Question for those that are Elite Plus

We just recently made Elite plus last month, after our cruise on the Summit. We have another cruise in Dec, and I see that we get a 15% discount on specialty dinning, but when I go on the web site (we all know how well that works) It only gives me the regular pricing. My question is how do you get your discount?

1. Book it and ask for a credit once on the ship?

2 Does it take it off at check out?

3. Do you wait to book it once on the ship?

Thanks in advance!

We just recently made Elite plus last month, after our cruise on the Summit. We have another cruise in Dec, and I see that we get a 15% discount on specialty dinning, but when I go on the web site (we all know how well that works) It only gives me the regular pricing. My question is how do you get your discount?

1. Book it and ask for a credit once on the ship?

2 Does it take it off at check out?

3. Do you wait to book it once on the ship?

 

Thanks in advance!

Hi Gina,

We've never had any luck booking alternatives online and getting the discount once onboard. I would book the first day onboard. We usually wait and check the menu of the MDR each day -- if we aren't impressed, we will race down and try and book one the restaurants. I must tell you, this does not work very well, as many times the prime spaces are already booked.

Good luck,

Kel:D

Book on the ship to get the discount.

Can you still make reservations through the Captain's Club without paying? That use to be one of the perks you could make one reservation per cruise at a specialty restaurant than you would just pay on board.

We have not done that since most of the best discounts are offered while sailing. We got 25% off Qsine in July on Summit.

We usually get more than 15% off by being flexible. Discounts seem to be 20 to 40%off, 1st day being the easiest to score a larger discount.

I almost always wait until onboard to book SRs, because more often than not the discount offered (when you inquire) will be 15%, and many times 20%, or even 25%. Staff will go that high to make "the sale", particularly if you show a "je m'en fiche"* attitude.;)

As for prime seating times, I don't mind a rezzie an hour earlier (or later) than I would normally dine.

___________

*French for: I don't care:D

I would advise not to book Specialty Dining online unless you want a specific venue at a specific time and you really don't care about paying more. On most cruises, not all, you can get at least 25% off by just asking. 50% off, especially on the first night is typical.

Thanks Kelmac, CruisingChick, kenevenpar, Constance331, and Orator! It Looks unanimous so we will wait until we board to book and try and get a better deal. LOL I love the way you put it Constance331, the Staff will go that high to make "the sale", "particularly if you show a "je m'en fiche"* attitude." LOL!

Thanks everyone!

I think you'll find that most elites pluses and elites realize from experience that you will most likely be offered 25-33% off the specialty restaurant prices on board. We never book them in advance and pretty much only go if we can negotiate $35 or less for Murano and a BOGO for the rest. We don't really care if we cruise without dining at any specialty restaurant but if we get the deal we want, we'll book it.

I've gotten 50% off twice on the first night. The first time I was offered it because we boarded early with an AQ cabin. On the next cruise they offered us 30%. I asked, can you give me 50% off like I received on my last cruise? He said let me check. He went to his manager then came back and said yes.

You may not get the 50% off but If you don't ask, you definitely won't get it.

...... We usually wait and check the menu of the MDR each day -- if we aren't impressed, we will race down and try and bot ok one the restaurants. I must tell you, this does not work very well, as many times the prime spaces are already booked.

Usually, whenever we went to a restaurant to make a reservation, we noticed that the first thing they asked for was our room number.

One day when we stopped by a restaurant to ask if we could make a reservation for 6:30 that night, it was the only time we were not first asked for our room number, but instead were immediately told that the earliest opening they had for that night was 8:45.

Later in the day we were in Michael's Club and happened to be chatting with the concierge, so we asked her if she could get us a reservation for 6:30 that night. She picked up the telephone, and immediately got us the 6:30 reservation.

By the way, when we got to the restaurant at 6:30, it was practically empty. They gave us a window table, and there were people at only a few of the other tables.

