It's Official... Celebrity is rolling out Open Seating on all ships

[J & G]

J & G, JEKA and GRACIE 115.

Certainly did not mean to get your dander up regarding open seating. If X feels that by introducing open seating it would definitely attract more 'New Cruisers' and enhance their bottom line they will do it regardless of what anyone says.

 

It was purely an observation on my part not meaning to cause a controversy.

The proponents of open seating have every right to state their case as do the traditionalists and lets hope that X is able to satisfy both sides without too much fuss and confusion.

 

Best wishes and more importantly enjoy your cruising,

SAZ.

 

You didn't get my dander up.....heck, if I'm looking for someone to get my dander up, I can just go to work....:D

 

 

I wanted to make sure I understood your comment. That is very different than what we experienced on RCCL when MTD was introduced. Neither type of dining adversely impacted the other.....unless someone was looking for something over which to get his/her knickers in a twist, in which case the unstoppable force might have just met the immoveable object. ;)

[jagoffee]

You didn't get my dander up.....heck, if I'm looking for someone to get my dander up, I can just go to work....:D

 

 

I wanted to make sure I understood your comment. That is very different than what we experienced on RCCL when MTD was introduced. Neither type of dining adversely impacted the other.....unless someone was looking for something over which to get his/her knickers in a twist, in which case the unstoppable force might have just met the immoveable object. ;)

 

IMHO when someone has a concern about Open seating affected others it relates to Princess's implementation of Anytime dining. On Princess there is usually a long waiting list to get fixed dining forcing many people to use Anytime dining. Also on Princess they do not do a good job monitoring the Anytime dining. Cruisers sometimes select fixed and then take advantage of the Anytime dining sometimes causing some Anytime dining cruisers to wait for seating. Personally I believe that Celebrity implementation will be much better eliminating this issue for everyone. I am convinced that it will be a good enhancement.

[tcdtcd]

IMHO when someone has a concern about Open seating affected others it relates to Princess's implementation of Anytime dining. On Princess there is usually a long waiting list to get fixed dining forcing many people to use Anytime dining. Also on Princess they do not do a good job monitoring the Anytime dining. Cruisers sometimes select fixed and then take advantage of the Anytime dining sometimes causing some Anytime dining cruisers to wait for seating. Personally I believe that Celebrity implementation will be much better eliminating this issue for everyone. I am convinced that it will be a good enhancement.

 

We've cruised Princess at peak times three times (Xmas/NY in Carib and Canal, Aug in Med) and never had a problem with Anytime dining at all! It was great! And unlike X, they have separate DRs for traditional and anytime, which makes it easier than trying to do both in 1 DR. I am happy X is implementing it, but predict it might be rough sledding for awhile.

[J & G]

IMHO when someone has a concern about Open seating affected others it relates to Princess's implementation of Anytime dining. On Princess there is usually a long waiting list to get fixed dining forcing many people to use Anytime dining. Also on Princess they do not do a good job monitoring the Anytime dining. Cruisers sometimes select fixed and then take advantage of the Anytime dining sometimes causing some Anytime dining cruisers to wait for seating. Personally I believe that Celebrity implementation will be much better eliminating this issue for everyone. I am convinced that it will be a good enhancement.

 

You may have "hit the nail on the head" with your analysis....we have not cruised Princess so we don't have the same background experiences. That has never occurred to me before your post.

 

RLLC did MTD very well.....and I expect =X= to do SD as well, or better! We were prepared to hate it on RCCL, because we loved everything about traditional dining except the times. We LOVED MTD! We are very happy that Select Dining is being introduced on our next Celebrity cruise!

 

I believe that the furor will die down here, just as it has on the RCCL board, once it is implemented and there is something for everyone. If we choose SD and it is bad, at least we know we chose it and our misery is of our own doing. :rolleyes:

[hcat]

At least you are consistent in your argument. No matter how many times people have told you that if Celebrity follows the Royal model the best seating will not be used up for SD, you keep doubting it and assuming the worst. Sorry to disappoint you, but a year from now, my guess is your dire prediction will prove to be false. QUOTE]

 

We read that select dining on M class is going to be an area on the top tier near the rail-- those are our fav tables, so if it is there, that will be less chance of getting one of them.

