Heads Up: the Beyond no longer offers fixed early or late dining

[cecelia0613]

This is what the Celebrity website says and it still says you select, early, late or anytime dining.  I would imagine if they are changing this we would all be told and if not it would be mass confusion on day one of the cruise.  I'm going to call to check it out.

 

Celebrity Select Dining

 

On our Celebrity Edge® Series ships, we may have reinvented the main restaurant experience with four restaurants, but we haven’t changed the way you plan your dining in these restaurants. Now, you can choose Celebrity Select Dining Early or Celebrity Select Dining Late, and you’ll be assigned one of the four main dining restaurants, while having the option to dine in the other three upon request. Choose Celebrity Select Dining Anytime, and you can dine in any of the four restaurants when you want. There’s nothing traditional about dining with us. With Celebrity Select Dining the choice of how you plan your evening meals is up to you.

 

[RichYak]

21 minutes ago, cecelia0613 said:

I'm going to call to check it out.

[BEAV]

5 hours ago, RichYak said:

This entire thread details what is happening and in all likelihood has more current information than any customer service rep you speak to. Why waste your and their time?

 

Totally agree. The reps working the phones only know what their computer tells them. Live posts/threads such as this are far more valuable. 

[dadofjessie]

7 minutes ago, BEAV said:

 

Totally agree. The reps working the phones only know what their computer tells them. Live posts/threads such as this are far more valuable. 

I disagree with the statement that threads such as this are more valuable.  I called and spoke to an agent who spoke to a supervisor and they both assured me that my early seating would be honoured. My paperwork for the Beyond says, early dining (6:00 pm) and that’s what it will be. If Celebrity were to change a policy as important as this without telling customers in advance it would be the biggest catastrophe for them and their customers. 

[kwokpot]

Just now, dadofjessie said:

I disagree with the statement that threads such as this are more valuable.  I called and spoke to an agent who spoke to a supervisor and they both assured me that my early seating would be honoured. My paperwork for the Beyond says, early dining (6:00 pm) and that’s what it will be. If Celebrity were to change a policy as important as this without telling customers in advance it would be the biggest catastrophe for them and their customers. 

Don't you realize they did just that for the October 26th sailing?

 

[RichYak]

14 minutes ago, dadofjessie said:

If Celebrity were to change a policy as important as this without telling customers in advance it would be the biggest catastrophe for them and their customers. 

Enjoy your catastrophe... I mean cruise.

[cecelia0613]

A lot of rudeness on this thread.  Just because someone on the internet says it’s true doesn’t mean it’s true.  Thus why people should check it out for themselves.  I get that most on here think they are experts…
 

I attempted to make reservations for my sailing and it won’t let me says I already have a reservation.

[xamsx]

I have not read this whole thread, buuuut....

We just got off a TA on the Constellation. Our booking stated a 6pm set dining time. When we got to our room our "dining room invitation" showed us with anytime dining.

We showed up at the anytime dining room (still confused) and ended up with terrific dinner companions that night (who also had a 6pm time, and were switched to anytime dining). We asked the seating hostess if we could continue with that table. She agreed  and gave the six of us that table at 5:45pm for the entire cruise.

It all worked out.

That first night, ask the hostess to give you a set time and table.

If Celebrity pulls the dining switcheroo on us again (we are on the Connie again in a few weeks), we will try that the first night and see what happens or bail and find other choices.
 

[terrydtx]

On 10/27/2022 at 12:31 PM, PTC DAWG said:

I doubt I would cruise at all anymore if I had to sit at the same table at the same time with the same folks every night…

 

I don’t even know what time I will eat tonight…much less on my next cruise. 

We stopped doing traditional fixed dining years ago when we were stuck with tablemates who were 100% jerks, and the Maitre D wouldn't move us because of a sold-out cruise. 10 days of pure hell and several nights in the OV. We now dine when we want not when they tell us too.

Edited November 8, 2022 by terrydtx

[dadofjessie]

3 hours ago, cecelia0613 said:

A lot of rudeness on this thread.  Just because someone on the internet says it’s true doesn’t mean it’s true.  Thus why people should check it out for themselves.  I get that most on here think they are experts…
 

I attempted to make reservations for my sailing and it won’t let me says I already have a reservation.

Agreed!

[RichYak]

3 hours ago, cecelia0613 said:

rudeness on this thread.

On this we agree. A well respected member of Cruise Critic generously takes time away from his cruise to alert others of the dining situation on Beyond, is corroborated by others, and is then dismissed by a few who openly announce their distrust. That's incredibly rude. One reaps what they sow.

[dlh015]

5 minutes ago, RichYak said:

On this we agree. A well respected member of Cruise Critic generously takes time away from his cruise to alert others of the dining situation on Beyond, is corroborated by others, and is then dismissed by a few who openly announce their distrust. That's incredibly rude. One reaps what they sow.

Could not agree more. Have held back...wouldn't want to lecture. 😄

[sanger727]

On 10/27/2022 at 2:33 PM, SusieV said:

GIven that my family has life threatening allergies... now I'm wondering if it's safe for us to sail E Class at all. Having the same waitstaff be familiar with allergies makes our life much less stressful and having to explain them to everyone each day would detract significantly from our enjoyment of the cruise.

 

This is a tad bit dramatic. You can still request the same waitstaff every night; worst case you may have a short wait. Also, if the Maitre'd accommodates your allergy for breakfast and lunch, I'm not sure why it would be unsafe for dinner....

