Any limitations to Ultimate dining plan?

[MrFunInTheSun]

7 minutes ago, Bonita John said:

Symphony May 11th 2019

 

We purchased the UDP and the Key.  I was able to reserve shows as you have to with the key but am very nervous because we have no idea when and were we will be dining because we have to wait to be onboard to make our reservations.  We prefer dining between 6 - 7 pm which is probably the most booked time.  

 

Youll be fine. As soon as you board and go to Chops for your boarding day lunch you can schedule your dinner at your restaurant of your choice for that first night and rest of week. You shouldn’t have any issues at all, no need to worry. 

[vacationlover_mn]

8 hours ago, MrFunInTheSun said:

 

Youll be fine. As soon as you board and go to Chops for your boarding day lunch you can schedule your dinner at your restaurant of your choice for that first night and rest of week. You shouldn’t have any issues at all, no need to worry. 

Weird thing on my symphony cruise- Jamie’s was our embarkation free lunch option.  It was great 🙂. 

[Orsino]

10 hours ago, MrFunInTheSun said:

 

Youll be fine. As soon as you board and go to Chops for your boarding day lunch you can schedule your dinner at your restaurant of your choice for that first night and rest of week. You shouldn’t have any issues at all, no need to worry. 

I'd recommend going to a restaurant other than Chops since Chops will likely be busy. We went to 150 Park on Oasis and were the only ones there making reservations. Very quick and convenient to Chops which we went to after booking our dinners.

[SAHMof3]

20 hours ago, MrFunInTheSun said:

 

Yes, once you board the ship go to the restaurant of choice and they will set up your reservation. I’ve done UDP many times the past two years and done this without issue. Reserved my whole week that first day, while also making changes to it throughout the week if I wanted to make a change. Some restaurants can make your reservations for you for all the restaurants, some you need to go to individually. It really all depends on the ship. 

If you’re on an Oasis class ship, as soon as you get on board, the specialty folks are all standing right there at a makeshift kiosk of sorts and can take care of ALL your specialty restaurant needs.

[zooma]

19 hours ago, molly361 said:

The embarkation lunch is not available on all ships. A friend of mine was told he could not use it then. I believe that was on the Allure

 

Is embarkation lunch included with the UDP on Anthem? If so, does anyone know which restaurant?

[katiel53]

21 hours ago, vacationlover_mn said:

Yes!  My advice is to make a list of where you want to eat, and when.  In addition to dinners, you will get a free embarkation lunch (ours was at Jamie’s), and lunches on sea days.  I thought I had our plan memorized, but then forgot when we got there 🙂. Also, bring a pencil and paper to write down what you end up with.  Sure, our reservations eventually showed up in our planner, but some took a few days.

 

also, you can change your reservations later.  We ended up hating 150 Central, so we changed our 2nd reservation to Hooked.

When we sailed on Allure the person making the reservations for us, asked for my cell phone and took a picture of the reservations we made.  That was before the app had more info on it.

 

On Harmony, we had to go to the MDR to make reservations when we got onboard.  We were told NOT to do them in the restaurants, just go to the table set up for reservations for the specialty dining.  Our reservations showed up on the app (The RC app not the Royal IQ) almost immediately, so we didn't need a picture.

[vacationlover_mn]

21 hours ago, SAHMof3 said:

If you’re on an Oasis class ship, as soon as you get on board, the specialty folks are all standing right there at a makeshift kiosk of sorts and can take care of ALL your specialty restaurant needs.

Hmmm... didn’t see that on Symphony?  Maybe I missed it?

[SAHMof3]

It’s in the middle of that mall. At least it was on OOTS. Right in the middle sort of close to the coffee kiosk but after the giant car. They had long tables set up. They also had makeshift kiosks for the technology (wifi) purchases.

[SAHMof3]

54 minutes ago, vacationlover_mn said:

 

 

54 minutes ago, vacationlover_mn said:

Hmmm... didn’t see that on Symphony?  Maybe I missed it?

