Thoughts on Beyond MDR reservations please?

[Cruiznuts]

I am charged with making MDR reservations for a mall family group cruising the Beyond In July.   Guidance would be apprecaited on: 

 

1. are any of the MDRs better than the others - ambiance, food options, service, location?

 

2. optimum dining tome.  I think that we will want to see the late show.  Is that at 9pm?   Would the best dining time be 7pm? 

 

3. we have have the classic beverage package. Is Bacio included? We love our espressos. 

 

4. any other Beyond tips/ must dos? 

 

Many thanks! 

[cruisestitch]

The evclass ships actually do not take reservations for dinner.  All of their dining rooms are open seating. I know it looks like you can make reservations but that’s just a mistake in the system.   Very frustrating mistake to newbies who don’t know and spend a lot of time online. Trying to book dining rooms only to find that they are all just open seating.

[cbfb]

We sailed Beyond in January. Made reservations every night for each venue. I had heard they were not honored so I spoke to the hostess the first night. She said they are honored. They have a 15 minute Grace time which is what happened for us. 

[cruisestitch]

This is new, and I must say that it is good news

[hcat]

We had always been able to make advance res for each of thd 4 mdrs on E Class ships.  Worked quite well on our end..as we favored the 2 smaller venues, same time each night.

 

 Seems it went to a free for all no res  type system  more recently  poor idea).  .We have been dining in Luminae and BLU but will return to the 4 mdrs on APEX

 

..Hope by then res will  again be accepted.  This is better than handing out beepers or having long lines without any seating along the way!

[Cruiznuts]

many thanks!

Any thought on which of the MDRs are the nicest?

 

Also, if the late show is at 9pm, will a dinner booking at 7 be just right? 

[DingoMom]

Each of the MDRs has its own charms. I am sure we all may have different favorites! Why not give each of them a chance?

Can someone recently on Beyond confirm show times? On the Ascent earlier this month, they were 7:30 and 9:30. Can’t remember about Beyond. 
But yes, scheduling dinner about 2 hours before the show sounds fine to me.

Edited February 19 by DingoMom

[Cruiznuts]

15 hours ago, DingoMom said:

Each of the MDRs has its own charms. I am sure we all may have different favorites! Why not give each of them a chance?

Can someone recently on Beyond confirm show times? On the Ascent earlier this month, they were 7:30 and 9:30. Can’t remember about Beyond. 
But yes, scheduling dinner about 2 hours before the show sounds fine to me.

Thanks, DingoMom.  Are you an Aussie? I am!  

 

[fliprcruiser]

Beyond shows first week of Feb were 7 and 9. We needed to be seated in theater at 830 to get seats.

 

Our dining service was very slow in Tuscan dining room. 

[NorthernLights45]

Recently cruised on the Beyond. MDR reservations are possible but limited once on ship. Our group attended the 7 PM show and ate in a MDR about 8.30 PM afterwards each night. It was easy to walk into any MDR and get a table. Dining late, we never felt like we were being rushed out of our table. We were typically finished in time to catch a 10 PM performance at one of the entertainment venues on ship.

 

We rotated between all four MDRs during our cruise. All had menu items that were "hits" as well as a few "misses". Can't say that one was better or worse than the others. Pleasantly surprised at how good the food was. We were ultra pleased with the service in all four MDRs.

 

We used our Classic Beverage Package at the Cafe al Bacio on Deck 4 and the one in the Oceanview cafe (Deck 14). No extra charge for beverages priced at $10 or less. Espresso drinks (sans alcohol) were priced within this limit.

 

Main Theater show times were 7 PM and 9 PM. Several other venues within the ship had performances at varying times.

[Cruiznuts]

Thanks to all for the feedback, it's invaluable!!!   Maybe we should dine at 6.30 or 6.45 to make sure we make the shows?