 

I think that this is a great change. We always choose anytime dining. When we have sailed on Norwegian which is all anytime dining vs Celebrity when it is some anytime dining; there's a noticeable difference. When the whole ship is anytime dining there are much fewer lines and less waiting. They have the whole ship to give to anytime dining instead of select areas of dining room. And there are no wasted tables reserved for early/late diners who are dining elsewhere on the ship. 

Edited November 8, 2022 by sanger727

[cw2go]

4 hours ago, cecelia0613 said:

A lot of rudeness on this thread.  Just because someone on the internet says it’s true doesn’t mean it’s true.  Thus why people should check it out for themselves.  I get that most on here think they are experts…
 

I attempted to make reservations for my sailing and it won’t let me says I already have a reservation.

This is because you need to have Any Time Dining designated not early or late. Then you'll be able to reserve your dining times for each night. 

[NutsAboutGolf]

3 minutes ago, sanger727 said:

 

This is a tad bit dramatic. You can still request the same waitstaff every night; worst case you may have a short wait. Also, if the Maitre'd accommodates your allergy for breakfast and lunch, I'm not sure why it would be unsafe for dinner....

 

I find most waitstaff above average and occasionally exceptional yet other pax usually do as well so there's often a wait for their section and if it's long we'll pass in favor of being seated immediately.  Wanted to point out it seems nearly every meal, regardless if it's the same staff or not, seems on some ships that the wait staff asks if we have any allergies (I don't).  Always felt that there should be a better automated way but then again, asking every meal reduces the odds of a mistake being made.

[cw2go]

13 hours ago, dadofjessie said:

I disagree with the statement that threads such as this are more valuable.  I called and spoke to an agent who spoke to a supervisor and they both assured me that my early seating would be honoured. My paperwork for the Beyond says, early dining (6:00 pm) and that’s what it will be. If Celebrity were to change a policy as important as this without telling customers in advance it would be the biggest catastrophe for them and their customers. 

 

Wish you the best but when you hit a snafu remember you were warned. The reps in call centers are not on ships as the Original Poster and many others are/were. Banking on what the Celebrity Reps say is the "catastrophe" waiting to happen. 

 

[kwokpot]

4 minutes ago, cw2go said:

 

Wish you the best but when you hit a snafu remember you were warned. The reps in call centers are not on ships as the Original Poster and many others are/were. Banking on what the Celebrity Reps say is the "catastrophe" waiting to happen. 

 

Today is the first revenue cruise after the travel agent FAM tours and the 10/26 sailing. If the dining situation is the same for this sailing you can be assured it's a permanent change. 

[BEAV]

3 minutes ago, cw2go said:

 

Wish you the best but when you hit a snafu remember you were warned. The reps in call centers are not on ships as the Original Poster and many others are/were. Banking on what the Celebrity Reps say is the "catastrophe" waiting to happen. 

 

…I’ll add that I don’t fault the call center reps for not having “cutting edge” info 24/7. As has been mentioned on this thread, IT simply hasn’t created a way to exclude Beyond from the rest of the fleet. 
I remember when Aqua class was first introduced, people could still book first/second seating even though AQ has always been open seating. Is that still the case? 🤔
 

If this is going to be a permanent situation on Beyond, I don’t hold hope anytime soon that IT will “fix” in the computer system. This is one reason I don’t fault call center agents for not being up to speed with reality what’s going on onboard the fleet. 

[hrhdhd]

1 hour ago, RichYak said:

On this we agree. A well respected member of Cruise Critic generously takes time away from his cruise to alert others of the dining situation on Beyond, is corroborated by others, and is then dismissed by a few who openly announce their distrust. That's incredibly rude. One reaps what they sow.

Each of us is entitled to decide who is "well respected" based on our perspective and experience.

[RichYak]

33 minutes ago, hrhdhd said:

Each of us is entitled to decide who is "well respected" based on our perspective and experience.

Wow, we've reached an entirely new level of rudeness. At lest you admit to being entitled.

[foodsvcmgr]

Has open seating only been found to be the case on any other ship at present?

[hrhdhd]

1 hour ago, RichYak said:

Wow, we've reached an entirely new level of rudeness. At lest [sic] you admit to being entitled.

Yes, thanks. I'll make my own decisions about whose posts I take with a grain of salt. I am sure you do the same.

[jwlane]

Have we seen a post where this change has negatively impacted a guest's ability to be seated in a MDR at their desired time?

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

18 hours ago, kwokpot said:

Don't you realize they did just that for the October 26th sailing?

 

 

THIS! My TA was on the sailing and I specifically asked her about it. She said that as far as she had been informed it was TEMPORARY.

[2Long2NxtCrz]

On 11/7/2022 at 11:41 AM, taylortime05 said:

I selected fixed early dining time for our Dec 11th Beyond sailing.  I just checked the 4 complimentary restaurants for our cruise and the only time available is 9:00 PM.  We do not eat dinner that late.  It’s frustrating. 

We booked that sailing two weeks ago and I noticed the same thing. I usually make all of our reservations as soon as they open, but this was very last minute so I couldn't. I like to book 6:30pm consistently so that we get the same servers every night. With the Beyond's four different MDRs, that won't be possible. And the only open reservations were very late. I'm hopeful that I can get that fixed once we get on board. At least I'm going to try. I did take those 8pm reservations so that I had reservations at least, but, yeah, I don't like to eat that late!