 

Rcent posts about MTD on Royal have not been so great-- reports on the Royal Bd says that at certain times there are lines & they are disturbing those dining at nearby tables...& staff has been overwhelemed

 

I have no dire predictions--just prefer things as they are..very orderly. Dine anytime is the main reason we won't try Princess or similar lines.... But if any company can pull it off in an elegant fashion I am sure X will do it correctly! If not there is always Cunard!

[Gracie115]

I have no dire predictions--just prefer things as they are..very orderly. Dine anytime is the main reason we won't try Princess or similar lines.... But if any company can pull it off in an elegant fashion I am sure X will do it correctly! If not there is always Cunard!

 

but they AREN'T orderly now.....waiting outside the dining area for the doors to open gets almost "mob scene" like and not orderly....one of the many reasons we did MTD on Jewel on our last cruise...no lines anywhere, excellent service....expect X will do it even better.......

[Ma Bell]

We usually wait a little before joining the group entering the dining room, but in all my cruises on Celebrity I've never seen any kind of "Mob Scene". Usually just people chatting and then slowly entering the dining room when it opens.

[der93711]

I haven't read through this whole thread so I am not sure if this has been discussed or not. We are leaning twards anytime dinning on our next cruise in January. We have only one concern at this point. We love to go to the shows and are wondering if we do dinner at say 7:30 can we make any of the shows? What times are they going to set for SHOWTIME?

Der

[Ma Bell]

Der, the shows are usually set for traditional dining times and are at 7 and 9 PM. On formal nights they are after dinner at 9 and 11. I am assuming they will stay the same, but who knows.

[TomTN]

I haven't read through this whole thread so I am not sure if this has been discussed or not. We are leaning twards anytime dinning on our next cruise in January. We have only one concern at this point. We love to go to the shows and are wondering if we do dinner at say 7:30 can we make any of the shows? What times are they going to set for SHOWTIME?

Der

 

This is a real problem on Princess cruise line where most people want to go to the early show, and one must arrive 45-60 minutes before the show to get a seat. Some sit on the stairs during the show.

 

Unless Celebrity does something to bring about somewhat equal attendance at each show they will have the same problem. Especially on nights when people will be getting off the ship early the next morning to go ashore/excursions.

[Gracie115]

We usually wait a little before joining the group entering the dining room, but in all my cruises on Celebrity I've never seen any kind of "Mob Scene". Usually just people chatting and then slowly entering the dining room when it opens.

 

 

ok..."mob scene"....is a bit of an exaggeration....but for someone who is claustrophobic the crowd scene outside the dining room prior to dinner is very intimidating....:eek:

[Gracie115]

I haven't read through this whole thread so I am not sure if this has been discussed or not. We are leaning twards anytime dinning on our next cruise in January. We have only one concern at this point. We love to go to the shows and are wondering if we do dinner at say 7:30 can we make any of the shows? What times are they going to set for SHOWTIME?

Der

 

 

Don't know how X will do it but on Royal we ate most nights around 7:15 and were able to make all the shows we wanted to. One of the nice things about anytime dining is that you can tell your wait staff to either speed things up or slow them down and you aren't affecting anyone else at the table. There were nights when we lingered for 2 1/2 hours, other times when we were done in a little over an hour. If you want to get to a show you should be able to.

[Ma Bell]

If you are claustrophobic it makes sense to stay seated until many of them have gone into the dining room and then enter.

[Gracie115]

If you are claustrophobic it makes sense to stay seated until many of them have gone into the dining room and then enter.

 

 

Which I always have...but Select Dining works even better...never any crowds...at least that's been our experience on Royal...assume it will be the same for X....they've always been several steps above Royal in the dining area as far as we've experienced.....

[Bridge Maven]

Don't know how X will do it but on Royal we ate most nights around 7:15 and were able to make all the shows we wanted to. One of the nice things about anytime dining is that you can tell your wait staff to either speed things up or slow them down and you aren't affecting anyone else at the table. There were nights when we lingered for 2 1/2 hours, other times when we were done in a little over an hour. If you want to get to a show you should be able to.

 

I also like the fact that with anytime dining you have control of whether you want a long leisurely dinner or prefer to be out in an hour depending upon what you want to do that evening.

