We are on the 12 night Holy Land this October. We chose the 5 night plan. I plan to make reservations on the first 3 nights (embarkation and 2 sea days = plenty of time to enjoy a nice dinner). Night 4 will be when we are in Chania (Crete) as we leave there at 3:00. Night 5 will be our last sea day.
We normally do UDP BUT I’ve heard enough from others that there may be nights you don’t even get back onboard until 7/8:00 at night. You either hit up windjammer and go to bed or get into the MDR in what you wore ashore. I just don’t think we will use it enough. We also are in a JS so will try to get into Coastal Kitchen for dinner once or twice if available.
There really isn't a lot of associated charges. The only one would be the upcharge for Hibachi, which will be $10-15pp each visit. Otherwise, there are just a few rules. Like the Sportsbar type venue Playmakers having a $20 credit pp and Izumi sushi side have a $35 credit. If the price was good and I knew I would be eating lunch and dinner at specialty places for half the time, it would be worth it.
Now as far as UDP being worth it for you, that's personal preference but on a 12N cruise with 5+ ports, I would say no. How many places will I be getting off and trying the local cuisine from? The European cruises will have different options in the complimentary food venues from U.S. based sailing. Plus, Odyssey doesn't have a lot of specialty dining venues compared to other ships.
