New dinner packages for sale, for up to 12 dinners

[BILL-WI]

Just booked a 9 night package, for an 11 night cruise in February, on Equinox. The price per nights is sooooooooo much lower than the Ultimate dine pack used to be....A very good deal for those that like/love specialty restaurants. :):)

 

BILL

[kevinyork]

This appears in my planner for our 14 night cruise on Eclipse next June. At £19 per night it's a very good price but the detail is sketchy. How many nights at each restaurant? Also I feel it would be better value on ships with more restaurant options. However, we are not dissatisfied with the MDR menus and if this takes more people from the MDR to relieve pressure on Select dining then it could be a bonus. For Celebrity, this has to be better than the constant touting for bookings onboard.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[2calgarycruisers]

cruiserke;51563786']I just noticed new multi-day dinner packages in the cruiseplanner section of my upcoming cruise. In addition to the previously available 3 day' date=' 4 day and 5 day packages, they now have additional packages for 6 through to 12 days:

 

 

 

 

 

So they kept the pricing for the old 3 to 5 dinner packages and for the new packages (as of 6 dinners) they start at $32 a day with $1 less per day for each higher category. Which is good reasoning but it's a bit strange that the

 

"old" packages are still priced as before, which makes the 4 dinner package a comparatively good deal and the 3 dinner one a lousy deal.[/quote']

 

 

We paid $176 cdn, or about $130 us for a five night package last month - quite a bit less than this

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[Cruise Junky]

Strange pricing going on in Canadian. The price per dinner was cheaper for the 4 night package than the 5 and 7. Just bought the 4 night package for $170 cdn pp

[simon stingray]

We just checked this out for our Equinox sailing.

 

If we choose the 6 or 7 night package for the 2 of us, the only time available to book our first dinner is at 6.00pm on either day 1 or day 2.

 

As 6.00pm is way too early for us (we usually eat at 8.30-9.00pm), we tried the 5 dinner package and that allows us to book our first dinner at 8.30pm on day 2:confused:

 

What's even stranger is if just 1 of us books the 6 or 7 night package (table for 1) then 8.00pm OR 8.30pm is available for either of the first 2 nights.

 

I have this picture in my mind of all those tables in Murano with only 1 chair at each table:D

[lovescarborough]

I can see this is going to be chaos to say the least ! Why Celebrity don't get their act together before pushing this I don't know. Can't wait for our January cruise on Connie having booked the five night package! Future reviews could make very interesting reading.

[jagoffee]

I can see this is going to be chaos to say the least ! Why Celebrity don't get their act together before pushing this I don't know. Can't wait for our January cruise on Connie having booked the five night package! Future reviews could make very interesting reading.

 

How is Celebrity pushing or marketing this. I am not sure that it even has been introduced. (The longer ones)

[lovescarborough]

The new packages appear on the website when you look at dining options relating to booked cruises. We have 9 , 12 and 14 night cruises booked and it appears on all of them.

[lysolqn]

The new packages appear on the website when you look at dining options relating to booked cruises. We have 9 , 12 and 14 night cruises booked and it appears on all of them.

 

Leaving on 14-night Eclipse next week and the only specialty dining options available under Manage Your Reservations dining options are 3- and 5-night packages. Hoping the new packages will be offered onboard.

Edited November 20, 2016 by lysolqn

[terigo]

Leaving on 14-night Eclipse next week and the only specialty dining options available under Manage Your Reservations dining options are 3- and 5-night packages. Hoping the new packages will be offered onboard.

 

That's odd...we have a 14 nighter on the Eclipse for February, and we were able to book an 11 night package. The 12, 13, and 14 night package were also offered, but we figured 3 nights in the MDR would be fine.

[jagoffee]

The new packages appear on the website when you look at dining options relating to booked cruises. We have 9 , 12 and 14 night cruises booked and it appears on all of them.

 

I certainly understand that it is being offered on some cruises, but as far as I know it has not be announced, advertised, or marketed. I do agree that it is odd to offer something without announcing it, but I would not say Celebrity is pushing it. Perhaps they are trying to get their act together before they announce or push it? Or perhaps the website is ahead of the introduction?

 

It does generally seem like a good Celebrity idea depending on the details. It will certainly lead to more business in the specialty restaurants which IMO are overpriced compared to the competition. The new program might be a way to decrease the average price while increasing the numbers of customers. Another way to increase the spending per passenger like the BBB pricing.

[roberts2005]

Any recent experiences on these packages. If you choose a 12 night package, did you have any issue getting reservations?

 

Was the ultimate dining package still available?

