Dining package.. Day one?

[Krydstosser]

Hey Guys

 

We are newbies at Celebrity (Reflection)

 

We would order a 6 night Speciality dining package on cruise planner, but we are forced to select day one for dinner in specialty restaurant? Day one was fixed, only the time schedule was open for choices.

 

We prefer to eat in the main dining restaurant the first evening.

 

Should we wait and order the package on the ship instead or do we have other options?

 

Soeren

From Denmark so don't mind the spelling :)

[Tiggertastic]

Part of the requirement of the package is that day 1 is included. They discount day 1 so that may have something to do with it. We’ve booked our package onboard before but only a 3. I am sure someone will come along and let you know if it’s possible to move day 1 once onboard.

 

 

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[Pavovsky]

Hey Guys

 

We are newbies at Celebrity (Reflection)

 

We would order a 6 night Speciality dining package on cruise planner, but we are forced to select day one for dinner in specialty restaurant? Day one was fixed, only the time schedule was open for choices.

 

We prefer to eat in the main dining restaurant the first evening.

 

Should we wait and order the package on the ship instead or do we have other options?

 

Soeren

From Denmark so don't mind the spelling :)

 

 

Perhaps go to the Maitre d’ when you get on board and ask can you change. At that stage you can also book all your nights - useful to have an indication of what nights and the time and be prepared to be flexible. Have an open mind - if it works it works if no then ok. Personally we thought a night one meal in Murano was the perfect start to our recent cruise.

 

The speciality restaurants are on deck 5. That area is our favourite on Reflection. Ensemble bar usually has great music and has a completely different vibe to the other bars.

 

Also, if you really want the speciality dining packages it is best to book ahead. I have read here that sometimes they are booked out and not available on board.

 

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[fizzy1]

Perhaps go to the Maitre d’ when you get on board and ask can you change. At that stage you can also book all your nights - useful to have an indication of what nights and the time and be prepared to be flexible. Have an open mind - if it works it works if no then ok. Personally we thought a night one meal in Murano was the perfect start to our recent cruise.

 

The speciality restaurants are on deck 5. That area is our favourite on Reflection. Ensemble bar usually has great music and has a completely different vibe to the other bars.

 

Also, if you really want the speciality dining packages it is best to book ahead. I have read here that sometimes they are booked out and not available on board.

 

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That is correct , you do not have to eat in the speciality restaurants in the first evening. Just tell them this when you board the ship. There are stations outside all the speciality restaurants and also the buffet restaurant . Just say you would like to eat in the MD first night and have ready when you want to eat in the speciality restaurants

 

 

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[Krydstosser]

Thanks... The ship is choosing which restaurant it will be on the first night then?

 

If so I find that weird...

 

Soeren

[Krydstosser]

That is correct , you do not have to eat in the speciality restaurants in the first evening. Just tell them this when you board the ship. There are stations outside all the speciality restaurants and also the buffet restaurant . Just say you would like to eat in the MD first night and have ready when you want to eat in the speciality restaurants

 

 

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Thanks...

 

Soeren

[Pavovsky]

Thanks... The ship is choosing which restaurant it will be on the first night then?

 

If so I find that weird...

 

Soeren

 

 

 

We got to choose where. Strongly recommend Murano.... but that comes down to taste.

 

 

 

 

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[mmsJack]

Yes - agree with everyone else, when you purchase the specialty package the cruise planner makes (or used to) you select either the first or second night. On our last Reflection cruise it only let you book at Tuscan Grill - but maybe that's changed? This is 'sort of' like a place holder but the reso can be changed day of departure.

 

In addition to the specialty restaurants and outside the Oceanview Cafe (buffet area, Lido deck 14, entrances by elevators) another post suggested you could make/change specialty dining reso's prior to boarding in the check in area too?

 

Also suggest making ALL your specialty reservations as soon as possible since the most desirable times fill up quickly and reservations can always be changed later. My uber-planner daughter looked at the MDR menus (they seem reasonably similar sailing to sailing - available on many helpful posts around here) and laid out our dinner plans so we knew which days/times we hoped to make specialty restaurant reservations. I'm a little more go with the flow but was happy to have her do the work! ;)

 

We loved the first night menu in the MDR - prob the best meal there we had the whole cruise. We do like specialty rest for the last night when the menu in the MDR is (for us anyway) the worst with 'franks and beans' as one entree option (hot dogs with baked beans.) While we loved our MDR service team so much we wanted to have the last dinner with them, the menu was just really sad. We stopped in to the MDR to say our good buys then ended up at Sushi on 5 which was perfect with some lighter meal options. (We were pretty food-ed out by the last night...) We had already used our dining package by then but So5 was basically empty so we negotiated a really great discount.

 

(Disclosure - Sushi on 5: Not sure where you're from in Denmark but no where is that far from water so perhaps best to temper your expectations on the 'sushi' part of Sushi on 5. Great food for what it is BUT it is what it is...) So5 had a great beer list too!

 

Hope you have a truly fabulous trip Soeren!!!

[fizzy1]

Thanks... The ship is choosing which restaurant it will be on the first night then?

 

If so I find that weird...

 

Soeren

 

 

 

Its just so they can even out all the restaurants and they need to put you in somewhere. All this is changeable. We are on Silhouette in Sep and have booked an 8 day package. There are two specialty rest. we don’t want so we will change them if we get allocated either of them on the first night

 

 

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[ATL123456]

Couple of random questions about specialty dining packages.

- Do the staff members get credit for the sale if you wait to buy on board?

- Do you have to plan all nights of the package 1st day when you board?

- I am not a planner and like to be flexible. Anyone had luck making each reservation on each day? I usually like to eat late after the main rush toward the last possible seating.

[mmsJack]

Couple of random questions about specialty dining packages.

- Do the staff members get credit for the sale if you wait to buy on board?

- Do you have to plan all nights of the package 1st day when you board?

- I am not a planner and like to be flexible. Anyone had luck making each reservation on each day? I usually like to eat late after the main rush toward the last possible seating.

 

Well - We did book all of our specialty dining at once but waited to do so until the second day. By then many of our *first* choice options (and a lot of our second choices) were already booked and Murano was all but impossible to get.

 

We found though that if we checked back whenever we had a minute things did open up. We were pretty flexible and liked eating later too so eventually getting reso's that worked for us wasn't a problem (and we were an odd group of 5.) We usually just checked when we passed the kiosk by entrance to Oceanview Cafe since it was a pretty convenient spot that we passed often.

 

For Murano - if you can't get anything you may swing by the restaurant and speak to them directly. We had the best luck when we went down and spoke to them personally.

 

Can't speak to your question about who gets credit if you book on board.