Updates RE: Unlimited VS. Ultimate dining package

[Ken at the beach]

3 hours ago, rusty nut said:

I was under the impression that Cap'n Jacks is included in your cruise, period. I believe all dining options on Coco Caye are included in your cruise fare. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Captain Jacks is an a la carte restaurant. (not included)

 

http://creative.rccl.com/Sales/Royal/Perfect_Day/18062708_FAQ_Perfect_Day_CocoCay_Consumer.pdf

[JoeFan]

How does UDP work with hibachi?

 

[Ken at the beach]

38 minutes ago, JoeFan said:

How does UDP work with hibachi?

 

It is now included

[JoeFan]

2 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said:

It is now included

 

Is it limited on the menu or can you order any plate?

[Ken at the beach]

3 hours ago, JoeFan said:

 

Is it limited on the menu or can you order any plate?

At Hibachi there are only 2 options.  One protein or two.  I have seen a couple different reports.  One said that only one protein was included and it was $5 to get the second protein while the other said that it included two proteins.  Different ships.  

[rusty nut]

11 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Captain Jacks is an a la carte restaurant. (not included)

 

http://creative.rccl.com/Sales/Royal/Perfect_Day/18062708_FAQ_Perfect_Day_CocoCay_Consumer.pdf

Ah, okay. Royal said they added 5 new complimentary dining options on Cococay. Looking at the map, I see 5 food locations so I assumed Cap'n Jacks was one of them.

[Mr. Candyman]

On 5/22/2019 at 9:32 AM, CC Help Jenn said:

Just food.  Milkshakes are included in bev package. 

So just to confirm, the JR Milkshakes are included in the Beverage package because I thought they were not?

Edited May 26, 2019 by Mr. Candyman

[Ken at the beach]

15 minutes ago, Mr. Candyman said:

So just to confirm, the JR Milkshakes are included in the Beverage package because I thought they were not?

No they are not

 

only included if you have the UDP and buy food (officially) 

Edited May 26, 2019 by Ourusualbeach

[Mr. Candyman]

1 minute ago, Ourusualbeach said:

No they are not

Didn't think so.....thanks Ken for confirming

Edited May 26, 2019 by Mr. Candyman

[CC Help Jenn]

2 hours ago, Mr. Candyman said:

So just to confirm, the JR Milkshakes are included in the Beverage package because I thought they were not?

 Officially you have to buy food to use your Bev package for a milkshake.  Of course there are reports of that not being enforced sometimes so I suppose it would depend on the staff.  

 

If you have UDP then you can have the food included in your package and get a shake using your bev package.  But the shake itself is not included in the UDP.  You would need both packages to have food and shakes fee-free. 

[crusinthrough]

2 hours ago, Mr. Candyman said:

So just to confirm, the JR Milkshakes are included in the Beverage package because I thought they were not?

 

2 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said:

No they are not

 

only included if you have the UDP and buy food (officially) 

 

12 minutes ago, CC Help Jenn said:

 Officially you have to buy food to use your Bev package for a milkshake.  Of course there are reports of that not being enforced sometimes so I suppose it would depend on the staff.  

 

If you have UDP then you can have the food included in your package and get a shake using your bev package.  But the shake itself is not included in the UDP.  You would need both packages to have food and shakes fee-free. 

 

Included in Jan 19 on the Harmony with only the beverage package without purchasing food.  

Edited May 26, 2019 by crusinthrough

[Mr. Candyman]

1 hour ago, crusinthrough said:

 

 

 

Included in Jan 19 on the Harmony with only the beverage package without purchasing food.  

I guess it's another case of Royal's consistency of being inconsistent

[amyhphoto]

On 5/22/2019 at 11:56 PM, Ourusualbeach said:

It is now included

  Is it for sure included? I keep seeing conflicting reports about this. 

[Ken at the beach]

21 minutes ago, amyhphoto said:

  Is it for sure included? I keep seeing conflicting reports about this. 

The new flyer just excludes Chefs table and culinary experiences.  There were tweets and Facebook posts from Royal saying it was included and posts from people on the ships that used it.

