Oasis: Extra Charge Dining Venues

[Sandy]

Is there such a thing as too many choices?

The ships that now offer dinner seatings at either 5:45pm or 8:30pm may have more people doing "Anytime" if, for example, they normally eat at 7pm or 7:30pm. But I agree it's much more appealing to be able to show up at those times and be seated in a reasonable amount of time, rather than having to commit in advance.

[queenofcruzin]

When I was on the Radiance last month that was my observation. My Time dining can easily be Their Time dining, but I found the staff to very accommodating. Depending the size of your group, we would go by and have someone wait in line, ask for our table, they would say 10-20 minutes. I would go have a cocktail and come back with the group. But you get "attached" to a waiter and want his table, that requires a reservation with less flexibility. I like the idea, but in my case, the next cruise, late dining fixed seating. Make a reservation one night in the fancy restaurant.

[peter l]

All the extras can eventually make an "all" Inclusive look more "appetizing" to some. Although most all inclusives do offer a limited number of other pay options, most all the various venues are "all included" for the price up front, including drinks.

Peterl

[Maurine]

we discovered that the "MyTime Dining" required a reservation each night, at whatever time you *thought* you'd want to eat.

Really? That isn't my definition of "My Time." I guess it's kinda like breakfast and lunch--you could just show up and get next available seats. Did you get your own table or eat with other passengers you didn't know?

[Sandy]

Maurine, you can show up whenever you want, but the Maitre d' urged us not to do that. He said he can't guarantee we'd be seated without a long wait, especially at the most popular dining hours.

We were asked if we want to sit with other people, and we agreed. Had we wanted a table for 2, of which there are very few on any ship, we may not have been able to reserve exactly the time we wanted. Our table turned out to be terrific, 6 of us at a table for 8 or 10. We had such a good time, we all requested the same dinner time and companions the next night.

[jerseygirl74]

Originally posted by Cruise Fanatic:
Too many pay venues. Just like NCL. Scary trend.

Enough already...what happened to the concept...inclusive?

I call it the "nickel and dime you to death" feeling I get every time I hear of another income stream they have developed. Their regular dining room experience has gone downhill so much that...oh, wait a minute...is that why it was so bad...so we would resort to paying extra for something we have already paid for???

[Maurine]

We were a little disappointed in the DR this time. First with our tablemates. We switched tables after the second night and table location was better. Tablemates were a little better, but not fantastic.

On the Grandeur, waiter would clean up crumbs off table in between courses. Not on the Serenade. Maybe it was just a personal thing on the waiter's part. However, the main issue we had was the tablecloth was not changed for at least a week. How do we know? We saw the same stain each night. They put the silverware on the dirty tablecloth. Even if there's not time to change cloth between seatings, shouldn't they be changed everyday?

[peter l]

YUCK Maurine, now thats just disgusting and I think I would have said something after the second seating if it was evident to to me..
No need for that to happen, anywhere.

Peterl