Three Night Dining Package

[Fish42]

I have purchased the Three Night Dining Package.  There are two important details:

 

• A courtesy reservation will be made for Day 1 or 2 of your sailing.
• All additional reservations or changes to your courtesy reservation must be made once onboard at any specialty restaurant.

 

I can currently make pre-cruise reservations at specialty dining venues but only if I am paying ala carte.  However I cannot make reservations against the Three Night Plan.  I believe this would apply to the Unlimited Plan as well.

 

It seems counter-intuitive that people pre-purchasing dining packages cannot make pre-cruise reservations.  I feel like I am being penalized for giving RC my money months ahead of the cruise.  Perhaps I am being naive to the fact that RC wants to give preferential treatment to those paying a premium for ala carte dining.

Edited August 15, 2023 by Fish42

[craig01020]

1 minute ago, Fish42 said:

It seems counter-intuitive that people pre-purchasing dining packages cannot make pre-cruise reservations.  I feel like I am being penalized by giving RC my money months ahead of the cruise.

Sure sounds like it.

[Ourusualbeach]

Just now, Fish42 said:

I have purchased the Three Night Dining Package.  There are two important details:

 

• A courtesy reservation will be made for Day 1 or 2 of your sailing.
• All additional reservations or changes to your courtesy reservation must be made once onboard at any specialty restaurant.

 

I can currently make pre-cruise reservations at specialty dining venues but only if I am paying ala carte.  However I cannot make reservations against the Three Night Plan.  I believe this would apply to the Unlimited Plan as well.

 

It seems counter-intuitive that people pre-purchasing dining packages cannot make pre-cruise reservations.  I feel like I am being penalized by giving RC my money months ahead of the cruise.  Perhaps I am being naive to the fact that RC wants to give preferential treatment to those paying a premium for ala carte dining.

You are getting a reduced price vs those paying full price by purchasing individually, not being able to book on board is the price you pay for that discount.

[not-enough-cruising]

People paying full price get preferential booking treatment.

The trade-off for the discount is the need to be flexible with one’s reservations.

 

however, in my experience lately, in browsing the cruise planner for several upcoming trips, the unlimited dining package discount is not great enough for me to give up the preferential booking times, and have been paying full price on most of my specialty dining

[Fish42]

4 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

You are getting a reduced price vs those paying full price by purchasing individually, not being able to book on board is the price you pay for that discount.

 

While I generally agree with your statement, I don't understand the economics on the RC side.  I assume they want as many people as possible to buy the Unlimited Dining package.  By favoring the ala carte diners in this one aspect (advanced reservations), they are punishing the people who are most likely giving them the greater amount of money (also assuming no one would ala carte every dinner of the cruise).

 

A cruiser with the UDP will likely be spending more than the average cruiser.  I think it would make economic sense to give them preferential treatment.

[Ourusualbeach]

20 minutes ago, Fish42 said:

 

While I generally agree with your statement, I don't understand the economics on the RC side.  I assume they want as many people as possible to buy the Unlimited Dining package.  By favoring the ala carte diners in this one aspect (advanced reservations), they are punishing the people who are most likely giving them the greater amount of money (also assuming no one would ala carte every dinner of the cruise).

 

A cruiser with the UDP will likely be spending more than the average cruiser.  I think it would make economic sense to give them preferential treatment.

The people booking individually are paying a premium, they really do deserve to get the exact times they want. 

 

Personally I think a good compromise would be to allow the people booking 3 nights the opportunity to book one ahead of time and those with the UDP to book 2 or 3 in advance. 

[Ourusualbeach]

24 minutes ago, Fish42 said:

 

While I generally agree with your statement, I don't understand the economics on the RC side.  I assume they want as many people as possible to buy the Unlimited Dining package.  By favoring the ala carte diners in this one aspect (advanced reservations), they are punishing the people who are most likely giving them the greater amount of money (also assuming no one would ala carte every dinner of the cruise).

 

A cruiser with the UDP will likely be spending more than the average cruiser.  I think it would make economic sense to give them preferential treatment.

Royal also knows that those buying the packages will continue to buy them.  For those purchasing individually at a higher cost, they may not buy if the time they want is not there. 

[RFerrington]

46 minutes ago, Fish42 said:

I assume they want as many people as possible to buy the Unlimited Dining package.

Actually, I feel confident that they would prefer to have more people purchase the more expensive, individual meals.

