what would you do?

[justcrusn]

we have an upcoming (next month) cruise. just booked because of time off work concerns.

DW strongly desires dinner in lawn club and murano on her birthday and our anniversary.

no open dates shown in cruise planner. I have purchased unlimited specialty dining in the hope that they will somehow accommodate us. will this work ?

[Liao]

4 minutes ago, justcrusn said:

we have an upcoming (next month) cruise. just booked because of time off work concerns.

DW strongly desires dinner in lawn club and murano on her birthday and our anniversary.

no open dates shown in cruise planner. I have purchased unlimited specialty dining in the hope that they will somehow accommodate us. will this work ?

Most likely it will.  In the event it doesn’t, you’ll get a refund.

[Hawkstar33]

1 hour ago, justcrusn said:

we have an upcoming (next month) cruise. just booked because of time off work concerns.

DW strongly desires dinner in lawn club and murano on her birthday and our anniversary.

no open dates shown in cruise planner. I have purchased unlimited specialty dining in the hope that they will somehow accommodate us. will this work ?

You purchased the Unlimited package. You must book once you are on the ship. You can't book on the planner.  As soon as you get on the ship, go directly to any of the specialty restaurants. Snooze you lose. Early bird gets the worm. Usually someone will be there to assist you in picking out your restaurant, date, and time.  Also, you could go to the Oceanview upon boarding, and there will be specialty dining staff standing outside the entrances, selling packages.  They will also assist you...And good move getting this package..We really enjoyed going to each place, some twice.  A few were open for lunch on Sea days, which was great, and part of your package..Enjoy

Edited March 27 by Hawkstar33
add info

[cruzzzinma]

As soon as you board, go to any specialty restaurant to make your reservations. You might be able to get what you want.

[Mr. Click]

3 hours ago, cruzzzinma said:

As soon as you board, go to any specialty restaurant to make your reservations. You might be able to get what you want.

and you might not.  The one time we tried it we were shut out from anything we wanted and simply asked for a refund.  Things always change, plans always change so go and ask because if you don't ask, the answer is always no.

[cruzzzinma]

1 minute ago, Mr. Click said:

and you might not.  The one time we tried it we were shut out from anything we wanted and simply asked for a refund.  Things always change, plans always change so go and ask because if you don't ask, the answer is always no.

Yep, I've done that, too.

[NMTraveller]

You may get the restaurant and time on a certain day or have to choose another restaurant.  Book as soon as you get on board.

[Stem to Stern]

6 hours ago, Mr. Click said:

The one time we tried it we were shut out from anything we wanted and simply asked for a refund

We have pre-purchased the Unlimited Speciality Dining Package on a credit card via the cruise planner.  I was curious how the scenario you describe above would play out on board.  Who specifically did you have to fight with to get this refunded?  Or was your money cheerfully refunded?  Thanks for input.

[riredsox]

5 minutes ago, Stem to Stern said:

We have pre-purchased the Unlimited Speciality Dining Package on a credit card via the cruise planner.  I was curious how the scenario you describe above would play out on board.  Who specifically did you have to fight with to get this refunded?  Or was your money cheerfully refunded?  Thanks for input.

When I asked for a refund they somehow found availability at the two restaurants they told me were booked solid.  I don’t know why they sell these dining packages knowing full well half the restaurants will be sold out or you have to eat at 5.  When we did go to the ‘sold out’ Eden there were at least 7 empty tables and we were there for 1 1/2 hrs.  

[chemmo]

13 hours ago, justcrusn said:

we have an upcoming (next month) cruise. just booked because of time off work concerns.

DW strongly desires dinner in lawn club and murano on her birthday and our anniversary.

no open dates shown in cruise planner. I have purchased unlimited specialty dining in the hope that they will somehow accommodate us. will this work ?

Make sure you add ‘special occasions’ to your planner.

 

As others have said head straight to a speciality restaurant as you board. If you are flexible about the time you dine you are far more likely to get the dates you want. 
 

Sincere best wishes for a wonderful cruise!

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

1 hour ago, riredsox said:

When we did go to the ‘sold out’ Eden there were at least 7 empty tables and we were there for 1 1/2 hrs.  

And were there tons of staff just standing around twiddling their thumbs?

 

I suspect that they leave tables empty so that each table gets the service they'd expect. If they filled all the tables, there would be complaints about noise AND about lack of attention from servers.

