Looks like P&O are changing the way dining bookings are done on Arvia

[davecttr]

1 minute ago, cruising.mark.uk said:

This passenger and his wife don't.  And I suspect we are not alone.

don't what?

[cruising.mark.uk]

Just now, davecttr said:

don't what?

Don't want the no-cost MDR menus.

[Cathygh]

I welcome this change and it solves the problem we had trying to eat in the MDRs on Iona recently. 

[davecttr]

Just now, cruising.mark.uk said:

Don't want the no-cost MDR menus.

Fine so you are happy but it appears a lot of others are not.

[9265359]

The changes may improve things for a few who are quick to book the limited number of bookable tables, but will likely make things worse for the remainder who are too late to do so and will have to continue to with the current system, but now with fewer tables to queue for.

 

My solution to avoid excessive queues has been to shift my dining habits to ‘Spanish time’ whilst onboard and go to the MDR around 9.15pm when they have a closing time to seat people of 9.30pm, and then get seated immediately (although 9.15pm would be an hour or two too early to eat for a Madrileno!).

 

[Selbourne]

25 minutes ago, molecrochip said:

Currently if someone makes a reservation, when they get called there is a period of 15 minutes to arrive during which time the table is sits empty. If the reservation doesn’t arrive then a further reservation is called during which time the table sits empty again for a further 15 minutes. 

I’m glad that you have confirmed this, as I have been saying this for ages and it confirms why the new system is inherently less efficient than the original Freedom Dining. 
 

Prior to anybody being able to book tables in Freedom Dining, tables were filled as people arrived. The only ‘down time’ on a table was when there wasn’t demand for it. As soon as people vacated a table it was re-set and the next guests to arrive were allocated it. Worked brilliantly. We have used it on all ships since its inception and have almost always been seated immediately or after a very brief wait by the entrance (and we generally dine at around 8/8.30pm) - even for a table for 2. The longest I can ever recall waiting (with a pager) was around 45 minutes on Britannia in August school holidays. 
 

Those who prefer the new system seem to either dine extremely early, rarely use the MDR or prefer fixed dining. Ironically, by trying to pacify those who like fixed dining (which isn’t advertised as available on the new ships), those who expect to be able to use the advertised Freedom dining as intended can end up frustrated, especially if they prefer to eat later and wish to vary dining times to make the most of scenic sail always, entertainment etc.

 

I can put up with having to avoid the MDR most nights on a 7 night cruise on Iona, but not on a 14 night cruise on Arvia. As a result, I would be deterred from booking the latter.

[Fionboard]

Oh dear, still the same  problems I experienced on Iona two years ago! Whatever they do to try and improve things on the two leviathans, I will stick to the "tiddlers" and have a stress free holiday. 

[Selbourne]

38 minutes ago, davecttr said:

As I understand it Arvia has MDR capacity for about 1/3 of the passengers per sitting so if there is only time for 2 sittings 1/3 of the passengers are expected to eat elsewhere. The problem is they DON'T want to eat elsewhere they want a MDR experience. 

I suspect that you have hit the nail on the head. So the solution appears to be to introduce a system that frustrates the hell out of anyone who doesn’t want to dine very early or at the same time every night, thus forcing them to eat elsewhere, either at extra cost or in the buffet. Clever 😂 

[cruising.mark.uk]

46 minutes ago, davecttr said:

 1/3 of the passengers are expected to eat elsewhere. The problem is they DON'T want to eat elsewhere they want a MDR experience. 

How do you know this?

[Happy afloat]

2 hours ago, solentsam said:

So OK lets take away the booking system. Then you turn up along with another say 50 pax who had the same idea as you for the time you wished to eat, you will now have to wait outside for how long?? Is that better

Hi,

No, it's not better. But what is is the old system of 2 sittings for club dining and freedom dining for those that wanted it. When this was in place we never experienced any queues and only ever had a pager once.

It seems to me that this is all led by a reduction in staffing levels as a money saving exercise. Understandable, profits have to be made. If it impacts unduly on the holiday experience, then that's a different thing.

[Fionboard]

4 minutes ago, Happy afloat said:

Hi,

No, it's not better. But what is is the old system of 2 sittings for club dining and freedom dining for those that wanted it. When this was in place we never experienced any queues and only ever had a pager once.

It seems to me that this is all led by a reduction in staffing levels as a money saving exercise. Understandable, profits have to be made. If it impacts unduly on the holiday experience, then that's a different thing.

Totally agree. Venues too small plus not enough staff. 

