Early seating dining over booked?

[warmwinds]

The Summit cruises were 2-weekers to non-party locations. Who do you think that is going to attract? That was the crux of the issue. We were even expecting young New Yorkers but the vast, vast majority were over 70 (many much older than that). 4 kids on board, so it wasn't even families that wanted the early seating.

 

I'm sure the 7 dayers to Bermuda on Summit did not have that issue.

 

If we were to believe those we spoke to, it was not a question of being wait-listed for early, or hoping to get early - they all said that they had been confirmed for early when they made their reservations ages ago, and then found themselves on late when they boarded.

[ghstudio]

The Summit cruises were 2-weekers to non-party locations. Who do you think that is going to attract? That was the crux of the issue. We were even expecting young New Yorkers but the vast, vast majority were over 70 (many much older than that). 4 kids on board, so it wasn't even families that wanted the early seating.

 

I'm sure the 7 dayers to Bermuda on Summit did not have that issue.

 

If we were to believe those we spoke to, it was not a question of being wait-listed for early, or hoping to get early - they all said that they had been confirmed for early when they made their reservations ages ago, and then found themselves on late when they boarded.

 

I have suggested many times to Celebrity that for some cruises, they offer a 4:30 "early bird special" seating. My guess is that the normal early/late and select seatings would then be empty.

[Kiran]

I have suggested many times to Celebrity that for some cruises, they offer a 4:30 "early bird special" seating. My guess is that the normal early/late and select seatings would then be empty.

 

Yes that seems like a great idea.

 

My Mom really needs the early dinner so as to have at least 3 hours after meal but before bedtime and to fit in all the pre and post meal medications.

[Tara Jane]

This is an interesting thread. We prefer early seating but the last few cruises including one in a couple of months we were given select as in theory early was fully booked. In my suspicious manner I have been thinking perhaps this is a way to get the tips pre-paid. Once we were put on late and were able to change to early a few days in. They told us that once the sea days are done and folk are out on port excursions a lot want to change to late dining.

As we generally book rather late I have to accept that those booking prior to me get their choice but that little bit of doubt re pre-paid tips will always be there. I have some OBC coming to me if it ever does come to me, I am still arguing with celebrity over it, from purchasing a FCC, and would have preferred to pay tips with the OBC but cant be done when given select. I wonder if a passenger said they would dine at the buffet every day if they would be exempt, I rather think not.

[antsnanny]

Well I don't blame you for being mad but I kind of doubt the only reason you booked was because you had early seating. You didn't say what ship this was and I'm guessing it's the Summit since the last sailing said they had over 1300 that wanted early seating and I guess it was a real problem. $50 OBC wouldn't be enough for me either though to switch to late seating. I feel bad for you and hope that they find enough to take care of the overbooking issue BEFORE you get on the ship, if not I would most likely be at the MDR door as soon as I boarded to confirm my seating...before the stampede that night!!!! Good luck!!!:)

 

What happened on our recent Summit sailing is that so many requested early seating they had to accommodate them in the select dining area upstairs. I think when their are a lot of elderly on the ship this happens as no cruise line could feed the majority of its passengers at the same time..

[antsnanny]

Maybe I'm just a bit skeptical but doesn't Celebrity know how many spots for early, late and select they have? Then, once they hit that number they would stop booking that dining time.

 

Maybe there was a late booking of a group that all wanted to be together and eat early.

 

Otherwise, I don't see how they could just 'overbook' so easily.

 

 

Question… When we request a dining time does the cruise line confirm it? I always thought that it was just a request that the cruise line would try to accommodate. Am I wrong?

[england1]

Question… When we request a dining time does the cruise line confirm it? I always thought that it was just a request that the cruise line would try to accommodate. Am I wrong?

 

We usually choose Select Dining. If we have to prepay gratuities I don't consider that a request, would you?

[antsnanny]

We usually choose Select Dining. If we have to prepay gratuities I don't consider that a request, would you?

 

I might be missing something here. What do the gratuities have to do with our seating request

[wallie5446]

Question… When we request a dining time does the cruise line confirm it? I always thought that it was just a request that the cruise line would try to accommodate. Am I wrong?