[tcdtcd]

This is a real problem on Princess cruise line where most people want to go to the early show, and one must arrive 45-60 minutes before the show to get a seat. Some sit on the stairs during the show.

 

Unless Celebrity does something to bring about somewhat equal attendance at each show they will have the same problem. Especially on nights when people will be getting off the ship early the next morning to go ashore/excursions.

 

We've not experienced a problem with theatre seating (nor anytime dining) on Princess at all - and alway cruise at very peak times. Having said that, we more often than not go to the late shows -- and we don't cruise their 3100 pax ships (Carib/Crown/Ruby/Emerald). On the grand-class ans coral/island class, theatre seating is not an issue, imo.

[Texed]

the grand-class ans coral/island class, theater seating is not an issue, imo.

 

It was with us on Grand. We had late seating, and the theater was already full when we got there with folks on early seating, because they couldn't get a seat for the first show. :cool:

[Bruin Steve]

We've not experienced a problem with theatre seating (nor anytime dining) on Princess at all - and alway cruise at very peak times. Having said that, we more often than not go to the late shows -- and we don't cruise their 3100 pax ships (Carib/Crown/Ruby/Emerald). On the grand-class ans coral/island class, theatre seating is not an issue, imo.

 

Certainly IS a problem on most Princess ships...We found it to be one on our cruise over this past New Years on the Sapphire Princess...

 

For a ship with 3,000 passengers on board, their main showroom seats less than 900...and on two of the seven nights, there was no "Early" and "Late" shows--just ONE show a night!

 

Forget sitting in the aisles, those were full...If this were on land, the fire marshall would have cleared the theater...

 

It's one of the issues that will likely keep me from cruising Princess much in the future...Never an issue like that on Celebrity--where the showrooms are built to accommodate the passenger capacity...

[Compass Rose Monica]

If it wasn't for the fact that late seating isn't going to be until 8.45pm on our cruise I would have stuck with the traditional seating as I like it and it's served me very well in the past, having been "thrown together" with some great tablemates. As it is we have gone for the Select Dining option this time at a slightly earlier time. One of the things I really like is being able to sit at the same table with the same waitstaff as that is important to me. I'm sure it will be fine and having our table of friends is going to be a lot of fun.

 

Phil

 

Hi Phil,

What time did you select? My group of friends and I are trying to decide a good time earlier than 8:45pm. We also don't want to miss the evening shows/entertainment. In another thread, someone commented the late dining started at 9pm!!

Monica

[Ma Bell]

Hi Monica,

 

If you don't mind my answering for Phil, he is with us and I booked our reservations for 8:00 with the exception of Marseille because we will be returning late. It seemed like a good time to be able to do whatever else we like.:)

 

Joanie

[mafig]

only three Princess cruises. however, we never had a problem with seating. we got there early, but probably no earlier than on other lines.

[Cruise Junky]

only three Princess cruises. however, we never had a problem with seating. we got there early, but probably no earlier than on other lines.

 

We've never had a problem either and we always select anytime dining. Only once were we given a beeper and that's when we were passing Sicily at they were trying to get us a window seat. But there's enough people who do complain of having issues so maybe some ships just handle it better.

[Boo's Mom]

Having not yet sailed on the Solstice class, can anyone tell me if the MDR would accomodate separate sections for select and traditional? I just really feel that if people are going to be coming and going during my traditional time meal that Celebrity will have lost something that distiguished it from the other mass cruise lines. I have sailed Celebrity exclusively and will be so disappointed if that traditional feel is lost. That includes dining and dress code. If however, the two dining areas can remain separate so as nothing is lost from either, then I am all for it.

 

I completely agree with this post.

The people coming and going will disrupt.

[Bridge Maven]

I completely agree with this post.

The people coming and going will disrupt.

 

Do you feel that way when you dine at an upscale land based restaurant where the cost of dinner is frequently more expensive than the total per diem rate of a cruise?

[lauralou2]

I completely agree with this post.

The people coming and going will disrupt.

If they follow IOS arrangements the top tier of the restaurant was used for My Time dining so one way didn't disrupt the other , nothing else changed dress code etc was still adhered to , you just choose when you want to dine :)