'm very annoyed about this specialty restaurant booking business.  When we booked our cruise (South America departing January 21), the only things still available was a guarantee cabin - and that affords us NO options to book specialty dining rooms until we are on board.  Makes me feel like a real second class citizen, but they sure were quick to take our money way earlier than other cruise lines require!  Excursions were another issue.  Our TA is gifting us with a large amount of OBC - but it won't be reflected on our account until we are on board.  So booking shore excursions with OBC funds can't happen now either.  And nearly all of the excursions are sold out.  Right now I'm feeling like I've paid a substantial amount of money to take this "higher end" cruise compared to the more standard cruise lines (Celebrity, Holland America, Princess), but I certainly don't feel like I'm getting any kind of extra value for the price.  On Oceania we can book specialty dining rooms ahead of time no matter what cabin category we have booked.  I guess we'll find out in a few weeks if Viking Ocean is really worth the extra expense.  All of this talk about difficulty booking desired dining times and table size has me doubting that whatever else they do will make up for the nasty taste I've got in my mouth right now!

 

With respect to booking the alternative restaurants, I'm having difficulty understanding how you can be "Very Annoyed". The pre-booking entitlements by cabin class are readily available online. If booking an alternative restaurant was important to you, why did you continue with the booking, knowing this benefit wasn't available.

 

Surely, by booking the only available cabin category, you accepted what Viking provides. If not acceptable, you should have looked for an alternative cruise with Viking, or another cruise line.

 

OBC provided by the TA appears in MVJ at the discretion of the TA, not Viking. This has been discussed on a previous thread, and some pax advised their TA provided the funds upon full payment. It then appears in MVJ and can be used for booking shore-ex, etc. However, if I recall correctly probably the majority of OBC from TA's only appears once onboard, which is when the TA provides the funds to Viking. You should also be aware that Viking policy limits the value of gifts a TA can provide. On a cruise of 15 or more days, this is limited to $500 pp. This is also widely discussed and is common knowledge.

 

With respect to alternative restaurants. On all Viking ships, all alternative restaurants are included in the base fare, but with Oceania, 2 of the ships now charge extra. I have no doubt it will be similar on their newest tonnage, which sails in May 23. Personally, we prefer to have them all included, since we don't book online.

 

I'm not aware that Oceania limits the number of alternative restaurant reservations you can make online. Assuming you booked this cruise fairly late, as only GTY were remaining, had you booked late with Oceania you could potentially also have no availability, as earlier bookings filled the seats. Therefore, if booking alternative restaurants online is a key factor, regardless of whether you select Viking or Oceania, you should book early - Oceania for greater availability and Viking to get a more expensive cabin for the online booking benefits.

 

Having both worked for and sailed as a pax on Princess for about 40 years, I can assure you that no pax on Viking is considered as 2nd class. Once aboard, everyone gets the same great service, regardless of cabin cost, or number of previous sailings. It is certainly not that way on Princess, Holland America or Celebrity.

 

As has been discussed many times on the Viking Board, many online reservations are cancelled once aboard. In addition, Viking only pre-book about 50% of available seats. Therefore, bookings are readily available on most cruises once you board the vessel, with the possible exception of the short 7 or 8 night cruises. Personally, we never pre-book and have never had any issue getting seated, even turning up at the host/hostess desk and asking if they have space.

 

With respect to early payments, Viking are a private company that do not belong to the mega ship owner's club - CLIA. Therefore, Viking does not follow the trends of the mega ship owners. I also don't like paying money early, but if we want to sail with Viking, we have no option but to accept their terms. Once I book a cruise, I have accepted the terms and conditions and it is time to move on. Don't see any benefit of complaining, as if it was an issue, I would take my money elsewhere.

[CurlerRob]

30 minutes ago, Heidi13 said:

With respect to alternative restaurants. On all Viking ships, all alternative restaurants are included in the base fare, but with Oceania, 2 of the ships now charge extra. I have no doubt it will be similar on their newest tonnage, which sails in May 23. Personally, we prefer to have them all included, since we don't book online.

 

I'm not aware that Oceania limits the number of alternative restaurant reservations you can make online. 

 

Andy, I fully agree with your overall thrust here - just a couple of small corrections based on a recent trip we had on Oceania. (We were on a small ship, so did not have the additional restaurant offers but I researched them before our trip).

 

I believe that your reference to the extra charges on 2 Oceania ships must be to the venues "Privee" and "La Reserve", available on Marina and Riviera. Strictly speaking, they are not specialty restaurants. 

