dining on allure

[mom2mybugs]

So I went back into more detail but i'm not sure i'm reading everything right.  I'm looking at the bogo...am i right there are no restrictions?  I'm reading it that I could technically do 150 and izumi hibachi.  Is it remotely likely i would be able to book those restaurants on the ship?  Would I be eating at 10 or 4?  Because 40 total for those two restaurants intstead of 90 is amazing!  Also, am I right that the ultimate dining doesn't restrict those two restaurants?  It's only 168 (24/night)...unless i do bogo, i'd be booking 90 for 150 and hibachi anyway, so 78 for 5 other nights of dining seems really good if again, we can eat that much!  I would love opinions on samba grill.  Is it just way too much food, or worth doing?   Also, can I pick only a couple people in the room to do ultimate dining?  My 16 year old is a vegetarian and I'm hesitant to pay for all this stuff.  Is it possible to book her for just a couple nights "ala carte single meal pricing" and somehow have her sit with our reservation for ultimate dining?  Does that make sense?  She would do sabor and hibachi, but not the others....   One last question...do the 2 and 3 night pkgs require you eat on day 1 or 2?  So if so, you couldn't combine it with bogo right?  Because if you could combine, that might make sense.     

Ugh...hope all this makes sense !  Thanks for any advice...I know that i've had great opinions on the food fatigue thing, and i'm just have indecisiveness!  Jane

[WAAAYTOOO]

Unless I am mistaken, Izumi Hibachi is not included in the UDP or any of the dining packages, for that matter.  I am almost certain that it is not included in the BOGO.  150 is included.  Chef's Table is also disallowed, IIRC.

I find the UDP to be a good deal for Dan and me b/c we like the flexibility and variety of places/food to eat,  especially on the O class ships.  To be honest, I really don't know whether you can exclude anyone from the package or not, but I am thinking that you can as they always ask you to select who you will be purchasing for when you buy it.

I believe that only the BOGO package requires you to eat on nights 1/2.  I think the "3/4/5 nights" packages allow you to eat whatever nights you want to eat.  They WILL make a reservation for you for night #1 but I think you can change it once you're onboard if you want.  I know for sure that you can change the restaurant that they choose for you if you want.

One danger with the UDP is the same danger you have with the DDP.  Fatigue.  I find it nearly impossible to eat 3 big meals a day for 7 days in a row.  The only other disadvantage is if there is a special meal that you really LIKE in the MDR. For us, it is the lamb shank as that is Dan's favorite meal on the whole ship and he still wants to have it even if we have purchased a dining package.  We have just started asking the waiter (in whatever restaurant we happen to be on the night when it is served....usually the last night) to bring him the lamb shank.  Some will say that it's a waste of money to eat from the MDR after you have paid extra money to eat in a specialty restaurant but truly....a great deal of what you are paying for is the ambiance of the restaurant itself over the hectic pace and mania of the MDR. We have just accepted that at least 1 night during the cruise he will be eating from the MDR menu even if we are not physically in the MDR.