Will I have issues with booking with UDP on holiday sold out cruise?

[matj2000]

We had UDP on the Symph last March

 

I went to one of the Kiosks in the promenade right after boarding and made all the reservations.

 

The entire process seemed very inefficient and slow, it took around 30min.

 

It was kind of a hassle for the guy going from screen to screen checking availability.

 

Like other said, most of the good times were taken.

 

But after I told them who I was,  we ended up getting everything done.

 

 

 

 

[suzyluvs2cruise]

2 hours ago, jrapps said:

I was on the Wonder of the seas for Thanksgiving week and we got all the restaurants we wanted (UDP, never set foot in the MDR once the entire cruise). We had the very first boarding time and my plan was to get on and run straight to Izumi, as others have said they are usually empty and very easy to make all your reservations. Turned out we didn't even need to do that. Once we got inside the terminal, I was able to connect to the Wonder-Guest wifi, restarted the Royal app and said I was onboard, and it let me book everything right away. I had all 7 nights of dinners booked before we ever stepped foot on the ship!

 

Once onboard we went straight to Mason Jar for Brunch. We decided to move a few dinners around once we saw what the show times were, still had no issues doing that even an hour after we got onboard

 

Good luck!

 

 

Great....thanks for confirming that you could book Mason Jar for lunch 

[Coralc]

7 hours ago, ARandomTraveler said:

I also had to go to guest services one night when I wanted to cancel a dinner reservation because we were too tired and not hungry enough to eat at our 5pm reservation time. The app wouldn't allow me to cancel on my own, I had to go to guest services and have them do it. 

We just called the dining number from a house phone near an elevator to cancel a reservation. It was really simple. DH wanted a Windjammer night instead. UDP is a lot of food, and a lot of scheduling. On our next couple of cruises, we are just doing 3-night packages. We have had the UDP on the last two. 

Edited December 11, 2022 by Coralc

[taglovestocruise]

5 hours ago, matj2000 said:

We had UDP on the Symph last March

 

I went to one of the Kiosks in the promenade right after boarding and made all the reservations.

 

The entire process seemed very inefficient and slow, it took around 30min.

 

It was kind of a hassle for the guy going from screen to screen checking availability.

 

Like other said, most of the good times were taken.

 

But after I told them who I was,  we ended up getting everything done.

 

 

 

 

He must of missed your pin...

 

[chiguypaul]

I thought people would find the following amusing. I talked to Royal Caribbean Crown and Anchor and they said that with my unlimited Dining package I was guaranteed a restaurant at 5:30 every night.  

[jean87510]

2 hours ago, chiguypaul said:

I thought people would find the following amusing. I talked to Royal Caribbean Crown and Anchor and they said that with my unlimited Dining package I was guaranteed a restaurant at 5:30 every night.  

👀 

[dada2199cc]

We have done UDP for every Thanksgiving and Christmas cruise for year (minus quarantine years) and never once had an issue.

 

On big ships and small ships, both.

 

We do tip hefty, tho, so it’s possible YMMV.

[chiguypaul]

Just a follow up to my experience after originally posting the message for this thread. We checked in as early as possible and had zero issues getting everything we wanted. I was beyond stressed about the stories here on CC and not getting the times I wanted.  Some of you had to cancel your UDP because you couldn’t get the times you wanted. Now all this being said, I worked myself up pretty good until I knew I had all my reservations in place.  I was ready for that though.  On busy holiday sailings you just have to go in to UDP with a tremendous amount of flexibility and know that there’s a sense of rolling the dice on getting the locations and times you want.  If that sounds unappealing then go with something like a three night package and know you have the times you want ahead of time.  We had 13 UDP reservations between early brunch, sea day lunches and dinners. It was a lot to schedule and we had to double check multiple times because sometimes the staff would make some mistakes when booking.  Thanks for everyone’s thoughts and comments on this topic and I hope it’s a helpful thread for others thinking about UDP. 

[Ourusualbeach]

3 minutes ago, chiguypaul said:

Just a follow up to my experience after originally posting the message for this thread. We checked in as early as possible and had zero issues getting everything we wanted. I was beyond stressed about the stories here on CC and not getting the times I wanted.  Some of you had to cancel your UDP because you couldn’t get the times you wanted. Now all this being said, I worked myself up pretty good until I knew I had all my reservations in place.  I was ready for that though.  On busy holiday sailings you just have to go in to UDP with a tremendous amount of flexibility and know that there’s a sense of rolling the dice on getting the locations and times you want.  If that sounds unappealing then go with something like a three night package and know you have the times you want ahead of time.  We had 13 UDP reservations between early brunch, sea day lunches and dinners. It was a lot to schedule and we had to double check multiple times because sometimes the staff would make some mistakes when booking.  Thanks for everyone’s thoughts and comments on this topic and I hope it’s a helpful thread for others thinking about UDP. 

