Select Dining

[rs12065]

Can anyone give me some info regarding Select Dining? Is it like RCI's My Time Dining or Princess'es Anytime Dining?

[cruisestitch]

From the Celebrity website FAQ

 

What dining options will be available to me when I reserve my cruise?

 

Celebrity offers “traditional dining,” meaning that you will have an assigned table in our main dining room at the same dining time each evening of your cruise. We also offer a flexible dining option called “Celebrity Select Dining”, which allows you the opportunity to make dinner reservations for your desired dining time on a daily basis. You can also choose not to make reservations, and come to dinner at any point between 6PM and 9:30PM. We strongly encourage reservations, however, to ensure the best service and to avoid any potential wait times.

[Bruin Steve]

We're doing "Select" dining for the first time on Celebrity with our upcoming Eclipse cruise...and then have the RCCL version for the first time in December when we're on Mariner of the Seas...

 

One of the spurs for doing this, for me, was the change in the Elite Cocktail hours from 4-6 to the new 5-7...It was a little contracted heading down for drinks at 5:00 and having to be in the Dining Room for a 6:00 pm seating... Last cruise I was always late for dinner...

 

My thought was that with Select Dining, we can wander over to Michael's or Sky Lounge, as the case may be, have our pre-dinner drinks, then leisurely head over to the Main Dining Room whenever--likely around 7:00 each night...

 

My understanding was that, as long as you are not showing up during the "7:30 Rush", there should not be much of a problem getting seated...especially if we're flexible on sitting with others...

 

I hope that's right...My wife likes to hit the shows as well--which are usually around 9:00 pm...I figure that 7:00 to 8:45 slot works for dinner...

[retired067]

We choose select on our last two cruises and always a table for two,the next one we are going back to traditional. The tables in the select area are very close together and the service was good but fast. It felt like the staff were always in a hurry to get the next people in. Like the old saying, here's your hat what's your hurry. Only my opinion, to each their own.

[Esprit]

It's the same as anytime dining on Princess.

 

Once you find a table and waiter(s) you like you can return to the same one every evening at more or less the same time.

[39august]

Are pre-paid tips required at the time you sign up for Select, as on RCI's My Time Dining?

[tunaman2011]

Are pre-paid tips required at the time you sign up for Select, as on RCI's My Time Dining?

 

Greetings

 

Yes, Select requires prepaid tips.

 

Good Sailing

Tom

[gdpups]

Also, be aware you can pre-select your dining times with Select on your account through the Celebrity website. I reserved 7 pm dining (private table, not seated with other diners) each night of our July cruise and I did that many months ago.

 

I for one like to eat at the time I want and don't mind being rushed so I can make the evening entertainment. Select just works well for what I prefer.

[Bruin Steve]

Also, be aware you can pre-select your dining times with Select on your account through the Celebrity website. I reserved 7 pm dining (private table, not seated with other diners) each night of our July cruise and I did that many months ago.

 

I for one like to eat at the time I want and don't mind being rushed so I can make the evening entertainment. Select just works well for what I prefer.

 

Yeah, but, for us, another reason for select is NOT to be tied down to a time...Sometimes we might be hungry at 6:00...sometimes, we might be enjoying our drinks with company and not want to be at a rush to get up from cocktails to get to the reservation at 7:00...We really want to play it by ear...

 

When we cruise on Oceania, it is all open seating--except the specialty restaurants--so, when we're dining in the MDR there, we find that our precise time varies--depends on when we got back from port, time we needed to dress for dinner, etc.--it tended to vary...

 

The real delight in an open seating situation is the luxury NOT to have to meet a precise dinner time.

[johnb0529]

Yeah, but, for us, another reason for select is NOT to be tied down to a time...Sometimes we might be hungry at 6:00...sometimes, we might be enjoying our drinks with company and not want to be at a rush to get up from cocktails to get to the reservation at 7:00...We really want to play it by ear...

 

When we cruise on Oceania, it is all open seating--except the specialty restaurants--so, when we're dining in the MDR there, we find that our precise time varies--depends on when we got back from port, time we needed to dress for dinner, etc.--it tended to vary...

 

The real delight in an open seating situation is the luxury NOT to have to meet a precise dinner time.

 

We also did 7:00 every night in Select on our last cruise, when traveling with another couple, to be sure we had a set seating every night that we would never have to wait. But, several times we changed plans at the last minute to dine in Specialty Restaurant, or to eat earlier or later. It was just convenient to know we had a 7:00 reserved, but with a simple phone call (or request to butler) we could accommodate any change at any time.

 

The one nice thing we found with the same reservation every night, is that we had the same table/waiters each night, without being stuck with their pre-determined times. If we asked to move to 7:30, we could and they kept us with the same staff/table.

[GeorgiaPeach51]

We did Select on the Equinox and this month, on the Summit. It worked very well for us....we liked having gratuities paid already; we liked going to the MDR when we wanted.

 

We never made a reservation and had no longer than a 3-4 minute wait, if that. We only went to the MDR 4 times, and two of those times sat in the same area with the same waiter. The other two times we were at different areas, always at a table for two.

 

The tables seemed closer together to me on the Equinox than on the Summit, but that may be due to where we were seated in the DR....but we always enjoy talking to nearby diners, so that's no problem to us.

 

The only negative to Select to me is that on the Equinox the ceiling seemed low, so it seemed a little more closed in, since Select is on the upper level, but that was no big deal. I think you might like it if you try it!

[Redtravel]

Love select as a couple. Flexible times, not stuck with the same table mates. You choose times and whether or not to sit at a big table or just the 2 of you. I have met many interesting people. And if you don't like the table mates, it's only one meal. If you are part of group, then the MDR traditional table makes sense. We just sailed as a family of 6.. MDR 6pm everyone knew when and where to meet. We were at a table for 6 as requested. It worked for us.

[Shooraq]

Love select as a couple. Flexible times, not stuck with the same table mates. You choose times and whether or not to sit at a big table or just the 2 of you. I have met many interesting people. And if you don't like the table mates, it's only one meal. If you are part of group, then the MDR traditional table makes sense. We just sailed as a family of 6.. MDR 6pm everyone knew when and where to meet. We were at a table for 6 as requested. It worked for us.

 

Agreed. Select is perect for a couple who wants to guarentee a table for 2 all the time. We typically have had bad luck in the past being set up with other cruisers that didn't carry conversation or were rude or bad table manners. It's just easier having your own table to share our thoughts of how the day was. We rarely get to eat together for dinner during the week in general so it's nice.

 

Another note - i like setting the reservations time in advance for 7 or 7:30pm. Then on the ship, if I need to rtweak after a long day of touring, then no problem. Just gives me that added peace of mind.