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Main Dinning Room - Length Of Dinner Question


ultimatehometeam
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We have an upcoming cruise on the silhouette and are currently booked for 6:15pm dinner time. 

How long does dinner take? We typically don't stay up very late and are concerned that we will be falling asleep during the 9pm show lol. I know, I know. 

Is there any way to eat quickly and still make it to the 7pm show? 

It sounds like from reading this great forum many people take 1.5 hours to eat in the main dinning room?

 

I know anytime dinning opens earlier at 5:30 however that option is completely booked. 

Maybe we can talk to someone on embarkation in the dinning room?

 

Thanks for the help & advice!

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  • ultimatehometeam changed the title to Main Dinning Room - Length Of Dinner Question

You will need a table for two ( if available) and I am not sure if you can have dinner served that quickly. Usually late diners go to the early show. On our last cruise our waiter kept suggesting that we come at 5:45 . He was always in a rush to get us in an out. We always went for 6:15. Check when you board. The main courses may not be ready as early as you like

There is an option to eat at the buffet

 

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Gotcha, That is what I figured. 

Does anytime dinning actually start earlier? I am seeing 5:30 some places and 6pm other places?

Anyone ever have success moving from 6:15 to anytime once boarding?

Not sure if that would help.

 

Thanks everyone for any help!

Edited by ultimatehometeam
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Hi. This depends in part on how many courses you order and how many are at your table. We don't do pre-scheduled times for dinner, but DH and I have made it to the early show by going to the MDR just after 5:30 and telling the wait staff we plan to go to the 7 pm show.  Not a leisurely dining experience but we do make it to the early show.

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5 minutes ago, ultimatehometeam said:

 

Anyone ever have success moving from 6:15 to anytime once boarding?

 

Thanks everyone for the advice!

A call to Captain's Club will probably get you on the waitlist for Select then go straight to MDR upon boarding to inquire about switching. If they say no, check each night to see if space has opened up. Good luck and have a fantastic cruise.

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No, I don’t think you stand a chance of making a 7.00pm show with that dining time. How about just choosing a few shows that you really want to see, and then eating in the buffet those nights? Then on your non-show nights you can enjoy a leisurely dinner. There will be entertainment in bars and lounges in the evening so you could do that after dinner instead of the theatre show. 

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You definitely won't make the show, but I do believe if you go to the MDR on the first day and ask to move to Select with a 5:30 PM reservation, you have a very good chance of getting that. They will probably request that you do show up at that time, though. If you eat at 5:30 you'll easily make the 7 PM show.

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You could probably manage it if you just order an entree and ask the staff to bring it right away. Sort of defeats the idea of an elegant, ,leisurely dinner however. I would try to switch to Select on the day you board, although that would be a little tight too. As others have said, there is always the option of the buffet.

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Additionally, the dining times can change from cruise to cruise, itinerary to itinerary. Also, the show times can change. Try not to panic and know that once you board, you can go to the Manager's Desk at the Select Dining Room and ask to be wait listed. It's not as impossible as it may seem; other passengers may want out of Select and into Traditional dining, so have faith and I hope it works out for you. 😊

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Thanks everyone... sorry about misspelling dining in the thread it won't let me update at this point.

 

We are not to worried about it. If we end up at the late show it might work just fine. We don't want to rush as many of you mentioned. We will figure it out. It's a vacation after all!

 

Just my wife doesn't like staying up until 11:30pm... neither do I for that matter especially after all the activity, food, and drinks. We like to be up early for B fast etc. 

 

Thanks again!

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We are the same, vacation or not!  Up early and to bed early.  We’ve done 3 Celebrity cruises this year on 3 different ships and each time have gone to the dining room for 5.30 pm for our Select table for 2. We have been given the same servers (and usually the same table) on subsequent nights and they soon know that we like to catch the 7 pm show - as do many others dining at that time - and have no trouble accommodating this.

 

 We generally have the 3 courses and sometimes coffee, and do not feel rushed.

Edited by mrsgoggins
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30 minutes ago, ultimatehometeam said:

Thanks everyone... sorry about misspelling dining in the thread it won't let me update at this point.

 

We are not to worried about it. If we end up at the late show it might work just fine. We don't want to rush as many of you mentioned. We will figure it out. It's a vacation after all!

 

Just my wife doesn't like staying up until 11:30pm... neither do I for that matter especially after all the activity, food, and drinks. We like to be up early for B fast etc. 

 

Thanks again!

Keep in mind that the 7 and 9 o'clock shows are both only about 45 minutes long, so the 9PM show will be over before 10. Sometimes there's an additional late night show at 10:30 that is different than the two early shows. So even if you go to the 9PM show you won't be staying up until 11:30 PM unless you want to!

