Opinion of Select Anytime Dining

[ERIN123]

We are considering select dining for our next cruise. We find the early dining too early and rushed and late too late for us.

 

For those who have tried this option, how did you like it?

Did you make a reservation each night or just show up?

We are a party of 2, would it be difficult to find a table for 2 using this option?

[Bo1953]

Just now, ERIN123 said:

We are considering select dining for our next cruise. We find the early dining too early and rushed and late too late for us.

 

For those who have tried this option, how did you like it?

Did you make a reservation each night or just show up?

We are a party of 2, would it be difficult to find a table for 2 using this option?

Enjoy it immensely.

Yes and Yes, pending on what our plans are that next evening. (First and second nights you may want to consider making reservations for 30 minutes before you really want to eat as it is usually hectic and backed up. Especially during prime eating times.)

No.

 

bon voyage

[davekathy]

We prefer Select Dining. I make reservations for each night in our Cruise Planner long before the cruise. We always get a table for two as we did for traditional with no problem. 

[Armac]

We tried select dining for the first time on our TA last spring. We usually do late seating. In the Caribbean late seating is usually 8:00 but in Europe it is 8:30, which we find a little late for us. We usually went about 7:30, no problem getting a table for two. We never made reservations and never had to wait. You could easily make reservations on your way out for the next night.  Two things to be aware of, some of the tables for two are very close together and the first night select dining can be very disorganized but it seems to settle out after that. We will defiantly do select dining again. 

[SFCAcruiser]

We only choose Select dining; have never done traditional dining on Celebrity or any other cruise line. Very easy to get a table for two, but sometimes we opt to join random others. As others have noted, a "table for two" may at times seem like a table for four since the tables can be close together. However, we have had some tables that were set apart from others.

 

Typically, the hostess has seated us in the same section every night, without us asking for this. On a recent 16-night cruise, we were always seated in the same general area and were served by one of three waiters (but with one specific waiter most nights). So, the experience had hints of traditional dining in that the waiters got to know us. 

 

We had never had to wait on previous cruises because we usually dined later - no earlier than 8:15. However, on our recent Transatlantic on Eclipse, there were many Spanish passengers (reportedly 1200 were monolingual Spanish) and they seemed to prefer later dining. On that cruise, we did have to wait to be seated (~10 minutes) most nights even though we never showed-up until 8:30 or 8:45. 

[justcrusn]

It’s the only way to fly!

Seriously love it, when we don’t book Aqua (same concept) we ask for select.

[D C]

We prefer select, and have never made a reservation.  Walk up, request a table, receive a pager if necessary.  Then head to cellar masters for a pre-dinner drink. 

 

When traveling with large groups, we prefer early seating for the simplicity in coordination.  

[zanderblue]

We always book select and reserve table for 2 for entire cruise at time of booking. A word of warning though, don’t leave dining reservation too late, otherwise the popular times (7:00-8:00) will be gone. I view being able to book our time exactly the same as being able to pick our cabin. Early bookers get the best choice.

Never had an issue with getting seated at appointed time.

[yorky]

We book select but never reserve a table, we only use the main dining room three or four times during a cruise preferring the better quality options available in the speciality restaurants. However even just turning up and asking for a table for two we have never waited more than five minutes.

[ipeeinthepool]

17 hours ago, ERIN123 said:

We are considering select dining for our next cruise. We find the early dining too early and rushed and late too late for us.

 

For those who have tried this option, how did you like it?

Did you make a reservation each night or just show up?

We are a party of 2, would it be difficult to find a table for 2 using this option?

 

I will not book a cruise if Select Dining isn't available.   We booked our last cruise just after final payment was due and Select Dining was waitlisted.  I stayed on hold with our TA until she called Celebrity and we confirmed that we cleared the wait list.  We always make reservations but they honestly don't seem to care if someone has a reservation when they arrive to be seated.  There used to be two lines entering the dining room but on our last cruise on the Equinox, there was only one line for everyone.  The person at the desk usually does a good job of seating you in the same section each evening if you arrive at the same time.  If they have seated us in the same section at the same time for a couple of nights and our plans are different for an evening, we'll stop by and let them know that we have different plans.  Sure many of the tables are a little close, but usually isn't a problem and you get the chance to meet some other people if you wish.   Never a problem getting a table for two and you can eat as fast or as slow as you wish depending on you plans for the rest of the evening. 

