Royal Caribbean is known for its specialty restaurants, especially on its newer or larger ships. Some of their ships have six, seven or more luxury dining experiences that cruisers can choose from, from classic favorites like Chops Grill steakhouse and Giovanni's Table Italian restaurant to newer offerings like Hooked Seafood.
Pricing for Royal Caribbean specialty restaurants can vary, depending on the ship, the standard price of the dining venue, and whether you choose to reserve your meal in advance before setting sail. But for foodies who love to try all the places to dine during their vacation, Royal Caribbean offers the unlimited dining package.
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Now, the unlimited dining package is nothing new. It includes dinner nightly at a specialty restaurant, lunch at a specialty restaurant on sea days, and meal credits for a la carte spots like Playmakers Sports Bar. And it's been offered on Royal Caribbean cruises for years.
However, one of the current problems is that cruisers who booked the unlimited dining package have not been able to make reservations in advance. They had to rush to the nearest specialty restaurant or dining host after boarding the ship and making all their reservations in person.
Not only was this a major inconvenience at a time when customers should be starting to enjoy their vacation, but it often led to passengers missing out on popular meal times that filled up early.
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Image source: royal caribbean
Unlimited dining package reservations went live this month
It has been a high priority for Royal Caribbean leadership to give cruisers back the first day of their vacation. In other words, spending hours on dining reservations, beverage packages, and entertainment plans when you first board the ship can start a vacation on a stressful, not enjoyable, note.
The cruise line has made subtle improvements to its process. This has included a slightly revised login for Voom WiFi which should mean fewer people need to stop by the internet desk on day one.
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It has also been working to improve the restaurant reservation process for people who purchase the UDP.
One way the cruise line is doing this is to finally make unlimited dining package reservations available in advance. After testing the new feature earlier this year, Royal Caribbean officially launched it in early November.
Royal goes one step further
Royal Caribbean has arranged the UDP booking process into steps,
Initially, the ability to add reservations to the Unlimited Dining Plan was only available at the time of purchase. In other words, if you were on a 5-night cruise and booked the unlimited dining plan, you made your five dining reservations at the time you purchased the plan.
He couldn't make any changes unless he canceled the entire plan and rebooked it.
Obviously, this was not ideal. But it was still a big improvement compared to not being able to make any reservations.
Now, Royal Caribbean appears to have taken convenience a step further. The cruise line has released a new update that allows passengers to modify reservations after making them, according to Royal Caribe Blog,
I have a reservation for an upcoming 7-night voyage on Wonder of the Seas and purchased the unlimited dining package for my family. Being able to make reservations in advance was a big added value to the UDP, especially since in the previous version you would have to scramble to make reservations with two small children in tow right after boarding.
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However, the ability to modify plans and make new reservations as we make entertainment reservations, spa plans, and our cruise itinerary is huge. Not only was I able to book the UDP for a 7-night trip for about the normal price of four specialty dinners, but the recent change made me feel like I wasn't sacrificing convenience for value.
Dan's note: This may seem like a small change, but as someone who buys UDP on most trips, it's a pretty big fix. The onboard process for making reservations was slow and if there were a couple of people in line in front of you, the process could take an hour or more, and that's a painful hour when you're waiting to get a drink, something to eat, or see the ship. .
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