Show times with Select Dining- does it work?

[Sci Beach Lover]

Hi all! We are booking an extended family trip today (Celebrity Summit - Bermuda). We have young ones in our group of 10, so late seating will not work for us, but early seating is just a bit too early, so contemplating Select Dining, with a target meal time of 6:30-7:00. However, concerned that this will put us out of sync with the shows and will force us to miss many of the productions. Does anyone know what times the shows are typically offered? Are we going to miss out on both early and late shows with a 6:30 or 7:00 meal time? My parents love the shows, as do my older children, so we would not want to miss them.

 

As an add-on question regarding Select Dining, can we select a set time and ensure that our table of 10 will be seated with the same wait staff every night? We truly enjoy having the same table and wait staff each night - the rapport with achieve with them really adds to our enjoyment of the trip. We enjoyed our overall dining experience on RCCL last year so much more than on NCL the year prior, and we attribute most of this to the consistency with the wait staff.

 

Thanks in advance for your insight!

Edited February 28, 2014 by Sci Beach Lover
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[carolslc]

I can't help you with Select Dining, but we were in Aqua Class and ate in Blu which is anytime dining. We typically got to dinner by about 7. The shows, at least while the Summit was in the Caribbean, were at 7 and 9, I'm pretty sure. So, we would be done with dinner in time to go to the later show. Dinner was usually no more than 1.5 hours. The show presented is the same at the two times. We never had trouble getting a seat when arriving 5-10 minutes before the show, but with a party of 10, you might aim to get there earlier if you want to sit together.

 

I'm guessing with a party of 10 your dinner will take longer than our party of 2, so allow for that.

 

Check Celebrity Today for your show times. The shows lasted about 1 hour. I think on embarkation day there might have only been 1 show because of the muster drill. We didn't go to that show.

 

I hope they can accommodate your group with consistent wait staff. We asked for our same waiter each night - actually very quickly the maitre D remembered what waiter we had and sat us with him each night but one. It was very nice.

 

Enjoy your cruise!

[miched]

I would advise you to break up your party into smaller groups. It will be difficult to get a table for ten unless you make reservations in advance with the Matre d.

 

Then you will have the time issue waiting for everyone to be served.

 

Plus getting ten seats altogether in the theater unless you get there very early and then you have to evaluate if it is really necessary for all sit together in the theater.

 

 

🌊🚢🍸🍻

[Algebralovr]

You can make a reservation and book the table you want or every evening, no problem.

 

If you need to be done by a certain time, just tell your winter. They should be able to speed up your dinner to get you out in time. You can also skip the soup/salad course, or the dessert course and have dessert from the sweets at the cafe, etc.

[Big Chief]

We were a party of six, We had Select dining and ate at 6:30 every evening. We had no problems making the 2nd show (generally 9:00PM).

[Lsimon]

The shows are indeed scheduled around the traditional dining times which are usually 6:30 and 8:30 but vary a little on some itineraries.

 

The show times vary a little based on the length of the shows and the preferences of the management on board. But the show for the early diners (6:30 seating) usually starts between 8:30 and 9:00PM. The show for the late diners (8:30 seating) varies a bit more. On most nights it is before dinner around 7PM. But on most formal nights, and occasionally on other nights, it will be after dinner around 10 to 10:30PM. Of there are other special entertainment events such as special dance parties or an extra cruise director show they'll normally start between 10 and 10:30PM.

Edited February 28, 2014 by Lsimon