I’m not clear how the MDR situation works on Edge class ships.

[Stockjock]

We expect to be on Ascent this summer, and I have not yet been on an Edge class ship. My understanding is that they have four free main dining rooms, but I’m not really sure how this works. Do I take my pick of different dining rooms on different days and reserve them in advance?  You can see what it shows in my planner, but I’m not really sure how I should set this up.  We generally prefer a set dining time around 8:30 PM or so, FWIW.  And it would be nice to check out some different restaurants.

[cruisestitch]

On edge class ships, you cannot pick a set dining time, the four MDR are all open seating

 

it may seem from the website and the app that you can pick a date and time, but that is an artifact of the old system, and has never been changed

Edited November 21, 2023 by cruisestitch

[PTC DAWG]

At 8:30 you should be fine…we dine later too..hardly ever have issues. 

[Ken the cruiser]

19 minutes ago, cruisestitch said:

On edge class ships, you cannot pick a set dining time, the four MDR are all open seating

 

it may seem from the website and the app that you can pick a date and time, but that is an artifact of the old system, and has never been changed

That's not good. You're saying the "official" information provided by Celebrity when booking a Beyond cruise today with regards to the Dine Early or Late options is that these options don't actually exist?

 

 

When I clicked on the "Learn More About Dining On Board" option today, here is what was displayed.

 

 

Main Dining (celebritycruises.com)

 

I know when we cruised on the Apex back in Nov 2021, we had prebooked early fixed seating and when we got to our assigned MDR on the first night, they announced all the MDR reservation options had changed to Anytime Dining. We simply figured it was because the ship was on filled at 60% capacity and dealt with the long lines when their doors first opened.  

 

However, if this is truly the case, then that definitely changes things for us. For the last few years now, we would book Aqua cabins so we could be seated at Blu when we arrived early, usually at the same table every night. However, with the increasing demand for Aqua cabins and the continual rise in cruise fares along with the mediocre menus (to include desserts), we have decided to start booking aft-facing cabins on Edge-class ships with Early Fixed Seating. But if it's simply "first come first serve" Anytime Dining at all of the Edge Class MDRs, that is definitely something we appreciate knowing about.

[OfTheSeasCruiser]

To clarify, are reservations at the complimentary dining rooms made via the cruise planner recognized onboard?

[cruisestitch]

The four MDRdo not take reservations.

[hcat]

that's a very bad change!

we liked it when we could pre reserve..

 

we eat early so no issues anticipated  for us,  but its more like a food court concept  now!  no seats nearby to wait if there's a line 

[plutosmom]

I’ve just booked 2 Apex cruises, both allowing me to choose between Anytime or 6pm or 8pm.  I chose 6pm. So if the MDRs are not honoring the 6pm seating I chose during booking and I want to eat at 6pm,  do I just go get in line before 6pm every night and wait to be seated? And I can choose any of the 4 Dining Rooms to get in line?  Thanks in advance.  

[Ken the cruiser]

16 minutes ago, hcat said:

that's a very bad change!

we liked it when we could pre reserve..

 

we eat early so no issues anticipated  for us,  but its more like a food court concept  now!  no seats nearby to wait if there's a line 

It sounds like if you want to eat early, as is our case for medical reasons as well as we like to get a good seat location at the early show, you'll need to get in line 20-30 minutes before they open (as many "older" folks like us have similar desires), much like what we have found ourselves dealing with when dining in Blu the past few years. That's too bad, as we were hoping to put the Early Fixed Seating option in the positive column for booking another Celebrity cruise.

[Purplsmurf]

47 minutes ago, cruisestitch said:

The four MDRdo not take reservations.

Yes they do. I have made them for our Ascent sailing. It’s our first time on an E class ship and I don’t know what dining room we will like the best, so I made a reservation for each of them and we will go from there.

[Purplsmurf]

41 minutes ago, hcat said:

that's a very bad change!

we liked it when we could pre reserve..

 

we eat early so no issues anticipated  for us,  but its more like a food court concept  now!  no seats nearby to wait if there's a line 

Make a reservation for when you want to go

[Ken the cruiser]

3 minutes ago, Purplsmurf said:

Yes they do. I have made them for our Ascent sailing. It’s our first time on an E class ship and I don’t know what dining room we will like the best, so I made a reservation for each of them and we will go from there.

Please let us know if they actually honor your pre-cruise fixed seating reservations once you board the ship and go to dinner that first night. As I mentioned earlier, our reservations magically disappeared on our Nov 2021 Apex cruise. But that was 2 years ago. Hopefully, this is a new "reenacted" policy once again allowing early and late fixed seating. 🤞

[cruisestitch]

36 minutes ago, Purplsmurf said:

Yes they do. I have made them for our Ascent sailing. It’s our first time on an E class ship and I don’t know what dining room we will like the best, so I made a reservation for each of them and we will go from there.

