What your recommendations for getting the most out of the unlimited dining plan.

[misguy]

We booked the unlimited dining plan on sale, and now my questions is how to plan out meals.  What are the best choices?  Can we use it at Chops on the first day, or Johnny Rockets?

[Biker19]

3 hours ago, misguy said:

What are the best choices?

It may help to provide the ship.

[Hogbay]

Skip  breakfast.  There is no best choice, you can tryeverything 😇

[Merion_Mom]

4 hours ago, Biker19 said:

It may help to provide the ship.

It looks like Adventure, from previous posts.

[misguy]

10 hours ago, misguy said:

We booked the unlimited dining plan on sale, and now my questions is how to plan out meals.  What are the best choices?  Can we use it at Chops on the first day, or Johnny Rockets?

Sorry, I am on the July 10th sailing on the Adventure of the Seas.  It is our first RC sailing in 20 years.

 

[Ourusualbeach]

19 minutes ago, misguy said:

Sorry, I am on the July 10th sailing on the Adventure of the Seas.  It is our first RC sailing in 20 years.

 

Make reservations for the entire week once you board.  You can always change them later subject to availability.  Adventure doesn’t have that many specialty restaurants so you will be eating at some several times.  
 

Be prepared to a food coma.  We get the UDP and have yet to use it for lunch unless it’s at Johnny Rockets or Playmakers (Oasis)

[jean87510]

Jumping into this conversation, I purchased this for my 14 day Grandeur cruise in February as we have $1400+ to burn in OBC and the price was $285 per person.  I didn't realize you can also use for lunch. Can you do it the same day for lunch and dinner?  

[John&LaLa]

1 hour ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Make reservations for the entire week once you board.  You can always change them later subject to availability.  Adventure doesn’t have that many specialty restaurants so you will be eating at some several times.  
 

Be prepared to a food coma.  We get the UDP and have yet to use it for lunch unless it’s at Johnny Rockets or Playmakers (Oasis)

 

Portside BBQ😉

[molly361]

39 minutes ago, jean87510 said:

Jumping into this conversation, I purchased this for my 14 day Grandeur cruise in February as we have $1400+ to burn in OBC and the price was $285 per person.  I didn't realize you can also use for lunch. Can you do it the same day for lunch and dinner?  

Yes

[Norwich Cruiser]

Usually get the three night dining package and find that works well for us.

 

We would only consider the UDP on  Oasis class ships.

[George C]

14 hours ago, misguy said:

We booked the unlimited dining plan on sale, and now my questions is how to plan out meals.  What are the best choices?  Can we use it at Chops on the first day, or Johnny Rockets?

Agree with previous posts make reservations first day, definitely chops  over Johnny Rockets for lunch , have no problem eating multiple meals at chops, but would try each restaurant offered at least once. 

[MikeBayAreaCa]

We purchased the UDP for our seven  day February cruise on the Navigator.  There are four specialty restaurants on board, plus Playmakers and Johnny Rockets.  There is also small items in the Bamboo Room, but I am not sure if that is  covered by the package.

 

Since we are in a suite we plan to ask the Concierge to reserve our dinner reservations for all seven days.  We’ll try each one, Chops, Hooked, Izumi and Johnny’s Italian the first four nights and, if necessary, based on our experience in each,   change reservations for the last three nights.

We’ll try to eat lunch in all four and will try Playmakers since it is open from 11 on.  
We might try Johnny Rockets.  
 

The one thing we do plan to do is to eat smartly and not over indulge.  Eat lots of protein and sample in small quantities the bread and high carb meals.   When we order dessert we usually order one and share.  On board we’ll each order something different and take a few bites of each.  

 

 

 

 

[notmyrealnameoremail]

On 6/2/2021 at 6:29 AM, Ourusualbeach said:

Make reservations for the entire week once you board.  You can always change them later subject to availability.  Adventure doesn’t have that many specialty restaurants so you will be eating at some several times.  
 

