Aqua dining

[Steve H]

Just a quick question if you’re in  Aqua do you have to eat in Blu or can you eat in the MDR?

[natshala]

Just now, Steve H said:

Just a quick question if you’re in  Aqua do you have to eat in Blu or can you eat in the MDR?

Either.

[1025cruise]

You are assigned to Blu. If you wish to eat in the MDR, ask the host at Blu to make arrangements for you.

[tfred]

Blu is a big part of the AQ experience - and price.  If you aren't taking advantage of that (and haven't booked yet) go with a standard veranda 

[jelayne]

Blu is the primary reason folks book Aqua, if you don’t feel you will dine there you could save some money and move to a veranda cabin. 

[SLOTheta]

7 hours ago, Steve H said:

Just a quick question if you’re in  Aqua do you have to eat in Blu or can you eat in the MDR?

We have an aqua class room and were assigned a MDR dining time of 8:30pm. But, when we checked the menu for each night, nothing enticed us to go to the MDR over Blu. Each day, the Blu menu was much more appealing than MDR. I would look at each days menu and select the menu that calls to you. We never found an MDR menu that was better than Blu 

[Miaminice]

44 minutes ago, SLOTheta said:

We have an aqua class room and were assigned a MDR dining time of 8:30pm. But, when we checked the menu for each night, nothing enticed us to go to the MDR over Blu. 

 

You were not "assigned" to the MDR. The mentioning of a dining time (Select/early/late) in the system despite the fact that Aqua guest are assigned to Blu without any set times has been one of the curiosities of their IT sytem for years and years. Tt´s just something to ignore.

 

AQ quests are registered in Blu. And yes, Blu is the main reason for most to book Aqua. It certainly is for us and we always book Aqua - with the exception of E class. The four MDRs on E class are so good that Blu is not a priority for us there.

However, AQ passengers can dine at the MDR any time they like. And I can understand that people  - especially on E class - might want to try the MDR(s) for a night or so.

Ordering items of the MDR menu was also possible in Blu. However, a few monts ago the headquarter decided that it´s no longer possible. That is now the official order from Miami. Some Maitres will still allow it, but it´s no longer an official possibility.

 

Edited January 31, 2023 by Miaminice

[Cruisegirl6]

6 hours ago, SLOTheta said:

We have an aqua class room and were assigned a MDR dining time of 8:30pm. But, when we checked the menu for each night, nothing enticed us to go to the MDR over Blu. Each day, the Blu menu was much more appealing than MDR. I would look at each days menu and select the menu that calls to you. We never found an MDR menu that was better than Blu 

Where do you see your assigned dining time at Blu?  We are on aqua and it says anytime dining and unable to make reservations at Blu

[Alakegirl]

You are unable to make reservations in blu because blu does not take reservations….it is all open seating

[cruisestitch]

7 hours ago, SLOTheta said:

We have an aqua class room and were assigned a MDR dining time of 8:30pm. But, when we checked the menu for each night, nothing enticed us to go to the MDR over Blu. Each day, the Blu menu was much more appealing than MDR. I would look at each days menu and select the menu that calls to you. We never found an MDR menu that was better than Blu 

I think you may have misunderstood something or there is an error somewhere. If you book Aqua class you are not assigned a table in the main dining room. If you received an assignment like this it was definitely a mistake. Aqua class passengers are assigned to BLU for their evening meal.

 

If you saw some reference to a time, that is an artifact of the Celebrity IT system and it should be ignored because blue is always open seating with no reservations needed or taken.

[SLOTheta]

On 1/31/2023 at 12:38 AM, Miaminice said:

Ordering items of the MDR menu was also possible in Blu. However, a few monts ago the headquarter decided that it´s no longer possible. That is now the official order from Miami. Some Maitres will still allow it, but its no longer an official possibility.

 

We ate in Blu every night, except for the one night we ate at Murano for the Veuve Clicquot dinner. Every night, we were able to order items of the MDR menu. We had escargot every night, and selected additional entrees from MDR to add to our Blu entrees (on the lobster night, I added the duck from the MDR). It never was an issue. 

[SLOTheta]

On 1/31/2023 at 7:18 AM, cruisestitch said:

I think you may have misunderstood something or there is an error somewhere. If you book Aqua class you are not assigned a table in the main dining room. If you received an assignment like this it was definitely a mistake. Aqua class passengers are assigned to BLU for their evening meal.

 

If you saw some reference to a time, that is an artifact of the Celebrity IT system and it should be ignored because blue is always open seating with no reservations needed or taken.

MDR dining time was both in our reservation and in the app. Maybe it was a glitch, but it showed in our app 

[Miaminice]

2 hours ago, SLOTheta said:

MDR dining time was both in our reservation and in the app. Maybe it was a glitch, but it showed in our app 

as said, every passenger is given a dining time by their system. Regardless of the fact that AQ guest are assigned to Blu without set times.

 

Edited February 4, 2023 by Miaminice

[Miaminice]

2 hours ago, SLOTheta said:

We ate in Blu every night, except for the one night we ate at Murano for the Veuve Clicquot dinner. Every night, we were able to order items of the MDR menu. We had escargot every night, and selected additional entrees from MDR to add to our Blu entrees (on the lobster night, I added the duck from the MDR). It never was an issue. 

1. Escargot, just like shrimp cocktail, Ceasar Salad, onion soup, are everyday classics available in Blu. They are not from MDR menu.

2. As I said, it’s now a company policy but some maitres ignore it. On Apex in June the maitre of Blu said they can’t bring us anything from the MDR. On Apex in September the Maitre said no problem. As always the only consistency with Celebrity is inconsistency.

[SLOTheta]

3 hours ago, Miaminice said:

1. Escargot, just like shrimp cocktail, Ceasar Salad, onion soup, are everyday classics available in Blu. They are not from MDR menu.

