Ultimate Dining Package

[eyelovcrusin]

We are considering trying the Ultimate Dining Package on an upcoming cruise. I know in the past the cost was $29 pp/day, but with the recent increase in specialty restaurants has this also increased?

If we have pre-paid for gratuities, do we get a credit for this as the gratuity is supposedly included in the cost of the specialty restaurant?

[cle-guy]

We are considering trying the Ultimate Dining Package on an upcoming cruise. I know in the past the cost was $29 pp/day, but with the recent increase in specialty restaurants has this also increased?

If we have pre-paid for gratuities, do we get a credit for this as the gratuity is supposedly included in the cost of the specialty restaurant?

 

 

From what I've read it's still $29pp/day, and its also sometimes not offered on all cruises.

 

As to gratuities, no you do not get any refund on gratuities. Your standard gratuities stay put. Presumably you are enjoying breakfast and lunches, and enhancing your dinners with a package or specialty restaurant. Also when you buy the specialty package, no gratuity is added to that, so the prepaid gratuities go towards gratuities in the specialty restaurants. In fact many find it appropriate to leave additional gratuity when enjoying the specialty restaurants in addition to the gratuity already prepaid due to the enhanced experience and service provided.

Edited July 9, 2014 by cle-guy

[smdubowsky]

We took the Ultimate Dining package on the Reflection and it was worthwhile. I would recomemend signing up as you board. There will be a display for the specialty restaurants and you can sign up there. If they have the Ultimate Dining option, there is limited availability. BTW, it's not just for dinner but for any meal at any time.

[Cruise a holic]

We are considering trying the Ultimate Dining Package on an upcoming cruise. I know in the past the cost was $29 pp/day, but with the recent increase in specialty restaurants has this also increased?

If we have pre-paid for gratuities, do we get a credit for this as the gratuity is supposedly included in the cost of the specialty restaurant?

 

Have taken the package a few times, and truly enjoyed it, especially on the S class ships. We signed up immediately when we boarded as we were advised that this package is "limited". We were able to make our dining reservations including a speciality restaurant for the entire cruise on day one. Since we like to dine around 6:00, no problem getting reservations.

 

Our next cruise is on the Summit, in a suite and since the speciality restaurants are limited to two, will not take the package.

 

Enjoy your cruise.

Edited July 10, 2014 by Cruise a holic

[kenevenpar]

I did not see anything on the Celebrity web site regarding this package. Is it only available onboard? Or is this one of the 3, 4 or 5 restaurant packages?

[kenevenpar]

Ok, I found another thread and found out that if available, it can only be bought on board. Sounds interesting; not sure if DW will want to do it, but I would!

[akowilm]

We did on Reflection. Hope to do it again in January. I would do 3 Lawn Club, 2 Tuscan and 2 Murano. We like to dress on formal night even though it's not required in the specialty restaurants, and Murano on those nights just feels right!

[seadancer]

DH and I signed up as we walked on the silhouette and made our reservations right there. We loved it!!

 

Due to the heat, I wouldn't suggest the lawn club grill for their lunch time (they only had one but it was also included). Tuscan Grill and Qsine were our favorites! Murano was good but we only went once. Bistro on 5 was fantastic. Bistro is a breakfast and lunch restaurant but it was wonderful!

 

As the cruise goes on, you can ask when the restaurant's lunches will be. The menu is slightly different. We went to Tuscan's lunch but decided to miss Murano's high tea.

 

You can also reschedule your reservations if you decide that you prefer one restaurant over the others or if you prefer not to go back to one of them.

 

Regarding the tips... I know this is a touchy subject but I know that if you feel that you are NOT going to go to the BUFFET or MDR, and you will be tipping out in the restaurants that you use, you can ask the customer service desk to remove your tips but you will then have to bring cash for the cabin stewards, maitre d's of restaurants, etc.

 

I will say that the service is OUTSTANDING in the specialty restaurants and you get treated like a king & queen! Our server at Tuscan (Jesse) remembered our names and he was amazing! At Qsine we had Yelena - she was so friendly and wonderful!! At the Lawn Club Grill and at Murano we had wonderful servers, friendly, etc but I can't remember their names!

 

I was REALLY happy we had decided to do the ultimate dining package! It is limited so you should sign up as you board the ship! Happy sailings!

[cle-guy]

 

Regarding the tips... I know this is a touchy subject but I know that if you feel that you are NOT going to go to the BUFFET or MDR, and you will be tipping out in the restaurants that you use, you can ask the customer service desk to remove your tips but you will then have to bring cash for the cabin stewards, maitre d's of restaurants, etc.

 

It is my understanding that wait staff tips are pooled anyway, so it makes no difference if you have them refunded and reissue, staff has to put them into the general tip pool and be tipped out. I understand its a terminable offense for them to not report all tips into the shared pool.

 

In fact refunding of tips at front desk means all staff who are associated to you are alerted you removed tips, and can lend itself to lesser service levels some report.

 

I leave tips as is. When I go to specialty, I tip a bit more as I would for any meal I have to pay for, I figure my cruise fare covered a portion of the specialty meal, and then the extra $45 up charge covers the balance, sort of like MDR I allocate in my mind $25 of my cruise fare to the MDR, if I eat in Specialty, I assume the meal is valued at $70, the $25 allocation from MDR plus the $45 up charge I paid, so I already tipped on the $25, now need to tip on the $45 portion.

[tangerinebunny]

Where on board the restaurant sign up?

[Snaprats]

We did the Ulitmate Dining package for a family group (five of seven of us got the Ultimate package) on the June 1 Equinox cruise and it worked out great!

