It looks like Royal Caribbean has finally given its customers a feature they've been clamoring for since the inception of a dining package.
Cruise ship passengers can book a dining package, where they can get a bulk discount on specialty restaurants. Up until now, there was no mechanism to prebook a reservation at a specific restaurant and time before boarding the ship if you had a dining package.
Nearly a year to when they announced plans this upgrade, Royal Caribbean now is allowing guests booking the Unlimited Dining Package to pre-book days and times for restaurants online.
The advantage of this feature is it makes it significantly easier to get reservations instead of running around on embarkation day to make them.
In August 2024, pre-booking was opened up just for Allure of the Seas as a test. But now it appears the test is available for all ships.
Here's how it works.
Login into Royal Caribbean's website and go to the Cruise Planner for your sailing.
Go to the Dining section, and choose the Unlimited Dining Package.
Click the Reserve button and then select the people you want the package for, and click add to cart. At this point, you wait for each day's options to open up, with the ability to select times for each restaurant.
Be sure to follow through and make payment for the dining package to lock in your day and times.
There are two catches to its current implementation, keeping in mind Royal Caribbean is constantly working on improving its offerings.
First, the ability to pre-book times appears only available for the Unlimited Dining Package, and not the 3-night dining package.
Second, there does not appear to be a way to pre-reserve restaurants if you have already booked the dining package yet. You could cancel and rebook the Unlimited Dining Package, but you'd be subject to the prevailing rates for it.
Why this feature is so helpful
By allowing passengers to make reservations before they get onboard, it assures them of a specific day and time for their reservations.
Moreover, up until now, passengers had to hustle on the embarkation day to go make reservations.
Not only did this take away from enjoying the start of a vacation, there was usually lines to make a reservation and if someone waited until later in the cruise to book a time, they risk the frustration of restaurants being booked up.
Having to wait until boarding the ship to make dining reservations was the top pain point for passengers that booked a dining package.
With this change, a great deal of frustrations are removed from the cruise planning experience.
This change also benefits Royal Caribbean. If there are less passengers wanting to make dining reservations on embarkation day, they can move staff around to other places and reduce congestion on the Royal Promenade where crew members would wait to take reservations.
Is a dining package worth it?
If you're planning to eat at more than two specialty restaurants on your cruise, there's a good chance a dining package will save you money.
Royal Caribbean offers a flat cost to enjoy as many restaurants as you like with the Unlimited Dining Package, with the caveat if a restaurant is priced a la carte, you can only dine there once per day and with a stipend.
Examples of restaurants priced a la carte include Playmakers Sports Bar, Izumi sushi, and Portside BBQ.
Note that certain restaurants have an upcharge, such as Izumi Hibachi ($15), Chef's Table ($49.99), and Empire Supper Club ($130).
The UDP doesn't include premium items in the Main Dining Room, the Taste of Royal experience, Celebration Table, or Chops Grille premium cuts.
I've purchased a dining package about 20 times, and there's no question it can save you money, assuming you eat at the restaurants every night.
An example of how a dining package won't work out financially is if you have busy port day plans or are simply too tired to go to a restaurant for dinner and end up in the buffet or a counter service restaurant.
Likewise, if you're not interested in more than 2 or 3 specialty restaurants, then skipping the dining package makes sense too.
In addition to the Unlimited Dining Package, there are smaller offerings, such as the 3-night dining package, or the Chops + Your Choice package. These offer fewer evenings to dine, but it's cheaper and a good introduction to specialty dining.
