Unwritten rules for booking speciality restaurants

[luxury-lizard]

So Mr LL and I will be first time Celebrity cruisers on the Auckland-Sydney Dec 10 voyage on Solstice. After reading this forum and learning lots, here are a few things I have found out which may be useful to other "newbies":-

 

- Select, early and/or late dining times can be "sold out" so make your choice when you first book your cruise or you could be surprised and disappointed (as we were when I tried to change from late to Select last week).

 

- If you book a package of 5 speciality restaurants (again as I did last week) you MUST pre-book the first of these on the first or second day of sailing. You do not get to choose which restaurant and available times are VERY limited (at this stage at least). You may not book the other 4 until you get on board. The 5 nights must be 1*Murano, 2*Tuscan Grill and 2*Harvest Silk. I was told when I called to try and book the other nights that there can be no exceptions to these restrictions (and you cannot change the combination around). I was also advised that my first evening (I had chosen day 2 of sailing) would be at the Tuscan Grill. (I am assuming that similar restrictions apply to the 3 restaurant package).

 

- I was also told when I called that the 3/5 night speciality restaurant packages do sell out - so if you are planning to book these while on board you could miss out.

 

- I was also told that if you book these restaurants individually (at the full price) you get a much better choice of times.

 

- If you book a suite you may book your included speciality restaurants in advance by calling - which I did - for these I could pick any 2 restaurants (even Murano twice) on any days but available times were limited.

 

- I also inquired about the "unlimited speciality restaurant" package - and as others have pointed out on this forum - this can only be booked after boarding and is not always available - it depends on how heavily booked the restaurants are in advance. While the agent did not say so specifically, I got the impression that advance bookings were already quite "strong" so I guess one cannot count on this option being available.

 

I guess if one uses a travel agent who is familiar with Celebrity they can advise you of these considerations when making your original booking. We booked using the Celebrity web site as local (Australian) TA's did not seem to offer any advantages. Certainly the Celebrity web site does not warn you about these when you make your booking online - i.e. limits on the number of people in each of early/late/select and all the considerations on the speciality restaurant packages.

 

I'm sure I did read on this forum, that some people reported somewhat more flexibility once you're on board; e.g. changing MDR dining time, swapping restaurants around when using a package, etc. Can anyone share their experience.

 

Anyway - this is our first cruise on a mega-ship (for us that's more than 350 people) and one of my concerns has always been the need to "jockey for position" in these sorts of things (restaurant times and so on). Clearly first timers are at a disadvantage if they don't know the ropes - not everyone has the time or interest to study these forums.

[ghstudio]

I'm not sure there are "ropes". We have been on very few celebrity ships where the specialty restaurants are sold out...in fact, on most, they are going around making discount offers...and that's more true now that they've raised the prices again. Generally (but not always) they offer a 20% discount if you dine in a specialty restaurant on the first night...and sometimes that offer is made before the cruise; other times it's offered when you get on board. If you are flexible on times, there is generally no problem booking. If you are celebrating an event and want a certain restaurant at a certain time on a certain date, then book in advance. If you're flexible, you should have no problem with reservations at the restaurants of your choice.

 

Of course, your cruise could be different. Don't be misled by the lack of times offered on the web site before the cruise....they hold at least 1/2 of the seats for on-board bookings.

 

When we have bought a package, they have never let us change the restaurants to eat at murano more or silk harvest less. We have also found that if we ate at a restaurant and wanted to come back, we asked the maitre d' if we could get a discount if we returned on another night....they usually say yes.

 

Not sure if this helps....

[luxury-lizard]

hey, thanks for the tip of asking for a discount on another booking. (This is a good example what I meant by knowing the "ropes" - ie I would never have thought to ask for a discount or the vine I'm getting that speciality restaurants get booked out prior to cruise departure).

