Food and dining on P&O ships

[sandancer]

2 hours ago, Bigboybaz said:

Me and my wife are booked on a cruise on Arvia in May and will be joined by 2 of our friends. So we have booked under the Select option and they have not.

 

Its our first time on a P&O cruise and are not really sure what this will mean when it comes to dining times or choices of restaurants? Or does it really make no difference at all?

 

Thanks in advance.

There are so many dining options on Arvia that your main problem is going to be deciding where to eat. 

[AlexMcSpot]

We have our second cruise booked on Arvia, a big difference to Arcadia, in April and have a couple query regards dining and in particular the main dining rooms. We are aware it is all freedom dining and have worked out that we can book for the 17:30 - 18:00 time slot in advance, on the web site and in the app. If we book in advance for a particular night and change our mind, can we cancel? Also we noted there is Meridian and Zenith MDR's, are you able to book for either of them?

Any guidance would be appreciated.

Edited February 1 by AlexMcSpot

[TigerB]

If you book via your Cruise Planner for the earlier times they will shows on the dining reservations section on the My Holiday app/non-app after you have boarded and logged on for the first time; it is on that where you have the option to cancel reservations.

Yes, you can make reservations for both MDRs, subject to them being open for bookings on the Cruise Planner.

[TigerB]

Further to the above, if you want the early dining times, and they are available on the Cruise Planner, then book as soon as you are able to do so.  If you wait until you are onboard, and use the My Holiday app/non-app, you may find that the times you favour are not available, or they may only have sharing tables left.

[terrierjohn]

8 minutes ago, AlexMcSpot said:

We have our second cruise booked on Arvia, a big difference to Arcadia, in April and have a couple query regards dining and in particular the main dining rooms. We are aware it is all freedom dining and have worked out that we can book for the 17:30 - 18:00 time slot in advance, on the web site and in the app. If we book in advance for a particular night and change our mind, can we cancel? Also we noted there is Meridian and Zenith MDR's, are you able to book for either of them?

Any guidance would be appreciated.

You can pre book your times, but to benefit from true freedom dining, you would be better using the daily virtual queue system. You then can make your mind up what time and which restsurant you want to dine in at a time that suits you for that day. You use the app, that isn't, and reserve your table for 2, or however many are in your dining party, and normally within 15 minutes you will be advised your table is ready and your reservation will be held for 15 minutes.

That way you dont need to work to a pre planned fixed timetable, and you can relax and work to your timetable for just that day and just the current conditions.

[AlexMcSpot]

Excellent thank you for taking the time to answer. We like early dining and are planning to go on the web site and book as many days in advance as soon as dining becomes available. However plans do change, as we found on our last trip, and we wanted to be sure cancelling was available.

[sandancer]

6 hours ago, TigerB said:

If you book via your Cruise Planner for the earlier times they will shows on the dining reservations section on the My Holiday app/non-app after you have boarded and logged on for the first time; it is on that where you have the option to cancel reservations.

Yes, you can make reservations for both MDRs, subject to them being open for bookings on the Cruise Planner.

We had the brilliant idea of getting into more than one virtual queue at a time and then we would go to the one that came available first. That was a no no. Can’t be in more than one virtual queue at a time. 

[TigerB]

3 minutes ago, sandancer said:

We had the brilliant idea of getting into more than one virtual queue at a time and then we would go to the one that came available first. That was a no no. Can’t be in more than one virtual queue at a time. 

 

There is a way around that, or was; they may have stopped it now but, given P&O's history with IT, possibly not.

Once, a few cruises back, I was in a virtual queue for one restaurant and our lass was in a queue for another; as soon as the first one came up we cancelled the other one.

[AlexMcSpot]

Just to clarify, I didn't want to suggest we were going to try and book both Zenith and Meridian for the same night, that would just confuse us. I just wanted to know that each was listed separetly.

Again thanks for the replies, it's appreciated.

[TigerB]

1 minute ago, AlexMcSpot said:

Just to clarify, I didn't want to suggest we were going to try and book both Zenith and Meridian for the same night, that would just confuse us. I just wanted to know that each was listed separetly.

Again thanks for the replies, it's appreciated.

 

I knew that.

Like you, we like to eat early and I like to have all my ducks in a row before we join the ship, so would do as you intend and book through the Cruise Planner initially.

[john watson]

On 1/30/2024 at 6:06 PM, Warrior85 said:

We are travelling with our friends on Ventura in October and there'll be 8 of us in total.

 

They are on a separate booking to us, is it possible for us to all to sit together in the MDRs by the virtual queue or would it be a case of turning up and hoping for the best?

 

In general terms the two sub-groups could link their bookings so you are perceived as a single larger group.  This may help in a number of ways on different issues, whether on dining not really sure.

 

Regards John

[Fionboard]

Why don't P&O just make one MDR fixed dining, like the smaller ships, to cater for all these people who want to dine at the same time every night and leave the other MDRs for Freedom dining?! Seems like a lot of folk don't want Freedom at all. 

[terrierjohn]

32 minutes ago, Fionboard said:

Why don't P&O just make one MDR fixed dining, like the smaller ships, to cater for all these people who want to dine at the same time every night and leave the other MDRs for Freedom dining?! Seems like a lot of folk don't want Freedom at all. 

