Specialty dining overbooked

[coffeegirl35]

My husband and I are booked on the Edge for the New Years Eve sailing 2018.  In March of this year I booked our specialty dining and reserved the times and restaurants we wanted.  This past week I got a call from Celebrity telling me they had overbooked the restaurant (Fine Cut) and that I would have to choose another day to eat at the restaurant (originally chosen the 3rd January).  I asked what was available and all they had was January  5th (the day before we are to disembark!!).  I thought booking the restaurants so early in advance would ensure that I got my preferred time and dates for the restaurants I had selected??  Has this happened to anyone else on this sailing?  

[hcat]

Wow... That's very discouraging!  Hope this is not a trend.....

 

Did you ask how you were chosen to lose your res?  Is there a group on board who wanted the spaces?

 

Surely,  they should find space for you on a more convenient date...esp if you book and pre paid so long ago...

[coffeegirl35]

17 minutes ago, hcat said:

Wow... That's very discouraging!  Hope this is not a trend.....

 

Did you ask how you were chosen to lose your res?  Is there a group on board who wanted the spaces?

 

Surely,  they should find space for you on a more convenient date...esp if you book and pre paid so long ago...

I was told that they took the last booked people (meaning there must have  been people booking before me) and I got bumped - I thought this was a little odd as I booked as soon as I could?  If anyone else booked the restaurant after my date apparently they were bumped out too?  All seems a little fishy to me 🙂 

[hcat]

I would take  the new res but investigate further immediately once on board in hopes of getting a better date/ time.. and bring all paperwork ...

 

Hopefully it will work out..We are booked in Fine Cut and would hate to be bumped or moved from our pre paid res slot!  Good luck..

[Getty123]

10 hours ago, coffeegirl35 said:

My husband and I are booked on the Edge for the New Years Eve sailing 2018.  In March of this year I booked our specialty dining and reserved the times and restaurants we wanted.  This past week I got a call from Celebrity telling me they had overbooked the restaurant (Fine Cut) and that I would have to choose another day to eat at the restaurant (originally chosen the 3rd January).  I asked what was available and all they had was January  5th (the day before we are to disembark!!).  I thought booking the restaurants so early in advance would ensure that I got my preferred time and dates for the restaurants I had selected??  Has this happened to anyone else on this sailing?  

Will see you for New Years as well

i am not reserving anything and will play it by ear. I never heard of so much needed reservations on a cruise 

 

thanks jc 

[Bo1953]

2 hours ago, Getty123 said:

Will see you for New Years as well

i am not reserving anything and will play it by ear. I never heard of so much needed reservations on a cruise 

 

thanks jc 

New ship, Holiday Sailing... etc..

 

bon voyage

[hcat]

2 hours ago, Getty123 said:

Will see you for New Years as well

i am not reserving anything and will play it by ear. I never heard of so much needed reservations on a cruise 

 

thanks jc 

 

That's what we disliked about cruising on Oasis of the Seas...Many events and dining needed to have a pre booked res  reservation and even so there were lines for various events..  At least EDGE does not have that for the shows...except the EDEN dinner..

 

 

 

 

 

 

[vtcruising]

Sorry about your cancellation! Hopefully it won't be the usual and is because of the holiday that this overbooking was done, as Bo mentioned.

 

I would head to the specialty dining table (outside the buffet) as soon as you board (and you should board early, if you can). They leave slots for the dining packages for all dates/times and you may be able to switch the Jan 5 date to Jan 3 once onboard. I switched some dates as soon as I boarded last fall and was able to get reasonable times (I think I was the first one to the specialty dining booth) - friends we met on the cruise were unable to get reservations to some places later in the cruise so they can sell out.  Good luck, but if you can't change, enjoy the FCSH on the last night of the cruise - what a great way to end it!! 😊

[hcat]

Good advice!

I would love to know if it was a computer issue that allowed booking to exceed capacity.,.or a group issue..or maybe they  ended up with fewer seats/ tables than the orig projections...or ?????

 

But I do hope it works out well for OP...enjoy your cruise!

[TeeRick]

14 hours ago, coffeegirl35 said:

I was told that they took the last booked people (meaning there must have  been people booking before me) and I got bumped - I thought this was a little odd as I booked as soon as I could?  If anyone else booked the restaurant after my date apparently they were bumped out too?  All seems a little fishy to me 🙂 

You might take this info on board and argue with Guest Services that you want a discount on the new reservation since after all it was their fault!

[coffeegirl35]

4 hours ago, Getty123 said:

Will see you for New Years as well

i am not reserving anything and will play it by ear. I never heard of so much needed reservations on a cruise 

 

thanks jc 

Enjoy the cruise maybe we will bump into each other 🙂 

[Bo1953]

1 hour ago, vtcruising said:

Sorry about your cancellation! Hopefully it won't be the usual and is because of the holiday that this overbooking was done, as Bo mentioned.