If we had not been in a suite on that particular cruise, or if we had asked the concierge to make the reservation for us initially, we probably would still not be aware that they hold back tables for suite passengers and would just assume that the specialty restaurants always fill up very quickly.

(Guess I should mention that it was in the middle of the cruise, not the first night of the cruise, when they are eager to get people to eat in the specialty restaurants and usually give discounts to everyone.)

I think you'll find that most elites pluses and elites realize from experience that you will most likely be offered 25-33% off the specialty restaurant prices on board. We never book them in advance and pretty much only go if we can negotiate $35 or less for Murano and a BOGO for the rest. We don't really care if we cruise without dining at any specialty restaurant but if we get the deal we want, we'll book it.

Wow, I am so bad about trying to chew people down in price, but I will give it a shot and see what happens. $35.00 for Murano, WOW what a deal! Either way we have Luminae as our dinning, and they are great! I just thought 11 nights we might want something different. Thank you, much appreciated!!

They may not already be booked, but just being held in case somebody in a suite should want them.

 

Usually, whenever we went to a restaurant to make a reservation, we noticed that the first thing they asked for was our room number.

 

One day when we stopped by a restaurant to ask if we could make a reservation for 6:30 that night, it was the only time we were not first asked for our room number, but instead were immediately told that the earliest opening they had for that night was 8:45.

 

Later in the day we were in Michael's Club and happened to be chatting with the concierge, so we asked her if she could get us a reservation for 6:30 that night. She picked up the telephone, and immediately got us the 6:30 reservation.

 

By the way, when we got to the restaurant at 6:30, it was practically empty. They gave us a window table, and there were people at only a few of the other tables.

 

If we had not been in a suite on that particular cruise, or if we had asked the concierge to make the reservation for us initially, we probably would still not be aware that they hold back tables for suite passengers and would just assume that the specialty restaurants always fill up very quickly.

 

(Guess I should mention that it was in the middle of the cruise, not the first night of the cruise, when they are eager to get people to eat in the specialty restaurants and usually give discounts to everyone.)

Good to know, we always book suites, but are really low profile, and don’t hardly go to Michael’s Club nor do we ask the Concierge for much, even when we booked PH suites. We are now both retired and downsizing a bit to the mid to lower suites, so I like the idea of trying to get a reduced price in SD, and an half way decent time slot. Thank you!

We asked for a discount on Equinox in August for Murano and were given 20%. So that made it $40 pp. We didn't haggle but I'm sure others could probably get a larger discount. Especially if you said you'd go twice or you had a larger party than our duo.

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We asked for a discount on Equinox in August for Murano and were given 20%. So that made it $40 pp. We didn't haggle but I'm sure others could probably get a larger discount. Especially if you said you'd go twice or you had a larger party than our duo.

 

 

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In the future, I suggest that you say something like "I'd book a meal in Murano for $30 pp" rather than just asking what kind of discount they will give you. I find that when I make the price offer ($30), I either get it or they counter with $35 and they feel like they bargained me up...a win/win. If I just ask if there's a discount I'm offered just a $5 or $10 discount.

For a group of 6, I go for BOGO and often get it...but 2-4 usually $30-35 a person at Murano.

We just recently made Elite plus last month, after our cruise on the Summit. We have another cruise in Dec, and I see that we get a 15% discount on specialty dinning, but when I go on the web site (we all know how well that works) It only gives me the regular pricing. My question is how do you get your discount?

1. Book it and ask for a credit once on the ship?

2 Does it take it off at check out?

3. Do you wait to book it once on the ship?

 

Thanks in advance!

OMG.,cannot believe you asked this,... what a hassle we just had last week on Infinity over this issue.

As usual, we booked Tuscan and Q sine online, pre cruise, pre paid.2 meals @ $90.0 on our credit card,

As usual, when we went to Tuscan, upon arrival, we explained to the maitre d that we pre paid, and asked for the 15 % discount to be credited to our on board acct, Have done thus numerous times..easy breezy simple! Not so this time.

