Speciality Dining - do they tend to sell out pre-cruise

[MissisM]

Hi, we have booked our very first cruise for Sept 2025, on the Celebrity Ascent.  My Celebrity online account is currently showing 5% discount off some speciality dining options, but both Le Petit Chef and Dinner on The Edge are already sold out.  We intend to try the Rooftop Garden Grill one evening, so my question is would I need to book that around now, as much as a year in advance in case it gets sold out too?

 

Any advice from experienced celebrity passengers gratefully received.

 

Thankyou 

[leaveitallbehind]

We have never experienced specialty restaurants booking full pre cruise. We buy some degree or another of dining package for every cruise and (at least at present) they cannot be booked in advance - only single purchase restaurants.  We always, as a result, book on board with the maître d at any of the restaurants on the first day they book the entire week for us without any issues. In our experience there are always spots held open for on board bookings, so if you can't book in advance I wouldn't be concerned.

Edited August 27 by leaveitallbehind

[dreamer321]

I doubt "Dinner on the Edge" has been made available for booking yet nor do I think Le Petit Chef is sold out a year in advance.  I would wait until X offers a Flash Sale on your itinerary and book then.  Most likely there will be a good sale around Black Friday or Cyber Monday.  I'm sailing Apex in 60 days and all the specialty restaurants have at least some times still available.  Rooftop Garden Grill is mostly sold out on my cruise but that's because X has been discounting it so heavily for the last year.  There are still a few late reservation time slots available.  This also doesn't take into account time slots held back for bookings that can only be done on the ship.  Relax, you're worrying too much about this too early.

[MissisM]

Thank you Leaveitallbehind and dreamer321 for your helpful and reassuring replies, I will keep an eye out for the flash sales as you suggest and stay chilled about it till nearer the time 😁

[buchhalm]

On our last Celebrity cruise, Sydney to NZL, most speciality dining was completely full every day. Especially the little chef was booked solid, and there was a very long cancellation wait list. We only managed to get arable at that steak house (which was a big disappointment, with the "every day" steak in the MDR being better).

So for our upcoming Edge cruise in January,  I pre-booked two or three restaurants during their frequent "sales", with a laughable discount. But at least we had choice if venues and times. Incidentally, does anyone else find this unlimited speciality dining package to be $$$$$$$$$$$!?

[leaveitallbehind]

14 minutes ago, buchhalm said:

Incidentally, does anyone else find this unlimited speciality dining package to be $$$$$$$$$$$!?

On our must recent June cruise and our upcoming November cruise the package prices were only marginally attractive v the individual purchases, so we have elected to go individual for the flexibility of pre-reserving through the planner.  in general the non-UDP packages prices have been high but not outrageous, and haven't purchased the UDP recently for comparison.

Edited August 28 by leaveitallbehind

[MissisM]

19 hours ago, buchhalm said:

On our last Celebrity cruise, Sydney to NZL, most speciality dining was completely full every day. Especially the little chef was booked solid, and there was a very long cancellation wait list. We only managed to get arable at that steak house (which was a big disappointment, with the "every day" steak in the MDR being better).

So for our upcoming Edge cruise in January,  I pre-booked two or three restaurants during their frequent "sales", with a laughable discount. But at least we had choice if venues and times. Incidentally, does anyone else find this unlimited speciality dining package to be $$$$$$$$$$$!?

Thanks so much for your helpful reply 

[MississippiMom]

Does Celebrity offer on-board specialty discounts for that first cruise night dinner?  I know other cruiselines tend to do that.

[keesar]

On our cruise on Ascent,  we did book pre-cruise as there was a modest discount.  However, when we got onboard, discounts were ranging from 25% to 40% off.  My opinion was it was related to the increase in price and how good the food was in the MDR.  However, if you are celebrating a special event, book well in advance just in case.  

[hcat]

if you can book and prepay (incl grat) you can reserve the day and time you prefer  Otherwise they will have openings but quite possibly at times that are not ideal...

 

 

[CaroleSS]

Do the math!

 

We looked at the Unlimited Dining Package. You cannot make reservations until you are onboard. I stressed as I saw the only availability for dining at some venues was 8:30pm. I then researched what the price would be if we booked each individual restaurant at the time we wanted and did lunches when we were at sea (comparable with the UDP). The difference was surprisingly close! We ended up buying each place individually.

 

Now, we did take advantage of sales when they occurred, but those sales also included the UDP. For us......it's worth $10-15 to not have to board as quickly as possible and rush about so we can get our preferred dining time!

 

YMMV

[mrgabriel]

We were on Ascent last year for Christmas and it was impossible to get reservations in SD. Granted, she was a new ship and it was a holiday sailing. I was willing to pay full price but there was nothing except the odd 9:30 PM time available. If it's important to me (it was our anniversary), I'll now pay full price and book well in advance. 

[NMTraveller]

I think that it depends upon the time.  On our last cruise we booked well in advance at 05:30 and there were not many people until 6 PM.