Blu to MDR change

[Cruise till you drop]

So I have an odd situation.  8 of us cruising together (4 couples) and one of the couples booked late and had to book Aqua Class so could be on our deck (11th) on Equinox

 

They have access to Blu but want to dine with the rest of us.  When we board, will we have any issues getting them moved to MDR with the rest of us ?

 

PS - they also may want to try Blu on 1 or 2 nights but majority will be in MDR

 

 

Edited December 19, 2023 by Cruise till you drop

[cruisestitch]

Coordinate this with the Blu Maitre D who will communicate with the MDR staff for you.

[kwokpot]

One thing I would suggest is allowing this couple to at LEAST try Blu for dinner on their own one night. If they enjoy steak the Ribeye in Blu is delicious and isn't available in any MDR. They should checkout the nightly menus and decide which night they would enjoy the Blu entrees better. It would be ashame for them to pay for Aquaclass and not experience at least once dinner in Blu. So you all should make them feel it's OK to do that. In any case it isn't an issue for them to join you. When we were on the Beyond last year we were in Aqua and my parents traveling with us were not, and we had no problems switching back and forth. I think of the 9 nights we dined in Blu 3 times, the rest in the MDRS with my parents. Photos of the ribeye steak from Blu on the Beyond. . 

[Cruise till you drop]

21 minutes ago, kwokpot said:

One thing I would suggest is allowing this couple to at LEAST try Blu for dinner on their own one night. If they enjoy steak the Ribeye in Blu is delicious and isn't available in any MDR. They should checkout the nightly menus and decide which night they would enjoy the Blu entrees better. It would be ashame for them to pay for Aquaclass and not experience at least once dinner in Blu. So you all should make them feel it's OK to do that. In any case it isn't an issue for them to join you. When we were on the Beyond last year we were in Aqua and my parents traveling with us were not, and we had no problems switching back and forth. I think of the 9 nights we dined in Blu 3 times, the rest in the MDRS with my parents. Photos of the ribeye steak from Blu on the Beyond. . 

Thanks for sharing your experience and advice.  And believe me, we have been encouraging our friends to do Blu at least once since they paid for it.  We’ll see if they do that or not.

 

Question about switching back and forth.  Did you do that on a whim each night or did you prearrange it on the first day on which nights you were dining in MDR?

 

Since there are 8 of us with Select Dining and not wanting to eat late, we would like to secure a reservation for each night once we board the ship

[kwokpot]

20 minutes ago, Cruise till you drop said:

Thanks for sharing your experience and advice.  And believe me, we have been encouraging our friends to do Blu at least once since they paid for it.  We’ll see if they do that or not.

 

Question about switching back and forth.  Did you do that on a whim each night or did you prearrange it on the first day on which nights you were dining in MDR?

 

Since there are 8 of us with Select Dining and not wanting to eat late, we would like to secure a reservation for each night once we board the ship

Despite having made pre-cruise fixed early dining reservations for my parents the Beyond was all anytime dining and no one was honored a set early or late seating times. Blu is also no reservations so just decided on the fly when we wanted to dine in Blu vs joining my parents in one of the MDRs.  

Edited December 19, 2023 by kwokpot

[Cruise till you drop]

9 minutes ago, kwokpot said:

Despite having made pre-cruise fixed early dining reservations for my parents the Beyond was all anytime dining and no one was honored a set early or late seating times. Blu is also no reservations so just decided on the fly when we wanted to dine in Blu vs joining my parents in one of the MDRs.  

Thanks.  We’ll be on the Equinox and also on Anytime (Select) Dining.  Since we’re a bit larger party, we may try to get this done once board the ship

 

Thanks again

[Midpacpl]

You don’t have to use BLU if you’re in Aqua - we were just in Aqua in June - we used open seating and I reserved those time slots ahead of time online 

[Midpacpl]

34 minutes ago, Cruise till you drop said:

Thanks for sharing your experience and advice.  And believe me, we have been encouraging our friends to do Blu at least once since they paid for it.  We’ll see if they do that or not.

 

Question about switching back and forth.  Did you do that on a whim each night or did you prearrange it on the first day on which nights you were dining in MDR?

 

Since there are 8 of us with Select Dining and not wanting to eat late, we would like to secure a reservation for each night once we board the ship

You can reserve your MDR time slots online You don’t have to wait till you are onboard 

[Cruise till you drop]

5 minutes ago, Midpacpl said:

You don’t have to use BLU if you’re in Aqua - we were just in Aqua in June - we used open seating and I reserved those time slots ahead of time online 

1 minute ago, Midpacpl said:

You can reserve your MDR time slots online You don’t have to wait till you are onboard 

Thanks.  It appears that due to only being 19 days from sailing, the earliest select dining time available is 8:30pm which is way too late.

 

We understand that it’s likely there’s only limited spots to book in advance of the cruise and more opening up when we board.  Crossing my fingers

Edited December 19, 2023 by Cruise till you drop

[Midpacpl]

On 12/19/2023 at 1:23 PM, Cruise till you drop said:

Thanks.  It appears that due to only being 19 days from sailing, the earliest select dining time available is 8:30pm which is way too late.

 

We understand that it’s likely there’s only limited spots to book in advance of the cruise and more opening up when we board.  Crossing my fingers

We reserved our open dining times - is that what they are referring to as Select nowadays? I’m so old and have been

cruising for years - can’t keep

the name changes straight.
I do my reservations online very early as we like the early dining times also. 
Do you happen to have a personal concierge assigned to you or your group by celebrity? I would reach out to them. Otherwise- make your first stop onboard the dining room- good luck and happy journey 

[Cruise till you drop]

1 hour ago, Midpacpl said:

We reserved our open dining times - is that what they are referring to as Select nowadays? I’m so old and have been

cruising for years - can’t keep

the name changes straight.
I do my reservations online very early as we like the early dining times also. 
Do you happen to have a personal concierge assigned to you or your group by celebrity? I would reach out to them. Otherwise- make your first stop onboard the dining room- good luck and happy journey 

We haven’t boarded as yet (not till Jan 8th) so I assume to early to reach out to the concierge.  We booked early as well but our group has grown from 2 to 8 people since then and some of the group have had dining booking issues so we’ll just figure it out once we board. 
 

Thanks for the suggestion about using the concierge.  We’ve never had concierge but makes sense they can help figure this out for us 

[Wichenford Wolf]

On 12/19/2023 at 6:19 PM, Midpacpl said:

You don’t have to use BLU if you’re in Aqua - we were just in Aqua in June - we used open seating and I reserved those time slots ahead of time online 

I’m sure this is true, but the main reason we book Aqua is so that we can eat in Blu!

[Midpacpl]

On 12/20/2023 at 6:23 PM, Cruise till you drop said:

We haven’t boarded as yet (not till Jan 8th) so I assume to early to reach out to the concierge.  We booked early as well but our group has grown from 2 to 8 people since then and some of the group have had dining booking issues so we’ll just figure it out once we board. 
 

Thanks for the suggestion about using the concierge.  We’ve never had concierge but makes sense they can help figure this out for us 

I had a concierge who handled my booking related concerns after I booked but before I boarded. 
Enjoy your cruise - 

[Oceansaway17]

When I was on the Equinox in 2022, I decided to switch to MDR and the lady at the podium asked for my room number and then wondered why I was not going to the Blu since I was Aqua class.

I told her I just liked the menu at MDR for that night.  She just smiled and said that is fine.

 

But do tell your friends to use BLU for breakfast.  Very good.  and also I found he buffet at night on Celebrity to be very good as well.