Glad it all worked out.  We also had no issues in getting all the restaurants we wanted including a party of 12 on the 26th at 6pm. 

[zestyzorra]

14 hours ago, chiguypaul said:

Just a follow up to my experience after originally posting the message for this thread. We checked in as early as possible and had zero issues getting everything we wanted. I was beyond stressed about the stories here on CC and not getting the times I wanted.  Some of you had to cancel your UDP because you couldn’t get the times you wanted. Now all this being said, I worked myself up pretty good until I knew I had all my reservations in place.  I was ready for that though.  On busy holiday sailings you just have to go in to UDP with a tremendous amount of flexibility and know that there’s a sense of rolling the dice on getting the locations and times you want.  If that sounds unappealing then go with something like a three night package and know you have the times you want ahead of time.  We had 13 UDP reservations between early brunch, sea day lunches and dinners. It was a lot to schedule and we had to double check multiple times because sometimes the staff would make some mistakes when booking.  Thanks for everyone’s thoughts and comments on this topic and I hope it’s a helpful thread for others thinking about UDP. 

Were you able to get the Hamachi restaurant? That's the one I'm hoping for most, and I don't board until 11:30am.  Like you, I've been stressing about it.  But my sailing is 1/21. Thanks!

[chiguypaul]

2 hours ago, zestyzorra said:

Were you able to get the Hamachi restaurant? That's the one I'm hoping for most, and I don't board until 11:30am.  Like you, I've been stressing about it.  But my sailing is 1/21. Thanks!

Never tried. Wasn’t interested in hibachi. 

[molly361]

2 hours ago, zestyzorra said:

Were you able to get the Hamachi restaurant? That's the one I'm hoping for most, and I don't board until 11:30am.  Like you, I've been stressing about it.  But my sailing is 1/21. Thanks!

It would probably be best to go straight to Izumi to make all your reservations.  When I tried on the Wonder a couple of weeks ago (and this was at 11am) I was told to go there and check as they showed Hibachi full all week.  This was at 150 CP where I made all my ressies.

[ARandomTraveler]

4 hours ago, zestyzorra said:

Were you able to get the Hamachi restaurant? That's the one I'm hoping for most, and I don't board until 11:30am.  Like you, I've been stressing about it.  But my sailing is 1/21. Thanks!

I would suggest paying out of pocket to book the hibachi now, before you board. You'll probably be able to get the manager of the restaurant to refund your money and transfer it onto your dining package, but before you pay out of pocket, you'd have to be prepared for them to decline that request and be ok with it if that happens. If it will break your budget if they don't refund you, don't do it.

 

When I sailed in November, I got on the ship at 11am (I think I actually made it on by 10:50, I'd have to look back at my notes). I booked my shows first, and then went to book dining about 10-15 min later, and the hibachi was already booked for the entire week. Not sure if it would have been available had I booked dining first and shows second. 
 

I did meet some people at the hibachi that got in on the waitlist, so that's an option too. 

[zestyzorra]

12 hours ago, ARandomTraveler said:

I would suggest paying out of pocket to book the hibachi now, before you board. You'll probably be able to get the manager of the restaurant to refund your money and transfer it onto your dining package, but before you pay out of pocket, you'd have to be prepared for them to decline that request and be ok with it if that happens. If it will break your budget if they don't refund you, don't do it.

 

When I sailed in November, I got on the ship at 11am (I think I actually made it on by 10:50, I'd have to look back at my notes). I booked my shows first, and then went to book dining about 10-15 min later, and the hibachi was already booked for the entire week. Not sure if it would have been available had I booked dining first and shows second. 
 

I did meet some people at the hibachi that got in on the waitlist, so that's an option too. 

Thanks very much, I will definitely book it separately before the cruise as I really want to dine there.  Just curious, what did you say to the manager of the restaurant when requesting the refund? 

[ARandomTraveler]

1 hour ago, zestyzorra said:

Thanks very much, I will definitely book it separately before the cruise as I really want to dine there.  Just curious, what did you say to the manager of the restaurant when requesting the refund? 

When the waiter introduced himself, he asked who had the dining package, and everyone raised their hand. He started explaining the different menu items, and said some were "included" and some were an upcharge.
 

We wanted to order the items that were an upcharge, so he told me it would be an extra $20 or something like that. So I said something along the lines of "I booked this online before the cruise, but I paid full price for it. Since I have the UDP, can you actually just refund me the difference?" 
 

And he didn't understand, he kept telling me I would get a bill for $20 at the end of the meal, and I kept saying "but I paid $60, so I actually should get $40 back" and so he eventually said "we'll figure it out at the end of the meal."
 

So at the end of the meal, the manager came over and all I had to do was say that I paid full price online, but I have the dining package so I'm hoping you can give me a refund. And she did. But if she hasn't understood what I was talking about like the waiter, I would have just had to accept that I was gonna pay full price.