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

[Rick-cruiser]

[quote name='Imanone']Rick,
This will be my first cruise on Solstice in Oct. I hate to admit how dumb i feel, but I have no idea what you are talking about. I requested late seating and our friends accidentally requested early seating. we were told last week that we cannot get late seating. Does this address our issue?
THanks in advance
Vince[/quote]

Hi Vince,

This new "Celebrity Select" Open Seating concept will not be implemented on the Solstice until January-March of 2010, so this will not impact you at all. In other words, it will not address your issue.

However, I would recommend that you go see the Maitre 'D immediately upon boarding the ship and ask if your friends can be moved to late seating with you. Many people approach the Maitre 'D the first day asking to be switched between late and early seating... and it just depends on the wait list / circumstances whether or not he/she can accommodate you.

Good luck and enjoy your cruise.

- Rick

[Denny01]

[quote name='scrustyrock']I was just kidding. But if it was a option I certainly love it!!!
Sharon[/quote]

Sharon - how dare you kid and have fun jokng on such as serious subject such as having fun cruising. I mean, this is serious stuff that is causing all kinds of stress and isses for us fun-loving cruisers.

Sorry if I took your comment literally, I need to lighten up as much as I suggest others do. That's always the problem with posts, we aren't face-to-face seeing actual reactions and tone of voice and so on, which doesn't relieve me of looking at things from more then one side.

Denny

[CLEMM]

[quote name='Albert Ross']No, it will mean that you eat at the table alone! It clearly says that peole who arrive together who wish to be seated togehter will be, and once they have started their meal, no one else will be put at the table.

It looks like it is going to work EXACTLY the same as the very successful RCI implementation of Mytime dining. Only a small select number of places (I think around 200) for MTD, in one corner of the MDR, and then everyone else is stuck with having to have traditional dining. Between 6 and 9:30, make a booking if you wish, must prepay grats.....looks like a winner. I just hope that they have the increased number of tables for two in CSD, as the only way to guarantee a table for two on RCI is with MTD[/quote]


I will very happily be wrong here, and I don't want to beat a dead horse. I just don't understand what 400 people scheduling the specialty restaurant on any given night has to do with freeing up room for select. If my table is empty of everyone but my DH and I because our tablemates are in a specialty restaurant then according to what you posted we will be alone at our table. Great. But how does this free up any room for select?That's all I'm asking. I dont understand the press release or what the spokeman said.

[dkjretired]

[quote name='Ma Bell'][B]It may be a bit easier now, but in most really nice restaurants, unless you make plans ahead, the restaurant will tell you what time you'll be dining and it's usually very early or very late. If Select Dining becomes very popular, those "desired" dining times will book up quickly as well. It will still be a case of having to serve everyone during a certain period of time, in a finite number of seats. There's no heading down the street to the next best place.[/B]

[B]I hope it works well and I'm certainly willing to give it a try, but there is also the possibility that it will cause some problems. I wonder if Celebrity might have to solve the problem by offering all their "loyal" cruisers first choice of times.[/B][/QUOTE]

You are so right and offering loyal cruisers a choice time might be a good CC perk.

Right now we all have to sit back and wait until Celebrity decides what the rules are going to be for their specific type of Select Dining. I certainly hope that when they do decide on the details that they are consistent fleet wide. On many things, that is not their forte...

[dkjretired]

[quote name='Herb44']I'm so sorry to have offended you! We live in the Maryland/DC/Virginia area where there are a very large number of fine dining restaurants, on both sides of the Potomac. You do have a choice of dining times (not just two), and if the first choice isn't convenient or available, there are many others that will seek your business.[/QUOTE]

Herb:

After reading all your posts, I think that if you choose not to do formal nights, Celebrity may be right up your alley. There are lots of alternatives especially on the Solstice ships and apparently the dress code is not being enforced in the Specialty restaurants so that would be to your benefit. On your Constellation cruise, you will be pleasantly surprised by the casual dining in the buffet area on formal nights. It is $2.00pp and served off a menu but excellent.

