I don't believe Celebrity

[CruisingDaddy]

I booked another Celebrity cruise for February 2017... That's almost 2 years out and Celebrity told me that the early dining (6pm) is already full. The only choice that I have are my time dining or late dining. I find this hard to believe that early dining is already full or is Celebrity changing their dining to your time dining for everyone? Has anyone booked this cruise and secured early dining? For me, this will be a deal breaker. I am on a waitlist and if I cannot secure early dining, I will definitely cancel my cruise.

[TeaBag]

I booked another Celebrity cruise for February 2017... That's almost 2 years out and Celebrity told me that the early dining (6pm) is already full. The only choice that I have are my time dining or late dining. I find this hard to believe that early dining is already full or is Celebrity changing their dining to your time dining for everyone? Has anyone booked this cruise and secured early dining? For me, this will be a deal breaker. I am on a waitlist and if I cannot secure early dining, I will definitely cancel my cruise.

You could opt for Select dining and eat at 6PM if that is your preference. Having secured that, I would then go to the Maitre'D when you board and see what your chances are of getting early dining. Yes, it seems weird that the early dining is already full this far out. Don't give up.

[Iamcruzin]

I wouldn't worry. I am sure you will clear the wait list before the cruise.

[wallie5446]

Did you book thru the Loyality Dept at the Capt Club? Call them, but really, just go with select and go at 5:45, 6:00, or 6:15 it is the same as traditional. Or just let it be a deal breaker and step down to HAL, or Princess. You will be very unhappy you wasted your money sailing on one of their ships. But to each his own.

[crazyventures]

I booked another Celebrity cruise for February 2017... That's almost 2 years out and Celebrity told me that the early dining (6pm) is already full. The only choice that I have are my time dining or late dining. I find this hard to believe that early dining is already full or is Celebrity changing their dining to your time dining for everyone? Has anyone booked this cruise and secured early dining? For me, this will be a deal breaker. I am on a waitlist and if I cannot secure early dining, I will definitely cancel my cruise.

 

The same thing happened when I booked my November 2016 cruise a few days ago. I thought it was weird but it certainly wasn't a deal breaker for me. I just figured I'd be more likely to snag a two-top with the anytime dining. :)

[jelayne]

I would bet you will clear the wait list before your cruise.

 

The space for traditional fixed time dining will be less with the addition of the new dining room for suite guests. That space was carved out of the dining area for traditional dining.

 

We did traditional dining for years and have switched to Select and find we like it better.

[Tiggertastic]

Celebrity have reduced the table covers due to the suite area but your cruise is do far out that it seems a little unusual.

 

Rung captains club to be put on the wait list rather than choose late dining.

[Adidas4fun]

Omg, just omg. I continue to be gobsmacked by the fixation on fixed dining times. You are on holiday, relax, chill, let the waves move you. Many a time we have thought we would eat at a certain time and then events have occured - new friends on the boat, a delayed return from an excursion, whatever - and those plans can change. The JOY of being on holiday.

[MR_T]

Omg, just omg. I continue to be gobsmacked by the fixation on fixed dining times. You are on holiday, relax, chill, let the waves move you. Many a time we have thought we would eat at a certain time and then events have occured - new friends on the boat, a delayed return from an excursion, whatever - and those plans can change. The JOY of being on holiday.

 

 

Ship not boat!! [emoji23]

[Adidas4fun]

Ship not boat!! [emoji23]

 

it was an excursion on a boat, water sports you know

[Pushka]

I just booked for 2016 and 6pm had been allocated. I changed that to Select. So maybe it is just booked out at the moment.

[tutak]

When I booked our boat for a January, 2017 cruise, we had the same problem. A few weeks later, she was able to change it to early dining

[Orator]

I booked another Celebrity cruise for February 2017... That's almost 2 years out and Celebrity told me that the early dining (6pm) is already full. The only choice that I have are my time dining or late dining. I find this hard to believe that early dining is already full or is Celebrity changing their dining to your time dining for everyone? Has anyone booked this cruise and secured early dining? For me, this will be a deal breaker. I am on a waitlist and if I cannot secure early dining, I will definitely cancel my cruise.

 

I can understand that the early dining is full if this is the Mardi Gras cruise. It was heavily booked from day one. Don't worry as there is a long way to go and many will cancel.

[Elcruzer]

I'm also on a waitlist for early dining. If I make a 6pm reservation for my dining, will that insure that we will be seated at 6pm every night?

[A Sixth?]

Interesting that so far out early set dining is wait listed. To the OP was the late set dining also?

 

Just an idea...

 

Maybe "X" is getting rid of early and late seatings in favour of all select where you are welcome to make a set reservation time with the same servers.... the same thing isn't it.

[jsf]

Omg, just omg. I continue to be gobsmacked by the fixation on fixed dining times. You are on holiday, relax, chill, let the waves move you. Many a time we have thought we would eat at a certain time and then events have occured - new friends on the boat, a delayed return from an excursion, whatever - and those plans can change. The JOY of being on holiday.

 

Being diabetic certain people have to plan their meals. Think before you post!

J.

[hcat]

Omg, just omg. I continue to be gobsmacked by the fixation on fixed dining times. You are on holiday, relax, chill, let the waves move you. Many a time we have thought we would eat at a certain time and then events have occured - new friends on the boat, a delayed return from an excursion, whatever - and those plans can change. The JOY of being on holiday.

