Flexibility on Select Dining already made reservations??

[Pier290]

Are they flexible if we ever arrive a little early or a little late to our reserved select dining times??

 

Example....reservations at 7.... if we show up at 6:45.....will they seat us or make us wait til 7 or just depends??

 

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[wallie5446]

They are very flexible, it is when people are 'late' that it creates a problem.

[Bo1953]

Flexible. Usually (operative adjective) one does not need to make reservations outside of feeling secure.

 

Anytime dining, is what it means with or without reservation.

 

As can happen even with reservation, there may be a short wait if diners are still lingering at the table...

 

bon voyagae

[chemmo]

Are they flexible if we ever arrive a little early or a little late to our reserved select dining times??

 

Example....reservations at 7.... if we show up at 6:45.....will they seat us or make us wait til 7 or just depends??

 

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I think most restaurant bookings are 'ish' times (7ish, 7.30ish...). If you are within 10/15 minutes of booking times I don't think there is usually a problem. I certainly think if they can seat you earlier or later without wait they will do that. Remember with Select, even arriving at the correct time with a booking there can still be a short wait (especially show end time).

 

If you want more flexibility simply don't book! As long as you don't arrive peak time you should be OK.

[Pier290]

Thx!!

 

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[MixerDave]

If you go to your cruise summary - under "my cruise Extras" you will see a link to "order Summary". select that and you will see all your select dining reservations. You will see they allow a 2 hour window -

[MixerDave]

Are they flexible if we ever arrive a little early or a little late to our reserved select dining times??

 

Example....reservations at 7.... if we show up at 6:45.....will they seat us or make us wait til 7 or just depends??

 

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Set your reservation for 6:45 - they will block out 6:45 to 8:45

[kencr]

We were on Silhouette ( Baltic cruise) last May ,We never made reservations , We Arrived at any time on deck 4 starboard side. We never waited more 2 minutes. Last Sept. on a Vancouver to Hawaii cruise on Solstice select diners were mixed with people with reservations and was not pretty. The ships maybe identical but not how they are run.

[PatC]

We were on Silhouette ( Baltic cruise) last May ,We never made reservations , We Arrived at any time on deck 4 starboard side. We never waited more 2 minutes. Last Sept. on a Vancouver to Hawaii cruise on Solstice select diners were mixed with people with reservations and was not pretty. The ships maybe identical but not how they are run.

 

Agree. We did Select twice before then sailed Equinox and it was crazy. While we did finally get our reservation time, on Eclipse and Silhouette there were 2 stations, one for reservations and 1 for walk-ups. Eclipse and Silhouette never had any issues with people complaining on our cruises but Equinox was just, plain messy. You either showed at "your time" or you were handed the old clicker to wait. Maybe they cut back on that "extra" desk but it sure made folks not happy. First time we saw this happen.

[Hlitner]

We love Select Dining because it allows us to eat when we please. Since we are happy to share a large table (a great way to meet new friends) and generally dine at 8 or later....we seldom have a long wait. While we understand some who desire reservations (especially valuable if you are traveling with a group) we find it defeats the purpose of Select. On most nights we never know when we will want to dine until we do :). Many times we will be enjoying cocktails at the Martini Bar, get into some conversations with other barmates....and love knowing we can just leave the bar when we please...to go to dinner. Its nice not having a schedule.

 

Hank

[kevinyork]

We love Select Dining because it allows us to eat when we please. Since we are happy to share a large table (a great way to meet new friends) and generally dine at 8 or later....we seldom have a long wait. While we understand some who desire reservations (especially valuable if you are traveling with a group) we find it defeats the purpose of Select. On most nights we never know when we will want to dine until we do :). Many times we will be enjoying cocktails at the Martini Bar, get into some conversations with other barmates....and love knowing we can just leave the bar when we please...to go to dinner. Its nice not having a schedule.

 

Hank

 

I totally agree that making reservations defeats the benefit of Select Dining. However, we feel we've been pushed into doing so now. All our 6 x 14 night cruises have been on Eclipse. The first couple of trips we didn't reserve times and were accommodated whenever we turned up on our requested table for 2. As the trips have gone on though they seemed to be increasingly giving out buzzers whereas we hadn't even seen buzzers on the first couple of cruises. So, we felt we would have to start making reservations.

 

On our last cruise in Sep, we had 7.30 reservations each night. We would have a pre-dinner cocktail in the Martini Bar and then go into dinner at 7.30 however the first few nights they gave us a buzzer. Its a bit of a pain since having had your pre-dinner drink and given up your seats you don't really want to go back to a bar again. The Martini Bar was full of people with buzzers and you could hear them beeping around you. One couple we chatted to who hadn't reserved times said they were given a buzzer every evening of the cruise. Another couple were told on 2 nights that they would have to share a table for 8 or eat elsewhere as there was no availability.

 

So whilst many seem to have a flexible experience with Select and can turn up when they desire and be seated pretty quickly, our experience of this 'flexibility' has certainly worsened. Hence the reason we now feel compelled to make reservations. IMO they should remove the reservation facility so everyone in Select is on the same level playing field and to increase the flexibility again. On a more contentious note I also think that Select dining should be for Select diners and late comers to their traditional early or late dining slot (happened on Eclipse several times), those allocated to Blu and those allocated to Luminae should be asked to stick to their allocated dining rooms and not put more pressure on Select dining.

[pamssanity]

Flexible. Usually (operative adjective) one does not need to make reservations outside of feeling secure.

 

Anytime dining, is what it means with or without reservation.

 

As can happen even with reservation, there may be a short wait if diners are still lingering at the table...

 

bon voyagae

I never like to disagree with other posters, but, we have done many cruises with select or anytime dining. My experience has been to make reservations as soon as you board for your whole trip. I usually determine time by what time we need to be back on ship. Many do that. Without a reservation you will be waiting on a line with any others. We like to have the same waiter so we make our reservations at or closest to the time we want.

[Bo1953]

I never like to disagree with other posters, but, we have done many cruises with select or anytime dining. My experience has been to make reservations as soon as you board for your whole trip. I usually determine time by what time we need to be back on ship. Many do that. Without a reservation you will be waiting on a line with any others. We like to have the same waiter so we make our reservations at or closest to the time we want.

That is a good approach, to be sure. That, wanting the same crew for service is a major reason we will wait and usually traveling with four (4) others, that can cause some wait time.

 

Bon voyage

 

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[Luvcrusn]

For me, wanting the same wait staff and a table for two at a specific time each night it would seem more suitable to choose traditional dining either early or late, since that would be guaranteed and there'd be no wait for a table and wait staff we desired. The only difference would be the ability to dine at a time other than 6 or 8:30. Choosing Select, I'd expect that sometimes a wait was necessary. Accommodating the whims of 2,000+ passengers would almost by definition necessitate at least sometimes a wait.

[mafig]

We have never made reservations. We tend to eat early and request a table for two.

 

After reading posts like those above, I did make reservations for the first evening, then I thought we'd make them as we were leaving for the next night. We want to do some specialty restaurants, don't know exactly what days we'll want to do those, so we thought we'd play it by ear. Will this be OK, you think?

[Luvcrusn]

We have never made reservations. We tend to eat early and request a table for two.

 

After reading posts like those above, I did make reservations for the first evening, then I thought we'd make them as we were leaving for the next night. We want to do some specialty restaurants, don't know exactly what days we'll want to do those, so we thought we'd play it by ear. Will this be OK, you think?

That sounds sensible.:)