Unlimited Dining Package - Book now or wait for Black Friday / Cyber Monday ?+ weird math

[Ren1216]

14 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Gratuities are not added to cruise planner purchases of the dining package 

 

14 hours ago, LMaxwell said:

They don't add the 18% if you buy pre-cruise. 

Ah, yes.  Thanks for the reminder!

 

2 hours ago, QuackAttack97437 said:

Really frustrated with Royal Caribbean Site right now. I log in, then click the "Plan my Cruse" button to take me to the planner and it redirects me back to the login page. 

Happens to me as well, seems to be when I leave the page idle too long and it boots me out.  After about 15 mins, it lets me back in properly.

[Clarea]

3 hours ago, QuackAttack97437 said:

 ... Anybody have any tips for resolving this so I can get to the Black Friday sales?

 

Clear cookies, clear cache, private browsing mode, different browser.

 

If those don't work, call.

[BNBR]

4 hours ago, later said:

Key chops dining is in the dining room 

 

And it's not really chops.  It's a scam.

[Ren1216]

6 minutes ago, BNBR said:

 

And it's not really chops.  It's a scam.

Can you elaborate?

[BNBR]

10 minutes ago, Ren1216 said:

Can you elaborate?

 

To start, it's not in chops.  The service isn't the quality or ambiance of chops. The menu isn't the chops lunch menu, it's a Key menu with 3 entrees on it.  Yes, THREE. The food quality is nowhere near chops, not even close.  It's basically sub par MDR.

 

So literally everything about it is not Chops.

 

For what it's worth, I requested a refund at guest services for The Key on day 5 and it was granted without much discussion.  So I got my money back for it.  Total fraud.  No express disembark, no special seating at shows, etc.  Literally nothing that they sell you do they deliver.

Edited November 27, 2019 by BNBR

[Ren1216]

I've kept watch on the Key price for my upcoming sailing.  After reading the description several times, I never could find a good enough reason to pay for these "perks".  So I appreciate your response, thanks.

[Minimama]

I bought the soda pkg @ 6.50, but they added gratuity. Isn't the soda pkg a self serve machine?

[molly361]

28 minutes ago, Minimama said:

I bought the soda pkg @ 6.50, but they added gratuity. Isn't the soda pkg a self serve machine?

You can also get the soda at the bars and restaurants

[ONECRUISER]

1 hour ago, Minimama said:

I bought the soda pkg @ 6.50, but they added gratuity. Isn't the soda pkg a self serve machine?

As said above, bar service is available, Grats are charged for you and even on a case water in my room on boarding day. Is what it is...

[Anita Latte]

On 11/26/2019 at 11:52 PM, LMaxwell said:

7 night, Harmony of the Seas.  Dining package pre-cruise at $179 per adult.    Royal calls it $31 per night.  That equals $217 though.  Says I have a discount but nowhere can I find how much the discount is, what the original price is, or why Royal calls it $31 per night when my calculation puts it closer to $25 per night.   $25 per night seems OK, not exceptional but not bad.  Does anyone know if there will be a Black Friday or Cyber Monday deal that beats this? 

 

Sincerely, 

 

Confused in FL 

 

 

I think that the math is simply wrong in the graphic. The graphic wasn't updated to reflect the actual price. I had this happen to me with the $18 DBP glitch. The graphic was still showing $18 but the actual price was showing the "real" price. Here, $179 is the real price, just disregard the graphic with $31. In my planner, it shows $179 but says $26 per night.

 

I watched the UDP pricing and it went down to $175 a couple times. The "normal" seemed to be $199. Then, it went up to $215. Now it is $179, so it's possible that it will hit that $175 again, but who knows?

 

The way I see it is this...I really just care about what the breakeven point is...so this is what I figured:

 

Wonderland $55

150 Central Park $45

Izumi Hibachi $45

Jaimie's Lunch $25

Chops Lunch $25

 

My sailing has 3 Sea Days and then there's embarkation...so figuring on a minimum of 2 Sea Day lunches and 3/7 nights for dinner for a total of $195...I more than break even on the $175 purchase price. It's likely that I will have more lunches than 2 and maybe even more dinners than 3...and all meals above that threshold would be "saving the cost of the expense". I'm happy with that breakeven point because I'm not sure that I actually WANT to spend all that time in those sit down meals.

 

IDK how other people calculate out their decisions...but this is my methodology. I was having a hard time justifying the $199 (especially because in the CP balcony I have booked, I had a "free Sea Day lunch" as part of the neighborhood perk...so when I saw the sale price of $175, I could pull the trigger. THEN when the neighborhood perks were discontinued...well, pretty easy to that breakeven point.

