Celebration - Early or Late Dinner best ?

[Kermit426]

We prefer fixed dining as we have always enjoyed having the same tablemates and servers.  For those that have cruised Celebration and had fixed dining time, did you find that early or late was better for getting to shows and entertainment.  I haven't seen rave reviews of the Main Dining Room on Celebration, so maybe we'd be better off going another route this time.  

 

Any other thoughts, tips, tricks or suggestions for Celebration much appreciated.  Looking forward to the May 26th sailing to Celebrate my son's high school graduation.

[wags111]

we were on the Celebration in June. several of the speciality dining options are free. if you choose a fixed dining time they will not allow you to go to the other options until like after 745. SO if you want to go to those you need to do anytime dining so that you can go anywhere at anytime. hope that makes sense. 

[mz-s]

The Excel class really seems to be catering to the YTD crowd.

 

As with all cruises, the evening entertainment is centered around dinner so no matter which seating you select you'll be able to make one of the show times.

[BohJang]

We were on Celebration last week. The MDR was not good & we only ate there twice. Everything was served at the same temperature - lukewarm!  Salad wasn’t cold & meats weren’t hot.  DH had a steak that was all fat and grizzle. Our service was OK but I talked to other people that had to wait 45 minutes for water. Very disappointing. 
 

Personally, I would not choose fixed dining on this ship. Take YTD and if you don’t enjoy the food in MDR you can eat at the other venues whenever you like. 

[cellfree]

But I suppose if you like the same table mates you should choose a fixed dining time, although there is no guarantee they will show up, for us YTD was the way to go, both on Celebration and Mardi Gras. 

[Kermit426]

Thanks for the feedback.  I think we may go with YTD as you have some valid points and the other, maybe better options for dining. 
For those who did choose YTD, did you find that the waits were very long, or does checking in on the app help give you an idea of the wait time so you can walk around and show up when your table is ready?

[bg2310]

17 minutes ago, Kermit426 said:

Thanks for the feedback.  I think we may go with YTD as you have some valid points and the other, maybe better options for dining. 
For those who did choose YTD, did you find that the waits were very long, or does checking in on the app help give you an idea of the wait time so you can walk around and show up when your table is ready?

I cannot speak to the other venues, and have not sailed on an Excel class ship until I do the Celebration in April, but I have always chosen YTD. And in my experience, when checking in via the app for the MDR it gives you an estimated wait time for when your table will be ready. Once ready, it gives you 15 min to get your party there before the table is given to a different party.

 

I would imagine the same would be the case for the other venues that you can choose in YTD, but would need someone who's sailed on an Excel ship to confirm that.

Edited January 26 by bg2310

[bar1068]

11 hours ago, Kermit426 said:

Thanks for the feedback.  I think we may go with YTD as you have some valid points and the other, maybe better options for dining. 
For those who did choose YTD, did you find that the waits were very long, or does checking in on the app help give you an idea of the wait time so you can walk around and show up when your table is ready?

Define very long wait times? For some that could be 5 minutes!! But, we've done YTD on both the Celebration and Mardi Gras and soon will be on Jubilee!! I don't recall a wait time longer than about 15 minutes...and usually those longer times were on "elegant nights". We typically didn't waiver far from the venue's...maybe a restroom trip or something...but there is about a 15 minute window when all in your party need to arrive for the assigned table.

[cellfree]

11 hours ago, Kermit426 said:

Thanks for the feedback.  I think we may go with YTD as you have some valid points and the other, maybe better options for dining. 
For those who did choose YTD, did you find that the waits were very long, or does checking in on the app help give you an idea of the wait time so you can walk around and show up when your table is ready?

Just know, if for instance Chibang opens at 5:30 the app allows check-ins starting at 5:15, for all restaurants it appears the app opens up 15 minutes prior for check-in. 

[Drazil65]

We tend to stick with YTD (way more flexibility with some of the venues that require a reservation, we like to eat earlier) as we plan out our evenings with the events going on. We were on MG again last month and never ate in the MDR but if we had wanted to it would be easy to work around our evening plans with an early dinner.  Our wait times were never more than 10-15 mins at the worst.  

Edited January 26 by Drazil65

[Joebucks]

I love the early dining. Late dining is the least popular option. Who wants to eat a large meal at 9pm and it's almost always worse for nightlife. 

[hapytobehr]

Just off the Celebration.  YTD is the best choice.  However, the MDR is not great. 

 

You do check in on the app and it does tell you how long the wait is and they will hold your table for 10 minutes.

 

We checked in for Cucina (free option on excel) and it was 50-60 minute wait.  

 

We ususally check to see the wait time (you can check before you commit of just cancel if its too long) while we are in the room getting dressed.

 

The specialty restaurants are the best.  

 

As Jamman54 (who cruises quite often) has stated, he never goes to the MDR on Excel.

Edited January 26 by hapytobehr

[hawkinsh]

What are your thoughts if you are part of a large group.  We will be cruising with a total of 11 people.  We hope to be able to dine together most nights.  So can we will do YTD or should be pick a setting?

[Cruisin_Mo]

9 hours ago, hawkinsh said:

What are your thoughts if you are part of a large group.  We will be cruising with a total of 11 people.  We hope to be able to dine together most nights.  So can we will do YTD or should be pick a setting?

It was two years ago, but we had a group of 18 doing YTD on Mardi Gras. After the 2nd night we had the same tables and waiters, because we informed them that we would always eat at the same time.