dacrow

The email about gratuity changes was for the general gratuities that all guests pay. Since many people booked a cruise at one listed gratuity rate it makes sense they would let those that have already booked know they amounts are increasing and to let them prepay at they original rate since that’s what they were promised when they booked. But in this case the gratuity change is for specialty dining that only impacts future bookings. It seems like overkill to to me email everyone with an existing booking about such a small change when that change is clearly listed when you go to book specialty dining. This just doesn’t seem like such a huge issue to me.

What exactly do you expect? Would you want them to issue a press release every time there is a price change (in this case amounting to $1.60 per couple)? It’s not like they are hiding the new price or asking someone who has already booked at the old price to now pay more. So what exactly is so awful about what they have done?

Do the specialty restaurants have different wines by the glass outside of the typical ones available in the MDRs and bars? In particular, it looks from the app that Le Voyage on the Beyond has a really extensive wine list for bottles, but they didn’t list wines by the glass that I could see. I’d love to have access to premium wines by the glass, even if they would be an up charge over the premium beverage package included amounts.

Do you know if you can order the wines from the tasting menu pairing by the glass if you aren’t getting the tasting menu? Some of those pairing wines look more interesting than the wines on the normal by the glass list.

I’m not sure if this would still work, but years ago I booked a specialty dining package and then separately booked (and pre-paid) specialty reservations for the times I wanted. When I got in the ship I went to the specialty restaurant and they were able to cancel and refund my pre-booked reservations and rebook me under the package for the times I had just cancelled. So by pre-booking I was essentially able to hold the spots but then still get the discount from the package. That was about ten years ago through, so not sure it would still work.

We will be traveling on the Beyond with our kids, ages 6 and 4. We have booked a number of specialty restaurants. I understand there is a kids menu available in the MDRs, but does anyone know if the kids menu is also available in the specialty restaurants? Our kids generally like to try grown up food and may well want things off of the regular menu, but in case they are feeling picky I wanted to see if they would have a kids menu available. Thanks!

When bringing wine to dinner onboard, how do you actually do it? Do you bring it to the dining room before dinner and then they present it to you? Do you just carry it in with you and place it on the table? Do you let them know when you check-in that you're bringing wine or just let your waiter or sommelier know? I'm curious about the best / proper way to do this.

I’m having this same problem for our August 2023 sailing. You can book all of the other specialty restaurants EXCEPT for Le Voyage. Given the cruise is a year out and there is tons of availability at all the other specialty restaurants I’m sure Le Voyage isn’t sold out. It must be that they only release reservations closer to the cruise date. Why that is I don’t know, but perhaps they hold back in order to release to suite guests early (we are not booked in a suite)? I’d be curious if others have had this issue how far I’m advance they open reservations.

What a great report! I’m curious, having tried a bunch of specialty restaurants, how do you think they compare and which were your favorites? How would you compare the food in the specialty restaurants to the main dining rooms?

I ended up calling Celebrity to ask about making reservations at Le Voyage in advance and they told me reservations for Le Voyage can only be made on board. I don't think that's correct as I've read people here say they've made reservations at Le Voyage in advance. Since the cruise is over a year out (August 2023) and all of the other specialty restaurants have plenty of availability I would be shocked if Le Voyage is sold out already. I'm hoping that it will eventually end up opening up sometime closer to the cruise date.

I get that they want to open up the speciaty dining early to generate cash. But with that logic it doesn't make sense why they wouldn't open up booking for their most expensive specialty restaurant (Le Voyage). That's what doesn't make sense to me. It makes me think there is something messed up in their system.

Thanks for these replies. I'm guessing it's just too early to book the main dining rooms. However, I find it strange that we can book any of the specialty restaurants except for Le Voyage. I would think they would open up all of the specialty restaurant bookings at the same time. Has anyone else run into that issue of being able to book some specialty restaurants but not others?

I just booked a cruise on the Beyond for next August (2023). We have select anytime dining and since we will be traveling with a large group (8 people) I wanted to go in and book reservations in advance for the main dining rooms. When I go to the Celebrity website and look under manage my cruise I see the ability to reserve most of the specialty restaurants, but I can't reserve in any of the main dining rooms. I thought it was possible to book in advance. Does anyone know if this is right? Also, it was allowing us to book at any of the specialty restaurants, except for Le Voyage, which is where we wanted to go. It seems strange you can book at any of the restaurants except that one. Has anyone else run into that problem where it won't let you book Le Voyage in advance? Perhaps since it's a fairly new restaurant it's not in their system yet?