Select Dining - how to reserve with friends on set dining

[Tink56]

So half of our party will be on set dining and half are on Select Dining. We would like to have two dinners together in the MDR - is this possible? How do I do it? Do I maybe need to link our reservations? Thank you for the help!

[Lois R]

So half of our party will be on set dining and half are on Select Dining. We would like to have two dinners together in the MDR - is this possible? How do I do it? Do I maybe need to link our reservations? Thank you for the help!

 

You want the folks who dine traditional and the folks who dine

select all eating together on 2 nights?

I don't think you can link your bookings on line since you have 2 different

types of dining.

Wait till you get on board and speak with the Maitr'd. Select diners

have one section of the dining room while traditional have a larger

area.

Or if you are so inclined, all of you could go to one of the Specialty

Restaurants together.

[cruiseguys2009]

Pick up the phone in your stateroom, dial 7000, or Dining Reservations. Tell the Reservation's Specialist that you are Select Dining and you would like a reservation at your requested time and you would also like the following guest's be allowed to join you, who are at early or late seating and in the following cabin numbers.

 

They will joyfully accommodate you as they did for me every single night on our last cruise and will just automatically transfer the auto grat for that evening to your Select Dining Attendants and Waiters.

 

Simple. I learned on my very first Celebrity Cruise last week that "My Wish is truly, Their Command" and there is no such word in their vocabulary as "NO!"

[CruisersTimesThree]

You didn't mention which ship you would be on, but having been on the Summit I can tell you that select dining uses the upstairs part of the dining room and traditional uses the lower, so not sure if you would be able to be seated together since tables downstairs are reserved already. I'll assume it's the same set-up on all the M-class ships.

Like the above poster said, you could always all book a meal or two together in a speciality restaurant.

[Tink56]

Thanks for the good ideas. We are on the Solstice and the wrinkle is we are a LARGE group - 18 of us altogether with 5 on set dining and 13 on Select. Obviously we wouldn't all sit at the same table - speaking of which, does anyone know the largest table size? I will try as the earlier poster suggested and talk to someone once onboard. It's not the end of the world if it doesn't work. We are on an Alaskan cruise after all - life will be good!

[Pean]

Thanks for the good ideas. We are on the Solstice and the wrinkle is we are a LARGE group - 18 of us altogether with 5 on set dining and 13 on Select. Obviously we wouldn't all sit at the same table - speaking of which, does anyone know the largest table size? I will try as the earlier poster suggested and talk to someone once onboard. It's not the end of the world if it doesn't work. We are on an Alaskan cruise after all - life will be good!

 

I believe the largest table is supposed to be for 10. We were a group of 11, all on select dining, and they made a table of 11 for us each night.

[sandancer]

Pick up the phone in your stateroom, dial 7000, or Dining Reservations. Tell the Reservation's Specialist that you are Select Dining and you would like a reservation at your requested time and you would also like the following guest's be allowed to join you, who are at early or late seating and in the following cabin numbers.

 

They will joyfully accommodate you as they did for me every single night on our last cruise and will just automatically transfer the auto grat for that evening to your Select Dining Attendants and Waiters.

 

Simple. I learned on my very first Celebrity Cruise last week that "My Wish is truly, Their Command" and there is no such word in their vocabulary as "NO!"

I'm impressed. This must be quite a recent development as when they first started the Select Dining option it was hard work to get them to allow anyone other than select diners to join our table for even one night. It also may vary from ship to ship but I am very happy to see this flexibility now.

[Lois R]

For a group of that amount? I would not call, but that is just me.

I would go see the Maitr'd in person. Oh, you won't be at one table

for a group of 18....the easiest amount for the wait staff would be

3 tables of six or 2 tables of 9.

 

I am glad the cruiseguys had such great service too but a group of 18

is larger than most. Not saying they will accomodate you...but go

talk to them face to face about it.

[CruisersTimesThree]

Maybe it's just me, but if I have select dining as my preference and paid my gratuities up front to have that privilege, and then had to wait for a table because 5 diners were given a table they really aren't suppose to have, I'd be a bit miffed.