[jkgourmet]

Love select dining and would be disappointed not to get it.  We don't make reservations(except when we choose a specialty restaurant, which isn't frequently).  We walk up and tell them we're perfectly okay sitting at a larger table with others.  We've met some terrific people that way  eventually setting up the next night's dinnertime with the same group.  I'm still in contact with some of those people.

 

(I admit that I do tell them we do not want to be seated with children.)  

[Hlitner]

We love Select Dining and use similar schemes on nearly all of our cruises with any line.  Our norm is to not make reservations since we think it defeats the purpose of "anytime" dining which means you dine when you want.  We do not know, at 10am, what time we will want to eat that evening much less the following day.  If we happen to meet some nice folks during our pre-dinner cocktail time we might not want to go to the MDR at a set time.  Since we prefer to dine late (never before 7:45) it is not normally a problem.  We also love to share larger tables (6 or 8 is our favorite size) which makes it easy to be quickly seated and gives us a chance to meet lots of new folks and sometimes develop great friendships.  

 

I should mention that we just returned from MSC's Divina where we spent 21 days in a Yacht Club Suite.  This is essentially a ship within a ship and a very high-end experience (until one leaves the YC for the rest of the ship).  The Yacht Club had it's own dedicated small (and elegant) restaurant called Le Muse, where just about everyone (except families or small groups) were always seated at a 2-top.  The dining was terrific, the service amazing, etc.  The venue was even quite romantic in the evening and the staff met our every need.  But the one thing that we missed was the ability to request sharing a large table.  During a discussion with some other passengers we all felt that many younger folks (perhaps under 40) have never developed the social skills that makes it easy to enjoy dining with lots of strangers.  An argument can be made that social media has replaced real socialization.  In fact, we have too often seen younger tables of diners where nearly everyone is busy texting and nobody is talking to their table mates.  In our home we have a simple rule which is no phones at the dinner table :).  We have actually heard of one restaurant who gives a small discount to diners who "check" their phones at the cashier's desk.

 

Hank

[4774Papa]

On 12/24/2018 at 12:49 PM, ERIN123 said:

We are considering select dining for our next cruise. We find the early dining too early and rushed and late too late for us.

 

For those who have tried this option, how did you like it?

Did you make a reservation each night or just show up?

We are a party of 2, would it be difficult to find a table for 2 using this option?

We did our first five Celebrity cruises at early fixed dining and had great table mates, but on the sixth and seventh our table mates (most of them) were a disaster, so we switched to Select Dining.  Select has worked out very well.  In fact, even better than we supposed.  We meet new cc friends at the meet and greet and socialize at the elite happy hour, then move together to the MDR.  That is the way to go.

[GlennaRoseGoes]

I’ve only done anytime, but on my upcoming cruise in June, it is full....so we chose 6:15, which I am very apprehensive about. I will definitely be missing this time slot on longer port days....to me, cruising is about the ports and destinations and local cuisine, not the ship itself and its dining. Anyway, I will not want to come back to the ship early just for a meal....and on earlier port days, I don’t want to be rushed. I like to shower, do my makeup, maybe sort some photos from the day before dinner. 

 

Also, the thought of having to sit at the same table with the same people each night sounds awful. What if they are boring and can’t carry a conversation? What if they are snooty? What if they are just idiots? Of course, you can encounter this at your Anytime table as well, but then you just suffer through the night and hope for better the next day. There will always be enough small talk for a new group to survive one meal.....but past that, what do I have to say to these people? 

 

I’ve never had to wait for a table for Anytime, even for a table for two, so I don’t see that as a deterrent. 

 

Lastly, I’m not high maintenance with a million (or any) special requests, so I don’t need or want the same waiter each evening. 

[D C]

We've never been paired with others in Select time dining.  We've dined a couple of times as 2, a week as 4,and a week as a party of 6.   How common is it to not have a table that matches your party size? 

[CoconutOne]

I also do Select. The great thing about a table for 2 is that yes, they are rather close, but since you're there as a 2 top, I don't feel obligated to carry on a conversation the whole meal. Sometimes that does happen but if you're seat next to some duds, you don't have to force it, and can also get a different table (without hurting any feelings) just in case the duds happen to have reservations and are seated in the same spot every night.

[bhughey]

We used to be big fans of select dining and have typically had decent service, acceptable table placement and little wait times. However, on our recent New Year cruise on the Infinity select dining was a complete and utter disaster. I kid you not when I say waiting to reach the host stand was like being in a mosh pit. Shoulder to shoulder,  dozens upon dozens of people all trying to get into the dining room. It's the only time we have experienced anything like this, but it was a total mess. By night 3, we said no more and switched to fixed seating at 8:30.

