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Oceania Cruise Specialty Restaurants: What time do they open for dinner?

Oceania Cruise Specialty Restaurants: What time do they open for dinner?

Old Jul 24, 2019, 10:08 pm
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Oceania Cruise Specialty Restaurants: What time do they open for dinner?

So we are contemplating our first cruise on Oceania. ( Actually our first cruise ever) We eat early, but of course would like to take advantage of the specialty restaurants.

I have searched on google but I cannot find what time these specialty restaurants usually take their first reservations for dinner?

Any experienced Oceania cruisers......can you enlighten me.

Thanks
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Old Jul 25, 2019, 1:37 am
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You might want to call Oceania. Most cruise lines of which I am familiar start dinner service sometime between 6 and 7.
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Old Jul 25, 2019, 8:08 am
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6:30 is what is reported recently on cruisecritic. We've booked our first O cruise in December so I've been reading that forum lately.
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Old Jul 25, 2019, 9:36 am
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Originally Posted by Hoyaheel
6:30 is what is reported recently on cruisecritic. We've booked our first O cruise in December so I've been reading that forum lately.
Yep.... I called this morning and that is correct.
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Old Jul 25, 2019, 12:05 pm
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And if you're in a "standard" cabin, 45 days prior to boarding is when online booking opens up - I have a calendar alert set ;-)
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Old Jul 25, 2019, 2:48 pm
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Believe it or not I think we might pass on the cruise...we both eat quite early to combat indigestion at night and a 6:30 reservation would be too late for us to dine. Seems a shame to go on a cruise and not take advantage of the specialty restaurants.
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Old Jul 26, 2019, 7:04 am
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Originally Posted by david55
Believe it or not I think we might pass on the cruise...we both eat quite early to combat indigestion at night and a 6:30 reservation would be too late for us to dine. Seems a shame to go on a cruise and not take advantage of the specialty restaurants.
Not sure how early you need or want to eat but there arent very many cruise lines that open their specialty or main dining rooms before 6:00-6:30 PM. Even on ships that allow you to order room service off the restaurant menus often dont deliver those meals outside of the restaurants hours. Regardless I dont think youd enjoy eating all your dinners in your cabin. Could be cruising is not a good match.
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Old Jul 26, 2019, 7:20 am
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TK opens at 7 on Seabourn, we all eat too much, ,
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Old Jul 26, 2019, 7:20 am
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Originally Posted by Randyk47


Not sure how early you need or want to eat but there arent very many cruise lines that open their specialty or main dining rooms before 6:00-6:30 PM. Even on ships that allow you to order room service off the restaurant menus often dont deliver those meals outside of the restaurants hours. Regardless I dont think youd enjoy eating all your dinners in your cabin. Could be cruising is not a good match.
We have always been independent travelers. But as we age I am intrigued by the convenience of a cruise.

But I think you are right about perhaps not being a good match.

Besides eating early, we tend to be somewhat loners, I get sea sick, I like BIG hotel rooms that I can't afford, and we are usually in bed by 8, up at 5.
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Old Jul 26, 2019, 7:40 am
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Originally Posted by david55
We have always been independent travelers. But as we age I am intrigued by the convenience of a cruise.

But I think you are right about perhaps not being a good match.

Besides eating early, we tend to be somewhat loners, I get sea sick, I like BIG hotel rooms that I can't afford, and we are usually in bed by 8, up at 5.
We’ve very much into cruising and have been for 25+ years now. That said we’re destination cruisers and rarely take cruises that take us back to ports/places we’ve been to before. I will say we have a tendency to stay up later on a cruise than at home but we’re on vacation so no need to get up at 5 AM like at home during the work week. Also the vibe on most cruise ships like shows, bands, and dancing really gets going after dinner so we’d miss out on a lot of things we enjoy about cruising if we went to bed even at our normal 10 PM bedtime. I may live in San Antonio now but I grew up in Tacoma and spent almost all my summers on Puget Sound so I don’t get seasick.
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Old Jul 26, 2019, 9:17 am
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Originally Posted by david55
We have always been independent travelers. But as we age I am intrigued by the convenience of a cruise.

But I think you are right about perhaps not being a good match.

Besides eating early, we tend to be somewhat loners, I get sea sick, I like BIG hotel rooms that I can't afford, and we are usually in bed by 8, up at 5.
Don't worry about being loners--there's always space to just sit and read or be together. You are never forced to be with others unless you want.
Most cabins are similar to smallish hotel room--and you can always buy bigger.
Sea sick can be a problem but there are remedies. Bigger ships tend to bounce less and have good stabilizers.