Maitre D argued quite forcefully that the discount only applied to 1st night.,and he was not aware of any E plus discount,,,did we have any proof.? So I showed him the letter from Cap Club hostess that showed the perk in black and white,, Apparently this was not enough..he took my paper, he spent all of our dinner visit on the phone researching this & ignoring us. We re-approached him before end of the meal,,,said he' have to discuss it with the waiter.

The bill arrived,,,with credit for 15% seemingly for just 1 dinner. It did not seem right but we just signed and left, After several visits to guest rel, we were told that because we re purchased the dinner while docked in San Francisco, a local tax applied which wiped out the rest of our credit,

We were never told of this while at Tuscan and never saw any notices about this local tax...

Our very helpful, patient guest rel agent eventually decided to give us the credit anyhow,, It was kind of a silly fiasco.... Yes, the meal and service were very good, not great & not worth the discounted price and plus cash tip to our waiter.

We also cancelled Q sine for sure ( took 2 days to see that credit) did not sign up for the Tuscan lunch and would not book Specialty Dining again...too much of a hassle!

Good luck....

Also...some cruises are much busier than others on certain venues...Murano is my # 1 go to for a great meal at a good price!

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OMG.,cannot believe you asked this,... what a hassle we just had last week on Infinity over this issue.

 

As usual, we booked Tuscan and Q sine online, pre cruise, pre paid.2 meals @ $90.0 on our credit card,

 

As usual, when we went to Tuscan, upon arrival, we explained to the maitre d that we pre paid, and asked for the 15 % discount to be credited to our on board acct, Have done thus numerous times..easy breezy simple! Not so this time.

 

Maitre D argued quite forcefully that the discount only applied to 1st night.,and he was not aware of any E plus discount,,,did we have any proof.? So I showed him the letter from Cap Club hostess that showed the perk in black and white,, Apparently this was not enough..he took my paper, he spent all of our dinner visit on the phone researching this & ignoring us. We re-approached him before end of the meal,,,said he' have to discuss it with the waiter.

 

The bill arrived,,,with credit for 15% seemingly for just 1 dinner. It did not seem right but we just signed and left, After several visits to guest rel, we were told that because we re purchased the dinner while docked in San Francisco, a local tax applied which wiped out the rest of our credit,

 

We were never told of this while at Tuscan and never saw any notices about this local tax...

 

Our very helpful, patient guest rel agent eventually decided to give us the credit anyhow,, It was kind of a silly fiasco.... Yes, the meal and service were very good, not great & not worth the discounted price and plus cash tip to our waiter.

 

We also cancelled Q sine for sure ( took 2 days to see that credit) did not sign up for the Tuscan lunch and would not book Specialty Dining again...too much of a hassle!

 

Good luck....

OMG what a stressful dinner. I would have been so upset I would not have been able to even enjoy our meal.

I will not pre book! I know on RCCL we pre-booked dinners even though we were in Star class on the Oasis, and they just credited us back in the way of OBC. So weird how the same company, but different lines can’t have the same policies. Sorry you had to deal with that! 😞

In the future, I suggest that you say something like "I'd book a meal in Murano for $30 pp" rather than just asking what kind of discount they will give you. I find that when I make the price offer ($30), I either get it or they counter with $35 and they feel like they bargained me up...a win/win. If I just ask if there's a discount I'm offered just a $5 or $10 discount.

 

 

 

For a group of 6, I go for BOGO and often get it...but 2-4 usually $30-35 a person at Murano.

Thank you for this advice! I will try this. I regret that bargaining doesn't seem to be in my blood...

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Also...some cruises are much busier than others on certain venues...Murano is my # 1 go to for a great meal at a good price!

 

 

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I love Murano, and the lobster, or the chateaubriand for two. DELISH!

We just recently made Elite plus last month, after our cruise on the Summit. We have another cruise in Dec, and I see that we get a 15% discount on specialty dinning, but when I go on the web site (we all know how well that works) It only gives me the regular pricing. My question is how do you get your discount?

