Wonder of the Seas Unlimited Dining Package Review

[tx121]

We just got off the Wonder of the Seas on Friday and thought we would share our thoughts on the Unlimited Dining Package and if it was worth the extra cost. Now we did miss the special where you could prebook online for 35% off but it was sold out by the time we decided to purchase. So we figured to try our luck and see if we could book onboard. We were approached by many waiters around the ship trying to sell the 3 restaurant dining package but when we inquired about the unlimited dining package, they all said sorry it is all sold out. So we went to Giovannis and talked to the host to see if she had a different answer. After calling her manager, she said yes we can book you the unlimited dining package. The cost was $217 per person plus 18% gratuity --totaling around $256 per person. This was a much steeper cost than the special they had online which was $75 cheaper after the discount but we wanted to try the specialty restaurants on Royal's brand new ship. Since we were only doing the specialty restaurants, we went to guest relations and removed our automatic gratuities from our bill. Of course we paid our stateroom attendant in cash. I know this is a very controversial subject and discussion, but all I have to say is you do you. My thought is that Royal is already charging me $75 more for the unlimited dining package then the ones who booked online and 18% gratuity on top of that. Booking the restaurants can be done on the app and also at any specialty restaurant host stand. I think there is a glitch on the app because there were 2 restaurants that said no availability but when we went to the host, it was available. We tried every specialty restaurant onboard and here is our review.

 

Playmakers - We decided to eat here for embarkation lunch and ordered the poke nachos, regular nachos with chili, wings (BBQ and Jerk),Jalapeno poppers, and truffled fries. We thought all were good....typical bar food. Even if you don't have the dining package, the prices are reasonable. Our favorite was the dessert-- The Campfire Cookie. It was sooo good! If you have a sweet tooth, you will enjoy this. 

 

Wonderland- For Dinner Day 1, we went to Wonderland. I have been here 2x on other ships but it was my friend's first time. The atmosphere is nicer on the Wonder of the Seas than the previous ships I have been on so that was a nice change. In Wonderland, usually the waiter guides you through the menu and brings out his recommendations which is always the same on every ship. Now my friend doesn't eat seafood and the appetizers are very seafood heavy. So if you let the waiter know this, you are allowed to order 2 items from the entree section. The first item being a smaller version of the entree and the 2nd one being the full entree. For my courses, they came out with the smoked deviled eggs, crab filled cone, fried shrimp, lobster bisque and for the entree I had the Short Ribs. All were very good as usual.My friend ordered the Pork Entree and the Short Ribs. I tried the Pork entree and it was very good as well. For dessert we had the Chocolate Globe and the Forbidden Apple. One being very light and refreshing and the other being very rich and sweet. We enjoyed our experience at Wonderland. 

 

Izumi - We LOVE Izumi! We went here 2x for sit down and 3 times for take out. You have a $35 credit here which is more than enough especially if you do the Prix Fix which includes 1 small plate, 2 large plates and 1 dessert. All of the sushi rolls we tried here were excellent. They also have chicken teryaki, noodles, ramen, gyoza, and most dishes you see at a Japanese restaurant. If you wanted to do hibachi it was $10 extra with the dining package. For dessert, we had the sesame balls and the mochi ice cream. The mochi ice cream is a must try!

 

Mason Jar- Oh Mason Jar.....I had high hopes but you were meh. I say if you have the unlimited dining package, I say try it for yourself, but I do NOT recommend it if you are going to pay for the cover charge or only have the 3 restaurant dining package. We went here for Brunch and Dinner and also did take out. Our first experience was dinner. We ordered the Johnny Cakes --too sweet /BBQ sauce overpowered everything, Crab Beignets-- These were soooooo good--a must order, the Watermelon Salad--this was also very good and I highly recommend. The issue comes with the entrees....We ordered the Fried Chicken and Ribs. The fried chicken literally tasted like Golden Corrals chicken but even greasier. The Ribs were ok but a little on the dry side. The mac and cheese seemed like out of a box and collard greens were bitter. For dessert we got the Banana Pudding which was warm-- not good and the twice fried oreo which was terrible. We saw a lot of plates from other tables being left with a lot of food. The funny thing is we went to the Windjammer one night and the items you can get at the Mason Jar, you can get at the buffet AND it is 100% much better there! The ribs in the buffet were tender and fall off the bone, the fried chicken wings were crispy and had a nice flavor, the mac and cheese was cheesy and rich. As far as brunch at the Mason Jar... we ordered the Cinnamon Roll--dry, The stuffed French Toast-- that was very good, and red velvet pancakes--seemed to be frozen pancakes they heated back up in the microwave. We did do take out on the last day and got the watermelon salad and crab beignets which again were delicious. 

