Specialty dining the final night of the cruise?

[KBrote]

I just made our specialty dining reservations for our upcoming cruise, Istanbul to Athens on Sirena, Oct. 24 - Nov. 3. As I expected, the earliest time available, except for one night, was 8:00pm. Our category is B1. We only have Tuscan Grill and Red Ginger on the Sirena. I did manage to get a 7:00pm in Red Ginger on the final night of the cruise when we leave Mykonos at 7:00pm. Is there a reason there were early time slots available on the final night? Is there something special about dining in the MDR the final night of the cruise? I know we can try to change our times when we get onboard. I will try to do that as we prefer 7:00pm. We are traveling with another couple and made the reservations for the 4 of us since I had their booking number. 

[jondfk]

I personally don’t think the GDR is especially great that final night, more likely folks are focused on their packing up and the like rather than a nice leisurely meal.  We’ve done specialty dining the final evening and found it as good as any other night, perhaps a bit better due to the slightly lighter load.  My advice, keep that great reservation!

[MEFIowa]

You do have to get all packed up and have your luggage outside by the appointed time, but other than that...just enjoy the meal!

[Snaefell3]

47 minutes ago, KBrote said:

Is there something special about dining in the MDR the final night of the cruise?

AIUI, O has a significant number of B2B passengers, so they run a 14-day repeating menu in the GDR since one passenger's "last night" is another's "mid-voyage meal".

 

As @jondfk said, more likely just a significant number of folks busy packing.

[LHT28]

1 hour ago, KBrote said:

I just made our specialty dining reservations for our upcoming cruise, Istanbul to Athens on Sirena, Oct. 24 - Nov. 3. As I expected, the earliest time available, except for one night, was 8:00pm. Our category is B1. We only have Tuscan Grill and Red Ginger on the Sirena. I did manage to get a 7:00pm in Red Ginger on the final night of the cruise when we leave Mykonos at 7:00pm. Is there a reason there were early time slots available on the final night? Is there something special about dining in the MDR the final night of the cruise? I know we can try to change our times when we get onboard. I will try to do that as we prefer 7:00pm. We are traveling with another couple and made the reservations for the 4 of us since I had their booking number. 

Some people like to pack & relax the last  night  so  pass on the specialties

 

I would check again in a few days 

I managed to change a couple of mine   to get the earlier time slots   on our upcoming cruise

I just kept checking

[BrakeawayTakeaway]

You can still take your own luggage off right? Is it really that much of a hassle to get your own luggage off the ship? (Cruise newbie sailing in 3 weeks) 

[Mrs f.]

Just got off Vista. 

Nothing special in MDR last night 

[pinotlover]

6 hours ago, BrakeawayTakeaway said:

You can still take your own luggage off right? Is it really that much of a hassle to get your own luggage off the ship? (Cruise newbie sailing in 3 weeks) 

Some passengers are physically unable to get their luggage off the ship alone.

 

Depending upon the port, you may not have a terminal but would have to navigate the stairway offloading. See first sentence.

 

Disembarkment can be chaos. People ignoring ( a popular Oceania passenger action verb) their assigned de boarding colors and pushing, shoving, and otherwise rude behavior. Hauling your own luggage off adds to that. As bad as boardamania can be, at some ports, disembarkment can make it look pleasant. We always disembark it the latter groups to let the hordes go first.

[LHT28]

4 hours ago, Mrs f. said:

Just got off Vista. 

Nothing special in MDR last night 

Did they have Wiener Schnitzel  on the menu?

Usually they have that on the last night on the other ships

[Mrs f.]

I did have schnitzel on last night. Honestly, can't remember... assuming it was veal not chicken.

[Woodrowst]

When cruising on Oceania we typically eat in one of the speciality restaurants on the last night as it gives us a nice sendoff with a nice meal in a nice setting.  Oceania does not do anything special to note the ending of a cruise.  It is not like the old days when cruise lines would have a special dinner with chateaubriand and a baked Alaska parade.  I do apologize for glaringly showing my age ☺️ 

[Redtravel]

Any time in Red Ginger is good.

[schmerl]

We had chateaubriand in the MDR the last night of the cruise. It was wonderful!

[Tranquility Base]

8 hours ago, Woodrowst said:

It is not like the old days ………

Nostalgia is not what it used to be.

Edited September 11, 2023 by Tranquility Base

[the more ports the better]

The only downfall to a specialty restaurant the last night is that we are so full by the end of the cruise that we don’t try everything we might have earlier in the sailing!!!

[mexicobob]

On our cruise on The Riviera in April we had reservations in one of the specialty restaurants the last night but cancelled and ate at The terrace Cafe instead. Quicker, easier and turned out to be one of the best meals we had on the cruise. 

[victory2020]

Can anyone tell me if they have veal oscar in the regular dining room on the first night? I made specialty reservation then saw a blog with menus but don't know if that was current

[LHT28]

52 minutes ago, victory2020 said:

Can anyone tell me if they have veal oscar in the regular dining room on the first night? I made specialty reservation then saw a blog with menus but don't know if that was current

In the past  it was usually on the 1st night of the cruise  when we have sailed

[JDincalif]

We do enjoy dining on the final evening in whatever on that specific cruise happens to be our favorite specialty restaurant. There's something satisfying in packing for departure early, dressing up a little bit and saying farewell in a more intimate dining setting.

[ORV]

34 minutes ago, JDincalif said:

We do enjoy dining on the final evening in whatever on that specific cruise happens to be our favorite specialty restaurant. There's something satisfying in packing for departure early, dressing up a little bit and saying farewell in a more intimate dining setting.

If you say so. I don't like having to pack nice clothes late on the last night. But that's just me. 

[Snaefell3]

3 hours ago, victory2020 said:

Can anyone tell me if they have veal oscar in the regular dining room on the first night? I made specialty reservation then saw a blog with menus but don't know if that was current

AIUI, the GDR runs menus on a two week cycle, irrespective of when voyages start or end, perhaps because they often run overlapping voyages.  In other words, no fixed "first night" menu because your Day #1 meal might be Day #3 or #13 for other folks.

 

If I'm wrong, watch for folks mocking me  😉

[babysteps]

We've only done one B2B - in 2021, and on that cruise, day 1 of segment 2 restarted the 14 day menu cycle.

 

All our 15-day-plus cruises were pre-covid, for them day 15 was indeed a restart.

 

Also I haven't paid perfect attention but the " final night" menu might be the same no matter what day of the cycle?

 

And at least in Terrace, embarcation day lunch menu is embarcation day only (does not repeat even on longer cruises).

 

Happy dining! 

[JDincalif]

12 hours ago, ORV said:

If you say so. I don't like having to pack nice clothes late on the last night. But that's just me. 

Even with packing most things early, we're always adding something right up to the 'bags outside the door' deadline. So we don't mind packing one last reasonably nice outfit apiece on the last evening (not talking prom dresses or dinner jackets here). But that's just us 😉

Edited September 15, 2023 by JDincalif
typos, always typos...