Specialty restaurant offers once you're onboard

[levib2]

I remember being offered good discounts for specialty restaurants on my past RC cruises.  Do you usually wait until onboard to book or book on the RC site?  (We are on the Serenade...Will be interesting since we usually cruise on larger ships.)

[Bakerette]

You will get cheaper price if you purchase anything in the cruise planner site vs if you were to reserve the same things that could be purchased before the cruise while you on the ship.
if you pre-purchase anything in the cruise planner you can cancel it and repurchase if the price goes lower & also if you changed your mind you can cancel that purchase. 

For example: I’m sailing on harmony May 2022 & when I purchased the soda package the cruise planner listed the price at $8.99 pp/pd plus 18% gratuity where as if I were to purchase the soda package on the ship it would be $13.50pp/pd plus gratuity, so by pre-purchasing I already saved $4.51 pp/pd plus gratuity.

[KristiZ]

Actually there are great deals to be had, particularly now with the reduced capacity, by waiting until you're onboard. The first day or two there will be servers walking around trying to drum up business and they can offer discounts. We just did this on Serenade last month. For example, we got half off Giovanni's because we were willing to go the first night.

[leesam82]

This may longer be valid with the state cruising is now. However when I went on the Allure OTS in 2019, I found that the onboard embarkation deals for specialty restaurants were actually cheaper than if I bought through the cruise planner. Granted i think the savings were only about $10 pp. I also think that it will always be a gamble as I am sure that sometimes it maybe cheaper on the cruise planner. 

[Ampurp85]

Other posters are correct, on Allure they have had more than 50% off on speciality dining. We got Izumi for $26pp which I didn't even know it went that low. But don't bank on it as not only is capacity increasing but times are not ideal, we eat late so it's not a big deal. Most times are 8:30 or later. So booking online might be better.

[wozswoman]

On Oasis in September we were able to do Chef's Table for $75 instead of $99 by waiting till we were on board.