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(Very very...) last minute reservation


FroggyFlo

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Hi,

I'm sailing with a group on SOTS on March, 7 and my reservation and cabin numbers have just been disclosed yesterday. Thus, I have 10 days to plan for food, excursions and entertainment.

Of course, no surprise, everything online is sold out. I expected it and will cope, I'll go and visit guest service ASAP onboard. However, I wish I could know what to ask for. For example, which showtimes may I choose from? I at least need to when each of them takes place within the week.

Second question: how do you know if you're first or last time dining? I may not be scheduled in any dining at all, since our group has some meals as a group, but not all. In such case shall I not be able to eat in the MDR on my "free" days? I'm considering a Dining package.

 

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You could have made reservations for entertainment, Purchased excursions & purchased dining packages & made reservations @ the MDR several months ago so that the speciality restaurant and times are not sold out, & the entertainment shows that are available for reservations on the Cruise planner does not have any more seats available to be reserved at the times that you would like to sea each of the shows that people who booked an Oasis class (Oasis, Allure, Harmony & Symphony) or Quantum Class (Quantum, Anthem, Ovation, Spectrum & Odyssey) ship & then guest can make reservations for the shows in the cruise planner before the cruise so that they can get a set at the show & time that they want so that they do do not have to stand in the stand by line for the shows just because they did not make reservations for the show. 


if there are no times available to reserve seats for @ each of the entertainment shows are available you can show up in the stand bye line for those without reservations to the shows. 

 

57 minutes ago, FroggyFlo said:

Second question: how do you know if you're first or last time dining? I may not be scheduled in any dining at all, since our group has some meals as a group, but not all. In such case shall I not be able to eat in the MDR on my "free" days? I'm considering a Dining package

If you selected traditional dining When you booked the cruise, your dining time, table # & the name of the MDR restaurant is located on will be on your sea pass card & if you selected My Time Dining, then only your dining deck  for the MDR will be on your sea pass card & your dining time & table # will not be on your sea pass card.

With My Time Dining you can go on the cruise planner and make reservations for any day & time & you do not have to eat at the same time if you don’t want to eat @ the same time every night. You can also purchase speciality dining packages.

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You do not understand… I didn't book my cruise myself, it is a chartered cruise. I've been knowing I will be on this particular cruise since Jan 1st 2020, but not having a personal reservation number nor a stateroom number until last Monday, I wasn't granted access to the Royal website in order to book activities on my free time.

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1 hour ago, FroggyFlo said:

You do not understand… I didn't book my cruise myself, it is a chartered cruise. I've been knowing I will be on this particular cruise since Jan 1st 2020, but not having a personal reservation number nor a stateroom number until last Monday, I wasn't granted access to the Royal website in order to book activities on my free time.

In your original post you did not say that you did not make a personal reservation or that it was a chartered cruise. You said that you were cruising with a group of people And not a chartered cruise, so I assumed that you had made a personal reservation and was part of a group cruise not a chartered cruise. 
 

A group cruise is where you make a reservation to be part of a group cruise such as the RoyalCaribbeanBlog group Cruises. A chartered cruises is when a company buys out the entire ship and the entertainment options is whatever the company who brought out the cruise ship for the sailing wants the entertainment options to be offered durning the cruise. 
 

in your initial post you said that you will be dining with a group of people and now you are saying that you are going on a chartered cruise, so which is it: did you make a persona reservation for the ship and sail date or are you going on a chartered cruise or are you part of a group cruise that is not a chartered cruise?

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38 minutes ago, Bakerette said:

In your original post you did not say that you did not make a personal reservation or that it was a chartered cruise. You said that you were cruising with a group of people And not a chartered cruise, so I assumed that you had made a personal reservation and was part of a group cruise not a chartered cruise. 
 

A group cruise is where you make a reservation to be part of a group cruise such as the RoyalCaribbeanBlog group Cruises. A chartered cruises is when a company buys out the entire ship and the entertainment options is whatever the company who brought out the cruise ship for the sailing wants the entertainment options to be offered durning the cruise. 
 

in your initial post you said that you will be dining with a group of people and now you are saying that you are going on a chartered cruise, so which is it: did you make a persona reservation for the ship and sail date or are you going on a chartered cruise or are you part of a group cruise that is not a chartered cruise?