[Ipeeinthepools]

As others have said, board early.  Check in around 10:15 - 10:30.  They always keep some open spots to accommodate the suite guests.  When you threaten to cancel, they may allocate some of the suite guest spots to you.

[jelayne]

2 hours ago, riredsox said:

When I asked for a refund they somehow found availability at the two restaurants they told me were booked solid.  I don’t know why they sell these dining packages knowing full well half the restaurants will be sold out or you have to eat at 5.  When we did go to the ‘sold out’ Eden there were at least 7 empty tables and we were there for 1 1/2 hrs.  

We have also experienced the less than full specialty restaurant yet difficult to get a reservation.  We have asked a couple of MaitreD’s we know and have been told that they had to restrict bookings because not staffed to handle fully booked restaurant.   

[Mr. Click]

4 hours ago, Stem to Stern said:

We have pre-purchased the Unlimited Speciality Dining Package on a credit card via the cruise planner.  I was curious how the scenario you describe above would play out on board.  Who specifically did you have to fight with to get this refunded?  Or was your money cheerfully refunded?  Thanks for input.

There was no fight. As soon as we boarded we went to one of the specialty desks to book and found nothing that worked for us on any day so we went to guest relations. They made a call and confirmed it an issued the refund.  

[cruzzzinma]

My refund experience was pretty straightforward after a couple spirited exchanges. There was a HUGE charter group on the cruise and they had booked everything at every decent dinner hour.
 

They explained to me they had plenty of 9:30 or 10 PM slots available. Yep, nope. The one thing I did learn was that if we’d used any of the package we probably wouldn’t have been refunded.

[Oceangoer2]

2 hours ago, WrittenOnYourHeart said:

And were there tons of staff just standing around twiddling their thumbs?

 

I suspect that they leave tables empty so that each table gets the service they'd expect. If they filled all the tables, there would be complaints about noise AND about lack of attention from servers.

I also think they keep the kitchen capability to service a full restaurant in mind.  We were caught in that one cruise when Murano was over booked (opened doors at 5:30 to accomodate walk ins/packages).  Our 6pm reservation had only 2 tables available, service was terrible and rushed, and food wasn't as well prepared as in the past.

[justcrusn]

2 hours ago, Ipeeinthepools said:

As others have said, board early.  Check in around 10:15 - 10:30.  They always keep some open spots to accommodate the suite guests.  When you threaten to cancel, they may allocate some of the suite guest spots to you.

Well that's a great plan, except we are instructed to board @ 1:30pm!

can i simply ignore that? it would seem to be bad manners....

[Ipeeinthepools]

5 minutes ago, justcrusn said:

Well that's a great plan, except we are instructed to board @ 1:30pm!

can i simply ignore that? it would seem to be bad manners....

Yep, just ignore it. most everyone just boards when it is convenient for them.

[Oceangoer2]

1 minute ago, Ipeeinthepools said:

Yep, just ignore it. most everyone just boards when it is convenient for them.

Except....I've read some posts where they were held back until around their boarding time.

[Ipeeinthepools]

2 minutes ago, Oceangoer2 said:

Except....I've read some posts where they were held back until around their boarding time.

Maybe only in San Diego 

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

42 minutes ago, Oceangoer2 said:

I also think they keep the kitchen capability to service a full restaurant in mind.  We were caught in that one cruise when Murano was over booked (opened doors at 5:30 to accomodate walk ins/packages).  Our 6pm reservation had only 2 tables available, service was terrible and rushed, and food wasn't as well prepared as in the past.

Yeah, That too.

[justcrusn]

thanks all, i"ll let it ride, board early, hope for availability since we have prepaid, and if not get a refund.

[mickey89]

Recent experience is that most of the specialty restaurants are only partial full due the price hikes.

Last month aboard Equinox Murano was only half full for our B2B cruises and we booked every night in murano

[Ipeeinthepools]

14 minutes ago, justcrusn said:

thanks all, i"ll let it ride, board early, hope for availability since we have prepaid, and if not get a refund.

Happy Anniversary and Happy Birthday to your DW

[the penguins]

16 hours ago, Ipeeinthepools said:

Maybe only in San Diego 

And Southampton. If you chose to arrive outside your allotted time just accept that you might have to wait. If everyone turned up at the earliest time it would be chaos.