Select dining wait list

[romaine]

Ever been placed on the wait list and did you have to pay the gratituties although you had not received confirmation for Select.

 

Will take our first cruise on the Equinox 10/5/12. Had 845 seating.After reading so much about Select ining elected to switch and was placed on the Select Dining wait list. Last week was told by Celebrity thar we are not reguired to pay $230 Gratuities until we received confirmation that we had been selected. However, yesterday received an 'urgent email" Called and was told although space was not available that i must pay $230 because i now had an outstanding balance. Expressed my concern about paying for Select when I had't received any indication that it would be available, I was told the monies would be applied to expenses i would ring up on the ship.

[cruisestitch]

The gratuity amount will be the same whether you pay it ahead of time or wait until you are on board. A lot of passengers choose to pay pre-cruise even if they aren't in Select Dining, just to have one less thing to worry about on the cruise. I wouldn't worry about paying it ahead of time, especially as you are so close to your cruise date. Keep your fingers crossed that the wait list clears for you!

[pete_coach]

I agree that the gratuity is required regardless if you get Select seating or not. Paying now is just one less thing you need to pay later.

 

What I do find interesting and see more and more posts about it, is that passengers are being put on waiting lists for Select Dining. If there is such a demand for select dining, why not increase it? Or just make the main or upper level select. Or why even have it? I do not know what the select dining limit is but, it seems to be far too low if there are always people on a waiting list.

[cruisestitch]

Different dining choices are more or less popular on different itineraries. When there are lots of children aboard, Early Traditional Dining often hits the Sold Out point. When there are more European passengers, Late Dining is more popular than the other times and it can be Sold Out. If there is a large group aboard, they can book so many Traditional spots that Select is the only option available to others. So expanding (or reducing!) the size of the Select dining area doesn't necessarily solve the problem, as each cruise is different.

[wilson4]

Hi We were on a waitlist for Select Dining and were also asked to prepay the gratuities. We did pay and were granted our choice of Select Dining.

This is a great choice for us, as we went to the dining room at very different times and never had to wait.

Hope it works for you.:)

[TN Vol Fan]

We had just the opposite happen to us. We wanted early Traditional dining and had to take Select (which we were not crazy about). We waitlisted the Traditional dining. And of course we were told we would be prepaying gratuities. In about 2 months time when booking Choice Air, we found out that we were included in the early Traditional dining. Did not receive any formal notice, but when our air reservation came in, there was the Traditional dining listed for us. Called Captain's Club to verify and happily we had been shifted to what we wanted all along.

We are still going to prepay our gratuities, just to make it easier on our bill on board.

Sometimes things do work out for the better! Now we just have to be patient until next April

Rose-Linda

[ICANDIGIT]

I'm confused, it has been several years since I have traveled on X. My understanding is that the gratuities were taken out each day. You could than adjust as you wished. I assume that it has something to do with the select dining. Not that it has ever happened to me, but what if you should have a bad experience one night during dining and want to adjust the tip? Like I said I have never been unhappy with the service and most of the time give a little extra in cash for good service.

[cruisestitch]

The gratuity procedure has definitely changed over the past several years.

 

With Select Dining you must pre-pay your gratuities at the time of final payment.

 

With traditional Dining, you see the charge added each day to your on-board account.

 

No longer is the standard to bring envelopes full of cash to the dining room on the last night, to be handed to the waiter and assistant waiter. A few passengers still opt to handle the gratuities this way, but very few.

 

You don't actually give a gratuity each day, you simply see it on the account on a daily basis.

 

Removing one night's gratuity for one waiter or assistant waiter wouldn't be impossible, but that isn't really how the system is set up to operate.

 

If you should have unsatisfactory service, it would be much better to speak with a supervisor at that moment, rather than taking one day's tip away with no further explanation.

[romaine]

Paid the gratituties and now have one less thing to be concerned about. Thanks for the great advice