[Gracie115]

This thread is so reminiscent of the one on Royal's CC site last year this time when they were implementing MTD on their ships. All kinds of people upset that the option was available seemingly convinced that it would "RUIN" traditional dining....even though it had not even started yet. NOW if you look at Royal's site you see the vast majority of people who have tried their version of MTD have loved it and you hear nothing from those who choose traditional because they have found it does NOT impact their dining experience one IOTA... I suspect it will be even better on Celebrity.... give it a chance everyone.... it's not going to go away....

[BrendaJ]

I would still love to know how My Time Dining is implemented on RCCL. When do you make your reservations? Can you reserve for the whole cruise at once? Before the cruise or once on board? Can you just show up whenever you want to be seated?

We're on the Equinox in November and I'm curious as to how exactly My Time Dining works on RCCL (although I understand that Celebrity may still take a different approach).

I sure would like to see something official on Celebrity's website about this.

[wg6530]

[quote name='CLEMM']I will very happily be wrong here, and I don't want to beat a dead horse. I just don't understand what 400 people scheduling the specialty restaurant on any given night has to do with freeing up room for select. If my table is empty of everyone but my DH and I because our tablemates are in a specialty restaurant then according to what you posted we will be alone at our table. Great. But how does this free up any room for select?That's all I'm asking. I dont understand the press release or what the spokeman said.[/quote]

I hear you. Perhaps they mean some tables will be totally empty all night (or the rest of the night), and could be used for select passengers. Or if all your tablemates were scheduled for specialty restaurants, the Maitre'd might ask if you'd like a table for 2 that night (or to join others) rather than seating alone at a table for 6 or 8. More work for them, but hospitable. And it might free up tables. It will be interesting to see how Select works on Celebrity.

[wg6530]

[quote name='BrendaJ']I would still love to know how My Time Dining is implemented on RCCL. When do you make your reservations? Can you reserve for the whole cruise at once? Before the cruise or once on board? Can you just show up whenever you want to be seated?

We're on the Equinox in November and I'm curious as to how exactly My Time Dining works on RCCL (although I understand that Celebrity may still take a different approach).

I sure would like to see something official on Celebrity's website about this.[/quote]
We did MTD once, IOS April 2009. We didn't make reservations. We just showed up. We never waited, but tend to eat on the early side. Always got a table for 2. We had the same waitstaff, except once when we forgot to ask for their section. The staff was excellent. I believe we could have made reservations, but never saw the need.

[dkjretired]

[quote name='BrendaJ']I would still love to know how My Time Dining is implemented on RCCL. When do you make your reservations? Can you reserve for the whole cruise at once? Before the cruise or once on board? Can you just show up whenever you want to be seated?

We're on the Equinox in November and I'm curious as to how exactly My Time Dining works on RCCL (although I understand that Celebrity may still take a different approach).

I sure would like to see something official on Celebrity's website about this.[/QUOTE]

Brenda:

About two months ago, somebody screwed up and actually posted it on the web site. They had all the details of how it was going to be implemented. It was taken down very quickly. The one point that we seem to stray from that was on the web site and is in this thread is that it will NOT be anytime dining. According to all indications you have to make reservations...

[scrustyrock]

[quote name='Denny01']Sharon - how dare you kid and have fun jokng on such as serious subject such as having fun cruising. I mean, this is serious stuff that is causing all kinds of stress and isses for us fun-loving cruisers.

Sorry if I took your comment literally, I need to lighten up as much as I suggest others do. That's always the problem with posts, we aren't face-to-face seeing actual reactions and tone of voice and so on, which doesn't relieve me of looking at things from more then one side.

Denny[/QUOTE]

Thanks Denny,

Glad you understand.

