Dining Question

[tc2344]

DH and I are planning a 2015 Alaskan Cruise and have already booked an Aqua Class balcony. My mother is joining us as a solo and booked an inside cabin and this is her first cruise. I have a few questions. 1. I know she will not be able to dine with us in Blu, so I was thinking the first night eating in the main dining room with her and asking the maitre d' to assign us a table with other solo singles so that she can dine with them on the nights that we wish to eat at Blu. 2. If DH is not eating at Blu, does anyone know if they will allow my mother to sit in his place? 3. Would she be able to join us in Blu for breakfast or lunch if we decided to eat there during those times? Any insight, guidance, and/or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[jelayne]

I am not sure of the answers to question 1 & 2. As to breakfast & lunch in Blu- Blu is not open for lunch. Breakfast is open only to AQ and suite passengers for breakfast so she will not be able to join you for breakfast.

[zoncom]

These can be very enjoyable. Interesting group of solo cruisers on X always. But the time to secure a table is now, not last minute. Ask your agent to take care of it. There is a special diniing phone # which I no longer have. The singles tables I have had were all early seatings.

[dkjretired]

I am not sure of the answers to question 1 & 2. As to breakfast & lunch in Blu- Blu is not open for lunch. Breakfast is open only to AQ and suite passengers for breakfast so she will not be able to join you for breakfast.

 

And this is one rule that Celebrity actually strictly enforces.

[CHEZMARYLOU]

If you want to be able to dine with your mother in the MDR she will need to choose select dining. With that, she will not have an assigned table but if she is dining on her own she can request a larger table that she will share with others. If she has traditional dining you will not be able to join her and she will not be able to join you in Blu.

 

If dining together is your main consideration, you could switch from an Aqua cabin to Concierge or Balcony and use the savings to book a specialty restaurant or two.

 

Mary Lou

[tc2344]

Thank you all for the quick responses!

Jelayne: thank you for the lunch info, I didn't realize it wasn't open for lunch. As for the breakfast info, thank you, it makes sense that it is only available for Aqua class, we will probably have breakfast via room service with her on our balcony or visit the buffet with her most mornings then.

 

zoncom: Thank you, I sent our travel agent an email about ensuring she gets sat at a solo table. She probably already took care of it, but it is better to be safe than sorry, so thank you for the tip.

 

dkjretired: That is good to know and understandable as Blu doesn't look that big to be able to accommodate a lot of people.

 

chezmarylou: I was thinking we could dine with mom a few times during the week, but it maybe better to have her booked with a solo table like zoncom suggested and the nights we wish to dine together hit a specialty venue or the buffet.

 

Again, thank you all for the info! :)

[Lois R]

Hi Teresa:), I have been sailing solo with Celebrity for years now. I never

ask to be put at a "solo table" but I do request a mid to large size....

6 or 8 tops are my preferred size. In my opinion, a friendly table is

more important than if the folks are all "solo"....I remember sailing on

Summit last August....I was at a 6 top, just happened one other gal

was on her her own and the other 4 folks were a family, parents and

their 2 sons....we all got along really well all week:).

 

Just thought I would post another option for your Mom:) and I hope

all of you have a wonderful cruise!...oh one other thing, sometimes

there are not many other "solo cruisers" on board either so having

a full table of them? Not always possible.

Edited April 5, 2014 by Lois R

[tc2344]

Thank you Lois R, I really appreciate the suggestion and you bring up a really good perspective. You also made me realize I need to bring the various options up to my mom to decide on, thank you so much because your post turned that light on in my brain! :) Everyone, please keep any ideas coming so that I can present to mom and she can decide and I can stop micromanaging this vacation for her. Actually, being her first cruise, I just want her to have a wonderful experience. :)

[Lois R]

Thank you Lois R, I really appreciate the suggestion and you bring up a really good perspective. You also made me realize I need to bring the various options up to my mom to decide on, thank you so much because your post turned that light on in my brain! :) Everyone, please keep any ideas coming so that I can present to mom and she can decide and I can stop micromanaging this vacation for her. Actually, being her first cruise, I just want her to have a wonderful experience. :)

 

Glad to help:)...I know some folks do have that "micromanaging" in them.