[Fish42]

2 hours ago, RFerrington said:

Actually, I feel confident that they would prefer to have more people purchase the more expensive, individual meals.

 

On my currently booked 7 night trip the UDP is $290.  Ala carte dining averages around $55.  Doing a little math the UDP is the equivalent of 5 paid meals with 2 free.  From the RC perspective, the UDP locks you into paying for 5 specialty meals.  I would imagine that the non-UDP cruisers go for fewer than 5 specialty meals though I simply can't say for sure.

 

In this context I think RC will make more money by driving people to the UDP and locking them into paying for 5 meals as opposed to hoping that customers will pay for 6 or 7 ala carte meals.

 

Getting back to the premise of this thread, paying for all 7 specialty meals ala carte would cost around $385, which is a $95 premium for the privilege to book ahead of time.  For myself it's not a good value.

[RFerrington]

Don’t forget that the UDP includes specialty dining on sea days plus the package is [for the most part] unlimited meaning you can visit multiple paid venues per day.  When you factor all of those meals in, the UDP is most definitely less expensive, per meal, than buying a la carte.

[Psycho and Barb]

We have never had a problem getting the dining reservations we want after we get on board.  It's our first stop as soon as we board.

[taglovestocruise]

5 hours ago, Fish42 said:

I have purchased the Three Night Dining Package.  There are two important details:

 

It seems counter-intuitive that people pre-purchasing dining packages cannot make pre-cruise reservations.  I feel like I am being penalized for giving RC my money months ahead of the cruise.  Perhaps I am being naive to the fact that RC wants to give preferential treatment to those paying a premium for ala carte dining.

Rarely, like never, do they make a Pre reservation for you. I feel that I am being rewarded by purchasing the package, The UDP is the best value. On a 14 night TA it would include 10+ specialty lunches.  24 meals with a average price at $20 pp pm. 

[texangal39]

On 8/15/2023 at 6:45 AM, craig01020 said:

Sure sounds like it.

This has been my experience with the dining plan. We typically have to get on a waitlist for Izumi because of this since it sells out by the time of sailing.

Edited August 29, 2023 by texangal39

[LEMJMcC]

Did the UDP once on Wonder this past February, never again...too constrained and too much hassle trying to make reservations for each night of the cruise.  In the future, we'll stick with MDR, Windjammer, or take in a Specialty Joint at our convenience...

[pcur]

I checked out the menus again for my upcoming cruises.  Out of 7 nights, I can put together 4 dinners, and one will be all appetizers.  So, for short cruises I don't mind paying extra for the UDP, and last year my sis and I got a $20 / day / pp, including tip, on a 10-night Vision.  Our 4 night on the Freedom is costing $49 / day / pp, but my sis will be happy.  Now, a "day" could include both lunch and dinner, so that lowers the cost per meal even more.  Plus, my wonderful TA's obc gifts help, too.  (Hi, there Wonderful TA!!) 👋

 

If they get the MDR menus upgraded a little, then I'll skip the UDP.  Until then, I'll keep looking at the UDP.

[bstreep]

Our experience from Radiance last week tells me 1) that the specialty restaurants are not good and 2) that they were empty at each of the 5 times we went.  Except for Giovanni's, the MDR meals were better.  Chops was SO disappointing.  How can Gios take the same steak, and make it wonderful, while Chops ruins it (order rare, just in case you thought "well done").  Really, in the event we do RCCL again, we will be very hesitant about specialty meals, and I sure wouldn't book one ahead. 

 

PS: This was a head-to-head comparison trip.  NCL up, RCCL back.  Specialty meals on NCL really were special.

[TequilaJane]

On 8/15/2023 at 4:58 AM, Fish42 said:

 

While I generally agree with your statement, I don't understand the economics on the RC side.  I assume they want as many people as possible to buy the Unlimited Dining package.  By favoring the ala carte diners in this one aspect (advanced reservations), they are punishing the people who are most likely giving them the greater amount of money (also assuming no one would ala carte every dinner of the cruise).

 

A cruiser with the UDP will likely be spending more than the average cruiser.  I think it would make economic sense to give them preferential treatment.

You are getting a discount and will be filling in the more undesirable times. Thats the trade off.

[PigsCanFly]

Sort of on topic..., We have found that picking a dining time at a specialty venue has become hard to do before we can see the entertainment schedule.  Once we see the show schedule and book the shows, then we book whichever specialty restaurants we choose to attend.  We take care of both while awaiting our room to become available.