Best time for dinner to see the shows

[budmeister]

We are new Celebrity and will be sailing on the Equinox. We like to see all of the shows. What is the best time for dinner? I was thinking like 6:45 or 8:30? Thanks!

[cazzi]

Best time for dinner is when your hungry.  Show times are either 7pm or 9pm.  Enjoy the Equinox you will love it Celebrity is a fantastic cruise line

 

[Luvcrusn]

The show is repeated each night at 7 and 9 PM to accommodate early and late diners. We generally dine late and see the 7:00 o'clock show although we have also done the opposite. You don't need reservations for the shows and there are plenty of seats. Some evenings there is an additional show at 10:30, but these are different than the 2 early shows and are maybe a comedian doing a late night show, or the cruise director newlywed not so newlywed type game show, or the liars club with cruise director, captain, comedian etc.

[Phxazzcruisers]

As said, the shows are at 7 or 9.  If you eat at 6:45 you will make the 9:00, if you go to the 7:00 show you can easily make dinner at 8:30.  It all depends on your schedule.  Enjoy your cruise

Edited November 1, 2018 by Phxazzcruisers

[jelayne]

The show at 7 ends about 7:50 so you can dine anytime 8 or after.  For the 9 o’clock show I would suggest dinner by 7:30 at the latest.

[cruising princess 1964]

so celebrity select dining and go when you want

[gerelmx]

Only to add the commented, some shows are repeated next day  (matinee show) when it is a sea day.

[MisterBill99]

56 minutes ago, gerelmx said:

Only to add the commented, some shows are repeated next day  (matinee show) when it is a sea day.

 

In general when there is a matinee, it is not the same material but a different show. At least that has been my experience. Otherwise, people who already saw the evening shows would not bother showing up.

[MisterBill99]

15 hours ago, Phxazzcruisers said:

As said, the shows are at 7 or 9.  If you eat at 6:45 you will make the 9:00, if you go to the 7:00 show you can easily make dinner at 8:30.  It all depends on your schedule.  Enjoy your cruise

 

On our recent cruise on Infinity, we ate at 6:30 and were generally out by 8:30, which gave us time for a leisurely walk across the ship in time for the 9pm show. We were at a table with 6-7 people so it was probably slower than with a smaller table. If you are just 2 eating alone, the meal will probably be faster. If you eat at 7pm, you'll have to tell the server when you need to be out to make sure you get out in time.

[dszrew]

on our recent cruise we did anytime dining, and we mostly went sometime early and made the 7pm show. they started dinner by 5:30pm it seems, or at least by 6pm--much earlier than the set dining times.

[Baron Barracuda]

In traditional dining there can be a large time gap between 6pm dinner and show at 9pm.  That's why we prefer 7pm show followed by a cocktail and dinner at 8:30.

 

Do know some folks though who rush through 6pm dinner, skip dessert, and catch show at 7.

[Luvcrusn]

No show on any cruise ship I've seen (and I have seen many that I've enjoyed) is worth skipping dessert, especially since the show is repeated two hours later! 

[jagoffee]

19 hours ago, MisterBill99 said:

 

In general when there is a matinee, it is not the same material but a different show. At least that has been my experience. Otherwise, people who already saw the evening shows would not bother showing up.

You are correct.  Often the same entertainer, but a different show.  Celebrity seems to do this on some sea days.

Edited November 2, 2018 by jagoffee

[miched]

Just got off the Equinox.   The Early show is never SRO and seats are always available.  We would dine early and many times go in late and get a seat.  

 

The later show would normally fill up fill up and be SRO 10 to 15 minutes before show time.

 

On the Caribbean Cruises  many will  skip the production shows because they have seen them before and because they weren’t very good.   I think that frequent cruisers are just getting bored with the same old tired stuff.  For those shows I will sit in a area along with others that have the same intention of walking out early without disturbing the show or making  a seen as some will do for the late night comedy.   Why sit in the front row and then walk out after a few minutes waving your arms in the air yelling that it is disgusting? .  

 

The matinee show show is never  a repeat of any previous show.  They do show some of the Life Activity shows on the TV such as the “Not So Newly Wed” or Liars Club.  

 

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

[Muffinz]

when we went on our first cruise earlier this year, we found out we had been allocated the late dining seating at 8:30pm, but it turned out to be perfect for us

about 6pm we'd go back to our cabin and get ready for the evening, then go to the martini bar or another bar for a drink or 2, then go to the 7pm show, then back to the bar for another drink, then into the MDR for 8:30 dinner.

[Duanerice1]

We like to eat early as we do at home so we'll eat then go the the 7pm show.  And yea, we usually skip dessert but make up for it at the Cafe later that evening.  Works for us.

[MisterBill99]

On 11/2/2018 at 10:46 AM, jagoffee said:

You are correct.  Often the same entertainer, but a different show.  Celebrity seems to do this on some sea days.

 

On our recent cruise, they did a matinee with a singer (whose show we and many others had walked out on) and a comedian (who was great). Fortunately the comedian went on first, so we were able to leave as soon as the singer came on (as did others).

