Some questions about dining on Apex

[Qster65]

I'll be on the Apex for the first time in July and have questions about dining.

 

All my previous cruises only had 1 main complimentary dining restaurant and whenever I booked a fixed dining time, I get the same table every night.

According to X website, Apex has 4 complimentary dining restaurants: Cosmopolitan, Normandie, Cyprus & Tuscan

So how does it work on Apex with 4 restaurants if I already booked a fixed dinner time?

Do they still reserve the same table at the same restaurant every night?

Do I need to make a reservation every day if I want to dine in a different venue each night?

 

I also some questions about Eden on Apex: 

Some reviews called it a bar while others call it a restaurant, does it serve lunch and/or dinner?

Do you need to make reservation to dine at Eden?  or is it just first come first serve?

 

I've been on Reflection and Le Petit Chef/Qsine was quite entertaining, are there any Specialty restaurants on Apex that you would recommend?

 

Thanks all

[hmorrow]

14 minutes ago, Qster65 said:

I'll be on the Apex for the first time in July and have questions about dining.

 

All my previous cruises only had 1 main complimentary dining restaurant and whenever I booked a fixed dining time, I get the same table every night.

According to X website, Apex has 4 complimentary dining restaurants: Cosmopolitan, Normandie, Cyprus & Tuscan

So how does it work on Apex with 4 restaurants if I already booked a fixed dinner time?

Do they still reserve the same table at the same restaurant every night?

Do I need to make a reservation every day if I want to dine in a different venue each night?

 

I also some questions about Eden on Apex: 

Some reviews called it a bar while others call it a restaurant, does it serve lunch and/or dinner?

Do you need to make reservation to dine at Eden?  or is it just first come first serve?

 

I've been on Reflection and Le Petit Chef/Qsine was quite entertaining, are there any Specialty restaurants on Apex that you would recommend?

 

Thanks all

I thought the best specialty  restaurant was Eden. In answer to your question, there are several parts of Eden. Yes, a bar, and a cafe. The restaurant is downstairs, from the bar, and you will need reservations for it. Well worth it!.

[kwokpot]

The E-Class ships no longer have a fixed early or late seating. (Previously there would be a card in the room telling you which dining room to go to, and that's where you would go every night). It's all anytime dining. So what you reserved when you booked your cruise no longer exists. All you do is go to any one of the four dining rooms when you want to eat, and if there's space available, they will seat you, otherwise you'll get a buzzer and have a small wait. Any of the dining room hosts can check if there's immediate availability in the other dining rooms if the one you're at isn't available for immediate seating. 

 

Eden has three components to it. There's a restaurant on the lowest level that serves only dinner. Reservations are need for the restaurant. Then it's the main space that includes a bar, a performance space, and a spiraling ramp that leads to the upper levels and the enormous aft panoramic windows. Off the ramp are numerous seating areas. Some are facing the aft window and some are private nooks and crannies. The third component is a separate cafe that's off to the left on the main level. It's a complementary venue that serves breakfast and lunch with limited hours. It's a limited service place, no reservations needed.

Edited February 6, 2023 by kwokpot

[Qster65]

11 minutes ago, hmorrow said:

I thought the best specialty  restaurant was Eden. In answer to your question, there are several parts of Eden. Yes, a bar, and a cafe. The restaurant is downstairs, from the bar, and you will need reservations for it. Well worth it!.

Thanks for the suggestion

[Qster65]

2 minutes ago, kwokpot said:

The E-Class ships no longer have a fixed early or late seating... It's all anytime dining. So what you reserved when you booked your cruise no longer exists...

Thanks kwokpot, I wasn't aware about this change.

[edcdcd]

We have just booked for the March 11 sailing on Apex.  We were given the choice of "anytime" or 6 or 8:30 seatings. We chose the 6 pm seating.   This doesn't match with others on this board who are saying that there are no set times. - everyone is anytime. We were also told that we would find in our cabin upon boarding what restaurant we would be assigned for the first night.  So what is going on??

[kwokpot]

19 minutes ago, edcdcd said:

We have just booked for the March 11 sailing on Apex.  We were given the choice of "anytime" or 6 or 8:30 seatings. We chose the 6 pm seating.   This doesn't match with others on this board who are saying that there are no set times. - everyone is anytime. We were also told that we would find in our cabin upon boarding what restaurant we would be assigned for the first night.  So what is going on??

The booking software hasn't been updated to reflect the changes on all three E-class ships. There is no longer any set early or late dining. What you were told WAS how it used to be, but that's no longer the case, despite what you booked or were told. 

