If early dining is sold out at booking...

[gold1953]

3 hours ago, the penguins said:

The original post was about Summit and as far as I know you can't book for Select Dining on any M or S Line ship once you are onboard. You certainly couldn't on Silhouette in May. Again Blu is different as I believe  you have your own assigned table and the only time you might have to wait is if too many passengers turn up at the sametime. 

no assigned tables in Blu

[the penguins]

6 hours ago, gold1953 said:

no assigned tables in Blu

Thanks for that.  No prebooking either?

[the penguins]

8 hours ago, stellarose said:

we were going to switch from early seating to anytime but TA said anytime is a pain in the butt to book so we changed back to early seating. phew.  I am sure you can still get it, don't give up.

Really easy to book Select, you do it yourself with very little hastle. Just annoying that if you want to book for every night as you have to do it one day at a time not in one hit. We find early to early and late far too late.

[gold1953]

4 hours ago, the penguins said:

Thanks for that.  No prebooking either?

right , no prebooking Blu. You just arrive when you want to eat

[the penguins]

Just now, gold1953 said:

right , no prebooking Blu. You just arrive when you want to eat

That's how I understood it. So the only reason for having to wait is when/if too many passengers turn up at the sametime. This also explains the lines that sometimes form outside Blu at breakfast resulting in passengers swopping to the Elite breakfast in Tuscan or v.v.

[gold1953]

1 minute ago, the penguins said:

That's how I understood it. So the only reason for having to wait is when/if too many passengers turn up at the sametime. This also explains the lines that sometimes form outside Blu at breakfast resulting in passengers swopping to the Elite breakfast in Tuscan or v.v.

usually lines are when they open; It doesn't take long to see the dynamics on each cruise. I have never had to wait for breakfast other than the opening line which moves fast. We eat a full hot breakfast at 8 and then pop into Tuscan for a beverage at 9:30

[the penguins]

6 minutes ago, gold1953 said:

usually lines are when they open; It doesn't take long to see the dynamics on each cruise. I have never had to wait for breakfast other than the opening line which moves fast. We eat a full hot breakfast at 8 and then pop into Tuscan for a beverage at 9:30

Wow 8.0am, that's when I have my first Latte of the day in the Al Bacio, then Tuscan at around 9.15 for breakfast. 

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

13 hours ago, stellarose said:

TA said anytime is a pain in the butt to book

 

Very curious about what they mean by that. Anytime is an option just like Early or Late - they just click the box. No more of a pain in the butt than booking the cruise.

 

As far as making reservations, I've had no issues doing that. Yes, it used to be that you had to do a day, check out; do a day, check out; and so forth - so a little time consuming, but not horrible. Lately, though, I've been able to go in and book all the days before checking out so it's a lot easier.

[Ipeeinthepools]

On 9/30/2022 at 7:47 AM, NJRonbo said:

Hey all!

 

Still looking at booking the Summit for June or July next year.

Already, on all the sailings we looked at, early dining is sold out.

So, okay, I can pick ANYTIME dining.  Problem solved, yes?

Well, actually is it?  Will I experience long lines for dinner if I arrive when the restaurant opens given the early dining spots are spoken for?

Are reserved early dining passengers given priority over anytime dining?  Or, are they located in separate areas of the dining room?

If you really want early dining call during the week and tell them you are thinking about canceling if they can’t assign early dining.  Have them reach out to the ships reservations department and ask them to assign you to early dining.   There’s about a 99% chance this will work.

 

Good Luck

 

FWIW,  we were on the Summit in May and the staff really was having a hard time with Select dining.   There was always a long wait 

[gold1953]

3 hours ago, WrittenOnYourHeart said:

 

Very curious about what they mean by that. Anytime is an option just like Early or Late - they just click the box. No more of a pain in the butt than booking the cruise.

 

As far as making reservations, I've had no issues doing that. Yes, it used to be that you had to do a day, check out; do a day, check out; and so forth - so a little time consuming, but not horrible. Lately, though, I've been able to go in and book all the days before checking out so it's a lot easier.

I waited and was not able to make reservations. I was told that due to this being anytime dining that there needs to be tables for walk ins. This is the reason for a cut off for bookings

[the penguins]

2 hours ago, gold1953 said:

I waited and was not able to make reservations. I was told that due to this being anytime dining that there needs to be tables for walk ins. This is the reason for a cut off for bookings

Correct, you can't book on the ship only online pre cruise. 

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

3 hours ago, gold1953 said:

I waited and was not able to make reservations. I was told that due to this being anytime dining that there needs to be tables for walk ins. This is the reason for a cut off for bookings

 

Yeah, you can't make reservations once on board. But you can before the cruise using your planner. And it's not a "pain in the butt" - unless maybe you're trying to make them for a popular time too close to the cruise when people have already made theirs.