Help booking dining with the Ultimate Dining Package

[coldinerie]

Help, how do I book on line my dining reservations with this package? I have paid for it already, just cant seem to book the restaurants. Any assistance would be appreciated. I have called RC, but truthfully they were as confused as I was. That's why I turned to trusty CC folks, we know as much as they do 🙂

[Clarea]

Dining packages cannot book restaurant reservations in advance.

 

Part of the reason you are getting a break on the price is to fill in those slots left open by those who paid full price and were able to make pre-cruise reservations.

 

Go to any specialty restaurant as soon as you board to make reservations.

[hacejm]

We did this last summer on Oasis.  We got on the ship and made our reservations.  We had no trouble making the reservations and even made a change or two over the course of the week with no issue.  We loved it and plan to use it again this summer on our Alaska cruise.

[Jgordo]

We have recently booked the UDP for our TA crossing on Oasis. I was concerned about not being able to make reservations ahead of time, we have 2 young kids and would prefer an early seating but customer service said it was not possible. They did allude to some exception with large groups (8+) but we didn't meet that criteria. That being said; I'm assured that its VERY unlikely they will be unable to accommodate our timings if we make it a priority to arrange this on embarkation day. I'm thinking of printing out a list of our requests ahead of time for the full 2 weeks and having guest services book them in one go when we board? 

 

It's a little annoying that we cant book at least one sitting for each speciality restaurant ahead of boarding but it is what it is I suppose. I only hope that we are able get the sitting we need otherwise it will be a waste of time and money. If we are left with later dining times its not fair on the kids or fellow passengers, the last thing I'd want to hear is fussy kids when I'm trying to have a nice meal.

 

Fingers crossed

[Merion_Mom]

11 minutes ago, Jgordo said:

We have recently booked the UDP for our TA crossing on Oasis. I was concerned about not being able to make reservations ahead of time, we have 2 young kids and would prefer an early seating but customer service said it was not possible. They did allude to some exception with large groups (8+) but we didn't meet that criteria. That being said; I'm assured that its VERY unlikely they will be unable to accommodate our timings if we make it a priority to arrange this on embarkation day. I'm thinking of printing out a list of our requests ahead of time for the full 2 weeks and having guest services book them in one go when we board? 

 

It's a little annoying that we cant book at least one sitting for each speciality restaurant ahead of boarding but it is what it is I suppose. I only hope that we are able get the sitting we need otherwise it will be a waste of time and money. If we are left with later dining times its not fair on the kids or fellow passengers, the last thing I'd want to hear is fussy kids when I'm trying to have a nice meal.

 

Fingers crossed

 

As mentioned above, Royal Caribbean is offering you a much lower price in exchange for your loss of flexibility.

 

If you don't want to lose that flexibility, you will have to cancel the UDP and book the restaurants at full price.

[Jgordo]

24 minutes ago, Merion_Mom said:

 

As mentioned above, Royal Caribbean is offering you a much lower price in exchange for your loss of flexibility.

 

If you don't want to lose that flexibility, you will have to cancel the UDP and book the restaurants at full price.

 

As I said, it is what it is and we will go into it as prepared as we can to get the best use out of it. We'll make it work for us regardless, but some options for UDP would be nice though. Whilst we may be attracting a discount its likely that our spend per passenger will be higher than those booking one or two speciality sittings for the whole cruise.

 

In terms of offering it at a lower price for loss of flexibility, whilst I can see how that assumption is made, I'm sure if you ask RCCL they would tell you different ;) 

[LadyBeBop]

We booked the UDP. Wouldn’t the earliest or latest times be the easiest to get anyway?  We eat early at home (plus 5:30 Alaska time is actually 9:30 our time..wow that’s late even thinking about it). 

[taglovestocruise]

1 hour ago, Jgordo said:

 

In terms of offering it at a lower price for loss of flexibility, whilst I can see how that assumption is made, I'm sure if you ask RCCL they would tell you different 😉

That is exactly what Royal would tell you. Those that need a reservation will pay $50.00 + per person.  With UDP and all the seas days that allow you  specialty dining lunch you will pay about $18.00 per meal.  If you purchased the UDP for the kids you should get a massive OBC if you cancel the plan for them once onboard. Kids eat for $10.00 at specialty restaurants. As Bob advised above make your reservation as soon as you board. If there is a line at the Promenade Kiosk just go to any specialty restaurant to make reservations. happy cruising, mega ship TA'S are fantastic.  

[tinmantim]

We traveled as a group of 4 on a sold out Symphony with the UDP in February and had no trouble booking the times we preferred once we got on board. Go straight to any specialty restaurant as soon as you get on and the host will help set up your dining. We really enjoyed the specialty package!

[katiel53]

On Harmony in January they had us go to the MDR to make reservations for the UDP.  There were reps set up at tables that did all our reservations.  We had no trouble making our dinner reservations.  