1. Book it and ask for a credit once on the ship?

2 Does it take it off at check out?

3. Do you wait to book it once on the ship?

 

Thanks in advance!

You can only get the 15% off on a single day rate that doesn't include a discount. On our last cruise we tried to get the discount on a package and were told no because the multi-night packages are sold at a discount. When you are onboard you can likely get a better discount by asking for one, so the 15% off for specialty dining ends up being one of those do nothing benefits.

I agree that on most cruises (especially longer ones) you can get better discounts onboard. That said, on our last cruise on Infinity we asked for further discounts and could not get any. The first night they were only offering 20% off. Surprised as the restaurants were definitely not all booked up (even though the maître d' manning the Tuscan desk told us we could not get the discount as their bookings were filled). We probably could have gone back later in the cruise and tried again but that turned us off as in the past we could always get at least 30% off and occasionally 50% on longer (14+) cruises.

OMG what a stressful dinner. I would have been so upset I would not have been able to even enjoy our meal.

I will not pre book! I know on RCCL we pre-booked dinners even though we were in Star class on the Oasis, and they just credited us back in the way of OBC. So weird how the same company, but different lines can’t have the same policies. Sorry you had to deal with that! ��

Most disturbing was maitre ds lack of knowledge abt the offer, his doubting and dismissive attitude, and his ignoring us throughout the meal. Never experienced this before....over many cruises. Just so odd...but annoying.

While we use our perks ,and discounts, the prospect of bargaining for better prices seems too much like a flea market or peddlars bazaar..

OMG.,cannot believe you asked this,... what a hassle we just had last week on Infinity over this issue.

 

As usual, we booked Tuscan and Q sine online, pre cruise, pre paid.2 meals @ $90.0 on our credit card,

 

As usual, when we went to Tuscan, upon arrival, we explained to the maitre d that we pre paid, and asked for the 15 % discount to be credited to our on board acct, Have done thus numerous times..easy breezy simple! Not so this time.

 

Maitre D argued quite forcefully that the discount only applied to 1st night.,and he was not aware of any E plus discount,,,did we have any proof.? So I showed him the letter from Cap Club hostess that showed the perk in black and white,, Apparently this was not enough..he took my paper, he spent all of our dinner visit on the phone researching this & ignoring us. We re-approached him before end of the meal,,,said he' have to discuss it with the waiter.

 

 

We had problems on Summit in July getting our 15% when we went to Qsine. We made the reservation on board and I mentioned the 15% Elite+ discount. They argued with me there was no discount. I said yes there is. Finally the maitre'd came over to the desk and gave us 25% off. Celebrity needs to make sure that all their staff knows what is going on.

We are Elite and will be E+ after our next cruise.......have never asked for a discount but dined every cruise in specialty restaurants several times. Even when they have their 'cart' outside the Oceanview soliciting reservations, they have never offered a discount to me.

They must think we're very naive (or just stupid). DH will be embarrassed if I ask with him present, so I think I'll just take a walk to the venues and arrange it beforehand (if possible - they may tell me like some others there is no discount...LOL). Anyway, as one of you mentioned if you don't ask you won't get it. Thanks all for your helpful comments.

We are Elite and will be E+ after our next cruise.......have never asked for a discount but dined every cruise in specialty restaurants several times. Even when they have their 'cart' outside the Oceanview soliciting reservations, they have never offered a discount to me.

 

They must think we're very naive (or just stupid). DH will be embarrassed if I ask with him present, so I think I'll just take a walk to the venues and arrange it beforehand (if possible - they may tell me like some others there is no discount...LOL). Anyway, as one of you mentioned if you don't ask you won't get it. Thanks all for your helpful comments.

Great point my DH would be embarrassed as well if I do it in front of him. He loves it when I save us money, but he does not care or want to know all the details. Maybe I’ll print the Capt Club benefits page, and if I can’t do better than 15%, I’ll ask them for the E+ discount and show them in print from their web site.