Early Dining - moved to 5:30 often?

[acctgtogo]

I have heard from two friends that their Early Dining time was changed from 6PM to 5:30PM. One was on the Sillouette and one was on the Eclipse. On the Sillouette they did not know why the time was changed but on the Eclipse they were told it was to free up tables for the Select Dining group (Celebrity overbooked Early Dining). Does this happen often or was it just a coinsidence?

[cruisestitch]

I can't believe that the time shift had anything at all to do with Select Dining -- they are in two separate parts of the dining room, so the same tables are not used for both. I think someone gave your friends some misinformation.

[Karen@Steve]

I think, and mine you I have no inside information or expertise, that they are experimenting with the dining hour. Maybe the dining room is trying to leave a little more time between early and late seating. Could be people are staying later at early setaing or because of volume of diners it takes too long to serve everyone in the time frame without rushing them out the door. Or maybe they just need alittle more cleanup, set up and prep time between seatings. It's a big place and a lot of people to serve!

[stellarose]

Summitt in July and early seating.. Hmmm are they going to tell us??

[billy10]

I don't like the 530 thing at all no time for elite cocktail hour or maybe that is why they are doing it

[FortyNinerLiz]

I don't like the 530 thing at all no time for elite cocktail hour or maybe that is why they are doing it

 

Absolutely right on!!!!!

[cruisestitch]

Well, you can enter the dining room up to 30 minutes after the doors open, so I don't think that would be it. Again, traditional dining times shouldn't really have much impact on the Select Dining area and vice versa.

 

I have heard of Celebrity moving the early seating up when there were many, many families on board. Could that have been the case here?

[acctgtogo]

I really don't know the reason but the person on the Eclipse said that the Early Dining took up about half of the tables in the Select area as they overbooked it and she was told that they moved up the dining time to free up the tables quicker. The person on the Silhouette didn't know why they changed it and didn't ask. So far no one else seems to have been affected ( at least no one that posted) so maybe it is extremely rare and I just happened to hear about it twice. We normally choose Early Dining but that extra half hour makes a difference on several of our port days. We were going to rushed to make it there by 6.. I guess we can only wait and see.

[Denny01]

After 15 Celebrity cruises and probably too much time on this forum, this is the first time I've heard of this. We always book Main/Early dining. On one cruise, it was set for 6:30pm and that was posted on the website well before the cruise but never seen or heard of it moving to 5:30pm.

 

Den

[d4m]

I really don't know the reason but the person on the Eclipse said that the Early Dining took up about half of the tables in the Select area as they overbooked it and she was told that they moved up the dining time to free up the tables quicker. The person on the Silhouette didn't know why they changed it and didn't ask. So far no one else seems to have been affected ( at least no one that posted) so maybe it is extremely rare and I just happened to hear about it twice. We normally choose Early Dining but that extra half hour makes a difference on several of our port days. We were going to rushed to make it there by 6.. I guess we can only wait and see.

 

I read this too in the last week or two. What was said was that they made a mistake in early bookings and had far too many for downstairs. They had to accommodate some in areas used by select. Thus they moved dining time up to 5:30. Would make it tough after ports to get there then

[Andy]

Hi Everyone,

 

I checked into this, and was advised that nothing has changed regarding MDR dining times for guests with Early or Late seating. My understanding is similar to what the last few posts mentioned... that additional seating was needed, and they opened the Select area at 5:30, to accomodate the guests.

 

I hope this helps !

[Nancyquilts]

When we were on a b2b on Century early this year, the first cruise had 6:00, and the second 5:30. We were told that the early sitting was overbooked on the second half, and they wanted to have the second sitting earlier to even things out.

