waitlist - MDR dining

We booked a Summit cruise for August 2016 - we wanted 6:00 MDR traditional dining - it shows us as SELECT DINING - says all times early and late are filled for traditional - Our friends talked us into this cruise and we want to dine with them - they are confirmed at 6. As Elite cruisers - do we have a better chance of eventually getting our 6:00 dining time with our friends. Both TA's linked our reservations. What has your experience been with being on a wait list - I find it hard to believe that ALL dining times are full this early in the booking.

If this was posted before, I apologize, was having some computer problems.

June 2014 we were also select dinners. Upon embarkation we went to the MDR where the Matre'd was there with his dinning chart. We requested traditional dining for 6pm and was immediately given it and placed with friends. The only thing that was not changed was the gratuities. They had been pre-paid.

I've pretty much concluded that something changed because we've been unable to sign up online for early seating the last few cruises. You can go to the dining room upon embarkation and stand in line and almost certainly be accomodated, you just can't seem to do it online. I chose to avoid the line and just go with select dining at basically the same time the last few cruises. Had no truble on last cruise sitting with friends in select dining.

Can't your friends link your reservation with theirs?

.... As Elite cruisers - do we have a better chance of eventually getting our 6:00 dining time with our friends.

Hi,

As Elite cruisers you do have : "• Priority wait list in Main Dining Room".

Please do call the CC and talked to them . It worked for me.

I also have a name and phone number for the MDR coordinator .... but not sure if I have their permission to publish it here.

Can't your friends link your reservation with theirs?

The answer is no as they are different dining time. I tried to link mine (SELECT) with my brother-in-law's (LATE), the system did not allow it.

We booked a Summit cruise for August 2016 - we wanted 6:00 MDR traditional dining - it shows us as SELECT DINING - says all times early and late are filled for traditional - Our friends talked us into this cruise and we want to dine with them - they are confirmed at 6. As Elite cruisers - do we have a better chance of eventually getting our 6:00 dining time with our friends. Both TA's linked our reservations. What has your experience been with being on a wait list - I find it hard to believe that ALL dining times are full this early in the booking.

 

 

 

If this was posted before, I apologize, was having some computer problems.

Something is wrong because how can your friends be confirmed and you're not if the reservations are linked together? What size table did your friends request. You can reserve your table for 6:00 each night for select but you all need to be under select.

To clarify my original post - our friends booked and were confirmed for early dining - traditional - 6 months ago. We just booked this week - yes, both TA's linked the reservations. I called my TA and she said since friends have 6 pm and we linked and we Elite - it will happen. It might take some time till system updates or she said it might even just happen very close to sailing. So I will be patient.

I have seen lots of comments suggesting that people are being told that Traditional Dining is full when it would seem most unlikely. I believe some people think that this might be a way of getting more gratuities paid up front.

We actually always want Select Dining and, last time we were on the Celebrity Eclipse, the Select area was tiny in relation to the MDR.

I am getting a little concerned that next time we cruise we might struggle to actually get Select.

I just can't understand how this will work out :confused:.

Hi,

As Elite cruisers you do have : "• Priority wait list in Main Dining Room".

 

Please do call the CC and talked to them . It worked for me.

I also have a name and phone number for the MDR coordinator .... but not sure if I have their permission to publish it here.

We have taken two cruises since becoming Elite Plus (and are three weeks from a third cruise) and have checked the "please add me to the wait list" box for MDR dining each time, but were never given a slot. I had concluded that the "priority wait list" was either nonexistent or only applied if one waited in the MDR assignment line after embarkation.

So thank you for the info. It's good to know that a phone call is needed.

The same happened to us for next weeks sailing on the Summit. I phoned Celeb and they put me on a waiting list for both legs - this showed up on our booking page.

two weeks late it changed to the sitting we wanted, So don't worry too much, I'm sure you will get what you want.

This is their plan to get you to pay tips at final payment so you can't use your OBC to pay it. If you were to use the OBC to pay it that is 100% against Celebrity to cover the cost of the tips. They want you to use the OBC on other things on board where their profit is already factored in. It's all about profit. The day after you pay in full for the cruise you will be released to your set dining option. Trust me.:rolleyes:

IMO, the flaw in the system is that many people sign up for traditional dining in order to avoid pre-paying gratuities, but intend to only go to Select. Thus, seats are claimed but not used. If you are on the roll call for your cruise, you might want to request that people doing that inform the headwaiter of their intentions once aboard, so their seats can be released.

"This is their plan to get you to pay tips at final payment so you can't use your OBC to pay it."

I agree 100%. It seems that securing MDR dining times has become very problematic ever since they began offering their various perk packages. Maybe I am too suspicious, but I would not be too surprised if those choosing Celebrity provided OBC as a perk probably gets forced into select dining.

Forcing use of the OBC while on board definitely maximizes the company's profit. $200 of OBC spent on gratuities is $200 right out of their pocket. $200 of OBC spent on anything else represents only a fraction of the $200 directly out of their pocket, depending on the profit margins the items possess. And, should one ultimately get rebooked from select to regular dining they have still charged your gratuities up front and one can't get them refunded in order to use their OBC to pay for them.

"This is their plan to get you to pay tips at final payment so you can't use your OBC to pay it."