2. As I said, it’s now a company policy but some maitres ignore it. On Apex in June the maitre of Blu said they can’t bring us anything from the MDR. On Apex in September the Maitre said no problem. As always the only consistency with Celebrity is inconsistency.

1) Not of the items you show in your post above ever showed up on the Blu menu. They were all on the MDR menu on Solstice. Maybe it’s on other ships, but escargot, shrimp cocktail and onion soup, Cesar salad, etc never showed up once. 
 

We also ordered duck and desserts from the MDR that weren’t on Blu. Maybe it was just our staff who was accommodating. I’m glad they were and they received a nice tip at the table every night 

[SLOTheta]

3 hours ago, Miaminice said:

as said, every passenger is given a dining time by their system. Regardless of the fact that AQ guest are assigned to Blu without set times.

 

That’s is not what customer relations told us. It was our first time in the ship, so I went to ask the first day. We were assigned a MDR time, should we want to go there. She told us to let the MDR maitre D know when we arrived what nights we planned on eating in the MDR and we would have the same table during our set dining time. 
 

[SLOTheta]

4 hours ago, Miaminice said:

1. Escargot, just like shrimp cocktail, Ceasar Salad, onion soup, are everyday classics available in Blu. They are not from MDR menu.

2. As I said, it’s now a company policy but some maitres ignore it. On Apex in June the maitre of Blu said they can’t bring us anything from the MDR. On Apex in September the Maitre said no problem. As always the only consistency with Celebrity is inconsistency.

On the Solstice, in the Blu, there’s no section called “every day classics”. There is a section called “Timeless Appetizers” available on the MDR menu that includes the items noted above. Here are the screen shots from the MDR, followed by a sample of the Blu menu, which doesn’t have an every day classics section. 

[NutsAboutGolf]

On 1/30/2023 at 5:10 PM, 1025cruise said:

You are assigned to Blu. If you wish to eat in the MDR, ask the host at Blu to make arrangements for you.

Negative…When you book AQ, you’re still forced to select a MDR dining time (select, early or late).  You can just show up to the MDR within your assigned time, you do NOT need to make arrangements

 

You can simply just show up to Blu if you wish if you’re AQ

Edited February 5, 2023 by NutsAboutGolf

[NutsAboutGolf]

41 minutes ago, SLOTheta said:

On the Solstice, in the Blu, there’s no section called “every day classics”. There is a section called “Timeless Appetizers” available on the MDR menu that includes the items noted above. Here are the screen shots from the MDR, followed by a sample of the Blu menu, which doesn’t have an every day classics section. 

I believe the poster was saying you could order the MDR timeless classics from the MDR menu at Blu and they can’t tell you “no”’due to some company policy.  My question is where can we find this company policy and what other policies are there?

[NutsAboutGolf]

1 hour ago, SLOTheta said:

That’s is not what customer relations told us. It was our first time in the ship, so I went to ask the first day. We were assigned a MDR time, should we want to go there. She told us to let the MDR maitre D know when we arrived what nights we planned on eating in the MDR and we would have the same table during our set dining time. 
 

If you have Select dining for the MDR, you CAN show up whenever but if you request a specific server, you’ll most likely need to wait a bit…However you are allowed to make reservations and when you make them generally they’ll try to get you with the same servers

[Thameside]

Just to add that we have just returned from our cruise on Constellation and not only can you choose from the MDR menu, they actually gave it to us every night in Blu, along with their menu. This may have been because the choices on the Blu menu were not quite as extensive as the last time we traveled, but it wasn’t noticeable.

[Miaminice]

11 hours ago, SLOTheta said:

1) Not of the items you show in your post above ever showed up on the Blu menu. They were all on the MDR menu on Solstice. Maybe it’s on other ships, but escargot, shrimp cocktail and onion soup, Cesar salad, etc never showed up once. 

 

:-) No, they are not printed on the menu lateley or visible on the app. However, they are and have always been the daily available classics at Blu and other restaurants.

[Miaminice]

11 hours ago, SLOTheta said:

That’s is not what customer relations told us. It was our first time in the ship, so I went to ask the first day. We were assigned a MDR time, should we want to go there. 
 

 

Then you simply misunderstood her. Or you are mixing up things.

You claimed you were assigned to the MDR. And that is not correct. 

You cannot equal dining time with being assigned to the MDR!!!

But you do have the option to dine at the MDR, AQ guests are not limited to Blu.

 

Aqua guests are assigned to BLU. BLU is THE perk of Aqua.

Just like suite guests are assigned to Luminae.
Read the homepage and you will find exactly that. 

 

Yes, in both cases a MDR dining TIME - and that´s what you were told and what we are telling you here - needs to be assigned and is assigned by their system.
A mentioned dining time on the confirmation, regardless of booking Aqua or suite is just another weird thing of their IT system. It´s been like that forever - but it´s meaningless.

 

11 hours ago, SLOTheta said:

She told us to let the MDR maitre D know when we arrived what nights we planned on eating in the MDR and we would have the same table during our set dining time. 

Correct! And try to understand the background. Because you booked Aqua you are assigned to BLU and NOT to the MDR. So you are asked to make arrangements in case you choose to dine at the MDR.

If you were assigned to the MDR, why would you be asked to make arrangements? 😉

 

[Miaminice]

10 hours ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

You can just show up to the MDR within your assigned time, you do NOT need to make arrangements

 

 Yes you can just show up. However, if you ask them, they suggest making arrangements. It´s up to you if you do or if you just show up. Both works.

[wrk2cruise]

I believe if you are Aqua and assigned to Blu it is the courteous thing to do to ask the Blu hostess to arrange for you to dine in MDR.  We don't know what else goes on behind the scenes.