Love Select dining but what went wrong on this cruise?

[rmalbers]

It wouldn't surprise me to see 'Traditional' dining dropped completely. With the popularity of select there is going to be a point where it will be no longer practical to have an area for dedicated traditional dining. Didn't RCL or some other big line drop traditional dining, at least in it's newer ships?

[kevinyork]

It wouldn't surprise me to see 'Traditional' dining dropped completely. With the popularity of select there is going to be a point where it will be no longer practical to have an area for dedicated traditional dining. Didn't RCL or some other big line drop traditional dining, at least in it's newer ships?

 

 

 

RCL dropped it in favour of Dynamic Dining on Quantum and Anthem. They have reverted to traditional times plus Anytime dining as it wasn't popular.

 

 

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[warmwinds]

For our upcoming cruise Traditional Early was booked (our preference), so we opted for Select and I've made 6:15 reservations for every night (I thought maybe the 6pm line-up would be gone by then).

 

But I'm curious about the gratuities...my confirmation shows Select, AND it shows gratuities on my list of charges. To me that seems like they are "prepaid". I'm confused.

[OBX-Cruisers]

Suggestion to the OP and others:

We have found that instead of 7:30 just go at 8:00. By then you will notice that many tables are being cleared, reset and availability is typically no problem, even the tables for 2....curiously if you wait until 8:30 the Europeans who dine later than Americans will start to impact availability again.

 

To Warmwinds...........Celebrity previously made prepayment of gratuities for the entire cruise mandatory if you chose Select Dining and I assume they still do.

Although our next cruise on X will be in Aqua Class and we will dine in Blu, our reservation shows Select Dining..........when you book strangely Blu is not an option and then gratuities are NOT added.

Strange indeed.......but they get you one way or another if free grats is not one of the cruise perks available.

Edited October 10, 2016 by OBX-Cruisers

[helen haywood]

Celebrity no longer requires the prepayment of grats with Select dining.

 

 

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[merinski]

We just booked for a cruise in May and Early Traditional dinning is not available...We are on a wait list, so we have but in 6pm every day.. will it

be hard to get a table for 2 or how does it work, never done select dinning.

[warmwinds]

Celebrity no longer requires the prepayment of grats with Select dining.

 

 

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We only made this reservation in August - is this something "really" new?

[varoo]

We only made this reservation in August - is this something "really" new?

Not "really" new. I don't remember just when it changed, but it has been in effect for a while now.

[varoo]

We just booked for a cruise in May and Early Traditional dinning is not available...We are on a wait list, so we have but in 6pm every day.. will it

be hard to get a table for 2 or how does it work, never done select dinning.

Not hard, but with Select you may occasionally need to wait a little, depending on supply and demand on any particular day.

 

They have a lot of 2 tops that they can push together or separate as needed to make 4 tops, or 6, or 8.

 

If you really want traditional dining and have not cleared the wait list by the time you board, go and see the maitre d' on the ship the first day.

They do their best to try to accommodate people's preferences.

 

 

 

[cathep]

How far can you venture for the buzzer still work?

[Brad1185]

I don't want to ever be handed a buzzer on a cruise. NCL it was a regular occurance.

 

I will take first seating at 6 anytime over select.

[ReneeFLL]

Celebrity no longer requires the prepayment of grats with Select dining.

 

 

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I think they still should. We prefer to prepay just to get out of the way.

 

We also prefer Select and don't mind waiting a while if it means we avoid traditional dining. We have enough times when we have to be on time for things at home so I want to come and go as I please while on vacation. If the wait is going to be more than a few minutes we will head to the bar and grab a drink. It makes the time go by faster. :D

[denatravels]

I think they still should. We prefer to prepay just to get out of the way.

 

 

 

 

 

It doesn't have to be mandatory prepaid for YOU to prepay (as I like to use OBC). Contact whomever made the reservation (celebrity or TA) and have them add it to the final payment.

 

 

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[awhcruiser]

Your choice but some of us prefer flexibility

I don't want to ever be handed a buzzer on a cruise. NCL it was a regular occurance.

 

I will take first seating at 6 anytime over select.

[merinski]

Thank you, we'll talk to them when we board. I wish there was a way to do it online firs.

