Norwegian Ultimate Dining Package

IS this package really worth it?

Can you book your reservations prior to boarding the ship?

My wife and I are big whiners and dinners.. trying to figure out if this is worth it or not

Yes.

IS this package really worth it?

 

 

 

Can you book your reservations prior to boarding the ship?

 

 

 

My wife and I are big whiners and dinners.. trying to figure out if this is worth it or not

Completely depends on you.

For us, no it isn't. We usually have at least one evening where we just go to the buffet. We like the MDR and go there a couple of times. We really like the speciality restaurants, but don't see them as a necessity. Taking the UDP would add to the cost of our cruise and we would probably enjoy the specialities less if we did them every day.

Other people eat at the speciality restaurants (or would like to but for the cost) every day. For those people it is certainly worth it.

Have you cruised NCL before? If not then I would suggest trying the free venues rather than ruling them out by getting the UDP. Lots of people are perfectly happy with the MDR.

Having said that, your last statement may mean that your preferences are more in line with the speciality restaurants. As I said. It really does depend on you. It isn't as cut and dried as some on here suggest.

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Thank you so much for the information. I have been on NCL before and personally am not a big fan of the freestyle dinning experience. I like the traditional times dinning with the same waiter or waitress etc.

You so mention a good point though. We do like the MDR as well and maybe if we do 3 MDR nights and 3 speciality it would make more sense to pay ala carte for the per person, per dinner.

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IS this package really worth it?

 

Can you book your reservations prior to boarding the ship?

 

My wife and I are big whiners and dinners.. trying to figure out if this is worth it or not

Downsides?

You could have a few nights you do not feel like anything more than Blue Lagoon or Buffet. But, then you feel like you have to get your "money's worth" and force a dinner elsewhere.

It can be good for some people, but I would find it restrictive.

And, I assume you are WINERS and not WHINERS. Please?

Downsides?

 

You could have a few nights you do not feel like anything more than Blue Lagoon or Buffet. But, then you feel like you have to get your "money's worth" and force a dinner elsewhere.

 

It can be good for some people, but I would find it restrictive.

 

 

And, I assume you are WINERS and not WHINERS. Please?

Yes Winers... Autocorrect for some reason changed it on my phone

You so mention a good point though. We do like the MDR as well and maybe if we do 3 MDR nights and 3 speciality it would make more sense to pay ala carte for the per person, per dinner.

That's our plan. Also, we might choose to eat an early dinner at a port one time, too. Also, on Getaway, we plan to do Illusionarium, which includes a dinner and is not included in the UDP. Factor those two things in to our 7 night trip, and it makes no sense for us to get the UDP. I think it serves a purpose, but I think the vast majority of people would come out ahead not to purchase it.

Can someone tell me on the epic how many restaurants are there that you don't need to pay extra from and is the main dinning room the same one as you would have lunch in

Also if I get the package how many extra restaurants does that get you

Also can you eat in this specialality restaurants for lunch ?

Can someone tell me on the epic how many restaurants are there that you don't need to pay extra from and is the main dinning room the same one as you would have lunch in

 

 

 

Also if I get the package how many extra restaurants does that get you

Free restaurants:

Manhattan

Taste

Buffet

O'Sheehans

Room Service (except for certain times at night)

Included in UDP:

Cagneys

La Cucina

Le Bistro

Moderno

Shanghai

Teppenyaki

You also get a discount on the a la carte places, which are the Noodle Bar and Sushi

I think that's it. There is the Haven restaurant, but that's for people in a Suites.

No lunch in speciality restaurants. That is in the Buffet, o'Sheehans or Taste.

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Oh thanks for that information

Would you say the food at lunch is like the food at dinner time

Just trying to see if I would get fed up of it and best to do package

I think the only thing that made it worth it is I read from they didn't restrict you to only one specialty resto per night.. you can actually eat at more than one any given night.. like have appetizers at one resto, then main course at the other resto, then dessert at another...

Possibly more worth it on 14 day or longer cruises than short ones.. with that many days, you might get tired eating at MDR all the time...

For typical 7 day cruises... it might not be that worth it.

I think the only thing that made it worth it is I read from they didn't restrict you to only one specialty resto per night.. you can actually eat at more than one any given night.. like have appetizers at one resto, then main course at the other resto, then dessert at another...

Sounds good on paper when you are at home and hungry. Once you get on the ship very few will have the desire to restaurant hop all night. You won't have the time or hunger or desire.

Would you say the food at lunch is like the food at dinner time

No there is no comparison you won't find items like lamb shank, Coq au Vin, large steaks, escargot, scallops and other numerous items.

We only eat in the specialty restaurants and love them!

