I’m not clear how the MDR situation works on Edge class ships.

[someguyfl]

6 minutes ago, challahmom said:

This December is our first cruise on an edge class ship.  We’ll be on the Beyond. Which of the 4 main dining rooms did you prefer?

Other than a few items which are unique to each restaurant and stay static every night, the menus are the same at all the MDRs ...

 

I personally prefer the special items at Normandie, and the decorations as well... but in reality, all 4 are likely sharing the same kitchen and are basically different themed rooms for one restaurant.

[cw2go]

26 minutes ago, kabmab said:

On four E class cruises starting in August 2021, the onboard reservation system has ALWAYS had our reservations made through the cruise planner.

Weird! I sailed Beyond Feb and Aug and both times my reservations meant nothing. The hostess actually said those words to me. I 100% believe you just confused as to why there are so many conflicting reports. For me it really was a none issue but I can see for some it might be, Celebrity should be more consistent. 

 

Patty 

[hcat]

hope everyone posts updates once they are on board.. We have AQ BLU next so we have time to  get the scoop

 

our 2 favs are Cyprus and Tuscan but all are very nice!  Mdr Lunch was in Cosmopolitan on EDGE

[cbfb]

1 hour ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Thanks! As long as we can make specific Anytime Dining reservations and they honor them once we’re onboard, that sounds like a doable option. My DW just reminded me on our 2021 Apex cruise, she made Anytime Dining pre-cruise reservations at each MDR and worked hard to reserve specific times on each of the 16 days of our Apex B2B. Then when we boarded the Apex, those reservations were ignored and we just had to get in line with everyone else, regardless if they had previously made reservations or not (I.e., first come first serve).

 

If there is in fact 2 lines, one for those that have reservations and the other for those that don’t, that sounds great!

It wasn’t an E class ship but that’s how it was on the Summit a few months ago. We made anytime dinner reservations which they had in their system when we boarded and there were 2 lines. One for reservations and one without. The one without was long! Hope it’s the same for us in a few weeks on Beyond. 

[helen haywood]

Consistently inconsistent…that’s Celebrity.  How crazy to have the website/app allow you to make reservations on E Class ships and then be told on SOME ships or SOME sailings that the reservations are not honored but on OTHER sailings/ships it is!!!!

[Torfamm]

11 hours ago, cruisestitch said:

On edge class ships, you cannot pick a set dining time, the four MDR are all open seating

 

it may seem from the website and the app that you can pick a date and time, but that is an artifact of the old system, and has never been changed

I’ve had no problems with reservations made for E class ships. They worked just fine.

[Torfamm]

5 hours ago, someguyfl said:

Other than a few items which are unique to each restaurant and stay static every night, the menus are the same at all the MDRs ...

 

I personally prefer the special items at Normandie, and the decorations as well... but in reality, all 4 are likely sharing the same kitchen and are basically different themed rooms for one restaurant.

Yes, you can order from any of the 4 menus in all of the dining rooms 

[wineoclock]

We’ve made reservations for 8.30pm every night on our upcoming Apex cruise. I’m hoping even if not honoured it won’t be too difficult getting a table at that time. 

[buchhalm]

We booked a January 2025 cruise on C Edge.

We got automatic assigned "any time" dining, but it seems we could swap to fixed times, early or late. No biggie.

What I am more interested in, is how much the menus differ getween the various restaurants. 

I think I have seen sample menus somewhere, and they look pretty much the same in all restaurants. 

Any insights? 

[jelayne]

15 hours ago, OfTheSeasCruiser said:

To clarify, are reservations at the complimentary dining rooms made via the cruise planner recognized onboard?

Yes you can make reservations for each day, ours have been recognized.  Although all menus items are offered in all 4, we switch restaurants just to mix things up a bit on a long cruise.

[hcat]

i thought  the dining rms had the same menu except for a few specialty dishes unique to each one...  That's how it was on our "early" EDGE sailing and we made res for each night  before we sailed

[PTC DAWG]

I am always amazed that this subject worries some folks so much…I don’t know what time I’ll eat tonight, much less what I’ll have.  
 

A cruise months out? What me worry? 

[lorimay]

We were on Beyond in October of 2022  and Edge in March 2023. On both cruises we had Anytime Dining but made reservations for a particular time in advance and the reservations were honored on board. I would make a reservation for the time and dining room I wanted (each night a different dining room). We were seated immediately instead of waiting for a table. Sometimes there were lines waiting to be seated but the lines move quickly.

