Apex mdr, thought they were ALL anytime. No early no late seatings

[newcruzer2]

I am so confused when I booked long long ago, I simply clicked anytime dining, even though, we HATE anytime bc I was told that was the ONLY mdr seating.

Recently I read on another thread,  someone mentioned early seating, and when I ck'ed my planner it gets even more confusing 

It shows I can book cypress, tuscan and Normandie  but NOT cosmo

My anytime can now NOT be changed to early it is full......wt_

Did I miss celebrity's announcement that they were going back to early and late plus anytime.... and celebrity totally _____ me.

[DonnaK]

We were in a similar situation on Ascent in February.  We just went to the Tuscan dining room at 5:30pm, and asked for an assigned table there for the remainder of the cruise.  We were able to order what we wanted from the menus of the other 3 dining rooms.

[Mimiwade]

So it seems like the early dining times open as early as 5:30? Is that correct?

[hrhdhd]

No need for the angst. Just appear at the MDR of your choice when you're hungry . . . and you will be fed. As noted above, some have requested the same MDR with the same server and have gotten it. If you like your first night's arrangements, ask for that.

[skg8]

We have never been on the Apex before but on our upcoming transatlantic cruise we were assigned an 8:30 pm dining time. Anytime dining was not an option, but we only booked our cruise several months ago. I would assume if you would like to make any adjustments you could do so on the day you board. 

[Liao]

2 hours ago, newcruzer2 said:

I am so confused when I booked long long ago, I simply clicked anytime dining, even though, we HATE anytime bc I was told that was the ONLY mdr seating.

Recently I read on another thread,  someone mentioned early seating, and when I ck'ed my planner it gets even more confusing 

It shows I can book cypress, tuscan and Normandie  but NOT cosmo

My anytime can now NOT be changed to early it is full......wt_

Did I miss celebrity's announcement that they were going back to early and late plus anytime.... and celebrity totally _____ me.

It seems that if you simply clicked anytime dining, you overlooked the other two options available to you at the time of booking 

[keesar]

2 hours ago, Mimiwade said:

So it seems like the early dining times open as early as 5:30? Is that correct?

There is no early or late dining times.  You just show up when you want to dine.  The main dining rooms all open at 5:30 pm so if you want to eat at that time, show up to whatever dining room you want to eat in.  No problem...

[TMLAalum]

There are 12 of us next year on the Apex. Any tips on how to reserve dining for us all? 2 tables of 6 adjacent to each other would be ideal and since the menu for all 4 dining rooms is available, from any, being in just one the entire voyage would be just fine! 

[lv2cruisgrl]

10 hours ago, DonnaK said:

We were in a similar situation on Ascent in February.  We just went to the Tuscan dining room at 5:30pm, and asked for an assigned table there for the remainder of the cruise.  We were able to order what we wanted from the menus of the other 3 dining rooms.

We do the same thing and has worked everytime.  

[Georgia_Peaches]

4 minutes ago, TMLAalum said:

There are 12 of us next year on the Apex. Any tips on how to reserve dining for us all? 2 tables of 6 adjacent to each other would be ideal and since the menu for all 4 dining rooms is available, from any, being in just one the entire voyage would be just fine! 

Each dining room has at least 1 large group dining set up already arranged and certainly others can be set up as well. I recommend you got to one of the MDR’s on embarkation day and speak to the M’d about the arrangements. They will likely establish with you a time/locale for your party. 

[lv2cruisgrl]

6 minutes ago, TMLAalum said:

There are 12 of us next year on the Apex. Any tips on how to reserve dining for us all? 2 tables of 6 adjacent to each other would be ideal and since the menu for all 4 dining rooms is available, from any, being in just one the entire voyage would be just fine! 

Just go to one of the dining rooms and ask. We go to Normandy and never have a problem getting a table reserved for the whole cruise. (There are 6 of us.)