 

I would head to the specialty dining table (outside the buffet) as soon as you board (and you should board early, if you can). They leave slots for the dining packages for all dates/times and you may be able to switch the Jan 5 date to Jan 3 once onboard. I switched some dates as soon as I boarded last fall and was able to get reasonable times (I think I was the first one to the specialty dining booth) - friends we met on the cruise were unable to get reservations to some places later in the cruise so they can sell out.  Good luck, but if you can't change, enjoy the FCSH on the last night of the cruise - what a great way to end it!! 😊

 

I think that would be a great idea, as we try to hit Murano on S Class either 2nd night or last night... makes for a wonderful beginning or ending, pending on how one views it and desires...

 

Bon appetite and bon voyage

[coffeegirl35]

15 hours ago, hcat said:

Wow... That's very discouraging!  Hope this is not a trend.....

 

Did you ask how you were chosen to lose your res?  Is there a group on board who wanted the spaces?

 

Surely,  they should find space for you on a more convenient date...esp if you book and pre paid so long ago...

They just said it was a computer glitch and too many people booked at the same time and I apparently got bumped.  Just wondering if this happened to anyone else - It's not the end of the world ( I suppose lol).  

[coffeegirl35]

Just now, Bo1953 said:

 

I think that would be a great idea, as we try to hit Murano on S Class either 2nd night or last night... makes for a wonderful beginning or ending, pending on how one views it and desires...

 

Bon appetite and bon voyage

I didn't think of it like that but now you mention it - what a great way to end the cruise 🙂  

[Getty123]

6 hours ago, hcat said:

 

That's what we disliked about cruising on Oasis of the Seas...Many events and dining needed to have a pre booked res  reservation and even so there were lines for various events..  At least EDGE does not have that for the shows...except the EDEN dinner..

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yes, but this is a smaller ship and operating under a different concept.

[hcat]

1 minute ago, Getty123 said:

Yes, but this is a smaller ship and operating under a different concept.

Different yes,  but  still requires making  various  res ahead of time to get dates and times one prefers.

 

We booked our MDR and Specialty Dining  res months ago for our Nov 2019 cruise.... 

 

Same with our Specialty dining for Jan..although our dinner restaurant will be BLU...

 

[kkmiausa]

I am disappointed I could not book the same specialty restaurant for another night. There is only one that really appeals to me because I only eat seafood and the Steak House would be my main choice due to the seafood items. Could only get it once.

[Getty123]

Don’t be disappointed as you will be able to book when you arrive. Trust me and this is is not an oasis class ship.

 

i think the line creates this excitement so people would book.

 

 Thanks jc 

 

[kkmiausa]

Thank you but I went ahead and just booked each one individually and did not buy the package of 5. We really only need 4 at best so this way was able to reserve nights we wanted for Eden, Steakhouse twice and Petite Chef and left open the first and last nights for free dining. Cost very little since we had the shipboard credit to do it and would rather be sure.  I haven't cruised Celebrity in over 10 years and on other lines I cruise pre reservations are not necessary.  Hope some of you will be on the January 27 sailing!

 

[TeeRick]

I am approaching this a bit differently.  I have not pre-booked any Specialty Dining or packages.  I will mostly dine in Luminae and wait for the early reviews prior to my Jan 20 cruise to see what else I might like.  I am intrigued by the 4 MDR choices too.  Maybe I will sneak in a Specialty but 7 days is very limited on what you can try.  I am not excited (yet) about dining in Eden or on the Magic Carpet.  So I'm just not getting anxious about any of this dining stuff and throwing money at Celebrity just to be the first to dine at a venue.  It will all work out and I am almost certain I will have excellent food and service no matter where I dine on Edge.

[C-Dragons]

1 hour ago, TeeRick said:

I am approaching this a bit differently.  I have not pre-booked any Specialty Dining or packages.  I will mostly dine in Luminae and wait for the early reviews prior to my Jan 20 cruise to see what else I might like.  I am intrigued by the 4 MDR choices too.  Maybe I will sneak in a Specialty but 7 days is very limited on what you can try.  I am not excited (yet) about dining in Eden or on the Magic Carpet.  So I'm just not getting anxious about any of this dining stuff and throwing money at Celebrity just to be the first to dine at a venue.  It will all work out and I am almost certain I will have excellent food and service no matter where I dine on Edge.

Well said! We are not eating in any Specialty restaurants on our 7 day Edge cruise either. We have, however, booked a 3 night dining package for our 15 day TA on the Edge. More time to explore and enjoy different dining options then. 

[hcat]

We will have BLU for our 7 day cruise. We also  booked Fine Cut Steak and the Rooftop Grill...and will see if anything else interests us, more likely for lunch...the Cafe and the seafood place.

 

For our longer cruise we booked ahead for 2 nights in each MDR and 1 night at the Rooftop,,

 

Seems there are many options...hope we do not get bumped as dh took great care in setting up the res schedule!