Ultimate Specialty Dining Package Review

[miataman19]

Is it true that the Murano lunch and the Tuscan lunch are on the same day? so you have to choose between the two?

 

Yes. Both offered on Friday. The last sea day...

[Jeano222]

I tried to crunch numbers for hubby and I doing Solstice 7 day. We currently have 3 specialty dining package for 85.00 per person. 5 night package is 119.00. To get ultimate package would be 203.00 per person. That doesn't seem like a good deal to me, what am I missing??

[Lovemychoos]

I tried to crunch numbers for hubby and I doing Solstice 7 day. We currently have 3 specialty dining package for 85.00 per person. 5 night package is 119.00. To get ultimate package would be 203.00 per person. That doesn't seem like a good deal to me, what am I missing??

 

Isn't the cost $29 per day per person?

 

Lou

[Jeano222]

yes, 29.00 times 7 days is 203.00 per person times 2 people would be 406.00

[Lovemychoos]

yes, 29.00 times 7 days is 203.00 per person times 2 people would be 406.00

 

Suppose I'm thinking by the time it's converted in £, less than £130 ea, for a week, for up to 21 speciality meals (breakfast, lunch and dinner) didn't seem a bad deal. We'd have to pay that at home for 2 dinners for the 2 of us in a restaurant that came any where near to the quality of Murano :)

 

Even if you only counted the dinners (7 each) it still seems a good deal to me.

[Gig103]

Thanks, "Gig103," but it appears that you misread our question. We already knew the prices for dinner (which you quoted). We asked about lunch.

 

SORRY! :o

[jg51]

Is it true that the Murano lunch and the Tuscan lunch are on the same day? so you have to choose between the two?

 

Yes. Both offered on Friday. The last sea day...

 

Folks, how is this possible? The contract calls for two separate lunches, one in each restaurant. Here again is a link to the flyer, which makes this clear -- including on your Celebrity Reflection, "miataman19."

http://creative.rccl.com/Sales/Celebrity/General_Info/Flyers/11024491_CEL_SpecialtyDiningPck_Flyer2.pdf

 

We will be on a different ship that has the same kind of arrangement, according to the flyer. We were told by phone (after dialing the specialty-dining number) that lunch would be offered two or three times during the cruise. If there is actually only one lunch in each SR, and on the same day, that would be a violation of the terms of the contract.

 

We have printed the flyer and will take it with us, in case we need to ask for a partial refund (the price of one lunch). We suggest that everyone else do the same.

[SusieV]

Folks, how is this possible? The contract calls for two separate lunches, one in each restaurant. Here again is a link to the flyer, which makes this clear -- including on your Celebrity Reflection, "miataman19."

http://creative.rccl.com/Sales/Celebrity/General_Info/Flyers/11024491_CEL_SpecialtyDiningPck_Flyer2.pdf

 

We will be on a different ship that has the same kind of arrangement, according to the flyer. We were told by phone (after dialing the specialty-dining number) that lunch would be offered two or three times during the cruise. If there is actually only one lunch in each SR, and on the same day, that would be a violation of the terms of the contract.

 

We have printed the flyer and will take it with us, in case we need to ask for a partial refund (the price of one lunch). We suggest that everyone else do the same.

 

I can't imagine they will give you a refund for that. We just looked at it that we had choice on that one day. We had lunch in the Lawn Club Grill and in the Tuscan Grille. We liked the TG menu better than Murano. Have lunch at the Porch or Bistro on Five on the other days- delicious!

 

We think this package is a great value and wish we could prebook it.

Edited April 6, 2013 by SusieV

[jg51]

I can't imagine they will give you a refund for that. We just looked at it that we had choice on that one day. ...

We can't understand why you "can't imagine" it, "SusieV." It is as plain as day, on the flyer [did you look at it?] that the implied reference is to two separate lunches. We think that almost every intelligent speaker of English would look at that flyer and conclude that two separate lunches can be eaten. Celebrity could easily have stated on the flyer that there was only a choice of one or the other restaurant, on only one day, iif that is the case.

 

So, if "X" messed up by failing to point out the need to choose one or the other SR, they will be legally bound to make a refund. If they refuse, then we will creatively "exact a penalty." We hope that they have enough intelligence not to turn guests against them, and to generate bad "P.R." by cheating them.

[SusieV]

We can't understand why you "can't imagine" it, "SusieV." It is as plain as day, on the flyer [did you look at it?] that the implied reference is to two separate lunches. We think that almost every intelligent speaker of English would look at that flyer and conclude that two separate lunches can be eaten. Celebrity could easily have stated on the flyer that there was only a choice of one or the other restaurant, on only one day, iif that is the case.

 

So, if "X" messed up by failing to point out the need to choose one or the other SR, they will be legally bound to make a refund. If they refuse, then we will creatively "exact a penalty." We hope that they have enough intelligence not to turn guests against them, and to generate bad "P.R." by cheating them.