 

There's also the added perk of the discount on the bottles of wine while at the specialty dining, which I think is a really good discount to help nullify the profit margin on the bottles and bring the prices down to a more "normal" level.

 

 

 

[Bobal]

On 11/27/2019 at 5:24 AM, LMaxwell said:

They don't add the 18% if you buy pre-cruise. 

 

 

I keep seeing recommendations to buy pre-cruise because of not adding the 18%

 

However I have sailed on 3 different ships in the last 3 months and every time they had an offer on day one with a discount which basically meant we paid the same price as the pre-cruise price in the planner. I know because each time I checked the price beforehand and had a note of it and we ended up paying exactly the same.

 

This was for the 3-day package on Jewel in September, 5-day package on Serenade in October and UDP on Allure in November. It was only if you purchased on day 1 of the cruise and I can't speak for other ships, but suspect it would be the same throughout the fleet. Just a heads up for people who are unsure whether to pre-buy a package.

 

Interestingly enough the charge on Allure went through on day 2 and we were charged the extra 18% but when we queried it and said we had bought on day 1 they refunded the difference, so it does genuinely seem to be an offer which is only available on day 1

[Ourusualbeach]

1 minute ago, Bobal said:

 

I keep seeing recommendations to buy pre-cruise because of not adding the 18%

 

However I have sailed on 3 different ships in the last 3 months and every time they had an offer on day one with a discount which basically meant we paid the same price as the pre-cruise price in the planner. I know because each time I checked the price beforehand and had a note of it and we ended up paying exactly the same.

 

This was for the 3-day package on Jewel in September, 5-day package on Serenade in October and UDP on Allure in November. It was only if you purchased on day 1 of the cruise and I can't speak for other ships, but suspect it would be the same throughout the fleet. Just a heads up for people who are unsure whether to pre-buy a package.

 

Interestingly enough the charge on Allure went through on day 2 and we were charged the extra 18% but when we queried it and said we had bought on day 1 they refunded the difference, so it does genuinely seem to be an offer which is only available on day 1

I’ve had just the opposite experience.  There haven’t been specials offered on day one on out last few cruises.

 

its not feet wide and even the same ship can vary from week to week based on how they are doing in sales. 

[Bobal]

Just now, Ourusualbeach said:

I’ve had just the opposite experience.  There haven’t been specials offered on day one on out last few cruises.

 

its not feet wide and even the same ship can vary from week to week based on how they are doing in sales. 

 

That's interesting to know. Thank you

[Clarea]

12 hours ago, Minimama said:

I bought the soda pkg @ 6.50, but they added gratuity. Isn't the soda pkg a self serve machine?

 

Somebody has to service that machine!

[ualisthebst]

We're booked on the Navigator over New Years (4-night) and they are currently offering the Deluxe Drink Package for $61/per day - plus gratuities. Any idea if this is a good deal for this package?  There is a banner that says buy one get one 50% off which we may take advantage of.

 

Thanks for your help in advance!

[Clarea]

10 minutes ago, ualisthebst said:

We're booked on the Navigator over New Years (4-night) and they are currently offering the Deluxe Drink Package for $61/per day - plus gratuities. Any idea if this is a good deal for this package?  There is a banner that says buy one get one 50% off which we may take advantage of.

 

Thanks for your help in advance!

 

That $61 price (which is not a great price) already includes the fake 50% off. 

 

[Tee & Chilli]

3 and 4 day sailings appear to have higher prices.

[AshleyDillo]

On 11/27/2019 at 8:11 AM, LMaxwell said:

It's that sort of thing that would stop me dead in my tracks from booking UDP.  A deal is a deal if you get what is advertised.  I *hate* having to argue to get what the advertising says, and I *hate* having to go find a manager on my vacation to have a discussion.  I spend every day in work/personal life trying to get people to perform on their contracts or promises and it is exhausting; I avoid if possible on vacation.  

 

It's definitely been a fun adventure on the Oasis this sailing with this.  I'm the same way.  Fortunately I am sailing with my mother who lives for this sort of thing. 😂😂

Edited November 28, 2019 by AshleyDillo

[LMaxwell]

9 hours ago, Anita Latte said:

 

 

 

My sailing has 3 Sea Days and then there's embarkation...so figuring on a minimum of 2 Sea Day lunches and 3/7 nights for dinner for a total of $195...

 

I am basing mine off 7 out of 7 for dinner.  Why would you base yours off of 3?  

