How to change assigned time on Edge to select dining

[Bo1953]

2 minutes ago, G.M.T. said:

Why would you go to Cyprus to change a dining reservation, especially if you are cruising in the Caribbean.🍹

Reservation Central for the MDR's on The Edge.

 

bon appetite and bon voyage

[Bo1953]

2 minutes ago, G.M.T. said:

There is a very simple solution, cancel Celebrity and book your favourite NCL.

 

So easy.

Cannot as non-refundable airline flights are in place for the OP....

 

bon appetite and bon voyage

Edited July 16, 2019 by Bo1953

[G.M.T.]

30 minutes ago, Bo1953 said:

Cannot as non-refundable airline flights are in place for the OP....

 

bon appetite and bon voyage

OP can bit bullet, at least have omething to eat before 08:30.

[gold1953]

3 hours ago, Bo1953 said:

You are absolutely correct in your version of the same situation.

 

We have had wait times of up to 25 minutes at times, if we wanted to eat when we wanted to eat and the MDR could not accommodate us, we knew there were options i.e. OVC or Room Service etc... yet we understand that there are limits and capacity controlled factors involved in dining. That is a reason passengers come on to ask 'how can we get our preferred dining time'? It is called capacity controlled and get on the wait list.

 

If I recollect correctly, your currently assigned dining time is 8.30p, you could avail yourself of the OVC for appetizers to hold you over until 8.30p? Then there is Specialty Dining, if they have times available at your desired time. We do have options, for sure to accommodate eating times.

 

The purpose of SD is to allow passengers to eat at a time which is 'convenient' for them without reservation or reservations in the MDR and most of us realize that between 6.15p - 7p many Americans have our evening meal.

 

Please point out a few restaurants 'all over the world' that handle being overwhelmed with diners arriving at the same time and expect to be seated within ten (10) minutes with say only 50 tables available?

 

Yes, many of us expect to have the option for 'Select Dining' with a few take it to mean when they show up they get to be seated right away without exception.

 

We only make reservations to secure a place at a time near to when we 'think' we want to eat.

 

If we did not go with groups of friends, then most likely no reservations would be made at all, that is one (1) of the beauties of Select Dining.... Just like at home and not going out to eat, where most often we need to make reservations...

 

bon appetite and bon voyage

As a person who never eats late at night your suggestion to have apps at the buffet to hold old for late dinner this is not remotely a possibility for many. When your body clock does not tolerate evening eating doing such would keep me up most of the night. I Also I personally have no interest in paying for a meal either. My husband and I are quite fit and very healthy. he is 71 and a hockey player.. For us it is early MDR or buffet . I am sure others are the same. Many folks cannot go to bed with food in their stomachs. At home we have always dined at 5pm

[hcat]

7 hours ago, finny2 said:

And yet NCL does it with no problems on every cruise. Granted, if you did not reserve ahead of time, you might have to wait to be seated but I've never had to wait more than 5 minutes or heard from anyone who did, and seldom had to wait at all. Restaurants all over the world handle it, so can Celebrity if they want to. All they have to do is require/encourage reserving your dining space/time ahead (even before you get on board). Here is the reality of cruising, more cruise lines are offering it and more customers expect it.

We can't all  dine at the same time.  That's why they limit Select and have set res slots.  We would not book a cruise,  if we knew we  could not have Select or early set dining time...med reason  and early bedtime.  Used to do late seating, but  did not enjoy it.

 

 To OP.....Sorry it was not properly explained to you by your TA ..but hope it will work out.  It usually does...

 

BTW:   Just my opinion, but I do not think the answer to everything is for Celebrity to become  like every other cruise line in terms of dress,  music, scheduling ,  other practices etc.  Folks crossing over  to X should be happy with what it offers or look elsewhere, rather than try to change it!

Edited July 16, 2019 by hcat

[finny2]

I'm sorry I ever asked this question.  I'm just trying to find a way to get my needs met and take a cruise on a ship and a cruise line that I very much want to experience and I'm getting the feeling that I am not welcome here.

You do realize that celebrity introduced select dining because the people who cruise on celebrity want it. It is very popular. Why is it wrong then for me to want to be able to experience it too? But that is exactly what I hear some of you (not all) saying. I should look elsewhere? Really? I am not trying to change it, I just want to experience it fully.

I was first attracted to Celebrity because so many reviews talked about how good the food is and the chance to try several different menus in four different dining rooms was a great attraction. And then I found out that the Magic Carpet has transformed tendering for those in a wheelchair and I was sold on trying the Edge. I got tired of not being able to experience some ports because I can not handle a flight of stairs to get to the tender. But I should just look elsewhere?

[hcat]

Not sure of your cruise date but the early bookings get first chance at Select dining,  and probably book dining res as soon as they open up...Suggest you see dining desk when you board if wait list does not come through.

 

We will be cruising on Summit in 2020 and just booked all our select dining res and specialty restaurant...

 

BTW   The Magic Carpet tender area is  excellent but not everyone is transported to port or for  excursions on the modern tenders...They often supplement with local tenders...probably still better than using the life boats!

