How to book complimentary Specialty Dining in Royal Suite

[spocruiser]

Just got an email indicating we were successful in our "Move-Up" bid, bumping us up from a Celebrity Suite to a Royal Suite.  One of the perks in the RS is complimentary unlimited specialty dining. Would appreciate hearing from anyone who has used this perk in the past as to the following:

 

1) Is it possible to make advance reservations online without being charged?  Do we have to wait until we are onboard to avail ourselves of the complimentary unlimited specialty dining?

 

2) Having made two advance reservations prior to our upgrade, and paid with shipboard credit, is there a way to "change the reservations so they are part of the complimentary perk. Simply canceling and rebooking (if doing so in advance is possible) is problematic as our reservations are on our two sea days, which no longer have availability and I don't want to lose our time slot.

 

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

Edited July 9, 2019 by spocruiser
Corrected typo

[cruzzzinma]

We scored a Royal Suite once at a really great rate.

 

We did not make advance reservations. Have the shore side concierge take care of it. If he/she can’t do it, they will take care of you on board. They will have space for people in the upper suites. Do not stress over this.

 

we looked at the Luminae menu every day and decided where we were going to have dinner.

Edited July 9, 2019 by cruzzzinma

[jelayne]

You should be contacted by the Shoreside Concierge, ask them to cancel your existing reservations and rebook them at no charge. 

[spocruiser]

Thank you for the information, it is my first time on Celebrity and first time in a suite. One follow-up question...

 

Is there a way for me to contact the Shoreside Concierge (I wasn't aware there was such a person)? I am not finding contact information on the Celebrity website.  We are only 11 days away from our cruise departure date and in a few days, I begin some travel leading right up to the cruise (son's graduation and my wedding). I won't be totally unavailable, but I will likely be harder to reach and have limited time to respond. It would be nice to interact with the Concierge before it gets too hectic.

 

Thanks again for your help. I am really looking forward to Celebrity and the cruise in a suite as part of our honeymoon.

[wrk2cruise]

Call the Captains Club number and explain you are in a Royal Suite and ask them to connect you to the shoreside concierge.

[spocruiser]

Thank you

[chemmo]

We draft an email ready for when the shoreside concierge contacts us (usually about two weeks from sailing). As you are near to time if you do contact them by phone ask for their email and if you can just summarise your conversation, much less chance of errors. We make sure we include...

 

Speciality dining  requests

Spirits for bar set up (you can ask for items not on the set list)

Beer and soda requests

Pillow requests

Any special needs

Any events/anniversary/ birthday?

 

We take a copy of this on board with us and give it to the butler as a check list. We always ask him to confirm our dining bookings.

 

We try to book Tuscan on evenings when we are leaving port at about 6pm, great views. We book Murano’s on sea days when we have enough energy to enjoy a long leisurely meal. LPC we just slot in. After boarding we ask the concierge for copies of the Luminae menus for the week and then get the butler to adjust our bookings if necessary. There is now a Danial Boulud inspired ‘everyday’ menu which we definitely want to try.

 

Also let the Retreat concierge know if you have any special requests like a bridge tour, galley tour or behind the scenes theatre tour or dining with an officer....Most of the time these invites just come but it does help if the concierge has some idea of what you are/are not interested in.

 

Once in your suite let your butler know of any everyday requests you may have. For example, we like afternoon tea delivered to our suite rather than in the retreat lounge. We also ask for a late night snack to be left each evening in our chiller to enjoy late at night on the balcony with a last drink (shrimp platter, cheese plate, veggies and dips...).

 

Have a fantastic cruise!

 

 

 

 

 

[GastroGnome]

Congratulations on your bid!  Be prepared never to be able to sail in a lower suite again!

 

For RS / PH your butler will be able to arrange more or less anything for you.  Make use of them.  The shore side concierge will contact you about 2 /3 weeks out and as C says it really helps to have a list of things they can do for you.    Any fixed dates for specialty dining, or special requests let them know - but your butler can always fit you in even if you decide on the day.  I always like to ask for copies of the menus in advance so we don't dine in a specialty restaurant missing a favorite menu item.

 

And don't forget your complimentary laundry service!  Don't send them anything delicate - it can be a bit rough.  But for jeans, normal T shirts, underwear etc it can be handy to come home with clean clothes.  They also dry clean - I have been known to send DH's suits and jackets as soon as we board rather than pay to have them cleaned at home!

[varoo]

7 hours ago, spocruiser said:

Just got an email indicating we were successful in our "Move-Up" bid, bumping us up from a Celebrity Suite to a Royal Suite.  One of the perks in the RS is complimentary unlimited specialty dining. Would appreciate hearing from anyone who has used this perk in the past as to the following:

 

1) Is it possible to make advance reservations online without being charged?  Do we have to wait until we are onboard to avail ourselves of the complimentary unlimited specialty dining?

 

2) Having made two advance reservations prior to our upgrade, and paid with shipboard credit, is there a way to "change the reservations so they are part of the complimentary perk. Simply canceling and rebooking (if doing so in advance is possible) is problematic as our reservations are on our two sea days, which no longer have availability and I don't want to lose our time slot.

 

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

 

No need to decide in advance when you will feel like having dinner weeks (or months) from now if you are in a Royal Suite.

 

When you are on the ship and have decided when/where you want to eat, just have the Michael's Club Concierge make the reservation for you.

They hold spots open for the people in the top suites, just in case.

 

We learned this lesson some time back when we were walking past one of the specialty restaurants, spotted the maitre d' at the podium outside the door, and figured we might as well stop and make a reservation for that night, since we were right there.

We asked for 6:30, only to be told they were full and the earliest time available that night would be 9:00 p.m.

 

About an hour later, we happened to be conversing with the Michael's Club concierge so we mentioned our experience to him.  He immediately picked up the phone and in a minute we had a confirmed reservation for 6:30 that evening.

 

When we arrived at the restaurant at 6:30, it was practically empty and it remained that way throughout most of our dinner, only starting to fill up much later, as we were having dessert.

  

[spocruiser]

Thanks for the additional advice, really appreciate it. Great suggestions re having an email ready, letting Butler know of special tour requests and getting Luminae menus, will do all three.

 

As for laundry service, it will come in handy. The cruise falls in the middle of a 1) graduation long weekend trip to CA, 2) our wedding on the OR coast, 3) cruise and then 4) a surprise (for her) long weekend in Chicago (recreating our first date/trip together 18 months ago). We were going to be spread thin on clothes. 

 

Thanks for your help in making our trip special.

[spocruiser]

Chemmo, 

 

Your user name jumped out at me. You probably get asked about the origin often, but I do hope it refers to the past and you are well, or better yet is wholly unrelated to the topic I am assuming it derives from. I lost my wife 3+ years ago after 14 years of chemotherapy due to stage four breast cancer. It is too big of a "club", that affects too many good people, a club which I would have preferred not to have been a part.

 

Thanks again for your suggestions.

[Cruise a holic]

9 hours ago, spocruiser said:

Just got an email indicating we were successful in our "Move-Up" bid, bumping us up from a Celebrity Suite to a Royal Suite.  One of the perks in the RS is complimentary unlimited specialty dining. Would appreciate hearing from anyone who has used this perk in the past as to the following:

 

1) Is it possible to make advance reservations online without being charged?  Do we have to wait until we are onboard to avail ourselves of the complimentary unlimited specialty dining?

 

2) Having made two advance reservations prior to our upgrade, and paid with shipboard credit, is there a way to "change the reservations so they are part of the complimentary perk. Simply canceling and rebooking (if doing so in advance is possible) is problematic as our reservations are on our two sea days, which no longer have availability and I don't want to lose our time slot.

 

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

You will get your money back for any dining reservation, either call or you will get a shipboard credit once on board.  As previously stated you can make reservations for anything via the suite concierge or your butler can also help. 

 

Enjoy your special cruise!  How many days before your cruise did you get the move up offer accepted? 

 

Thanks

[spocruiser]

43 minutes ago, Cruise a holic said:

 How many days before your cruise did you get the move up offer accepted? 

 

 

Eleven Days. But I have no idea if my "bidding" affected the date of acceptance, but I was pretty indecisive. I was in and out of the Move-Up offer at least half a dozen times, putting in a bid, getting cold feet and cancelling or modifying lower when I began to worry about the overall cost of our wedding/honeymoon, or repeating a bid - sometimes the same, sometimes lower or higher when the thought of surprising my wife to be with a large suite (I was pretty happy with the originally booked CS) took over. My final accepted bid was in the system for three days when it was accepted. I was actually thinking of canceling again when the accepted bid email arrived.

[Cruise a holic]

3 minutes ago, spocruiser said:

 

Eleven Days. But I have no idea if my "bidding" affected the date of acceptance, but I was pretty indecisive. I was in and out of the Move-Up offer at least half a dozen times, putting in a bid, getting cold feet and cancelling or modifying lower when I began to worry about the overall cost of our wedding/honeymoon, or repeating a bid - sometimes the same, sometimes lower or higher when the thought of surprising my wife to be with a large suite (I was pretty happy with the originally booked CS) took over. My final accepted bid was in the system for three days when it was accepted. I was actually thinking of canceling again when the accepted bid email arrived.

Thanks-  I just cancelled our bid for the penthouse- However as the cruise gets closer who knows.  I think the Royal suite and its perks will be wonderful!   Have a great cruise and honeymoon!  

[spocruiser]

1 minute ago, Cruise a holic said:

Thanks-  I just cancelled our bid for the penthouse- However as the cruise gets closer who knows.  I think the Royal suite and its perks will be wonderful!   Have a great cruise and honeymoon!  

Thank you. If you jump back in for a PH, good luck!

[George C]

Tuscan has no view on summit, infinity etc , but food is still good . Great info , our royal is in February on infinity. Regret turning down royal suite earlier this year .  I am sure we will have at least a few dinners in luminae service is so good there. 

[chemmo]

5 hours ago, spocruiser said:

Chemmo, 

 

Your user name jumped out at me. You probably get asked about the origin often, but I do hope it refers to the past and you are well, or better yet is wholly unrelated to the topic I am assuming it derives from. I lost my wife 3+ years ago after 14 years of chemotherapy due to stage four breast cancer. It is too big of a "club", that affects too many good people, a club which I would have preferred not to have been a part.

 

Thanks again for your suggestions.

 

Thankfully my name comes from a different origin...Sincere thanks for your thoughts and sharing your history. I have a friend presently part way through your wife’s experience and her motto has become ‘live for the day’ another reason to treat ourselves to nice suites when the opportunity arises.

 

Sincere best wishes for a fantastic cruise...

[girljerk]

The beauty of being in a RS and above is you don’t have to think that far ahead. The only food events I plan ahead are the Chefs dinner and “A Taste of film”. A Taste of film has to be booked on the ship. I have a list for my butler which includes this reservation request. Other than that, for other specialty dining, we decide each day. 

 

Sherri

[oh2cruise]

Hope you don’t mind if I piggyback on your thread.  I do have a question about laundry.  If you just need items pressed, can that be requested on the first day?  Thanks!

[Husky61]

1 minute ago, oh2cruise said:

Hope you don’t mind if I piggyback on your thread.  I do have a question about laundry.  If you just need items pressed, can that be requested on the first day?  Thanks!

In a RS it can be requested any day.😃

[Redking]

10 hours ago, girljerk said:

The beauty of being in a RS and above is you don’t have to think that far ahead. The only food events I plan ahead are the Chefs dinner and “A Taste of film”. A Taste of film has to be booked on the ship. I have a list for my butler which includes this reservation request. Other than that, for other specialty dining, we decide each day. 

 

Sherri

Hi Sherri, is the Chef's dinner and "Taste of Film" included in the unlimited speciality dining or did you have to pay an additional fee?

[girljerk]

39 minutes ago, Redking said:

Hi Sherri, is the Chef's dinner and "Taste of Film" included in the unlimited speciality dining or did you have to pay an additional fee?

The Chefs dinner was not included. I think, if I remember correctly, the Taste of Film was complementary.

 

Sherri

[ggo85]

Just a note of caution.  We asked the Michael’s Club concierge to book Murano’s for the last night of our cruise a few days ahead of time (used concierge as our butler was awful).  We showed up at the restaurant and there was no reservation. (We prob should have confirmed). The concierge admitted that she had forgotten to make the reservation. She could not get us in at any time even though we were in a RS. She was very apologetic and we were understanding.  But we still didn’t eat in Muranos. 

 

I realize this is likely an aberration as we’ve never had any other issues with dining. Buy don’t assume they can get you in at the last minute on any given night.  

[George C]

What is “ the taste of film” ?

[girljerk]

16 minutes ago, George C said:

What is “ the taste of film” ?

Here is an article that explains it. https://www.forbes.com/sites/celebritycruises/2016/02/03/movie-and-a-menu-a-unique-cruise-dining-experience/#6d1554e23450