Celebrity Select Dining Anytime

[PaperSniper4]

Our reservation invoice for the Eclipse sailing from LA in October 2023 shows " Open Seating". We are a party of four and would like to reserve a table for four as soon as possible. It's been some time since we've had anytime/open/whatever dining so I don't recall when we can book our dining time in the MDR.

 

When, and how can we book a dining time?

 

Thanks for the help!

 

 Doug

[marys350]

PaperSniper4,

Log into your reservation account on Celebrity's website. Select Manage Reservation, then select Dining, where you can make your anytime dining reservations for each day. Do it as soon as possible as certain dining times fill up fast. If you can't find a time that works for you, you can always go to the dining room on the first day and make reservations. We are cruising in September and we were able to make our pre-cruise reservations last summer.

Edited August 18, 2023 by marys350

[PaperSniper4]

2 hours ago, marys350 said:

PaperSniper4,

Log into your reservation account on Celebrity's website. Select Manage Reservation, then select Dining, where you can make your anytime dining reservations for each day. Do it as soon as possible as certain dining times fill up fast. If you can't find a time that works for you, you can always go to the dining room on the first day and make reservations. We are cruising in September and we were able to make our pre-cruise reservations last summer.

Thanks, but I already have done that; several times. When I click on "Manage Reservation", there is nothing for Dining other than "Dining Package". If I click on that, all I see are the specialty dining places. Perhaps we're trying to select dining times too early, as our cruise is actually 105 days from now, I mistakenly said less time earlier....must have been thinking of our October HAL cruise.

 

I wonder if I must use the phone app to make MDR reservations? I'll try that next.

 

 Doug.

[Cruise till you drop]

On 6/13/2023 at 7:02 PM, biebz said:

We chose CSDA so we were not locked into a dining time but I see on the app it says  "you will be able to book your My Time Dining time once on board." Does that mean we have to make a reservation time each night? Or can we just show up at the dining room each evening and get a table? 

We like Select dining for the ability to rotate between restaurants on the E class ships.  But we also like to dine at 6:45 or 7pm so we usually make these reservations well in advance of the cruise

 

PS - on the cruises we’ve done, we were able to book dining about 10-12 months in advance 

Edited August 18, 2023 by Cruise till you drop

[the penguins]

1 hour ago, PaperSniper4 said:

Thanks, but I already have done that; several times. When I click on "Manage Reservation", there is nothing for Dining other than "Dining Package". If I click on that, all I see are the specialty dining places. Perhaps we're trying to select dining times too early, as our cruise is actually 105 days from now, I mistakenly said less time earlier....must have been thinking of our October HAL cruise.

 

I wonder if I must use the phone app to make MDR reservations? I'll try that next.

 

 Doug.

You are on the right page just go right to the bottom and "hey presto" you will probably find Select Dining with a cost of zero. Annoyingly you have to reserve each day separately.

[Nemanoxer]

I need to make a reservation for MDRs on E Class when I selected Anytime Dining? Really?

[Oceangoer2]

44 minutes ago, Nemanoxer said:

I need to make a reservation for MDRs on E Class when I selected Anytime Dining? Really?

It's easier to get the time you'd like to dine.  You can dine anytime, but you might wait during the more popular times for a table.  Most just walk in ANYTIME...😉.

[PaperSniper4]

2 hours ago, Nemanoxer said:

I need to make a reservation for MDRs on E Class when I selected Anytime Dining? Really?

 

3 hours ago, the penguins said:

You are on the right page just go right to the bottom and "hey presto" you will probably find Select Dining with a cost of zero. Annoyingly you have to reserve each day separately.

I did a search on that page - the only "select" is where it says "select country". Is there some reason perhaps my ship (Eclipse) doesn't have Select/Open/Anytime/Whatever-I-Select dining? My cruise invoice simply says "Open Seating".

 

I guess I'm going to have to call Celebrity and spend a couple of hours on hold.......Yipes!

 

 Doug

[the penguins]

8 hours ago, PaperSniper4 said:

 

I did a search on that page - the only "select" is where it says "select country". Is there some reason perhaps my ship (Eclipse) doesn't have Select/Open/Anytime/Whatever-I-Select dining? My cruise invoice simply says "Open Seating".

 

I guess I'm going to have to call Celebrity and spend a couple of hours on hold.......Yipes!

 

 Doug

Are you able to book a Speciality restaurant e.g Murano?

If you can go to the bottom of that page and you should find Select Dining.

If not the bookings haven't opened yet - which is unusual.

[PaperSniper4]

6 hours ago, the penguins said:

Are you able to book a Speciality restaurant e.g Murano?

If you can go to the bottom of that page and you should find Select Dining.

If not the bookings haven't opened yet - which is unusual.

Certainly an odd place to find it, but find it I did! Thanks for leading me to the page. I need to get my sister's reservation number to make the reservations, but hopefully I can get the time we want.

 

 Doug

[the penguins]

38 minutes ago, PaperSniper4 said:

Certainly an odd place to find it, but find it I did! Thanks for leading me to the page. I need to get my sister's reservation number to make the reservations, but hopefully I can get the time we want.

 

 Doug

A pleasure - always assumed X buried it there so people would book and pay for the Speciality restaurants instead of the free Select option.

[PaperSniper4]

2 minutes ago, the penguins said:

A pleasure - always assumed X buried it there so people would book and pay for the Speciality restaurants instead of the free Select option.

Ah HA, ya think?😉

[BlueSkiesTX]

On 6/14/2023 at 7:14 AM, Saturngrl said:

I always pre-book Select Dining times in Cruise Planner.  It saved us from long waits to be seated in the MDR on Reflection.  Others without reservations were provided beepers because the waits were well over an hour for many of them.  