 

Suggest you  use search feature for some reviews of how wheelchair/

scooter users have  negotiated various areas on EDGE..It is  not a trad ship layout..  I think Kearney has many posts on this ....

 

Hope it all works out

[finny2]

8 minutes ago, hcat said:

Suggest you  use search feature for some reviews of how wheelchair/

scooter users have  negotiated various areas on EDGE..It is  not a trad ship layout..  I think Kearney has many posts on this 

 

Hope it all works out

Thanks, actually my TA is in a wheelchair and has been on the Edge. She is my resource for first hand information.

[finny2]

I now have a plan B if I can not get either an earlier time or select. I have read that you can order from the MDR menus with room service. So any evening I can not get seating at a time I need, I can order in to my room. Now the only thing will be to figure out what to use as a table. Any helpful suggestions on that?

[Cruise Junky]

I’m not surprised that booking for this December has Select all booked up. You mentioned a comparison to NCL. Apples and grapefruit. Celebrity still has two set dining times to cater to that their clients also want. I really appreciate that Celebrity restricts the number for select, it keeps the wait times down for those who book it. 

[gold1953]

11 hours ago, finny2 said:

I'm sorry I ever asked this question.  I'm just trying to find a way to get my needs met and take a cruise on a ship and a cruise line that I very much want to experience and I'm getting the feeling that I am not welcome here.

You do realize that celebrity introduced select dining because the people who cruise on celebrity want it. It is very popular. Why is it wrong then for me to want to be able to experience it too? But that is exactly what I hear some of you (not all) saying. I should look elsewhere? Really? I am not trying to change it, I just want to experience it fully.

I was first attracted to Celebrity because so many reviews talked about how good the food is and the chance to try several different menus in four different dining rooms was a great attraction. And then I found out that the Magic Carpet has transformed tendering for those in a wheelchair and I was sold on trying the Edge. I got tired of not being able to experience some ports because I can not handle a flight of stairs to get to the tender. But I should just look elsewhere?

It seems that it does not matter what question you ask on cruise critic you will get similar responses. Just call your TA and explain health reasons. Don't worry , you will be changed.

[vtcruising]

finny, I hope you are able to switch without any issues. Do you have one of the accessible cabins? If so, they should have have space for a small table. If your TA has not already called Celebrity's accessible needs number, maybe she could call and have a list of everything you need. She could say that late dining doesn't work for you, and if you can't get Select or Early Dining, you would like a small table to have dinner in your cabin.

 

https://www.celebritycruises.com/special-needs

For more information, contact our Access Department at (866) 592-7225 (voice), fax (954) 628-9622, send an e-mail to special_needs@celebrity.com, or have your local travel agent or international representative contact us. 

 

I saw an early Edge video review with a TA who was in a wheel chair. She seemed to enjoy the ship and I hope you will too! Hopefully, this is just a bump in the road to the Edge.  🙂

[nicknack]

I know many, many people who book Select dining only because it's easy to get a table for two.  They actually prefer traditional but can't be assured of a table for two.  If Celebrity changed their policy and guaranteed a table for two in traditional by increasing the number of those tables, that would take the pressure off of Select and everyone could get what they want.

[gold1953]

8 minutes ago, nicknack said:

I know many, many people who book Select dining only because it's easy to get a table for two.  They actually prefer traditional but can't be assured of a table for two.  If Celebrity changed their policy and guaranteed a table for two in traditional by increasing the number of those tables, that would take the pressure off of Select and everyone could get what they want.

The dining room is jammed full of tables so if they increased the number of 2 tops then there is less room for large tables and not all bodies will fit in the MDR;  2 tops take more room

[finny2]

2 hours ago, vtcruising said:

finny, I hope you are able to switch without any issues. Do you have one of the accessible cabins? If so, they should have have space for a small table. If your TA has not already called Celebrity's accessible needs number, maybe she could call and have a list of everything you need. She could say that late dining doesn't work for you, and if you can't get Select or Early Dining, you would like a small table to have dinner in your cabin.

 

https://www.celebritycruises.com/special-needs

For more information, contact our Access Department at (866) 592-7225 (voice), fax (954) 628-9622, send an e-mail to special_needs@celebrity.com, or have your local travel agent or international representative contact us. 

 

I saw an early Edge video review with a TA who was in a wheel chair. She seemed to enjoy the ship and I hope you will too! Hopefully, this is just a bump in the road to the Edge.  🙂

Thank you VT, that's an excellent idea. And actually, my TA is a the woman in the video you saw. 

[alkemist]

Did you pre-pay your gratuties? That was the only way I could get the select dining to open up. Though this is for the Solstice. I don't know if the Edge functions any different with anytime dining.

Backstory, my group has 3 cabins. 2 of them I booked with all 4 perks which included pre-paid gratuity. The 3rd party booked later and went with an interior room, no perks. I couldn't figure out why they were not able to select anytime dining, the TA couldn't select the option either. After digging around the Celebrity site, it said that you needed pre-paid gratuities to use the anytime dining feature. They pre-paid the gratuities and all of the sudden, the TA was able to select anytime dining.

[finny2]

12 minutes ago, alkemist said:

Did you pre-pay your gratuties? That was the only way I could get the select dining to open up. Though this is for the Solstice. I don't know if the Edge functions any different with anytime dining.