Sometimes that can be good, sometimes? Not so much.....as for being

your Mom's first cruise? Just let her know, she can do alot of things

(activity wise) or she can do absolutely nothing at all:D.....find a chair,

a book, and relax....that is one of my most favorite things to do;)

[cynbar]

I usually try to avoid unsolicited advice, but this time I'll give it a try. For the OP: are you sure that AQ for you is the way to go? It just sounds a little awkward to me, with you and your DH heading off to Blu while your mother navigates the MDR by herself. It might work out really well for her, but it might not --- sometimes tables don't really mesh, sometimes they sit half empty or worse because many cruisers eat elsewhere, at least some of the nights. It is true that AQ diners can request to eat in the MDR on certain nights, but it seems easier to work out on some sailings than others depending on how full the different dining plans are. If your mother has Traditional, she won't be allowed to eat in the Select DR. Why not just switch to Concierge Class and plan for the 3 of you to eat together?? Blu is very nice but the MDR has a lot of good points, too. I wouldn't feel this way if your mother had a traveling companion also, and I'm sure your Mom wouldn't want you to feel badly about leaving her for dinner, but if it were me, I think I'd plan for all of us to eat together. Just my two cents, as the saying goes.

[wallie5446]

DH and I are planning a 2015 Alaskan Cruise and have already booked an Aqua Class balcony. My mother is joining us as a solo and booked an inside cabin and this is her first cruise. I have a few questions. 1. I know she will not be able to dine with us in Blu, so I was thinking the first night eating in the main dining room with her and asking the maitre d' to assign us a table with other solo singles so that she can dine with them on the nights that we wish to eat at Blu. 2. If DH is not eating at Blu, does anyone know if they will allow my mother to sit in his place? 3. Would she be able to join us in Blu for breakfast or lunch if we decided to eat there during those times? Any insight, guidance, and/or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

This is her FIRST CRUISE :eek: You need to upgrade her to Aqua, or down grade you and the DH.

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

Now that others have weighed in on this issue, I guess I will too. If you're cruising with your mother, why aren't you planning to have dinner together? I cruise with friends and that's the one thing we plan on is dinner together. We may not see one another all day, but dinner is a given. Particularly since this is her first cruise. I could not imagine leaving my mother on her own for dinner were I so fortunate as to still have her with me.

[lovetotraveltx]

I have to say I agree! I haven't been on a Celebrity cruise yet but from what I gather, besides the spa benefits and the use of BLU, concierge is pretty similar. We were going to be traveling with peers, (another married couple), and they love Aqua class. We were probably going to get it, even though we didn't really want to just because meals are such a big part of vacation and we didn't want to be separated.

 

As said before, just my 2 cents :)

[blambition]

I am going to put in my two cents also, I have traveled in concierge class on Celebrity and am traveling with another couple on our next cruise. We booked concierge again only because our friends have difficulty walking and the cabin location was much closer to the main elevators otherwise we would have booked just regular balcony cabins side-by-side. In my heart I believe that you should move down to concierge class so that you will be able to have dinner with your mother and spend the extra money you're saving on dining in one or two of the specialty dining rooms with her that way she will not be on her own at all for dinner. You will still have a balcony and for breakfast you can either order in room service or meet her somewhere for breakfast at either the main dining room or the buffet also you can always enjoy lunch ar the porch or bistro on five there are so many other options you can do and you will all be free to do whatever you want during the day spend as much time together or as little as you .decide keep in mind the cabins are exactly the same there are very few differences in the perks between aqua class and concierge with the exception of blu and the Persian gardens and you could always purchase a pass to go into there. Whatever choice you make I hope you all have a wonderful vacation!

 

 

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[fleckle]

Now that others have weighed in on this issue, I guess I will too. If you're cruising with your mother, why aren't you planning to have dinner together? I cruise with friends and that's the one thing we plan on is dinner together. We may not see one another all day, but dinner is a given. Particularly since this is her first cruise. I could not imagine leaving my mother on her own for dinner were I so fortunate as to still have her with me.

I have to say that you beat me to it and expressed exactly what I was thinking.

 

[waterbug123]

are you sure that AQ for you is the way to go? It just sounds a little awkward to me, with you and your DH heading off to Blu while your mother navigates the MDR by herself. It might work out really well for her, but it might not --- sometimes tables don't really mesh, sometimes they sit half empty or worse because many cruisers eat elsewhere, at least some of the nights.

 

I agree with everything above. This is mom's first cruise, and I think it's going to invite a lot of awkwardness on the nights you plan to dine in Blu. As stated above, what happens when she shows up and the rest of the table has gone to specialty restaurants that night, or ordered room service? She's sitting there by herself while you and hubby enjoy yourselves at Blu. Does she even understand that you have different assigned dining rooms than she does and does she truly understand what that means? Under the circumstances I would serious consider switching from Aqua class.

[cynbar]

If you want to be able to dine with your mother in the MDR she will need to choose select dining. With that, she will not have an assigned table but if she is dining on her own she can request a larger table that she will share with others. If she has traditional dining you will not be able to join her and she will not be able to join you in Blu.

