Anytime Dining on Apex experiences

[dritan]

Hi all

I was on the Apex last summer and enjoyed it so much that I've booked it again for October.  However last summer there were only 450 passengers on board so I really enjoyed the flexibility of Anytime Dining and picking my option on that evening. 

Recently we had a pretty horrendous experience with Anytime Dining on the Brilliance of the Seas with queues up to 40 mins on formal night.  In the end, we spent most evenings at the buffet due to the hassle. 

Does anyone have recent Apex or Edge experiences on a busy sailing?  Did you have experiences with delays?

We currently have an 8pm set dining and whilst I'm aware we can request to move around if we like, I'd prefer Anytime if it runs smoothly?

 

PS: we just booked the Edge restaurant and was very pleasantly surprised to see that my daughter's dinner only cost £8!!  A great deal - I'm, of course, assuming that she will have the full menu rather than the kids menu from the MDR;-)

 

[Loracpin2]

11 minutes ago, dritan said:

Hi all

I was on the Apex last summer and enjoyed it so much that I've booked it again for October.  However last summer there were only 450 passengers on board so I really enjoyed the flexibility of Anytime Dining and picking my option on that evening. 

Recently we had a pretty horrendous experience with Anytime Dining on the Brilliance of the Seas with queues up to 40 mins on formal night.  In the end, we spent most evenings at the buffet due to the hassle. 

Does anyone have recent Apex or Edge experiences on a busy sailing?  Did you have experiences with delays?

We currently have an 8pm set dining and whilst I'm aware we can request to move around if we like, I'd prefer Anytime if it runs smoothly?

 

PS: we just booked the Edge restaurant and was very pleasantly surprised to see that my daughter's dinner only cost £8!!  A great deal - I'm, of course, assuming that she will have the full menu rather than the kids menu from the MDR;-)

 

Was 8:00 the only time available for Select Dining reservations or was that the time you chose or was that the only time open for an October sailing? 

 

[seacruise9]

Hi, 

 

I cruised aboard the Celebrity Apex in late April 2022 (the ship's last Caribbean cruise of the season) and there were approximately 2,100 passengers on my cruise. I took this cruise solo and had Select (Anytime) Dining. Prior to the cruise, I made my dining reservations for a different restaurant each night (the four main dining rooms and three specialty restaurants). For most nights, I made my dining reservation for 6:30. I never had any problem and was always promptly seated at a table for two in each restaurant. In my experience, Select Dining worked very well. I am following a similar approach for my cruise on the Celebrity Beyond for February 2023.

 

Chuck

[dritan]

Thanks - I think I'm going to switch from the set time dining to the Select.  Think I just got put off by my recent RCI cruise.  And I believe I did reserve which restaurant on which night but could rebook or just stroll up if I liked.  

 

Glad to hear it runs smoothly.

[Ex-Airbalancer]

on the April Apex TA , 1700 passengers, never had a long wait to get seating for 10 people at the restaurants, we usually went after the first show around 8 pm  

[Bru92]

We were on the Apex in May, party of four, and never had more than 5 minute wait for a table.  Of course, with four restaurants, you can easily "shop" for the first available if there is a wait.

Mike in Ohio

[AbbyCruiser45]

If you don't want to worry about it, you can make reservations in advance. When I sailed Edge (same dining rooms as Apex) we made reservations in different rooms each night since we were a group of 5. We never had to wait when we had a reservation. We did end up canceling Cosmopolitan so we could have Tuscan again. We were not able to make a reservation and only needed to wait 10-15 minutes. They give you a buzzer, so we just went down to the casino. It was no big deal. 

[Crazy planning mom]

Can you make your reservations in advance through the app or do you need to wait until onboard?

[bama4cruisin]

1 minute ago, Crazy planning mom said:

Can you make your reservations in advance through the app or do you need to wait until onboard?

I made ours through the website.  Log in to your reservation, go to Manage Reservation and the Cruise Planner.  Under the Dining option, scroll past all the specialty restaurants and you’ll find the 4 MDR options.

[Crazy planning mom]

1 minute ago, bama4cruisin said:

I made ours through the website.  Log in to your reservation, go to Manage Reservation and the Cruise Planner.  Under the Dining option, scroll past all the specialty restaurants and you’ll find the 4 MDR options.

Thanks!

[Oldmarbletop]

I remember reading somewhere that there is a first night discount for specialty dining does any one know if this is true?  Couldn't find anything on the Celebrity website 

[bama4cruisin]

3 minutes ago, Oldmarbletop said:

I remember reading somewhere that there is a first night discount for specialty dining does any one know if this is true?  Couldn't find anything on the Celebrity website 

Sometimes there may be a 1st night discount and sometimes there isn’t.  I imagine it depends on how quickly reservations are booking pre-cruise.  If there is a discount for the first night offered, it would show in your cruise planner.

[Oldmarbletop]

Thanks Jennifer.