 

Privee is a uniquely decorated private room for 10 guests, at which you can order from either of the steak house or Italian specialty restaurants. There is a charge for the room booking, I believe $250. I suppose it could be somewhat analogous to the private rooms in CT and Manfredi's (which of course are free on Viking), but there are some differences that might justify the extra charge.

 

La Reserve is a specialty experience in conjunction with Wine Spectator. In the evening, it offers 7-course, wine-paired meals, customized by the chef and WS experts. The pricing appears steep - $100 to $165 pp. Personally, I'd put this event more in the category of Viking's "Kitchen Table", which also carries an additional charge.

 

Oceania does limit the number of reservations you can make online. On our recent trip, we were constrained online to 2 sittings at each of the two specialties on our ship. And when they were  released, the normal "crush" happened with bookings - impacting available times. That said, once onboard, it was very similar to Viking in that you could easily move times or request additional seats directly (not online). Cheers! 🍺🥌

[Heidi13]

Thanks Rob - I knew the additional cost restaurants were only on the 2 newer, larger ships, but wasn't aware that they were that small. Sounds like they are comparable to the 2 private rooms available at Manfredi's and Chefs Table.

 

Although each of the Viking private rooms is assigned to one of the 2 alternative restaurants, you can actually order from either of them, or even the MDR. We attended a birthday function one night and they wanted Manfredi's, but only the Chef's Table private room was available. No problem, the hosts booked the Chef's Table room and we all received Manfredi's menus.

 

Viking also don't charge to rent these rooms, which we booked at least once or twice a month.

[Redtravel]

I understand that Chefs Table has multiple menus.   How can you tell what menu will be served when you make advance reservations prior to your cruise?  We are traveling with a group.  Several of the menus from past cruises that we saw online had food items that some people cannot eat.   Allergies, dietary restrictions, and dislikes make some menus distasteful.  Should we make a reservation or wait until we can see the menus?

[Fieldofdreams]

9 minutes ago, Redtravel said:

I understand that Chefs Table has multiple menus.   How can you tell what menu will be served when you make advance reservations prior to your cruise?  We are traveling with a group.  Several of the menus from past cruises that we saw online had food items that some people cannot eat.   Allergies, dietary restrictions, and dislikes make some menus distasteful.  Should we make a reservation or wait until we can see the menus?

My understanding from other CC members that have frequented Viking Ocean cruises is that you will not know what the menu is until you get on the ship, having said that I would go ahead and make reservations when they become available on MyViking. We are in the same situation with food allergies.

[miami mama]

I do understand the concerns regarding the dining reservations. I have been on 3 cruises with Viking and have never had a problem obtaining reservations for 2 when reservations opened for booking. All 3 times we were in DV (or the equivalent on the expedition ship). For my upcoming crusie I am in PV which allowed me to "book" reservations even earlier. However, for this cruise when I signed in, everything was gone except for a few days at 9:00 PM.

 

I can think of two possibilities for this (I'm sure there are more). The first is that we are on one of the middle legs for a multiple leg cruise. For those that are cruising on all of the legs, their window to reserve (whether they were in the Owner's Suite or DV) occurs before our time to reserve, and if they can reserve tables for their entire cruise (which start before ours and ends after ours), most of the reservations would be taken up. 

 

Another reason may be that the number of 2 person tables have been reduced in favor of adding larger tables that must be shared. This would actually increase overall capacity in the restaurant as the reduction of required space between all of those 2 person tables would be reduced. I actually wouldn't might sharing with others I didn't know if this was Pre-Covid. However, not so much now when dining. Maybe someone who has sailed with Viking on multiple occasions and is currently on board might know if the table layout seems to be very different or is now dominated by larger tables versus smaller 2-person tables. 

 

Perhaps someone who has been on the first leg and continued on for multiple legs of a cruise can let me know if they were able to make reservations for their entire cruise when their reservation booking opened. Someone who has been on the world cruise would know this also.  

 

Right now these questions are just a matter of curiosity. I do understand I can make reservations once on the ship, and if for some reason that does not work out, my husband really enjoys the World Cafe.   

[SantaFe1]

15 minutes ago, miami mama said:

 

(Sorry, I can’t get this to format correctly) Yes.  We are booked in two weeks on a longer cruise that has two sections.  We were able to book all our nights at the specialty restaurants as soon as booking opened.  We got all our reservations between 6:30 and 8.  We are in a PV.  We had the same experience on our 2019 WC, which had five or six sections,. 

16 minutes ago, miami mama said:

Perhaps someone who has been on the first leg and continued on for multiple legs of a cruise can let me know if they were able to make reservations for their entire cruise when their reservation booking opened. Someone who has been on the world cruise would know this also. 
 

