Open Dining and Aqua Class on the Edge (Sept 11) Advice/Tips?

[Realblonde474]

Hi y'all!!!  We just rearranged our travel plans and are sailing on the EDGE on 9/11.  We booked AQUA class with OPEN dining. 

 

As we had never had either one of these before on our many cruises,  can anyone give me some tips/how-to's on how to make the best of these options? 

 

I think I might miss our standard late sitting with the same table group each night BUT my husband is thrilled 😃

 

See you soon and thanks in advance for your help!  Can't wait to sail again!!!!

 

Donna

 

[dkjretired]

When you get to your room there will be a note there explaining the dining.  They will ask you the first night to come at a specific  time but you can just ignore that, most people do.   The open dining just simply means you go whenever you want, certain hours might be busier.   Aqua is your assigned dining room, you do not have a spot in the MDR.    Just go and enjoy, most tables are two tops but close enough that you can speak to others.   You can also have the same waiter and seating location if you go at around the same times every night.   

[jelayne]

Make sure to try Blu for breakfast. 
 

We have sailed in Aqua Class many times and love Blu.  Most people are creatures of habit and tend to dine at about the same time every evening.  We find we are frequently seated by the same couples every evening and have many enjoyable meals with our almost table mates.

[Mike45LC]

Although you may eat at Blu, you are also allowed to eat in any of the four Main Dining Rooms (plus the specialty restaurants).  I was not thrilled with Blu on our first (and so far, only) Edge cruise, and I wanted to try each of the four Main Dining Rooms.  So we did the other four restaurants as "Anytime Dining" and just walked in without reservations.  We were treated well and seated promptly in each case.

[curtsfan]

On 8/19/2021 at 7:09 AM, Realblonde474 said:

Hi y'all!!!  We just rearranged our travel plans and are sailing on the EDGE on 9/11.  We booked AQUA class with OPEN dining. 

 

As we had never had either one of these before on our many cruises,  can anyone give me some tips/how-to's on how to make the best of these options? 

 

I think I might miss our standard late sitting with the same table group each night BUT my husband is thrilled 😃

 

See you soon and thanks in advance for your help!  Can't wait to sail again!!!!

 

Donna

 

We were in AquaClass two weeks ago in the Edge.  We loved Blu.  To be honest, it was less congested then the traditional dining rooms, which was fine with us.  There were a couple of nights that we didn’t like anything on Blu’s menu, but they let us choose off the traditional dining menus.  We went to dinner whenever we felt like going, and it was never a problem.  As someone mentioned, they asked us to come to dinner the 1st night at 6:30, but we never arrived until 7:15.  Which wasn’t a problem.  We also had the same table & waitstaff in Blu for both breakfast & lunch.

[miched]

Go outside the lines.   Try stuff that you would never make or harder to make. 
 

Having sailed in AQ many time the menu may be the same but the cooks aren’t.  It is like bartenders,  they all make the drinks different even though it should be the same recipe. 
 
The  first time soft crab was offered as a appetizer it was fantastic.  On  another cruise it was burnt to a crisp like the dregs at the bottom of Mickey  D French Fry cooker.   The next time it was very greasy and sopping with grease, smelled  bad and tasted like rotten seafood. I politely spit it out and left it.   Never ordered to again 

 

One  time my wife decided on a whim to try the meatloaf as she got bored with the other stuff and Hong she has ever ordered, It was fantastic.   The next cruise she looked forward to having it.   It was totally different and not as good 

 

If you don’t like it you can always change to something else or just leave it. Guaranteed you won’t starve on a cruise.  

 

Enjoy it and don’t chase after other people’s likes or dislikes.   We got burned by them too many times.  And that may have been because of the cook 

 

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