Specialty Dining Package - purchased on board

[mmsJack]

Hi Everyone,

 

I've read that it's best to purchase our dining package in advance of our sailing via our cruise planner because they only sell a limited number of each package and they can sell out. This is exactly what we did on our last cruise and it worked great.

 

On our December Silhouette sailing we want to use obc to buy our packages however all of our (fairly significant) obc will be coming from our TA not as a Celebrity perk like last time. We understand that the TA obcc won't be available to us until we get on board. (Feel free to correct me if I've got this wrong...?)

 

Our worry is that the Dining package we want (4 nights) will sell out prior to our sailing. Does anyone have any experience with how likely this is to happen? Since we booked our packages last time in advance using CL obc I didn't pay attention to whether or not most dining packages were still available on our day of departure or not...

 

I may be asking for y'all to look into your crystal ball but maybe there have been some statistics on this somewhere? We can buy the package outright of course so we get the great deal. I'm sure we'll find a way put the obc to good use somehow... :confused: But there are 5 of us and using the obc would be ideal.

 

Danke Cruisers :cool:!

[jelayne]

I have no idea if packages will sell out as we rarely buy them but when we do we buy pre-cruise as the packages offer a good discount.

 

Although you can’t use the OBC from the TA pre-cruise if you don’t spend it the balance will be refunded to your credit card. So ultimately the credit could offset what you paid upfront.

[mmsJack]

Brilliant Jelayne! Thanks for the cruise wisdom...

[TeachKinde]

I seem to remember from my last few cruises that the fine dining restaurants were actually offering discounts to fill the rooms. I remember staff members coming around to encourage folks to take advantage of discounts. I have to say that we never investigated to see if it was a good deal or not. Maybe someone else has more wisdom.

[NantahalaCruiser]

OP - Check with your TA. Generally the OBC from a TA is fully refundable - if you do not use it, then it goes back as a credit on your credit card of record. If your TA confirms that it is refundable, then I would recommend you purchase the package in advance with your own funds (to make sure you get the package) and then post cruise reimburse yourself with the credited unused refundable OBC.

 

By the way, you will find that the 4-dinner package is preferred since it has a lower cost per dinner than the 3, 5 and 6 dinner packages. If you were planning on only getting the 3-dinner package, note that the 4th dinner only costs an additional $16 per person!

 

Enjoy.