 

[miami mama]

Thank you SantaFe1. This will allow me to revise my expectations when booking travel on multiple section cruises. 

[Avery's Gram]

I have no problem not getting dining reservations, as that is not a big deal for us.  We happily eat wherever, whenever.  My issue is with the included shore excursions, which were almost all sold out when our cohort was allowed to book.  I’m sure we will have a great time and enjoy our cruise, but paying extra for a shore excursion when I would have been satisfied with the “included, free “ one annoys me.

[OnTheJourney]

On 12/27/2022 at 8:04 PM, Mimiya11 said:

We are in PV. 

When we booked (this, our first Viking cruise), we had no idea that there were all these booking challenges. 

 

Best advice is to wait till you board and go right to the restaurant and see what’s available. What appears on MVJ is sometimes nowhere near accurate. Often lots more availability than what shows up online. 

[Pushka]

1 hour ago, Avery's Gram said:

I have no problem not getting dining reservations, as that is not a big deal for us.  We happily eat wherever, whenever.  My issue is with the included shore excursions, which were almost all sold out when our cohort was allowed to book.  I’m sure we will have a great time and enjoy our cruise, but paying extra for a shore excursion when I would have been satisfied with the “included, free “ one annoys me.

You will get your included shore excursion. Check when onboard.  What must be frustrating is for those who book a higher category cabin (eg PV) but those in a DV on the cruise before them, but their journey is linked with the next cruise, get full access well before higher end categories can book because their cruise is a 'double' journey. 

Edited January 28, 2023 by Pushka

[sugarside]

Regarding food allergies being an issue when dining in Chef’s Table.

They are happy to make you an alternative dish if you explain what ingredient is the problem.I had two courses changed to very nice alternatives recently.

[miami mama]

3 hours ago, Pushka said:

You will get your included shore excursion. Check when onboard.  What must be frustrating is for those who book a higher category cabin (eg PV) but those in a DV on the cruise before them, but their journey is linked with the next cruise, get full access well before higher end categories can book because their cruise is a 'double' journey. 

Although this is our fourth cruise, it is the first one that is part of a larger linked cruise, therefore, meeting this frustration for the first time. As I said, my husband is very happy with the World Cafe and we probably will be able to get reservations for 2 when we need them once onboard. However, when looking at future cruises I will certainly remember this information and maybe choose a cruise where this will not occur. 

 

Fortunately I did not encounter the same situation with shore excursions. Part of the reason for this, is that I booked privately for over half the ports at either the same or less cost. For those booked with Viking, no problem.

[CCWineLover]

23 hours ago, miami mama said:

I do understand the concerns regarding the dining reservations. I have been on 3 cruises with Viking and have never had a problem obtaining reservations for 2 when reservations opened for booking. All 3 times we were in DV (or the equivalent on the expedition ship). For my upcoming crusie I am in PV which allowed me to "book" reservations even earlier. However, for this cruise when I signed in, everything was gone except for a few days at 9:00 PM.

 

I can think of two possibilities for this (I'm sure there are more). The first is that we are on one of the middle legs for a multiple leg cruise. For those that are cruising on all of the legs, their window to reserve (whether they were in the Owner's Suite or DV) occurs before our time to reserve, and if they can reserve tables for their entire cruise (which start before ours and ends after ours), most of the reservations would be taken up. 

 

Another reason may be that the number of 2 person tables have been reduced in favor of adding larger tables that must be shared. This would actually increase overall capacity in the restaurant as the reduction of required space between all of those 2 person tables would be reduced. I actually wouldn't might sharing with others I didn't know if this was Pre-Covid. However, not so much now when dining. Maybe someone who has sailed with Viking on multiple occasions and is currently on board might know if the table layout seems to be very different or is now dominated by larger tables versus smaller 2-person tables. 

 

 

We just recently got off Viking Star.  I had the same thoughts you had.

However, we were pleasantly surprised to find that the tables at Manfredi's and Chef's Table were laid out exactly the same as all our other many post-COVID cruises.   It was for us very reassuring to see especially that there were many tables for 2 at Manfredi's for instance, and they were nicely separated.  Even Chef's Table had their tables widely separated.  Can't say the same for The Restaurant, where the twosome tables were jammed together like the old days.   I was also told by the Hotel Manager that Viking is seriously planning to modify their current internal policy of setting aside more than half the tables for on-board booking, which has been in place since COVID.  possibly by this summer - which would bring things back to where they were pre-COVID.