Changing to select dining on first day of cruise

[lovespositano]

We have had good success in the past of booking First Seating or Second Seating and then switching to "Select" on the first day of the cruise.

 

Has anyone done this recently and is it still a painless process or has Celebrity made it more difficult to switch?

 

Thanks for any info in this regard.

[ISLANDFAN]

Why would you do that?

[lovespositano]

So you don't have to prepay gratuities 9 months in advance.

[Gonzo70]

It all depends if it is fully booked in advance. There is only a finite number of select spots available. So long as there is space available they will switch you, but there is no guarantee space will be available. Therefore you need to weight the negative of having to pay gratuities far in advance with the possibility of not being able to procure select dining.

[Lsimon]

So you don't have to prepay gratuities 9 months in advance.

 

Do you have to pay this when you book (i.e. 9 months in advance) or at final payment time (2 1/2 months in advance)?

[Can'tstopcruising]

Why would you do that?

 

We are doing that on our next cruise because since we paid for our cruise in Canadian funds, they tagged an extra 25% onto prepaid gratuities. At the moment, the Canadian dollar is stronger than the US. We refused to pay the penalty of 25%.

[LittleYiaYia]

We originally booked traditional late seating for our upcoming February cruise. When we found out that late seating could now be as late as 9:00PM we decided to change to Select dining. We did not pay the gratuities until final payment.

[lovespositano]

Do you have to pay this when you book (i.e. 9 months in advance) or at final payment time (2 1/2 months in advance)?

 

I use a UK website for booking Celebrity cruises. It is significantly cheaper than pricing through an American site, but the deposit is a larger percentage also, and none of it is refundable if you cancel. The UK pricing is through Celebrity UK and different rules apply. Since the deposit is based on total cost of the cruise, it is more expensive if the gratuities are included. Just my way of saving (means more cruising).:D

[dkjretired]

We originally booked traditional late seating for our upcoming February cruise. When we found out that late seating could now be as late as 9:00PM we decided to change to Select dining. We did not pay the gratuities until final payment.

 

Where did you hear that dining could be as late as 9, that's new..

[mardon]

We did Select Dining and we liked it. On our last two cruises we did hear the Matre D tell people that the Select Dining was closed, filled to capacity. It is a chance you are taking. Late Seating is 8:30 NOT 9:00.

[smtcan]

We are doing that on our next cruise because since we paid for our cruise in Canadian funds' date=' they tagged an extra 25% onto prepaid gratuities. At the moment, the Canadian dollar is stronger than the US. We refused to pay the penalty of 25%.[/quote']

 

 

We were able to switch to Select Dining on the first day of our Mercury cruise on Jan 3rd. We also refused to book it ahead because of the penalty on the Canadian dollar.

Sheila

[Lois R]

We originally booked traditional late seating for our upcoming February cruise. When we found out that late seating could now be as late as 9:00PM we decided to change to Select dining. We did not pay the gratuities until final payment.

 

Where did you hear that? I am sailing next month too and every

Caribbean Cruise I have ever been on is main seating is 6:00 and late

seating is 8:30. They never have a 9:00 2nd seating.

[Lsimon]

We originally booked traditional late seating for our upcoming February cruise. When we found out that late seating could now be as late as 9:00PM we decided to change to Select dining. We did not pay the gratuities until final payment.

 

I've heard of them moving late seating back past the normal 8:30PM on a few select European cruises -latest I've seen there is 8:45 although I've think I read a comment or two about a 9PM time on a cruise or two during the peak of the European holiday season in August. But I've never seen, nor heard of, a Caribbean sailing with a late seating other than the standard 8:30PM.

[LittleYiaYia]

I've heard of them moving late seating back past the normal 8:30PM on a few select European cruises -latest I've seen there is 8:45 although I've think I read a comment or two about a 9PM time on a cruise or two during the peak of the European holiday season in August. But I've never seen, nor heard of, a Caribbean sailing with a late seating other than the standard 8:30PM.