Wow !! You caught that too?? 

tenor.gif

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I'm sorry if I don't make myself clear. English is not my mother tongue, although I try to catch up. A third company made a reservation for a group of people including myself, but it does not involve the whole ship, so I guess I am in case nr3 "a group cruise that is not a chartered cruise".

Anyway, I did not choose the stateroom number, nor the program. The company delivered such information last Monday.  But I have plenty of free time for excursions and shows and no dinner obligations 3 evenings out of 7. Does it make it any clearer?

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Try the app, it should have the showtimes for the entire week and your current dining selection (whether that is early, late, or my time). If you don't have access to that, you could try to find a roll call for your cruise or there are sometimes Facebook groups for specific cruises. 

You mentioned that you are free for dinner three days out of the seven. Check the planner, there is sometimes a three night dining package. That would fit nicely, but you will need to make those reservations onboard to make sure they fit with your group schedule. 

Enjoy the cruise! 

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6 hours ago, FroggyFlo said:

Of course, no surprise, everything online is sold out. I expected it and will cope, I'll go and visit guest service ASAP onboard. However, I wish I could know what to ask for. For example, which showtimes may I choose from? I at least need to when each of them takes place within the week.

One thing you should know is every show still has a standby line. This means you can line up 20 minutes or so before show time and then be let in somewhere closer to 10 mins to show time.  

Having done this on Oasis of the Seas in November, this worked surprisingly well.  The exception is the AquaTheater shows, because that theater is so darn small.  

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Thanks for your answers. The reason why my reservation is late was not actually the point...

You're right, on the App I found my dining selection (late dining). 

I'm considering buying online a 3 night dining package. However, I If I'm not too perculiar as to dinner time (eg: I accept to eat as early as 5.30), am I sure to get a seat in all my favourite restaurants, even though I'm making my reservations ASAP onboard? I'm sailing on March 7, so the ship might not be as crowded as in peak season, especially with coronavirus issues...

I've been on Harmony last summer,  I tried the standby line once. It was not as good as reservations, because the front seats at that stage are already occupied, but at least I've been able to see the show. I'll be careful about the aquashow, put it first on my to-do list.

 

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We immediately go and sign up for our reservations as soon as we board.  We decide which restaurant, which day and what time we want prior to sailing.   We have never not received the time we wanted.     IE  We do research of past cruise compasses to find out which night is going to be formal (typically on a 7 night cruise we see it as night 2 and 6)  so for us, we don't book specialty on those nights.  

FWIW we always select traditional late seating in the MDR.  When we do specialty we usually select 6:30.

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5 hours ago, FroggyFlo said:

am I sure to get a seat in all my favourite restaurants, even though I'm making my reservations ASAP onboard?

I have found on the Oasis class ships that the 5pm hour and 9pm hour dining times were always easy to get.  If you have any wait to board and are sitting in the terminal you can even see if you can pick up the ship's wifi.  You could use the app if you are on the ship's wifi an make your reservations right there as you wait to board even!

5 hours ago, FroggyFlo said:

I'll be careful about the aquashow, put it first on my to-do list.

If you show up right as the aquatheater show begins and don't mind standing you can typically snag a vantage point in the back.  The very top of the aquatheater is a counter height row with chairs along it and you can stand behind that row of seating and catch the show.  You can also try the sides of deck 6 or jump up the stairs to deck 7 and catch it from that perspective as well.  Gives you a different point of view to catch the show.  My last Oasis sailing I walked up during the show and caught bits of it on various nights during the sailing this way.

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Thanks so much for your experience, I like your "insider tips" I will remember them! I wouldn't have thought of being careful to formal nights, nor did I know of reserving while waiting to get onboard.

I'm not sure however my DH will want to join the reception on formal nights … I love such events, but he hates dressing up and does not care about champagne: 2 things I would die for! But this is another story, which I guess does not belong here on this forum. He actually wears a suit (but no tie) one night within the cruise to please me, and shares a glass of wine or a cocktail with me once or twice.

I won't stand on the show because I've had a backache for 10 days, and I'm worried I might suffer during the very long flight trip from Europe to Florida and/or the cruise. I keep my fingers crossed (and my medicine near).

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