Dining on the New Ships

Do you think the new ships will encompass the new Dynamic Dining concepts from RCCL? We are starting to cruise Celebrity more than RCCL due to maintaining a traditional cruise experience. I am hoping they keep the current dining system on the new ships.

This topic was covered in a thread started a couple of weeks ago: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2134919

Many people on that thread, and on others that touched on this idea, would avoid Celebrity if they went this way. I would be one of them. I have zero interest in a cruise dining experience that is no more special than what I have in my home town.

Do you think the new ships will encompass the new Dynamic Dining concepts from RCCL?

I kind of hope so. On our last three cruises we have done Select Dining and I do not see us returning to Traditional Dining.

To me Dynamic Dining sounds a lot like NCL's Freestyle. NO THANK YOU. I don't want to have to pay every night to get decent food with a de-emphasis on the MDR as on NCL.

I hope so. The last thing I want to do on a vacation is wear a business suit and eat with strangers at a preset time. Celebrity seems to be targeting my demographic (30s professionals) and traditional dining isn't attractive to the majority of us (IMO). Fortunately, Select Dining fills the gap for now.

I hope so. The last thing I want to do on a vacation is wear a business suit and eat with strangers at a preset time. Celebrity seems to be targeting my demographic (30s professionals) and traditional dining isn't attractive to the majority of us (IMO). Fortunately, Select Dining fills the gap for now.

You don't have to do that now on X.

You don't have to do that now on X.

Right. That's why I mentioned that Select Dining fills the gap, as does eating in a specialty restaurant on formal night to avoid the need to go formal.

I'll have to see how it works on my upcoming cruise. If Select Dining seems like an afterthought, then I'll stick with my opinion. If it's well-executed then I'm all for giving people the choice to dine in the manner that they prefer.

I'd love to see dynamic dining.

To me Dynamic Dining sounds a lot like NCL's Freestyle. NO THANK YOU. I don't want to have to pay every night to get decent food with a de-emphasis on the MDR as on NCL.

If one reads the comments about Dynamic Dining on the Royal board, they will read complaints that this new dining system requires advanced reservations for the most popular times and restaurants. People are finding that they have to make reservations weeks to months in advance. If you don't, they will have to settle for less desirable times and restaurants, or dine in the buffet. They now not only have to plan their excursions months in advance, but also when and where they will eat each night. How does that equate to an improvement? Who in their right mind would want that hassle?

I hope so. The last thing I want to do on a vacation is wear a business suit and eat with strangers at a preset time. Celebrity seems to be targeting my demographic (30s professionals) and traditional dining isn't attractive to the majority of us (IMO). Fortunately, Select Dining fills the gap for now.

You are so wrong that "traditional dining isn't attractive to the majority of us". The MDR is quite full with people enjoying traditional dining. All one has to do is look and you will see that there are many. Plus, a recent poll on Dynamic Dining completely blows your opinion out of the water, with over 76% saying they don't want Dynamic Dining on Celebrity:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2117906&highlight=dynamic+dining+poll

To me, Dynamic Dining is no more elegant or special than dining at my neighborhood restaurants. If that is what I wanted, I would stay at home!

You are so wrong that "traditional dining isn't attractive to the majority of us". The MDR is quite full with people enjoying traditional dining. All one has to do is look and you will see that there are many. Plus, a recent poll on Dynamic Dining completely blows your opinion out of the water, with over 76% saying they don't want Dynamic Dining on Celebrity:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2117906&highlight=dynamic+dining+poll

 

To me, Dynamic Dining is no more elegant or special than dining at my neighborhood restaurants. If that is what I wanted, I would stay at home!

I was speaking specifically to my demographic, when mentioning "us". Is that what you are referring to or are you speaking about everyone of all age groups and demographics? If so, you're arguing against something I never stated. I never said that a good deal of people dislike traditional dining. I said that those in my age group and demographic tend to.

I like the way X is set up now. If you want to dine in specialty restaurants each night you can. If you want traditional you can get that. If you like the MDR but want flexibility you can go with Select. Best of all worlds in my opinion. I will never go on a cruise where I have to book restaurants or shows months in advance. Defeats the purpose of a cruise to me.

I watched the video from the posted link above and I have to say it looked delicious. I'm not a fan of traditional dining. I don't want to be locked in to a set time or set group of people to eat with every night. The last time we opted for traditional was in 2006. The dining room and our table was empty half the time. It wasn't even full on the first formal night. With all of the dining choices I think that traditional dining is going to become extinct on it's own as the ships become larger and more dining choices are offered. As long as this RCCL concept of dining is included in the price I think it will be a welcomed change. I don't think the current Celebrity menu is all that interesting or unique. It's basic banquet cuisine that I can get anywhere at home. The dynamic dining experience appears to have some thought behind it. However, I'm not sure if I want to plan my menu or my dining time before I sail.

I wonder if anyone knows how many people still actually dine in the MDR, fixed seating.