[PEIpair]

We were on the Eclipse Feb 9-23 sailing, with Select dining. The first 2 nights were chaos. Even with a reservation we had up to an hour wait. 2 lines but very unclear signage. We were told by the Maitre'd that 1st Seating dining was extremely overbooked and that their time had been moved to 5:30 and they were taking some of the Select tables to help in dealing with the large numbers of early diners. We were given many apologies and by night 3 it appeared to be working itself out. From that point on, we were seated very quickly, with or without reservations, and the lines for each were very clearly marked. We had no further problems and my feeling is that this was a very rare circumstance. Had I been on Early Seating and been moved to 5:30, I would not have been very pleased but it did seem to help to clear up the confusion and line-ups of those first few nights.

[L11]

On our November 2012 Hawaii cruise on Century, early dining was moved to 5:30. We were also told it was because of overbooking.

 

 

Linda

[Ex-Airbalancer]

5:30 that is a late lunch :eek:

[ghstudio]

On our last transatlantic from Ft Lauderdale, based on the passenger ages we thought they should have a third dinner....the early bird special at 4PM :)

 

Actually, that might be a clever marketing idea.....I bet it would work for some cruises out of Florida.

 

(note...all tongue in cheek. I am both older and live in Florida)

[Ex-Airbalancer]

On our last transatlantic from Ft Lauderdale, based on the passenger ages we thought they should have a third dinner....the early bird special at 4PM :)

 

Actually, that might be a clever marketing idea.....I bet it would work for some cruises out of Florida.

 

(note...all tongue in cheek. I am both older and live in Florida)

Dinner first then go for after dinner drinks at Elite HH lol

[Starry Eyes]

5:30 that is a late lunch :eek:

it certainly would feel that way to some people. So moving both early and late dining times up by a half hour would encourage some people decide late suited them better. It could be a way to even out the demand between early and late dining times.

[fishycomics]

Nt a big deal, you arrive late, and you still can enjoy the time you set out for.

[ghstudio]

Nt a big deal, you arrive late, and you still can enjoy the time you set out for.

 

unless you are at a table with others who arrive at 5:30.....

[Luv2Travel64]

Century 1/18/13 Fort Lauderdale to San Diego and 2/2/13 San Diego RT Hawaii had 5:30 & 8:00 dining. We were told it was because there were many "older" passengers who were given late seating due to early seating and select dining being full; the late diners needed to have dinner earlier due to meds/health issues, so they moved up the dining hours.

Elite started at 4:45 to accommodate the early diners; we were second sitting and liked the 8 start!

[Turtles06]

Century 1/18/13 Fort Lauderdale to San Diego and 2/2/13 San Diego RT Hawaii had 5:30 & 8:00 dining. We were told it was because there were many "older" passengers who were given late seating due to early seating and select dining being full; the late diners needed to have dinner earlier due to meds/health issues, so they moved up the dining hours.

Elite started at 4:45 to accommodate the early diners; we were second sitting and liked the 8 start!

 

I'd love to have an 8pm late seating, but 5:30pm is too early.

 

On our upcoming fall TA on the Infinity, the late seating is at 8:45pm... On our last TA, it was at 8:30pm. Anyone know why the time has been pushed back? Is this customary? It's awfully late . . .

[bigbenboys]

I read this too in the last week or two. What was said was that they made a mistake in early bookings and had far too many for downstairs. They had to accommodate some in areas used by select. Thus they moved dining time up to 5:30. Would make it tough after ports to get there then

 

We liked early dining in the MDR. At home I'm up at 4am and to bed by 9pm. I'm still in bed by 9pm on the cruise ship. When they moved the cocktail hour from 4pm to 5pm we changed to select dining. As I'm sure other people have done. How can the MDR over book something that only has so many seats. It is not an airline. They are not going to give your seat to someone if you are a no show. Richard

[KeywestK]

We were on the previous Eclipse sailing, and Early MDR seating was pushed up to 5:30 to accommodate the overbooking of Early seating. That move was instituted to free up dining room availability for Select diners during the 7 - 7:30 time period. While it solved the problem of having enough seating for the Select dining folks, I'm not sure how the Early dining folks felt about it!

 

The dining room manager told me himself this was the reason it was done.

[Dunmore2]

Hopefully, the overbooking issue is solved soon. I would not be happy to have my dining time moved to 5:30.