Celebrity Anytime Dining vs. Select

[bleacher04]

Hi there folks, newbies to Celebrity, looking at a cruise later this year. "Anytime" dining appears to be unavailable (much to my surprise), which is what we normally do on other lines. So that pushes us to "Select" dining at 8:30 pm. And so here's the actual question: can we just accept the 8:30 pm slot and then show up whenever we want for Anytime dining? Most lines don't really care, but maybe some do?
Thank you for your experience & advice!

[cruisestitch]

If anytime dining is sold out, it probably won’t work to just show up anytime. Your best option is once you get on the ship go immediately to the dining room and see if you can be changed.

[keesar]

39 minutes ago, bleacher04 said:

Hi there folks, newbies to Celebrity, looking at a cruise later this year. "Anytime" dining appears to be unavailable (much to my surprise), which is what we normally do on other lines. So that pushes us to "Select" dining at 8:30 pm. And so here's the actual question: can we just accept the 8:30 pm slot and then show up whenever we want for Anytime dining? Most lines don't really care, but maybe some do?
Thank you for your experience & advice!

What ship will you be on?  That would make a difference.

[Ex-Airbalancer]

I was surprised on our on the Silhouette at 275 days out anytime and early was booked 

First time in 17 cruise we not doing anytime dinning 😱

[jayoldschool]

Anytime wasn't available on my cruise last week, I was assigned 8:30. Reported for duty at 8:30. Then, walked over to the anytime side, spoke nicely with the Asst Maitre D at the podium, and she happily put me down for anytime. Worked fine rest of the cruise. Always got the buzzer, showing up 7ish, and longest wait was about 15 min while I relaxed in Craft Social.

[jelayne]

Contact who you booked with ( TA or direct) and ask to be waitlisted for Anytime dining.  You may clear the waitlist before boarding.  If not check with the MaitreD on board, they will do what they can to make the  change.

[Purplsmurf]

Anytime and select dining are the same thing 

[the penguins]

4 hours ago, Purplsmurf said:

Anytime and select dining are the same thing 

Judging from other threads regrettably X seems to uses the same words for different dining types. The important thing is for the OP to confirm which ship they are looking at.

[Miaminice]

10 hours ago, bleacher04 said:

Hi there folks, newbies to Celebrity, looking at a cruise later this year. "Anytime" dining appears to be unavailable (much to my surprise), which is what we normally do on other lines. So that pushes us to "Select" dining at 8:30 pm. And so here's the actual question: can we just accept the 8:30 pm slot and then show up whenever we want for Anytime dining? Most lines don't really care, but maybe some do?
Thank you for your experience & advice!

 

If you are on an Edge class ship, it really doesn´t matter. No dining times on E class. Only in the booking system.

[bleacher04]

11 hours ago, keesar said:

What ship will you be on?  That would make a difference.

 

Good question, and I don't know the answer right now -- my wife was looking at short 7-10 day cruises in the Caribbean in Nov/Dec, and I was mainly watching baseball...

[bleacher04]

2 hours ago, Miaminice said:

 

If you are on an Edge class ship, it really doesn´t matter. No dining times on E class. Only in the booking system.

 

Thanks, good to know.

[jayoldschool]

11 hours ago, Purplsmurf said:

Anytime and select dining are the same thing 

 

I tried to use the same terminology as the OP to not confuse them. For everyone else: Traditional vs Select.

[chefchick]

Just to reiterate (I’ve received different answers)….like the OP when I booked the only option was late dining. I am sailing on the Edge (my first E class ship) and would DEFINITELY like to switch to anytime dining.  Do I need to do anything upon boarding like track down a Maitre D or is everyone on E class ships considered “anytime”?  It’s confusing because I’ve seen other threads with folks wanting set dining times and reading that is also available….which is it?  And if I do have to confirm with a Maitre D (which is fine) which dining room would I most likely find them set up on embarkation day?

[Ex-Airbalancer]

4 minutes ago, chefchick said:

Just to reiterate (I’ve received different answers)….like the OP when I booked the only option was late dining. I am sailing on the Edge (my first E class ship) and would DEFINITELY like to switch to anytime dining.  Do I need to do anything upon boarding like track down a Maitre D or is everyone on E class ships considered “anytime”?  It’s confusing because I’ve seen other threads with folks wanting set dining times and reading that is also available….which is it?  And if I do have to confirm with a Maitre D (which is fine) which dining room would I most likely find them set up on embarkation day?

