My Time Dining & UDP

[MG728]

Could someone tell my how MyTime dining would work if we also get the Unlimited Dining Plan?  We chose MyTime dining and my husband adamantly wants the UDP. We are somewhat new to cruising and this will be our first time on Royal Caribbean.  Thanks for your help!

[Ampurp85]

MTD is the free dining included in the fare, it allows you to either walk up at any night and get a table...based on a possible small wait time. Or schedule dining in the cruise planner for specific times. It has nothing to do with specialty restaurants, which is the purpose of UDP. The UDP cuts down the cost of dining in the paid areas, in the pre-Covid times these can also be scheduled on the cruise planner. If you are sailing soon-sih then you would have to make UDP on board.

[MG728]

Thanks for your help!!We aren't sailing until next summer, so maybe we will be able to prebook later on. Can't wait to be on the Odyssey as it looks amazing! 

[cdixon22]

My time is for the main dining room and is included in cruise fare. UDP is for specialty restaurants that charge extra. 

[WAAAYTOOO]

If you purchase the UDP then you would presumably eat all of your meals in specialty restaurants BUT you don’t have to !  If you decided that you wanted to eat in the MDR on any particular evening, you could still do that.  Since MTD is a “eat-at-any-time” option, you could choose to go to the MDR, either with a reservation or without one, and they would seat you.  It’s nice to have options !

[MG728]

Thank you! Our only other cruise was on NCL and we didn’t really deal with dining times so this is our first time. That is great to know because I’m sure we will probably eat in the MDR at least once. We have 3 kids and like to do a “family” dinner too. My kids love the buffet and on other nights we take them there then they love to go to the kids club club and my husband and I have a date night at a specialty.

[WAAAYTOOO]

You’re welcome !

[AshleyDillo]

11 hours ago, MG728 said:

Our only other cruise was on NCL and we didn’t really deal with dining times so this is our first time.

MTD is similar to NCL.  You can walk up to the main dining room when they are open and eat. The only slight difference is that you can also make reservations on RCL, similar to going out to eat at a restaurant on land.  That means walk-ups may have a longer wait, but if you know when you are planning to eat any particular day you can jump the line by making reservations.

The UDP is for the specialty restaurants and in exchange for buying the package and receiving a discount price over paying for individual meals you aren't able to reserve your times prior to boarding. Once you are on the ship you can make your reservations for the specialty restaurants. It's confusing when you purchase in the cruise planner because it makes you choose a time by default, but that has no bearing on anything. 

[MG728]

Thank you- this is a super helpful explanation. I think the choosing a time in the cruise planner for the UDP was really what was confusing me and you explained it perfectly.