Dining Times

[Tedferg]

Mock Booking for 7day Norwegian cruise, June 2025, only dining time available is Late 8:30. Is this usual this far out. They do have a waitlist, but if it is only 8:30 dining, that is a deal breaker for me.

[Kelownadon]

You might want to ask this question on a Norwegian chat forum and not a Celebrity one. 

[Liao]

3 minutes ago, Kelownadon said:

You might want to ask this question on a Norwegian chat forum and not a Celebrity one. 

Good review here:

 

 

[canderson]

And while you're there, inquire about what Norwegian has for many years been calling their "Freestyle Dining" ( = no set times in the main dining room).

[Liao]

5 minutes ago, Kelownadon said:

You might want to ask this question on a Norwegian chat forum and not a Celebrity one. 

I was thinking they were referring to a cruise in Norway.

[Tedferg]

5 minutes ago, Kelownadon said:

You might want to ask this question on a Norwegian chat forum and not a Celebrity one. 

Well, it is the dining option on Celebrity ship.

[Tedferg]

7 minutes ago, Liao said:

I was thinking they were referring to a cruise in Norway.

Got it, I did say 'Norwegian Cruise' 🙂 Should have said celebrity to Norway.

[cruisestitch]

Which ship?

[Tedferg]

6 minutes ago, cruisestitch said:

Which ship?

Apex

[cruisestitch]

apex will have open seating—-just walk in and no reservation required

[Tedferg]

16 minutes ago, cruisestitch said:

apex will have open seating—-just walk in and no reservation required

I have only sailed Celebrity once several years ago. On the booking it says Anytime Unavailable.

[keesar]

26 minutes ago, Tedferg said:

I have only sailed Celebrity once several years ago. On the booking it says Anytime Unavailable.

That is a quirk of the booking system.  It is Anytime Dining.  Go wherever and whenever you want to have dinner.  No problem!

[NutsAboutGolf]

21 minutes ago, Tedferg said:

I have only sailed Celebrity once several years ago. On the booking it says Anytime Unavailable.

 

Regardless of what the website app says, there is no early/late traditional dining on the E-Class ships like the Apex. There are 4 MDRs, you can go to any of them; some may have longer waits than others.  Disclaimer, this is how it's been for the past couple of years, and currently, things can change but I doubt they would.  It was previously a complicated process, mixing some with traditional and some with select/anytime.  Most other cruise lines including X have two separate dining rooms if they offer both anytime and traditional

[Tedferg]

Thanks for the clarification, It is a major glitch, without your clarification I would decide not to take this cruise.

[thunderbird56]

There are four restaurants on the Apex with Anytime dining but you will find that they fill up at popular times and there will be a wait for seating.  We took a family trip on the Apex earlier this year and were able to call in and make reservations at 6:30 each evening and we moved around so that we tried each dining room at least once.  It is very clumsy to set up reservations on line or through the Celebrity app so I advise calling in and getting assistance from a representative.  Good luck. You'll love Norway. 

[Lastdance]

@Tedferg, I was on Apex in a suite and SV for a b2b.  The 4 main dining rooms did not need a reservation.  The post above (#3) is about Edge.  It describes a different situation with the four main dining rooms, which I have not heard of, but most likely could happen depending on time, restaurant, number of people in family etc., not to mention cruising in the summer which I do not do.  Personally, if Celebrity said that I had to take late dining(this was actually in writing and a change,) I would not book the cruise, but again, I have never had this happen to me onboard any E class ship.  I am on Ascent with late dining, but will be eating early.  It has been mentioned over and over again that Ascent has basically “anytime dining” on many different sites besides Cruise Critic.

Edited July 13 by Lastdance

[SbbquilterUT]

We found that if we wanted to eat before the late show we could walk up at about 6:45 as the folks going to the early show are leaving - usually only a short wait if any.  Same for eating at about 7:30 before the folks from the early show arrive - again easy to get seated.  If you wait until shows get out the line can be long.

[liamur14]

I also did a mock booking for Bermuda and Spain Trans Atlantic  Ascent, ( April 2025) and my only option was 8:30....I want any time dining.  Deal breaker for us, not to book it.Is it a glitch? thanks

[Tedferg]

Thanks again for clarification. Princess is going through an evolution, one dining room Traditional, one with reservations and one with anytime walk up.

[keeponcruising]

I was booking an Apex cruise for next spring but backed out when the agent said the only available dining time is 8:30 pm.  I asked her about any time dining and she said it is not available.  So what you are saying is that I don't need to worry about the assigned dining times?  Thanks

[Tedferg]

1 hour ago, keeponcruising said:

I was booking an Apex cruise for next spring but backed out when the agent said the only available dining time is 8:30 pm.  I asked her about any time dining and she said it is not available.  So what you are saying is that I don't need to worry about the assigned dining times?  Thanks

Seems the Agent and Cruise Critic comments are at odds with each other

[Liao]

1 hour ago, keeponcruising said:

I was booking an Apex cruise for next spring but backed out when the agent said the only available dining time is 8:30 pm.  I asked her about any time dining and she said it is not available.  So what you are saying is that I don't need to worry about the assigned dining times?  Thanks

Your TA needs to go back to TA class 101.  The assigned times in the MDR mean little at best.  Simply go to any host/ess desk and they will very easily assist you.  Just be somewhat flexible and you will have no problem.

[Tedferg]

I looked at a September 2025 date and Anytime shows as available - so curious why June shows unavailable.

[NutsAboutGolf]

8 minutes ago, Liao said:

Your TA needs to go back to TA class 101.  The assigned times in the MDR mean little at best.  Simply go to any host/ess desk and they will very easily assist you.  Just be somewhat flexible and you will have no problem.

 

In the TA's defense, unless X sent out a memo to TAs, the TAs would have to hear traditional was gone from other passengers and then pass on hearsay info not confirmed by X.  My WAG (Wild A$$ Guess) as to why you have the option to pick traditional on E-Class is they have the option to go back to the old way of both traditional or anytime if for whatever reason X wants to.  The only other reason I can of as to why X would leave traditional as an option on E-Class ships is at the moment, X doesn't want to spend the money to update their dining reservation system

[Liao]

2 minutes ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

 

In the TA's defense, unless X sent out a memo to TAs, the TAs would have to hear traditional was gone from other passengers and then pass on hearsay info not confirmed by X.  My WAG (Wild A$$ Guess) as to why you have the option to pick traditional on E-Class is they have the option to go back to the old way of both traditional or anytime if for whatever reason X wants to.  The only other reason I can of as to why X would leave traditional as an option on E-Class ships is at the moment, X doesn't want to spend the money to update their dining reservation system

Maybe they can take the $$$ savings from loungers and foot stools and give it to the IT dept!  🤑