Main Dining Seating Problems

[DoubleEntry]

Good afternoon, all.

 

We're having great difficulty booking MDR reservations on The Millennium for 8/19/24.  I was looking for someone who possibly knows who I can speak with at X.  I'm elite-plus and have been on X for over 35 years.

 

Here's the summary:

 

We are a group of 8 spread over 4 reservations and 2 travel agencies.  Three with C..C.. and one with someone else.

3 had made reservations for the 9 nights we are using the MDR and one had to be added.  

It took a while to link all the reservations and then we tried to link the MDR.  X then cancelled all of the MDR reservations, mysteriously and without warning.  They were very sorry, and no one had any idea why or how that happened. So, give it back to us?  Sorry, but we're all sold out.  They could only give us very early or very late times, none of which is good when you're taking tours.

 

We're spent literally hours on the phone and pages of emails with X and our T/As.  Even the previously fine Captain's Club folks claimed not to be able to do anything. The last thing they said was that nothing can be done land side as control was shifted to the ship. While a novel answer, it's too ridicules to even repeat.  

 

In all my sailing (over 35) nothing like this has ever remotely happened and we are at the point of frustration that will be made know when we board.  I have never seen a business not attempt to help a customer let alone a group.  With all the problems over the past year or so, that X has inflicted upon itself, they damn well better start caring about business.

 

As well as asking for help from my fellow cruisers, I would hope that whoever monitors this site for X would step up and contact me.

 

 

 

[dcbiker97]

They only have so many 8 tops in the dining room and possibly all of those available for pre reservation have been taken.  Their IT system isn’t the best. Shoreside is probably correct that your best bet is to go to the maitre’d when you first board to secure the time and number of the reservation you need.  

[Baron Barracuda]

At embarkation a maitre 'd or hw is always stationed at the mdr entrance to assist with logistical issues such as yours.  They have always been able to help us out swiftly and efficiently

 

 

[gold1953]

problem is that they have to leave about half of the tables for walk ins so stop booking when they reach the quota. This is standard practice. Your only option is to arrive as a group each night ahead of the time you want and line up for your table

[gold1953]

The other thing to note is that Elite plus does not list dining room seating as a perk

[jelayne]

Don’t waste any more time.  Go to the MDR when you board, speak to a MaitreD and they can sort it out.  As mentioned they do not pre reserve all the tables as the point if anytime dining is to go when you are ready.

Because you are a large group to right after boarding so they can rearrange tables if needed.

[serene56]

Is the main seating or late seating not an option>?   I know for our sailing- they did not offer researcations between 7:15 and 8:30   (was this what you were trying to do?)   I asked about that when onboard and was told this is the highly anticipated time for the anytime dining.    And its first come first serve.     

[NoWhiners]

OP, we feel your pain. We are a group of 6 on Eclipse in late Sept/early October. I tried all the same things and made the same progress! I have resigned myself to trying to talk to someone at he MDR when we board and try and work it out. We have Select dining, so we may just get in line when we're ready and take our chances.

 

I'm don't understand why X makes it so hard to book a table. It's a real pain.

 

Does anyone know which DR we should go to to get help? It seems like I've always seen someone doing this but maybe by the buffet???

[Liao]

9 minutes ago, NoWhiners said:

OP, we feel your pain. We are a group of 6 on Eclipse in late Sept/early October. I tried all the same things and made the same progress! I have resigned myself to trying to talk to someone at he MDR when we board and try and work it out. We have Select dining, so we may just get in line when we're ready and take our chances.

 

I'm don't understand why X makes it so hard to book a table. It's a real pain.

 

Does anyone know which DR we should go to to get help? It seems like I've always seen someone doing this but maybe by the buffet???

Any maitre’d in any of the restaurants can assist.

[NoWhiners]

Just now, Liao said:

Any maitre’d in any of the restaurants can assist.

 

OK, thanks for that. I'll try and track someone down, good to know there are multiple options.

[DoubleEntry]

Many thanks to all that answered.  I forgot about the walk-ins, and each person did say to wait until a couple of weeks out or we get onboard. 

[kathynorth]

OP something similar recently happened to our family group. I linked 3 cabins to reserve a table for 7 in MDR for each of the 7 nights of our cruise. Somehow the first 3 nights of our reservation disappeared, the last 4 nights are still showing. We’re traveling with 2 diabetics, plus a young child with disabilities so waiting until the 8:30 reservation they offered us is not a possibility. We plan to try to remake reservations when we get onboard or to check in at 5:30 to get a pager and wait until a table is available.

[DoubleEntry]

Kathy, thanks for the info.  I was just wondering, how long before the sail date did youf reservations disappear?

 

Jeff

[jelayne]

2 hours ago, NoWhiners said:

OP, we feel your pain. We are a group of 6 on Eclipse in late Sept/early October. I tried all the same things and made the same progress! I have resigned myself to trying to talk to someone at he MDR when we board and try and work it out. We have Select dining, so we may just get in line when we're ready and take our chances.

 

I'm don't understand why X makes it so hard to book a table. It's a real pain.

 

Does anyone know which DR we should go to to get help? It seems like I've always seen someone doing this but maybe by the buffet???

Go to the MDR, not the specialty restaurants or the crew outside the buffet as they are booking new specialty dining reservations. 
 

If you are a group of 6 are your reservations linked?  and booked through the same TA or all direct with Celebrity?  If so you may want to consider changing to either early or late set time(traditional) dining.  Then you would be seated at the same table, same time with same waitstaff every night. 