Backstory, my group has 3 cabins. 2 of them I booked with all 4 perks which included pre-paid gratuity. The 3rd party booked later and went with an interior room, no perks. I couldn't figure out why they were not able to select anytime dining, the TA couldn't select the option either. After digging around the Celebrity site, it said that you needed pre-paid gratuities to use the anytime dining feature. They pre-paid the gratuities and all of the sudden, the TA was able to select anytime dining.

I'll ask my TA to check that out!

[vtcruising]

35 minutes ago, finny2 said:

Thank you VT, that's an excellent idea. And actually, my TA is a the woman in the video you saw. 

That's what I wondered. She looks like a nice person. 🙂

[clojacks]

On 7/16/2019 at 5:33 AM, gold1953 said:

 They can't as they still need the dining room for all those who want set early or set late. There is not space. They have one floor for set and one for select. Also with select peoples choice of times varies with the cruisers each time so many won't get the time they want especially on a port day. I like to stay with early and use the buffet when I can't make it

That's not exactly true Gold. When we booked our Edge cruise for next week, about a year and a half ago for ourselves and another couple we are traveling with, either we didn't pay close enough attention when booking on board, or something happened after changing our booking to our TA, BUT, long story short, we were assigned 6:00 PM dining. We wanted Select to be able to try all 4 of the new MAIN dining rooms at our leisure, and when we contacted our TA, we were put on Waitlist. About a week ago, they switched one of us to Select, but not the other couple. When we asked our TA to see if the could act on our behalf to Celebrity, they were told that Celebrity is overbooking the Select on the Edge sailings, and it is difficult to honor all the change requests. So at this point, we are stuck with 6:00 and will be assigned our dining room at embarkation. So we won't even know what dining room we will be in until then. as to what I mean by that's not true (as I understand it), the 4 main dining rooms are used for both Assigned and Select, and I didn't gather from my conversations that there were assigned floors, but I'm not sure.

[clojacks]

On 7/16/2019 at 10:30 AM, finny2 said:

Unlike a land based restaurant, the ship has enough dining space to seat everyone every night. Not all at the same time, and not all in the same dining room, but that is why it's a good idea to reserve ahead, just like you would at a restaurant. If more people want select seating than assigned, then they need to change tables from assigned to select and they will be able to accomodate all those who want select.

I appreciate the suggestion of getting apps ahead in the OVC. Thank you. That might help, but I simply do best if I eat at pretty much the same time every day and at dinner, that time for me is 6-6:30. By 8:30 I would be shaking, probably crying, maybe yelling and making everyone around me as miserable as I would be. I don't want that and I'm sure Celebrity doesn't want that. 

My TA told me that it would be easy to change my dining choice, or I would not have booked.  I realize some people think I'm making a big fuss over nothing, but it's not nothing to me, it's crucial to my enjoyment of the cruise, not to mention my physical and emotional health. 

I'm already paying more for this cruise than I would for a comparable cruise with NCL and one of the selling points for me was the four main dining rooms each with exclusive offerings and the ability to easily book reservations in a variety of them. I don't want to eat in one of the "Specialty" restaurants, none of which appeal to me enough to pay extra. And eating in the buffet when you are in a wheelchair is not a pleasant experience. I have done this for lunch on port days and I do my best to avoid it otherwise.

I agree 1000% that one of the selling points is the 4 Main Dining rooms concept, and like you, to me it is a bit of a disappointment to not be able to give each a try.I think we will try the Maitre De route when we board.

 

[vtcruising]

1 hour ago, clojacks said:

I agree 1000% that one of the selling points is the 4 Main Dining rooms concept, and like you, to me it is a bit of a disappointment to not be able to give each a try.I think we will try the Maitre De route when we board.

 

I hope it works out for you. The earlier you get onboard the better (you probably know that!). A few people here who have had traditional dining have been able to try some of the other dining rooms, so hopefully that will work out, if not able to change. 🙂

[hcat]

Clojacks

Sorry you had a mix up when you switched booking to your TA..

 

Hope the alleged  Select overbooking does not impact those of us with pre- set reserved times. Those dining rms can get crowded enough  without adding more people into the mix.

[lacruisecat]

finny2, I hope you are able to get your preferred dinning time.  I am sad at a few of the responses to you that indicated '"well, if you don't like Celebrity, cruise on another line".    In this case, many cruise lines are leaving traditional seating times and many customers prefer it.  Celebrity should adjust to the demand.  

[hcat]

On EDGE, there are 4 mdrs to keep track of. This cannot be an easy task esp when Select  res can change each night as to time and location,  and many Select diners are "walk ups" without res.

 

The system favors those who book early and choose Select,  and also tbose who make  set res as soon as possible.

 

I am  sure they hold back spaces and hopeful it will work out for OP

[finny2]

I talked to the special needs people and they were most understanding of my situation. They now have me on the waitlist for Early dining. They told me it was shorter and much more likely to work out since more people want to move to Select than to Early. And they said that if I had not been switched by about a month and a half before cruising, to get back to them and they would do more to help me. Great people there!