99.9% of the time the 'requested' dining time has been confirmed prior to sailing. But it seems that is not happening more and more lately.

[wallie5446]

I might be missing something here. What do the gratuities have to do with our seating request

If you are confirmed for 'select' seating, Celebrity ask that we pre-pay our gratuities. But not for early or late traditional seating.

[CathyCruises]

I've been cruising since 1982 and I have had late seating on every single cruise I've ever taken. Just our choice. But on our last cruise, I went in during early seating to tell our waiter that we were not going to be there for dinner and not to wait for us. I went in with zero expectations, but was shocked to see how much older the crowd was than I was accustomed to. I am no spring chicken, but the early seating seemed to be primarily the geriatric set. I don't know why that surprised me but it was a very noticeable change.

[Gracie115]

Question… When we request a dining time does the cruise line confirm it? I always thought that it was just a request that the cruise line would try to accommodate. Am I wrong?

 

I book my reservations direct with X and have either had early or select dining on all my cruises but one. BUT you have to select those choices and you know immediately if you are "confirmed" or placed on a "wait list." Confirmed always meant to me, just that, CONFIRMED, apparently on Summit's last sailing that wasn't the case which indicates a computer snafu of some kind. It would be crazy for X to confirm 300 more seats than are available.....

[Tara Jane]

Geriatric and young families from my observation.

[Gracie115]

I've been cruising since 1982 and I have had late seating on every single cruise I've ever taken. Just our choice. But on our last cruise, I went in during early seating to tell our waiter that we were not going to be there for dinner and not to wait for us. I went in with zero expectations, but was shocked to see how much older the crowd was than I was accustomed to. I am no spring chicken, but the early seating seemed to be primarily the geriatric set. I don't know why that surprised me but it was a very noticeable change.

 

We are not the "geriatric set" but always dine early or select(and then dine early there) and have not noticed this trend at all. I suppose on cruises that lend themselves to that demographic......outside of holidays/spring breaks and summer that's very possible or cruises like the NE/Canada itineraries which apparently are more appealing to an older crowd this may also be the case. This has not applied to our Caribbean or Med cruises on either X or Royal...

[Macadian]

We have always chosen to dine early. We just don't like retiring for the night on a full stomach. It's that simple. Late dining means we dont get out of the MDR much before 2130 hrs, which is why we always choose 'select' dining whenever possible. On the odd occassion we have dined late (to dine with friends etc who were not select/early dining) it has always confirmed that early dining is a must for us. Getting switched for an eveing from Early to Late dining does not seem to be a problem, though friends who have tried to switch to early dining from late for just one evening have experienced problems as they are told that 'Early Dining' was fully subscribed. We are not geriatric, though I can understand why older crusiers may want to dine early as they normally retire early? It's all about personal preference, late dining would be a no no for us, so much so if it was forced upon us, then we would be eating in the MDR pretty infrequently, which would be disappointing as this is an important part of our cruising experience. We tend to book our crusies early and so far this has worked for us regaqrding choosing 'select dining'. Booking our cruise late in the day we realise may not mean we get to choose what MDR sitting we have.

Edited September 27, 2014 by Macadian

[cynbar]

Question… When we request a dining time does the cruise line confirm it? I always thought that it was just a request that the cruise line would try to accommodate. Am I wrong?

 

Our dining time is confirmed on our reservation on the Celebrity website, along with our cabin. It is also on the printout email I received from Celebrity when I booked.

[Gracie115]

We have always chosen to dine early. We just don't like retiring for the night on a full stomach. It's that simple. Late dining means we dont get out of the MDR much before 2130 hrs, which is why we always choose 'select' dining whenever possible. On the odd occassion we have dined late (to dine with friends etc who were not select/early dining) it has always confirmed that early dining is a must for us. Getting switched for an eveing from Early to Late dining does not seem to be a problem, though friends who have tried to switch to early dining from late for just one evening have experienced problems as they are told that 'Early Dining' was fully subscribed. We are not geriatric, though I can understand why older crusiers may want to dine early as they normally retire early? It's all about personal preference, late dining would be a no no for us, so much so if it was forced upon us, then we would be eating in the MDR pretty infrequently, which would be disappointing as this is an important part of our cruising experience. We tend to book our crusies early and so far this has worked for us regaqrding choosing 'select dining'. Booking our cruise late in the day we realise may not mean we get to choose what MDR sitting we have.

