Thread: Early dining

How far ahead should you book in order to get the preferred dining time? One time, I was told (on Carnival) that one had to book at least one year in advance in order to guarantee early dining. The most recent cruise which we booked for Celebrity (5/6/2012) assigned late seating, but we were told that we could eat earlier by prepaying gratuities for their "My Time Dining", and if we found a waiter & table we liked, we could request the same one nightly. My DH cannot eat late, or must sit up most of the night.

Any help, please?

We have never had any difficulty whatsoever getting any choice and we usually choose early. We have booked as late as two weeks before the cruise.

In my experience, it really dependson the cruise line, date, and itinerary. For example; those with young children and older folks usually prefer the early seating. So if you're going when school is out or to a place alot of seniors like to travel, the early seating will normally tend to fill up quicker.

But even if the early seating is full, you can still put yourself on a waitlist. No guarantee you'll get it, but if nothing else, then go with the anytime dining and eat when you want. And yes, if you find a time, table, and waiter you like, you can request a standing reservation - just talk to the matre'd. As a last resort, if you don't get the early seating, immediately when you get onboard, go talk to the matre'd and see if there's anything available. Often times they will hold aside a certain number of tables and you can get one of those. This happened to us on our cruise in May and on another one last year.

Pete

We had booked our last cruise just weeks before the sailing and by that time late traditional was booked up. So I put us on the waitlist with the hope that we would get it. Unfortunately our cards said "anytime dining" and I decided not to spend our first afternoon on the Golden standing in line waiting to see the maitre'd.

But after doing anytime, and both of us not liking it, I would do so the next time. Or try to get early dining.

On Carnival, we have had success in changing to early dining after talking to the Maitre 'd. With a condition such as acid reflux, the late dining really causes problems for my DH. I just haven't had experience with Celebrity, where gratuities are due upfront for the "privelege" of eating whenever you want.

I know how uncomfortable acid reflux is. I developed it a couple of years ago due to some medication I was taking.

On our Celebrity cruise last year we booked the cruise about 3 weeks before sailing and requested early dining. We got it. This year I had a bit more "heads-up" time of two months and again requested early dining and got it on both legs of our B2B.

Meanwhile on HAL we requested early dining 3 months in advance and found out at the last minute that we were assigned to "anytime". It wasn't until the third night that we were able to get early. I got Noro on night 4 and had only one more meal in the MDR.

We are doing mytime (or whatever RCL) calls it on our next cruise. First time ever. Normally, we prefer late seating. We will see how thiw works out.

After years of choosing late, because that generally is my pattern at home, I was persuaded to do "Anytime" when I took my kids with me. I liked "Anytime" so much that now that's my automatic choice.

I usually sit down close to 7:00pm. Allows me a more casual drink beforehand, and I've usually still got plenty of time for a show! And, I enjoy meeting new folks each night.

Occasionally, I travel with a group which always books early. There are usually two or three tables, so we mix up our actual seating. Helps the group have more fun, and sometimes challenges the wait staff!

SWR