$10 penalty for dining room no-shows????

[Luvcrusn]

On 1/3/2023 at 3:40 PM, RichYak said:

A few weeks ago was 2022. It would appear that much has suddenly changed with Celebrity.

We were aboard in Dec. 2022 and had Select dining with reservations. There were no charges on the nights we dined in specialty restaurants for the MDR.

[RichYak]

41 minutes ago, Luvcrusn said:

We were aboard in Dec. 2022 and had Select dining with reservations. There were no charges on the nights we dined in specialty restaurants for the MDR.

I'm sure that's true but I reiterate what I wrote in the post you quoted. Last month was still 2022. There have been so many changes in the last 4 days that any experience you had prior to Jan 1 is already ancient history. It's a new Celebrity. Who knows what they'll charge for now?

[natshala]

My app states “a cancellation fee policy applies to our SPECIALTY RESTAURANTS.”  It does not go into the detailed verbiage. 
 

I understand the rationale. Seems harsh, though, that it’s not transferable. Wonder why. If I have reservations and get sick and find someone who wants the reservation, why would X care?

[dlh015]

One can argue that this rollout of the $10 penalty is confusing at best...there appears to be no smooth and well thought out plan for any of the changes...more of a shotgun blast...or throwing something against a wall and seeing if it sticks...

[whee-sailing]

10 hours ago, Honolulu Blue said:

Continental breakfast is still free and there's still no charge for suites.  For everyone else, it seems there is (or will be soon) a $9.95 charge + 18% gratuity for RS.  This was discussed ad nauseam in this thread:

 

 

Ah thank you. Somehow I missed that thread entirely.

[Pokeymon]

I was on the Apex over Christmas. We made dinner reservations every night . We did not have to agree to a $10 fee if we were no shows.

 

Room service did not have a fee for breakfast or lunch but the menu was limited. We were not in a suite.

 

 

[Barwick Cruiser]

5 minutes ago, Pokeymon said:

I was on the Apex over Christmas. We made dinner reservations every night . We did not have to agree to a $10 fee if we were no shows.

 

Room service did not have a fee for breakfast or lunch but the menu was limited. We were not in a suite.

 

 

That was then, this is now! 

[prmssk]

14 minutes ago, Pokeymon said:

I was on the Apex over Christmas. We made dinner reservations every night . We did not have to agree to a $10 fee if we were no shows.

I’m going to guess it was buried in the terms and conditions then.  It was there when I booked select dining reservations on October 1, 2022 and I will admit, I didn’t notice it until someone else pointed it out around that time. You have to follow a link to find it even now (at least for the one I made today).

Edited January 5, 2023 by prmssk

[prmssk]

So I just went in to compare what it looks like for specialty dining and select dining. The check box and link to terms and conditions are identical. This is likely just one system being used for two different types of reservations. I expect it is fully intended for specialty dining although do agree the language could be a bit clearer. 

 

If you click on Terms & Conditions in the first screen shot, you see this. 

 

It also definitely is not new so I doubt this is some new way to hit us with more fees. I have yet to hear of anyone being charged for a no show to select dining. 

[LGW59]

4 hours ago, Barwick Cruiser said:

That was then, this is now! 

Just stay in a RS, PH, EV or Iconic, they still come with diplomatic immunity

[MamaFej]

On 1/3/2023 at 1:40 PM, retird said:

 Since specialty dining is the only dining that has a cover charge.

*so far

Edited January 6, 2023 by MamaFej
To add 😜 for those who didn't realize I'm kidding (mostly)

[Miss SeaBee]

On 1/3/2023 at 4:37 PM, LMaxwell said:

 Easier to just show up without a reservation and wait 5 minutes than worry about maybe being charged a fee. 

Just making sure that is ok. I booked our 2024 cruise with select dining, because I want the flexibilty of dining whenever we feel like it,  no reservation. Then I saw on the Celebrity app for my select dining that reservations are required. I panicked slightly when I saw that. I’ve read everywhere that NO reservations are required. Can you confirm that?  Since my cruise is so far out, I was easily able to make 7:00 reservations for each night, just to be safe, but my preference would be to just cancel those now, and go with the original plan to walk in anytime. I don’t mind waiting for a while for a table.

 

 

[Bo1953]

2 hours ago, Miss SeaBee said:

Just making sure that is ok. I booked our 2024 cruise with select dining, because I want the flexibilty of dining whenever we feel like it,  no reservation. Then I saw on the Celebrity app for my select dining that reservations are required. I panicked slightly when I saw that. I’ve read everywhere that NO reservations are required. Can you confirm that?  Since my cruise is so far out, I was easily able to make 7:00 reservations for each night, just to be safe, but my preference would be to just cancel those now, and go with the original plan to walk in anytime. I don’t mind waiting for a while for a table.

 

 

Do not worry about this IF you are dining in one of the MDR's, I Am sure that this charge is for Specialty Dining Rooms that charge entrance fees.

 

As such, methinks that the T&C's are not in the correct place.

 

Initially, an over reaction IMO...

