Blu - still need to select dining time ?

[Michidoeme]

When we were in Aqua several times during the last couple of years, we had to select early or late dining, despite having in reality free dining times. It was explained that thru a quirk in the system, if Select Dining was chosen for Aqua, this would basically mean MDR (best I can explain, don t ask me why).

 

Now our TA said that nowadays for Aqua, if we want to eat in Blu they would have to tick Select Dining.

 

Any experience and comments ? Thanks

[ghstudio]

Your TA is wrong....but most are confused.

 

If you book aqua class, your assigned dining room is aqua....period. The billing system requires passengers to choose early/late/select and the only effect it has is that if you choose select, gratuities will be included in your final bill. If you choose early or late, you will be billed for gratuities onboard. That is the only effect of choosing dining times.

 

Blu is always dine when you arrive...no reservations are accepted (except for large groups).

[Miss SeaBee]

I booked online recently for Aqua Class suite. I had to click either early or late traditional dining. There was not a select dining option, and I realize that we will actually be able to go to Blu at any time, as far as I understand it, it has always been this way on the Celebrity website. It is confusing, and would be nice if they would fix it so that people who don't read Cruise Critic would not be confused and misled by the booking option. But I'm not holding my breath for them to fix that.

[cruiseri]

If you book aqua class, your assigned dining room is aqua....period. The billing system requires passengers to choose early/late/select and the only effect it has is that if you choose select, gratuities will be included in your final bill. If you choose early or late, you will be billed for gratuities onboard.

 

I'm confused what's the difference between "included in your final bill and billed for gratuities onboard". What's the difference?

 

SAS

[cruiserchuck]

I'm confused what's the difference between "included in your final bill and billed for gratuities onboard". What's the difference?

 

SAS

 

It is my understanding that if you choose Select dining, you have to prepay the gratuities when you make your final payment for the cruise. If you choose fixed dining, the gratuities are charged to your onboard account during the cruise.

[welshfamily]

We have booked through Celebrity and were told that as we were Aqua if we wished to pay our gratuities at final payment we had to select select dinning. As we already knew Aqua was anytime dinning we knew it didn't matter what time was selected so we agreed simply to save hassle.

I am sorry to say Celebrity's staff do not always know exactly what they are talking about. As other posters have said its a quirk in their system.

We prefer to buy our gratuities as part of a cruise and keep our onboard account for onboard spending.

[Squadra03]

We have booked through Celebrity and were told that as we were Aqua if we wished to pay our gratuities at final payment we had to select select dinning. As we already knew Aqua was anytime dinning we knew it didn't matter what time was selected so we agreed simply to save hassle.

I am sorry to say Celebrity's staff do not always know exactly what they are talking about. As other posters have said its a quirk in their system.

We prefer to buy our gratuities as part of a cruise and keep our onboard account for onboard spending.

 

If you want to pay your gratuities upfront you must select "select dining'.

If you want to pay your gratuities on the ship choose early or late...

 

Otherwise just go to Blu, get seated and enjoy your meal!

[dkjretired]

If you want to pay your gratuities upfront you must select "select dining'.

If you want to pay your gratuities on the ship choose early or late...

 

Otherwise just go to Blu, get seated and enjoy your meal!

 

If you wish to pay gratuities ahead of time you do not have to choose Select dining. Anyone may choose to prepay graututies. The opposite is true, if you choose Select Dining than you have to prepay.

 

In answer to cruiser's question, included in your final bill means you are paying at the time you make your final payment. This is called prepaying gratuities. Billed for gratuities on board means your tips will be paid on a daily basis once on board ship.

[AlbertaCruisers]

Same thing happened for me when I booked Aqua directly with Celebrity, but the only option was early dining. The person was confused at first because the cruise was for Nov 2014 and there was no way that late could be booked already. I told her on here that I heard for Blu you have to select early in their system, but that it is any time dining, and then she said that was right and she had forgotten.