Edited November 5, 2018 by MisterBill99

[MisterBill99]

6 hours ago, miched said:

 For those shows I will sit in a area along with others that have the same intention of walking out early without disturbing the show or making  a seen as some will do for the late night comedy.   Why sit in the front row and then walk out after a few minutes waving your arms in the air yelling that it is disgusting? .  

 

The matinee show show is never  a repeat of any previous show.  They do show some of the Life Activity shows on the TV such as the “Not So Newly Wed” or Liars Club.  

 

When we aren't sure about a show (which is most of them), we sit in the balcony on the side. We make sure to get an aisle seat so we can make a quick escape. We had a terrible experience on Anthem of the Seas when we sat in one of the front rows downstairs in the center for "We Will Rock You" only to find that it was the worst Broadway-style show we had ever seen. Because of where we were seated, we couldn't leave and had to stay for the whole show!

 

The game shows were all done at 10:30pm on our recent Panama Canal cruise. The NSNW is really best done at night for the adult question, although on this particular cruise there were only a handful of kids so it might not have mattered. Reminds of when MSC decided to do their version of Quest in the afternoon on Seaside. Definitely not the right time for it (not that it mattered, since it was a lame version).

[QT911]

I took the advise and made RSVP for all 5 nights dining at 6:30/6:45 time slot (seems to be the hard one to get once on ship).

I am guessing on a case to case/day to day basis, we can swap for a later seating if needed (ex. port day or we just not hungry that early)?

[cruising cockroach]

On 10/31/2018 at 8:14 PM, jelayne said:

The show at 7 ends about 7:50 so you can dine anytime 8 or after.  For the 9 o’clock show I would suggest dinner by 7:30 at the latest.

 

730p is a great time to be seated to dine to miss all shows.  Seated too early to finish the early show, and unless service is fast and/or you're only having 2 course instead of 3-4, finishes too late to catch the second show.

[MisterBill99]

4 hours ago, cruising cockroach said:

 

730p is a great time to be seated to dine to miss all shows.  Seated too early to finish the early show, and unless service is fast and/or you're only having 2 course instead of 3-4, finishes too late to catch the second show.

 

Agreed. The only way it could possibly work is if you are seated by yourselves and can order and eat quickly and even then dessert might be an issue.  We were seated at a table for 8 on a recent HAL cruise but we were the only ones at the table. I saw a table for 2 open up near the window and asked to move there. The assistant maitre'd for the area said we'd have to eat in an hour (I guess someone else had a reservation for later). We wanted to get out in time for the show so I told him if he could get us out that quickly, we'd be OK with it. He did, and we were so happy with him that we sat at his station the rest of the cruise. Fortunately on other nights we did not have time constraints so we didn't have to rush thru dinner.

Edited November 7, 2018 by MisterBill99

[zanderblue]

9 hours ago, cruising cockroach said:

 

730p is a great time to be seated to dine to miss all shows.  Seated too early to finish the early show, and unless service is fast and/or you're only having 2 course instead of 3-4, finishes too late to catch the second show.

 

Our experience is different. Our last 6 or 7 cruises with Celebrity have all been Select dining and we have dined at 7:30 on them all. We have always made the 9:00pm shows comfortably. We don’t consider ourselves fast eaters, nor do we skip deserts ☺️. Nor have we ever felt rushed.

We do always dine at a table for 2, so I’d guess this must help.

[Hlitner]

We cruise on many different lines and the general rule is the same.  Ships that cater to North Americans ( including X) tend to have a majority of early diners.  So the shows for the early diners tend to be very crowded while those used by late diners is seldom crowded.  On Celebrity this means that the 7 show is much easier to get a seat.  But consider that some very early diners will rush through dinner so they can make that 7 show and be in bed by 8🤗

 

So our X strategy is to go to the showroom around 6:45.  We will usually have a cocktail after the show and head to dinner around 8.30.  Dining in open seating late means there is never a rush, the waiters are more relaxed, and it’s perfect for those who prefer dining to a fast food approach.

 

Hank

[cruising cockroach]

10 hours ago, zanderblue said:

 

Our experience is different. Our last 6 or 7 cruises with Celebrity have all been Select dining and we have dined at 7:30 on them all. We have always made the 9:00pm shows comfortably. We don’t consider ourselves fast eaters, nor do we skip deserts ☺️. Nor have we ever felt rushed.

We do always dine at a table for 2, so I’d guess this must help.

 

YMMV on this.  We were on the Millennium TPAC last year (apparently sailed fully-booked/occupied) and had standing reservations for table for 2 every night in Select (fixed dining was not available to us) and were seated pretty much right away.  MDR was pretty much packed every night (no shore excursions to induce fatigue in the weak and lame and drive them to the buffet). Servers were way too busy to be able to serve at least 3 courses in that time.

[sdd5245]

How do you make Select dining reservations before your cruise? By phone? Online? Thanks