JeffsterL

I've always booked myself directly through the cruise line but after watching so many tips and tricks videos on youtube, it seems booking through a travel agents is really the way to go. The problem is apparently TAs are not created equal as some people on reddit seem to have had bad experiences with their TAs (more good experiences, however). Is there a tried and true method of finding good TAs? Or is word of mouth really the only way?

Cool cool, thanks! This is reassuring. I thought about this when I saw that the Sea Pass card has a key notation for those who purchase The Key and a drinks package notation for those who have it but I never saw one for the UDP which I thought was a bit weird.

Kind of a silly question but this is my first time booking the UDP on my upcoming cruise but I haven't really found an answer as it seems pretty niche. Since the specialty restaurant reservations can be made as either charged, or uncharged (via UDP), do you have to specifically mention booking as the UDP when making reservations or walk-ins? That is to say, do they default to a charged reservation unless you mention you have the UDP, especially for walk-ins? I'm worried that if I dine as a walk-in they will charge my account if I forget to mention that I have the UDP and with several once-per-day restaurants with a la carte credits it really seems like a possibility. Of course, this can probably be sorted at the guest services desk but it still makes me wonder a bit.

I've booked the udp on my next cruise but there seems to be some different opinions on what the udp actually allows you to do. I was hoping for some clarification because it seems recently royal caribbean keeps their policy changes on the downlow. One of the opinions seems to be that we can only have one specialty restaurant per meal. This doesn't make much sense though, because doesn't that defeat the purpose of the U in UDP? In contrast, some folks say that we can in fact eat at, for example, Chop's at 6pm and then Jamie's at 8:30pm on the same day. And of course there is the in-between opinion that we can only reserve one specialty restaurant per meal per day but can eat anywhere (prix fix/a la carte permitting) as walk-ins if there are tables available. Which is it!!?!? Has anyone fully abused their UDP recently? How did it go?

Cool cool, thanks for the thorough reply! This is reassuring, I'm glad that there's atleast some pressure on the excursion vendor to return on time.

On my next cruise, I have an excursion booked but it is set to return only 30 minutes before my dinner reservation. I'm afraid of delays and I will miss it. Do you guys know if the end time for excursions are usually 'the latest you will arrive on ship' or are they more like 'the earliest you will arrive'? If it matters, the excursion is one of those "highlights of _____ city/town" types. Thanks in advance!

In the past and pre-covid, it seems to be the norm to be able to order multiple entrees, apps, and desserts at specialty dining venues. But recently I've seen some mixed information about RCCL's policy about specialty dining extras. Some say all-you-can-eat, some say ayce sans entrees, and some say ordering extra all costs extra. I've also read that it varies between the restaurants. For example, Chops being a no extra entree restaurant whereas Jamie's Italian is pretty much free for all. For those of you who have cruised with RCCL this year, what has been your experience?

Hi everyone! I'm trying to get my visa situation sorted before I aboard my cruise but some things are a bit confusing, mainly that a tourist visa is single entry for me. I'm using a Taiwan passport for a cruise that embarks from Singapore and is bound for multiple ports in Thailand. Thailand requires visas from Taiwan passports but the readily available ones they issue are singe entry only.My question is whenever I enter another port beyond the first in Thailand, does that count as another entry? Or, when on a cruise, do all destinations in a specific country counts as a single entry for that country?