Pay ahead to reserve specialty dining?

[Gradelady]

I'm confused...if we want to reserve specialty dining now, online, for a cruise in January, I have to pay in advance?

[Cruising89143]

Yes. Celebrity requires payment at the time of the reservation.

[kands6191]

I have a few questions about this too.

 

If I have to prepay, then I won't be able to use OBC, correct? If I don't reserve in advance, will the restaurants be all booked up when I get on board? Is it any advantage to be in Concierge Class and have a "seating time preference"? I have read on CC that they offer discount pricing onboard for specialty dining to fill up the restaurants. Does that mean there are usually plenty of seats left?

 

I'm just trying to get a feel for how critical it is that we prebook our specialty dining.

[Gradelady]

I have a few questions about this too.

 

If I have to prepay, then I won't be able to use OBC, correct? If I don't reserve in advance, will the restaurants be all booked up when I get on board? Is it any advantage to be in Concierge Class and have a "seating time preference"? I have read on CC that they offer discount pricing onboard for specialty dining to fill up the restaurants. Does that mean there are usually plenty of seats left?

 

I'm just trying to get a feel for how critical it is that we prebook our specialty dining.

 

Took the questions right out of my mouth!

[Azulann]

I would say if you want a specific time and day then book ahead.

If not, wait till you get on board. They seem to have a discount for the first evening and also packages discounted.

I have always book my specialty restaraunts on board and used my OBC to pay for it.

[Cruising89143]

I don't think you will have a problem booking on board but you may not get the times that you like. It's my understanding that they hold back time slots for those that want to book on board.

 

On the Reflection there was a station set up just outside the Oceanview Cafe and they were taking reservations just after we boarded. I suggest checking as soon as you can to lock in the day and time that you are looking for.

[spookwife]

I have a few questions about this too.

 

If I have to prepay, then I won't be able to use OBC, correct? correct If I don't reserve in advance, will the restaurants be all booked up when I get on board? probably not although some times or days may be booked. Is it any advantage to be in Concierge Class and have a "seating time preference"? I have read on CC that they offer discount pricing onboard for specialty dining to fill up the restaurants. sometimes Does that mean there are usually plenty of seats left? sometimes

 

I'm just trying to get a feel for how critical it is that we prebook our specialty dining.

 

 

if you absolutely MUST have it at X time on X day, then book ahead. if you are flexible( and willing to miss out on formal night in the MDR) then wait until you board.

[jagoffee]

I seldom have any issue getting a reservation. Sometimes I have to move my desired time by 30 minutes to an hour. This might be a function of when they allow bookings more than actually being sold out at that time.

 

Can't you get on advanced reservation without paying as a Captain Club benefit or has this changed?

[Cruising89143]

 

Can't you get on advanced reservation without paying as a Captain Club benefit or has this changed?

 

 

I have had to pay each time.

[amberben]

After coming back a week ago from the Eclipse I thought this was very interesting. On CC I had a list of people who wanted to go one evening in a group. I was told we all had to pay when we booked. But when we got on board the lovely lady Matrie Di told me "No you dont pay before when you book but after the meal."? So Head Office needs to get the facts straight and sort this out.?

[Cruising89143]

After coming back a week ago from the Eclipse I thought this was very interesting. On CC I had a list of people who wanted to go one evening in a group. I was told we all had to pay when we booked. But when we got on board the lovely lady Matrie Di told me "No you dont pay before when you book but after the meal."? So Head Office needs to get the facts straight and sort this out.?

 

 

She is incorrect. The system will not process your order unless you pay at the time of booking. I can only imagine what it would be like if they did not charge at the time of booking. You would have people reserving time slots and then either canceling at the last minute or not at all causing the restaurant to have empty tables or more tables than usual.

[2Fltravelers]

After coming back a week ago from the Eclipse I thought this was very interesting. On CC I had a list of people who wanted to go one evening in a group. I was told we all had to pay when we booked. But when we got on board the lovely lady Matrie Di told me "No you dont pay before when you book but after the meal."? So Head Office needs to get the facts straight and sort this out.?

 

She misunderstood you. What she meant was that you pay (the amount is charged to your on board account) after your meal if it is booked on board. There is no charge to your shipboard account until then. But you must pay in advance if you book online or through Captain's Club BEFORE the cruise. This has always been the case. I usually book online before the cruise and pay beforehand to ensure the dates and times that I want. You can make changes once on board and, if there is a special promotion, the maitre 'd in the restaurant will credit your on board account the amount you paid in advance and then charge the new amount to your on board account. We did this on the Eclipse and the Equinox when we found out there were discounts for first night or that there was a special promotion on board. We had no problem getting the refund and having the new charges posted properly.

