Penthouse Suite - Unlimited Specialty Dining

[CruiseNYC]

Sincere apologies in advance.  I know I've seen the answer to my question somewhere here but can't seem to find it now.

If you're traveling in a Penthouse Suite or Royal Suite, are you charged for specialty dinner reservations when booking in advance of the sailing?  I tried to reserve a few dinners for our June Equinox sailing but it appears that I will be charged.

Would very much appreciate your experience with this.

Thank you, as always, for your help, fellow cruisers.

[DCPIV]

20 minutes ago, CruiseNYC said:

f you're traveling in a Penthouse Suite or Royal Suite, are you charged for specialty dinner reservations when booking in advance of the sailing? 

 

Yes, you will be charged.  I suppose you likely could have the refunded once you get on board, but you shouldn't have to do that. 

 

You will be contacted by a shoreside concierge roughly 2-4 weeks prior to sailing, and you can give your desired reservations then.  We've never had an issue getting the reservations we want when we've asked in that manner in advance.  You probably will get a nice table, too. 😉

[CruiseNYC]

Just now, DCPIV said:

 

Yes, you will be charged.  I suppose you likely could have the refunded once you get on board, but you shouldn't have to do that. 

 

You will be contacted by a shoreside concierge roughly 2-4 weeks prior to sailing, and you can give your desired reservations then.  We've never had an issue getting the reservations we want when we've asked in that manner in advance.  You probably will get a nice table, too. 😉

Excellent!  Thank you very much.  We'll wait for the shoreside concierge to contact us.  We are looking forward to getting back to Celebrity.

[DCPIV]

2 minutes ago, CruiseNYC said:

Excellent!  Thank you very much.  We'll wait for the shoreside concierge to contact us.  We are looking forward to getting back to Celebrity.

 

Just in case you don't hear from anyone by email or phone, you always can call 1-877-RETREAT and speak to a shoreside concierge (I believe option 3 and then option 2).

[CruiseNYC]

29 minutes ago, DCPIV said:

 

Just in case you don't hear from anyone by email or phone, you always can call 1-877-RETREAT and speak to a shoreside concierge (I believe option 3 and then option 2).

Thank you very much!  I seem to recall that the shoreside concierge did phone a few weeks before our last Celebrity Cruise.  I have been catching up on Celebrity (our last cruise was on Enchanted Princess) and had read that a lot of the specialty dining venues were fully booked on recent cruises.  We enjoy Luminae but also like to try the other restaurants.

[Jim_Iain]

If you book in advance you need to pay up front.   Once on board the Retreat Host will have a credit applied.

 

You can also ask the Shoreside Concierge to book reservations for you and if use this method you will not be charged in advance.

[DCPIV]

5 minutes ago, CruiseNYC said:

I have been catching up on Celebrity (our last cruise was on Enchanted Princess) and had read that a lot of the specialty dining venues were fully booked on recent cruises.

 

That most certainly is true if you are trying to book while on board.  We were very recently in a Royal Suite, and we were interested in getting a reservation while on board (on a whim).  They best they could do was 9 PM.  Like I said, though, there's never been any trouble getting a "prime time" reservation when requesting with the concierge in advance (although I assume sooner still is better).  If you are in a PH, I assume it will be even easier.

 

 

[CruiseNYC]

9 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

If you book in advance you need to pay up front.   Once on board the Retreat Host will have a credit applied.

 

You can also ask the Shoreside Concierge to book reservations for you and if use this method you will not be charged in advance.

Thanks, Jim!  Looks like we'll definitely wait to book with Shoreside Concierge.  I believe you had mentioned it when you did your Equinox review but which was your favorite restaurant?

Thank you!!

[DCPIV]

We had a fantastic dinner in Murano on Equinox last October. I would not hesitate to go back there. 

 

We also enjoy Sushi on 5, and that also is fully included. 

[CruiseNYC]

On 3/15/2023 at 5:44 PM, DCPIV said:

We had a fantastic dinner in Murano on Equinox last October. I would not hesitate to go back there. 

 

We also enjoy Sushi on 5, and that also is fully included. 

Thank you!  We will plan on Murano for sure. We have enjoyed Tuscan Grill on other ships. I assume it would be very much the same on Equinox. DH is not a sushi fan but I enjoy having lunch there on my own - with a good book

[DCPIV]

Just now, CruiseNYC said:

Thank you!  We will plan on Murano for sure. We have enjoyed Tuscan Grill on other ships. I assume it would be very much the same on Equinox. DH is not a sushi fan but I enjoy having lunch there on my own - with a good book

 

Tuscan Grill looks just like the Tuscan Grill on other S-class ships with the lovely aft view.

 

I also must say, though, that Luminae was very good back in October.

[CruiseNYC]

1 minute ago, DCPIV said:

 

Tuscan Grill looks just like the Tuscan Grill on other S-class ships with the lovely aft view.

 

I also must say, though, that Luminae was very good back in October.

