Specialty Restaurants

[PhillyFan33579]

12 hours ago, latebuyer said:

I have a few questions about specialty restaurants. First can you book them same day on the cruise. I am on a pacific coastal and concerned it will be rough and prefer not to book a day to eat when it is rough. Or to add, how late can you make a cancellation?

 

Also, wonder how good the sushi tastes on izumi when it must be frozen? Or would it be better to book it a port day when they bring in the sushi.

 

Which would people recommend izumi or giovanni? One thing i'm thinking of doing is doing the chops lunch and izumi since that would be the cheaper option. On the other hand, someone mentioned the steak at giovanni is better than chops so could do dinner at giovannis and izumi. Thanks for your help.

I would rank the restaurants you mentioned in the following order: 1. Chops 2. Izumi. 3. Giovanni’s. 

I have been on 4 RCI cruises this year and purchased the UDP on every cruise. The restaurants I mentioned are all excellent in my opinion, so you can’t go wrong no matter where you eat. I agree with the comment that the steak at Giovanni’s is very good, but I don’t think it is better than the steaks at Chops. 

 

[latebuyer]

Thanks for this. It is nice izumi is cheaper and i’ve heard chops lunch is good value.

[Biker19]

14 hours ago, cruiselvr04 said:

You got lucky.

It's not luck - the reporting suggests that ships which have the "new" look/feel planner add the grats, while the ships which use the "older" planner don't.

[PMGS247]

15 hours ago, rudeney said:

 

It seems it depends on whether or not the cruise uses the old version of Cruise Planner or the new one.  According to @chiguy67, the old version does not add the gratuity, but the new one does.  My cruise appears to be using the old version.  When I bought the DBP and some spa services, the 18% was added to those.  The UDP was listed at $245.  When I checked out with it (for my wife and me) it was exactly $490.  

 

Interesting.  If it's not a 7 day cruise then it's just coincidence that the numbers are so close and we're comparing apples to apples.  My UDP came out tor $490.84 which follows the gratuity math on a base rate of 207.99 x 1.18 x 2.  I don't have a huge sample size as I've never actually taken a royal caribbean cruise but thanks to covid cancellations I've fully booked 3 separate cruises worth of on board packages and excursions through the cruise planner. The UDP has always worked that way, same as DBP.  Starting to feel like I'm at work with all the acronyms LOL

[RFerrington]

The "old" CP format does actually charge gratuities...it's just that the grats are already included as part of the overall price.  With the new CP (My Royal Cruise), the gratuities are separated and added as a separate charge.

[rudeney]

I'm confused now and not sure if I have old or new Cruise Planner and which does what.  I can't show the UDP (because I have already purchased it) , but here's how the 3-night package prices for me $120 - no gratuity added):

[Biker19]

1 minute ago, rudeney said:

I'm confused now and not sure if I have old or new Cruise Planner and which does what.

That's the older style planner.

[rudeney]

OK, thanks @Biker19 - that's what I thought.  When it is said that it "includes gratuities in the price", that is sort of semantics.  I see nothing in the details stating anything about gratuities.  My understanding from "the good old days" is that the upcharge for a specialty restaurant was also the gratuity for those servers.  I have usually left an extra tip, especially back when the charge was just $15-$25.  Now I have no freaking clue how all this is structured and if I should tip based on the UDP price divided by nights of cruise, or tip based on some percentage of the perceived value of the meal!  I guess I'll just take a stack of fifties and hand them out! 😜