[FISHHOOK1]

We just got off the Century on Friday. We love Murano's and planned to book a 3-night pkg. A rep from Murano's was selling pkgs on the deck even before we had our first glass of welcome champagne. He wrote up our order and then we visited the restaurant the next morning to choose our reservation times. This was a good savings, as it came out to $33 per person rather than the "too high" $45. We had no problem getting the days and time we wanted, although I will say we like to eat fairly early. Only one night did the restaurant seem full. They even offered three lunch time meals during the cruise at a price of $25pp. We did one of those and the meal was quite large and included a glass of champagne. I don't think you will have any problems waiting until onboard to make reservations but do stop by as soon as possible to get the times you want.

[Lsimon]

I'm confused...if we want to reserve specialty dining now, online, for a cruise in January, I have to pay in advance?

 

Yes you will have to pay in advance

 

I have a few questions about this too.

 

If I have to prepay, then I won't be able to use OBC, correct? If I don't reserve in advance, will the restaurants be all booked up when I get on board? Is it any advantage to be in Concierge Class and have a "seating time preference"? I have read on CC that they offer discount pricing onboard for specialty dining to fill up the restaurants. Does that mean there are usually plenty of seats left?

 

I'm just trying to get a feel for how critical it is that we prebook our specialty dining.

 

If you have to prepay they you will not be able to use OBC for the service charge since it will have already been paid when you get on board. But you can use the OBC for wine or other beverages at your dinner.

 

If you don't reserve in advance the reservations will not be all booked and there will be some reservations available on board. I've always heard they only book a percentage of the reservation time slots in advance. However I have no idea what the percentages are or if they leave space in every time slot or not. So I can't say if there will be "plenty of seats left" or just a few.

 

We've been on cruises where there were very few openings when we made reservations on board on embarkation afternoon and were completely sold out by mid cruise. But we've been on other cruises where the specialty restaurants were not busy and it was easy to get reservations, or even last minute seating some nights, and they were promoting the restaurants with discounts through most of the cruise.

 

Generally speaking the longer the cruise the more availability there will be but it still varies from cruise to cruise. The cruise with the most difficult bookings was a 7 night Caribbean cruise and the cruise with the most available bookings was a 14 night Caribbean cruise. But we've been on another 14 night cruise where the restaurants were busier and there were no discounts.

 

If you do wait until you get on board to make your reservations I'd recommend doing it sooner than later to have the widest choice of nights and seating times.

[boogs]

She is incorrect. The system will not process your order unless you pay at the time of booking. I can only imagine what it would be like if they did not charge at the time of booking. You would have people reserving time slots and then either canceling at the last minute or not at all causing the restaurant to have empty tables or more tables than usual.

 

And this is the point that is most important - they require payment because if they did not, so many people would abuse the reservations by not showing up, denying others who want to dine there the opportunity to do so. It is the selfish and inconsiderate people in the world who create this inconvenience for the rest of us.

Edited December 9, 2013 by boogs

[gordiej]

And this is the point that is most important - they require payment because if they did not, so many people would abuse the reservations by not showing up, denying others who want to dine there the opportunity to do so. It is the selfish and inconsiderate people in the world who create this inconvenience for the rest of us.

Why would you think that people who book online in advance are any more likely to no-show than those who book on board???

 

A simple solution to both is to charge a no-show fee for any reservations not cancelled more than 24 hours in advance.

[floralscent]

We purchased a 5 night specialty pkg for our 7 night Alaska cruise on the Solstice a few days ago...we sail in May. I was only able to reserve 1 night of the 5 online during the booking and was told by X when I phoned that the other nights would need to be reserved once onboard. I never told X that we were Captains Club members.

 

If I am understanding correctly from the posts above it sounds like some Captains Club members have reserved all dinners in advance. We are only Classic Club members but can we reserve all 5 prior to cruise day? We are staying in a conceirge Class cabin this time, does that give us any pull to reserve pre-cruise?

 

Our last 11nt on the Silhouette- we reserved 1 online pre-cruise and the other 4 right before boarding, after getting our seapass cards. There was plenty of availability on the 11 nt but I am wondering what availability might be like on a 7 nt if we have to wait to reserve.