[Presto2]

1 hour ago, Selbourne said:

I suspect that you have hit the nail on the head. So the solution appears to be to introduce a system that frustrates the hell out of anyone who doesn’t want to dine very early or at the same time every night, thus forcing them to eat elsewhere, either at extra cost or in the buffet. Clever 😂 

You've laughed at the end, but I've been wondering if there was a cunning plan behind the freedom dining chaos ! They can't be stupid enough to do this to us all without a good reason. Have to say, we had considered trying IONA or Arvia, but the fact that it is all freedom dining has now put us off as we are considering fixed dining in future.

[CarlaMarie]

1 hour ago, Happy afloat said:

Hi,

No, it's not better. But what is is the old system of 2 sittings for club dining and freedom dining for those that wanted it. When this was in place we never experienced any queues and only ever had a pager once.

It seems to me that this is all led by a reduction in staffing levels as a money saving exercise. Understandable, profits have to be made. If it impacts unduly on the holiday experience, then that's a different thing.

 

Plus the dining venues are too small to accommodate those who want the traditional MDR experience. 

 

This is encouraging those to book speciality, for either multiple nights (then other passengers have zero chance of experiencing them), or to even have several bookings for the same night and cancelling last minute or just not turning up. 

 

[Selbourne]

3 minutes ago, Presto2 said:

You've laughed at the end, but I've been wondering if there was a cunning plan behind the freedom dining chaos ! They can't be stupid enough to do this to us all without a good reason. Have to say, we had considered trying IONA or Arvia, but the fact that it is all freedom dining has now put us off as we are considering fixed dining in future.

It was a semi-ironic laugh! Us naughty passengers aren’t behaving as the bods at P&O want us to when we are on our holidays. If we are stupid enough to want to eat in the MDR every (or even most) night(s) them we must be taught a lesson and our behaviour corrected!

 

Over the next 2 months we will be experiencing the new style Freedom dining on both Britannia and Iona. We have developed a military style strategy based upon some excellent tips provided by those who have been on these ships in recent weeks. Not exactly the relaxing, stress free and spontaneous approach that we have enjoyed before on our cruises, but needs must. If that approach still fails then, if we book any more P&O cruises, we will probably have to go back to Club dining.
 

I must say that all of this is making me very glad that I’ve booked some Cunard cruises in Britannia Club, where our table for 2 will be sitting waiting for us at any time that we choose to use it - no apps, no queues (virtual or physical) and no stress. Just as a holiday should be. 

[Presto2]

21 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

It was a semi-ironic laugh! Us naughty passengers aren’t behaving as the bods at P&O want us to when we are on our holidays. If we are stupid enough to want to eat in the MDR every (or even most) night(s) them we must be taught a lesson and our behaviour corrected!

 

Over the next 2 months we will be experiencing the new style Freedom dining on both Britannia and Iona. We have developed a military style strategy based upon some excellent tips provided by those who have been on these ships in recent weeks. Not exactly the relaxing, stress free and spontaneous approach that we have enjoyed before on our cruises, but needs must. If that approach still fails then, if we book any more P&O cruises, we will probably have to go back to Club dining.
 

I must say that all of this is making me very glad that I’ve booked some Cunard cruises in Britannia Club, where our table for 2 will be sitting waiting for us at any time that we choose to use it - no apps, no queues (virtual or physical) and no stress. Just as a holiday should be. 

To be honest, we feel quite sad as we don't want the new FD system to be the straw that moves us on to another cruise line. Have many happy memories on P&O and we can cope with the dumbing down we have seen since our first cruise with them in 2010. The issue re Freedom Dining did cause us stress and looking back now, spoiled some parts of our cruise and some (3) evenings our of 7. You cruise to escape the stress not to find more. I've said a number of times that Mr Presto is one of the most patient people I know (he's married to me, poor man) but he was so wound up on those evenings. It takes a lot ....

[Gettingwarmer]

58 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

1 hour ago, Presto2 said:

 

It was a semi-ironic laugh! Us naughty passengers aren’t behaving as the bods at P&O want us to when we are on our holidays. If we are stupid enough to want to eat in the MDR every (or even most) night(s) them we must be taught a lesson and our behaviour corrected!

Agree

[9265359]

2 hours ago, Happy afloat said:

But what is is the old system of 2 sittings for club dining and freedom dining for those that wanted it. When this was in place we never experienced any queues and only ever had a pager once.

Trouble is that on Iona and Arvia you don’t get the numbers of elderly people who actually want to eat dinner at 6.30, so forcing an early sitting on someone who doesn’t want it is a very second class solution for them.

[Presto2]

4 minutes ago, 9265359 said:

Trouble is that on Iona and Arvia you don’t get the numbers of elderly people who actually want to eat dinner at 6.30, so forcing an early sitting on someone who doesn’t want it is a very second class solution for them.

I'd eat at 6.30pm any day rather than  9.45pm - and we normally eat at about 8pm at home ....