 

To wit, no one who posts on CC has complained about receiving such a charge for MDR's as of yet... LOL

 

bon appetit and bon voyage

[prmssk]

2 hours ago, Miss SeaBee said:

Just making sure that is ok. I booked our 2024 cruise with select dining, because I want the flexibilty of dining whenever we feel like it,  no reservation. Then I saw on the Celebrity app for my select dining that reservations are required. I panicked slightly when I saw that. I’ve read everywhere that NO reservations are required. Can you confirm that?  Since my cruise is so far out, I was easily able to make 7:00 reservations for each night, just to be safe, but my preference would be to just cancel those now, and go with the original plan to walk in anytime. I don’t mind waiting for a while for a table.

 

 

Reservations are not required for anytime dining.   There might be a short wait depending on when you want to eat but you can just show up when you are ready to eat.

[Midpacpl]

Select dining in MDR is free- I just reserved our times  for our upcoming cruise and didn’t have to check any box. 

[lorimay]

On 1/5/2023 at 1:04 PM, RichYak said:

I'm sure that's true but I reiterate what I wrote in the post you quoted. Last month was still 2022. There have been so many changes in the last 4 days that any experience you had prior to Jan 1 is already ancient history. It's a new Celebrity. Who knows what they'll charge for now?

I was on the Edge earlier this month with Select Dining. We had reservations and didn't show up one night. We were not charged anything. I was never asked to check a box when I made the reservations, which was while we were on the ship via the app.

 

An interesting observation - we were on the Equinox in February and Edge in March, but on the Summit in December and Beyond last October. There was a huge difference in the number of dirty dishes we saw waiting for pickup outside cabins on the cruises in 2023. We also NEVER saw a room service attendant in the hallways on the 2023 cruises. I think the charge for room service in regular cabins has made a huge difference in the staffing.

Edited April 7, 2023 by lorimay

[the penguins]

5 hours ago, Miss SeaBee said:

Just making sure that is ok. I booked our 2024 cruise with select dining, because I want the flexibilty of dining whenever we feel like it,  no reservation. Then I saw on the Celebrity app for my select dining that reservations are required. I panicked slightly when I saw that. I’ve read everywhere that NO reservations are required. Can you confirm that?  Since my cruise is so far out, I was easily able to make 7:00 reservations for each night, just to be safe, but my preference would be to just cancel those now, and go with the original plan to walk in anytime. I don’t mind waiting for a while for a table.

 

 

I think this is just badly worded and actually means: if you want to make a reservation to call.

We prebook for every night but provided you accept there may be a wait if you don't it's not compolsary. It's just like any restaurant in that if lots of people turn up at the sametime you or someone else will have to wait.

Being prepared to share will often reduce the wait time.

You may also be offered a "pager" enabling you to wait in the bar of your choice.

[cruisequeen4ever]

If this is true, I’m very glad I made sure to cancel our reservation one night when we just decided to go to the buffet instead. I can understand this being a consequence for a specialty restaurant reservation because those are paid, but it really doesn’t make sense to me to charge this for a dining room reservation when, at least on the cruise I did a few weeks ago, they were really really wanting people to eat in the dining room and to enjoy their experience so they’d keep coming back.

[Oceansaway17]

there should never be a fee attached to free dining regardless of reserving the time or not.

Just plain wrong.

With so many of various cruise lines threads on cruise critics concerning dining, I just chose to go the buffet and be done with it.  I am not on board for fancy food and if I do want some, I make reservations for speciality on day 1 when I board.   

 

I can't ever think why someone would make food a priority for sailing.  So many land based restaurants have wonderful.  Of course I want to have good decent food, but not looking for spectacular food.   

[hawkesbaynz]

39 minutes ago, Oceansaway17 said:

 

I can't ever think why someone would make food a priority for sailing.  So many land based restaurants have wonderful.  Of course I want to have good decent food, but not looking for spectacular food.   

You have not read the Oceania forum! People book that line specifically for the food….. and it is good! Never for the entertainment😮. 
 

I hate the term ‘complementary’ or ‘free food’. We paid for it like we did for the cabin and the officers salary etc.

 

[Oceangoer2]

On 1/3/2023 at 4:28 PM, dlh015 said:

Well, all I can say is I'm sure there was no box for me...I made 7 reservations in row.

 

*OR*  I had a very senior moment...which is always a possibility...

 

ETA: BTW, the reservations were for Select dining...

I've made both Special and Select dining reservations in the past few weeks....no check box.

 

Whoops....I'd better check, I now read it's  hidden in the 'accept the terms and conditions' box.

Edited April 7, 2023 by Oceangoer2

[Arizona Wildcat]

On 1/4/2023 at 10:16 PM, LB_NJ said:

Maybe we should call Celebrity the Nickle and Dime cruise line.

I asked the executive staff.  The $10 notice is not new and one needs to read the entire notice.  Not just the first paragraph.   Not cancelling specialty restaurants certainly should have a cost.  The $10 mentions a cover charge.  Not for select dining as no cover charge there.   Much ado about another confusing wording by the IT staff.

[Cruise till you drop]

We just got back from the Edge to Panama Canal and we skipped 2 nights MDR and never got charged

One cancellation was because we got back late from an excursion and just went to OVC instead and the other was because we went to Eden specialty restaurant (we didn’t cancel the MDR but assume the ship knew of the conflict)