 

We did NOT make reservations for lunches as we wanted to decide what we felt like having for lunch.  We usually went around 12:30 and never had a problem.

 

On Allure, there were podiums set up and we made our reservations there for the whole week.  Again, we had no problem making reservations for the times we wanted.  The only time we couldn't get what we wanted was the last night when we decided to didn't want to go to the restaurant that was reserved for us.  We called and we could get into the new restaurant, but it had to be later as nothing was available for 6:30.  We had 8PM instead and that was fine.

[coldinerie]

One final questions, can we use this UDP anyplace on the ship for lunch as well? Jonny Rockets, and any other upcharge place?

 

BTW, thank you for all of your responses, I knew you folks would know the answer!!

[Clarea]

1 minute ago, coldinerie said:

One final questions, can we use this UDP anyplace on the ship for lunch as well? Jonny Rockets, and any other upcharge place?

 

BTW, thank you for all of your responses, I knew you folks would know the answer!!

 

Yes.

[Bobal]

We have the UDP booked for a forthcoming cruise on Oasis. Since there are people posting on this thread who have used it in the past, does anyone have experience of getting a takeout lunch from Izumi?

[Jgordo]

11 hours ago, Bobal said:

We have the UDP booked for a forthcoming cruise on Oasis. Since there are people posting on this thread who have used it in the past, does anyone have experience of getting a takeout lunch from Izumi?

 

Yeah, good shout! My wife is obsessed with Izumi, I'd like to know this too. Also; i'm not sure if Izumi is a-la-carte or if it has now been given a cover charge. The website suggests the later but the cruise planner is showing a cover charge. 

[zooma]

On 3/21/2019 at 12:16 PM, Jgordo said:

They did allude to some exception with large groups (8+) but we didn't meet that criteria.

 

Does anyone know if this group exception would be available at specialty restaurants on Anthem?

[vacationlover_mn]

On 3/21/2019 at 8:36 AM, coldinerie said:

Help, how do I book on line my dining reservations with this package? I have paid for it already, just cant seem to book the restaurants. Any assistance would be appreciated. I have called RC, but truthfully they were as confused as I was. That's why I turned to trusty CC folks, we know as much as they do 🙂

They will book the first night for you.  Before the trip, think about where and when you want to go, and write it down.  Take your sheet of paper with you onboard, and right away go to a restaurant and make your reservations.  Write down your updated plan 🙂

I thought I had our plan in my head, but forgot when we got there 🙂. Next time I will follow my own advice, since I ended up forgetting our plan... while your reservations will show in your app, it might take a day or two, so having it written down helps.

And, if you don’t like where/when they booked you for first night, you can change it.  And, you can change your reservations later.  We ended up hating 150, and changed our reservations.

Edited March 22, 2019 by vacationlover_mn

[reaton]

Since there are folks here with UDP experience, has anyone eaten at chops on embarkation day (since the advent of “The Key”)?

[vacationlover_mn]

10 minutes ago, reaton said:

Since there are folks here with UDP experience, has anyone eaten at chops on embarkation day (since the advent of “The Key”)?

On Symphony, they had the key, and our non-key UDP embarkation lunch was at Jamie’s.

[Jgordo]

18 hours ago, zooma said:

 

Does anyone know if this group exception would be available at specialty restaurants on Anthem?

 Can't see why not, worthwhile calling the customer service line and asking. 

[LadyBeBop]

I guess lunch at Chops for embarkation day is out. 

 

I’m assuming we can switch our assigned dinner out for Chops the first night. 

 

How long should we allow for Wonderland?  I was thinking that would be great for Day 2. However, we have reservations for the 9:15 Pixals. 

 

I would think three three hours would be enough. Plus I also see the dinner and show going together well. 

[vacationlover_mn]

12 minutes ago, LadyBeBop said:

I guess lunch at Chops for embarkation day is out. 

 

I’m assuming we can switch our assigned dinner out for Chops the first night. 

 

How long should we allow for Wonderland?  I was thinking that would be great for Day 2. However, we have reservations for the 9:15 Pixals. 

 

I would think three three hours would be enough. Plus I also see the dinner and show going together well. 

We were at Wonderland super bowl Sunday, and we mentioned that we were hoping dinner could be a little quicker than normal.  There were two of us, we tried many things, and were done in under 2 hours.

[katiel53]

21 hours ago, Jgordo said:

 

Yeah, good shout! My wife is obsessed with Izumi, I'd like to know this too. Also; i'm not sure if Izumi is a-la-carte or if it has now been given a cover charge. The website suggests the later but the cruise planner is showing a cover charge. 

I have to preface my statement by saying I don't eat sushi so I don't go to that part of Izumi.  Having said that, my understanding is now that Izumi is no longer a la carte, it has a cover charge.  I also don't think it's open for lunch.

 

We were told on Allure that the UDP does NOT include lunch at JR.  We could use it at Giovanni's, Chops or Sabor.  I don't know if the same applies to other ships as Allure.