 

How are you being cheated? You can have lunch whenever it's available. On 7 night sailings it happens that two lunches are on the same day. In fact, if you really wanted to, you could have lunch in both on the same day back to back so technically you can have both. It's not like they have a devious plan to avoid giving you a lunch- it depends on the itinerary.

 

On longer sailings the lunches are offered on different days. There is much less demand for lunch than for dinner and the maitre d' explained to us that they cannot offer the lunch on port days because there won't be customers, and they don't hold it on the first sea day because they need time to advertise it. It does make sense.

 

I really don't see the problem, myself. We bought the package and loved it.

Edited April 8, 2013 by SusieV

[mickey89]

Any questions on the package just give a shout back and I'll try to answer them in a timely manner. As they say in Murano while lifting the cover to reveal your entree...VOILA!!!..Bon Appetit! :)

 

 

Hi Miataman - Enjoyed reading your views on the Ultimate Dining package, have a question........

 

For example "Will they accept a reservation for the Murano Restaurant for every night at 8pm when you pay?"

Edited April 10, 2013 by mickey89

[miataman19]

Hi Miataman - Enjoyed reading your views on the Ultimate Dining package, have a question........

 

For example "Will they accept a reservation for the Murano Restaurant for every night at 8pm when you pay?"

 

Like I said in the review, I had no trouble getting the times I wanted. However, I did go straight to Murano as soon as I got on the ship. It still is a crap shoot with times, restaurants and days that you want. We had a full ship and the times I requested 6:00 or 6:30 didn't seem to be very popular with the rest of my shipmates :eek: so I got what I wanted. Now an 8pm slot might be an issue. My advice is if you really want that time slot and you can do it, just have your TA or go to the Celebrity website and book Murano for 8pm for the whole week (if it is available). Or call Celebrity, they have folks that just handle Specialty Dinning. Then when you get on the ship go to Murano and upgrade to the Ultimate package and they will credit your onboard account the amoumt you paid for the reservations you made prior to boarding. And you get to keep your times from those reservations. Hope that helped..:)

[BamaD]

Re: The 3 Dinner Special, does it have to be in 3 different restaurants, or can it be Tuscan, Tuscan, Murano?

[miataman19]

Re: The 3 Dinner Special, does it have to be in 3 different restaurants, or can it be Tuscan, Tuscan, Murano?

 

Hey BamaD...here is a flyer from Celebrity that tells you the restaurants that THEY pick for you when you purchase the 3, 4 and 5 dinner packages. The only way YOU can pick the restaurants is if you purchase the Ultimate Specialty Dinning Package at $29 pp per day. $406 for 2 for 7 days. This can only be purchased on the ship.

 

http://creative.rccl.com/Sales/Celeb...Pck_Flyer2.pdf

Edited April 13, 2013 by miataman19

[miataman19]

Folks, how is this possible? The contract calls for two separate lunches, one in each restaurant. Here again is a link to the flyer, which makes this clear -- including on your Celebrity Reflection, "miataman19."

http://creative.rccl.com/Sales/Celebrity/General_Info/Flyers/11024491_CEL_SpecialtyDiningPck_Flyer2.pdf

 

We will be on a different ship that has the same kind of arrangement, according to the flyer. We were told by phone (after dialing the specialty-dining number) that lunch would be offered two or three times during the cruise. If there is actually only one lunch in each SR, and on the same day, that would be a violation of the terms of the contract.

 

We have printed the flyer and will take it with us, in case we need to ask for a partial refund (the price of one lunch). We suggest that everyone else do the same.

 

Let me know if that works. I didn't even look at the wording in the flyer but you could have a case here.

[mickey89]

Like I said in the review, I had no trouble getting the times I wanted. However, I did go straight to Murano as soon as I got on the ship. It still is a crap shoot with times, restaurants and days that you want. We had a full ship and the times I requested 6:00 or 6:30 didn't seem to be very popular with the rest of my shipmates :eek: so I got what I wanted. Now an 8pm slot might be an issue. My advice is if you really want that time slot and you can do it, just have your TA or go to the Celebrity website and book Murano for 8pm for the whole week (if it is available). Or call Celebrity, they have folks that just handle Specialty Dinning. Then when you get on the ship go to Murano and upgrade to the Ultimate package and they will credit your onboard account the amoumt you paid for the reservations you made prior to boarding. And you get to keep your times from those reservations. Hope that helped..:)

 

If I made reservations for the whole cruise on-line, I would be concerned that if the Package was unavailable and I decided to cancel those reservations, where would the money go. It is totally unacceptable to be returned to Seapass Account as if not spent would be lost. This must be regarded as a Sharp Practice by Celebrity.

[miataman19]

If I made reservations for the whole cruise on-line, I would be concerned that if the Package was unavailable and I decided to cancel those reservations, where would the money go. It is totally unacceptable to be returned to Seapass Account as if not spent would be lost. This must be regarded as a Sharp Practice by Celebrity.

 

mickey89, your concerns are very well taken. I did have the 5 dinner package originally. When I upgraded, those funds did get credited to my Seapass account. When I made all my reservations for the week with the Murano Maitre D I did ask about the amount of these packages that they sell. He told me I was the 6th that day. I did follow up 2 days later and was told they had sold a total of 16. We had a full ship. He did mention that they usually limit those sales to 30 and they must be purchased on the first day. Now as we know anything can change. I can just relay my experience with this package.