 

My understanding is that if you want the traditional dining experience, you can sign up for fixed dining and they will assign you one dining room with the same table and same staff each night. On the Edge, we were seated and then asked to move one night because it turns out the table had been reserved for someone who was doing fixed dining at the late seating. 

 

You will find that the food (other than the specialties) is the same in all dining rooms, but the service is not. Some are better staffed than others and some are just run better than others. There didn't seem to be any consistency about it.

[keesar]

On the Beyond this year, we were told that there were no reservations for the 4 MDRs.  You just showed up when you wanted to even though you believed you had a reservation.  By the way,  people started to line up 20 minutes early before the restaurants opened.  

[WestLakeGirl]

19 hours ago, cbfb said:

It wasn’t an E class ship but that’s how it was on the Summit a few months ago. We made anytime dinner reservations which they had in their system when we boarded and there were 2 lines. One for reservations and one without. The one without was long! Hope it’s the same for us in a few weeks on Beyond. 

Summit Is an M ship. They operate differently than the E  ships

[SbbquilterUT]

We loved the open dining on the Apex - found that if we headed to the restaurants at about 6:45 folks who wanted the early show were leaving and we had no trouble getting a table.  After trying each of them we ended up liking whichever was on the side so that we could see the coastline or setting sun.  Since you can have food from all four restaurants it really made no difference. At that time they still had reservations but the line was the same for walk in and reservations so it really didn't matter.  We never waited more than a couple minutes to be seated after the first evening when  we arrived around 6 pm.

[cbfb]

45 minutes ago, WestLakeGirl said:

Summit Is an M ship. They operate differently than the E  ships

Yes which is what I stated, but just mentioning that celebrity does let you make reservations for anytime dining and did honor them. 

[hcat]

4 hours ago, PTC DAWG said:

I am always amazed that this subject worries some folks so much…I don’t know what time I’ll eat tonight, much less what I’ll have.  
 

A cruise months out? What me worry? 

Some may have health reasons. I am Type 2 diab and like to keep my meal times consistent.

 

Before  dining options started to be offered, we got stuck with late seating once or twice..It was awful.. We would eat a mini meal/ appetizer at the buffet and then a light dinner. 

 

 We go to sleep early (rise by 6 am to walk), so a large late dinner is unhealthy as it lays in your gut.

 

wish we could be more carefree but follow what works best for us!

 

 

[lara h]

The confusion continues (for me).

Have a cruise on Edge in a few months and needed to call Celebrity for another reason.

The consultant asked me if I wished to make dining bookings with him whilst on the call. I thought that was very efficient so he started. We like to dine 7-7.30pm and have never had an issue getting a table for 2 on the S class cruises we've sailed.

Well, to my amazement, the earliest he could secure a booking was 8.30 pm...earliest!!! We went thru the availability in the 4 dining rooms, and out of fear that I would miss out and have to dine even later (or earlier @ 5.30pm!) locked in that time slot. 

He did mention that once final payment was required there may be more suitable times come open as people often dropped out of the cruise.

Now I read various different scenarios above, so fingers crossed we can book at our prefered time when on board.

[Miaminice]

On 11/21/2023 at 6:07 PM, cruisestitch said:

The four MDRdo not take reservations.

 

I think you are mixing up two things here. Yes, E class ships have no set dining times anymore.
But of course you can make reservations for a time on the app and they are recognized on board.
Worked fine for us. 

But making reservations is not a must. We only did for some nights and didn´t have any problems on the other nights without a reservation. So in the future I won´t bother making reservations.

[keesar]

5 hours ago, lara h said:

The confusion continues (for me).

Have a cruise on Edge in a few months and needed to call Celebrity for another reason.

The consultant asked me if I wished to make dining bookings with him whilst on the call. I thought that was very efficient so he started. We like to dine 7-7.30pm and have never had an issue getting a table for 2 on the S class cruises we've sailed.

Well, to my amazement, the earliest he could secure a booking was 8.30 pm...earliest!!! We went thru the availability in the 4 dining rooms, and out of fear that I would miss out and have to dine even later (or earlier @ 5.30pm!) locked in that time slot. 

He did mention that once final payment was required there may be more suitable times come open as people often dropped out of the cruise.

Now I read various different scenarios above, so fingers crossed we can book at our prefered time when on board.

We were on Beyond and we told that reservations were not being honored.  It was Anytime for everyone.  Of course, if you get there early and have a particular table or waiter, you are usually accommodated.  I had made reservations at all 4 and you just walked up and got seated except for one night.  That night, there was no production show and we walked up with 3 of the singers/dancers  to Normandie and all of us were told to come back in 30 minutes and we could be seated. So we went to another restaurant to dine.