Specialty Dining - Booked up?

[Islander500]

Hi all, 

We recently booked a regular verandah stateroom for a January Equinox cruise with the intention of doing specialty dining 3 evenings during the 10 day cruise. So we found on the app that Murano is shows as completely booked all 10 nights.  Tuscan Grill has a few openings but not many.  
We have cruised on Celebrity many, many times (Elite Plus) and have never experienced that. Is that pretty typical these days? Just curious if they hold any openings for people to reserve after boarding?  In the past, we’ve always been able to book on-board.  

[jelayne]

Yes it is getting to be common that restaurants book up pre cruise.  They don’t release all reservations for pre booking, you can still book on board but you may have to be flexible with days and time.

 

We book pre cruise so that we can get the days and times we want. 

[volk904]

We sailed on the Connie in Nov.  There was no reservations available pre cruise but once on board they had spots to book. Just book when you get on board. 
 

[dock]

No spots for any Speciality Dining on our July 2023 cruise either so I’m hopeful we can get into at least one,especially since comments about food  on Celebrity have not been that complimentary. 

[jelayne]

16 minutes ago, dock said:

No spots for any Speciality Dining on our July 2023 cruise either so I’m hopeful we can get into at least one,especially since comments about food  on Celebrity have not been that complimentary. 

We have done 8 cruises since the restart and 95% of the meals have been excellent.  Yes a occasional miss but that happens at any restaurant.  We have cruised in Suites and on the S class ships we order from the MDR menu most nights.  Yes portions have gotten smaller but you can always order more.  Tonight I ordered the 4oz filet from the Kids menu.  The filet I got was closer to 6-7 oz and I ate about 1/2 of it, and it was xcellent.

[dock]

That’s great to hear. It’s been 2018  since our last cruise so I expect some changes. Every industry has been affected but some reviews have been rather dismal. 
Im on holiday and won’t have to cook so how bad could it be! That’s my approach ,but I’d still  like to try Murano and my boys Tuscan Grill .

 

Will try first thing on boarding. If not we will still have a great time. 

[cruisestitch]

In general, the ships are still shortstaffed. So they are not accepting as many reservations for specialty dining as they might have in the past.  

[Wookie01]

6 hours ago, dock said:

No spots for any Speciality Dining on our July 2023 cruise either so I’m hopeful we can get into at least one,especially since comments about food  on Celebrity have not been that complimentary. 

I don't understand why dining is booked out so early (7 months away) and yet for our December 2023 cruise we don't seem to be able to access dining reservations at all?
When I asked Celebrity about it they said that bookings should become available at 90 days from embarkation.

[cruisestitch]

December 2023 is probably too far in the future to be able to set dining reservations 

[Wookie01]

2 minutes ago, cruisestitch said:

December 2023 is probably too far in the future to be able to set dining reservations 

That was what I thought too, but am concerned that Celebrity told me 90 days prior, while others are reporting dining reservations full at the seven month point?

[20165]

5 hours ago, cruisestitch said:

In general, the ships are still shortstaffed. So they are not accepting as many reservations for specialty dining as they might have in the past.  

This is a very true statement.  When we were on silhouette last month and tried to get into Murano but was told it was full, although maybe half of the tables had people at them.  They said they did not have enough wait staff to completely fill the restaurant.  

[horseymike]

9 hours ago, dock said:

No spots for any Speciality Dining on our July 2023 cruise either so I’m hopeful we can get into at least one,especially since comments about food  on Celebrity have not been that complimentary. 

Hi Doc,

We cruised on the Equinox in November 2022 , we ate in the MDR every one of the 9 nights on the cruise . We found the food to be excellent. The service was even better.

Hope you have a great cruise.

[Oceangoer2]

8 hours ago, cruisestitch said:

In general, the ships are still shortstaffed. So they are not accepting as many reservations for specialty dining as they might have in the past.  

Just off the Equinox...booked first time available at Murano online months in advance for 6pm.  Restaurant was almost full at 6pm.  Apparently they opened reservations for onboard bookings at 5:30pm.  We didn't have the greatest table when we expected the room to be partially reserved.  Service was not good...I don't think they were able to handle a full restaurant with less staff.

[Pinboy]

( There will be backlash on this because I posted this " suggestion" in the past and was accused of " bribing ").

No need to stress yourself out by trying to book a Specialty restaurant prior to the cruise because they hold back prime times.

As soon as you get on board, go to the Specialty restaurants you want to book.

When the Maitre'd tells you " Sorry, that day/time is already booked "--- leave your cabin number and by your smile/body language he/she/them ( gotta be politically correct these days) will get the " message".

Within a short period you will receive a call that there was a cancellation and they are able to accommodate you.

Make sure to say thank you ($$ ) --- It works every ( most )time(s).

Whatever you do, don't say " thank you " with a fruitcake from home or even a key chain with " I love cruising" on it.

 

 

 

[2Long2NxtCrz]

This just seems to be more inconsistency from Celebrity. Our March 2024 Beyond cruise has had dining open to book for awhile now. I want to say at least a month? Maybe longer? I've booked Eden, Fine Cut, and RTG to make sure we get them (and I want to go to Eden on my birthday).

 

I am hoping that they do hold back some spots for booking once on board since I couldn't get anything on our December Beyond cruise, but it was very last minute. Still, if we have to eat in the MDRs I won't be disappointed as we almost always find something that's delicious.

[CHEZMARYLOU]

We were able to book a reservation on Beyond 2024 for Le Voyage.

