Celebrity Cruises will introduce a flexible dining option that enables passengers to choose what time they wish to eat dinner every day of their cruise, before they set sail.
The program, Celebrity Select Dining, offers a new take on the flexible dining options that most cruise lines now offer. On most ships, passengers who choose flexible dining can show up to eat when they want during specific hours.
Celebrity's new program enables passengers to reserve dining times in the main dining room on a day-by-day basis using Celebrity's website, up to four days before departure.
Participants in the program can also decide not to reserve times and to walk in when they want. The reservation program was designed to avoid the lines associated with some flexible dining walk-in programs.
Celebrity said it would strive to accommodate diners' requests to eat with their traveling companions. Only parties of 20 or less can be seated at one time.
If space is available, passengers can switch to Celebrity Select Dining after boarding by making arrangements with the maitre d' within the first 24 hours of their cruise.
However, the line said it was encouraging passengers to make online reservations before departure to "ensure the best possible dining experience."
Passengers who choose the new program must prepay wait staff gratuities before departure, in the amount that Celebrity calls its "recommended gratuity."
Celebrity will launch the dining option on the Sept. 26 Celebrity Equinox sailing and will roll out the program to the rest of the fleet, except the Celebrity Xpedition, in January and February.