Pre Cruise Specialty Restaurant Bookings

[Viveash]

We are staying in a celebrity suite on an upcoming Solstice cruise and purchased a 5 nights specialty dining package. 

I emailed the Retreat Suite Concierge and requested bookings to be made on specific nights.

Their response was that specialty restaurant bookings with the package must be secured once onboard.

I seem to recall speaking with guests on earlier cruises, who said they were able to make pre cruise bookings.

I was just wondering if anyone has had any experience in this particular regard and whether they were able to make pre cruise specialty restaurant bookings.

[CaroleSS]

Those not staying in suites can not make reservations prior to boarding. We have never sailed in a suite, so those rules might be different. But, given that you contacted the Concierge and they said you can only do that once you board, I'd guess you will have to wait to make reservations.

 

Our experience has been that the savings from the package is "reduced" by the stress of having to rush to make reservations and sometimes not getting put preferred dining times. You might do the math and see what your savings is compared to just buying them outright....when you can pick a time.

[leaveitallbehind]

We have always had to make our reservations on board.  Dining packages have not had the ability to be booked in advance in our experience, with the exception of the usual day one or two placeholder reservation for the first restaurant.  We have just met with any of the specialty restaurants maître d's after we board and they have been able to make all of our reservations then, including rearranging the first restaurant placeholder.  Takes about 10-15 minutes and is very easy.   The Concierge can also assist but they will be doing the same as you in contacting the maître d's and we have always found it easier to do it with them in person versus through a third person.

Edited June 3 by leaveitallbehind

[KKB]

8 hours ago, Viveash said:

We are staying in a celebrity suite on an upcoming Solstice cruise and purchased a 5 nights specialty dining package. 

I emailed the Retreat Suite Concierge and requested bookings to be made on specific nights.

Their response was that specialty restaurant bookings with the package must be secured once onboard.

I seem to recall speaking with guests on earlier cruises, who said they were able to make pre cruise bookings.

I was just wondering if anyone has had any experience in this particular regard and whether they were able to make pre cruise specialty restaurant bookings.

Dining packages can only book once onboard, as stated in the description

From the website:

"Purchasing this package secures the package price, but the restaurant reservation time and venue must be made onboard"

This is one reason we don't do dining packages, for fear we will get times we don't want or unable to get all the restaurants we want.

Even suite guests must wait, as the concierge stated.

If you bought meals individually, THESE may be booked ahead of time.

I suppose they figure u must pay more to book ahead.

Edited June 3 by KKB

[leaveitallbehind]

14 minutes ago, KKB said:

Dining packages can only book once onboard, as stated in the description

From the website:

"Purchasing this package secures the package price, but the restaurant reservation time and venue must be made onboard"

This is one reason we don't do dining packages, for fear we will get times we don't want or unable to get all the restaurants we want.

Even suite guests must wait, as the concierge stated.

If you bought meals individually, THESE may be booked ahead of time.

I suppose they figure u must pay more to book ahead.

IMO it is because you can't book dining packages in advance that there are always available times at any given restaurant on any given day, even with the individually purchased specialty restaurant reservations which can be made in advance.  They usually discount the individual restaurants prices with pre cruise bookings, but I don't think the number of these purchased in advance is significant relative to the number of restaurants, dining times available, their capacity, and total days available.

 

We have bought different dining packages on just about every cruise for a number of years and have not had any issues with on board reservations.  We just do it shortly after we board. I would not hesitate to buy a dining package out of concerns for on board reservations.

Edited June 3 by leaveitallbehind

[KKB]

13 minutes ago, leaveitallbehind said:

IMO it is because you can't book dining packages in advance that there are always available times at any given restaurant on any given day, even with the individually purchased specialty restaurant reservations which can be made in advance.  They usually discount the individual restaurants prices with pre cruise bookings, but I don't think the number of these purchased in advance is significant relative to the number of restaurants, dining times available, their capacity, and total days available.

 

We have bought different dining packages on just about every cruise for a number of years and have not had any issues with on board reservations.  We just do it shortly after we board. I would not hesitate to buy a dining package out of concerns for on board reservations.

We had no issues on the Equinox, but have seen people frustrated on Eclass ships (have done 5 sailings the last 3 years of Eclass) with the inability to get reservations when/where they wanted.

[leaveitallbehind]

54 minutes ago, KKB said:

We had no issues on the Equinox, but have seen people frustrated on Eclass ships (have done 5 sailings the last 3 years of Eclass) with the inability to get reservations when/where they wanted.

Have not sailed that class yet so I guess I should have added that caveat.  Hopefully they will work that out.

[KKB]

10 minutes ago, leaveitallbehind said:

Have not sailed that class yet so I guess I should have added that caveat.  Hopefully they will work that out.

The “problem” is the VERY good specialty dining. 
Eden is AMAZING (have done it on all but Ascent) & Le Voyage on Beyond (& Ascent) also fantastic!

We did Petite & Roofop on Equinox, they were fine. But I’ve heard rooftop on Eclass is Very good too!

Plus Chefs Table (AMAZING), dinner on the Edge (more experience than memorable food…not that exciting for me)

Thing is, MDR is terrific on Eclass too!! We have a hard time justifying eating specialty dining…but it’s SO good, we still usually do!!

[Viveash]

Thanks everyone for your helpful comments.

I will go ahead and make the reservations once onboard.

[hcat]

hope it works out.

 

We book ahead and pre pay.

It's .just easier that way. Not worth the cancel and re- book hassle onboard to get the E + Discount.

 

(We use our E+ Discount for one or two lunches in Specialty  rest.)

[ajtaylor29]

Interesting difference between RC and Celebrity (i'm just learning, we've got our first Celebrity cruise(s) booked next year after many on RC).

On RC, if we're staying in a suite, we will be contacted by the suite concierge about 1 week before sailing. They have always been happy to make reservations for us for all specialty dining, then sometimes we tweak it once on board.

We're in suite(s) on our B2B Celebrity cruises, so looking forward to Luminae. And, from the sounds of it the MDR is also good so i'm sure we'll try it out as well. But, since we're on board for 3 weeks, we definitely will want to purchase some specialty dining options, i have time to figure this out! I doubt we'll buy the dining package, maybe just a few nights on each leg.

Edited June 5 by ajtaylor29
forgot a line!