ANOTHER Dining Reservation Question

[Swells1]

My 45 day window will be opening next month, and I’m making my plans in my head.
 

How much time should I reasonably allow for dinner? What’s a good time slot to reserve so we can also see shows? It looks like most things take place at dinner time. Should we plan on eating before or after shows? 
 

I want to be able to coordinate all this so I can log in at midnight and make reservations immediately. 

[jon81uk]

Allow 90 minutes for most meals, two hours for Gunbae and Test Kitchen. It’s possible to be done in 60-90 minutes when it’s not so busy though but it’s worth allowing a little more time. 
 

Generally we see shows at 10pm, that way have plenty of time after a 7/8pm reservation.

[cantgetin]

The Wake was slower than slow on our last cruise.  Dinner took 2 1/2 hours!  After that experience, basically being ignored most of the time, we canceled our other reservations there.  Other than that, I agree with jon in the above post.

The Wake....we arrived at the appointed time and were seated promptly.  We then sat for 45 minutes before anyone took our order.  It didn't improve after that.

[Swells1]

44 minutes ago, jon81uk said:

Allow 90 minutes for most meals, two hours for Gunbae and Test Kitchen. It’s possible to be done in 60-90 minutes when it’s not so busy though but it’s worth allowing a little more time. 
 

Generally we see shows at 10pm, that way have plenty of time after a 7/8pm reservation.

That seems reasonable. We’ll plan on watching later shows. 

[Swells1]

18 minutes ago, cantgetin said:

The Wake was slower than slow on our last cruise.  Dinner took 2 1/2 hours!  After that experience, basically being ignored most of the time, we canceled our other reservations there.  Other than that, I agree with jon in the above post.

The Wake....we arrived at the appointed time and were seated promptly.  We then sat for 45 minutes before anyone took our order.  It didn't improve after that.

Ugh. I’m sorry you didn’t have a great experience. We’re excited about the Wake and hope yours was a one-off. 

[jon81uk]

Last week on Valiant most places were quick to get starters out but mains took longer and it felt like the Wake had the longest wait for main courses.

[Watchmen]

I have yet to hear anything positive about the Wake other than heir brunch. 

[jon81uk]

16 minutes ago, Watchmen said:

I have yet to hear anything positive about the Wake other than heir brunch. 

There was nothing wrong with our meal last Tuesday on Valiant Lady, felt like mains were a little slow but it wasn’t actually bad. Server was good and food was all as expected. I just don’t think it’s very exciting.

[Gretchendz]

On 10/2/2023 at 12:48 PM, cantgetin said:

The Wake was slower than slow on our last cruise.  Dinner took 2 1/2 hours!  After that experience, basically being ignored most of the time, we canceled our other reservations there.  Other than that, I agree with jon in the above post.

The Wake....we arrived at the appointed time and were seated promptly.  We then sat for 45 minutes before anyone took our order.  It didn't improve after that.

 

Wow..sorry to hear this. We loved the Wake when we sailed in June. The service was great. Hope this was a temporary thing.

[CruisingWalter]

On 10/2/2023 at 12:03 PM, Swells1 said:

How much time should I reasonably allow for dinner? What’s a good time slot to reserve so we can also see shows? It looks like most things take place at dinner time. Should we plan on eating before or after shows? 

 

As others have noted 90 minutes is a good timeframe. 2 hours or more for The Test Kitchen and maybe longer for The Wake. We avoid The Wake for dinner now and just go for Brunch. Dinner service is slow and it's just not that great for the time you spend in that restaurant. Pink Agave and Razzle Dazzle are usually the fastest meals, sometimes as quick as 60 minutes.