 

I agree 100%. It seems that securing MDR dining times has become very problematic ever since they began offering their various perk packages. Maybe I am too suspicious, but I would not be too surprised if those choosing Celebrity provided OBC as a perk probably gets forced into select dining.

 

Forcing use of the OBC while on board definitely maximizes the company's profit. $200 of OBC spent on gratuities is $200 right out of their pocket. $200 of OBC spent on anything else represents only a fraction of the $200 directly out of their pocket, depending on the profit margins the items possess. And, should one ultimately get rebooked from select to regular dining they have still charged your gratuities up front and one can't get them refunded in order to use their OBC to pay for them.

I wish more people would complain about this obvious money grab. At least it's obvious to the both of us.

I wish more people would complain about this obvious money grab. At least it's obvious to the both of us.

Just got off a Thanksgiving cruise, booked 5 cabins for next Thanksgiving (2016) and 4 cabins are wait listed for early dining and only the 5th cabin was confirmed for early seating. Without a doubt they want their tips up front. Did not have this problem on our 2015 cruise, we also booked a year out and had early seating confirmed immediately. It's a game, Celebrity should get tips upfront from everybody and give early bookers the dinning time they want!

Until such time as Celebrity returns to the simple practice of booking your dining selection at the time of booking (subject to availability of course) - they will not have business from our household.

Sailing with them since 1992, the process was simple and effective. Forward to 2015, as others have suggested, arrive on the ship and go and convert your select to early or late - will not.

I am not spending my valuable time running around on administrative items that have previously not been an issue.

The evolving Celebrity business model has low marks from my household and other family members who are turned off. From reading posts, there are many Celebrity customers spending a lot of time and energy working their way through all the complexities of the new Celebrity process and rechecking along the way.

Hence we and family members are booked on a segment of the QM2 world cruise at our favorite table at the 6 pm time - not an issue at all. Full turnkey booking. No payment of gratuities upfront.

There are choices out there in the cruise industry and Celebrity is just one of them.

ABoatNerd

When one thinks about, there isn't any defensible, logical argument that Celebrity can make (certainly I haven't read any) for requiring gratuities be paid upfront as part of select dining. There is really nothing that distinguishes select dining from regular timed dining that would provide an argument for prepaying gratuities. This is especially obvious when one considers that paying gratuities at all is an option or matter of personal choice, not a dictate, as part of the cruise purchase and one in fact can request to have gratuities removed from their account.

For heavens sake people! Just phone Captain's Club or Specialty Dining and have them switch you or put you on the wait list.. Never had a problem getting early seating when booking far enough out. We had friends that were Select and wanted to switch to TD and they phoned and it was taken care of, no problem. But be aware, early seating fills up quick.

For heavens sake people! Just phone Captain's Club or Specialty Dining and have them switch you or put you on the wait list.. Never had a problem getting early seating when booking far enough out. We had friends that were Select and wanted to switch to TD and they phoned and it was taken care of, no problem. But be aware, early seating fills up quick.

Our sailing is a year out, lots of cabins, did call the Captain's Club and we still need to jump through needless hoops to get early seating for our five family cabins. Don't understand why early bookers are having difficulty getting early seating for a cruise a year out, this is an ongoing problem:eek:

For heavens sake people! Just phone Captain's Club or Specialty Dining and have them switch you or put you on the wait list.. Never had a problem getting early seating when booking far enough out. We had friends that were Select and wanted to switch to TD and they phoned and it was taken care of, no problem. But be aware, early seating fills up quick.

It's the "booking far enough out" that's been the issue for us. We typically book about 5-6 months before sailing and for three of the last four cruises we never come off the waitlist. In each case the ship was roughly around two-thirds booked at the time we signed on.

We are currently 20 days from embarkation and have been on the waitlist since July 18.

I've always enjoyed sitting at large tables and getting to know several strangers, but waiting in line for yet another thing on embarkation day isn't worth it. A table for two is OK with us.

We booked Oct 8th for the Eclipse 3-19-17 Caribbean cruise, 17 months out and we were wait listed early dining in the MDR, over 500 days out. What's up. Charlie :confused:

We booked Oct 8th for the Eclipse 3-19-17 Caribbean cruise, 17 months out and we were wait listed early dining in the MDR, over 500 days out. What's up. Charlie :confused:

I have read this on C.C. threads before, people sign up for fixed dinning so they don't have to pay their gratuities up front. They wait to they get on the ship and use their OBC for the gratuities and then switch to their desired dinning time. If they wanted Select dinning when they originally booked they would have to pay their gratuities up front. Simple solution to fix some of the wait list problem, no one has to pre-pay gratuities or everyone has to pre-pay. I bet you would not have this wait list problem anymore. I too am tired of hearing we need to be wait listed for early dinning a year out :eek:

I have NO problem pre paying gratuities. As a matter of fact - I always pre pay event though we always want MDR early traditional seating. If I have my TA pay my gratuities up front - I should be able to get my dining time. Doesn't seem to help - even though I always pay up front. For those that have been put on wait list - how long do you usually have to wait to hear what dining you have - hope it doesn't take till final payment.

Call Captains Club. They asked if we wanted to leave the prepaid gratuities, we said yes & held for a couple of minutes & rep came back on & said you're all set for traditional dining. Big relief, DH despised Select dining. FYI we sail in April