Unlimited Dining Package - Worth It?

[ryano]

Get it at that price while you can 🙄  this is showing up on some Harmony sailings 

Edited October 3, 2019 by ryano

[rhuntington3]

Chef's Table is not included in the UDP as far as I know.

 

Checking....

 

Fine print says " Not valid for Chef's Table, or Culinary Experiences/Activities. "

[Justaddvodka68]

New to Royal and wondering how hard it is to get into the specialty dining restaurants without reservations. 

 

I want to get the unlimited dining package, but it says they make a reservation for you the first night and you have to make the rest on board.  I know on NCL if you don't book your reservations way out you're eating at 9 pm in Cagney's and LeBistro. 

 

Also, it says you receive a $35 food credit for la carte restaurants.  I'm assuming that's like Johnny Rockets.  So if you use your credit for lunch, are you then done for the day or can you also go to dinner at Chops that night? 

 

Thanks for your help and expertise! 

[Clarea]

1 minute ago, Justaddvodka68 said:

New to Royal and wondering how hard it is to get into the specialty dining restaurants without reservations....

 

If you are flexible with your dining times and go to a specialty restaurant as soon as you board, you should be able to make all your reservations.

[vacationlover_mn]

1 hour ago, Justaddvodka68 said:

 

Also, it says you receive a $35 food credit for la carte restaurants.  I'm assuming that's like Johnny Rockets.  So if you use your credit for lunch, are you then done for the day or can you also go to dinner at Chops that night? 

 

On sea days, you get both lunch and dinner.  Port days you get dinner... 

[Lady Hudson]

We recently had the unlimited on a 5 day.  Because of arrival time in Bermuda and an extra sea day, we had 5 lunches and 5 dinners.  We rotated between Chops, Izumi and Giovannis.  It was nice but way too much food.  I started skipping breakfast to cut down on what I was eating.  You have to decide what will work best for you.

[karmacats]

We just got off grandeur this morning, after a 5 nighter to bermuda. We paid $90 pp for the package (during the black friday sale last year), and got 9 meals out of it (5 dinners and 4 lunches, including embarkation day lunch), so paid $10 per person per meal. Well worth it.

 

Grandeur only has chops, giovannis, and izumi, but the lunch menus in chops and giovannis have some different items than dinner, so we found the selection to be good enough that we did not get bored.  With your cruise also having sabor and johnny rockets, i think there would be enough different choices for most people.

 

As a side consideration, i think i would not buy the drink package again with unlimited dining, because we ate so much i didn't want a blender drink or frappuccino like i usually get throughout the cruise, so i definitely did not drink my money's worth. Also, we left extra tips after each meal, and they added up to more than the extra we usually give our dining room servers at the end of the cruise. 

 

Overall, we loved having the package and would do it again in a heartbeat, just probably without the drink package.

 

[Tree_skier]

11 hours ago, vacationlover_mn said:

On sea days, you get both lunch and dinner.  Port days you get dinner... 

And if you are Ok with a late lunch, which I am... Playmakers opened at 2pm on port days and $35 worth of wings is an absolute boat load.