Specialty Dining Package Questions

[big_schots]

Hello all.  We are currently booked on the Silhouette sailing March 2020. This will be our second Celebrity cruise, but it has been 17 years since our last on the Celebrity Mercury to Alaska.  We are primarily Princess and RCCL cruisers, but I have wanted to try Celebrity for the last few years.  I'm looking forward to trying the various specialty restaurants that is on the Silhouette. I do have a few questions regarding purchasing the multi-day specialty dining package, for those who are familiar with them.  One, is there any reason to hold off purchasing it now ?  Does Celebrity, like RCCL occasionally does, offer % off discounts, when purchased online before the cruise, on the dining packages ?   I know about the first night deals, but am not interested.  I'm looking at the 3-5 night packages.  If I do purchase the package, is there a way to reserve times at specific restaurants on specific nights, before boarding ?  Or, must I wait until I'm onboard to make the reservations ?  I see, on the website, that if I want to purchase a single night / single restaurant it will allow me to reserve the day/time for that restaurant, paying full price.  I also know that if the restaurant is slow, that onboard they do offer negotiable discounts.  I'm a planner, and if I can set "stuff" up ahead of time, it makes for more of a stress free trip for me.  Thanks to all who can reply.

[FlyingAnchor]

I've never purchased a multi-night dining package before, though we do often eat at specialty restaurants onboard. 

I did attempt to purchase a 3 night package for my EDGE cruise earlier this year. The reason we didn't is because after we attempted to buy the package there were no reservations available prior to boarding for us to use the package with. We ended up not buying the package and only dining at one specialty restaurant on that sailing. For me, the benefit was to buy the three dining sessions and preplan our dinners/experiences ahead of time. Once it wasn't available we decided to only plan for one specialty dining night during our cruise and we booked that onboard the first day. 

[tanzania2015]

We normally buy dinner packages of 5 to 9 night which gives the greatest discount. You can purchase it now and if a sale comes along, just cancel and rebook. I did the cancel and rebook on our cruise from Australia to Hawaii last April. You can only make reservations for the first night. I will head to one of the specialty restaurants as soon as I get aboard to make the additional reservations. I also have changed the first night reservation to a later date. 

[big_schots]

19 minutes ago, tanzania2015 said:

We normally buy dinner packages of 5 to 9 night which gives the greatest discount. You can purchase it now and if a sale comes along, just cancel and rebook. I did the cancel and rebook on our cruise from Australia to Hawaii last April. You can only make reservations for the first night. I will head to one of the specialty restaurants as soon as I get aboard to make the additional reservations. I also have changed the first night reservation to a later date. 

So, it looks like there is a possibility that a sale may come along.  Other than that, it doesn't seem like there is any advantage reservation-wise, since I don't want to book a specialty restaurant the first night.   Also, the 3 night package gives only a slight discount of $11, if you choose the main three (Murano, Tuscan Grill, Lawn Club).  The 4 night seems like a better deal being only $20 more than the 3 night package.  I may just end up booking 1-2 individual restaurants ahead of time, and pay full price so I can get the day/time I want.  Saving $4 a restaurant meal doesn't seem like such a great incentive, if I am not guaranteed anything.

Edited June 13, 2019 by big_schots

[jelayne]

With the package when you purchase it you select either day 1 or 2 and a time- this is necessary so the system can process the package.  When you board head to either one of the speciality restaurants or to a table where they are booking restaurant reservations.  You can make all your selections and are not tied to the 1st or 2nd night.