Celebrity Select Dining is Here

[Bridge Maven]

I'm glad to have someone reasonably responding to all the alarmist nonsense; I don't care if it happens to be the same repeated voice of reason.

 

txsloth, I agree with you, especially considering the fact that it is obvious that much of it is generated by people that have no idea of what my time dining is like. If they did they would realize if Celebrity uses Royal Caribbean's model it will have no effect on dress code, service, or the ship's overall ambiance.

[hondorner]

...it will have no effect on dress code, service, or the ship's overall ambiance.

...or the distance between tables.

[Ma Bell]

Actually most of it is generated by people who don't like Celebrity and don't sail on Celebrity and might even want to wait until there is something to comment on. I'm sure all the folks on the other cruiselines would love to hear the expert opinions of those who sail on those lines.

 

I'd love to hear all about it after someone actually experiences "Celebrity" MTD and I'm hoping it is done well.

 

Until then it seems that there must be some other axe to grind.

[Oville]

MTD is Royal's plan and from what I've read here, most who refer to MTD are talking about Royal. Celebrity's option will be called Celebrity Select Dining and all we can hope for is that it is as well done as Royal's has been.

[Bridge Maven]

HAL is also our second favorite line. We had their As You Wish (AYW) dining last summer because traditional seating was filled. We didn't think we would like it, but found that it worked well for Alaska. My DW was the must opposed to AYW, but after booking again with HAL this summer and getting traditional late seating she expressed disappointment and wanted me to change it to AYW. We also found that we could have switched to traditional last summer once aboard because more than half the passengers opted for AYW dining after the first day or two. That was surprising considering the amount of complaining on the HAL boards about the change. We didn't feel that it made the dining experience any less formal or elegant.

 

I agree that Celebrity will undoubtedly do a great job at implementing Select Dining.

 

Just a thought about the gratuity added to your bill: I think more passengers would considering moving the auto-tip if they had a different server every night than those who choose traditional dining. Perhaps this is Celebrity's way of making sure that tips are still received by those who deserve them.

 

One final thought: On our last Celebrity cruise, for the first time, we had a tablemate who made dining rather tedious. He had an opinion on everything and dominated the table conversation at every meal. For the first time on a Celebrity cruise we would have liked to have had the option of Select Dining available.

 

Excellent post!

[Oville]

txsloth, I agree with you, especially considering the fact that it is obvious that much of it is generated by people that have no idea of what my time dining is like. If they did they would realize if Celebrity uses Royal Caribbean's model it will have no effect on dress code, service, or the ship's overall ambiance.

 

Thanks, my sentiments exactly!:)

[jer_l]

Excellent post!

Thank you!

[terrierjohn]

Dear Mr ******

Thank you for the below e-mail. I apologise for the delay in responding to your enquiry.

 

Regretfully, at this moment in time Celebrity do not have any plans to offer a version of Anytime Dining

 

Kind regards,

 

Admin Department

Royal Caribbean & Celebrity Cruises

 

The above e-mail just arrived today following my original message to Celebrity on April 11th.

I guess the traditionalists will be very happy with this answer, but I have to confess that I am disappointed, although not enough to stop cruising with X.

However it still leaves unanswered the question as to why Celebrity's website ever displayed the option for 'Celebrity Select Dining', even if for only a few days.

Maybe, like government leaks in the UK, it was a deliberate ploy to sound out public opinion for a possible option, before actually making a decision.

[RLM77]

Jaques Van Staden, Vice President Food & Beverage stated:

 

First, Celebrity Select. Let me summarize what we’re offering. Yes, it’s true we’re working on a flexible dining program by that name. Our goal is to offer the industry’s best flexible dining program, and for this reason, we’ve taken a bit longer to introduce it for our guests. While we’re unable to detail it just yet, there will be some unique features of Celebrity Select that we believe will help us stand out from other lines with similar programs. An important point, though,is that we will still offer traditional dining, and guests can choose between the two when booking their cruise. We do plan to pilot this later this year, and based on the outcome, will roll it out fleetwide soon after.

Except from this link: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=19808262#post19808262

Hooray!

Marlee