Be prepared to a food coma.  We get the UDP and have yet to use it for lunch unless it’s at Johnny Rockets or Playmakers (Oasis)

@Ourusualbeach Ken, does this mean Johnny Rockets is included in the Unlimited Dining Plan?

 

Thanks.

[Ourusualbeach]

10 minutes ago, notmyrealnameoremail said:

@Ourusualbeach Ken, does this mean Johnny Rockets is included in the Unlimited Dining Plan?

 

Thanks.

Yes it is. 

[notmyrealnameoremail]

Just now, Ourusualbeach said:

Yes it is. 

Thanks

[chefchick]

On 6/2/2021 at 9:40 AM, MikeBayAreaCa said:

 

The one thing we do plan to do is to eat smartly and not over indulge.  Eat lots of protein and sample in small quantities the bread and high carb meals.   When we order dessert we usually order one and share.  On board we’ll each order something different and take a few bites of each.  

👆👆THIS 👆👆. I will be sailing for the first time onOvation OTS in September and I got a good deal on the UDP so I took it.  I don’t plan to be in a “food coma” the entire time because no one is forcing me to overeat.  IMO “getting my money’s worth” means enjoying my meals as part of my cruise experience….not my entire cruise experience.  Can’t wait!

 

On 6/2/2021 at 9:40 AM, MikeBayAreaCa said:

 

 

 

[sugcarol]

We always get the UDP and for 7 night we do Chops 3 times (1st, middle and last.) The others we sandwich in. We dont like the Chops breakfast. We book in advance and have our list of the dining and times we want, so the first thing we do when we get on ship is to find whoever is at their podium. Most of the time they are on the Promenade but have also seen then outside of Windjammer. We LOVE the UDP and just consider it part of our cruise.

[Goodtime Cruizin]

7 minutes ago, sugcarol said:

We book in advance and have our list of the dining and times we want, so the first thing we do when we get on ship is to find whoever is at their podium. Most of the time they are on the Promenade but have also seen then outside of Windjammer. We LOVE the UDP and just consider it part of our cruise.

 

We do the same thing and base our dinner times on the ship's shows that we wish to enjoy. 

[sugcarol]

5 hours ago, chefchick said:

 

Some of us do enjoy a good food that is better than MDR  Neither of us are large enough to block out the sun, your remarks sound snarky,  preachy and offensive.

Edited June 19, 2021 by sugcarol

[FPP777]

To maximize the benefit of the UDP, you could do 7 dinners and 4 lunches if you desire. If I did my homework correctly, you can go to lunch on boarding day as well as the 3 days at see (our cruise), then every night for dinner. We are on the Allure so we will visit the same place twice during the week. 

[chefchick]

7 hours ago, sugcarol said:

Some of us do enjoy a good food that is better than MDR  Neither of us are large enough to block out the sun, your remarks sound snarky,  preachy and offensive.

Honestly, that was not my intention.  I just keep hearing everyone use the term “food coma” implying the only way to “get your money’s worth” is to over indulge.  My plan is to enjoy my meals and maybe try new things, and that’s how I will get the most out of the plan for me…whatever anyone else does or doesn’t do is up to them.

 

This is why these forums can be so frustrating.  I’m sure if we were face to face and you heard the intention of my statement as we were talking you would never jump to the conclusion that I was trying to be offensive in any way.  

 

 

 

[jcc1025]

We book each restaurant a couple of times. On the first dinner at each one, if we have a great server which we always have, we tell him we are coming back on what ever night we are returning and ask if we can have him/her serve us. They are always excited that we asked for them, set it up so we get them the second time and they have always done something a little extra on the second night. 

[jean87510]

following this thread.  I got a great price of $280 for my 14 day grandeur cruise in February using OBC and this info is very helpful.  I know there's only 3 restaurants but that doesn't bother us as we like all 3.