Sold out dinner times on APP?

[goodvino808]

Hello…. My wife and I booked the Valiant Lady on 1/27 out of San Juan.   We booked this yesterday and of course being this close in many dining venues are sold out or extremely late in the evening.   The app mentions there are more dinner times once onboard.   What has everyone’s experience been for obtaining better times once on the Ship?

 

thank you in advance 

[neverendingcruising]

They do hold back some inventory but I don’t think it’s a lot. Estimates vary quite a bit. Connect to WiFi as soon as you get on board and start booking in the app or go directly to Razzle Dazzle on deck 5 for in person assistance. 

[CineGraphic]

They only release about 30% of the available booking times before boarding, so you should have little to no trouble getting what you want once on board.

[cantgetin]

We've been told that they always hold back at least 30% of meal reservations until people are on board...I've read posts saying it is a lot more than that, but that is the lowest and most often repeated figure I've seen.

Bottom line, as soon as you board, get on the app and try to make the reservations you want.  We play "divide and conquer" where one of us does any dinner stuff needed and the other does activities.  Meanwhile, go down to Razzle Dazzle where they have people to help you with dining reservations.  If you finish on line before someone helps you...done.  If not, they can work things out for you.

We've done 43 nights on board and never had problems changing reservations after boarding in situations where we changed our minds after doing the on app stuff.  Of course, a lot depends on how full your sailing is and how flexible you are.

Another hint--on our sailings, The Galley always had a dinner special that was posted in the paper schedule each day.  This was in addition to any lunch specials.  The atmosphere in The Galley may leave a bit to be desired, but each time we tried one of the specials, the food was fabulous.  Beef Wellington with all the trimmings compared to any fine dining restaurant the one night that was served.  We would check the special and sometimes decide to cancel our sit down restaurant reservation.....or just go to the reservation for desert. 

 

[CruisingWalter]

You'll see people mention that they are holding back a certain amount of reservations. That number seems to be getting smaller based on the Holiday and New Year's feedback we've received. On our Thanksgiving cruise on Valiant it was pretty easy to walk up to most any restaurant around 8 or 8:30 except the Wake and get a seat. Feedback we received from the December and Holiday sailings is that some restaurants were overbooked even before guests got onboard. 

 

Your TA might be able to get some reservations for you even before you board, but your best bet is to get to the restaurants when you first board the ship and try for reservations. But with that sailing, you are probably not sailing full so you probably won't have all that much difficulty making reservations onboard or walking up a little later in the evening.  As mentioned above, the Galley has some pretty good dinner specials now, though I still don't understand why the Ramen and Panini stations are closed for dinner. 

[goodvino808]

Thank you everyone!  Very helpful