"Select Dining" on Celebrity

When we booked our cruise we were advised to take Select Dining, we were told this allowed us to dine at any restaurant on board without prior reservation, just turn up and wait to be seated (10-15 mins max) and it meant we had paid our gratuities upfront

I've since joined here and read a few things on this forum that brought this into question for me but I don't seem to be able to get a clear answer on the X website either

Could someone clarify for me?

many thanks

Select dining allows you to eat in the Main Dining room without a set dining time. You do not need a reservation you can go to the dining room- a wait of a just couple of minutes normally. Select dining does not include the speciality restaurants. There is an extra charge for these & reservations are recommended. If it is a slow night you may be able to be seated in a speciality restaurant without a reservation.

When we booked our cruise we were advised to take Select Dining, we were told this allowed us to dine at any restaurant on board without prior reservation, just turn up and wait to be seated (10-15 mins max) and it meant we had paid our gratuities upfront

 

I've since joined here and read a few things on this forum that brought this into question for me but I don't seem to be able to get a clear answer on the X website either

 

Could someone clarify for me?

 

many thanks

You seem to understand the concept of Select dining, except for one item, highlighted above. There is only one main dining room. To which other restaurants are you referring? The main specialty restaurants cost extra, and generally require reservations, even short-notice reservations.

Wait times for the main dining room are often dependent upon your preferred dining time. In my exeprience, the wait time has ranged from 0 to 1 minute, and I almost always dine after 8:00pm

I understand with select dining you can make a reservation ahead of time if you would like

I understand with select dining you can make a reservation ahead of time if you would like

True. You can show up without a reservation (which is why most people choose this type of dining), or you can prebook a specific time each night, or you can book one night at a time. You really don't need reservations unless you are a large party. Seating is within one or two minutes normally for two to four people. You can prebook a certain time on-line or you can do it once onboard. The options are wonderful.

If you want to try the specialty restaurants, I recommend that you not book this pre-cruise. Usually there are discounts available. Keep your ears open or just ask whoever is standing around looking for people who want to book (usually at the entrance to Horizon Court) - a 20% discount is not that difficult to get, especially if you ask for the next day rather than the day you are talking to them. The exception would be for formal nights when bookings fill up fast.

When we booked our cruise we were advised to take Select Dining, we were told this allowed us to dine at any restaurant on board without prior reservation, just turn up and wait to be seated (10-15 mins max) and it meant we had paid our gratuities upfront

 

I've since joined here and read a few things on this forum that brought this into question for me but I don't seem to be able to get a clear answer on the X website either

 

Could someone clarify for me?

 

many thanks

For Select Dining(pay gratuities ahead of time)you can make reservations or just show up. If you have reservations you most likely will be seated first, if not, the wait time could be what you stated above. The speciality restaurants are entirely different. Most make reservations ahead of time, buy a package or wait for a deal.

Select dining was great on Summit. We rarely waited more than a couple of minutes. We did not ask (you can) and we still ended up with the same wait staff 3 of the nights in the dining room. Service was great. We always do flex dining no matter what cruise line we go on. Love the flexibility of eating when we feel like it.

Last dance,

when are are saying "For Select Dining(pay gratuities ahead of time)you can make reservations or just show up. If you have reservations you most likely will be seated first, if not, the wait time could be what you stated above. The speciality restaurants are entirely different. Most make reservations ahead of time, buy a package or wait for a deal.

Are they the traditional gratuities that are being charged upfront or is it another gratuities for the specialized restaurant only ?

Thanks

Thechamp

 

Are they the traditional gratuities that are being charged upfront or is it another gratuities for the specialized restaurant only ?

 

Thanks

Thechamp

It is all your traditional gratuities.

On Solstice recently there were two lines. One, reservations and one, without reservations. We found the line for reservations at 6PM quite long compared to other ships. i never saw the people without reservations getting seated while we waited, so I don't know how long they waited. On Eclipse, we only made a reservation the first night and after that we had no wait at all. On Solstice, we ended up making a reservation for the next night when we were leaving the MDR each night and that worked well. Yes, the tips are the same as you would normally pay.

When we booked our cruise we were advised to take Select Dining, we were told this allowed us to dine at any restaurant on board without prior reservation, just turn up and wait to be seated (10-15 mins max) and it meant we had paid our gratuities upfront

 

I've since joined here and read a few things on this forum that brought this into question for me but I don't seem to be able to get a clear answer on the X website either

 

Could someone clarify for me?

 

many thanks

If you can reserve it, my advice for your best Main Dining Room experience is to take Traditional over Select. On most cruises Traditional is sold out. However, if you don't mind lines, waiting, different servers and different tables, Select might be for you.