 

We had booked and paid for all our specialty dining reservations prior to departure to ensure we got the times and restaurants we wanted. When we arrived to check in at the port there was a table set up advertising the specialty restaurants in between the cruise check-in and boarding the ship. They were taking reservations and had menus from each restaurant to show.

 

We were happy to find out that they had the package available and the staff there did a GREAT job on our reservations. This must have involved a lot of work as they had to credit back all of our previous payments then re-book them under the new rate. It was still $29 per day, which was a bargain! This was a 14 night cruise so it involved a lot of transactions and two of our party did not switch to the Ultimate package as they wanted to try some of the other dining venues. Despite the complexity of switching all of these they were done perfectly to the penny.

 

They put a sticker on your sea pass card to show you have the Ultimate package. They didn't have the stickers at the reservation table at check-in, but we picked them up in Murano our first night on board. We went straight to the Bistro on Five for lunch at embarkation and just told the maitre-d that we had the Ultimate package and despite not yet having our stickers and it not yet being showing up on our account there was no separate charge for the meal.

 

I think we ended up eating dinner 7 times in Murano, 5 in Tuscan Grille and twice in Silk Harvest. We also had the special lunches in Murano and Tuscan Grille and two lunches in Bistro on Five. All of these meals were great! The service and food were outstanding. At one of our later dinners in Murano the chef made two special dishes (beef stroganoff and a seafood stew) so we could try something different.

 

We particularly enjoyed the numerous table-side prepared dishes at Murano - made the experience feel more "special" and well worth the money!

[Pitbull1130]

Where on board the restaurant sign up?

 

 

There was a table right as we boarded the ship, we plan to do it again on our cruise in December.......................

[Project_gal]

There was a table right as we boarded the ship, we plan to do it again on our cruise in December.......................

 

There is also usually a "table" at check-in close to the suite check-in.

[tangerinebunny]

Thanks; we're interested.

 

We get a free specialty dinner with our cabin, so I assume that we lose that when we do the package? I'll have to do the math.

[cle-guy]

Thanks; we're interested.

 

We get a free specialty dinner with our cabin, so I assume that we lose that when we do the package? I'll have to do the math.

 

If it's a suite related free meal, they will pro-rate the dining package for you to account for the suite doing specialty restaurant, from what I've read here.

[Merriem]

If it's a suite related free meal, they will pro-rate the dining package for you to account for the suite doing specialty restaurant, from what I've read here.

 

Thanks, I was wondering about that. We get one on the Reflection..have a Signature suite, and was curious if the package was worth it. However, we are not found of the MDR....too loud.

[Champagne Cruiser]

We will be on the Summit repo cruise in Oct. For the first time we will not be In AQ with access to Blu since we wanted to try the specialty restaurants. Since the Summit only has Qsine and Normandie do you think the ultimate dining package is worth it?

[nyfeds]

If you have pre-paid gratuities, does that apply to the specialty restaurant gatuities?

[cle-guy]

If you have pre-paid gratuities, does that apply to the specialty restaurant gatuities?

Yes.

 

However I like to tip an additional 15% on the cover charge amount, figuring I tipped on a $20 valued meal in the MDR (I place this value in it, there is nothing set in stone as to what the meal pricing/value is but I generally assign $10 breakfast, $15 Lunch and $20-$25 for dinners when budgeting), and am now getting a meal valued at $65 ($20 already paid for meals plus the $45 cover charge), so I in effect "owe" a tip on the $45 cover charge.

[bayonnejoe]

We will be on the Summit repo cruise in Oct. For the first time we will not be In AQ with access to Blu since we wanted to try the specialty restaurants. Since the Summit only has Qsine and Normandie do you think the ultimate dining package is worth it?

 

I have inquired about it. Customer service told me they do not offer the ultimate package on the Summit.

[TowandaUK]

I have inquired about it. Customer service told me they do not offer the ultimate package on the Summit.

 

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

 

Try this link, it lists all the dining packages including Ultimate by ship. Summit is included and shows the Ultimate package. However, as usual there is no way of knowing if the website info is up to date.:confused:

[akowilm]

I saw this for my spring Constellation cruise and not o ky was the ultimate package not available, they didn't even offer the 4 night....I guess they fill the venues easily when there only 2....

[nyfeds]

I am not seeing a Dining Package for Eclipse. Is the Dining Package offered for Eclipse? Are priority reservations given to Aqua for the specialty restaurants?

Edited July 20, 2014 by nyfeds

[Project_gal]

If it's a suite related free meal, they will pro-rate the dining package for you to account for the suite doing specialty restaurant, from what I've read here.

 

As far as I am aware, I am the only person who has reported this and I qualified it by saying that I was, and still am, surprised. I was assured, at the time, that it was correct but I am still prepared for it not to be the case when we cruise again.

 

As for the package not being offered on certain ships and/or cruises: it will not be offered if they believe that they can fill the specialty restaurants easily. It was not offered on the 5-cruise leg of our B2B on Constellation. We were told that it rarely is.

[Project_gal]

Are priority reservations given to Aqua for the specialty restaurants?

 

No. Whatever is said about priority specialty dining reservations for any category, it is fairly meaningless. If a restaurant is fully booked, they are not going to say to someone with a reservation "sorry, we are cancelling". Despite having the Ultimate Dining package on the 15-day leg of our B2B and being in a PH, we had to fit in with whatever was available on the 5-day leg. In our case, it meant that we could not eat in the Tuscan Grille at all during the 5-days.