 

I am not counting lunch except boarding day.  MDR lunch on seadays is often superior to any specialty offering.  

[Anita Latte]

2 hours ago, LMaxwell said:

 

I am basing mine off 7 out of 7 for dinner.  Why would you base yours off of 3?  

 

I am not counting lunch except boarding day.  MDR lunch on seadays is often superior to any specialty offering.  

 

It isn't so much a base as finding the breakeven point for the UDP. I calculated out the breakeven point for the UDP for what I would be interested in doing anyway. Personally, I'm not interested in specialty dining every night. I get sick of table service...I can enjoy service for what it is but I find that most service that caters to US markets to be very invasive and hovering, and while some find that to be good service...I just find it irritating. I much prefer the kind of service where if I want you, or need you, I will signal to you. So I definitely don't want to plan on table service dining for every night of my vacation...and so I need to see if the UDP is "worth it" for someone like me. I will actually likely do a bit more than the breakeven point, because of the lunches and so I made the decision to buy.

 

I don't enjoy the MDR. I don't like the feeling of the banquet hall and all the people. I have eaten lunch in the MDR in the past and I don't find the environment to be enjoyable. I would prefer to be eating in a smaller venue.

 

ALSO...for my sailing that I've purchased this for...we have one of the doublewide balconies in CP. I have thoughts about hitting up the buffet and taking dinner back to our stateroom to eat on the balcony during one the evening music sessions. I just can't imagine enjoying all that food...at some point, you just get stuffed...it's hard to even get hungry on a cruise sometimes because I don't normally eat such extended meals for every meal. So I will not be one of those maximizer type people...and so, I needed to find the breakeven point for what I would want to do anyway to be sure that I wasn't overpaying.

 

It's like the DBP...there's no way that I would come close to breaking even on that cost, especially with a Starbucks on board. So calculating out the breakeven point...I know that it would be an overspend for me to purchase a beverage package. Breakeven point is how I make one of these package purchase decisions, and that's how it came down to 3 dinners and 2 lunches. 

Edited November 28, 2019 by Anita Latte

[CatlinSTJ]

Does anyone have experience with the dining plans and a 12 year old?  We are looking to purchase the UDP and the fine print says it excludes 12 and under, but we had planned to purchase it for her as she does not eat from the kids menus.  We had to argue in Jamie’s on our last cruise for them to allow her to order from the adult menu even though we had purchased an adult meal for her pre-cruise.

Edited November 28, 2019 by CatlinSTJ

[Clarea]

5 minutes ago, CatlinSTJ said:

Does anyone have experience with the dining plans and a 12 year old?  We are looking to purchase the UDP and the fine print says it excludes 12 and under, but we had planned to purchase it for her as she does not eat from the kids menus.  We had to argue in Jamie’s on our last cruise for them to allow her to order from the adult menu even though we had purchased an adult meal for her pre-cruise.

 

If you were charged the full price for the dining plan for the 12-year old, I don't understand why they would have a problem with her ordering off the adult menu.  Almost sounds like some sort of misunderstanding, like they thought you wanted some credit for the child's price.

[CatlinSTJ]

8 minutes ago, Host Clarea said:

 

If you were charged the full price for the dining plan for the 12-year old, I don't understand why they would have a problem with her ordering off the adult menu.  Almost sounds like some sort of misunderstanding, like they thought you wanted some credit for the child's price.

 

Nope - she was 10 at the time and we explained several times that we had paid for an adult meal because that’s what she preferred to eat.  They were insistent that she HAD to order from the children’s menu even after I showed them that we had paid for an adult meal and they finally gave in after a lot of back and forth.  She was insulted by the kids’ offerings and will still go into a rant about “chicken lollipops” if it’s brought up.  

[legaljen1969]

5 hours ago, Host Clarea said:

 

That $61 price (which is not a great price) already includes the fake 50% off. 

 

Yes.  Always look at the little words that say "The price shown reflects your discount."  That is, the "discount" that doesn't exist. LOL

 

[Clarea]

39 minutes ago, CatlinSTJ said:

 

Nope - she was 10 at the time and we explained several times that we had paid for an adult meal because that’s what she preferred to eat.  They were insistent that she HAD to order from the children’s menu even after I showed them that we had paid for an adult meal and they finally gave in after a lot of back and forth.  She was insulted by the kids’ offerings and will still go into a rant about “chicken lollipops” if it’s brought up.  

 

I would have asked to the the Food & Beverage manager, this sounds very odd.