Can you book your reservations prior to boarding the ship? Yes 45 days prior to sailing just like show resy's as well..

Sounds good on paper when you are at home and hungry. Once you get on the ship very few will have the desire to restaurant hop all night. You won't have the time or hunger or desire.

on short 7 cruises might be true.. but on 14 days or longer cruises might be..

you may get tired of MDR buffet food by the time you get to week 2...

true..some entries like sea bass or maine lobster are only available on specialty restaurants..if they limit you to only one then hop to the next specialty resto and order a second premium main course..

the MDR serves only rock lobster btw, but you can have seconds...

I saw the package on the NCL site....

do they still have a 3 restaurant package? I thought they did ??

I do like NCL but really not so fond of the main dining room...with a group it was hard cause people left to the upsell restaurants (do did I haha, loved Le Bistro)...not sure I would want all 7 nights

are they offering any onboard specials now? thanks

on short 7 cruises might be true.. but on 14 days or longer cruises might be..

you may get tired of MDR buffet food by the time you get to week 2...

 

Then why pay all that extra money for a UDP when you are eating in the complimentary restaurants the first week? Go ala carte and save money. The menus in the specialty restaurants get old too. They don't change and don't offer that many choices.

I get the sense many people believe it's UDP or nothing. Ala carte has and still is the option most people will use.

Then why pay all that extra money for a UDP when you are eating in the complimentary restaurants the first week? Go ala carte and save money. The menus in the specialty restaurants get old too. They don't change and don't offer that many choices.

 

I get the sense many people believe it's UDP or nothing. Ala carte has and still is the option most people will use.

I agree. It's not UDP or else MDR all week. Some of the responses on the UDP threads make it seem like people think it's one or the other. If you plan to do half and half, the UDP is not a good option. Pay for the specialties as you go.

We went for it.

We definitely wanted to eat in the specialties for 5 nights (of our 7 night cruise). The cost for that was $105 pp.

We decided to just pay the $119 and get the plan because it's highly likely that we'd want to eat at La Cucina on one of the remaining two nights and would make the total cost $120 if paying separately.

does NCL always have lobster on the first night? What time can you board? What time do you disembark?

You can tell this is our first time on NCL. We are doing the breakaway 10-26-14. Thanks for any help you can give us. Iris

does NCL always have lobster on the first night? What time can you board? What time do you disembark?

 

You can tell this is our first time on NCL. We are doing the breakaway 10-26-14. Thanks for any help you can give us. Iris

No Lobster in the MDR on the Breakaway apparently.

Breakaway did have lobster in the MDR, night 1, on Jan. 19th 12 night cruise

We decided not to book UDP for our upcoming Getaway cruise because we want to eat at Ocean Blue and Illusionarium, in addition to having meals at five separate specialty restaurants. Because the UDP doesn't apply to the Illusionarium and only gets us 20% off at Ocean Blue, the cost would be virtually the same for us whether we purchase UDP or go a la carte.

La Cucina $15

Le Bistro $20

Moderno $20

Teppanyaki $25

Cagney's $30

A la carte = $110 plus $39 Illusionarium plus $49 Ocean Blue = $198.

UDP = $119 plus $39 Illusionarium plus $39 (discounted Ocean Blue) = $197.

Since we may change our minds and decide to try the new menus in the main dining rooms one or more nights, and we have $860 of shipboard credit to spend, we're planning to go a la carte. There's no reason to pay ahead of time for restaurants that will cost the same once we're on board.

We decided not to book UDP for our upcoming Getaway cruise because we want to eat at Ocean Blue and Illusionarium, in addition to having meals at five separate specialty restaurants. Because the UDP doesn't apply to the Illusionarium and only gets us 20% off at Ocean Blue, the cost would be virtually the same for us whether we purchase UDP or go a la carte.

 

La Cucina $15

Le Bistro $20

Moderno $20

Teppanyaki $25

Cagney's $30

 

A la carte = $110 plus $39 Illusionarium plus $49 Ocean Blue = $198.

 

UDP = $119 plus $39 Illusionarium plus $39 (discounted Ocean Blue) = $197.

 

Since we may change our minds and decide to try the new menus in the main dining rooms one or more nights, and we have $860 of shipboard credit to spend, we're planning to go a la carte. There's no reason to pay ahead of time for restaurants that will cost the same once we're on board.

I have seen some huge OBC for recent GA sailings. Is NCL really having a rough time selling this ship?

Question for those who have taken the package. Le Bistro has those BISTRO SPECIALS wherein you have to pay additional $10 on top of the surcharge to order them..

It is not clear here as this is not strictly speaking Ala Cart.

So with the UDP, are these included? Or you get them at 20% discount so you have to pay 8% to order them?