[warmwinds]

So if you have a booking for next year that you made with traditional dining, when are they going to contact you to ask if you want to keep that or go to the open plan?

[The_Big_M]

[quote name='wg6530']Clearly there is a subset of passengers who do not wish to share your experiences; they want their own vacation experience.[/quote]

Isn't that what tables for two, and four are for?

Regardless, I was not arguing that it should not exist, but that more choices of themselves does not mean that everyone will necessarily be happier. As said, it comes down to the detail of the change.

[The_Big_M]

[quote name='warmwinds']So if you have a booking for next year that you made with traditional dining, when are they going to contact you to ask if you want to keep that or go to the open plan?[/quote]

Although it's too early to say, based on past experiences I'd expect it more likely that you would contact them/your TA when the option became available on your cruise/web site.

[dkjretired]

[quote name='The_Big_M']Although it's too early to say, based on past experiences I'd expect it more likely that you would contact them/your TA when the option became available on your cruise/web site.[/QUOTE]

No one really knows, it hasn't officially been announced yet by a press release...

[CLEMM]

[quote name='wg6530']I hear you. Perhaps they mean some tables will be totally empty all night (or the rest of the night), and could be used for select passengers. Or if all your tablemates were scheduled for specialty restaurants, the Maitre'd might ask if you'd like a table for 2 that night (or to join others) rather than seating alone at a table for 6 or 8. More work for them, but hospitable. And it might free up tables. It will be interesting to see how Select works on Celebrity.[/quote]


Which would mean that select diners would be intermingled with traditional diners, which in my opinion would detract from the traditional experience. That is my concern.

[The_Big_M]

[quote name='dkjretired']No one really knows, it hasn't officially been announced yet by a press release...[/quote]

Hence too early to say, just basing it on other changes which don't usually get e-mailed back.

[Hflors]

I wasn't going to post any comments, but after reading over some of the other comments I thought "what the heck". Dh and I are traditionalist. We did one cruise of "flex dining" I can tell you how we felt about it in one word. "DISASTER!" On the last evening the server and assistant didn't show up again after serving the entre! That was interesting. They got their tips and could have cared less about service.

For the past cruise dh and I have cruised on celebrity we dine at 6pm. (dh has stomach problems so he has to be up several hours after he eats before he can go to bed) Anyway we will continue to have our 6pm dining. I am hoping that Celebrity will use one level for traditional and one for Flex dining.

Anyway the point of my post is that dh and I are going on a HAL cruise. When I found out my sister has signed us up for their flex dining it was just about a deal breaker for me. Thanks but no thanks. My sister asked my why I was not happy and I told her about the one and only experience and she said to me. "Don't worry, no matter what time we want to eat believe me we will not wait!" I asked her how she could be so sure. And she said. "We are in the penthouse suite we don't wait for anything, and some nights if we don't feel like eating at the dining room we will have the butler serve dinner in our suite!" You know what I said? "I think I could like this." So we decided to go.

[wg6530]

[quote name='CLEMM']Which would mean that select diners would be intermingled with traditional diners, which in my opinion would detract from the traditional experience. That is my concern.[/quote]

Hopefully, less distracting than finding them at your table in various stages of the dining as previously mentioned. Like you I found the portion of the press release about 400 people in specialty restaurants unclear, almost odd. I hope Celebrity structure Select a way that does not detract from anyone's experience. We will have to wait and see.

During traditional early dining on some cruises (Celebrity Century and Carnival Splendor come to mind in the past year), we have watched tables come in 30 or more minutes late every night; they took their seats and were served. DH finds it particularly maddening, though it didn't really change the service we receive since we had different waitstaff. I'm not sure if they finished before second seating was due. So, if a few scattered tables are used for Select, DH won't know for sure who is a tardy traditional diner and who is select entering per reservation.

