Discounts in Specialty restaurants?

[Ggrun5673]

This will be our first Celebrity cruise (April 5th on Silhouette) and have a couple questions.  Are discounts ever given out once you are on board for the specialty restaurants?

We have seen discounts for the first night, but are more interested in doing a couple later on in the cruise.  We are particularly interested in Murano and Lawn Grill, since my husband loves a good steak.  Also, can you get a table for 2 at these or is it all group seating?  My other question pertains to movies.  Do they show current movies in the evenings if you don't do the live shows?  I understand there is an inside movie theatre but don't know how often they show them.  (My hubby loved the nightly movies under the stars on Princess ships)  We are excited to sail on Celebrity and are looking forward to seeing the ABC islands since we love to snorkel!

[cruiserchuck]

Yes, they often give discounts on speciality dining on other days.  There are tables for 2 available in most if not all speciality restaurants. 

[Beachlover1989]

Quick observation that I would love to know if anyone else has experienced...When on a Caribbean cruise, it seemed as if we couldn't get away from almost being berated to book a specialty restaurant once on the ship (at a discount) - in the buffet, main dining room, even Luminae.  However, when we were sailing on much different itineraries (for example, NZ and Panama Canal), we hardly heard a peep from anyone.  Has anyone else observed this?

 

We're going on the Iberian Peninsula cruise in September (which I think happens once a year) and are wondering what the experience will be - should be buy a dining package, or just wait until we're onboard and they're offering dinners at a discount?

Edited March 25, 2019 by Beachlover1989

[Jim_Iain]

8 minutes ago, Beachlover1989 said:

Quick observation that I would love to know if anyone else has experienced...When on a Caribbean cruise, it seemed as if we couldn't get away from almost being berated to book a specialty restaurant once on the ship (at a discount) - in the buffet, main dining room, even Luminae.  However, when we were sailing on much different itineraries (for example, NZ and Panama Canal), we hardly heard a peep from anyone.  Has anyone else observed this?

 

We're going on the Iberian Peninsula cruise in September (which I think happens once a year) and are wondering what the experience will be - should be buy a dining package, or just wait until we're onboard and they're offering dinners at a discount?

You can never tell.   Each cruise is so different.   I have been on Spain and Med cruises where the specialties have been heavily booked and others that they were constantly trying to upsell.  

 

One thing that I find as a general rule is that the European Cruises attract a lot of people that are Late diners.  I was on a Westbound TA in October out of Southampton and bookings must have really been bad as they were aggressively discounting the specialties. 

[jkgourmet]

Our last two cruises were on full sailings.  The ONLY discounts on specialty restaurants were first night and Qsine.  We asked - several times and several different staff members.   On prior cruises that were not sold out, discounts were offered frequently.

 

I suspect there's little way to predict.  We just buy the 3night package ahead of time now, and get our discount that way.

Edited March 25, 2019 by jkgourmet

[kenevenpar]

We have a simple rule; no discount, no reservation.  Of course that means there are cruises we do not eat in a specialty.

[TFLG]

13 minutes ago, kenevenpar said:

We have a simple rule; no discount, no reservation.  Of course that means there are cruises we do not eat in a specialty.

 

I have pretty much the same rule. If I don't get a discount I don't book.  On the plus side, I've never not gotten a discount when I asked for one.  I always start by offering 50% and they typically come back with 25% off and most times we settle at 30-35% off.

[justcrusn]

You can, in effect get a discount NOW by booking a package. 4 nights for $149 is 37.25. Different number of dinners have slightly more or less discount. Its not currently showing but at one time the 8 and 10 dinner package were the same price so 10 dinners worked out to $26.50 a dinner. Watch for sales in your cruise planner! 

 

in our experience Murano is the hardest to get a discount and quisine and Tuscan were the easiest. Now with LPC that may or may not be true anymore.

And 30% was the most common discount offered.

[yorky]

The easy answer is no one can be sure if discounts will be available throughout the cruise because every cruise is different. Murano is without doubt the most popular restaurant and there are certainly cruises that discounts are not available for the restaurant at times. If you want to be sure book a speciality dining package in advance. We have just booked a six night package for our cruise in September which works out at £26pp per meal. I know from experience we will save very little if anything on that price if we wait given most of those meals will be in Murano so our view is why would we wait.

[Beachlover1989]

Thanks everyone!

[kentlady]

Having just returned from the Reflection during our Caribbean sailing every day the speciality restaurant staff were outside the ocean view with offers for that night. We took advantage of the two for one offer at the lawn club but I can honestly say I wish we had dined in Opus instead the waiter was lovely but the steak was tasteless and tough and even though we had a drinks package they were very sparing with the wine.

[Chardonnay Char]

I would not bet on a Murano discount, unless it was the first night.  I did however, recently see a 30 percent mid-week offer for Silk Harvest on Equinox. 

[Redtravel]

It depends on the bookings. On Reflection in January, got 50% off on most days.  

[yorky]

On 3/25/2019 at 11:10 PM, Redtravel said:

It depends on the bookings. On Reflection in January, got 50% off on most days.  

And that’s why it’s a lottery. On our last cruise Murano was never more than 30% off after the first night with no discounts at all half way through the cruise.

[jkgourmet]

Just now, yorky said:

And that’s why it’s a lottery. On our last cruise Murano was never more than 30% off after the first night with no discounts at all half way through the cruise.

 

I guess we're unlucky with that lottery.  See post #5