Celebrity Select Dining-how well does it work

[Hlitner]

can anyone tell me how long are the evening shows/entertainment on Eclipse.A 7pm showing would be over by? just trying to sort out select dining times.Thanks

 

As a general rule the Celebrity main production shows last 45 min.

 

Hank

[TKS]

We had a group of 6 on the Equinox last week and only had to wait once (1st formal night) so we just walked about 20 feet to Cellar Masters and had a glass of wine. They came and got us when the table was ready (about 15 minutes).

 

BTW, they gave us the same waiters each night - Kristjen and Marthen (great job guys). Point is Select Dining is fantastic and we wouldn't do anything differently.

 

Thanks for the response and the suggestion. Hope the wait staff will do the same for us. Certainly a glass of wine while we wait will be pleasant.

Kay

[Team Stag]

We did 'Select Dining' on our last cruise and loved it. I truly believe it led to what was my most relaxing cruise. I think not having to follow a schedule (we usually do the 6:00 seating) really allowed us to relax. We normally eat early, however, if we weren't hungry at 6 or 6:30; then we showed up at 7 or 8. It was nice also to have the fexibility to dine with others when we wanted to & to dine just the two of us when we wanted to. We made reservations ahead of time but only made it to our reserved time half of the time. We were typically seated immediately however, did have to wait 10 mins once. But you waited in Cellar Masters so it was not an issue for us - we just got a head start on the wine!

[foodle]

Hi, we are newbies to Celebrity and are considering the Celebrity Select dining option. We have used freedom dining on P&O and found it to work well for us as we have never been keen at having to turn up at the same time every night and because they have an MDR specifically assigned to freedom dining there has seldom been a problem getting straight in at whatever time we turned up (as long as we are prepared to share a table which we almost always are.

The structure on Celebrity seems rather different however and we were wondering if any regulars could advise us as to how well it works. We are not sure how the single large dining room deals with those arriving between the two sittings or do you simply have a choice of booking the early or late sitting rather than 'anytime dining'? Also there is the option of booking either ahead of the cruise (just as bad as fixed sittings as we have to work out months in advance when we would like to eat), booking on board (fear then that the restaurant may be booked up and we may be consigned to the buffet) or turning up on spec (for which the fear of a long wait or again being consigned to the buffet).

Any observations on the Select dining option would be welcome.

 

 

We use select dining everytime we cruise with celebrity, the important thing to notice is that there is actually 2 levels to the dining room, the lower level is used for the assigned diners and the upper level for the selct. i love being able to be flexible about when we dine and not restricted to any one time and have never had to wait more then 5 minutes.

[fizzy1]

As a general rule the Celebrity main production shows last 45 min.

 

Hank

t

thanks for the info

[Algebralovr]

We love the Select Dining! We can just go to dinner when we are ready, without worrying about the official dining room schedule.

 

For our next cruise, we are traveling with friends. They are bringing their infant along. We figure that we'll eat on the infant's schedule.

[Christine Frances]

We love the Select Dining! We can just go to dinner when we are ready, without worrying about the official dining room schedule.

 

For our next cruise, we are traveling with friends. They are bringing their infant along. We figure that we'll eat on the infant's schedule.

 

 

Deleted

[Buckeye94]

My sister and I did Select dining last Spring on the Solstice. One of my favorite dinners was when we timed our dinner to cross both Early and Late seatings on formal night. We sat on the upper level and got to see the carefully orchestrated change over and everyone in their finest!

[Redtravel]

Try select. It is great. Show up and get seated. Make a reservation or not. It's a nice way to meet lots of people. Most are nice. I have met many nice people in the traditional table arrangement. I have also been the victim of some not so nice people. Years ago, on a 2 week Med cruise, we were seated with the worst loud pig. He had multiple entrees, etc., talked with food in his mouth, and was loud and obnoxious. We tried to change....no available tables. We tried to avoid the dinner table. It did not make for a great time. In select, that would not happen. On my last Celebrity cruise, we did select. We only met one guy that we didn't want to eat with again. Everyone else was very nice. The only time that I would request a specific traditional table is when I am traveling as a group.

[Choozin Croozin]

We just got off the Summit and had a good experience with SD. Unlike Royal where they almost insist your make reservations, there was never any pressure or were you ever made to feel like you should've. We never waited longer than 10 min. Sometimes table by ourselves, sometimes with others. We did have a bad night one of the nights where we agreed to sit with others. It was formal night and they were very sporadic filling our table of 6. We were seated, then 5 min later, 2 more, and then after we ordered and got our 1st appetizer they sat 2 more. Then they held us up to catch up with the new ones. It took us almost 3 hrs to get out of the dining room. Other than that all was good.

[lovedecruise]

Hi, can anyone please tell me when evening dining service begins in the MDR? Many thanks.

[acadian_dad]

Previously on Crown Princess on British Isles cruise (our first experience with "anytime" dining) we found long line ups - waited 15-20 mins many evenings (in line ... not in lounge ...). Found out that they expected you to make a reservation by 10AM of each day (and they were pretty ruthless about closing reservations at 10AM). We kept forgetting - was not happy about that. We ended up eating in Buffet to avoid the hassle more often than we would have liked.

 

The main reason we had chosen "anytime" on Crown was due to our prior cruise on Brilliance of the Seas on a port intensive Med cruise - we were in traditional dining and had been assigned to a large table with other families and often didn't feel up to the MDR after a long shore day. We just thought it was fairer to others, if we wanted the flexibility for ourselves, to go with the anytime option.

 

Fast forward to our recent Caribbean cruise on Summit and while nervous about it, we chose select dining again. Shouldn't have worried - it was excellent. I saw on website that we could make flexible reservations in advance of cruise (and due to Princess experience I did that) but it was completely unnecessary. We only waited on first formal evening - maybe about 15 mins - in Cellar Masters & the hostess came to get us when table ready. They seemed to have gotten a little backed up at that point. But every other night we (and those without reservations) would just show up and get seated. We are doing it again in August on Silhouette for a Med cruise - hope it works out just as well.

 

I do miss the continuity of wait staff (we had different staff every night) - I'm not sure how best to arrange that - will have a chat with the maitre-d on first night to figure things out.

[5682miles]

Thank you all for such informative advice. I would never have even thought about asking to have dessert sent to our room to enjoy after the show - what an excellent idea. I have also today switched to Select Dining for our first cruise on Eclipse (30th November 2013). I'm so glad I found and joined this forum.

 

Sharon & Nick