The easiest way to make Select Dining work for you is to decide what is likely to be your average dinner hour and make a standing reservation for that time (we like 6:45 or 7 p.m.). In eight X cruises, we have never have to wait more than a minute or so to be taken to our table for two. And if we like a particular area and wait staff, we request them and usually get them.

It's really no different than dining out at our favorite restaurants around home.

Just back from 12 nights on the Silhouette, our first time with Select dining. Worked well for us and generally arrived in the restaurant between 7 and 7.30 Never had to wait for a table, but then we were always quite happy to share, although we had a table for 2 on a few occasions.

If you can reserve it, my advice for your best Main Dining Room experience is to take Traditional over Select. On most cruises Traditional is sold out. However, if you don't mind lines, waiting, different servers and different tables, Select might be for you.

So don't agree with you. We do Select (flex dining) on every cruise we go on. We never (rarely)make reservations. We never have long lines (usually get seated within 5 minutes). We can have the same waitstaff ever night. Maybe different tables, but within the waiter section that we want. We love Flex dining. Never (ok rarely) make reservations, just show up for dinner when we want. We love it.

If you can reserve it, my advice for your best Main Dining Room experience is to take Traditional over Select. On most cruises Traditional is sold out. However, if you don't mind lines, waiting, different servers and different tables, Select might be for you.

I also agree with the above poster, Kareena1. All of our Celebrity cruises have been in Select and other than different tables or different servers(and as she said you can request a waiter anytime if you find one you like) none of things you mentioned have been remotely true for us.

We had a group of 8 on Constellation and ate with the same waiter and table every night without asking for it. We never make reservations.

For those considering using Select please listen to those that actually use it.

If you can reserve it, my advice for your best Main Dining Room experience is to take Traditional over Select. On most cruises Traditional is sold out. However, if you don't mind lines, waiting, different servers and different tables, Select might be for you.

This is a real example of different strokes for different folks :rolleyes:. We love Select and MTD or Freestyle depending on the cruise line. I am scheduled during my whole life right to the minute, having the flexibility to slow down and arrive when we get there is an important part of the vacation for us.

In fact, we enjoyed our MSC cruises but have decided not to cruise with them again unless they add a flexible option.

I have read many threads on these boards of Select being sold out on many cruises, it seems to be gaining in popularity. When NCL started with Freestyle everyone said it wouldn't work. Slowly, all the lines started adding this type of option so obviously there are lots of people who like it.

I did Select Dining on the Infinity and only had to wait 5 mins one or two of the nights. The rest of the nights we were seated immediately. Having the same server or table doesn't matter to us, so we liked the flexibility a lot.

I loved select, however when we did not make a reservation, we often had a 15+ minute wait. The first night we waited almost an hour. We are a party of two. This was on the Summit and judging from others' reactions in line with us, that kind of wait was not typical for X, but you should be aware in case that would annoy you.

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I understand with select dining you can make a reservation ahead of time if you would like

You can. We got such good service on our first night that we booked at the same time & table for the rest of the cruise (14 nights), except the nights we went to QSine & The Olympic Restaurant.

We would normally book fixed dining, but at the time we booked the cruise, fixed dining was already full. Being able to book in the Select Dining meant we still effectively had fixed dining

Had select dining (for 3) on the Solstice on a port intensive Western med cruise a few years back. Loved it. Booked in advance of the cruise for some nights as to when I thought we may like to eat after returning from port excursions.

the rest of the time we ate at around 6.15pm. There was never a problem with changing our time if we wanted to (on 2 nights we did this) and every night except one had the same wonderful staff.

On cruises just booked (select dining again ) there will only be 2 of us and it will be interesting to see if they have changed the table for 2 seating arrangements (on Solstice the tables for 2 were so close together making a table for 6 really!)

We will be doing Select dining for the first time on our upcoming cruise. I am hoping our experience is as positive as the other posters.

thank you all for your help

we had no choice as we were informed traditional dining options were sold out

thanks again

However, if you don't mind lines, waiting, different servers and different tables, Select might be for you.

We have waited once in more than 20 nights. The rest of the time there was immediate seating. We did have two different sets of waiters on the two cruises but it wasn't a problem for us. The problem we saw was that the wait staff is so busy, you don't have quite the same interaction as traditional

On our last trip on silhouette we found that select dining doe not cope well if you want to eat late, 9:00pm or later, you get rushed as we were told the galley shuts for mains in that section at 9:30pm.

This is generally true. When you want to eat as late as possible, you may run into the kitchen beginning to shut down. The waiters will inform you if you are cutting it too close to closing, and the next night, you could come in five or ten minutes earlier just to be safe.