 

5 hours ago, Miaminice said:

 

If you are on an Edge class ship, it really doesn´t matter. No dining times on E class. Only in the booking system.

Chefchick
Please read Miamince post 

[hcat]

14 hours ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

I was surprised on our on the Silhouette at 275 days out anytime and early was booked 

First time in 17 cruise we not doing anytime dinning 😱

we are booked on Silho for Dec..short cruise.  We booked 3 specialty rest and  got an early res time for MDR last nite of cruise..hope it will be honored!  We cannot eat at 8:30 pm.

[Ex-Airbalancer]

3 minutes ago, hcat said:

we are booked on Silho for Dec..short cruise.  We booked 3 specialty rest and  got an early res time for MDR last nite of cruise..hope it will be honored!  We cannot eat at 8:30 pm.

I sent a note to our TA and she was able to get us select 😉😁

[Miaminice]

3 hours ago, chefchick said:

Just to reiterate (I’ve received different answers)….like the OP when I booked the only option was late dining. I am sailing on the Edge (my first E class ship) and would DEFINITELY like to switch to anytime dining.  Do I need to do anything upon boarding like track down a Maitre D or is everyone on E class ships considered “anytime”?  It’s confusing because I’ve seen other threads with folks wanting set dining times and reading that is also available….which is it?  And if I do have to confirm with a Maitre D (which is fine) which dining room would I most likely find them set up on embarkation day?

You don’t need to do anything. There’s only one kind of dining on E-class and it’s Anytime Dining. The fixed times is just a thing of their IT which doesn’t differentiate between ships.

You can go to either of the four dining rooms at anytime you like.

[RichYak]

3 hours ago, chefchick said:

Just to reiterate (I’ve received different answers)….like the OP when I booked the only option was late dining. I am sailing on the Edge (my first E class ship) and would DEFINITELY like to switch to anytime dining.  Do I need to do anything upon boarding like track down a Maitre D or is everyone on E class ships considered “anytime”?  It’s confusing because I’ve seen other threads with folks wanting set dining times and reading that is also available….which is it?  And if I do have to confirm with a Maitre D (which is fine) which dining room would I most likely find them set up on embarkation day?

Despite the advice from others above, I would definitely visit a dining room upon embarkation to sort it out. I have read some recent reports of early and late seatings on Edge class ships.

 

Paging @jelayne for confirmation.

Edited August 8 by RichYak

[lovedecruise]

On our Edge cruise in February, we were assigned 5.30 set dining time in Normandie along with the regular table mates we saw each evening. We quite liked the fact we could jump the queues and walk straight to our table. We originally had hoped to have anytime dining but it was unavailable when we booked. I believe we could have arranged to eat at one of the other restaurants but we were happy with our servers so we didn’t bother and all four restaurants have access to the same menu. 
On our next Edge cruise in December we have anytime dining so we’ll be able to compare the two options. 
 

[Miaminice]

8 hours ago, RichYak said:

Despite the advice from others above, I would definitely visit a dining room upon embarkation to sort it out. I have read some recent reports of early and late seatings on Edge class ships.

 

Paging @jelayne for confirmation.

doesn‘t hurt to do that. But there’s also a desk near guest relations for restaurants. 

We have been on Ascent in June and had Anytime dining. Because of the constant debate about this topic I asked the Maitre when we chatted. She confirmed there’s no fixed seating on any Edge class ship anymore. 

BUT, she also said that some people want to come at the fixed times so they of course let them come and give them the same table. That’s not to be confused with the fact that - no matter what the booking says - you can come anytime you want on E class.

Personally I have no reason to doubt her because we sailed on E class 5 times and always experienced this policy and people who asked were always given the same answer.

 

[Thejuggler]

When we booked Edge the default was as expected - fixed at 8.30pm.

 

Now we are a few weeks out and everything is confirmed it has changed to anytime with the option of fixing the time at 5.30pm or 8.30pm if this is preferred.

[cruisestitch]

This issue was a question posed to the CEO in her recent Q&A thread. I believe she ducked the question.

Edited August 9 by cruisestitch

[39august]

Doesn't "Select"and "Anytime: mean the same thing? No fixed time?

[Miaminice]

1 hour ago, 39august said:

Doesn't "Select"and "Anytime: mean the same thing? No fixed time?

Yes. It’s the same…

[awhcruiser]

On 8/7/2024 at 10:47 PM, Purplsmurf said:

Anytime and select dining are the same thing 

Not correct