 

 

FYI....Some folks prefer a set time that matches their mealtime at home....We prefer a fixed schedule...makes it easier to manage diabetes....finishing dinner by 8 pm is healthier according to some "experts", .although we are aware that many prefer late. When we tried late seating a few times, we ended up snacking earlier and our dinner meals ended way too late....and we missed out on evening activities when meals in MDR ran late.

 

We have been happy in AQ where we can usually be seated around the same time each evening and no need to stress over select dining or fixed seating.

 

Nice there are choices and hope OP can get their preferred time.,.

[Essiesmom]

Omg, just omg. I continue to be gobsmacked by the fixation on fixed dining times. You are on holiday, relax, chill, let the waves move you. Many a time we have thought we would eat at a certain time and then events have occured - new friends on the boat, a delayed return from an excursion, whatever - and those plans can change. The JOY of being on holiday.

 

Some of us need early dining because we are diabetic. And we like a fixed seating because we like a large table of diverse people to get to know, share experiences as the cruise progresses. And we like to get to know and be known by our wait staff. EM

[Christine Frances]

Interesting that so far out early set dining is wait listed. To the OP was the late set dining also?

 

 

 

Just an idea...

 

 

 

Maybe "X" is getting rid of early and late seatings in favour of all select where you are welcome to make a set reservation time with the same servers.... the same thing isn't it.

 

 

OP stated that only Late and Select were available so I don't think they are doing away with it anytime soon. We are booked in Early Seating for the Feb 2017 Mardi Gras Cruise but we booked that back in Dec the first day it came out. Dynamic Dining was so disliked on the Quantum (RCI) that they have pulled back and are now trying a new system where you can eat at the same time, have the same wait staff and rotate through the dining rooms. I think that fixed seating is more relaxed and efficient for the kitchen and waitstaff as everyone is pretty much on the same food course at the same time. We are not a fan of the bustle in Select where the waiters have to turn 3 tables per night as opposed to only 2 in Traditional.

[cruzsnooze]

Omg, just omg. I continue to be gobsmacked by the fixation on fixed dining times. You are on holiday, relax, chill, let the waves move you. Many a time we have thought we would eat at a certain time and then events have occured - new friends on the boat, a delayed return from an excursion, whatever - and those plans can change. The JOY of being on holiday.

 

It's their vacation to do as they please and they want fixed dining with the same table and wait staff to enhance their vacation.

[Celebrity Cruises]

Hi all,

 

We'll look into this, and see why its showing as full.

 

However, I remain confident that we will be able to accommodate, especially for cruises that are sailing in 2016 and 2017.

[DancerOT]

When we were placed on the wait list for late seating 6 months prior to our cruise, we were also concerned. I made a quick call to the Captains Club desk to find out where we were on the waitlist. About 2 weeks after that, we were in late dining.

 

Some of us like a set dining time so that we can meet new people and have interesting conversations at dinner, as well as get to know our wait staff. One of my favorite cruise memories (having a waiter remember me 3 years later) would not have happened without a set dining time.

[Mainiac II]

I am also bewildered. We booked our future cruise for 3/14/16 while on our 3/6/15 sailing on the Equinox, and we also told that early seating was not available, we were "wait listed," and put on select dinning. We were told to call "in a few weeks" to check on availability. What's up with that? I mean a + year in advance? So now we have settled back in at home- Fair Warning Celebrity! Prepare for a phone blitz until this can be resolved!:confused:

[cormike1]

What we do on most of our cruises is choose "anytime" dining as we like to have a drink in a lounge before dinner especially if we are with friends. We then go in around 7:00pm. On ALL of the cruises, on 4 different cruise lines, we have liked where we were seated the 1st night and liked our waiters so we asked the maitre'd to be seated at that table at 7:00pm each night. The last cruise we were asked to come for 7:30pm as there were people at that same table that came early each night and were done by 7:3opm. So even though it was "anytime" dining, it was sort of like "set" dining because we were at the same table at the same time each night. Celebrity actually gave us an "invitation" each day in our mailbox to bring each night to the dining room. After a couple of nights they knew us and we did not have to show the invitation. You could do it that way and would that not make it okay for you?

[phoenix_dream]

Folks, if you look into many of the sailings in 2016 and 2017 you will find that many categories of staterooms are already sold out, particularly if you look at the unique or popular cruises. In many cases, all lower level suites are sold out as well. This was due to the $25 deposit (allowed people to easily put a very small amount of money down on a cruise they were just considering) and of course the 1-2-3 all-inclusive deals. So IMHO it is no wonder, and perfectly understandable, that early seating is sold out. This would be especially true on cruises more likely to sail with many seniors, as they often prefer the early seating (this is not a criticism, just an observation, and for the record I qualify myself:))

 

I would expect that as the sailing times get closer, there will be cancellations. A call to Captains Club might get someone higher on the waitlist if they have a medical reason for requiring early seating. There is little harm at this point in waiting it out a bit and seeing what happens. Presuming other lines allow cancellations without penalty prior to final payment, there is also no harm in putting down a deposit elsewhere if this is truly that big of an issue. If one can afford to do that, it would be my recommendation if Select Dining is not a consideration.