Breakfast in Blu, Dinner in MDR

[joelsmith101]

If in Aqua, is this possible?

[cruisestitch]

Possibly. You'll need to discuss with the MDR management. There may not be space at your preferred dining time. If you intend to do this every night, there will need to be a reassignment of the gratuities. Start with talking to the MaitreD at Blu, and then go from there.

[Lady Arwen]

Yes, we did it on the Summit last April. As mentioned, you need to make these arrangements with the maitre d' at the Select dining room and they will take care of the rest. We had no problem at all doing this and we really enjoyed our dinners in the MDR.

[Phxazzcruisers]

You absolutely can. As said, just make arrangements the first day when boarding. If you haven't tried Blu for dinner, please do. If you have and did not enjoy it, then by all means change to the MDR Enjoy your cruise

[chisoxfan]

We did it "occasionally" on Eclipse. It was not a problem but if I remember correctly it wasn't an automatic ie. we would speak to the maitre d and wait for a table. That said it was a nice option for us. We probably ate at Blu 2 nights, MDR 2 nights, and specialty 3 nights.

One thing we did not like on Blu (and this may be different on other ship, changed, or just my faulty memory) but it seemed as if most 2 tops were

arranged along side each other and we like a bit more space. Love the Solstice class and we usually book CC balconies which we have been happy with.

[Hlitner]

We have done it on the Silhouette when we did not like the evening's menu in Blu. The procedure was to first see the Maitre 'd (or whoever was working at the door) in Blu and they would call ahead to the MDR to make the necessary arrangements.

 

Hank

[keesar]

Yes, you are able to mix and match. In fact, on our cruise on Reflection, there were several couples that ate at the MDR after the first couple of nights in Blu. The issues were overcrowding. We have found that we had much more room for ourselves with a table for 2 when we have eaten at the MDR versus Blu. I concur that you should try to make the arrangements early on.

[cruisestitch]

How easy this will be to accomplish will depend on one factor over which you have no control -- will your preferred dining option be sold out? If you want to switch to Select each night, and Select is sold out, you may have to eat Early Dining. Or maybe Early Dining and Select are sold out and you'll have to go to Late Dining if you want to leave Blu and go to the Dining Room. You just can't tell from one cruise to the next how easy a move will be, and the fact that one group of passengers found no problems at all doesn't mean that the next group will have an easy time of it. Work with your Blu MaitreD and he/she will try to help, but Sold Out is Sold Out, and it wouldn't be fair to those passengers who were already assigned to the MDR for you to take one of their spaces in that case, since you already have a dining assignment in Blu.

[welshfamily]

I am sorry to tell you that cruise stitch makes a good point. On our Baltic cruise last August the ship was full and it was not possible for us to eat in the main dinning room unless we waited until late diners had sat down. The reason given was they had to find a free table. Technically they didn't refuse but ....to be honest they couldn't really have given us someone else's table and Select was full. The Maitre D in Blu would have arranged to have the main dinning room meal delivered to our stateroom but as we were a party of 4 we didn't want to eat off our laps. It was not warm enough to use the balconies. He asked us why we wanted to move, we explained we wanted to eat the Duck in orange sauce. Next night it was presented to us as a choice in Blu......unfortunately my husbands favourite Blu meal of herb crusted lamb was on the menu that night. Did we say anything...NO. We all ate the Duck.

After all we had wanted it the night before and the staff were trying to make us happy.

[bac513]

Rephrasing the OP's question slightly, if in Aqua Class and you pre-pay gratuities, can you then eat dinner in MDR every night but have breakfast in Blu?

Edited November 25, 2013 by bac513

[Cruise Raider]

Yes, you are able to mix and match. In fact, on our cruise on Reflection, there were several couples that ate at the MDR after the first couple of nights in Blu. The issues were overcrowding. We have found that we had much more room for ourselves with a table for 2 when we have eaten at the MDR versus Blu. I concur that you should try to make the arrangements early on.

 

Did we do this wrong? I assumed that dining in Blu was a privilege and not our assigned dining room. We never really had trouble getting on the nights we went there -- just didn't know we were to inform the Maitre'd ahead of time. We did go a couple of nights to the MDR, 3 nights in Blu and 2 at the buffet. Are we suppose to make these plans known ahead of time? We would never know that ahead of time.....thought it was our choice. Doesn't sound like I knew the rules. Hope I wasn't putting a strain on the system.

[4cats4me]

Did we do this wrong? I assumed that dining in Blu was a privilege and not our assigned dining room. We never really had trouble getting on the nights we went there -- just didn't know we were to inform the Maitre'd ahead of time. We did go a couple of nights to the MDR, 3 nights in Blu and 2 at the buffet. Are we suppose to make these plans known ahead of time? We would never know that ahead of time.....thought it was our choice. Doesn't sound like I knew the rules. Hope I wasn't putting a strain on the system.

 

Blu is the assigned dining room for those in Aqua :)

[cruisestitch]

If you are in Aqua Class then Blu is your assigned dining room, you may be able to go to the MDR if there is space at the time you are interested in. You do not need to tell the Maitre D that you are going to the buffet or any Specialty Restaurant instead, however, you would need to make special arrangements to eat in the MDR.

[riclop]

Yes it can be done.

[nngardener]

This past February 2 of 3 couples had AQ cabins but 1 didn't. We all had pre-paid our gratuities and chose Select dining so it gave us the option to eat in the MDR or not. I think a few of us had dinner in Blu a couple of times but we preferred dinner in the MDR. I almost always had breakfast in Blu because I just liked it better. When we're on the Eclipse in February 2014, we've made exactly the same arrangements. It worked out fantastic.

[dkjretired]

This past February 2 of 3 couples had AQ cabins but 1 didn't. We all had pre-paid our gratuities and chose Select dining so it gave us the option to eat in the MDR or not. I think a few of us had dinner in Blu a couple of times but we preferred dinner in the MDR. I almost always had breakfast in Blu because I just liked it better. When we're on the Eclipse in February 2014, we've made exactly the same arrangements. It worked out fantastic.

 

If you are in AQ and choose Select Dining it has absolutely no bearing on any dining preferences in the MDR. The only thing it does is the computer makes you prepay gratuities. It used to mean you were assigned to the MDR but now it has no relationship whatsoever. You may have eaten in the Select Portion of the MDR but that was not because you chose Select dining, it was just that they allowed you. I hope it works out on your next cruise but I did not want others to think that is the way to eat in the MDR if AQ. If you are in AQ cabin, your dining assignment is Blu and can't be changed until you get on board and request it.

[dmk]

We were on the Reflection a few weeks ago. We had select dining in the MDR. We met many from aqua class who preferred to eat in the MDR. They had no problem arranging it.