Select Dining on Summit -- Yay or Nay???

[Kikimeister]

I am sailing on Summit in one month with my (new) DH for our honeymoon and want the best possible dining experience.... I thought Select would allow us flexibility to eat whenever, and still have the best if both worlds...

 

However....I've been hearing a lot of chatter on the boards from travelers off of the Summit who have said that Select dining has been a bit of a mess....rude waiters, lazy waiters, poor service, etc etc. For those who have had Select dining on the Summit...preferably recently...what were your experiences? Was select dining for you a yay or a nay?

 

Should I stay with Select dining or switch to Traditional seating??

[wurmine]

We were on the Summit about a year ago and we perfectly happy with selected dinning. Food was great as was the service.

[Lady Arwen]

We were on the Summit in April and really enjoyed Select Dining. We never had to wait for more than a couple of minutes. The service was excellent. The busiest time is 7:00-8:00, so try to eat before or after that time when the MDR is a little slower.

 

You will love the Summit! Have a wonderful cruise!

[shoelover536]

Keep in mind that the shows are timed to coordinate with early/late traditional seating times, so if you do select, your dining time might conflict with seeing a show, whereas with traditional you are pretty much guaranteed to have the right timing, since the show times are based on traditional seating times. Just a thought in case this is important to you.

[caripoo]

Stick with Select...You should not have any problems...We won't go back to traditional...:):)

[tfrcal]

In January, we found that the first day was a mess. They acted as if they had never done Select before and the wait times were bad. After that it was fine.

 

We would do Select again, we never had bad service. Like all things, some servers were better than others.

[kfrey68]

We just returned from the Summit in June and had a great experience as we have the last 2 times. We do make reservations based on our schedule for the day and enjoy the flexibility of working around shore excursions, etc.

[jwb3843]

We sailed on the Summit in late April and had Select Dining. We found it worked perfectly for us! We tended to eat earlier than most, which made for a great dining experience. We never made reservations, never had to wait, and were given the same table and wait staff each night. We found no difference in the attentiveness of the wait staff ~ they quickly learned our preferences and never failed to respond to other requests promptly and politely! I wouldn't hesitate to pick Select Dining again in the future!

 

Julie

[New Hampshire]

We had Select Dining on the Summit in May and it was great. Waiters and all staff were great.

[protindo]

Just returned fom the Summit on Sunday July 7th. If I were sailing again I would select late dinning. I agree with the service in select dinning. Very noticeable that the waitstaff didn't care to try to make a good impression. One night we had a 7 pm reservation and were seated at 8.

[tserface]

If you don't mind prepaying the gratuities I'd definitly go with Select. We've done it three times now and it's incredibly flexible, you get to sit with different people or by yourselves if you want, and it's the same food.

 

I've never been on the Summit, but I've never had a bad experience. On our recent cruise we remarked every night about how great everything was and we met some people that we became great friends with and still communicate on email.

 

It's also really nice to just request a table for two some nights, but if you're on your honeymoon you'll want to sit with others sometimes so you can brag about it and get them to dote over you and stuff. You don't want to miss out on that experience.

 

Tom

 

I am sailing on Summit in one month with my (new) DH for our honeymoon and want the best possible dining experience.... I thought Select would allow us flexibility to eat whenever, and still have the best if both worlds...

 

However....I've been hearing a lot of chatter on the boards from travelers off of the Summit who have said that Select dining has been a bit of a mess....rude waiters, lazy waiters, poor service, etc etc. For those who have had Select dining on the Summit...preferably recently...what were your experiences? Was select dining for you a yay or a nay?

 

Should I stay with Select dining or switch to Traditional seating??

[Kikimeister]

It's also really nice to just request a table for two some nights, but if you're on your honeymoon you'll want to sit with others sometimes so you can brag about it and get them to dote over you and stuff. You don't want to miss out on that experience.

 

Tom

 

A bit of a departure from the original intent of my thread, but dote on us??

[karena1]

Stick with Select...You should not have any problems...We won't go back to traditional...:):)

 

I am so with you! We do MTD on Royal all the time and have Select for our upcoming Summit. Love the flexibility to go to dinner when I want and not sit through a 3 hour meal with other people. We have found we love eating by ourselves.

[Shake]

Tried Select once and never again. We enjoy going to the shows each night. As mentioned earlier the show schedules are geared for traditional dining and we prefer the earlier seating. Also really enjoy having the same waiter each night. With Select you may have a long wait and it just made the experience second rate. :cool:

[tbyrd79]

I have sailed on the Summit the last two years, and we have loved Select Dining. No problem with waiters at all, enjoy!

[Shake]

I am so with you! We do MTD on Royal all the time and have Select for our upcoming Summit. Love the flexibility to go to dinner when I want and not sit through a 3 hour meal with other people. We have found we love eating by ourselves.

 

 

What makes you think the dinners are 3 hours long and you can't have a table for two in traditional dinning? All untrue. :cool:

[tserface]

Sure, it's always fun to share in someone else's joy and help celebrate!

 

Tom

 

A bit of a departure from the original intent of my thread, but dote on us??

[tserface]

We've done Select and MTD on our last 3 cruises and we've never missed a show. You just have to pay attention to the times. We've also mostly had the same waiter. You can ask for a waiter at the door and after a night or two they even remember who you like. Of course, if you didn't like the waiter, you're not stuck with them.

 

Tom

 

Tried Select once and never again. We enjoy going to the shows each night. As mentioned earlier the show schedules are geared for traditional dining and we prefer the earlier seating. Also really enjoy having the same waiter each night. With Select you may have a long wait and it just made the experience second rate. :cool:

[K.T.B.]

When my wife and I were unhappy with our Blu experience, we decided to go to the MDR. We were essentially "select" then and had no problems whatsoever. We always arrived at about 6PM and we were seated relatively quickly.

[CruisersTimesThree]

Was on the Summit for the June 9th sailing to Bermuda and love select dining. We did it the first time last year on the same ship and had no problems with it, so we chose it again.

No watching the clock while on the island to make sure we get back in time for dinner, was able to work our dining around whatever shows we wanted to see, wasn't exhausted and ready for bed after having way to much to eat with the late seating, and ALWAYS had a very good wait staff serving us.

We seem to be lucky in that we only waited no longer then 10 mins maybe 3 times over the course of two cruises to be seated.

I will never go back to traditional dining, very happy to have this choice.