APEX DINING ?

[Cruisegirl6]

Hello,

 

My hubby just surprised me for a cruise on the Apex for our anniversary in April.  He was unable to get anytime dining and we received late dining.  I realize there are four dining rooms on this ship, which dining room would we be assigned in for late seating, does anybody know?  I assume that we are assigned a table that we get every night?   Thank you.

[doghog]

5 minutes ago, Cruisegirl6 said:

Hello,

 

My hubby just surprised me for a cruise on the Apex for our anniversary in April.  He was unable to get anytime dining and we received late dining.  I realize there are four dining rooms on this ship, which dining room would we be assigned in for late seating, does anybody know?  I assume that we are assigned a table that we get every night?   Thank you.

No assigned MDR or table. You can go to whatever MDR you want any night. No TD early or late dining times.  We were on the Apex in March 2023. I made 6:PM ATD reservations pre cruise in our CP. Once on board we were advised reservations would not be honored for ATD and the Apex wasn't doing early or late TD either. MDRs open at 5:30. We showed up every evening at 6 and were able to get the same two top table each evening with no waiting. We elected to go to the same MDR each evening. 

Edited February 13 by doghog

[Cruisegirl6]

Just now, doghog said:

No assigned MDR or table. We were on the Apex in March 2023. I made 6:PM ATD reservations pre cruise in our CP. Once on board we were advised reservations would not be honored for ATD and the Apex wasn't doing early or late TD either. MDRs open at 5:30. We showed up every evening at 6 and were able to get the same two top table each evening with no waiting. We elected to go to the same MDR each evening. 

So, that would enable us to be able choose the dining room we want?  Did I understand correctly?  I guess having 8:30 would mean more of a chance of less waiting time, because if we had select, we usually like dinner around 7pm and that generally is prime time.

 

I truly appreciate your prompt reply, thank you.

[doghog]

3 minutes ago, Cruisegirl6 said:

So, that would enable us to be able choose the dining room we want?  Did I understand correctly?  I guess having 8:30 would mean more of a chance of less waiting time, because if we had select, we usually like dinner around 7pm and that generally is prime time.

 

I truly appreciate your prompt reply, thank you.

Yes. Any MDR. Also if you elect to eat in the same MDR every night you can request the menus from the other 3 MDRs and order from them if you want. 

Edited February 13 by doghog

[cruisestitch]

Despite the way that the Celebrity website and app look, on Apex, there is not early and late dining. There is only open seating. So the reservations that you think you have really don’t exist and you can go to any of the four dining rooms at any time. 
 

Don’t ask me why Celebrity can’t seem to fix this because it is a source of endless confusion

[geminitwin]

Just off the Apex on Feb 10th.  On embarkation, we had a card in our rooms with a 'suggested dining room' and time.  Seems most people got the same dining room and time as it was mass chaos on the first night.  Lots of frustrated people not understand why there was a huge line and extremely long wait given that we had arrived at our appointed time.  Staff didn't handle confusion and chaos well.  After the first night, we sampled each of the dining rooms at whatever time we wanted and didn't have to wait more than a few minutes.  If one dining room told us the wait was an hour, we simply went across to another dining room.   Agree with others here that Celebrity needs to correctly communicate this unusual dining experience.   It would save a lot of frustration for both guests and staff!

[Robkat]

43 minutes ago, Cruisegirl6 said:

Hello,

 

My hubby just surprised me for a cruise on the Apex for our anniversary in April.  He was unable to get anytime dining and we received late dining.  I realize there are four dining rooms on this ship, which dining room would we be assigned in for late seating, does anybody know?  I assume that we are assigned a table that we get every night?   Thank you.

Just off the Apex on Saturday.

We did see signs at Normandie DR , one saying Traditional Dining, the other one saying Select Dining, indicating where people should line up.

 

It does help to make reservations, because on many evenings when the line ups were quite long (for us, at around 6:45pm), people without reservations were given buzzers, and we were always brought right in to a table.

 

I'd say if you find a table and time you like, speak to the Maitre D to see if you can be accommodated each evening at that tIme and table.  But, as I mentioned, Normandie did have  a TD sign, so there's a good chance you'd be initially assigned there.  

 

Enjoy that surprise cruise!

[Cruisegirl6]

3 hours ago, cruisestitch said:

Despite the way that the Celebrity website and app look, on Apex, there is not early and late dining. There is only open seating. So the reservations that you think you have really don’t exist and you can go to any of the four dining rooms at any time. 
 

Don’t ask me why Celebrity can’t seem to fix this because it is a source of endless confusion

Thank you for this info, that is great.

[doghog]

25 minutes ago, Cruisegirl6 said:

Thank you for this info, that is great.

Since you've received a few different answers based on experiences, I suggested you go directly to the MDR where the Maitre D is located and speak with that person on how the Apex is handling dining arrangements for your specific cruise. 

[allyfree]

On 2/13/2024 at 5:46 PM, cruisestitch said:

Despite the way that the Celebrity website and app look, on Apex, there is not early and late dining. There is only open seating. So the reservations that you think you have really don’t exist and you can go to any of the four dining rooms at any time. 
 

Don’t ask me why Celebrity can’t seem to fix this because it is a source of endless confusion

It's a ridiculous system ... I'd understand if you were limited to the individual MDR menus for all 4 but when you can order anything from anywhere, it seems bonkers to me to have to wait in line rather than just give everyone a dedicated table with a flexible time slot. The  MDRs get less and less busy every year so doubt it would be too hard to manage

[doghog]

3 minutes ago, allyfree said:

The  MDRs get less and less busy every year

We always eat in the MDR and we haven't experienced/seen that no matter the class of ship, itinerary, or time of year. 

[highway180]

On 2/13/2024 at 1:21 PM, Robkat said:

Just off the Apex on Saturday.

We did see signs at Normandie DR , one saying Traditional Dining, the other one saying Select Dining, indicating where people should line up.

 

It does help to make reservations, because on many evenings when the line ups were quite long (for us, at around 6:45pm), people without reservations were given buzzers, and we were always brought right in to a table.

 

I'd say if you find a table and time you like, speak to the Maitre D to see if you can be accommodated each evening at that tIme and table.  But, as I mentioned, Normandie did have  a TD sign, so there's a good chance you'd be initially assigned there.  

 

Enjoy that surprise cruise!

we had the same experience on the Ascent. we were able to make early reservations in Tuscan, for 5:30, and every night we were waived around the line . There were no signs, and some people were upset that people could go around the line when they opened up for seating. We had an assigned table .No buzzers for us, LOL

 

Cheers

[Dancing Shoes]

Your mileage will vary regarding Apex MDR's.  I received a card too that said where to go and approx. time.  I had signed up for early dining.  Ha Ha Ha.  We went to that dining room and were seated fairly quickly.  We went back there every night about the same time and got the same table.