 

It’s in the middle of that mall. At least it was on OOTS. Right in the middle sort of close to the coffee kiosk but after the giant car. They had long tables set up. They also had makeshift kiosks for the technology (wifi) purchases.

[PaulaW]

On 3/3/2019 at 11:48 AM, zooma said:

 

Is embarkation lunch included with the UDP on Anthem? If so, does anyone know which restaurant?

 

I was wondering this as well.  

 

Anyone have any information?

 

Thanks so much!

[vacationlover_mn]

9 hours ago, SAHMof3 said:

 

 

It’s in the middle of that mall. At least it was on OOTS. Right in the middle sort of close to the coffee kiosk but after the giant car. They had long tables set up. They also had makeshift kiosks for the technology (wifi) purchases.

We headed in the opposite direction, so we could have missed it 🙂

[actuarian]

On 3/3/2019 at 11:48 AM, zooma said:

 

Is embarkation lunch included with the UDP on Anthem? If so, does anyone know which restaurant?

Lunch is only supposed to be included on sea days.  That is in the fine print describing the UDP and embarkation day is not considered a sea day.  However, like many other rules, RCCL seems to interpret this one inconsistently.

[vacationlover_mn]

On 3/4/2019 at 4:50 PM, actuarian said:

Lunch is only supposed to be included on sea days.  That is in the fine print describing the UDP and embarkation day is not considered a sea day.  However, like many other rules, RCCL seems to interpret this one inconsistently.

When we bought the UDP for Symphony, the description included the embarkation lunch.  Ours ended up being at Jamie’s

[actuarian]

5 hours ago, vacationlover_mn said:

When we bought the UDP for Symphony, the description included the embarkation lunch.  Ours ended up being at Jamie’s

I haven't been on the Symphony but the description of the UDP on two other ships (the Navigator and the Mariner) reads as follows: "Savor the savings with the Ultimate Dining Package! For one low price, you can enjoy dinner at our specialty restaurants every night of your sailing. And as an added perk, you’ll also get to eat lunch in our specialty restaurants on sea days. Plus, enjoy a discount of 40% off bottles of wine under $100 and 20% off bottles above $100 while dining in specialty restaurants."

 

The only mention of lunch is "lunch in our specialty restaurants on sea days".  Moreover, since boarding day lunch is part of "The Key", including it with the UDP would mean that anyone who purchased both the UDP and The Key would be paying for the same thing twice.  Nevertheless, as I pointed out in my previous post, Royal Caribbean has never been consistent in regards to what is included in dining packages,  For example, the Hibachi experience at Izumi is supposed to be excluded but, as other posters have reported here, that is not always the case.

Edited March 6, 2019 by actuarian

[vacationlover_mn]

7 hours ago, actuarian said:

 For example, the Hibachi experience at Izumi is supposed to be excluded but, as other posters have reported here, that is not always the case.

Yep- for us, only Izumi ala cart was included on Symphony- we got a $35pp credit for ala cart

[Foodluvr]

1 hour ago, vacationlover_mn said:

Yep- for us, only Izumi ala cart was included on Symphony- we got a $35pp credit for ala cart

And we were able to use for single protein hibach on the 1st night on several Oasis class ships!

[SAmome]

19 hours ago, actuarian said:

I haven't been on the Symphony but the description of the UDP on two other ships (the Navigator and the Mariner) reads as follows: "Savor the savings with the Ultimate Dining Package! For one low price, you can enjoy dinner at our specialty restaurants every night of your sailing. And as an added perk, you’ll also get to eat lunch in our specialty restaurants on sea days. Plus, enjoy a discount of 40% off bottles of wine under $100 and 20% off bottles above $100 while dining in specialty restaurants."

 

 

 

I think for Mariner 3 night the UDP is same as 3 night specialty dining package.  With Izumi only offering Hibachi that leaves dining in either Chops or Jamies twice.

 

And if they sell quite a few bogo and UDPs, I could see having a problem booking 3 dinners as the 2 specialty spots fill quickly.