How Early can I Prebook Anytime Dining

[dock]

We’ve booked Equinox for July 2023.

Early Dining is not available and with two kids along we opted for Anytime Select but I cannot preselect time at this point even though the time slots are listed , it does not confirm. 
 

Is it too early and do I need to Pre Pay Gratuities which I noticed was not done when I booked through a CVP even though I requested it ( he got 5 of the 8 names incorrectly spelled as well ) .

 

Thanks for any info. Our first post pandemic cruise and have not been on Celebrity in 6 years so really excited. 

[Reel Love]

It should not be too early to book dining times.  We sail the Equinox in June 2023 and booked our Select Dining times several months ago with confirmation.  After reading your post, out of curiosity I just went on to check my April 2024 Silhouette cruise (also select dining) and was able to follow the process all the way through to book our select dining times as well. 

Aside from confirming that you should be able to book at this time, unfortunately I don't have anything helpful to suggest.  However there are many others on CC who are more experienced sailing Celebrity than I am who may chime in with some good advice.  Good luck.

Edited November 21, 2022 by Reel Love

[dock]

Thanks for the prompt response. Will try for maybe 4 people and do it separately as maybe trying to book for 8 is an issue.
 

[2B A VTer]

I was able to book our select time dining reservations using the app the day after I booked the cruise.  I had to do each day separately and selected both of us and then the time and submitted.  I got an email with confirmation for each daily reservation.

[Reel Love]

26 minutes ago, dock said:

Thanks for the prompt response. Will try for maybe 4 people and do it separately as maybe trying to book for 8 is an issue.
 

You're very welcome 😊   

Wondering if you have you linked your cruise reservations?  We have a party of seven (three cabins) in June 2023 Equinox and I linked all of our reservations before booking dining.   Made it very convenient to book dining times as I think you can book up to eight passengers per reservation?  Hope this helps!

[dock]

Have linked all 3 cabins, but still no luck , just says Adding to cart failed. 
Will try again later. Even switched to IPad and no luck. Thanks again.

[Reel Love]

Ahh yes.....as you may already know, Celebrity's website is less than stellar 😏

[jelayne]

You may want to contact your CVP and see if you need to pre pay gratuities (doubtful) and if that’s not the problem then maybe they can make some reservations for you. 

[dock]

Website is frustrating. Tried via the App but it says there’s not enough room so I asssume there’s a set number of seats that can be pre reserved. I just did not expect it to be soo booked up soo far out. I’ll plan better in future but I do wish they figure out their website. 
 

It’s  just a bit stressful as we have two kids under 5 so I would’ve preferred a set time between 6-630pm. 
 

Our CVP was really inefficient. 
Made numerous spelling errors on the booking, address incorrect.

 

Did not add in gratuities and now I noticed he did not Waitlist us for Early Dinner.

 

I had to make two calls within minutes after receiving the confirmatory emails to correct the errors on the various cabins. Wait times were around 40-45 mins for each call. 
 

I’m dreading calling again to ask to be Waitlisted and failing that we may have to book a couple nights Specialty ,and do the buffet a couple nights.

 

I’m hoping Concierge Class may have  a shorter wait time at dinner for Select. 
My main concern is the 2 kids. 
8pm would not be fun for any of us if the kids were cranky lol. 

[davekathy]

9 hours ago, dock said:

Website is frustrating. Tried via the App but it says there’s not enough room so I asssume there’s a set number of seats that can be pre reserved. I just did not expect it to be soo booked up soo far out. I’ll plan better in future but I do wish they figure out their website. 
 

It’s  just a bit stressful as we have two kids under 5 so I would’ve preferred a set time between 6-630pm. 
 

Our CVP was really inefficient. 
Made numerous spelling errors on the booking, address incorrect.

 

Did not add in gratuities and now I noticed he did not Waitlist us for Early Dinner.

 

I had to make two calls within minutes after receiving the confirmatory emails to correct the errors on the various cabins. Wait times were around 40-45 mins for each call. 
 

I’m dreading calling again to ask to be Waitlisted and failing that we may have to book a couple nights Specialty ,and do the buffet a couple nights.

 

I’m hoping Concierge Class may have  a shorter wait time at dinner for Select. 
My main concern is the 2 kids. 
8pm would not be fun for any of us if the kids were cranky lol. 

Not a lecture, but I always review the invoice while on the phone (I never book from the website) with the person I book the cruise with, whether it be directly with Celebrity or a TA. 

 

Your stateroom category has no bearing on your wait time for SD.

[dock]

Couldn’t review the invoice live as at the time he said it would take up to a half hour for me to receive. 
 

We’ve enjoyed Celebrity in the past, but this whole saga has been a bit frustrating. 
 

They were cheaper though than booking through an agent this time around. Saved C$1000 else I wouldn’t have booked direct. 
 

I’m sure it will all work out. I’ll be on vacay and no cooking  or working so will go with the flow.

[upwarduk]

Just a FYI:

We booked 7pm for every night in December for a late July cruise.

When we arrived on the ship, there was a note in our cabin, informing us that 7pm was the busiest time, so to vary the time we arrived in MDR, which we did. We usually turned up at 6. 30pm.

We also noticed 2 very large tables were vacant on Deck 3 and people were being directed to them from Deck4 ( Anytime).