unlimited Dining on jewel of the seas anyone have experience of unlimited dining on Royal?

[sherrjo]

Managed to grab unlimited dining on a 7 night cruise on Jewel for 225$ per person.

 

I'm starting to regret the decision. Although I love steaks and sushi.

 

I'm scouring the sites to read food reports from Jewel recently they haven't been good. 

 

Do you think I should stick with the package?

 

Anyone have experience of unlimited dining, can they share their thoughts please?

 

[Sunshine3601]

This ship class will only have chops, giovannis and Izumi so in my opinion the UDP is not needed. 

How many sea days do you have for lunches with the udp?

 We usually enjoy the 3 night dining pkg.   Giovannis is our preferred.  

You can always cancel your pkg on cruise planner.   Your cruise, your choice.  

 

[Parkhopper]

We get ultimate dining frequently on the larger ships that have more dining options from which to choose.  The restaurant menus do not change night to night, so UDP with only three restaurants would get quite repetitive for seven nights of dinners and lunches on sea days

[sgmn]

Our five night package on Serenade (similar ship) was more than enough, 16 night cruise.  Twice at Chops, twice at Giovanni’s and once at Izumi.

Food in MTD was good and sea day lunch in buffet was very good.  

It's a good price though. You can always eat in Windjammer and I guess in MDR if you want a change.

[TeeRick]

UDP might be worth the price on the newer ships with more restaurant choices.  IMO not worth the price on the older ships - unless you really hate the MDR and Windjammer.

 

We will be on Indy for 12 nights.  The UDP with a 35% pre-cruise discount is still very expensive ($974 incl tip for 2 of us).  We bought the 5-night dining package.  On Indy there is only Chops, Giovanni's and Izumi.  This lesser package will suffice for our needs.  We also have the D+ BOGO.  That covers seven nights total.  But of course with the UDP you also get lunch on sea days.

[smokeybandit]

Online reviews are helpful for a lot of things. But not cruising.

[cruisegirl1]

OP - if it matters. please be aware the Izumi is not Hibachi, only sushi, with perhaps a hot item on the menu (generally chicken or steak teriyaki).

 

If you are a new cruiser, you might enjoy the dining room or Windjammer with an occasional specialty dinner.  You can pre book a particular venue at a reduced rate. Or, they generally offer a discount for single restaurant once on board (ranging from 20-50% off). 

 

If you cruise frequently and  are tired of the MDR menus and want something different, then specialty is the way to go. 

 

We have experience with unlimited dining packages but generally on Oasis  class ships with a different restaurant every night.  We've never done dining with such limited options. 

 

enjoy

M

 

 

Edited August 15 by cruisegirl1

[bayonnejoe]

3 hours ago, sherrjo said:

Managed to grab unlimited dining on a 7 night cruise on Jewel for 225$ per person.

 

I'm starting to regret the decision. Although I love steaks and sushi.

 

I'm scouring the sites to read food reports from Jewel recently they haven't been good. 

 

Do you think I should stick with the package?

 

Anyone have experience of unlimited dining, can they share their thoughts please?

 

If your price is accurate at $225 per person even if it does not include  gratuities which would be another $40 or so per person, that price is an absolute steal. Don't give it up! I was on the Jewel last November and all three specialty restaurants were very good. And by the way, not sure if they still do it, but we also got lunch on embark day.

Edited August 15 by bayonnejoe

[George C]

I love UDP would do it on any ship , also includes lunch on sea days .would not cruise rccl without it.

[Starry Eyes]

Food decisions are personal, do you’ll have to make this decision on your own.  For example, DH and I are not sushi fans; with only two restaurants that appeal to us, we would not elect UDP on that ship.  Look at the menus for all three restaurants. Among those menus, will you be happy dining all 7 nights (and perhaps embarkation day and sea day lunches, too)?  If so, go for it.  If not, is there a smaller dining package at a good price?

[little britain]

1 hour ago, cruisegirl1 said:

OP - if it matters. please be aware the Izumi is not Hibachi, only sushi, with perhaps a hot item on the menu (generally chicken or steak teriyaki).

 

If you are a new cruiser, you might enjoy the dining room or Windjammer with an occasional specialty dinner.  You can pre book a particular venue at a reduced rate. Or, they generally offer a discount for single restaurant once on board (ranging from 20-50% off). 

 

If you cruise frequently and  are tired of the MDR menus and want something different, then specialty is the way to go. 

 

We have experience with unlimited dining packages but generally on Oasis  class ships with a different restaurant every night.  We've never done dining with such limited options. 

 

enjoy

M

 

 

Izumi on Jewel is not just sushi; they do a $39.95 meal deal with 3 courses including noodles etc; it was so good we went twice. I do not eat sushi 🍣 

 

I agree you don’t need UDP on Jewel 

[cruisegirl1]

5 minutes ago, little britain said:

Izumi on Jewel is not just sushi; they do a $39.95 meal deal with 3 courses including noodles etc; it was so good we went twice. I do not eat sushi 🍣 

 

I agree you don’t need UDP on Jewel 

OP - Sorry I provided incorrect info.  Must have gotten my  ships confused. 

 

M

[killsport]

I'll take the other side. We did UDP on Jewel right after the COVID restart. We enjoyed it.

We never did Chops and Giovanni's on the same day. And we had to have Izumi for the Xmas eve and Xmas night dinners. But we enjoyed the luxury. We got different meals each time we went (steak, lamb, fish, shrimp, pasta) so it was quite enjoyable. Certainly there is some repetition in the limited appetizers (carpaccio anyone). To each their own!