You think you made them, it looks like you made them, but that’s only an illusion.  The booking system is not accurate

[cw2go]

@cruisestitch is speaking the truth. I've sailed Beyond twice this past year. The MDR's are all MTD on E-class ships. Just show up and they will seat you at any of the four MDR's at the time of your choosing. 

 

I personally made reservations in the cruise planner only to get on board and be told it didn't matter. 

 

It was super efficient, 

Patty 

[cw2go]

54 minutes ago, Purplsmurf said:

Yes they do. I have made them for our Ascent sailing. It’s our first time on an E class ship and I don’t know what dining room we will like the best, so I made a reservation for each of them and we will go from there.

Yes the cruise planner allowed you to make them but the MDR's onboard will not have any record of your reservations. 

 

Patty 

[cw2go]

2 hours ago, OfTheSeasCruiser said:

To clarify, are reservations at the complimentary dining rooms made via the cruise planner recognized onboard?

In my personal experience, no they weren't but I still had no trouble being seated. 

Patty 

Edited November 21, 2023 by cw2go

[ElmaLee]

I was on Edge in July 2023.  We booked for the MDRs most evenings.  These bookings were honoured.  At busy times there were 2 queues, those with reservations and those without.

 

I have bookings for Feb 24 on Apex and I expect these to be honoured.  There must be many people making bookings as there are not many slots left.

[Ken the cruiser]

22 minutes ago, ElmaLee said:

I was on Edge in July 2023.  We booked for the MDRs most evenings.  These bookings were honoured.  At busy times there were 2 queues, those with reservations and those without.

 

I have bookings for Feb 24 on Apex and I expect these to be honoured.  There must be many people making bookings as there are not many slots left.

On your Edge cruise in July 2023, did you make reservations for Early or Late seating and were you assigned the same table with the same servers every night?

 

[ElmaLee]

31 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

On your Edge cruise in July 2023, did you make reservations for Early or Late seating and were you assigned the same table with the same servers every night?

 

No.  We booked different times and different MDRs on different nights.  Sometimes on the app sometimes by phone in the morning.

 

[Ken the cruiser]

8 minutes ago, ElmaLee said:

No.  We booked different times and different MDRs on different nights.  Sometimes on the app sometimes by phone in the morning.

 

Thanks! As long as we can make specific Anytime Dining reservations and they honor them once we’re onboard, that sounds like a doable option. My DW just reminded me on our 2021 Apex cruise, she made Anytime Dining pre-cruise reservations at each MDR and worked hard to reserve specific times on each of the 16 days of our Apex B2B. Then when we boarded the Apex, those reservations were ignored and we just had to get in line with everyone else, regardless if they had previously made reservations or not (I.e., first come first serve).

 

If there is in fact 2 lines, one for those that have reservations and the other for those that don’t, that sounds great!

Edited November 21, 2023 by Ken the cruiser

[FloridaGram]

We had our first Celebrity cruise last March on the Beyond and never had a problem just walking up and being seated. We choose to eat early so go when they opened. If a particular dining room was full, I think one was one time, we just went to a different dining room. The reservations did not matter and I am surprised they have not fixed it online. It must cost to much to change!
 

All 4 restaurants had some items the same every meal, and then had their particular specialty items. So it really doesn't matter which one you go to. I did not think we would prefer Mediterranean but they had something we wanted there also!

[kabmab]

3 hours ago, OfTheSeasCruiser said:

To clarify, are reservations at the complimentary dining rooms made via the cruise planner recognized onboard?

In our case, on four E class cruises, reservations made via the cruise planner have always been recognized onboard.  We walk in and always have been seated immediately.

Edited November 21, 2023 by kabmab
Addtl info

[hrhdhd]

2 hours ago, Purplsmurf said:

Yes they do. I have made them for our Ascent sailing. It’s our first time on an E class ship and I don’t know what dining room we will like the best, so I made a reservation for each of them and we will go from there.

If you saw the Seinfeld episode with Jerry at the rental car agency, it's the same. "You know how to take the reservation, but you don't know how to hold the reservation."

 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6m_DeR_n72E

Edited November 21, 2023 by hrhdhd

[kabmab]

1 hour ago, cw2go said:

Yes the cruise planner allowed you to make them but the MDR's onboard will not have any record of your reservations. 

 

Patty 

On four E class cruises starting in August 2021, the onboard reservation system has ALWAYS had our reservations made through the cruise planner.

[challahmom]

This December is our first cruise on an edge class ship.  We’ll be on the Beyond. Which of the 4 main dining rooms did you prefer?