 

Johnny Rockets- The usual Johnny Rockets menu but it seems like the hamburger patties are much thinner now. I would recommend ordering a double burger patty. Also ordered chili cheese fries and the grilled chicken club sandwich. The fries seemed to be smaller as well. Overall still an enjoyable experience. 

 

150 Central Park- This restaurant has been a hit or miss but this time it was a hit. We started off with the scallops which were sweet and the sauce had a nice flavor. I had the ceasar salad and my friend had the pork belly which was delicious! For the entree I had Lobster Thermidor---it was amazing! Especially with that sauce. My friend had the Beef Tenderloin which was also very good. For dessert we both had the fried cheesecake. Highly recommend that! 

 

Giovannis- Truthfully, I miss the old Giovannis / Portofino. It seems like over the years Royal has cheapened the food for this restaurant and raised the prices. This is not worth the cover charge if paying separately. Basically you are getting salad, pizza and pasta for $45 a person. Think about it....$90 for 2 people for that plus gratuity?  The calamari was weird. It seemed more like octopus...more meaty and bland flavoring. The burrata salad was good. We ordered half giovannis signature pizza and other half meat lovers. We enjoyed the giovannis side but the meat lovers was waaaay too salty. My friend had the chicken parm and I ordered the linguini with clam sauce. They say the pasta is made fresh on board. It is TERRIBLE! I have never tasted pasta that was like that....rubbery if i can describe it. The chicken parm was ok but it tasted like the one you can get in the main dining room. The highlight was the dessert. We got the bananas and nutella stromboli, the pistachio panna cotta and the cannolis. We did do take out pizza one night and got the Giovannis signature pizza to go. Honestly the pizza at sorrentos (free pizza)  seemed to be on par with Giovannis pizza just it didn't have the same toppings. Again if you are paying the cover charge or have the 3 restaurant dining package, I do not recommend it here. 

 

Chops- Chops is always a good reliable choice. We started off with the mushroom soup, goat cheese salad, bacon, and beef carpaccio. All were delicious and very tasty. For the entrees, we got the bone in ribeye and jumbo shrimp. Both were excellent. My experience whenever I go to chops is that the meat isn't really seasoned. I think it's because they usually come around with different sauces to try which will bring out more flavor. My friend doesn't like the sauces so he just put salt and pepper and said it was much better. We were too full for dessert so we decided to skip. 

 

Hooked- Besides Mason Jar, this was another restaurant I was looking forward to. I have mixed feelings about this one. We went here for lunch and dinner. Since my friend doesn't like seafood, he was nice to sit with me and order some dishes i wanted to try. He basically ate french fries and i had some of mine and "his" courses. lol! I started off with the drunken mussels which were very good. My friend "had" oysters rockefeller....I wasn't a fan and only ate 2 of the 6 oysters. They were served luke warm and the texture wasn't to my liking. For the entree I ordered the Maine Lobster Roll. I was not a fan of this as I thought i was getting a hot lobster and butter sandwich. To my surprise when it arrived it was the cold lobster roll with mayo which i am not a fan of. I did try to gulp down some of it but ended up leaving about 2/3 of it. My friend "had" the Messy Fish Sandwich and that was delicious! I ate all of that. My friend did enjoy his cajun fries! lol! When we went back for dinner on another evening. "We had" the soft shelled crab--not too impressed as it just tasted like fried anything with no crab flavor, shrimp cocktail---nice big shrimp ..delicious, new england clam chowder--waaaay too salty and more cajun fries. For the entree I got the 2lb stuffed maine lobster and my friend got the turf and turf. The turf and turf is a filet mignion and a grilled chicken breast. The waiter informed me they didn't have anymore maine lobster but would use Caribbean lobster instead and also he didn't recommend getting the cheesy crab stuffing which i thought was weird. So basically I got a grilled Caribbean Lobster and you can tell the difference. To me I didn't care for it as it was dry and didn't have the taste and sweetness of a maine lobster. I think the lobster you get in the main dining room is better than what I got. My friend said his filet was just ok and the chicken breast was dry....but the fries were consistently good...lunch and dinner lol! We got the coconut cream pie dessert and chocolate cake. Both were good. 