We have not been on the Equinox in many years and the last time was in Aqua - which we loved. We were in Retreat on the Summit last summer and we thought the food in Luminae was just ok.  However, we were able to order from the other dining rooms, which was very nice. Believe me, we did not starve!   We had unlimited Specialty dining and ate in Tuscan Grill a couple of evenings. We really enjoyed the meals we had there. 

[peanut head]

We were in the PS on Equinox in October and Silhouette in February. When contacted by the on-shore concierge we emailed a list of all our dining choices with days and times. They were all in place when we boarded and confirmed by our butler. Easy peasy. 
 

Enjoy your trip and savor the experiences!

[Georgia_Peaches]

I recommend you don’t book in advance as they hold out reservations for PH and RS specifically. When your shoreside concierge contacts you just tell them where you want to dine and when. Also ask them to cross reference with the ship to ensure that none of your dining venues have been booked for a private event. If they have (commonly occurs in Tuscan Grille) then you can pivot without being surprised when you show up for your reservation. This happened to us recently and since shoreside concierge wasn’t communicating well with the ship concierge there wasn’t a lot they could (would) do to accommodate us on that particular night. One of the perks is included specialty dining and you shouldn’t have to forego it because of a mix up. It may seem uncommon but it has happened to us twice, most recently on Solstice and also on Silhouette… both due to private events in Tuscan. 

[TeeRick]

On 3/15/2023 at 4:06 PM, CruiseNYC said:

Sincere apologies in advance.  I know I've seen the answer to my question somewhere here but can't seem to find it now.

If you're traveling in a Penthouse Suite or Royal Suite, are you charged for specialty dinner reservations when booking in advance of the sailing?  I tried to reserve a few dinners for our June Equinox sailing but it appears that I will be charged.

Would very much appreciate your experience with this.

Thank you, as always, for your help, fellow cruisers.

We did a late Jan sailing in Equinox this year.  Luminae was excellent.  We dined in Tuscan Grille and Murano, also both excellent.  We could not get the right times (for us) for these restaurants pre-cruise, either online or by using the shoreside Retreat concierge (when she contacted us prior to the cruise).  However she told us that they hold back perhaps 50% of the dining slots and times at Specialty restaurants until embarkation.  We went directly to Murano once we boarded and booked it and Tuscan too.  You can also do this with your butler or with the Retreat concierge.  Have a great time on Equinox- we certainly did!

[CruiseNYC]

11 hours ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

I recommend you don’t book in advance as they hold out reservations for PH and RS specifically. When your shoreside concierge contacts you just tell them where you want to dine and when. Also ask them to cross reference with the ship to ensure that none of your dining venues have been booked for a private event. If they have (commonly occurs in Tuscan Grille) then you can pivot without being surprised when you show up for your reservation. This happened to us recently and since shoreside concierge wasn’t communicating well with the ship concierge there wasn’t a lot they could (would) do to accommodate us on that particular night. One of the perks is included specialty dining and you shouldn’t have to forego it because of a mix up. It may seem uncommon but it has happened to us twice, most recently on Solstice and also on Silhouette… both due to private events in Tuscan. 

Thank you for letting us know. That would definitely not be pleasant. I will be sure to ask. That’s why I love Cruise Critic. Great input from members!

[CruiseNYC]

1 hour ago, TeeRick said:

We did a late Jan sailing in Equinox this year.  Luminae was excellent.  We dined in Tuscan Grille and Murano, also both excellent.  We could not get the right times (for us) for these restaurants pre-cruise, either online or by using the shoreside Retreat concierge (when she contacted us prior to the cruise).  However she told us that they hold back perhaps 50% of the dining slots and times at Specialty restaurants until embarkation.  We went directly to Murano once we boarded and booked it and Tuscan too.  You can also do this with your butler or with the Retreat concierge.  Have a great time on Equinox- we certainly did!

Interesting!  Hoping to avoid doing this but, of course, will do so if dining slots are unavailable. We are pretty flexible and don’t mind eating late. In fact, if I have a busy “activity” day, I much prefer going at 8:30 or 9, when the restaurants are usually a bit less busy.  Will absolutely keep this as a Plan B - thank you very much!

[DCPIV]

1 hour ago, CruiseNYC said:

Interesting!  Hoping to avoid doing this but, of course, will do so if dining slots are unavailable. We are pretty flexible and don’t mind eating late. In fact, if I have a busy “activity” day, I much prefer going at 8:30 or 9, when the restaurants are usually a bit less busy.  Will absolutely keep this as a Plan B - thank you very much!

 

If you do need to talk to someone upon boarding, I highly recommend going straight to the Maitre d' or the Retreat Concierge (if you're talking about Murano, they are essentially next door to each other).  They can make the reservation in the system right then and there, so you know what you have.  The best a butler can do is relay your request to someone who can make the reservation, and it might take them some time to get to it (they are busy). That delay can cost you the slot you want.