Unlimited Speciality Dining Questions

[beth555]

Has anyone had trouble getting this package when they boarded the ship? Did they run out of the offer. I heard they only offer a few of these. The first day you sign up did they select the restaurant but you selected the time? Can you also tell me once you board where do you need to go to get this package?

[bigreckster]

We were in a Royal Suite last month on Summit. Just told the concierge as we were led aboard to Michael's Club to wait for our cabin to be cleared that we wanted to eat in Normandie every night and she took care of it immediately with the specialty M.D. Didn't know at the time that it was called the "ultimate Dining Package" but knew we didn't want to eat in the main DR with all the noise, commotion and where the tables for two are located. We had a great dining experience every evening and they will custom make entrees not on the menu after the first few nights! Was worth the extra cost to us and we're set to do it again next Jan. and booked the same suite too!

[gdpups]

We were on the Silhouette several weeks ago and had the ultimate dining pkg, which was great. I am elite, so we were in the first group to board the ship and headed right for the table set up near where you board to book the pkg. There was a party of two that got there before us, they took the first two spots and we took the next four. We were told they limited it to only 12 on our cruise, so after us only 6 were left and they sold completely.

 

We booked reservations for the whole week when we signed up for the pkg, so it took maybe 10 or 15 minutes to complete the purchase. If you plan to purchase one you might want to figure what days and times you'd like for each restaurant before you board to save time. We did get most of the times we wanted.

[beth555]

Do you think it would be better to take the 5 night package. Can you upgrade it on board? I would be concerned that I may not be able to get the package with so few available

[Sonoma fans]

we just got off reflection from the 2/8/14 sailing. We booked the restaurant of our choice for every night separately pre cruise. when we got on board, we booked the ultimate and were able to use our scheduled reservation times. The ultimate saved 75.00 over booking separate dinners, so they gave us an on board credit for the difference.

 

It was great having the porch and bistro on 5 for breakfast & lunch included

[gdpups]

We had also prebooked several reservations before going onboard and used those reservations for the ultimate dining pkg, but just note getting refunds for those prepaid reservations took several trips to the guest relations desk to get it handled.

 

They were selling the other packages onboard as well, so you could prebook one and convert it if you wanted or just purchase one onboard if you couldn't get the ultimate pkg.

[beachjulie]

we just got off reflection from the 2/8/14 sailing. We booked the restaurant of our choice for every night separately pre cruise. when we got on board, we booked the ultimate and were able to use our scheduled reservation times. The ultimate saved 75.00 over booking separate dinners, so they gave us an on board credit for the difference.

 

It was great having the porch and bistro on 5 for breakfast & lunch included

 

i do not see on the website that porch and bistro are included for breakfast and lunch. Can you give me detailed info on this. We are in Blu but just paid 45 each for Qusine.We do plan to do one more specialty and eat at Bistro and porch. Are we better to do the specialty package?

[cruisetimeforme]

Ultimate pkg is $29p/p per day for each day of the cruise which includes unlimited visits to Bistro on 5 and the Porch if sailing Reflection or Silhouette. If you want the pkg for the 7 days it'd really add to the cost you've paid for AQ, but on my sailing there were some pax that did just that. Otherwise just pay $5 p/p to eat in Bistro

[shoelover536]

i do not see on the website that porch and bistro are included for breakfast and lunch. Can you give me detailed info on this. We are in Blu but just paid 45 each for Qusine.We do plan to do one more specialty and eat at Bistro and porch. Are we better to do the specialty package?

 

Often (but not always) there is a 20-50% discount to AQ pax to dine in a specialty the first night. Not guaranteed, but you could prebook one of your dinners for the first night and get the difference refunded later if they do offer the discount.

 

Since you only want to do 2 dinners and porch and bistro, not worth it for you to pay 29/ day. The porch and bistro are only 5 pp as the other poster stated.

[Pilot70D]

First, there is no set number of Unlimited Dining Packages available. The availability depends on the cruise, how many advanced upscale advanced reservations have been made and so forth.

 

We were on the most recent Eclipse New Year's cruise. We dropped our luggage off at the terminal, returned our rental car and took the shuttle back to Port Everglades. This put us back at the port around 10:30. We were in an S1 and there were no other suite passengers in line consequently the preboarding paperwork took very little time.

 

We actually got aboard just before 11:00. We got our welcome aboard glass of sparkling wine and proceeded directly to the upscale dining sales table to purchase the Ultimate Dining Package. It'sa good thing we did that immediately. Another CC couple, also in a suite, boarded about an hour after we did. By that time they had stopped selling the Ultimate Dining Package.

 

We were curious a couple of days later and asked the Maitre 'D at the Tuscan Grill how many unlimited packages had been sold for this cruise. His reply was seven.