We do the exact same thing. I have already pre-booked our Select Dining reservations for our December cruise. We get the same time, same table and same wait staff every night. No waiting. 

[PaperSniper4]

FYI

If you need to add people on another invoice/booking number to your dinner reservation, you will need their invoice number and also their date<s> of birth. That could be tricky sometimes with some of your friends, especially the ladies.....😉

 

 Doug

[Cruise till you drop]

On 8/19/2023 at 8:40 AM, PaperSniper4 said:

Certainly an odd place to find it, but find it I did! Thanks for leading me to the page. I need to get my sister's reservation number to make the reservations, but hopefully I can get the time we want.

 

 Doug

We’ve had limited success doing this and have had to rely on arranging dining when we board.  Celebrity system doesn’t let you link reservation numbers of other parties if you’ve booked with TA’s.  Very frustrating 

[ElmaLee]

1 hour ago, Cruise till you drop said:

We’ve had limited success doing this and have had to rely on arranging dining when we board.  Celebrity system doesn’t let you link reservation numbers of other parties if you’ve booked with TA’s.  Very frustrating 

We booked with a TA and managed to link accounts with our friends,  We then booked tables for 4.

[PaperSniper4]

7 hours ago, Cruise till you drop said:

We’ve had limited success doing this and have had to rely on arranging dining when we board.  Celebrity system doesn’t let you link reservation numbers of other parties if you’ve booked with TA’s.  Very frustrating 

I  was finally able to get a reservation in the MDR for the four of us. However, to do so I had to have the invoice number of the other couple along with their names and birth dates. It was not so simple as just requesting a table for four. I can see where sometimes it would be very difficult if not impractical to book since often we don't have invoice numbers or birth dates.  Not sure why Celebrity makes it so difficult to do that.

 

 Doug

[carbon]

Don't forget the time difference.  If you eat at 7pm CST a 6pm ship time might be just what you want.

[Mark_UK]

I'm new to Celebrity and will be on Apex in October. I'm down as "Select Dining Early" which I understand means we will be allocated a restaurant/table in one spot for the 10 days but can change on request. 

 

How does this work in practice if you want to try a new spot?

 

We'd have a strong preference for a table for 2 - how likely is that? On Royal I've usually been able to request in advance.

 

TIA!

 

[MisterMet]

On 6/13/2023 at 7:02 PM, biebz said:

We chose CSDA so we were not locked into a dining time but I see on the app it says  "you will be able to book your My Time Dining time once on board." Does that mean we have to make a reservation time each night? Or can we just show up at the dining room each evening and get a table? 

Pre book your reservation on the cruise planner on the website ahead of time.  We saw many people who did not have a reservation wait.  We never waited using pre book.  You may need to link reservations for those who are not traveling in your cabin if you want to eat with them. It is very easy.

[Cruise till you drop]

23 hours ago, PaperSniper4 said:

I  was finally able to get a reservation in the MDR for the four of us. However, to do so I had to have the invoice number of the other couple along with their names and birth dates. It was not so simple as just requesting a table for four. I can see where sometimes it would be very difficult if not impractical to book since often we don't have invoice numbers or birth dates.  Not sure why Celebrity makes it so difficult to do that.

 

 Doug

The plot thickens.  Up until recently, in my reservation on the website for a Jan 2024 cruise, there was a link to “Connect to Other Reservation”.  I was not able to make it connect to others cruising with us, but there was a link.

 

However today, that link is now gone.  I suspect it’s because we used a TA for that sailing.  The reason I suspect that is that I have a Jan 2025 cruise, we booked directly with Celebrity and it has the link.

 

Very strange for this to have changed all of a sudden

[PaperSniper4]

36 minutes ago, Cruise till you drop said:

The plot thickens.  Up until recently, in my reservation on the website for a Jan 2024 cruise, there was a link to “Connect to Other Reservation”.  I was not able to make it connect to others cruising with us, but there was a link.

 

However today, that link is now gone.  I suspect it’s because we used a TA for that sailing.  The reason I suspect that is that I have a Jan 2025 cruise, we booked directly with Celebrity and it has the link.

 

Very strange for this to have changed all of a sudden

When I added my BIL and sister to our dinner reservations, I believe the button said "Add Guests" or something like that. When I did that, I then needed to add one of their birth dates, name and invoice number.... or it might have been both. Can't remember now. Our reservations were made through the TA I usually use, but the records were not linked in any manner I could determine.

[Cruise till you drop]

6 minutes ago, PaperSniper4 said:

When I added my BIL and sister to our dinner reservations, I believe the button said "Add Guests" or something like that. When I did that, I then needed to add one of their birth dates, name and invoice number.... or it might have been both. Can't remember now. Our reservations were made through the TA I usually use, but the records were not linked in any manner I could determine.

I don’t disagree but sounds like you’ve already completed this task in the past.  Question is if you went there now, does it have the same link to Add Guests (mine said Connect to Other Reservation)

[PaperSniper4]

13 hours ago, Cruise till you drop said:

I don’t disagree but sounds like you’ve already completed this task in the past.  Question is if you went there now, does it have the same link to Add Guests (mine said Connect to Other Reservation)

Nope, only added their info for the first night's reservation, then I did the remaining nights' reservations with only "clicking" on their names which were now on the screen. Everything was simple to do once I had their invoice number, birth dates and names of course. I still think it very odd that I had to have their birth dates......this was for my sister and BIL, so I had them, but still..............................

 

 Doug