[RickT]

For our upcoming cruise Traditional Early was booked (our preference), so we opted for Select and I've made 6:15 reservations for every night (I thought maybe the 6pm line-up would be gone by then).

 

But I'm curious about the gratuities...my confirmation shows Select, AND it shows gratuities on my list of charges. To me that seems like they are "prepaid". I'm confused.

 

When you choose (or are forced into) Select you must pay your gratuities as part of your cruise fare. I've heard (but can't verify) this change was made due to the higher percentage of folks who cancel gratuities when doing select dining.

[RickT]

We haven't experienced any problems with Select dining while in the Caribbean but definitely have in Europe. It seems that due to the port intensive nature of European cruises more people choose to eat late which leaves a lot of early spots open but gets very busy from 7:00 onward. Additionally people book times as late as possible meaning earlier reservations must be such that those ones are finished before the later reservations arrive.

 

We now insist on assigned dining for European cruises.

[tine-tine]

My husband and I have done Select since it was first trialled on New Century on the inaugral voyage. What we have found is that over the years the popularity of Select has increased and looking over the balcony at the main dining we notice more and more empty spaces appearing during first and second sittings. We always sail January/February and these cruises are fully booked, Select is queued out all night and the MD sometimes half empty with many tables having two people sitting at tables for eight or vacant spaces dotted round tables and no buzz to the dining room. The increase in speciality dining has also taken its toll on the MD. Some of our cruises the Dining Rooms could have been reversed to offer more space to Speciality to relieve pressure on the lines waiting for seats.

[Skytrooper]

When you choose (or are forced into) Select you must pay your gratuities as part of your cruise fare.

 

Really? My wife and I are booked on a 10-day cruise aboard the Eclipse departing December 11, 2016. We have Select dining and weren't required to prepay any gratuities. We've fully paid our cruise fare and port taxes/fees but our cruise fare certainly did not include any charge for gratuities.

Edited October 12, 2016 by Skytrooper

[RickT]

Really? My wife and I are booked on a 10-day cruise aboard the Eclipse departing December 11, 2016. We have Select dining and weren't required to prepay any gratuities. We've fully paid our cruise fare and port taxes/fees but our cruise fare certainly did not include any charge for gratuities.

 

According to this thread the policy may have changed in January.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2304665

 

Haven't booked select since last year so personally can't confirm/deny.

[varoo]

Really? My wife and I are booked on a 10-day cruise aboard the Eclipse departing December 11, 2016. We have Select dining and weren't required to prepay any gratuities. We've fully paid our cruise fare and port taxes/fees but our cruise fare certainly did not include any charge for gratuities.

You are correct.

Pre-paying gratuities is optional, not required, as discussed here previously.

 

We had Select dining and did not pre-pay gratuities for cruises we took earlier in the year.

We paid them on the ship, using onboard credit.

 

 

Edited October 12, 2016 by varoo

[LuvCruzn4Evr]

Pre-paying gratuities when you have select dining was no longer required this past January. If you have a future cruise which has the gratuities added as part of final pmt, you can have them removed from your final pmt and be charged on a daily basis on your shipboard acct as typically handled. Notify your TA or X to make this change if you wish.

[villauk]

Really? My wife and I are booked on a 10-day cruise aboard the Eclipse departing December 11, 2016. We have Select dining and weren't required to prepay any gratuities. We've fully paid our cruise fare and port taxes/fees but our cruise fare certainly did not include any charge for gratuities.

 

As others have stated, it changed earlier this year and you do not have to prepay grats for Select anymore ;). Tbh, we find it much easier as we use our OBC for the daily tips and so prefer the new system :).

[bigbeergut]

One suggestion for everyone in Select with reservations. If you are not going to eat in the MDR on a specific night, please cancel your reservation. This will free up your table for someone waiting in line.;)

[ghstudio]

One suggestion for everyone in Select with reservations. If you are not going to eat in the MDR on a specific night, please cancel your reservation. This will free up your table for someone waiting in line.;)

 

As far as I know, a reservation only gets you into the "reservation" line which hopefully is shorter than the "no reservation" line. Unlike a restaurant at home, Celebrity doesn't actually reserve a table for you with your name on it. They generally alternate lines.

 

At times, they will hold a table for a few minutes if they know you have a reservation and they know you want that specific table. This applies more to larger groups (we have 8, for example). Even if held, it's only for a few minutes.