 

 

I did not mean to imply that the set time for late seating was 9:00PM. On certain cruises over the last year (after you embarked) they moved the time to 8:45 or later. That would put it just to close to 9:00 for us. We did not want to chance this happening.

 

I had no intention of starting a new rumor!!!!

[Lsimon]

I did not mean to imply that the set time for late seating was 9:00PM. On certain cruises over the last year (after you embarked) they moved the time to 8:45 or later. That would put it just to close to 9:00 for us. We did not want to chance this happening.

 

I had no intention of starting a new rumor!!!!

 

 

I understand - my point was that I've heard of this moved back on summertime Europe cruises but not in the Caribbean. I've heard people say this has a lot to do with the customs of a lot of Europeans to eat late and the concentration of Europeans on the ships late summer.

[LittleYiaYia]

You might be spot on Lsiom regarding the reasoning for delaying the dinner time. On our first cruise we cruised the Ultimate Caribbean on Celebrity. We had late seating and it was changed to 8:45. There was a large contingent of Europeans onboard. I do not remember if we were told the reason for pushing back the time. I was on a Celebrity cruise to Alaska and we had the late (8:30) seating. We were told the first evening that late seating would now be 8:45. By the time everyone was seated and beginning to order it was 9:00 PM. We were part of a large group (maybe 300 to 400) and it was simply too difficult to change our seating arrangements. There were a large amount of Latin Americans onboard. Perhaps later dining was their preference.

 

We did not want to take the chance of having the dining moved later again.

[Freecall]

I think that 8:30 is the norm but the last couple I have been on have been 8:45.

 

We go Select now anyway so it does not really matter.

 

.

[sandancer]

I use a UK website for booking Celebrity cruises. It is significantly cheaper than pricing through an American site, but the deposit is a larger percentage also, and none of it is refundable if you cancel. The UK pricing is through Celebrity UK and different rules apply. Since the deposit is based on total cost of the cruise, it is more expensive if the gratuities are included. Just my way of saving (means more cruising).:D

This intrigues me because Celebrity will not allow UK guests to book in the US but will allow US guests to book in the UK. Why?

[New Hampshire]

I sailed the Equinox twice last year. In the Caribbean in April, late seating was 8:30 and on a W. Med cruise in Sept., it was at 8:45.

[Sailor Gal]

It all depends if it is fully booked in advance. There is only a finite number of select spots available. So long as there is space available they will switch you, but there is no guarantee space will be available. Therefore you need to weight the negative of having to pay gratuities far in advance with the possibility of not being able to procure select dining.

 

Can someone explain what is meant by paying the gratuities in advance? I've never heard of this............THX

[dkjretired]

Can someone explain what is meant by paying the gratuities in advance? I've never heard of this............THX

 

 

If you choose Select Dining on Celebrity, you are required to pre-gratuities...

 

Seperate from that some TAs give paid gratuities as a perk, also I believe that the procedure in some parts of the world requires them to pay tips ahead of time.

 

In other cases, some choose to just get things out of the way..

[Sailor Gal]

Thanks Don! Guess it didn't come up for us because we have a set dinner time. We were thinking (incorrectly) that if we didn't care for the dinner arrangements we could just switch to select dining. :rolleyes:Good to know ahead of time.

[lovespositano]

The time of late seating varies somewhat on Mediterranean cruises depending on the itinerary. On our upcoming itinerary we have two overnight ports and also, some of the port days start late in the morning and end late in the evening. So Celebrity sometimes adjusts the late seating to allow passengers to get back late and still have plenty of time in the MDR.

 

Whoever posted that I would be taking a chance that "Select" might be filled is right - that is my concern. Maybe I'll change it when making final payment, as some of you have suggested.

 

Regarding US citizens being able to book on a UK website, it is available through Celebrity UK. As I said, different rules apply to those bookings including amount of deposit (much larger) and rules regarding cancellation (no refund of deposit from the cruise line). But weighed against the substantial difference in fares, it may or may not be worth it to you.