[Georgia_Peaches]

The cruise planner for eclass is very confusing when it comes to dining. Part of the intrigue was to move away from traditional assigned dining times/tables/venues. Instead, they created 4 MDR’s, each with their own theme and signature dishes..in addition to the other items offered in each dining room. Recently, they added the ability to order any of the dishes unique to a particular venue, regardless of where you happen to be dining. The other unique characteristic of eclass dining is that there is no assigned time… despite what it says in the planner. One simply shows up at a MDR of their time and choosing. IMO this is a fabulous concept and change to cruise ship dining. The problem lies in Celebrity’s failure to communicate this to passengers who are venturing into E class for the first time. 
 

TL;DR:  ignore what is says in your cruise planner and show up when/where you want. 

[keesar]

47 minutes ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

The cruise planner for eclass is very confusing when it comes to dining. Part of the intrigue was to move away from traditional assigned dining times/tables/venues. Instead, they created 4 MDR’s, each with their own theme and signature dishes..in addition to the other items offered in each dining room. Recently, they added the ability to order any of the dishes unique to a particular venue, regardless of where you happen to be dining. The other unique characteristic of eclass dining is that there is no assigned time… despite what it says in the planner. One simply shows up at a MDR of their time and choosing. IMO this is a fabulous concept and change to cruise ship dining. The problem lies in Celebrity’s failure to communicate this to passengers who are venturing into E class for the first time. 
 

TL;DR:  ignore what is says in your cruise planner and show up when/where you want. 

Well said.  On our cruise on Beyond, I had made reservations for each night and alternated dining venues.  When I went to the first dining room, I was. told it was Anytime Dining and just show up.  So my time making reservations was not needed.  To confuse me, I was assigned a dining room and time.  That is another  issue that needs to be resolved.

[jamieben]

I just came off the Apex this past Saturday. My husband and I were initially assigned the 8:30 dining time in Cyprus. Upon boarding we went to speak to someone at the restaurant and they released us into Anytime dining. It seems like there is still the standard early and late seating but you can ask to change once onboard.

[newcruzer2]

2 hours ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

The cruise planner for eclass is very confusing when it comes to dining. Part of the intrigue was to move away from traditional assigned dining times/tables/venues. Instead, they created 4 MDR’s, each with their own theme and signature dishes..in addition to the other items offered in each dining room. Recently, they added the ability to order any of the dishes unique to a particular venue, regardless of where you happen to be dining. The other unique characteristic of eclass dining is that there is no assigned time… despite what it says in the planner. One simply shows up at a MDR of their time and choosing. IMO this is a fabulous concept and change to cruise ship dining. The problem lies in Celebrity’s failure to communicate this to passengers who are venturing into E class for the first time. 
 

TL;DR:  ignore what is says in your cruise planner and show up when/where you want. 

Ty for your detailed reply,  I appreciate it 🙂

[RK-NC]

2 hours ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

One simply shows up at a MDR of their time and choosing. IMO this is a fabulous concept and change to cruise ship dining. The problem lies in Celebrity’s failure to communicate this to passengers who are venturing into E class for the first time. 

 This is an excellent explanation of e-class dining. We are on Beyond this week and this is our experience but my goodness, we certainly had unnecessary questions and concerns about it all. Celebrity definitely needs to improve communication. We are in Retreat and enjoy Luminae but are trying the MDRs too. Cyprus last night was wonderful - we made it "Greek night" and had the Cyprus exclusives. 

[Pinboy]

So, when we were on the Edge I made a reservation each night for a different dining room---spent " hours " figuring, studying the menus, etc---- a total waste of time.

The Maitre'd in the Normandy Dining Room ( forgot his name ) --- real nice guy--- on the first night asked if we liked the service/menu etc---- " Of course, it's excellent ".

He said, " If you would like, just come at any time----and bye the way, if there is a " special dish, not on the menu, I can arrange it for you the next night ". 

It worked out perfectly.