 

 

 

Mary Lou

 

I just want to be sure that the OP understands how dining is set up on Celebrity, so there are no surprises when you are on the ship. Everyone is assigned to one of 3 dining types (Traditional, Select, or Blu for AQ cruisers). All three are capacity controlled , and sometimes one type fills up quickly and closes. If your mother has Traditional, she can't just drop in to Select, that displaces those who have been assigned to Select. As Blu diners, you and your husband can speak to the maitre d' about dining in the MDR on a chosen night, but it doesn't always mean just going to Select --- sometimes Blu diners are sent to one of the 2 Traditional seatings at a table with vacancies and chosen by that maitre d'. So, there could be a problem with all 3 of you asking to dine in Select if that dining option is popular on your particular cruise. With your current plan, you are going on faith that your Mom will get a great table with guests who show up almost all the time. And there is no way of knowing that for sure until the cruise is underway. Are you willing to take that chance?

[jkgourmet]

Thank you Lois R, I really appreciate the suggestion and you bring up a really good perspective. You also made me realize I need to bring the various options up to my mom to decide on, thank you so much because your post turned that light on in my brain! :) Everyone, please keep any ideas coming so that I can present to mom and she can decide and I can stop micromanaging this vacation for her. Actually, being her first cruise, I just want her to have a wonderful experience. :)

 

I'm sorry if this sounds rude, but if you really "just want her to have a wonderful experience" wouldn't it have been better for you to book a cabin anyplace other than Aqua? That decision kinda cut mom out if the picture.

 

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[Lois R]

Hi again, I know I posted early in this discussion and after reading all

the other replies I have to agree with those postings.

I am not sure if I was under a different assumption but my lightbulb

did not go on in a timely manner.

Your Mom's first cruise and the 3 of you are sailing together? But not

eating dinner together? Maybe your relationship is different than some

of us have...(my Mom is no longer around) but does your Mom not want

to dine with you? Is there something happening that we are not aware

of?......

But dinnertime is definitely (I would think) a time you would want to

sit together and chat about your day.

 

Hope you come back and give us some more input about the situation.

[tc2344]

Good morning all, I'm sure as all of you can tell, I still consider myself a newbie cruiser. This is our first cruise on Celebrity (and second week long cruise) and I was basing our decision on the cabin (aft, balcony, upper deck). I am so grateful for all of your comments and insights and have researched the concierge cabins and will have our TA change our cabins. I did not realize dining was so organized, I mean I knew it is organized in order to accommodate the volume of passengers, but definitely not the way cynbar explained and that really helped me to understand it ALOT better. Thank you all so much for your input, this is one of the reasons why I am SO glad I found CC, as all your input is very valuable to me. :)

[Lois R]

Hi, ahhhh...thanks for coming back:)...so you will be eating dinner

together:D...glad you decided to change and I am betting your Mom

will be happy too:)

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

Thanks for coming back and letting us know what you decided. I think you'll all be happy with the decision.

 

Enjoy your cruise! You can always try AQ some other cruise. Let me share with you that the only time I cruised in AQ, we had the absolute worst cabin service ever. Yes, Blu was nice, but I would never have booked in AQ if we had not all been able to eat dinner together.

[tc2344]

Lois R, Mom is very happy that we will be dining together:) and so am I, I won't be so worried that she is not having a good time. Were you afraid I wouldn't come back? Initially I felt ganged up on, but then I checked myself and realized everyone was coming from a good place and giving me the best advice from their experiences and I truly appreciate that.

 

Happy Cruiser 6143, thank you for the info on your AQ experience, from our last cruise, we spent a fair amount of time in our room enjoying the balcony, and our room steward was fantastic, she knew about what time we would leave the room for outings and meals and we always came back to a clean room and our ice bucket and goodies restocked. I think I would be disappointed not to have that same level of service, but then again, that aft balcony was so relaxing! Then again, that was the Caribbean, this time going to Alaska, I don't know if we will be spending as much time on the balcony.

Edited April 6, 2014 by tc2344

[cynbar]

Teresa, thanks for coming back and reporting to us. I absolutely think you've made the right decision, for all 3 of you. Vacations should be stress free and your original plan would have taken a lot of work, and I'm not sure even that would have ensured you all had a good time. Looking back, some of the replies do sound a little snarky, but I really think they were meant to give honest advice about what to do while you still have time to switch. Glad you took it that way. Now, you just have to decide if you want Traditional or Select dining. Have a great cruise.

Edited April 6, 2014 by cynbar

[jkgourmet]

Teresa, I was one of the more direct (umm, blunt) responses you received to your OP.

 

I hope that it does not sound condescending, but I respect that you changed your plans so that mom could be more included. I respect that you came back to tell us - even to thank us - for our opinions and suggestions.

 

You are a daughter any mother would be proud to call their own. I'd also venture a guess that your mom is a helluva lady who raised you right.

 

We say "Enjoy your cruise" all the time on these boards. THIS may be the time I mean it the most!

 

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