Ultimate Dining Package

[Jennifire7]

Hi Cruise Critic members, 

 

You all have been so helpful with all of my Holland America questions, I figured I’d ask for some advice on one more thing.

 

We are booked on the Nieuw Statendam in March and are contemplating going for the ultimate dining package. 

 

My questions are:

 

it says that they will contact you upon embarkation to schedule out your reservations, will most places be booked and we won’t have any normal hours?

 

one of the nights we are in San Juan and we have a dinner planned on shore, will that be an issue with the ultimate dining?

 

is the package a waste with the two a la carte restaurants?

 

thanks guys!!

[djhsolara]

If you are 3-star or up, your Mariner discount is the better way to go. We booked the package but then once we got onboard, we cancelled the plan and booked them all separately with our discount. 

[OmarOak]

It is a savings if you actually want to go to all the restaurants on your Cruise. On a recent Koningsdam Cruise, reservations were a simple matter in every venue other than the Pinnacle Grille. 

 

We did not do the package and were glad we didn't. The savings (I think $20pp overall) were not worth the commitment to us.

[faerievert]

If we hadn't received 2 Pinnacle dinners as part of a different package, I'd have done the dining deal. It looks like slightly less of a deal when it's only the two venues vs three (no Tamarind). We're not fussy about dining times, so I'm fully confident we could have adjusted to times of our liking (and will be able to for our 2 at Pinnacle this time). We had no trouble going to Canaletto and Pinnacle on our past cruises without making reservations until several days into the cruise. From what I've read, only those who insist on a certain day or very popular specific time have trouble.

 

Other ways to save include:

• Go to a paid venue to eat on embarkation night. Canaletto usually has a discount the first night, and sometimes Pinnacle or Tamarind
• Try Pinnacle for lunch

[Carol28]

FYI - They usually book you for  a specialty on the first night if you buy the package in advance.  You can re-schedule it if you choose.  We did the package on the Koningsdam. If you have OBC, you can book on board using the OBC. Ser del Mer was ok, but not great to me.  I prefer the Pinnacle. We won't do the package again.