Not quite as upscale as Celebrity but Princess main dining first time is 5:30 nowadays. Specialty not until 6:30 though

I always suggest to people who have never cruised--take a short one one to 4 days (NOT Carnival IMHO) to see how you like it.
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Old Jul 26, 2019, 10:14 am
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Originally Posted by gretchendz
I always suggest to people who have never cruised--take a short one one to 4 days (NOT Carnival IMHO) to see how you like it.
+1000

And, if sea sickness is a concern, try a cruise that stays relatively close to shore, like an Inside Passage Alaska cruise.

Our first trial cruising was a 6-day. We have been progressively extending ourselves and leave for our first 24-day cruise next week!
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Old Jul 26, 2019, 10:36 am
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Cool.....We were looking at a 10 day Oceania cruise to Alaska.....Vancouver-Seattle ( my home port). I like the idea of not having to get on a plane to fly to the cruise...and especially at the end.... just wheeling our bags along the water front in Seattle to the ferry dock where we catch a 30 minute ferry ride home. we are foodies and I hear the food is decent on the Regatta.
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Old Jul 26, 2019, 7:14 pm
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Originally Posted by david55
Cool.....We were looking at a 10 day Oceania cruise to Alaska.....Vancouver-Seattle ( my home port). I like the idea of not having to get on a plane to fly to the cruise...and especially at the end.... just wheeling our bags along the water front in Seattle to the ferry dock where we catch a 30 minute ferry ride home. we are foodies and I hear the food is decent on the Regatta.
First, do see the Oceania section of CruiseCritic.com -

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/foru...eania-cruises/
You'll get a lot of information from several posters who are very active and have a LOT of experience with Oceania.

On cruises, we like to RELAX.

Oceania has been PERFECT for us. We do *not* enjoy all of the "action" described above... bands, dancing, loud shows.
Oceania does have some shows, but they don't tend to get top reviews among "cruise line shows". That's fine with us. We prefer to head back to our suite after dinner, read for a while, look over the future ports (again!), and then go to sleep early.
Unlike you, we also like to get up late
We also enjoy a nice breakfast en suite (full breakfast is available in suites, so if you are not at least Penthouse Suite, check carefully about the room service choices).

One concern about the dining time: Reservations open on different dates, with top suites first, and insides last (by number of days before the cruise). There is almost no "class system" on Oceania that affect how one is treated during the cruise, which is very nice. (There are a very few minor things, and the main one is access to the Spa deck on the two larger ships; not sure about on the smaller ships).
But given how many people love the Specialties, this tends to limit the available reservations times as the approaching cruise gets closer. We've found that the earlier times tend to be "left", so that should help you, but each cruise is different.
One can stop by

Also note that the two larger ships (Riviera & Marina) have more Specialty restaurants, and that *does* make a difference to us.
One other perk of a suite is that one can dine en suite from the Specialties any evening, as many times as one wishes.
But otherwise, after one has had the allowed "pre-cruise reservations", one can stop by and see if there are spaces available, checking early in the day, or just stopping by when the restaurant opens.
On our most recent O cruise (last Nov/Dec), we found the main dining room food choice so good, that we actually changed some plans to eat at a Specialty because of the regular choices!

There are plenty of peaceful places to sit, even if one doesn't have a balcony.

We have been totally spoiled by Oceania.

Note: One thing we like is that all of the options are not bundled. We don't drink a lot, and our preference is fine wine, which is never included in the "drinks included" plans. And we prefer private excursions. So we don't like paying a higher total cruise cost for a cruise that has supposedly "free" drinks or excursions. They aren't "free". They are, instead, "included" in the full fare.
But one *can* purchase a regular or premium drinks package, and also a package that includes some excursions at a discounted average price (depending upon the original price of the excursions).

As for seasickness, that's the one possible flag I see in what you wrote.
If you get a cabin that is mid-ship and low, you'll have the least movement.

When we took an Alaska cruise (not Oceania) a few years ago, the Inside Passage was almost like glass (but this is not guaranteed). The only slightly rough seas were across the northern, final part of the cruise, as we approached the Seward/Whittier area, after Hubbell Glacier (which was by far the highlight of our trip).
OTOH, we've heard that IF one sails on the Ocean side of Vancouver Island, that can get a bit chippy. But each trip is different.

One last thing. If this is a medical situation, then contact O's special needs department, and they might be able to help with the dining times. They do try to please!

Enjoy!

GC
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Old Jul 26, 2019, 10:25 pm
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Thanks GeezerCouple. Great Post.
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