Why don't those 5 diners just switch to select dining, eliminating any problems and then you can dine any night that you want together?

Also be aware of the fact that select dining is a much smaller venue then traditional and I would find it surprising if they could even seat that amount of people near each other after splitting them up.

[cruiseguys2009]

For a group of that amount? I would not call, but that is just me.

I would go see the Maitr'd in person. Oh, you won't be at one table

for a group of 18....the easiest amount for the wait staff would be

3 tables of six or 2 tables of 9.

 

I am glad the cruiseguys had such great service too but a group of 18

is larger than most. Not saying they will accomodate you...but go

talk to them face to face about it.

Thanks, and I did not realize that the OP had a large party of 18! We were two in Select and all through the week, we would be able to invite another couple or two to join us upstairs in Select each night, and they were very accommodating and just transferred the gratuities to our server upstairs. A large party like this, I would agree with the this member below......

 

Maybe it's just me, but if I have select dining as my preference and paid my gratuities up front to have that privilege, and then had to wait for a table because 5 diners were given a table they really aren't suppose to have, I'd be a bit miffed.

 

Why don't those 5 diners just switch to select dining, eliminating any problems and then you can dine any night that you want together?

Also be aware of the fact that select dining is a much smaller venue then traditional and I would find it surprising if they could even seat that amount of people near each other after splitting them up.

I also agree with you about Select, but on our sailing it was unusual that it sold out early, however, also on our sailing a very large number of select went to the Specialty Restaurants so there was always availability. Plus, those 5 diners should be able to switch since the rest of the group is in Select. (But then again, maybe they don't want to eat with them either....)...Kidding.:D

 

The largest table I saw in Select on our Reflection Sailing was two parties of 12. They sat at long tables each night and were all part of a group of Airline Pilots.

 

Best bet, get everyone moved to Select.

[vvnh16a]

NO one has mentioned "TIME". I doubt this could be done especially for such a large crowd between 6:45 -7:30. That said you should have no problem, wiht advance notice, in select dining after 8pm.

[Lois R]

I made an error in my other post.....

I meant to say, "not saying they won't accomodate you".....but I still say

18 people is a larger than usual group.

 

Cruiseguys....a party of 2 is usually easy peasy:D

[HappyTvlr]

My experience on Celebrity was that they would not allow a couple w/TD to join us on even one night in select. It didn't seem to be a space issue, but something that they just weren't willing to do. Obviously it depends on the ship and more likely the staff allowing it.

[kitty9]

We were on Solstice and we had Select while our 4 friends were in Traditional. They would not accommodate them into Select for one evening and there was no room for us to go to Traditional for one measly night. With the OP's large group, I don't think they will accommodate them.

[vermonter16]

Never hurts to ask but I have to agree that if I'm in Select, it would peeve me off knowing that I had to wait because others who weren't in Select were still able to dine in Select... If I choose Traditional, I eat Traditional. If I choose Select, I eat Select. If I choose Blu, I will eat Blu.... This is my first time in Blu so we'll see how that goes. Groups should just select the same dining time as the others and if they don't want that than they eat seperately. I have sailed with a group before and DH and I chose the later seating while our good friends chose the earlier one. We did miss eating with them but that's how it goes. We then met up with them for a dinner in a Specialty restaurant.

[drarill]

To the original OP, we always travel with big groups and our experience with MTD or Select dining is that if a group this big wants to eat together they are only going to offer them, either really early seatings or really late. If all of you want to eat together, it is better to have traditional dining. If they chose "select" to have dinner in a flexible time, it is not going to work for a group this big unless they are split in different tables. Another option is to book specialty restaurants. We have done this too for our big groups, but you have to do it on the first day of the cruise. Last year on the Silhouette we were 24 traveling together and all of us had dinner together in QSine and the Lawn Grill. The "parents" had dinner together at Muranos and Tuscan Grille. I love traveling with friends, and having dinner together at the end of the day is really nice. Hope everything works out for you.:):) It can be done, believe me. You just need to plan ahead.