Ascent w/GKs - MDR - Select Early - Reservations Required for @ 6?

[At Sea At Peace]

We should know this after a couple of recent cruises on Silhouette and Ascent, but we're taking our grandkids 12 and 10 on their first cruise on 5/26/24 (6N CocoCay, Cayman and Bimini), all booked, with the designation under 'Dining' as Select and Early (some screen shots said 6PM).

 

Reading CC, it appears there are reservation now that can be made for MDRs.  So, to be safe, we just checked and there is "nothing" short of primarily 9PM on any night by night 6 (we're booked in Eden for that night).

 

So, if we show up pre-6PM what can we expect?

 

2 lines?  One for reservations and one for stand-by select?  If 2 lines, what have others experienced for wait times in the stand-by select?

 

Is this something we can try to fix once on board?  Called Captains Club and they said "you can make reservations," then looked and saw none early, and said 'should be OK' if we go 5 minutes before 6?

 

Thanks to anyone with thoughts and suggestions.

[paulh84]

There isn't really anything to 'fix'. E class MDR's are open seating. One line in my experience. You may have to wait a bit at peak times even with a reservation. I personally wouldn't even bother with the reservation. 

[Galaxy2004]

We were on Ascent 2/4 sailing and never made a reservation. Longest we had to wait was maybe 10 mins. Peak time seemed to be 7.30 for that trip. 

[gold1953]

They take a limited number of reservations and leave the rest for walk ins

[At Sea At Peace]

6 hours ago, paulh84 said:

There isn't really anything to 'fix'. E class MDR's are open seating. One line in my experience. You may have to wait a bit at peak times even with a reservation. I personally wouldn't even bother with the reservation. 

 

6 hours ago, Galaxy2004 said:

We were on Ascent 2/4 sailing and never made a reservation. Longest we had to wait was maybe 10 mins. Peak time seemed to be 7.30 for that trip. 

 

6 hours ago, gold1953 said:

They take a limited number of reservations and leave the rest for walk ins

 

Thanks, we think we are going to be okay as we're 5:30-5:45 ready.  It appears that this 'reserving complimentary dining' even if you've booked with the designation Select and/or Early and/or 6PM is developing.  Didn't have it on Silhouette with Select or recent Ascent with BLU available.  🥩 🥔 

 

Again, thanks all.

 

We're now wrestling with the 'Parental Consents' from son and partner/mom that are in Texas with the notary requirement with us, as 'Accompany Adults' and were in Fort Lauderdale with the same notary requirement?  Appear to have worked that out with Executive Office that accepted our draft modification of the RCCL template by separating the two notarizations with the Parents consent to be signed and notarized in Texas and, on that sent to us, our Accompany adults consent to signed and notarized in Florida.  🧐

 

 

[keesar]

2 hours ago, At Sea At Peace said:

 

 

 

Thanks, we think we are going to be okay as we're 5:30-5:45 ready.  It appears that this 'reserving complimentary dining' even if you've booked with the designation Select and/or Early and/or 6PM is developing.  Didn't have it on Silhouette with Select or recent Ascent with BLU available.  🥩 🥔 

 

 

 

 

I had spent a good amount of time booking times for a couple of the MDR's on Beyond and Ascent.  When on board, we were told it was Anytime Dining.  As long as you get there before 6, there will be a short line.  Note that the early birds start lining up at 5:15 pm.  People will get there early on nights in which the production shows take place at 7:30.

 

Enjoy!

[At Sea At Peace]

So much for 3rd and 4th passengers (grandkids) free?

 

YIKES!

 

No half-day option in Excursions.

 

Now, for the us (we're just observing, except for required rides that we can do) and two grandkids 10 and 12, @ $188.99 each = $755.96 Plus $75.56 in taxes ($831.52)  ~

 

[At Sea At Peace]

15 hours ago, keesar said:

I had spent a good amount of time booking times for a couple of the MDR's on Beyond and Ascent.  When on board, we were told it was Anytime Dining.  As long as you get there before 6, there will be a short line.  Note that the early birds start lining up at 5:15 pm.  People will get there early on nights in which the production shows take place at 7:30.

