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Is the UDP really 3 dinners ? Almost booked a cruise till I read that

dgparent

By dgparent,
in Norwegian Cruise Line

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dgparent

dgparent

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Almost booked a Aft Balcony for next March, I just put a hold on it, when I read my "hold" info I am pretty sure it said the UDP came with 3 dinners ? Not exactly Unlimited is it ? On out last NCL cruise we had a aft PH suite and bought the package and we were not limited to the number of dinners we had.

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OneWord

OneWord

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Almost booked a Aft Balcony for next March, I just put a hold on it, when I read my "hold" info I am pretty sure it said the UDP came with 3 dinners ? Not exactly Unlimited is it ? On out last NCL cruise we had a aft PH suite and bought the package and we were not limited to the number of dinners we had.

 

Extinct

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BirdTravels "Live from...." Rare

BirdTravels

Posted
Posted (edited)
Almost booked a Aft Balcony for next March, I just put a hold on it, when I read my "hold" info I am pretty sure it said the UDP came with 3 dinners ? Not exactly Unlimited is it ? On out last NCL cruise we had a aft PH suite and bought the package and we were not limited to the number of dinners we had.

 

No, it is not unlimited. You have the the Specialty Dining Package for 3 meals. It was never "unlimited". The "U"ltimate Dining Package which offered inclusive dinners on all nights of the cruise was discontinued in 2015.

Edited by BirdTravels
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LrgPizza

LrgPizza

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Pretty sure the UDP is no longer offered, they changed it over a year ago to SDP (specialty dining plan) and limit the number of dinners to 3-5 based on the length of your cruise

 

No, the SDP doesn't limit the number of dinners. The promo for the SDP does. You can still purchase the SDP for 3 to 7+, for however many nights your cruise is.

Edited by LrgPizza
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boopsahoy

boopsahoy

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It's meals, not nights.

 

On ships that have specialty dining for lunch, if you use one for lunch on Wednesday and another for dinner on Wednesday, you will use 2 of the 3 SDP (promo) meals in one day.

 

Specialty dining for lunch is for suite cruisers only as far as I know, so you don't use the package for that. You get breakfast and lunch included and if you are on a ship with a Haven restaurant you get dinner as well included as long as you use the Haven restaurant.

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KeithJenner "Live from...." Rare

KeithJenner

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Specialty dining for lunch is for suite cruisers only as far as I know, so you don't use the package for that. You get breakfast and lunch included and if you are on a ship with a Haven restaurant you get dinner as well included as long as you use the Haven restaurant.

 

 

 

There have been reports of some speciality restaurants opening for lunch on sea days.

 

From memory, I think Teppenyaki for example. On these occasions they are treated the same way as a meal in the evening I believe.

 

I'm not sure how common it is. I've never noticed it on any of my cruises, not that I've looked for it.

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LrgPizza

LrgPizza

Posted
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Specialty dining for lunch is for suite cruisers only as far as I know, so you don't use the package for that. You get breakfast and lunch included and if you are on a ship with a Haven restaurant you get dinner as well included as long as you use the Haven restaurant.

 

Teppanyaki is often open for lunch. So is Wasabi Sushi on GA/BA, and also Pincho's Tapas on Escape. This is for steerage, and well as Haven guests, who all would be treated the same.

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cage keeper

cage keeper

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Teppanyaki is often open for lunch. So is Wasabi Sushi on GA/BA, and also Pincho's Tapas on Escape. This is for steerage, and well as Haven guests, who all would be treated the same.

 

Without the dining package is the price the same for Teppanyaki for lunch as it is dinner?

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laurabegorrah

laurabegorrah

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Specialty dining for lunch is for suite cruisers only as far as I know, so you don't use the package for that. You get breakfast and lunch included and if you are on a ship with a Haven restaurant you get dinner as well included as long as you use the Haven restaurant.

 

Lunch at Margaritaville would be covered in the SDP.

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hawkeyetlse

hawkeyetlse

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One source of confusion is that NCL still occasionally uses the old name to refer to the current packages in some situations. I have Freestyle Dailies from 2016 advertising the "Ultimate Dining Package", but of course they were actually selling the SDP. And your keycard has "3UDP" or "4UDP" (or however many meals) printed on it.

 

Yes, the dining offer was much better a year and a half ago, and even better than that two years ago. I had more hair and less gut two years ago, too. Life is suffering.

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khaide612

khaide612

Posted
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Almost booked a Aft Balcony for next March, I just put a hold on it, when I read my "hold" info I am pretty sure it said the UDP came with 3 dinners ? Not exactly Unlimited is it ? On out last NCL cruise we had a aft PH suite and bought the package and we were not limited to the number of dinners we had.

 

A promo perk giving you 3 specialty meals is a deal breaker on booking a cruise? You said on your last cruise you bought the package. So buy the longer package for this cruise. If you book a suite you get the 3 meal package included automatically so add on some days.

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LrgPizza

LrgPizza

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Quick question, we have the 3 meal SDP with our booking. We also received an OBC. Can we use the OBC to help pay for say adding say 3 more meals to the 3 meal SDP plan for a total of 6 meals?

 

Yes, if you purchase a 3 meal plan as soon as you get on the ship. Or you can use the OBC just to pay as you go at the specialty dining restaurants.

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RedRover96

RedRover96

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We're going on the Escape so I might try and purchase the additional days around the 90 day mark so I can book reservations by calling NCL direct. From what I have read get them early or be prepared for crazy reservation hours or possibly none available for some specialty restaurants. However someone correct me, you don't need SDP to book a restaurant at the 90 day mark, so waiting until were on board might work???

Edited by RedRover96
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KeithJenner "Live from...." Rare

KeithJenner

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We're going on the Escape so I might try and purchase the additional days around the 90 day mark so I can book reservations by calling NCL direct. From what I have read get them early or be prepared for crazy reservation hours or possibly none available for some specialty restaurants. However someone correct me, you don't need SDP to book a restaurant at the 90 day mark, so waiting until were on board might work???

 

 

 

Yes, anyone can book restaurants. You don't need the dining package.

 

Just make sure that you book any with a fixed fee (Teppenyaki or Moderno for example) first, as it will charge you on booking if you don't have the dining credits to cover it.

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NLH Arizona

NLH Arizona

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We're going on the Escape so I might try and purchase the additional days around the 90 day mark so I can book reservations by calling NCL direct. From what I have read get them early or be prepared for crazy reservation hours or possibly none available for some specialty restaurants. However someone correct me, you don't need SDP to book a restaurant at the 90 day mark, so waiting until were on board might work???
No, you don't need to have the dining package in order to make reservations at 90 days.
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hawkeyetlse

hawkeyetlse

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Anyone can book the à la carte specialty restaurants (Cagney's, Le Bistro, La Cucina) ahead of time without paying anything. But if you want to book Teppanyaki or Moderno online, you have to pay the full cover charge upfront if you don't have the SDP. If you have the SDP, the reservation is free at these two restaurants, too (see SDP rules for details about all other venues).

 

The other advantage to purchasing the SDP ahead of time is that it costs $10 more on board.

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