 

Final Thoughts

Overall, If you can catch the online sale that is 35% off, I say that this is a great deal. For the price we paid for the 2 of us at $512...I'm not too sure. Again we felt like we were forced to eat at the specialty restaurants to get our money worth. After Day 4/5 we were tired of eating such rich foods and eating at a sit down restaurant. If we weren't able to get the unlimited dining package and bought the 3 restaurant dining package for $109 plus grats....we would've went to Hooked, Wonderland and Mason Jar. We would've been highly disappointed since we didn't care for 2 of the 3 restaurants. What I do like is the option to get take out orders with the unlimited dining plan. So like what we did...we enjoyed some of the items from mason jar, so we ordered them to go, giovannis--we got a pizza to eat in the room, izumi --got several take out orders. You don't need reservations to get take out...just go to the host stand and place your order and come back when they say and it will be ready. We felt the earlier you go, the quicker your food will be ready. Hope this helps for those interested. Any questions --even if its just asking about the wonder, ask away!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[palushka]

Thank you for this - we bought the UDP for the transatlantic and have been looking forward to it - because there are so many sea days ( lunch ) it holds much more value. Sushi and steak are our faves so your review is helpful. We found the beef in the MDR on Oasis a few years ago had a weird texture - I think it was highly tenderized? Chops seemed to have a different definition of "beef". That's what made us decide on the UDP. Can't say Mason Jar appeals to our tastes, but disappointing to hear about Hooked. Info on "take-out" much appreciated.

[Coralc]

It probably was octopus at Giovannis. There is not much to do with leftover octopus, other than serve it as calamari. 

[LaCal]

So you screwed the behind the scenes people who get part of the daily gratuities so you could spend your money on the specialty dining pkg 🤔🤔🙈

 

That’s sad 

[Biker19]

Oh, good, another tipping thread - we didn't have enough of those lately.

[Pomc99]

Nice writeup and thought out reviews with specific examples. Much appreciated. (Ignore the tipping comments, you're obviously free to do what you want with tips and the cruise is over, so any comments from the peanut gallery are moot)

[PTC DAWG]

You lost me when you said you had guest services remove  gratuities. 

[PTC DAWG]

4 hours ago, LaCal said:

So you screwed the behind the scenes people who get part of the daily gratuities so you could spend your money on the specialty dining pkg 🤔🤔🙈

 

That’s sad 

It doesn’t get much worse. 

[CaptainBazz]

Thanks for the review, you certainly tried a lot of dishes.  We were on the same cruise and could not get the UDP online so we purchased 3 separate restaurants and paid the individual price for each. When we got on board we asked about the 3 meal package and was able to cancel our 3 separate restaurants and replace with the 3 meal package. Saved us about $50. We ate at Chops (excellent), Hooked (good, but they brought us too much food) and 150 Central Park (portions were very small). When I commented on this they gave us a complimentary meal in Giovannis. It was good but I agree with your comment, a lot of money for pizza and pasta. Glad we didn't pay.

In the end we were glad we didn't get the UDP as eating in the Specialty restaurants all the time seemed to be too much. We ate at the MDR 3 times and the food and service was great.

Thanks again for the review.

[Merion_Mom]

@tx121

 

Thank you for taking the time to write such a comprehensive and honest review.  VERY helpful.

 

(I would only buy the UDP if the per day price hovered around 23-25) (and if I had OBC to cover it)  (but that's me 😄 )