[NoWhiners]

1 hour ago, jelayne said:

Go to the MDR, not the specialty restaurants or the crew outside the buffet as they are booking new specialty dining reservations. 
 

If you are a group of 6 are your reservations linked?  and booked through the same TA or all direct with Celebrity?  If so you may want to consider changing to either early or late set time(traditional) dining.  Then you would be seated at the same table, same time with same waitstaff every night. 

 

Yes, this was my plan, thanks for the confirmation. They are linked but when I called the agent and Captains Club person said we couldn't book a table because we were on a group reservation. I assumed that meant that because I booked thru a big box seller, I was in a group. But the others boked direct with X and when they tried to reserve a table, they also ran into problems. We talked it over and everyone decided they liked the flexibility of Select dining, especially since we weren't sure when we would be getting back from tours. And there is a reasonable chance we will want to use the buffet sometimes. So, we decided Select would be best.

 

Thanks for your thoughts, very helpful.

 

It's sort of sad--the others are new to cruising and to X. I don't think this is making them into X fans.

 

Edited Friday at 01:03 AM by NoWhiners
add info

[jelayne]

We cruised with some friends a few months ago. 3 different reservations, nothing linked, no reservations showed up as a group of 5 about 5 out of 10 nights no problem getting seated with little to no wait. 

[c-leg5]

I assume you were wanting anytime dining?

 

Probably would have been easiest to have left well alone and added the couple on the ship since you were only moving from a party of 6 to 8.

 

Have they offered you traditional dining now, or early/late anytime?
 

You could still try to get a vacant slot “ on the ship”  but not as easily as if you had had a placeholder. 

[DaKahuna]

4 hours ago, gold1953 said:

 Your only option is to arrive as a group each night ahead of the time you want and line up for your table

 

I disagree.  The best option is to go to the dining room immediately upon embarkation and speak to the Maitre'd / Head Waiter there and arrange for your group to be seated as @dcbiker97 and others have said.  Showing up and waiting in line is a last resort in my humble opinion. 

 

[NoWhiners]

Just now, jelayne said:

We cruised with some friends a few months ago. 3 different reservations, nothing linked, no reservations showed up as a group of 5 about 5 out of 10 nights no problem getting seated with little to no wait. 

 

It's funny you said that. The others in our group think we should unlink the reservations since linking them doesn't seem to help!

 

Everyone was getting very nervous about this, so I reminded them that we had Select dining and could show up whenever we want and just wait. Or go to the buffet. I also reminded them that if we show up a little earlier than 6, we might get in faster. We would still be eating after 6 by the time they get us drinks, take orders, and serve us.

[robbinsca]

I am a bit surprised by this problem. We were on Eclipse last November. We had two couples with linked reservations and requested to be placed at large tables so we could mingle with other people. Our reservation was also dropped on the pre-cruise system. We visited the MDR on Day One after boarding.

 

We were seated at a 10 top, and only got to 6 people on the nights where we invited two people over from the next table (they had 0 tablemates) at their 8 top. Three other 10 tops had a grand total of one couple between the three tables. 
 

Large groups did not use up the space. Check with the Maitre D as others have suggested. They may not get their act together on Night #1, but they should be able to meet your needs.

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

11 hours ago, kathynorth said:

OP something similar recently happened to our family group. I linked 3 cabins to reserve a table for 7 in MDR for each of the 7 nights of our cruise. Somehow the first 3 nights of our reservation disappeared, the last 4 nights are still showing. We’re traveling with 2 diabetics, plus a young child with disabilities so waiting until the 8:30 reservation they offered us is not a possibility. We plan to try to remake reservations when we get onboard or to check in at 5:30 to get a pager and wait until a table is available.

 

It seems like in a situation like this, simply doing early seating would be the best option rather than depending on being able to get a reservation AND to get in at your reservation time. With early seating, you know you'll be eating at that time. Even with a reservation there could be a delay in being seated.

5 hours ago, robbinsca said:

requested to be placed at large tables so we could mingle with other people.

 

I think a problem with this is you're then dependent on other people wanting to be seated with other people. Not everyone wants that, and my understanding is that Select defaults to tables for individual parties. Fixed dining is where you're more likely to be seated with others so if actually wanting to be seated with others is a deal-breaker for you, I'd go with a fixed time.

[gold1953]

13 hours ago, NoWhiners said:

 

OK, thanks for that. I'll try and track someone down, good to know there are multiple options.

They still won't take reservations if the quota has been met. It will be seating on arrival. I have tried for just 2 and it was a flat NO

[villauk]

We are on the same sailing in a party of seven (thankfully, I did just check our Select reservations and they are all still there). As others have suggested, I would visit the Maitre d’ at the entrance to the MDR once you board. Since we have many overnight stops and a multitude of different tour options, I would think you will be accommodated more easily than on a standard Caribbean cruise 👍.

[hcat]

11 hours ago, DaKahuna said:

 

I disagree.  The best option is to go to the dining room immediately upon embarkation and speak to the Maitre'd / Head Waiter there and arrange for your group to be seated as @dcbiker97 and others have said.  Showing up and waiting in line is a last resort in my humble opinion. 

 

agree! 

 when you go, bring a clear list of names, cabin #s  and the booking #s to facilitate the process. 

 

seems larger tables are in demand! 

we are only 2 and usually do not get great locations or are seated  VERY close to another couple..

[sushraya]

We are a group of 8 on a cruise later this fall.   Based on this thread, I went to the app and made reservations for all of us together for each night - we picked the later times (8pm/8.15pm).  Seems to have worked.   A lot of the earlier times were also showing up on the app for me.