 

Same here....we booked our first cruise(back when we barely qualified as middle age...lol) and had late dining and hated it from the first night.....so to each his own...but it isn't just "OLD" people in the early seating.....

[gold1953]

I've been cruising since 1982 and I have had late seating on every single cruise I've ever taken. Just our choice. But on our last cruise, I went in during early seating to tell our waiter that we were not going to be there for dinner and not to wait for us. I went in with zero expectations, but was shocked to see how much older the crowd was than I was accustomed to. I am no spring chicken, but the early seating seemed to be primarily the geriatric set. I don't know why that surprised me but it was a very noticeable change.

 

We always dine early and are no where close to geriatric. We eat at tables for 8 and have shared with many our age. We don't like to go to bed with a full stomach and it is a proven fact that that it better for weight control to dine before 7pm. If we had to dine late we would also need another small meal in between lunch an dinner. We are also early risers so usually have breakfast by 7am.. what we think is the most beautiful time of day.

[antsnanny]

If you are confirmed for 'select' seating, Celebrity ask that we pre-pay our gratuities. But not for early or late traditional seating.

 

Really? Didn't know that as I have never chosen select. When do they charge your credit card account for Select dining?

[cynbar]

Really? Didn't know that as I have never chosen select. When do they charge your credit card account for Select dining?

 

For Select diners, tips are included with the total for final payment, so you pay 75 days before your cruise.

[Christine Frances]

Same here....we booked our first cruise(back when we barely qualified as middle age...lol) and had late dining and hated it from the first night.....so to each his own...but it isn't just "OLD" people in the early seating.....

 

Totally agree! With early seating you have the whole evening ahead of you to enjoy after dinner, shows, casino, lounges etc. Even with early seating you are not out until 7:30 or so and it takes me about 2-3 hours of activity to lose that stuffed feeling. I eat enough food in three meals a day, sure don't need that afternoon burger to tide me over until 8pm lol

Edited September 27, 2014 by Christine Frances

[donaldsc]

. Not getting early seating or anytime dining is a deal breaker for us. We booked this cruise eight months ago just for this.

 

you booked 8 months ago just for the early seating. Not having early or anytime seating means that the cruise will be ruined for you. I sort of doubt that. The ship you chose and the itinerary was not considered at all when you selected the cruise.

 

besides, with prepaid gratuities, we'll have a hard time spending the $300 obc we got when we booked. 12 days before sailing and they just found this out?

 

don't you get cash back for any unspent obc. Also, aren't there any shipboard activities or tours that you want to take. None at all?

 

you got to love their computer system.

 

don

[antsnanny]

For Select diners, tips are included with the total for final payment, so you pay 75 days before your cruise.

 

I did not know that, thanks for telling me. Tipping before you even get service is really weird in my opinion.

[Turtles06]

I did not know that, thanks for telling me. Tipping before you even get service is really weird in my opinion.

 

We are trying Select dining for the first time, on our upcoming TA in November. At first I thought it was odd to pre-pay gratuities when no one else is required to, but now, having made Final Payment, I'm just as happy that we won't be seeing that charge on our shipboard account at the end of the cruise.

 

As long as you aren't someone who removes the gratuities from your bill (don't get me started on that), pre-paying really doesn't matter all that much (although I get that some folks may want to use OBC for their gratuities, in which case, it might matter to them).

[luv2trvlnow]

Our dining time is confirmed on our reservation on the Celebrity website, along with our cabin. It is also on the printout email I received from Celebrity when I booked.

This is my first time sailing on Celebrity. How do you know if you are confirmed for a dining time? Does it say confirmed? I know it did on my Carnival sailings or it would say waitlisted. But how does Celebrity do it?

Sharon