Early seating closed a year before the cruise?

[greggrass]

Hi all-- we just booked the May 26, 2022 sailing of the Celebrity Infinity from Venice to Rome through the Greek Islands and Turkey which we are excited about.  The thing that seems odd to me is that this far out Celebrity is only allowing people to book Select Dining or the second (late) seating.  We prefer early and to have the same wait staff every night.  It seems odd that it would be closed this far out.  Does anyone know whether Celebrity might hold the early seating and only release the seats later on?  I know we can go to the Maitre D the first night and try to sort it out but I'd rather straighten it out before hand, especially since it's so far off. 

Any thoughts?

[wrk2cruise]

Get yourself on the wait list for your desired seating.  Most times your wait list request will be cleared long before sailing.

[greggrass]

38 minutes ago, wrk2cruise said:

Get yourself on the wait list for your desired seating.  Most times your wait list request will be cleared long before sailing.

That was another weird thing. TA said Celebrity wasn't giving an option of a wait list. Maybe I should just call Celebrity directly. Thanks.

[pixiedust777]

Have you looked at what time the ship is ports of call until?
If the ship is in port until after after the early dining seating maybe they scrapped the early seating so that guests would not have to cut their days in port short.

The early birds back to the ship can choose anytime dining.

 

[1025cruise]

42 minutes ago, greggrass said:

That was another weird thing. TA said Celebrity wasn't giving an option of a wait list. Maybe I should just call Celebrity directly. Thanks.

Celebrity will just tell you to talk to your TA as they own your reservation.

[WestLakeGirl]

I have never heard ofCelebrity scrapping a dinner time option

[mahdnc]

2 hours ago, greggrass said:

Hi all-- we just booked the May 26, 2022 sailing of the Celebrity Infinity from Venice to Rome through the Greek Islands and Turkey which we are excited about.  The thing that seems odd to me is that this far out Celebrity is only allowing people to book Select Dining or the second (late) seating.  We prefer early and to have the same wait staff every night.  It seems odd that it would be closed this far out.  Does anyone know whether Celebrity might hold the early seating and only release the seats later on?  I know we can go to the Maitre D the first night and try to sort it out but I'd rather straighten it out before hand, especially since it's so far off. 

Any thoughts?

 

We also choose early seating (traditional dining) for all our cruises and have seen early seating become unavailable quickly on our Christmas cruises.  

 

I did notice that for your trip, Infinity shows early seating as being unavailable for the entire month of May and the first week of Jun so it would seem like something is going on that isn't related to demand. 

 

BTW, when I did the mock bookings on line, the option to be wait listed for Early Seating was available.

[greggrass]

15 minutes ago, mahdnc said:

 

We also choose early seating (traditional dining) for all our cruises and have seen early seating become unavailable quickly on our Christmas cruises.  

 

I did notice that for your trip, Infinity shows early seating as being unavailable for the entire month of May and the first week of Jun so it would seem like something is going on that isn't related to demand. 

 

BTW, when I did the mock bookings on line, the option to be wait listed for Early Seating was available.

Many thanks for looking into all that for me. I suspected something of the sort. I guess I'll just stay on top of it that way and if the option appears tell my TA to switch us from select. A call to Celebrity might be in order just to get the info about what's going on.

[BigAl94]

I'll be very surprised if Infinity is still in the fleet by then!

[greggrass]

34 minutes ago, BigAl94 said:

I'll be very surprised if Infinity is still in the fleet by then!

Oh? Why do you say that?

[BigAl94]

Just now, greggrass said:

Oh? Why do you say that?

Both Infinity and Constellation are in poor shape and are overdue major refurbishment. There were rumours they would be sold to a reformed Pullmantur, denied by RCL either way the pair of them are drifting around the Eastern Med and the popular opinion is that one way or another they await their fate. Celebrity will concentrate on the new builds and already refurbished ships.

[gerelmx]

4 hours ago, greggrass said:

Hi all-- we just booked the May 26, 2022 sailing of the Celebrity Infinity from Venice to Rome through the Greek Islands and Turkey which we are excited about.  The thing that seems odd to me is that this far out Celebrity is only allowing people to book Select Dining or the second (late) seating.  We prefer early and to have the same wait staff every night.  It seems odd that it would be closed this far out.  Does anyone know whether Celebrity might hold the early seating and only release the seats later on?  I know we can go to the Maitre D the first night and try to sort it out but I'd rather straighten it out before hand, especially since it's so far off. 

Any thoughts?

 

Maybe it's full, You can select waiting list or ask your TA to do that

[springfire]

We have a cruise on the Summit August 2022, early seating is not available.   Celebrity must have something new coming out.

[Cruise Wonderland]

Your TA should be able to put you on waitlist.

Waitlist option is still available now for this cruise.

If even the waitlist quota is full, the status will be shown as "Closed".

 

[greggrass]

1 hour ago, BigAl94 said:

Both Infinity and Constellation are in poor shape and are overdue major refurbishment. There were rumours they would be sold to a reformed Pullmantur, denied by RCL either way the pair of them are drifting around the Eastern Med and the popular opinion is that one way or another they await their fate. Celebrity will concentrate on the new builds and already refurbished ships.

We were on Constellation in October 2019 in the Western Med and it looked fine to us. I suppose as long as they can fill the ships and make a profit they'll run them. Personally, we would not like the new larger ships and would probably move to Holland America if they took the M class ships out.

[greggrass]

1 hour ago, Cruise Wonderland said:

Your TA should be able to put you on waitlist.

Waitlist option is still available now for this cruise.

If even the waitlist quota is full, the status will be shown as "Closed".

 

Thanks.

[greggrass]

I emailed the TA with the above information and asked him to put us on the wait list.  He isn't in today but I'm sure we'll work it out.  Thanks everybody.  

[DUTRAVEL]

You can always book Select Dining at the same time every night on your cruise planner for the time you prefer and ask the hostess on the first night to be seated at the same table. 

[greggrass]

My TA got us on the waitlist but I was talking to a friend this afternoon who tells me that on one of his European cruises when the ship was in port later than usual and there were several tender ports they did scrap the early seating because their experience was that there were too few people in the dining room at 6 to justify it.

[STLCRUISIN]

Maybe they are not sailing at 100% capacity so they are not having an early seating but rather Select Dining at any time from 5:30 on or an assigned table for late seating.

[greggrass]

14 hours ago, STLCRUISIN said:

Maybe they are not sailing at 100% capacity so they are not having an early seating but rather Select Dining at any time from 5:30 on or an assigned table for late seating.

Could be.  From the fact that they do have a wait list for early seating I'm deducing that they are still making up their corporate mind about what they want to do!

 

[justcrusn]

These days select does seem more popular. If you get waitlisted for early dining they will most likely accommodate you, if not then your first move on boarding is to see the Maitre d.

The worst outcome for you is select and you go whenever you want. We have found even with select they make an attempt to seat you with the same staff, they’re aware how a personal bond affects tipping!

Enjoy your cruise

[mahdnc]

15 hours ago, STLCRUISIN said:

Maybe they are not sailing at 100% capacity so they are not having an early seating but rather Select Dining at any time from 5:30 on or an assigned table for late seating.

But these cruises are almost 1 year away.  It would be surprising to me for Celebrity to concede that the ship will not be full that far in advance.

[Bo1953]

One can make reservations for their preferred time to dine with Select Dining, as well.

 

I believe the earliest time available is either 5.30p or 6p... just book that for the whole sailing and let the Maitre d' know you wish to have the same wait staff each night and they most likely can accommodate you.

 

bon appetite and bon voyage