 

Enjoy!

 

Thank you.  Looks like the plan!  👍

[doghog]

On 2/27/2024 at 7:24 AM, At Sea At Peace said:

 

 

So, if we show up pre-6PM what can we expect?

 

Thanks to anyone with thoughts and suggestions.

You will have 4 MDRs to select from. Pick one that has less people waiting. You can request menus from all four MDRs. Doesn't matter which one you are eating at. 

[At Sea At Peace]

2 hours ago, doghog said:

You will have 4 MDRs to select from. Pick one that has less people waiting. You can request menus from all four MDRs. Doesn't matter which one you are eating at. 

 

Yep.  That really makes it super flexible as we can all look at the menus for the day and get an idea what each will want a bit ahead of time and, like you note, get such from any MDR venue.

 

👍

[hcat]

3 hours ago, At Sea At Peace said:

So much for 3rd and 4th passengers (grandkids) free?

 

YIKES!

 

No half-day option in Excursions.

 

Now, for the us (we're just observing, except for required rides that we can do) and two grandkids 10 and 12, @ $188.99 each = $755.96 Plus $75.56 in taxes ($831.52)  ~

 

sounds like a huge rip off!

[At Sea At Peace]

22 minutes ago, hcat said:

sounds like a huge rip off!

 

It is what it is, it was just a surprise.  We didn't do very good research, so just informational for others.

 

In reply to this in an "excursion forum" as to why we just didn't go to Orlando to a water park 😄 😜 🏊‍♀️ ~

 

We've taken these kids to water parks in Orlando, while at WDW Grand Floridian; Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach repeatedly. They've been to the biggest water parks in an around Austin TX.  So, we don't book a cruise for a couple of hours at a water park at one of the ports, and we're not tripping up to Orlando (car, Brightline or air) with a hotel overnight, etc. to add a waterpark.

 

We wanted to take the kids on a cruise ship for the first time, we're 1 mile from Port Everglades right on the beach and we have them for 3 weeks from May to June.  THEY wanted to go on a cruise ship.

 

Granted, Celebrity (owned by Royal) is not the best option for kids for onboard activities, we believe Royals ships are, but they were not available here in FLL for the open dates we have and out of Miami the ICON was 3-4X.  Maybe next time.

 

So, we picked an itinerary that would have active ports for them, Cococay (the entire island, various activities (they have their own, best snorkel gear) and 'some time' at the Thrill water park), Cayman (Stingray City and more snorkeling) and to a lesser extent Bimini (still unplanned).  A 6N cruise.

 

The purpose of the cruise was not just the Thrill Waterpark at Cococay for the whole day and nothing else.  It's just a segment piece of one day.  We'll be all over the island with other activities throughout the day.  There are no longer 1/2 day passes and the Thrill park cost has grown from $79 for kids and $129 for adults to the same $189 for both kids and adults; apparently different than even Royal charges and much more than the past 9 months.

 

So, it was just a surprise to just find out now on this booking.

 

Take care, we're fine.  If the weather doesn't look good prior to the full refund date we'll just cancel if there isn't a better offer or promo in the meantime.

[foodsvcmgr]

It’s amazing to me that when booking E-class you are still offered to pick early, late, or select dining when everyone reports it is open seating only for the last year or more.

I realize Celebrity IT is not good, but how hard would this be to update accurately?

[At Sea At Peace]

1 hour ago, foodsvcmgr said:

It’s amazing to me that when booking E-class you are still offered to pick early, late, or select dining when everyone reports it is open seating only for the last year or more.

I realize Celebrity IT is not good, but how hard would this be to update accurately?

 

It's unique.  😕

 

We have a B2B booked for 12/1 and 12/8.  We log in to those, go to All Dining, Complimentary, pick a MDR Venue and go to "Reserve" and everything is 'greyed out' with the error message that states that "you have Select Dining Anytime" and won't let us select anything.

 

On our upcoming 5/26, doing the same thing, we get no such warning, and get to pick each MDR to select by day and choose from the remaining time slots available (8:30 and later).  

 

Yet we have the same confirmation package for each.

 

Go figure?  😉