Dinner Preferences

[Sky Sweet]

If open seating on the new Journey is successful, how would you feel if Celebrity decided to implement that policy fleet wide?

[lisiamc]

All of the nice people I've met at meals have been my assigned tablemates. All of the truly stultifying bores have been encountered at open seating breakfast and lunch!;)

 

Maybe that says more about me than the tablemates, but I prefer assigned seating, with the flexibility of the speciality restaurant and casual dining when a change is needed.

 

Lisa

[bububr]

I can only remember a few times when I have either asked the Maitre'd to change tables or was unhappy with my tablemates at dinner. However during the open seatings at both breakfast and lunch I have had the pleasure of meeting not only some of the most interesting people but on the most part people I would NOT want to dine with again.

 

I also LIKE the fact that I know when I am requried to be at dinner and at what table I am sitting at. It helps me to plan my day. If I don't want to go to the main restaurant I have other choices, not only for dinner but throughout the day.

 

I say leave it alone.

 

Its bad enough the dress codes are in a downward spiral, but making a cruise vacation a 'free for all' doesn't sound appealing to this seasoned cruiser.

 

I would like to try the Journey or its sister , but the thought of no formal nights and open dining is holding me back. A cruise to me is magical. If I just want to eat and gamble when I want while wearing cut offs and a t-shirt I'll go to Vegas.

 

Dave:eek:

[Lsimon]

We love traditional dining. Really missed it on our last Princess cruise where we tried open dining. We ended up eating at about the time of our usual late seating anyways.

 

Don't forget the interaction with the staff as well as the other guests. We really enjoy the type of service we get once we get to know our waiters, assistant, and even the Asst. Maitre'd and sommelier.

[chessbriar]

There's a reason I refuse to sail NCL and that's it. Princess has blended it well with your choice of traditional and open seating. We had open seating, but were able to set it up like traditional. Had the same waiter every night and same table and same time.

 

During the first night of open seating we were stuck with a group we did not care for. I've not had that problem with guests on X

[Brad1185]

Open seating = bad service. Thats why I also dont cruise NCL.

 

I have never received exceptional service with open seating.

 

All I want is to show up at early dining time, I want no waits and an assigned table with ice tea refills.

[geoherb]

I prefer traditional late seating. Our most recent cruise was on a Princess ship. One of the reasons I booked it was that we were able to get traditional late seating instead of "Personal Choice" dining.

 

So far, we've only had one bad experience with our assigned tablemates. It was a four-night cruise and only our second one, so we did not bother changing tables--and neither did the other couple.

[BrooklynGirl2]

I prefer traditional assigned seating. I not only like getting to know my table mates but I also appreciate the relationship that develops with our waiter, assistant waiter and maitre d'. I enjoy that my assistant waiter automatically brings me my decaf tea after dinner and that my waiter remembers I like my meat medium rare, that I love chocolate desserts and I don't need pepper added to my food. You receive much better service with assigned seating. We also very much enjoy formal nights. It's one of the reasons we enjoy cruising so much.

 

I am not tempted at all to try Journey with open seating and casual dress every night. The cruise becomes quite ordinary and I want our cruise vacations to be special and magical. The ambiance of formal night adds to this experience.

 

We have just booked a Princess cruise but only because I was able to get traditional late seating at dinner.

[JanineM]

The LAST thing I want to do is spend my vacation making dinner reservations, or standing in line waiting for a table.

 

I do not understand the desire to constantly lower the level of expectations for the cruising experience. We are willing to spend a bunch of money for this type of vacation, and there are numerous other choices for those who want a more casual experience. If people want freestyle dining, then by all means, go to another cruise line!

 

Sorry to sound harsh, but I spend 50 weekends a year standing in line at local restaurants that no longer accept reservations ... is it too much to ask for a reserved table where I can meet a few nice people?

[sweetair]

i have just tried anytime dining for the first and hopefully last time. I found we still ate at 830pm because we couldn't get tables at 8pm. The ship also held 3000 people. I found it to be a rushed nightmare most nights. Its possible if there were a smaller amount of passengers, it "might" work better. I felt like i was going to a neighborhood diner and the wait staff could care less.You couldn't order anything special. No thanx

*sweet*

[Robb]

We definitely prefer assigned seating. We have been on 27 cruises since 1998, nine different cruise lines. Celebrity is one of our favorites. Norwegian was a favorite until they went to open seating, have not been back on them since.

[BrooklynGirl2]

Water Baby makes another excellent point. I, too, do not want to waste my vacation time waiting around for a table for dinner. Nor do I want to spend time making reservations every night for dinner. I want to walk into the dining room, say hello to my tablemates and be greeted by my assigned regular wait team.

 

It's enough of a hassle at home trying to get into restaurants for dinner at a decent hour. I certainly don't need THAT on my vacation.

 

Celebrity are you listening???

[Kane]

If open seating on the new Journey is successful, how would you feel if Celebrity decided to implement that policy fleet wide?

 

I've only recently started reading "The X files" since we booked a cruise on X. Having sailed on other lines with open and fixed seating, there is a physical issue that may make all-open seating problematic. If the existing ship dining rooms cannot handle a high percentage of the total passengers at a single seating, it will most likely not be workable.