[phoenix_dream]

I would also note that when we booked a 5 package specialty restaurant package, we tried to book the remaining 4 nights immediately when we boarded (about one hour after boarding started). We had one heck of a time getting decent reservation times on the nights we wanted - in most cases had to either pick a day we did not want or a time we did not want. Was not happy with the way this is handled and vowed not to do it again. (another reason was just sheer amount of food - very good food I admit but we seemed to eat so much more of it those nights we said only a three package next time, or individual bookings when onboard)

[boogs]

I would also note that when we booked a 5 package specialty restaurant package, we tried to book the remaining 4 nights immediately when we boarded (about one hour after boarding started). We had one heck of a time getting decent reservation times on the nights we wanted - in most cases had to either pick a day we did not want or a time we did not want. Was not happy with the way this is handled and vowed not to do it again. (another reason was just sheer amount of food - very good food I admit but we seemed to eat so much more of it those nights we said only a three package next time, or individual bookings when onboard)

 

We did the 5 package on Reflection and had zero issues making reservations. When we boarded we asked at the nearest reception desk for the package. Although we had made a couple of the reservations prior to the cruise, they made the change without any hesitation, saving us an additional 18% over the non package prices. We got the times we wanted, typically 7:00 pm, on all but one night late into the cruise when we had to dine only a half hour later than we asked. We made reservations a day or two early for the remaining nights that we hadn't reserved prior to the cruise. For us everything went well, and we have no reason to complain.

[Blazerboy]

We've stopped booking in advance. We go with the flow (and discount offers) and let fate decide. If the times offered or nights available don't work, we don't go...but it's amazing the number of times a spot has opened up for us...like magic!;)

 

Andrew

[royalcruz]

We prefer to book on board individually.

 

If you tend to dine very early or very late, it's no problem getting reservations.

 

Some of the restaurants will give you a discount for the asking, at the time of booking, especially on the last night.

[rdler]

I am going on my first Celebrity cruise on the Reflection in November, although my son and I have been on 15 cruises on different lines (mostly Carnival, with which I've gotten fed up!). I apologize if this is a dumb question. When booking reservations for a specialty restaurant, can one ask for a table for two? If so, are they separated from the other tables? This matters because my son is a special needs kid-- very well behaved-- but sitting with strangers or on top of other people causes him stress.

[WestLakeGirl]

Yes you can always book a table for 2 in the specialty restaurants

[rdler]

Thanks, West Lake. Are the two tops separate from each other? For example, on Carnival, often the two tops are in a row about 6 inches apart from each other and you are literally on top of the folks on either side of you.

[WestLakeGirl]

It depends on the specialty restaurant and the ship so suggest you visit each, explain the situation and point out a few tables that would met your needs

[rdler]

Thanks, West Lake. I really do apologize. If I book the restaurants now, do I just go into the restaurant the day we get on board and talk to them? Is there a special time?

 

I really appreciate your help.

[WestLakeGirl]

If you book a restaurant for night #1, stop by when it opens and tell them the situation. Then the next day you can go to the others you have booked and do the same for them

[rdler]

Thanks. You have been incredibly helpful.

[CathyCruises]

On our TA earlier this year, I was able to secure a 50% discount for our party (of 7-9) at Qsine, not once but twice--by asking. I asked about a discount and they offered 20%--I countered at 50% and they said okay. So, you never know. We had a ball!!

[RVRCLC]

Is it possible to use the TV in your room to book specialty restaurants?

[wwcruisers]

We've stopped booking in advance. We go with the flow (and discount offers) and let fate decide. If the times offered or nights available don't work, we don't go...but it's amazing the number of times a spot has opened up for us...like magic!;)

 

Andrew

 

That strategy works for us too, Andrew. :cool:

We have frequently gotten discounts on the first night of a cruise. If your ship is in port late -- that's another good night to see about specialty restaurant discounts. We're traditional late-seating diners, so we're pretty flexible about dining times -- that helps, too. The only time we did an advance booking was for DH's birthday dinner on Century. With only one specialty restaurant (Murano), we didn't want to risk them being booked up. ;)