Edited May 26, 2019 by Ourusualbeach

[gbcruise]

On 5/21/2019 at 3:09 PM, BNBR said:

 

Having to go back to reprint and edit checks is not fun. They aren't doing that on purpose. And nobody with UDP is going to just pay the bill without saying anything.  Makes no sense this would be intentional. 

Quite right. And, we do not realize that on each sailing staff exists and comes on. The person serving you may be brand new to the ship and acquiring all that has changed since last aboard one, or new all together. Not every situation is understandable for awhile, just like all of us here right now asking how things are "supposed" to be done. And as all ships are, they all sometimes have different rules that are implemented from the ships management, regardless of what Miami says.

[gbcruise]

A suite perk is main dining room food that can be served in the Suite. If using the Unlimited can the specialty food also be ordered and delivered to the Suite? Also, how do you know which ships have the hibachi grills that have the choice of proteins verses ones that do not?

 

 

[Ken at the beach]

8 minutes ago, gbcruise said:

A suite perk is main dining room food that can be served in the Suite. If using the Unlimited can the specialty food also be ordered and delivered to the Suite? Also, how do you know which ships have the hibachi grills that have the choice of proteins verses ones that do not?

 

 

Only Star class suites on Quantum and Oasis class can order specialty to their room. 

 

It will I’ll be in the cruise planner for your ship if there is Hibachi.

 

its basically the 4 Oasis class ships and they did add it to one, or maybe a couple of other ships during their recent drydock 

Edited May 26, 2019 by Ourusualbeach

[molly361]

9 minutes ago, dada2199cc said:

On Freedom this week.  Unlimited Dining Package upgraded from the ultimate booked online forever ago.

 

night 1 we had the guacamole appetizer at Sabor along with the yucca fries and hopped over to Chops for dinner.

 

today we tried to book Giovanni’s for appetizers and then Chops for dinner and were firmly denied by both restaurant hosts.

 

our usual telephone contact at RCCL is on vacation this week so no help at the corporate offices but my read is still that you can have multiple restaurants on the same night.

 

FWIW we aren’t big eaters at all, but just wanted to try appetizers at one joint and a meal at another.

 

we always get the old ultimate dining package on every cruise.

Sad that we are now a couple of weeks into the new Unlimited and staff is still uninformed.  Here's part of the email that we received from Royal

 

Dear Guest,

Thanks for booking the Ultimate Dining Package for your upcoming cruise. We wanted to let you know about some recent enhancements we’ve made to this package!

First things first, the Ultimate Dining Package is now known as the Unlimited Dining Package, and it’s just that, unlimited. Now, you can dine at any of our specialty dining venues for lunch and dinner, and as many times as you want! Your appetite is the limit. Some other great benefits include:

• Discounts on bottles of wine! 40% off of bottles under $100 USD and 20% off of bottles over $100 USD. You thirsty yet? Note: Discount only applies when dining on your using your package.
• Savings on exclusive dinging experiences: 20% off when booking Chef’s Table and any Culinary Experiences onboard.
• Plus, now Playmakers (available on select ships) has been added to the line-up of venues. You’ll get a $35 credit to use since this venue is a la carte.

Edited May 27, 2019 by molly361

[molly361]

7 minutes ago, dada2199cc said:

Molly — that is indeed how I read it!

 

I am not really one to try to take advantage of loopholes in general and I bet I’m as low revenue a passenger as possible already, but I do expect some clarity on the verbiage used in the official website and email marketing.

 

Thanks for posting the actual email, I’ll send this over to the specialty dining manager and see if he can get any clarity from corporate.  Too bad it’s a holiday and no one can verify!

 

also — no lunch in embarkation day on the freedom with unlimited dining.  Wasn’t expecting it but forgot to mention that.

