Speciality restaurants

[JoJo1947]

On 10/27/2023 at 12:10 PM, Glenndale said:

I've long suspected that suite guests get preferential treatment with regards to booking the speciality restaurants, but no proof. 

The Butler books it 

[Glenndale]

1 hour ago, JoJo1947 said:

The Butler books it 

So not constrained by ‘the rules’?

Edited November 1, 2023 by Glenndale

[Windsurfboy]

1 hour ago, JoJo1947 said:

The Butler books it 

 

30 minutes ago, Glenndale said:

So not constrained by ‘the rules’?

 

Don't know,  on our last cruise, Butler booked all 3 speciality restaurants for us on our first day, which would assume he was not constrained.  But ship was half full so don't think anyone was worried about rules.

 

The question is does it matter, with 40 suites , ie 8% of passengers it won't stop other people getting their allocated share. On any length cruise once everyone has used the allocated guaranteed minimum sitting there are spare seats. . By guaranteed I mean on a 1 week cruise 1 guaranteed speciality seat, 3 guaranteed on a 2 week cruise, 4 on a 3 week cruise, 6 on my 30 day cruise. There will always be spare tables over the guaranteed minimum that's the way the numbers work,  so more than enough to give suites a few extra. So why worry. On the other hand if someone went over the top and tried to book for every day expect butler would politely say not allowed. 

 

 

[Glenndale]

I’m not worried, why would I be? It would be a logical ‘perk’ for an expensive suite. 

🙂

On one 7 night cruise we took on Discovery ( a couple of years ago) we dined 5 nights in the specialities. 

[JMMKUK]

21 hours ago, JoJo1947 said:

The Butler books it 

Yes, he asks on the first evening. I requested 3 Supper Club & 2 Amalfi. The TV info used to say 2 speciality restaurants (per week).  In April the Butler was pushing us to book more than that.

I was told that someone ate in the SC every night but also told that spaces were available if you just arrived & asked.

On Monday night the most difficult place to get a table seemed to be the Grill. People were queueing when we left.

[Windsurfboy]

I will take your lead and get the butler to book further ahead. I liked dinner outside in speciality restaurants.  quite fancy asking butler to book quite a few for when we get to Carribean,  not till day 10 to day 20. See if he can book outside tables

[Windsurfboy]

Just to confirm  situation. 

 

On this 30 day cruise, speciality restaurants rationed to 6 , equivalent to 3 per 2 weeks. Which seems just right.

 

No limits for suites , but this will not stop everyone else getting their 6.

 

also last minute bookings on the night are unrestricted but not always available. 

[Banjo an]

Having no problem booking speciality restaurants on this 30day cruise. Even able to book group tables of 6.

 

[Windsurfboy]

6 hours ago, Banjo an said:

Having no problem booking speciality restaurants on this 30day cruise. Even able to book group tables of 6.

 

 

How many have you managed to book. 

[Banjo an]

We’ve booked 2 each week so far together with group bookings and could have booked more had we wanted to.

[twotravellersLondon]

2 hours ago, Banjo an said:

We’ve booked 2 each week so far together with group bookings and could have booked more had we wanted to.

 

When we were on SAGA in the summer in a pretty full ship we were assured by the Hotel Manager that there was never any problem in booking speciality restaurants for later in the evening.... we had four bookings.

 

And... on a trip last February we had 5 evenings in the course of two weeks.

Edited November 29, 2023 by twotravellersLondon

[Windsurfboy]

Agree, I'm sure if anyone  wanted an 8.30 or even 8pm slot could go when ever they want, a lot have left by then. The 6.30 to 7 ish seem most popular and would be hard to get more than your "ration" .

 

We've also started going to speciality restaurants on formal nights, if you have an officer hosted table near you in main dining room,  they get all the attention,  other tables can wait for ages. 😦 Butler had no trouble getting extra reservations. 

[Denarius]

14 hours ago, Windsurfboy said:

Agree, I'm sure if anyone  wanted an 8.30 or even 8pm slot could go when ever they want, a lot have left by then. The 6.30 to 7 ish seem most popular and would be hard to get more than your "ration" .

 

We've also started going to speciality restaurants on formal nights, if you have an officer hosted table near you in main dining room,  they get all the attention,  other tables can wait for ages. 😦 Butler had no trouble getting extra reservations. 

I took my first Saga ocean cruise 2 years ago after sailing with other lines since the 1990s. One thing which surprised me was how early Saga passengers dined. On other lines my preferred time for dinner had been around 8pm which was usually a fairly busy time, but when I went down to the MDR at that time it was obvious that virtually everyone else was already seated. Indeed, I overheard someone comment in a shocked voice "he has only just come in"! So I went with the flow and dined earlier, but one upside was that bookings in the speciality restaurants appeared to much more freelly available if you were prepared to eat at 8pm or later. Saga passengers obviousy keep early hours. 🙂

PS It appears that this also applies to Saga river cruises. I took my first one a few weeks ago. Dinner was from 7pm but virtually all the ship was seated by 7:15. A "late night" snack was served in the lounge at 10:30!!!

[JMMKUK]

It's when they start queueing for lunch at 11:30 I get surprised. We only eat breakfast & dinner so dine early because we are starving by 6:30.

[Medeba]

11 hours ago, JMMKUK said:

We only eat breakfast & dinner so dine early because we are starving by 6:30.

Same here but I may succumb to one of the lovely ice creams in the afternoon 😁.

[JMMKUK]

8 hours ago, Medeba said:

Same here but I may succumb to one of the lovely ice creams in the afternoon 😁.

I did succumb to a snack in the Living Room when I had had an early continental breakfast for an early tour.

Ice cream can always be forgiven.

[Banjo an]

Starving?..