 

What's interesting to note is that this package covers every dining venue aboard EXCEPT the Cafe Al Bacio Gelaterio. You still have ot pay for the gelatos there even though it is part of the Cafe Al Bacio.

 

We do think that the Ultimate Dining Package is a great idea and a great value. We fully intend to purchase it again on our next cruise.

 

Bon Apetite!!!

:):):D:):)

[beth555]

With so few Unlimited packages available, we will book the 5 night speciality package and hope to upgrade it when we board and look to have a credit go to the unlimited if we are lucky enough to get one

[Pilot70D]

With so few Unlimited packages available, we will book the 5 night speciality package and hope to upgrade it when we board and look to have a credit go to the unlimited if we are lucky enough to get one

Beth, let me re-iterate that there is no fixed number of Ultimate Dining Packages being offered. Each cruise is different. Let me point out that ours was a holiday cruise. Holiday cruises have a couple of things that possibly separate them from other cruises. First, because it's a holiday cruise the ship is packed and it's packed with people in a festive mood. Because of this there were an extrordinarily large number of advanced up scale dining reservations made. With this large number of advanced up scale dining reservations there is no reason, no incentive for =X= to offer a large number of Ultimate Dining Packages.

 

Your cruise may very well be different when it comes to the number of packages available. Unfortunately there is no absolute way of finding out ahead of sailing. There is a round about sort of way. Call the Captains Club and ask how many advanced upscale dining reservations relative to other cruises they are seeing. There's going to be an inverse relationship here. The more advanced reservations they get relative to other cruises the fewer Ultimate Dining Packages that will be available.

 

So live long and prosper. Now go enjoy that next cruise and the upscale dining.

:):):)

[SusieV]

Beth, let me re-iterate that there is no fixed number of Ultimate Dining Packages being offered.

 

This is not what we were told on Silhouette. The maitre d' was very clear that they will sell a maximum of 12 packages. Perhaps it's different on other ships.

 

They want to make sure there is room for everyone to book individual nights as well.

[cptlapcat]

First, there is no set number of Unlimited Dining Packages available. The availability depends on the cruise, how many advanced upscale advanced reservations have been made and so forth.

 

We were on the most recent Eclipse New Year's cruise. We dropped our luggage off at the terminal, returned our rental car and took the shuttle back to Port Everglades. This put us back at the port around 10:30. We were in an S1 and there were no other suite passengers in line consequently the preboarding paperwork took very little time.

 

We actually got aboard just before 11:00. We got our welcome aboard glass of sparkling wine and proceeded directly to the upscale dining sales table to purchase the Ultimate Dining Package. It'sa good thing we did that immediately. Another CC couple, also in a suite, boarded about an hour after we did. By that time they had stopped selling the Ultimate Dining Package.

 

We were curious a couple of days later and asked the Maitre 'D at the Tuscan Grill how many unlimited packages had been sold for this cruise. His reply was seven.

 

What's interesting to note is that this package covers every dining venue aboard EXCEPT the Cafe Al Bacio Gelaterio. You still have ot pay for the gelatos there even though it is part of the Cafe Al Bacio.

 

We do think that the Ultimate Dining Package is a great idea and a great value. We fully intend to purchase it again on our next cruise.

 

Bon Apetite!!!

:):):D:):)

 

Pilot. Thanks for the great tip on dropping off your luggage before you turn in your rental car. I never thought of that. My back thanks you and I thank you.

[cruisetimeforme]

On the Reflection in Nov, we were told NO pkgs were available, even 5nt or 4nt and this was before noon. A big group was on this sailing and did book lots of spec dining. We were on a back to back and basically pleaded since our plan was for both weeks Ultimate pkg so they said ok. Most nights the restaurants were really packed with large groups taking up multiple tables, so it really depends on the sailing. Why would they let you have the pkg when they can get full reservations on certain sailings or a particular restaurant sells well, holiday sailings, etc. We really enjoyed the experience and had a great time with staff

[Lois R]

On the Reflection in Nov, we were told NO pkgs were available, even 5nt or 4nt and this was before noon. A big group was on this sailing and did book lots of spec dining. We were on a back to back and basically pleaded since our plan was for both weeks Ultimate pkg so they said ok. Most nights the restaurants were really packed with large groups taking up multiple tables, so it really depends on the sailing. Why would they let you have the pkg when they can get full reservations on certain sailings or a particular restaurant sells well, holiday sailings, etc. We really enjoyed the experience and had a great time with staff

 

Hi,:) I am sailing Reflection this coming November and thinking about

stepping outside of the box and buying an Unlimited Package.....guess

I will have to wait till after boarding and then see if they are offering

it.

Sounds like the group on your sailing must have been a REALLY BIG

GROUP:eek: