Celebrity Cruises Confirms Flexible Dining is Coming

[LauraS]

Cruise Critic has just posted the following news:

Celebrity Cruises Confirms Flexible Dining is Coming

Read the entire news article...

[jac69]

To have anytime dining really work the way passengers want it to work is to offer more tables of two. My partner and I have cruised many times and the one thing we want in a flexible dining schedule is to have a table tourselves so we dont have to be "on" every night!

[Catnip]

I had a feeling it was only a matter of time..........well, as long as they still provide the "traditional" dining, I'm happy.

[HeinBloed]

FINALLY... I am more than happy... Hope it works properly until January 2010.

On NAVIGATOR OF THE SEAS it was from the organisation a desaster.

Some of the waiters did not understand that gratuities are paid and they thought that we are guests who are choosing it because they do not want to pay the gratuities...

Last day you got the coupons - but whom should you give them if you have every night a different waiter???

Regards
HeinBloed

[mkirch72]

Bad news. Traditional dining is what makes Celebrity great. I have cruised on all the majors and the idea that you can "eat whenever, wherever you want" is a complete fallacy. Good luck getting a reservation on Princess for BOTH the time and restaurant you want. I was forced to use the anytime dining option versus traditional because there was a waiting list for traditional 4 months before the cruise.

If anytime dining is so popular, how does that explain that Princess had over 400 passengers on the waiting list for traditional dining on my last cruise?? And eating "any time, any where" is completely false --- look at the lines for dinner between 5pm and 6pm at the anytime dining room onboard Princess. It's a madhouse.

Traditional dining means you know you will never have to wait for a table and you will never have to worry about waking up in the morning, and waiting on hold for 45 minutes trying to get a reservation for a table.

The service gets worse because the staff know they'll probably only see you once. They don't know your wants and needs like traditional dining server would (e.g. you have to explain every night how you want certain things). And if you aren't at a table for 2, you have to go through the entire uncomfortable "get to know you" conversations every time you want to have a meal.

Part of why I love cruising is that I have been seated, for the most part, with some wonderful people who I've gotten to know over dinner every night of a cruise. I am still friends with, and often visit, some of them. Anytime dining completely destroys that aspect of cruising.

I think it's awful and it doesn't match up with Celebrity's reputation.

[Catnip]

Originally Posted by mkirch72

And eating "any time, any where" is completely false --- look at the lines for dinner between 5pm and 6pm at the anytime dining room onboard Princess. It's a madhouse.


Part of why I love cruising is that I have been seated, for the most part, with some wonderful people who I've gotten to know over dinner every night of a cruise. I am still friends with, and often visit, some of them. Anytime dining completely destroys that aspect of cruising.

I gave the "anytime" dining a try on 2 different Princess ships and it was a total bust! We ALWAYS had to wait for a table. Then, you have to re-introduce yourself night after night to different people at your table. I don't care for it and always request the traditional dining now.
In my many years of cruising, we have only had to ask to be moved one time. We have always had nice, fun people at our table and still keep in touch with many of them!
Alas, the anytime dining seems to be very popular. As long as the cruise line offers both, then I will continue to cruise on their cruise line. But if they only go to "anytime" (like NCL), then I won't be cruising with them.

[scapel]

Originally Posted by mkirch72

Bad news. Traditional dining is what makes Celebrity great. I have cruised on all the majors and the idea that you can "eat whenever, wherever you want" is a complete fallacy. Good luck getting a reservation on Princess for BOTH the time and restaurant you want. I was forced to use the anytime dining option versus traditional because there was a waiting list for traditional 4 months before the cruise.

If anytime dining is so popular, how does that explain that Princess had over 400 passengers on the waiting list for traditional dining on my last cruise?? And eating "any time, any where" is completely false --- look at the lines for dinner between 5pm and 6pm at the anytime dining room onboard Princess. It's a madhouse.

Traditional dining means you know you will never have to wait for a table and you will never have to worry about waking up in the morning, and waiting on hold for 45 minutes trying to get a reservation for a table.

The service gets worse because the staff know they'll probably only see you once. They don't know your wants and needs like traditional dining server would (e.g. you have to explain every night how you want certain things). And if you aren't at a table for 2, you have to go through the entire uncomfortable "get to know you" conversations every time you want to have a meal.

Part of why I love cruising is that I have been seated, for the most part, with some wonderful people who I've gotten to know over dinner every night of a cruise. I am still friends with, and often visit, some of them. Anytime dining completely destroys that aspect of cruising.

I think it's awful and it doesn't match up with Celebrity's reputation.

I'll go along with those comments. On the cruises that I have been on, there is an alternative dining as well as the specialty dining in addition to the traditional dining. I like having a table assignment. It seems on the cruises we had just enough time at our assigned table to make friendships. If you meet someone else you would like to eat with make a reservation at the alternative dining area or the speciality dining.
We had a family cruise and if it wasn't for the assigned dining I don't know how we could have gotten all 14 people together for one meal a day.

[Cruise Junky]

Traditional dining isn't going anywhere guys, they're just adding another option.

Awesome for Celebrity! Not a fan of fixed time dining.

[Trude]

We will wait and see what happens, if they can get it to run smoothly.

[JohnMarshall12]

If traditional dining is still available, I think most everyone should be happy with this change. The last poster is right, we will just have to wait and see.

[AlinaMaria]

I've only tried the open seating in Princess and NCL, the experience has been very, very different.

First time I tried the "open seating" was in 2002 on Grand Princess, it was wonderful! However, on Dawn Princess last year (Alaska 2009) was horrible, the worst experience ever...it made dining a total ordeal every night, the restaurant manager was not friendly (I'm been generous) and the service from the staff was fair to poor most nights.

However, in my experience, NCL is a winner. I've been on the NCL Jewel and the NCL Sky and the system works perfect. Never waited more than 3-5 minutes for a table and the staff is great at all times!

Because of this "luck of the draw", we have decided to stick with traditional dining, this way we get to eat early (my mother must take her meds at a certain time every night) and we know we will have the same table and same staff every night! The service is always nicer and the experience enjoyable.

AlinaMaria

[flashdog_1]

I hope they can get a system that actually works.

I am an X die hard, as is my daughter. We love traditional dining and getting to know our servers. But DH does not like sitting with strangers or formal nights, so when he wants to cruise, we do NCL. There is NO problem in getting a table for two to please him since their dining rooms were designed with many two tops. But even then, sometimes you might have to wait, like on lobster nights. Some ships work more smoothly than others.

Freestyle Dining on NCL is not just dining when you want. They have so many restaurants that those who choose a surcharge restaurant are not in the main dining rooms, therefore eliminating some of the crowd. But the Freestyle Dining concept does not work well on their older ships which were not designed for it (like X's ships, or Princess').

I would not want to be present on any of X's early trials of Select Dining!

[BarbaraB2]

Now, if they just relax their dress code we'll return! Our very first cruise was on the Celebrity Zenith in 1992 and we adored the food, the service, and the entire 'traditional experience'. However, after nearly twenty cruises on various lines, we realize that those days are gone forever. Mediocrity has taken over as the cruise lines fight to make a profit in a very competitive field and Celebrity is no different. Times have changed and we have learned to adapt to it and make the most of what is offered. We tried flexible dining on both NCL and Princess (regardless of the cruise line's terms) and found it suited our style as do informal dress codes. Unlike some others, we never had to wait very long for a table and when we hit it off with a particular waiter, we requested him and was seated at his station each time.
Celebrity must have a reason to change their position on traditional dining after resisting it for so long. They certainly changed thier position on 'fine cuisine' a long time ago!

[more cruises]

I sure hope they don't do it the way RCI does - where you are forced to prepay gratuities AT THE TIME OF BOOKING! I've seen people who had to take the Open Dining because Early and Late were both full and all of a sudden the price of the cruise went up - to cover those gratuities. Sure, you'll pay them anyway when you get on the ship but why should you have to pay them months before you even receive the service.

[HeinBloed]

Originally Posted by golden egg

I sure hope they don't do it the way RCI does - where you are forced to prepay gratuities AT THE TIME OF BOOKING! I've seen people who had to take the Open Dining because Early and Late were both full and all of a sudden the price of the cruise went up - to cover those gratuities. Sure, you'll pay them anyway when you get on the ship but why should you have to pay them months before you even receive the service.

They took the money in advance at time of booking...

but did not give us the flexible dining...

The best is not to book in advance and do it on the ship.

You fill out the form that you will pay gratuities by shipboard account and you'll get it.

So you do not need to finance the new ships by giving them a credit.

Regards,
HeinBloed

[doktor]

Originally Posted by mkirch72

Bad news. Traditional dining is what makes Celebrity great. I have cruised on all the majors and the idea that you can "eat whenever, wherever you want" is a complete fallacy. Good luck getting a reservation on Princess for BOTH the time and restaurant you want. I was forced to use the anytime dining option versus traditional because there was a waiting list for traditional 4 months before the cruise.

If anytime dining is so popular, how does that explain that Princess had over 400 passengers on the waiting list for traditional dining on my last cruise?? And eating "any time, any where" is completely false --- look at the lines for dinner between 5pm and 6pm at the anytime dining room onboard Princess. It's a madhouse.

Traditional dining means you know you will never have to wait for a table and you will never have to worry about waking up in the morning, and waiting on hold for 45 minutes trying to get a reservation for a table.

The service gets worse because the staff know they'll probably only see you once. They don't know your wants and needs like traditional dining server would (e.g. you have to explain every night how you want certain things). And if you aren't at a table for 2, you have to go through the entire uncomfortable "get to know you" conversations every time you want to have a meal.

Part of why I love cruising is that I have been seated, for the most part, with some wonderful people who I've gotten to know over dinner every night of a cruise. I am still friends with, and often visit, some of them. Anytime dining completely destroys that aspect of cruising.

I think it's awful and it doesn't match up with Celebrity's reputation.

I couldn't agree more. Part of cruising is making friends at the dinner table. It is hard to do with different people every night.

[tom_uk]

Originally Posted by doktor

..... Part of cruising is making friends at the dinner table. It is hard to do with different people every night.

I have to say, that's part of the attraction of cruising for us - we wouldn't ever want a table for two. That's what we do most nights of the year! But I also recognise that other people feel differently and would prefer these other things. I think that as long as the traditional way is retained as well, that's fine....