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We enjoyed a number of cruises where they had a show at 8 pm and then at 10:30. This suited us fine as we don’t like to eat our dinner late afternoon, we prefer to have a dinner after 8 pm. We found that having a dinner time of 8.15 still gave us two hours for dinner and 15 minutes to get to the show.  We have always found the restaurant staff to be very accommodating with regard to how long people want to spend eating and if you want a quick service they will normally oblige and they somehow managed to do it without you feeling rushed. If you let them know what you want and what you expect, they are normally very keen to help you. 

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9 hours ago, ultimatehometeam said:

 

Anyone ever have success moving from 6:15 to anytime once boarding?

Not sure if that would help.

 

Thanks everyone for any help!

 

Select dining shows as 6-10pm in our cruise planner. However, we typically arrive around 5:45 and have been promptly seated and orders taken. When we want to go to the 7pm show we let our waiters know and we skip desert. 

 

We've been successful with changing to anytime while onboard. As others recommend, request to be waitlisted. We were switched to anytime via the waitlist on at least 1 cruise that I can recall. On another occasion we went directly to the MDR upon boarding to check on our request to change and were informed they'd need check to see if this is possible and to please keep the current seating for the 1st night. By the 2nd night we received a notice in our room telling us we were switched to select. I've met more than a couple of people who say they just showed up on the select side of the restaurant to ask to be seated and they were accommodated. There are always people with specialty restaurant reservation, making those tables available.  

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6 hours ago, ultimatehometeam said:

Thanks everyone... sorry about misspelling dining in the thread it won't let me update at this point.

 

We are not to worried about it. If we end up at the late show it might work just fine. We don't want to rush as many of you mentioned. We will figure it out. It's a vacation after all!

 

Just my wife doesn't like staying up until 11:30pm... neither do I for that matter especially after all the activity, food, and drinks. We like to be up early for B fast etc. 

 

Thanks again!

I think going to the late show will happily have you in bed by 11:30.  Enjoy your cruise.

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9 hours ago, HeddaGarbled said:

No, I don’t think you stand a chance of making a 7.00pm show with that dining time. How about just choosing a few shows that you really want to see, and then eating in the buffet those nights? Then on your non-show nights you can enjoy a leisurely dinner. There will be entertainment in bars and lounges in the evening so you could do that after dinner instead of the theatre show. 

 

Sounds like a good plan! Remember you can also order room service from the MDR menu....

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23 hours ago, ultimatehometeam said:

We have an upcoming cruise on the silhouette and are currently booked for 6:15pm dinner time. 

How long does dinner take? We typically don't stay up very late and are concerned that we will be falling asleep during the 9pm show lol. I know, I know. 

Is there any way to eat quickly and still make it to the 7pm show? 

It sounds like from reading this great forum many people take 1.5 hours to eat in the main dinning room?

 

I know anytime dinning opens earlier at 5:30 however that option is completely booked. 

Maybe we can talk to someone on embarkation in the dinning room?

 

Thanks for the help & advice!

 

We had open seating in the main dining room and ended up just going to the Ocean View Cafe for dinner about the last 5 days of our 15 night cruise.  We just found the tables were too large and the room too noisy to have a good conversation with people but it also bothered us that we'd always be seated at an empty table for 8 when we got there and then we'd have to wait for the other 6 people to arrive before we'd be served.   So we started going to the cafeteria in the evening and I have to say, we loved it.  There were no crowds, no line-ups and the food was, of course, fabulous.  I enjoyed being able to load up on as many vegetables as I wanted.  I always find the dining room and specialty restaurants tend to be a bit stingy on the veggies.

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We have found that even if you request and are assigned a table for 2, are able to  order promptly and skip dessert,   the waiters will wait for adjacent tables to be seated and  give their orders before things really start... 

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1 hour ago, jamacka said:

 

We had open seating in the main dining room and ended up just going to the Ocean View Cafe for dinner about the last 5 days of our 15 night cruise.  We just found the tables were too large and the room too noisy to have a good conversation with people but it also bothered us that we'd always be seated at an empty table for 8 when we got there and then we'd have to wait for the other 6 people to arrive before we'd be served.   So we started going to the cafeteria in the evening and I have to say, we loved it.  There were no crowds, no line-ups and the food was, of course, fabulous.  I enjoyed being able to load up on as many vegetables as I wanted.  I always find the dining room and specialty restaurants tend to be a bit stingy on the veggies.

.. We love the evening buffet as well for the same reasons//    another Nova Scotian here!!

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14 minutes ago, gold1953 said:

.. We love the evening buffet as well for the same reasons//    another Nova Scotian here!!

 

 

Also, we enjoyed not dressing for dinner.   I always find the ship cold in the evening and I don't want to hang out in a dress when I'm out socializing and having fun so I'd always got back to the room to change into something more comfortable.  LOL.  A laid back evening.  Plus, the buffet has that incredible stir-fry station.  We ate that almost every night.  LOL

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