[lifevicarious]

[quote name='wg6530']Hopefully, less distracting than finding them at your table in various stages of the dining as previously mentioned. Like you I found the portion of the press release about 400 people in specialty restaurants unclear, almost odd. I hope Celebrity structure Select a way that does not detract from anyone's experience. We will have to wait and see.

During traditional early dining on some cruises (Celebrity Century and Carnival Splendor come to mind in the past year), we have watched tables come in 30 or more minutes late every night; they took their seats and were served. DH finds it particularly maddening, though it didn't really change the service we receive since we had different waitstaff. I'm not sure if they finished before second seating was due. So, if a few scattered tables are used for Select, DH won't know for sure who is a tardy traditional diner and who is select entering per reservation.[/quote]

I have to ask, why does your DH care if people are tardy? It's their vacation, they can do what they want when they want. If your husband gets upset about people he doesn't know showing up late for dinner, I think he needs to take more vacations!!:D

[Breezey]

My two cents. Experienced both. On our last cruise which was on Celebrity, we had a terrific time except for the traditional dining. Yes we loved our waiter and bus person but....on port intensive cruises (we did Alaska) we didnt want early dining (too early) so settled with late dining (too late). We personally would have enjoyed the entire experience a lot more if there had been open seating as the ideal time to eat for us is around 7:30. And I dont mean lets go to the buffet at any hour as we do enjoy eating in the dining room.

On 2 Princess cruises that had open seating, we had great experiences. The first one we chose to walk in at varying times (were given a pager, had 10 minutes max to wait), were asked if we wanted to eat on our own or sit with someone else. The good thing about choosing to sit with someone else is you get to meet a lot of interesting people throughout the week and then again if they arent you dont have to sit with them again. Also if we were tired and just wanted to eat on our own we had that choice too.

On our 2nd Princess cruise we were with friends. On our first night we were given a wonderful table, with wonderful staff. All we did was ask the Maitre D that if we came the same time every evening, would he be willing to seat us at the same table and he did.

So for those who are worried about the open seating - relax, if Celebrity follows Princess dining, they also devoted one of their dining rooms to traditional dining for those who preferred not to experience open seating. There was no mixing of traditional diners and open seating diners. They were in two different dining rooms.

[Gracie115]

[quote name='CLEMM']Which would mean that select diners would be intermingled with traditional diners, which in my opinion would detract from the traditional experience. That is my concern.[/quote]


NO....it will not mean that...the MTD section on all Royal ships is in a segregated area of the dining room. The wait staff for MTD does ONLY MTD tables. It works well on Royal....feel pretty certain X is not going to change that part of the arrangement...."if it ain't broke..don't fix it"

[Gracie115]

[quote name='wg6530']Hopefully, less distracting than finding them at your table in various stages of the dining as previously mentioned. Like you I found the portion of the press release about 400 people in specialty restaurants unclear, almost odd. I hope Celebrity structure Select a way that does not detract from anyone's experience. We will have to wait and see.[/quote]

I am sure they will take the BEST of their year long experience on Royal and only make it better....that would NOT include seating someone at your table after the meal has begun. They don't do it on Royal and as X is more upscale and formal they certainly aren't going to "downscale" X's version of MTD.....that would be absurd to even consider.

[CLEMM]

[quote name='Gracie115']NO....it will not mean that...the MTD section on all Royal ships is in a segregated area of the dining room. The wait staff for MTD does ONLY MTD tables. It works well on Royal....feel pretty certain X is not going to change that part of the arrangement...."if it ain't broke..don't fix it"[/quote]

If you read the post I was responding to it would mean EXACTLY that. Now I'm not saying that is how it will be, I am just saying that if what that poster said was enacted then that is what would happen.

Lifevicarious, I'm on to you. I think you just like to generate heat with your comments.

[lifevicarious]

[quote name='CLEMM']
Lifevicarious, I'm on to you. I think you just like to generate heat with your comments.[/quote]

I like to challenge peoples thinking, especially when said thinking is absolutely opposed to change. If that generates heat, so be it.