additional reservations at Umi

[zship]

Does anyone have a guess as to how hard it will be to secure additional reservations at umi uma during a sold out cruise ? 

[Keith1010]

How long is the cruise.  

[zship]

12 nights

Edited August 23, 2023 by zship

[TER777]

Sushi bar is first come, first serve. 

[Stickman1990]

2 hours ago, zship said:

…during a sold out cruise ? 

curious - Which cruise is sold out?

[Keith1010]

About a week ago the 2023 Serenity Holiday Cruise was sold out but now a few rooms left. 

 

[Mr Luxury]

All cruises change capacity right up to the sailing day.

[offtoalaska]

Does dining at the sushi bar count toward the limited access to Umi Uma?

[Keith1010]

9 minutes ago, offtoalaska said:

Does dining at the sushi bar count toward the limited access to Umi Uma?

Yes.

[offtoalaska]

Thanks for the quick response; so I think for a 13 night cruise we have access to two dinners without an additional charge.  It's been quite a while since we've been on Crystal (2017) so we're looking forward to our Caribbean voyage in January.  Seabourn became our go to line but we're done flying into SXM or BGI to catch their ships.  Miami is so much easier; I believe the Serenity will be at Terminal J;  so easy- just drop off luggage, park the car and a very short walk to enter the terminal.  Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale in 2025 will be even better.

[Cruise-y]

We never book a cruise more than 2 or 3 months ahead due to many other responsibilities. Even though I’ve always qualified for unlimited dining, I could never get more than one night at Umi Uma (even on two-week cruises). They were always full by the time we tried to reserve. We only got one night (usually at 9:00) because it was guaranteed. That was Old Crystal - but can’t imagine it will be much different now. 

Edited August 24, 2023 by Cruise-y

[AtA]

6 minutes ago, Cruise-y said:

We never book a cruise more than 2 or 3 months ahead due to many other responsibilities. Even though I’ve always qualified for unlimited dining, I could never get more than one night at Umi Uma (even on two-week cruises). They were always full by the time we tried to reserve. We only got one night (usually at 9:00) because it was guaranteed. That was Old Crystal - but can’t imagine it will be much different now. 

We would almost always get in. What we'd do is go around 7:30 or 8 PM and ask if they had room or if the sushi bar was available. We were only turned away a couple of times.

[offtoalaska]

25 minutes ago, AtA said:

We would almost always get in. What we'd do is go around 7:30 or 8 PM and ask if they had room or if the sushi bar was available. We were only turned away a couple of times.

Was that recently or on "Old" Crystal?

[skybluewaters]

32 minutes ago, Cruise-y said:

That was Old Crystal - but can’t imagine it will be much different now. 

 

Hopefully, having significantly fewer passengers onboard will improve things.

[AtA]

5 hours ago, offtoalaska said:

Was that recently or on "Old" Crystal?

Both.

[Keith1010]

On 8/23/2023 at 5:07 PM, zship said:

12 nights

See the Specialty Maitre d' early on in the cruise and if you are flexible on a sold out cruise with 12 days you should be able to secure one or more additional reservations.

 

Keith

[Keith1010]

There is not one answer that fits all on this.

 

If Cruise is full and that was the question then the answer is it will depend on the length of the cruise (seven day being more challenging than a 12 day cruise), whether or not someone is flexible or not and how far in advance they request a reservation.

 

On a 12 day cruise I don't see it being a problem.

 

Do remember that overall capacity is a little bit lower in both specialty restaurants on Serenity.

 

Keith

[tryber]

22 hours ago, offtoalaska said:

Does dining at the sushi bar count toward the limited access to Umi Uma?

 

I think the answer is yes and no.  You have to pay for a second visit, but they don't take reservations for the sushi bar (at least that's how it always used to work).  So, my advice is to make a reservation before the cruise, but then also go to the sushi bar if you can't get a second reservation on the ship. That's what we always did in the past.

[zship]

“Do remember that overall capacity is a little bit lower in both specialty restaurants on Serenity.”

 

Do you mean capacity was lowered or that it is lower than on Symphony ?

 

Do you know which ship has a greater capacity per/passenger for the specialty restaurants ?

Edited August 25, 2023 by zship

[FlyerTalker]

Umi and OO are smaller physical sizes on Serenity.

 

 

[ryndam]

Flexibility is the operative word here. In the past, we've been fortunate to enjoy multiple dining opportunities at Umi by asking the restaurant manager when additional days/times were available, rather than requesting a specific day/time later in the cruise. Generally, we have been able to secure a 2-top at 8:30pm+/- without much difficulty, even on shorter cruises. If a day/time could not be confirmed immediately, we asked to be placed on a waiting list, which generally cleared within 48 hours or so, with a confirmed day/time.

 

Table size also is a consideration; there used to be very few larger tables that could accommodate 6 or more people. Looking at the photos of the refurbished Umi, it appears that there are even fewer larger tables in the new configuration than there were in the previous decorating scheme. 

 

Rob

[BWIVince]

44 minutes ago, ryndam said:

Flexibility is the operative word here. In the past, we've been fortunate to enjoy multiple dining opportunities at Umi by asking the restaurant manager when additional days/times were available, rather than requesting a specific day/time later in the cruise. Generally, we have been able to secure a 2-top at 8:30pm+/- without much difficulty, even on shorter cruises. If a day/time could not be confirmed immediately, we asked to be placed on a waiting list, which generally cleared within 48 hours or so, with a confirmed day/time.

 

Table size also is a consideration; there used to be very few larger tables that could accommodate 6 or more people. Looking at the photos of the refurbished Umi, it appears that there are even fewer larger tables in the new configuration than there were in the previous decorating scheme. 

 

Rob

 

Part of the design of Umi Uma (on both ships) is the flexibility of the 2-tops (and the reason there are so many of them)... Just as in Waterside (though with check-ins instead of reservations), they can dynamically adjust the inventory as needed in the system to fulfill a different curve depending on the night.  On Serenity, the side-by-side tables for 2 by the windows can all be pushed together to create 4-tops, and the 2-tops forward of the round 8-top feature can be pushed together up to 6-tops.  In both cases the tables can be arranged lengthwise to go up to 8, as a last resort, but I haven't seen that too often. Most of Symphony's 2-tops go up to 6, and the banquette is also used flexibly.  

 

If it works now anything like it used to, they use a "typical" inventory as a starting point with many of the 2-tops already accounted for as 4 or 6 tops, and then just adjust up or down as needed by splitting or combining more tables.

 

Vince

[Keith1010]

HI Everyone.

 

I feel like we are going around in circles.

 

The key is flexibility as I noted in post 16.

 

And the other key is book early.

 

And yes capacity has been reduced in both specialty restaurants based on the layout and how they set up the stations such as in Umi Uma.

 

But ask this question five years ago with the capacity the way it was and the answer does not change.

 

If it's a cruise of 12 days as the OP mentioned then the odds are great to get a second reservation but the key is always to be flexible and to make a second request sooner rather than later.

If it is a seven day cruise the odds are not so good. But that is not the case here.

 

Keith 

[Cruisemonty]

On our seven-day cruise on OC Serenity in September 2019, we dined at Uma Uma as a party of four on the second night. Before we left the restaurant, we asked the maitre'd if we could get another reservation, and he was able to fit us in on the last night of the cruise. We happily paid the charge for the second reservation.