Expeience would seem to suggest that there are, or were prior to covid and the launch of the 2 big ships, significantly more passengers preferring freedom dining to fixed dining. So it is more difficult to arrange a suitable split with the 2 new ship. In addition it now seems that passengers would prefer a fixed time of their choice, rather than the limit of only 2 at 6:30 and 8:30, making it more difficult to achieve the number of diners necessary to satisfy everyone.

If demand for MDR dining remains high and long queues and high waiting times persist, then I suspect that P&O will have to consider operating only the virtual queue system in the future for Iona and Arvia, which should enable people to dine at a time of their choice and without significant delays.

[Fionboard]

That would exclude those not able to use a smart phone though. As it seems like a lot of posters on here want to eat early and have tables for two, maybe one restaurant with ONLY tables for two at 6.00 pm would be the answer! 

[terrierjohn]

54 minutes ago, Fionboard said:

That would exclude those not able to use a smart phone though. As it seems like a lot of posters on here want to eat early and have tables for two, maybe one restaurant with ONLY tables for two at 6.00 pm would be the answer! 

I believe you can use your TV to do most of the reservations that you can do using a smart phone.

[Tomcruise92]

Would a system like Princess or HAL be better where you can just pre-book on an app and adjust during the cruise as needed? You can either select a fixed time for the duration of the cruise or individual times and choose from a shared or private table? This could be fleet wide and make it much simpler!

Edited February 3 by Tomcruise92

[Fionboard]

21 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

I believe you can use your TV to do most of the reservations that you can do using a smart phone.

Can you join a virtual queue on the TV and then sit there and watch until your table is ready? 

[terrierjohn]

4 hours ago, Tomcruise92 said:

Would a system like Princess or HAL be better where you can just pre-book on an app and adjust during the cruise as needed? You can either select a fixed time for the duration of the cruise or individual times and choose from a shared or private table? This could be fleet wide and make it much simpler!

I think the Princess Dine my Way is even worse than the current mixed up P&O system.  It blocks out sharing tables at busy times, and to guarantee a  cooked time you need to be in and out of the system, and even then your ideal time might not be available. 

The virtual queue, when you make a reservation when you are ready, is IMO the best option, and if everyone used it and all tables in the MDR could be used as needed, then the waiting time for your table should be minimal.

[Fionboard]

So glad I always do fixed dining! No stress or uncertainty. I have no desire to go on Iona or Arvia again. But I can see the attraction of "Freedom" to some folk who like to dine at different times. 

[Tomcruise92]

1 hour ago, terrierjohn said:

I think the Princess Dine my Way is even worse than the current mixed up P&O system.  It blocks out sharing tables at busy times, and to guarantee a  cooked time you need to be in and out of the system, and even then your ideal time might not be available. 

The virtual queue, when you make a reservation when you are ready, is IMO the best option, and if everyone used it and all tables in the MDR could be used as needed, then the waiting time for your table should be minimal.

I have not personally found this. Dine My Way is super simple and means once I board I know where I am. For me, the P&O free-for-all and inconsistency between ships is terrible.

[Presto2]

We reverter to the tried and tested go up and ask for a table and have a pager system on Britannia this time like most folk. It worked fine so why they need that stupid holiday virtual queue who knows. It clearly doesn't work when it's busy. 

[oAlgo]

Hi, does anybody know if it´s possible to pre-book specialty dining on Aurora 14 days before?
We embark in one month and I would like to get this sorted out before we get on the ship.
Also, is it easy to get in the Glass House for dinner (not too early), last time on Britannia the queues on the app filled up in a few minutes every night, and was almost impossible to get a table at around 7:30-8:30.

[jeanlyon]

We were on Aurora in October and no, you couldn't book before you sail.  A few on our table ate at Sindhu and also the Beach House and had no problem getting a table.

[jh1809]

5 hours ago, oAlgo said:

Hi, does anybody know if it´s possible to pre-book specialty dining on Aurora 14 days before?
We embark in one month and I would like to get this sorted out before we get on the ship.
Also, is it easy to get in the Glass House for dinner (not too early), last time on Britannia the queues on the app filled up in a few minutes every night, and was almost impossible to get a table at around 7:30-8:30.

Judging by Selbourne's post today in "his" thread", it looks like they may have recently changed things so that you can pre-book Sindhu before the cruise:

 

"For dinner we had booked Sindhu. One of 4  bookings for the restaurant that we had made pre cruise. Pre booking is beneficial as you get 20% discount, plus loyalty discount and the pre booking charge is then deducted from your final bill. However, it gets better in that because you’ve pre booked you also then get a further 20% discount off your final food bill which is then further subject to loyalty discount. It’s a great offer that P&O don’t really promote."

[oAlgo]

14 hours ago, jh1809 said:

Judging by Selbourne's post today in "his" thread", it looks like they may have recently changed things so that you can pre-book Sindhu before the cruise:

 

"For dinner we had booked Sindhu. One of 4  bookings for the restaurant that we had made pre cruise. Pre booking is beneficial as you get 20% discount, plus loyalty discount and the pre booking charge is then deducted from your final bill. However, it gets better in that because you’ve pre booked you also then get a further 20% discount off your final food bill which is then further subject to loyalty discount. It’s a great offer that P&O don’t really promote."

Thanks a lot, I had no idea about the discount
Shame the Glass House can´t be booked though, that´s our favourite restaurant