Speciality Restaurant reservations

[Troysers1]

I would like to buy speciality restaurant dining package (either three night or chops plus 1) and have a good sense of what nights I would like to reserve as soon as I get on the ship (based on others recommending to make reservations right away).  I would like to reserve the nights where I am least interested in the main dining room theme menus, but based on search it is not clear whether Royal only loads menus first day of cruise.  In this case I cannot use previous week as a guide because ship is transitioning from 7 day Alaska to 9 day Pacific Northwest/Hawaii.  Cannot even rely on previous 9 days cruise as itinerary has changed substantially.

 

So any advice other than studying all the menus/theme nights embarkation morning and what was your least favourite theme night in the main dining room?  Ship is Ovation of the Seas.

[Sunshine3601]

We got off serenade 12 night repo sailing on Sunday.   Unfortunately, menus were not uploaded to the app until the day we boarded.  

We had purchased 3 night dining pkg.  We booked our reservations on day 2 after I had time to review menus.   

Taste of Asia and Mexican night were 2 menus that did not appeal to us so we booked chops and giovannis for those nights. 

3rd meal was British night.  I love fish n chips but nothing appealed to my DH so we booked Giovannis for that night.

[George C]

I believe you must use 3 night package either the first or second night for your first , should hav no problem changing the other nights later.

[Troysers1]

13 hours ago, Sunshine3601 said:

We got off serenade 12 night repo sailing on Sunday.   Unfortunately, menus were not uploaded to the app until the day we boarded.  

We had purchased 3 night dining pkg.  We booked our reservations on day 2 after I had time to review menus.   

Taste of Asia and Mexican night were 2 menus that did not appeal to us so we booked chops and giovannis for those nights. 

3rd meal was British night.  I love fish n chips but nothing appealed to my DH so we booked Giovannis for that night.

Thank you for the response.  I appreciate there is a difference between a Radiance and a Quantum class ship, but did you have any difficulties getting reservation times you wanted after waiting until day 2?  I get the impression from reading these boards you need to make the reservations as soon as you get on the ship to have a shot at getting your desired times and locations.

[Troysers1]

12 hours ago, George C said:

I believe you must use 3 night package either the first or second night for your first , should hav no problem changing the other nights later.

My understanding is that RC makes a "courtesy" reservation for day 1 or 2, but you can then change that reservation once you have boarded (but I could be wrong).

[George C]

54 minutes ago, Troysers1 said:

My understanding is that RC makes a "courtesy" reservation for day 1 or 2, but you can then change that reservation once you have boarded (but I could be wrong).

I know you can change restaurant but not sure if you can change day.

[watcher_62]

You can change your courtesy reservation once onboard to any day of your cruise.  Just visit one of the restaurants and speak to them.  They can book all restaurants any day available for you. I would not recommend speaking to the roving reps selling packages unless they have their laptop and can access the reservation system directly. I also found dropping by one of the restaurants less busy on embarkation day...

[rojojacko]

We too are thinking of booking the 3 night package for our TA cruise on Anthem next month. Can I just check that we can dine at any one of the on-board speciality restaurants, thinking about Chops, Jamie’s and Wonderland, without surcharge, and is it possible to dine at the same restaurant three times. Will probably look to change the ‘courtesy’ booking from day 1 as soon as we board. 
 

Many thanks. 
 

Rob

[Tree_skier]

47 minutes ago, rojojacko said:

We too are thinking of booking the 3 night package for our TA cruise on Anthem next month. Can I just check that we can dine at any one of the on-board speciality restaurants, thinking about Chops, Jamie’s and Wonderland, without surcharge, and is it possible to dine at the same restaurant three times. Will probably look to change the ‘courtesy’ booking from day 1 as soon as we board. 
 

Many thanks. 
 

Rob

Yes, you can dine at any one of the three without surcharge.  Also, yes to dining in any restaurant 1 or 3 times. All are subject to availability when you board.  I've never had a problem changing to any day that other than day 1 with the 3 night package.  YMMV.