Forced to choose Late Dining

I’m trying to book a cruise on Celebrity Reflection next month, and the only dining option is Late Dining. We do not want to eat that late. How can I get Anytime Dining? What are my chances to just show up and try to get a table?

You can go to the designated Maitre D the afternoon you board and request a change. Just showing up will probably not be successful.. if it is sold out or overbooked you will probably be turned away.

You can't just show up at select dining. You will need to see the maitre d when you board to see if there is space for you on select dining and then you may be able to change. There should be someone around the dining room entrance to help. You could also ask to be wait listed for early dining when you book your cruise although I have no experience of doing this. Personally I wouldn't book a cruise if I had to have early seating but it really depends on how much it matters to you.

You have probably booked relatively "last minute" and Late is what's left. Showing up without prior arrangements at Early or Select probably will not be successful. You give your room number at the check-in desk, they will see you have come at the wrong time and tell you to come back later.

We booked late a couple of years ago, only late dining was available. We asked to be wait-listed for early dining and about a week later our reservation showed we were now early dining.

You will be able to switch once onboard...if not by the 1st night, certainly by night 2. Folks are always switching around. And, there are other eating venues, if the MDR doesn't suit you on some nights.

I booked a cruise that showed only late dining and told them I would need to cancel if that was my only option. I cannot eat late at night . I would not sleep!! I did eventually get switched to early. I think you have a better chance of getting early over select

You can book any time or wait list for traditional dining first seating

Maybe not. Select Dining might be full and not able to be booked. The OP can try to waitlist for their preferred dining time or see the Dining Room staff on embarcation afternoon to request a change.

There will be a line of people who want to change their dining assignment with the Matre D on embarkation day, just wait in line, bet you get what you want. Or you could book specialty dining all week! Another option, upgrade to a suite or aqua class for a chance to eat in Blu or Luminae.

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We were traveling with several other couples on the Infinity in September. When we booked the cruise, we thought they were doing late dining, however they booked Select. The first night we were not successful in changing, but the 2nd night we were. By then things had moved around enough, and we ate the rest of the evenings with our friends. Looks like it can be a logistical nightmare. :p

I’m trying to book a cruise on Celebrity Reflection next month, and the only dining option is Late Dining. We do not want to eat that late. How can I get Anytime Dining? What are my chances to just show up and try to get a table?

Just go see Matre'd on embarkation asap and you more than likely can get changed...if not go do anytime dining and show up when you want to eat.

Depending on if you have any Captains Club standing you may also be eligible for priority waitlist for dining.

I’m trying to book a cruise on Celebrity Reflection next month, and the only dining option is Late Dining. We do not want to eat that late. How can I get Anytime Dining? What are my chances to just show up and try to get a table?

Buffet will work.

If talking to the Matre D does not work, book specially restaurants for each evening or buy a restaurant package.

Seems a bit silly to suggest paying several hundred more dollars just to get a more amenable dining time. Those specialty restaurants often are already booked at "prime" times anyway, so there's no guarantee that the available reservations won't be as late as the late dining. Buffet and room service would be other options that are already included in the price.

Best suggestion is to call to be put on the waitlist for Select or early dining and then see what they can do for you onboard. It's already past final payment date, so chances of clearing the waitlist are diminished by the fact that there won't be a lot of cancellations. However, people may be changing their dining preferences once the trip starts. If you can't deal with that uncertainty, then I wouldn't book the trip and find a sailing that could accommodate your preferences.

You can book any time or wait list for traditional dining first seating

Doubt it as Anytime is typically the most popular option. Personally, I don't do set dining times and over the last ten or so cruises I only use lines that offer Anytime or whatever they call it.

I’m trying to book a cruise on Celebrity Reflection next month, and the only dining option is Late Dining. We do not want to eat that late. How can I get Anytime Dining? What are my chances to just show up and try to get a table?

As another poster said, go to see the M’D on boarding. There will be a queue of guests wanting to swap dining times...Hopefully he will be able to swap you to select but if not he should be able to fit you into early dining.

Just go see Matre'd on embarkation asap and you more than likely can get changed...if not go do anytime dining and show up when you want to eat.

You cannot just show up to anytime dining. You must be on the list..

We have been on the list and told on 2 nights that they could only take us after 8pm

Not surprising at all, seeing as you booked last minute.

I found that Anytime dining was a joke for us. The smart passengers with "anytime" dining made reservations so they showed up and were seated at the reserved time. So to get a popular dining time you needed to make reservations for the main dining room. This sounds OK but the rest of us with anytime dining waited for up to 45 minutes for a table seating. Either make set dining times or if you choose anytime dining there shouldn't be reservations should be first come first served in a main dining room. Specialty restaurants always need a reservation so that was no big deal. It was chaotic between 6:00 and 8:00. Sheesh.

I choose Select dining because Early is too early if we have been out on excursions and late is far too late to allow me to sleep. So I pre book and many others do too, as 7.15 pm was not available on some evenings.

We had "Anytime" dining on our recent cruise.On the first night of our cruise we were able to make nightly reservations for every night at the same time with the same MDR staff every night, we avoided the nightly mad house by doing this.

We booked a March, 2018, on Silhouette several months ago and the only option was late dining. We always dine early in case there's a show we want to see or we haven't already lost our gambling money. We checked in on 12/11 still unable to change. Today I was poking around and went into the booking and was suddenly able to change to early.

Someone changed from early to late and opened an early spot maybe? So keep checking I guess.

We are assigned AQ/BLU..

but on the first night and later on we have been able to get an early res in Mdr...we just call ahead or drop by...never been an issue...most folks do not prefer the earliest time slots which work well for us... service is quick and no noisy din

Good luck to OP..