 

Examples:

 

On "O", there is really only one seating which includes everyone less those in the specialty restaurants and Tapas.

 

As opposed to Crystal, in which both seatings are fairly full ... no way that the number of both seatings could be crammed into the dining room at one time.

 

So the question is: Could most of the people on, say Infinity, be seated in the dining room at the same time?

[ukbecky]

I agree that the change could be physically impossible on ships built for traditional dining.

 

This is the problem many people notice on NCL's older ships with fewer restaurants - lines at dinner are more likely on these older, smaller ships. I just went on my first Celebrity cruise. We loved it, but much prefer the freedom to eat anytime we wish-it's easy enough on NCL to make a dinner reservation if it seems like we'll be eating at a popular time - much like on land.

 

I don't like the "stop-what-you're-doing-we-have-to-eat--now" traditional dining.

[chessbriar]

At this point in the poll it appears about 75% prefer having assigned tables. The top 2 are assgned tables, 1 with a specialty reastaurant and 1 without.

[Kane]

Should be possible on Journey ... it appears to be one of the old "R" ships.

 

The deck plan(s) and 700 passenger capacity are almost identical to the "O" ships with the large dining room on the 5th deck that can handle single turn-over dining.

[Sky Sweet]

Water Baby makes another excellent point. I, too, do not want to waste my vacation time waiting around for a table for dinner. Nor do I want to spend time making reservations every night for dinner. I want to walk into the dining room, say hello to my tablemates and be greeted by my assigned regular wait team.

 

It's enough of a hassle at home trying to get into restaurants for dinner at a decent hour. I certainly don't need THAT on my vacation.

 

Celebrity are you listening???

 

Hi Brooklyn Girl :)

 

I agree with you and would like to add something else. While waiting around for a table is annoying, I know what it is like to be at a land based restaurant enjoying a meal and noticing that there are a lot of people waiting for a table. When that happens, I feel as if I should rush through my meal to make mine available, and will sometimes think twice about having dessert or a beverage. Needless to say, I would hate to feel that way on a cruise.

[GORDONCHICK]

I, too, like traditional dining with the same tablemates and waiters.

 

But I think the experience on Journey, like Xpedition, is not the same as it is on the other ships in the fleet. That's one reason why they've made it like a separate "division." Their itineraries are unusual because those ships can get into ports the larger ships can't. I think comparing Journey, Quest, and Xpedition to the other X ships is like comparing apples to oranges.

[GORDONCHICK]

I, too, like traditional dining with the same tablemates and waiters.

 

But I think the experience on Journey, like Xpedition, is not the same as it is on the other ships in the fleet. That's one reason why they've made it like a separate "division." Their itineraries are unusual because those ships can get into ports the larger ships can't. I think comparing Journey, Quest, and Xpedition to the other X ships is like comparing apples to oranges.

[babylene]

Ideally, we would have dinner at 7 or 7:30. I find that we eat too late. Early seating is way too early for us. So open seating would be welcome. Most of our cruises have been 11, 12 or 14 days, so it would be nice to have a chance to eat with different people sometimes.

[sea-cruise]

We love traditional dining with early seating in any of the Islands, and we love traditional dining with late seating in Europe or South America due to various interesting ports of call.

[DedeM]

Initially I was thinking I'd like the flexibility of eating when I want to, but after reading many of your responses, I realized I was wrong.

 

I like having the same wait staff and tablemates. While I'd prefer to eat dinner at 7:30, I know many others would too and I would not enjoy waiting for a table at all!

 

If I want to meet new people, I'll eat in the dining room at lunch and breakfast. I've been pretty lucky so far when doing that and I've met some very nice and interesting people each time. However, it gets tiring - almost like I have to be "on" or something - like a blind date! :eek:

 

No thanks, give me traditional seating, formal nights, specialty restaurants, etc... :D

[WhenIsOurNextCruise]

We have always cruised (15 times) with traditional dining and usually early dining so that we have the rest of the evening to do as we please. On shore days when you don't want to be rushed, make a reservation in the specialty restaurant for any time you please.

 

I think you get better service at dinner (where the wait staff is giving you very special and personalized service, working for their tips) than lunch when someone else's waiter is serving you and has little vested interest in whether you are pleased with the service or not. The traditional dining can be restrictive, but if you are going to feed 3,000 people in 4 hours, it's probably the best plan to avoid chaos. The dining room experience used to be one of the hallmarks of cruising. I would hate to see it go.

 

My two cents.....

[Sky Sweet]

Ideally, we would have dinner at 7 or 7:30. I find that we eat too late. Early seating is way too early for us. So open seating would be welcome. Most of our cruises have been 11, 12 or 14 days, so it would be nice to have a chance to eat with different people sometimes.

 

Hi Babylene :)

 

I've often thought that the ideal solution to the problem of too early or too late would be to have each level of the dining room start at a slightly different time, so there would be four different times for dinner instead of just two.

[babylene]

OK, Skysweet, I like your idea. What can we do about it?