Wait times for seating at Blu, is this normal?

[Cruise a holic]

On 9/17/2022 at 11:28 AM, jelayne said:

You are correct.  The Ultimate Dining package was discontinued a couple of years before the pandemic.

I purchased the 7 night specialty dining package which allows me to dine in different sp restaurants  for my Apex 1/7/23 cruise  The price was $300.99    Not called unlimited dining package- but with the exception on lunches allows me to dine in sp restaurants nightly.  

[Jim_Iain]

I think what you experienced is what is being seen on all cruise lines and all of Celebrity Cruises.   Back in January when ships were sailing at between 15-50% capacity service and wait times were exceptionally good.   

 

Now that ships have returned to full passenger loads all of the cruise lines are finding themselves short staffed (caused by many factors) and Full ship.

 

This may be exacerbated by the passenger make up.    I just returned from a B2B2B and they dynamics were different on each by the demographics -  Country, Age and Cruise location.   

 

My experience has been that Alaska Cruises are very port intensive and with many early morning arrivals which drives a heavy demand for early dining and to bed early. 

 

Our last cruise had an exceptionally high percentage of passengers in the 75+ age group and the manager in Blu was overwhelmed with 80% of his guest showing up and standing on line when they opened.   This caused the need to use beepers and also extended waiting times.    If you however to go to dinner at 7:30 and later it was empty. 

Edited September 19, 2022 by Jim_Iain

[wineoclock]

Also I’d hazard a guess that a European sailing later would be more popular. We were in Spain recently & a lot of restaurants in the evening where we were did not open till 8.30. We were asked to wait in the bar of one having arrived at 8.20pm. 

[Jim_Iain]

5 hours ago, wineoclock said:

Also I’d hazard a guess that a European sailing later would be more popular. We were in Spain recently & a lot of restaurants in the evening where we were did not open till 8.30. We were asked to wait in the bar of one having arrived at 8.20pm. 

 

I would agree with you as well as suggest you will see the same on many South American Cruises.

 

[letsgogogo]

15 hours ago, wineoclock said:

Also I’d hazard a guess that a European sailing later would be more popular. We were in Spain recently & a lot of restaurants in the evening where we were did not open till 8.30. We were asked to wait in the bar of one having arrived at 8.20pm. 

For sure. In most parts of Spain, only American tourists are in a restaurant before 9:00. Most restaurants don’t even start dinner service until 8, and locals are not dining until 9 or even 10.