Sorry P&O, the whole system is a mess and needs reviewing. It is not just a 'new ship' problem.

[Selbourne]

5 minutes ago, Presto2 said:

Sorry P&O, the whole system is a mess and needs reviewing. It is not just a 'new ship' problem.

There are a number of us on this forum on Britannia in a few weeks time. Hopefully we will report positive experiences 🤞

[Presto2]

1 minute ago, Selbourne said:

There are a number of us on this forum on Britannia in a few weeks time. Hopefully we will report positive experiences 🤞

The poor guy on the desk at the Meridian kept asking us to be patient as it usually works ok outside the busy school holidays. He was lovely and we told him to go back to his cabin and have a good whiskey. Poor man - taking the flack for a failing system. As a tip head for the Peninsular - it seemed more popular on the app thing and we found that to be the case too. Hope you all have a great time 🙂

[terrierjohn]

5 hours ago, solentsam said:

So OK lets take away the booking system. Then you turn up along with another say 50 pax who had the same idea as you for the time you wished to eat, you will now have to wait outside for how long?? Is that better

I do agree with you that without some system there will likely be long queues quite often on the 2 new ships . However that is primarily because there is not enough MDR cacity on Iona and Arvia, compared with the smaller ships, including Azura and Ventura. 

Pre covid there were very few occasions on Azura and Ventura when we have encountered long queues, although we have seen queues, or been asked to take a pager on Britannia.

Which leads me to assume that there is not enough capacity in the MDRs on Iona, and it is even worse on Arvia because, despite P&O thinking the Olive Grove and 6th Street Diner are alternatives, the passengers don't seem to agree.

It will be interesting to see how this new protocol works, but IMO without adding more MDR capacity it is going to be a disaster.

[9265359]

29 minutes ago, Presto2 said:

and we normally eat at about 8pm at home ....

And there is the problem - so does everyone else on the ship!

 

31 minutes ago, Presto2 said:

I'd eat at 6.30pm any day rather than  9.45pm

And I would eat at 9.45pm any day rather than 6.30pm which I would see as late afternoon and usually time that I am having a swim, in the gym, a drink on the balcony, etc. and certainly not time to sit down for a three course meal.

 

But either way we are both making compromises to deal with the lack of space in the restaurants compared to the number of passengers who want to use them at a particular time.

 

33 minutes ago, Presto2 said:

Sorry P&O, the whole system is a mess and needs reviewing. It is not just a 'new ship' problem.

Unless the solution is building another restaurant to tow behind the ship, then any solution will leave someone disappointed.

[Presto2]

7 minutes ago, 9265359 said:

And there is the problem - so does everyone else on the ship!

 

And I would eat at 9.45pm any day rather than 6.30pm which I would see as late afternoon and usually time that I am having a swim, in the gym, a drink on the balcony, etc. and certainly not time to sit down for a three course meal.

 

But either way we are both making compromises to deal with the lack of space in the restaurants compared to the number of passengers who want to use them at a particular time.

 

Unless the solution is building another restaurant to tow behind the ship, then any solution will leave someone disappointed.

The problem is that the mdr restaurants are supposed to close at 9.30pm. After that it is a case of just rushing your through and rubbish service. 

 

Totally agree with you.

[majortom10]

2 hours ago, Presto2 said:

You've laughed at the end, but I've been wondering if there was a cunning plan behind the freedom dining chaos ! They can't be stupid enough to do this to us all without a good reason. Have to say, we had considered trying IONA or Arvia, but the fact that it is all freedom dining has now put us off as we are considering fixed dining in future.

We never had any issues getting a table for 2 in March on Iona and should imagine a table for more would be even easier. We joined virtual queue whichever MDR had shortest queue as we left our cabin and by the time we had got the lift and walked to the restaurant my my phone buzzed to say a table was ready.

[daiB]

5 hours ago, Dermotsgirl said:

It just shows that people don't fit into neat categories.

 

I suppose that, with a 20+ year cruising history and travelling without children, I would be shoe horned into the traditionalist category. However, we originally booked Iona for March 2021 with the sole purpose of trying all the speciality restaurants and not bothering with the MDR. That cruise didn't happen, so it was moved to March 2023. But we cancelled it last summer, as I felt at that time that the app was flakey and the experience onboard seemed sometimes a bit too much like hard work.

 

I remain curious about both Iona and Arvia, and would like to think that I will sail on at least one of them one day. But there are still enough reports of queueing issues and struggles to eat in various restaurants, to make me think that I won't bother just yet

Our experiance on Iona proves that BOF’s like us can make the system work for us. we hadn a great time and only used the MDR 3 times in 3 weeks. Go for it.