[Bourbon77]

Ha! We just got off Beyond and the specialty restaurant situation was a disaster for many, many cruisers. We ate in Eden on Edge back in April with no problem, for this cruise it was absolutely impossible to get a reservation, even months in advance. We got the same BS story from Celebrity to not worry about it and book onboard, what a total lie! We’re glad we didn’t book a 4 night restaurant package. The manager of Eden told us we could waitlist but had close to zero chance of being accommodated. When I told him that suite guests online were bragging about booking multiple nights at Eden and effectively shutting out others he admitted that they have a huge problem with demand. We stopped by a couple of times at 6 or 7 PM and saw a sea of empty tables. He said staffing wasn’t the issue, it was a limited amount of “quality ingredients” for the meals, they could only serve 50-60 guests per night. Fine Cut wasn’t much better, they only had a couple of nights with 9:30 reservations available and had empty tables when we looked. What a mess, in 67 cruises we've never been shut out of specialty dining. Our status on Celebrity meant absolutely nothing, the Captains Club concierge wasn’t sympathetic, even though they know they have a problem. 

[cw2go]

16 minutes ago, Bourbon77 said:

Ha! We just got off Beyond and the specialty restaurant situation was a disaster for many, many cruisers. We ate in Eden on Edge back in April with no problem, for this cruise it was absolutely impossible to get a reservation, even months in advance. We got the same BS story from Celebrity to not worry about it and book onboard, what a total lie! We’re glad we didn’t book a 4 night restaurant package. The manager of Eden told us we could waitlist but had close to zero chance of being accommodated. When I told him that suite guests online were bragging about booking multiple nights at Eden and effectively shutting out others he admitted that they have a huge problem with demand. We stopped by a couple of times at 6 or 7 PM and saw a sea of empty tables. He said staffing wasn’t the issue, it was a limited amount of “quality ingredients” for the meals, they could only serve 50-60 guests per night. Fine Cut wasn’t much better, they only had a couple of nights with 9:30 reservations available and had empty tables when we looked. What a mess, in 67 cruises we've never been shut out of specialty dining. Our status on Celebrity meant absolutely nothing, the Captains Club concierge wasn’t sympathetic, even though they know they have a problem. 

 

Not sure where you saw this? Online here or elsewhere? 

 

I am not booked in a suite and have all of my specialty dining booked, well in advance. Cel status or stateroom category had zero effect, it was simply pre planning. 

 

Patty

Edited December 6, 2022 by cw2go

[Oceangoer2]

50 minutes ago, cw2go said:

 

Not sure where you saw this? Online here or elsewhere? 

 

I am not booked in a suite and have all of my specialty dining booked, well in advance. Cel status or stateroom category had zero effect, it was simply pre planning. 

 

Patty

I've been trying to book Nov. '23....not open as of today.  Pre planning is my forte so that has nothing to do with it.  Some ships seem accessible to book online, others not. 

[cw2go]

But you will be able to book and plan once available, the poster I quoted most likely could have as well. 

That's what I was meaning...

That post referenced bragging about bookings so it was available to them. 

 

What ship are you sailing that's not opening up dining? I have Apex Feb 2024 booked. 

 

Patty 

[cw2go]

17 minutes ago, Oceangoer2 said:

I've been trying to book Nov. '23....not open as of today.  Pre planning is my forte so that has nothing to do with it.  Some ships seem accessible to book online, others not. 

Oops meant to quote... sorry 

 

But you will be able to book and plan once available, the poster I quoted most likely could have as well. 

That's what I was meaning...

That post referenced bragging about bookings so it was available to them. 

 

What ship are you sailing that's not opening up dining? I have Apex Feb 2024 booked. 

 

Patty 

 

[cw2go]

20 minutes ago, Oceangoer2 said:

I've been trying to book Nov. '23....not open as of today.  Pre planning is my forte so that has nothing to do with it.  Some ships seem accessible to book online, others not. 

Also my point to that poster was it had nothing to do with how many sailings I had taken or stateroom category. I am not suggesting Cel isn't wonky with their reservation system but to assume it was anything other than pre planning wasn't very fair. I have the same chances of booking as anyone else. I wasn't implying people do or don't plan as well as myself or that Cel operates consistently. 

[RichYak]

1 hour ago, Bourbon77 said:

The manager of Eden told us we could waitlist but had close to zero chance of being accommodated.

You need to look at Maitre d's the way @Pinboy looks at Maitre d's.

[Islander500]

1 hour ago, cw2go said:

 

Not sure where you saw this? Online here or elsewhere? 

 

I am not booked in a suite and have all of my specialty dining booked, well in advance. Cel status or stateroom category had zero effect, it was simply pre planning. 

 

Patty

Appreciate that, Patty.  But not everyone is able to book a year in advance due to other obligations. At least for me, I was inquiring if the demand for specialty dining has increased exponentially since prior to last year (maybe before app), as we were always able to book on-board.   

 

If the way the system operates is now different, and/or the demand has increased, and/or the capacity is reduced, and/or all of the above, some of us weren't aware of that. 

 

Glad that you have been able to book all the specialty dining you desire because of your pre-planning.  Enjoy Beyond! 

 

  

 

     

[cw2go]

If you read above, I explained my post was in response to another poster who mentioned seeing bragging online. I did not say I planned a year in advance for all of my sailings. I also have Beyond booked for this Feb and yes they are all sold out. 

 

Simply was stating it took pre planning not that I have all of my meals pre planned for all of my sailings a year out. I also have other obligations. 

I don't have the answer to your question which is why I didn't respond to you.