Fixed time dining questions

[ccheng6401]

We will be cruising with Celebrity for the first time this Saturday. Reflection is pretty much sold out and we have a fixed time dining at 6pm for this cruise.  We are traveling with our friends and our bookings are linked. Does that mean we will be sitting at the same table or do I need to arrange that in advance or on the day of embarkation?  Can we pick a table?

 

What will happen if we are late for our dining?  Can we still go in or do we go to the anytime dining section?   If one night we decide not to go to the dining room, do we need to call the MDR to let them know? 

 

Thanks

[lydnsyd]

Usually if your bookings are linked then you will automatically be seated in the MDR together but it is worth double checking when you get onboard. You will get assigned a table and that will be the same table for the whole cruise. They are slightly flexible on timings & allow you to arrive a little later - I think 30 mins but no longer as they have to get ready for the 2nd seating passengers. If you decide one night not to dine in the MDR you don't have to call the MDR but it is a nice gesture just to let your waiter know.

If you don't want 6pm fixed seating even thought it is showing as full for the other Dining times call Celebrity to se if they can accommodate you - they may hold some back or will put you on a WL

On our last cruise we had anytime dining but got fed up being given a pager due to them being busy so 3 days into our cruise  we asked if we could move to Fixed and they were able to do that for us but it obviously depends on space available.

[gold1953]

if you are at a larger table  ( more than your group) always let the dining room know if you will be late or not going as they hold the other table mates from ordering until you arrive

[the penguins]

1 hour ago, lydnsyd said:

Usually if your bookings are linked then you will automatically be seated in the MDR together but it is worth double checking when you get onboard. You will get assigned a table and that will be the same table for the whole cruise. They are slightly flexible on timings & allow you to arrive a little later - I think 30 mins but no longer as they have to get ready for the 2nd seating passengers. If you decide one night not to dine in the MDR you don't have to call the MDR but it is a nice gesture just to let your waiter know.

If you don't want 6pm fixed seating even thought it is showing as full for the other Dining times call Celebrity to se if they can accommodate you - they may hold some back or will put you on a WL

On our last cruise we had anytime dining but got fed up being given a pager due to them being busy so 3 days into our cruise  we asked if we could move to Fixed and they were able to do that for us but it obviously depends on space available.

We love Any Time and always share with a table for 6 being our preferred table size. Just pre book a time and your pager woes will disappear.

[Miaminice]

2 hours ago, ccheng6401 said:

Can we still go in or do we go to the anytime dining section?   If one night we decide not to go to the dining room, do we need to call the MDR to let them know? 

 

2 x no 🙂
Can´t go to the anytime section, and no, you don´t have to let them know.

[cruisestitch]

4 hours ago, ccheng6401 said:

We will be cruising with Celebrity for the first time this Saturday. Reflection is pretty much sold out and we have a fixed time dining at 6pm for this cruise.  We are traveling with our friends and our bookings are linked. Does that mean we will be sitting at the same table or do I need to arrange that in advance or on the day of embarkation?  Can we pick a table?

 

it often means that you will be at the same table, but it’s not a guarantee so to check with the dining room on embarkation day. You probably won’t have much choice of table, but you can always
 

 

What will happen if we are late for our dining?  Can we still go in or do we go to the anytime dining section?   
 

they will certainly seat you if you are 15 minutes late but later than that, causes a real problem for the staff. So you would then need to go to the Buffet that night. You can’t just go to any time dining when you are assigned to fixed dining.

 

4 hours ago, ccheng6401 said:

If one night we decide not to go to the dining room, do we need to call the MDR to let them know? 
 

It’s not necessary to call them but if you know the night before that you won’t be there it’s polite to tell the waiters so they don’t wonder what’s going on. So if you book a specialty dining, let them know that you won’t be in the dining room.

 

 

[Alakegirl]

It throws the dinner service off if you arrive at your table too long after your assigned time.  Fifteen minutes is ok, half an hour is pushing it, but much later and you may find the door closed

[Difiroa676]

On 11/20/2023 at 12:36 PM, the penguins said:

We love Any Time and always share with a table for 6 being our preferred table size. Just pre book a time and your pager woes will disappear.

How do you book a time when you have Anytime dining? Can you do this well before the cruise or only onboard? Right now, in the reservation manager i can only change to early or late seating times, no specific hours.

 

Furthermore, is there a seperate area for anytime diners of are they just seated throughout the MDR? We're a family of 9 cruising on Connie this summer, linked bookings, so I sure hope we will all get seated at the same (big) table every night...

[upwarduk]

37 minutes ago, Difiroa676 said:

ow do you book a time when you have Anytime dining? Can you do this well before the cruise or only onboard?

Go to the web site and at the bottom of the Speciality Restaurants list is Any time dining.

There is a list of available times. 6 months before we cruised 7pm times were already booked up.

  Not sure about Millennium class ships, but on Silhouette the Anytime dining is on Deck 4 and fixed dining is on deck 3.

Edited December 10, 2023 by upwarduk

[the penguins]

23 minutes ago, Difiroa676 said:

How do you book a time when you have Anytime dining? Can you do this well before the cruise or only onboard? Right now, in the reservation manager i can only change to early or late seating times, no specific hours.

 

Furthermore, is there a seperate area for anytime diners of are they just seated throughout the MDR? We're a family of 9 cruising on Connie this summer, linked bookings, so I sure hope we will all get seated at the same (big) table every night...

In cruise planner go to Speciality Dining. Scroll to the bottom and the last option is Anytime Dining. Choose the dates and times you want (annoyingly you have to do it separately for every day) and link the bookings. 

Anytime is on the upper level of the MDR separate from fixed. Then as you want a large table once you board  immediately go to Check in Desk and speak to the host explain you have prebooked the time and number and arrange a table size/ position that suits you - we find that the staff are always very helpful, don't demand just be friendly. If there are no large tables the Host may suggest you have a 5 and 4 next to each other so you have the same Wait Staff but can swap around between the tables.

Book the day times now the longer you wait the less chance you have of getting what you want.