We had problems with it last week on the Harmony and also did not push it.  We were told in Chops that we could only order 1 entree and at the Solarium Bistro that the upcharge items (lamb and lobster) were NOT included.  We did get lunch at Sabor with no problem on embarkation day.  Good luck

[Jem 12]

On 4/30/2019 at 2:47 PM, mrsmagoo1 said:

I contacted Royal about what was included - here's the reply I received. I'm sailing Independence in a month so can report back our experience.

Yes, Izumi Hibachi is now part of the Unlimited Dining Package, subject to availability. I hope you will enjoy all the benefits of this Dining Package! Please let us know if you have any questions about this or if we can help in any other way.

 

We are delighted that you have purchased our Unlimited Dining Package so that you can enjoy specialty dining at discounted rates! Izumi Sushi, Playmakers Sports Bar & Arcade, and Fish & Ships are a la carte options, and as you may know, your Unlimited Dining Package provides a $35 credit towards your food purchases in those venues. On the Independence of the Seas, Johnny Rockets has a cover charge of $9.95 per person, and you may use your Unlimited Dining Package there. Regrettably, Vintages is not considered a specialty dining venue for purposes of our dining packages, and we are very sorry for any disappointment this may cause.

 

We did the ultimate package on the latest Indy transatlantic, we ate in chops most nights, when we ate in the dining room, my husband had the surf and turf which would cost $42, I just had the fillet steak which was $20, we weren’t charged anything once we pointed out we had the unlimited, it isn’t printed on your card so they don’t know unless you tell them.

 

the only problem we had was when my husband ordered calamari at fish and ships about $6 the only thing we were having for lunch, he was charged, we queried this but they refused to cook it unless we paid for it which my husband did, we then stood waiting for 20 minutes, when we queried again they realised they had forgotten to cook it, despite the fact we were the only customers!!!!! We loved paying the 18% service charge on that order, especially as we just stood waiting at a counter!!!

i queried the charge at guest relations but they assured us it was not included, we thought it was ridiculous. 

We used Johnny rockets once, playmakers twice, it was nice to have the choice not sure I would do it again, very limited menus especially healthy veg/ salad, I used to go to the windjammer from Chops to get some salad.

 

We felt, it might have been our imagination, that we got the worst tables in chops and one night as the waiter put my meal on the table he acknowledged it wasn’t what I ordered but didn’t offer to correct, as we were eating with another couple I let it go. 

 

We did the package because  we had a bad experience with the food on Navigator last May, we thought the food on Indy in general was much better. 

[zooma]

3 hours ago, dada2199cc said:

today we tried to book Giovanni’s for appetizers and then Chops for dinner and were firmly denied by both restaurant hosts.

 

What were their stated reasons for their firm denials? Was it because they were fully booked up or because they thought you could not do the apps-in-one-venue, entree-in-another thing?

[LMaxwell]

Doesn't anyone just get aggravated trying to either figure out what you are buying, or getting them to honor what you paid for, that you just say forget it and ditch it going forward?  It's like they want to torment you. 

[Clarea]

1 hour ago, LMaxwell said:

Doesn't anyone just get aggravated trying to either figure out what you are buying, or getting them to honor what you paid for, that you just say forget it and ditch it going forward?  It's like they want to torment you. 

 

I agree, it seems more and more annoying.

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

My prediction: This will never be "settled science".

 

Heck, I'll go one further... we'll have a national consensus on climate change around the same time.  😉

 

Tom

[RFerrington]

On 5/27/2019 at 2:29 PM, dada2199cc said:

Molly — that is indeed how I read it!

 

I am not really one to try to take advantage of loopholes in general and I bet I’m as low revenue a passenger as possible already, but I do expect some clarity on the verbiage used in the official website and email marketing.

 

Thanks for posting the actual email, I’ll send this over to the specialty dining manager and see if he can get any clarity from corporate.  Too bad it’s a holiday and no one can verify!

 

also — no lunch in embarkation day on the freedom with unlimited dining.  Wasn’t expecting it but forgot to mention that.

So weird.  I was on Freedom last month and had the UDP and was able to have Chops on embarkation day.  As a matter of fact, they gave us the regular lunch menu and not the more limited Key menu.