[Hoopster95]

9 hours ago, sherrjo said:

7 night cruise on Jewel for 225$ per person.

 

 

Great price... have fun a keep this.

 

Considering that most all respondents so far are very exprienced Royal cruisers and have probably dined in specialty restaurants tens if not hundreds of times (including myself), of course the majority will say "not worth it". 

 

I totally disagree. I have easily done the UDP on the smaller ships and it has been so freakin' fanstastic! It is so very easy to have a totally different dinner 3-4 times in the same menu, you get to try the various appies as well as several different entrees, as well as several different deserts. You will never duplicate.

 

Most recently on Brilliance to Alaska.... Chops lunch on embarkation was awesome, lunches at Izumi with superb Alaskan views, Chops (filet, lamb, crusted salmon) and Giovanni's (filet, OssoBucco, Branzino) 3 nights each, all totally different meals with the best window view, not having to sit 2 inches from the next table like in the MDR, and best of all having food made for you right there (instead of in warming ovens and under heating lamps for 1000 other people in the MDR).

 

OP, keep this deal and enjoy it 👍

[ajtaylor29]

As others have said, this is entirely a personal choice, based on your likes/dislikes.

For me and hubby - we have sailed enough on RC to be done with both windjammer and the MDR, so we always get the UDP especially on smaller ships (where, imo, the food is not very good in WJ/MDR). This allows us to pick and choose and know that we'll always have a good meal....

Even the specialty restaurants' menus are getting kind of boring tho! I try to order different things as much as i can, but they are pretty repetitive. That's why sometimes we'll have lunch in MDR or a quick dinner in WJ, just to mix it up a little!

[George C]

Another thing is specialty restaurants have unlimited appetizers and deserts and I believe the service is superior to mdr. 

[Norwich Cruiser]

We only consider doing the UDP on “o “ or “ i “ class ships even then the price point has to be right.

[ARandomTraveler]

I think that's a good price, but as others have said, jewel has such a limited restaurant selection, I don't know if I'd buy it, but that's only because I've had the dining package a couple times and could forgo it on a ship with only 3 restaurants.
 

I got it for $230 for a 7-day cruise on Wonder this upcoming December, so if that helps you compare the value. Regardless, you're probably not gonna see it go too much lower than that, so if you want to try it, you should buy it because that's considered a low price for the dining package. 

[sherrjo]

Thanks I'm still in two minds but the cruise is a month away.

 

I really want to try it and since it's just my wife and I, I think it would be a real treat for us. We did have the three night package before and might even go for it as it's only £90pp  at the moment. The exchange rate is helping a lot at the moment for us GBP cruisers I think.

 

Perhaps with 3 speciality restaurants the three night package would suit us better. We are usually windjammer folks for some of the nights as we can't be bothered dressing up. 

 

 

[ARandomTraveler]

1 hour ago, sherrjo said:

Thanks I'm still in two minds but the cruise is a month away.

 

I really want to try it and since it's just my wife and I, I think it would be a real treat for us. We did have the three night package before and might even go for it as it's only £90pp  at the moment. The exchange rate is helping a lot at the moment for us GBP cruisers I think.

 

Perhaps with 3 speciality restaurants the three night package would suit us better. We are usually windjammer folks for some of the nights as we can't be bothered dressing up. 

 

 

You should buy it then. It's a good price, most of us are just considering the fact that they only have 3 restaurants to choose from. I don't know why they don't make it cheaper for ships with less restaurants, but I guess they probably wouldn't make much money if they did that. They've got to keep the "per meal" price at a certain level. 

Don't bother with the 3 night package. It's not much cheaper than the u limited package, so you're better off paying the extra money and going unlimited, especially for that price. 

[PhillyFan33579]

1 hour ago, sherrjo said:

Thanks I'm still in two minds but the cruise is a month away.

 

I really want to try it and since it's just my wife and I, I think it would be a real treat for us. We did have the three night package before and might even go for it as it's only £90pp  at the moment. The exchange rate is helping a lot at the moment for us GBP cruisers I think.

 

Perhaps with 3 speciality restaurants the three night package would suit us better. We are usually windjammer folks for some of the nights as we can't be bothered dressing up. 

 

 

I agree with previous posters in that personally I would not buy the UDP except on Quantum, Oasis and Icon class ships. However, there is no right or wrong choice here. Ultimately you will decide on what works best for the two of you. 

[sherrjo]

On 8/15/2024 at 12:08 PM, Sunshine3601 said:

This ship class will only have chops, giovannis and Izumi so in my opinion the UDP is not needed. 

How many sea days do you have for lunches with the udp?

 We usually enjoy the 3 night dining pkg.   Giovannis is our preferred.  

You can always cancel your pkg on cruise planner.   Your cruise, your choice.  

 

We decided to pull it and go for the 3 night package. We watched videos about it and it just seems like too much food, perhaps we'll do it on another cruise ship with more options. Thanks everyone for the replies it was interesting reading all view points. Happy sailing everyone. 

[Cruise a holic]

We would book on Oasis class ships only.  Great choices of specialty restaurants- on the old ships not many options.  Have enjoyed all of the specialty restaurants on Oasis class.  Also did on Icon- IMO worth it- get a two or three night package on the old ships.  

[sherrjo]

On 8/29/2024 at 8:09 AM, sherrjo said:

We decided to pull it and go for the 3 night package. We watched videos about it and it just seems like too much food, perhaps we'll do it on another cruise ship with more options. Thanks everyone for the replies it was interesting reading all view points. Happy sailing everyone. 

Just wanted to add that we also want to sample some Canadian food on land and we have 4 port stops so all inclusive just didn't make sense.