[Blazerboy]

In answer to cruiser's question, included in your final bill means you are paying at the time you make your final payment. This is called prepaying gratuities. Billed for gratuities on board means your tips will be paid on a daily basis once on board ship.

 

Yes and no...I think the confusion is in the term "final bill."

 

There are three times you pay:

 

1. Deposit when you book the cruise.

 

2. Balance of cruise fare approximately 75 days before cruise.

 

3. Last night of the cruise when you settle your on board account.

 

If you opt for Select, you pay your gratuities at step 2. If you choose early or late seatings, you pay those charges at step 3. (Some consider this the "final bill," thus the confusion).

 

Andrew

 

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[cruiseri]

Yes and no...I think the confusion is in the term "final bill."

 

There are three times you pay:

 

1. Deposit when you book the cruise.

 

2. Balance of cruise fare approximately 75 days before cruise.

 

3. Last night of the cruise when you settle your on board account.

 

If you opt for Select, you pay your gratuities at step 2. If you choose early or late seatings, you pay those charges at step 3. (Some consider this the "final bill," thus the confusion).

 

Thanks for explaining, now I understand.

 

On a separate but related item, won't you think Celebrity or RCI could easily fix their billing system to avoid this confusion.

 

SAS

[Blazerboy]

Thanks for explaining, now I understand.

 

On a separate but related item, won't you think Celebrity or RCI could easily fix their billing system to avoid this confusion.

 

SAS

 

What I think they can/ should do, and what they actually will do are far enough apart that you could sail a cruise ship though it!;). (Answer is "yes, they should.")

 

Andrew

 

Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using Forums mobile app

[Michidoeme]

So, I guess it does not make a difference if we have early dining or select dining on our Aqua booking, we will always get to eat in Blu anyway no matter what the TA or Celeb rep says :cool:

[phoenix_dream]

Yes and no...I think the confusion is in the term "final bill."

 

There are three times you pay:

 

1. Deposit when you book the cruise.

 

2. Balance of cruise fare approximately 75 days before cruise.

 

3. Last night of the cruise when you settle your on board account.

 

If you opt for Select, you pay your gratuities at step 2. If you choose early or late seatings, you pay those charges at step 3. (Some consider this the "final bill," thus the confusion).

 

Andrew

 

Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using Forums mobile app

Is this completely true? Not sure. We had an issue on our credit card a few cruises ago. It had been compromised and our bank put a hold on further charges. We found this out mid-way through our cruise when we were called down to the pursers desk. The hold had been put on by our credit card company on a date mid-way through the cruise. This implies that somehow they were connecting with our credit card company mid-cruise, not at the end. Whether it was an actual payment or some kind of hold or something I am not clear, but some type of financial transaction is happening prior to the last night. If anyone does have a better explanation of what is actually going on it would be interesting to know.

[sn2792]

Is this completely true? Not sure. We had an issue on our credit card a few cruises ago. It had been compromised and our bank put a hold on further charges. We found this out mid-way through our cruise when we were called down to the pursers desk. The hold had been put on by our credit card company on a date mid-way through the cruise. This implies that somehow they were connecting with our credit card company mid-cruise, not at the end. Whether it was an actual payment or some kind of hold or something I am not clear, but some type of financial transaction is happening prior to the last night. If anyone does have a better explanation of what is actually going on it would be interesting to know.

 

They submit pending charges throughout the cruise to verify your credit card is okay. The pending charges drop off after they submit the charge for the final bill. I booked our cruise through Celebrity and there is an option in there online system to prepay gratuities even when you are booked in Aqua class. I actually did this after final payment on our last cruise.

[dkjretired]

Thanks for explaining, now I understand.

 

On a separate but related item, won't you think Celebrity or RCI could easily fix their billing system to avoid this confusion.

 

SAS

 

I agree with you, this has been going on for many years now. The one thing that you can say is that it used to be worse. Up until about a year ago the official policy was that if you chose Select Dining you were removed from Blu and put into the MDR. This has changed but some still don't understand it. It's still confusing to those who want anytime dining since you are sort of forced to choose what you don't want to get what you want.