[guidance lady]

I love your tag Lovemychoos, are we talking Jimmy Choos? I'm there too.

[guidance lady]

ESPECIALLY if you have Arthur as your waiter. :D He made the entire evening fun and enjoyable. Becasue we were Concierge Class, we were not allowed to eat in Blu :mad:...LOL . I was told by some folks it was good, but always crowded and noise level was very high. Sort of like General Mess as you Navy folks mentioned! I'll leave the ship review to someone else.

Thank you for your reviews. We too had Arthur from the Ukraine just 2 weeks ago, and had such a good time that we came back the last night. We loved Qsine both for the ambiance and the food.

By the way Blu is wonderful, quite upscale, elegant and certainly not a "General Mess." It is one of the reasons we always book Aqua Class. The maitre d' knows us after the first night and always seats us at our preferred table. The food is excellent as is the service, and diners are not loud, but act as if they are used to dining out at fine restaurants. They put large parties on the other side of the room and that probably helps. Since there are a lot of diners requesting tables for 2 now, the tables are close together as they are at Qsine, and almost any restaurant in NY or LA or any larger city, but we usually make friends with our neighbors and have a good time. We also enjoy having breakfast at Blu when we have Sea Days or late shore excursions. We just got off Reflection April 6, and it Blu was never crowded at 7 or 7:30. I'm sorry others gave you the wrong impression of a really nice restaurant on Celebrity.

[Lovemychoos]

I love your tag Lovemychoos, are we talking Jimmy Choos? I'm there too.

 

We certainly are :D

 

Just love shoes :D

 

Lou x

[NavalCruiser]

So let me get this straight. You pay a couple of hundred dollars per day for the cruise, which is supposed to include all meals, then you pay another $58 per day for specialty dining. What happened to 'all-inclusive' (excluding booze, of course). I get the feeling that Celebrity is well into nickle-and-diming us to death.

[tak2]

ESPECIALLY if you have Arthur as your waiter. :D He made the entire evening fun and enjoyable.......

Thank you for your reviews. We too had Arthur from the Ukraine just 2 weeks ago, and had such a good time that we came back the last night. ...

 

I wonder if this is same Arthur we had in Blu in 2009? We were so impressed with that Arthur that we said he could be promoted straight from assistant waiter to assistant maitre D', he's that good with customer service ( we certainly didn't know about his management skills)

Do you have pictures of Arthur?

[ghstudio]

If I made reservations for the whole cruise on-line, I would be concerned that if the Package was unavailable and I decided to cancel those reservations, where would the money go. It is totally unacceptable to be returned to Seapass Account as if not spent would be lost. This must be regarded as a Sharp Practice by Celebrity.

 

Any money refunded from things that were prebooked prior to the cruise (meals/excursions) goes into your on-board account and any that is unspent at the end of your cruise is refunded to you/your credit card. You would not lose the prepaid amount.

[miataman19]

So let me get this straight. You pay a couple of hundred dollars per day for the cruise, which is supposed to include all meals, then you pay another $58 per day for specialty dining. What happened to 'all-inclusive' (excluding booze, of course). I get the feeling that Celebrity is well into nickle-and-diming us to death.

 

Thank you for your reviews. We too had Arthur from the Ukraine just 2 weeks ago, and had such a good time that we came back the last night. We loved Qsine both for the ambiance and the food.

By the way Blu is wonderful, quite upscale, elegant and certainly not a "General Mess." It is one of the reasons we always book Aqua Class. The maitre d' knows us after the first night and always seats us at our preferred table. The food is excellent as is the service, and diners are not loud, but act as if they are used to dining out at fine restaurants. They put large parties on the other side of the room and that probably helps. Since there are a lot of diners requesting tables for 2 now, the tables are close together as they are at Qsine, and almost any restaurant in NY or LA or any larger city, but we usually make friends with our neighbors and have a good time. We also enjoy having breakfast at Blu when we have Sea Days or late shore excursions. We just got off Reflection April 6, and it Blu was never crowded at 7 or 7:30. I'm sorry others gave you the wrong impression of a really nice restaurant on Celebrity.

 

This was actually the first time we tried the Specialty Restaurants on any of our sailings. We don't do alot of shore excursion's so we decided, what the heck we'll give it a shot. The extra monies you pay are a little high but wanted to see what all the hubub was about with these restaurants. We're glad we did try them. With that said, we probably won't do the big package again. However we still might do 1 or 2 on our next sailing. As to Blu. Our cruise was a spring break cruise, so a full ship. Maybe thats why some of the folks I talked to said it was full or loud all the time. Your observations seem to me as very acurate. It did look like a very nice restaurant with a great menu as we did try to weasel are way into Blu one night :eek:, but to no avail. That Maitre D was not going to let us in :rolleyes:. Can't blame a guy for trying...lol

[seadancer]

Subscribe