[GoodScout]

We feel so strongly about it that we're currently waitlisted for Anytime Dining and if we don't get it we're going to be VERY disappointed. 

[awhfy]

We have Select dining for our next cruise & I’m rather concerned as I have some nasty food allergies. I like the concept of going when you prefer, but I’m really wondering if it’ll work for us. Anyone else done Select with food allergies?

[Diamond lover]

I always select "anytime dining" on whichever cruise line I am on.   Just like at home, I don't know in advance when I'll be hungry!

 

I am on The Solstice February 28th, and this time I am going to ask that I be seated in different sections.  I am hoping that if I am seated in different sections every night (or often enough, I'll be in Specialty Restaurants some nights) I will not be barraged with the constant pleas of "please score me a 10 on the post cruise survey" by the servers, on the last few days I am at the table.  This really, really bugs me, and in fact ruins my experience.  I figure if I have a lot of different servers, they can't possibly drone on about it.  

 

It is the shame of Celebrity (and other cruise lines) that they scare the staff to death about these ratings.  Also, even though we have prepaid gratuities, I think the hostesses sit you with more or less the exact same servers every night, boosting their chances of us enhancing the gratuities.  Really, what's the point of pre-paid gratuities?  They're meaningless if everyone is still expected to tip AGAIN (and I definitely got the feeling that everyone was expected to tip again on my September Reflection cruise)

 

Just my thoughts.

[davekathy]

1 minute ago, awhfy said:

We have Select dining for our next cruise & I’m rather concerned as I have some nasty food allergies. I like the concept of going when you prefer, but I’m really wondering if it’ll work for us. Anyone else done Select with food allergies?

Why would Traditional dining be any different than Select Dining when it comes to your food allergies? They both are part of the MDR. Make the same contact and let them know you have SD and your food allergies. 

[awhfy]

1 minute ago, davekathy said:

Why would Traditional dining be any different than Select Dining when it comes to your food allergies? They both are part of the MDR. Make the same contact and let them know you have SD and your food allergies. 

I’ve always told maitre d & wait staff about the allergies on first day. Guess I’m just concerned that I’ll have different wait staff & how that might work

[davekathy]

5 minutes ago, awhfy said:

I’ve always told maitre d & wait staff about the allergies on first day. Guess I’m just concerned that I’ll have different wait staff & how that might work

If that happens advise the wait staff. Your request will be in the system. You can also Email Celebrity prior to your cruise at special_needs@rccl.com and advise them of your requests and they will forward it to the ship. 

Edited January 23, 2019 by davekathy

[Decpl]

Any time dinning is really not anytime. Alot of people who can't get early  select anytime and reserve a table for the lenght of the cruise. Which I kind of think defeats the purpose. When it first started on Princess you just walked up when ever you wanted to dine, depending on your day, port days sea days what ever and you could get a table very quickly. But now people reserve at start of cruise  fotr say 6:45 or what ever  there's always a wait. Then when you get seated there are tons of tables that people just didn't show. Talked to Maitre D about it and he said they have to hold them for 20 minutes. Makes no sense  to us.

 

Kand J

[D C]

2 hours ago, Diamond lover said:

I always select "anytime dining" on whichever cruise line I am on.   Just like at home, I don't know in advance when I'll be hungry!

 

I am on The Solstice February 28th, and this time I am going to ask that I be seated in different sections.  I am hoping that if I am seated in different sections every night (or often enough, I'll be in Specialty Restaurants some nights) I will not be barraged with the constant pleas of "please score me a 10 on the post cruise survey" by the servers, on the last few days I am at the table.  This really, really bugs me, and in fact ruins my experience.  I figure if I have a lot of different servers, they can't possibly drone on about it.  

 

It is the shame of Celebrity (and other cruise lines) that they scare the staff to death about these ratings.  Also, even though we have prepaid gratuities, I think the hostesses sit you with more or less the exact same servers every night, boosting their chances of us enhancing the gratuities.  Really, what's the point of pre-paid gratuities?  They're meaningless if everyone is still expected to tip AGAIN (and I definitely got the feeling that everyone was expected to tip again on my September Reflection cruise)

 

Just my thoughts.

Interesting. I don't recall servers ever asking for good survey reviews in any restaurant.  Not saying they didn't make some mention, but certainly nothing that was memorable. 

 

I've also never felt compelled to extra-tip, but there have been occasions on which I certainly have done so for someone who went out of their way to make my experience more enjoyable.  I've also singled out individuals on the survey for a job well done.  I hope in those instances, that it comes back to them favorably.