[davekathy]

45 minutes ago, edcdcd said:

We have just booked for the March 11 sailing on Apex.  We were given the choice of "anytime" or 6 or 8:30 seatings. We chose the 6 pm seating.   This doesn't match with others on this board who are saying that there are no set times. - everyone is anytime. We were also told that we would find in our cabin upon boarding what restaurant we would be assigned for the first night.  So what is going on??

We are on the 18 March Apex cruise and when I booked (13 August) I selected SD/AT dining for 6:00 PM, Cosmopolitan.  My cruise planner on the website and app are still showing SD 6:PM. Once we are onboard, like always we'll head to the MDR to verify. 

[blade3]

We were on 1/7/23 Apex cruise with a 6:00 Traditional Dining time. (We thought!!) No such thing anymore on any E class ships we were told when we went to MDR as soon as we got onboard! So we made reservations for that evening for 5:30. We would stop every evening after we finished our meal, go to the next dining room of our choice of the four and make our reservation for the next evening, always at 5:30 that way we could make the 7:30 shows.

 

 

[kwokpot]

35 minutes ago, blade3 said:

We were on 1/7/23 Apex cruise with a 6:00 Traditional Dining time. (We thought!!) No such thing anymore on any E class ships we were told when we went to MDR as soon as we got onboard! So we made reservations for that evening for 5:30. We would stop every evening after we finished our meal, go to the next dining room of our choice of the four and make our reservation for the next evening, always at 5:30 that way we could make the 7:30 shows.

 

 

Everyone that's sailed on an E-class ships has shared their experiences here on CC but there seems to be lots of people THAT REFUSE to believe what's actually going on and keep deluding themselves that they have a fixed seating. 

[Dancing Shoes]

33 minutes ago, kwokpot said:

Everyone that's sailed on an E-class ships has shared their experiences here on CC but there seems to be lots of people THAT REFUSE to believe what's actually going on and keep deluding themselves that they have a fixed seating. 

That's because Celebrity says so........LOL  I changed my fixed to anytime.  Made reservations at different MDR locations.  Wondering if those will fly.  I will report back after my April sailing. 

Edited February 11, 2023 by Dancing Shoes

[darndean]

Sailing on Apex March 11

Regarding the Select Dining (in the 4 complimentary restaurants), we have a group of 18 cruisers. I was trying to book the dining times in advance but most choices are late dining (8:30-10pm). Do they even try to accommodate large parties to dine earlier (6pm) or is it everyone for themselves?

Edited February 11, 2023 by darndean
forgot sentence

[kwokpot]

8 minutes ago, darndean said:

Sailing on Apex March 11

Regarding the Select Dining (in the 4 complimentary restaurants), we have a group of 18 cruisers. I was trying to book the dining times in advance but most choices are late dining (8:30-10pm). Do they even try to accommodate large parties to dine earlier (6pm) or is it everyone for themselves?

You should go speak to the dining hosts the first evening but you realize you're going to need to split up in two tables? Usually 12 is the max I've ever seen. So you should decide who you're going to split up your group. It would also make sense for you to stay in one dining room.  

[darndean]

Yes, I expected to split tables, and will try going the Dining host route. Eating the same cuisine every night would suck but what choice do I have? I haven't cruised in the last 4 years and things have changed. I'll try and pick the best of the four restaurants from earlier posts. Thanks Kwokpot for your advice.

[kwokpot]

42 minutes ago, darndean said:

Yes, I expected to split tables, and will try going the Dining host route. Eating the same cuisine every night would suck but what choice do I have? I haven't cruised in the last 4 years and things have changed. I'll try and pick the best of the four restaurants from earlier posts. Thanks Kwokpot for your advice.

Just so you know the special starters and entrees that are specific to the main dining rooms can be ordered in any of the other dining rooms. Otherwise all the starters and entrees are exactly the same in all four dining rooms. So really the only thing you'll be missing is the different decor. If you want to spend the time with a restaurant host you may be able to plan out a different restaurant for 1 or 2 nights but I think logistically switching every night isn't going to work. 

[TommyD3]

We were onboard Apex for 4 weeks in January.

On Jan 14 they re-instituted the early & late seating dining in addition to anytime.

Before that it was anytime only.

 

[Mimiwade]

That would be great if the Apex re-instituted the set early & late seating dining option! 
Can anyone tell me if it is hard to get a table for 2 ?

[Miaminice]

23 minutes ago, Mimiwade said:

That would be great if the Apex re-instituted the set early & late seating dining option! 
Can anyone tell me if it is hard to get a table for 2 ?

no, not a problem at all. 

We always do.