Booking shows on Iona

[Selbourne]

Well it was of course Sods Law that having stayed up late in vain, the shows activated whilst I was unavailable today 🙄. Anyhow, I have thankfully just managed to book all 6 of us into the 10.30pm shows that are currently bookable. There are currently a couple of nights with no shows, but that was the same on our recent Britannia cruise and they were added subsequently. 

[terrierjohn]

10 hours ago, Cloudyrain said:

We had no problem last year with the Beach House on the Britannia, and booked the same day on several occasions, so it’s a shame if it has changed on there since then. However, we have been on the Iona twice this year (one in school holidays and one out of school holidays) and my experience there were slots in all dining venues except those I stated. We were able to book the Beach House twice, Sindhu (although cancelled as we changed our mind) and we even got a couple of lucky lunchtime Olive Grove slots - but they took a lot of refreshing and crossing of fingers! All of the bookings were between 6pm and 8pm (with the exception of the Olive Grove where we only managed lunchtime). 
 

my only “booking” bug bear was that we were unable to book more 710 slots because we were unable to book kids club slots. If you think restaurants are bad don’t try booking a kids club slot - it’s torturous 😂

When on board if you visit any of the bookable restaurants, whilst they are manned, you should be able to check on the availability and make a reservation. We found that The Beach House, Olive Grove and Sindhu were able to find a suitable time for us.

[Cloudyrain]

13 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

When on board if you visit any of the bookable restaurants, whilst they are manned, you should be able to check on the availability and make a reservation. We found that The Beach House, Olive Grove and Sindhu were able to find a suitable time for us.

That’s what I was saying (albeit via the app). We haven’t experienced problems booking on board and generally found it to be a good experience, others unfortunately have had problems. It just goes to show how variable it must be 😊

[Selbourne]

1 minute ago, Cloudyrain said:

That’s what I was saying (albeit via the app). We haven’t experienced problems booking on board and generally found it to be a good experience, others unfortunately have had problems. It just goes to show how variable it must be 😊

Yes it does seem to vary by cruise. I overheard a number of people trying to get in to speciality restaurants on our recent Britannia cruise, because the app was showing the restaurant as full, and they were told that there were no slots available. The irony was that both Sindhu and Epicurean never seemed more than half full. The only speciality restaurant that looked full both times we went was the Beach House and yet, ironically, that was the one that I secured an on the day reservation for (albeit a late one). 

[majortom10]

2 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

Yes it does seem to vary by cruise. I overheard a number of people trying to get in to speciality restaurants on our recent Britannia cruise, because the app was showing the restaurant as full, and they were told that there were no slots available. The irony was that both Sindhu and Epicurean never seemed more than half full. The only speciality restaurant that looked full both times we went was the Beach House and yet, ironically, that was the one that I secured an on the day reservation for (albeit a late one). 

They have never filled all the tables in Epicurean or Sindhu on any of the ships even before Covid. Don't know whether it be a staffing issue or just so they are able to give a more personal better service.

[ParisHilton]

14 hours ago, Selbourne said:

Well it was of course Sods Law that having stayed up late in vain, the shows activated whilst I was unavailable today 🙄. Anyhow, I have thankfully just managed to book all 6 of us into the 10.30pm shows that are currently bookable. There are currently a couple of nights with no shows, but that was the same on our recent Britannia cruise and they were added subsequently. 

Good to see you managed to book shows. 

I hope 10.30pm suits. I'm famed for sleeping through musicals and other shows, and that's mid-afternoon.  I'd be asleep before curtains up at a 10.30pm

[Selbourne]

5 minutes ago, ParisHilton said:

Good to see you managed to book shows. 

I hope 10.30pm suits. I'm famed for sleeping through musicals and other shows, and that's mid-afternoon.  I'd be asleep before curtains up at a 10.30pm

I must confess that having had dinner and a couple of drinks, I regularly nod off during the 10.30pm performances. However, there have been many times when my wife has said that I hadn’t missed much 😂