 

Any comments would be appreciated

[hcat]

Clever way to fill the Specialty venues... the multi day plans show how poor things are in the MDR, generally...even in BLU some nights...Wish they work on improvements there...

[roberts2005]

Really considering, but want to know if I will have trouble making reservations.

[cruise47]

How can you find this package deal on Celebrity website or where can you find the correct information ?

[ISABELLA]

Clever way to fill the Specialty venues... the multi day plans show how poor things are in the MDR, generally...even in BLU some nights...Wish they work on improvements there...

 

I hope they improve BLU, charging so much more for AQ vs regular balcony, it is no longer worth the price of admission.

[Sherman78]

DH and I purchased a 5 dinner specialty package for our cruise on the Equinox Jan. 20-30, 2017. We boarded about 11:30 and the first thing we did was make reservations for the specialty restaurants. With the package we could make reservations at any of the specialty restaurants (Murano, Tuscan and Silk Harvest) and had no problem getting the times we wanted.

 

I don't know if anyone boarding later had problems although I did hear later in the week Murano was booked, I suspect they fill up first.

 

We ate 2 nights in Murano, 2 in Tuscan and 1 in Silk Harvest and enjoyed all of them. All 3 restaurants were busy the nights we were in them.

[Alsmez]

I just checked the website and this is their description of the new packages: "Experience as many specialty restaurants as your appetite desires and enjoy up to 45% savings when you purchase our Specialty Dining Packages for your vacation. Take a culinary journey in Qsine, experience impeccable service and world-class cuisine at Murano or savor our classic Italian flavors in Tuscan Grill. Book different restaurants for lunch and dinner, or revisit your favorite restaurant over and over again… the choice is yours. Our distinctive specialty restaurants selection varies by ship."

 

According to other cruisers, they have eliminated the Ultimate Dining Package in favor of these new packages. This is a major bummer for us - we loved the UDP and having the Porch available for lunch. I'm guessing that the UDP was losing money, though, especially since Sushi on 5 is now part of the lunch line-up. The fact that you can use these new dinner packages at lunch is nice, but the package prices per meal are more than the regular price of the Porch, so it doesn't really make sense to use the package at lunch (unless one of the more expensive restaurants is open for a special sea day lunch, etc.).

[BEAV]

We'll be on a 14 night Transatlantic and plan to purchase a 7 or 8 night package. Would prefer to wait and buy on board with OBC. From our previous experiences on Transatlantics they have a tough time filling specialty restaurants on longer sailings. Has anyone observed =X= offering these packages to buy on board?

[roberts2005]

We'll be on a 14 night Transatlantic and plan to purchase a 7 or 8 night package. Would prefer to wait and buy on board with OBC. From our previous experiences on Transatlantics they have a tough time filling specialty restaurants on longer sailings. Has anyone observed =X= offering these packages to buy on board?

 

Would like to know answer as well

[lovescarborough]

We'll be on a 14 night Transatlantic and plan to purchase a 7 or 8 night package. Would prefer to wait and buy on board with OBC. From our previous experiences on Transatlantics they have a tough time filling specialty restaurants on longer sailings. Has anyone observed =X= offering these packages to buy on board?

 

Yes they are offered as you board. It isn't a package as such you just book however many nights you want and book the times you want to eat. I didn't see them being offered after boarding but I would assume it was possible to book them at any speciality restaurant. You can of course buy before the cruise but then you wouldn't be able to use up the OBC. We also changed our reservations after our first couple of dinners as we preferred Ocean Liners to Tuscan Grille. Even with these reduced prices the venues were never full.

[BEAV]

Yes they are offered as you board. It isn't a package as such you just book however many nights you want and book the times you want to eat. I didn't see them being offered after boarding but I would assume it was possible to book them at any speciality restaurant. You can of course buy before the cruise but then you wouldn't be able to use up the OBC. We also changed our reservations after our first couple of dinners as we preferred Ocean Liners to Tuscan Grille. Even with these reduced prices the venues were never full.

 

Thanks, but for clarification are they selling on board at the same discounted "package" price they sell for pre-cruise on the website?

[lovescarborough]

Thanks, but for clarification are they selling on board at the same discounted "package" price they sell for pre-cruise on the website?

 

As we prepaid for ours in UK we were charged in pounds sterling and onboard is in dollars so I can't answer this but I'm sure someone in US can !

[[g]cruiserke]

Thanks, but for clarification are they selling on board at the same discounted "package" price they sell for pre-cruise on the website?

 

Bumping this thread as there hasn't been an answer yet whether you can buy the multi-day specialty dining packages onboard with the same (or similar) discounts as pre-ordering the packages.