With the other choices available for fee, with BLU for Aqua, with Select Dining, with the buffet option, the room service options, and soon the Suite Dining Room option, the MDR is getting less and less use over time.

If Suite dining takes over part of the existing Select Dining space, they will need to take some space form the MDR to provide the Select dining space downstairs, chipping even more away from the MDR fixed dining seats.

Another bonus if ship went full select dining, no fixed seating, is the Martini Bar would be able to provide better service, in that there won't be the giant crush of guests for the 30 minutes prior to each seating, the visitors would be staggered out and easier to manage. Last cruise, I took a couple nights to avoid MDR just to enjoy Martini during the quiet time while people were dining. No wait at all for a drink then!

I would be sorry to see Traditional Dining go for now. We have met some amazing people this way that we still keep in touch with or have cruised with again.

It's nice to have choices; I like that Celebrity has both Select and Traditional.

To me Dynamic Dining sounds a lot like NCL's Freestyle. NO THANK YOU. I don't want to have to pay every night to get decent food with a de-emphasis on the MDR as on NCL.

We recently booked a TA on the Anthem of the Seas (the next to be launched in the Quantum class), and so I've been reading a great deal over on the RCI boards, particularly about Dynamic Dining. I think you'll find lots of folks enjoying the food in the included (that is, no fee) restaurants on Quantum so far (and the menus look pretty wonderful). To be sure, there's a lot of complaining going on during the rollout, but much of it seems to be coming from folks who would really prefer traditional dining; for them, Quantum is not the right ship.

I am very much looking forward to trying this all out.

Already weighed in...hope moderators can combine the threads.,,

I hope so. The last thing I want to do on a vacation is wear a business suit and eat with strangers at a preset time. Celebrity seems to be targeting my demographic (30s professionals) and traditional dining isn't attractive to the majority of us (IMO). Fortunately, Select Dining fills the gap for now.

Wow! Guess I missed the memo where you were appointed spokesperson for an entire generation. Never assume all your peers think like you. And if you do, please recall the "definition" of the word assume.

Wow! Guess I missed the memo where you were appointed spokesperson for an entire generation. Never assume all your peers think like you. And if you do, please recall the "definition" of the word assume.

While we're talking about "definitions", look up what 'IMO' stands for. Once you understand that caveat to my comment you'll realize that I, by no means, appointed myself spokesperson of my generation. :)

My comment was purely anecdotal (hence my addition of 'IMO'). Whenever I ask my friends (30s, professionals, etc.) about cruising they always come back with something about not wanting to wear formal attire, nor eat with strangers, etc. Traditional dining is a major turnoff to them and most don't know that there are other options.

While we're talking about "definitions", look up what 'IMO' stands for. Once you understand that caveat to my comment you'll realize that I, by no means, appointed myself spokesperson of my generation. :)

 

My comment was purely anecdotal (hence my addition of 'IMO'). Whenever I ask my friends (30s, professionals, etc.) about cruising they always come back with something about not wanting to wear formal attire, nor eat with strangers, etc. Traditional dining is a major turnoff to them and most don't know that there are other options.

I agree with Scott2.0 as well. I'm 44, and prefer select dining as I don't want to be forced to eat at 6 (too early) or 8:30 (too late). 7 or so works for me, and I don't need 2.5 hours to eat a banquet meal, give me service in under an hour and I'm a happy fella.

The caveat is, I do enjoy the formal nights and donning my tuxedos a couple times per cruise. I can take or leave eating with strangers, but can just ask at select dining to be placed with someone, or meet people at the bar and ask to join them. I'm a big boy and can handle meeting new people without the cruise line doing it for me.

My comment was purely anecdotal (hence my addition of 'IMO'). Whenever I ask my friends (30s, professionals, etc.) about cruising they always come back with something about not wanting to wear formal attire, nor eat with strangers, etc. Traditional dining is a major turnoff to them and most don't know that there are other options.

I have to wholeheartedly agree with this. Me and my wife are in our early 30's (33 and 34), are white-collar entrepreneurs and have so far cruised exclusively with NCL purely because of Freestyle Dining for the reasons stated above. We also dislike having to make dinner reservations in advance or even having to know where and when to eat on each night.

This is not to say that we do not dress up nice for the dinners (smart casual, possibly nicer if we have more traditional friends onboard and we are having dinner together - those two couples are the ones that got us to join them and try Reflection next month), we just don't care about the judging atmosphere that clearly surrounds the whole formal/traditional dining scene, as seen also in this thread.

Unfortunately nowadays even NCL is trying to lure customers from different backgrounds. In order to attract people that are used to fixed dining times, it recently became possible also for non-VIPs to make MDR reservations, and that is IMO totally defeating the point of Freestyle Dining that in MDRs should be first come, first served. Now there are more tables sitting empty waiting for guests that want to circumvent the Freestyle idea to get their fixed dining times.

While we're talking about "definitions", look up what 'IMO' stands for. Once you understand that caveat to my comment you'll realize that I, by no means, appointed myself spokesperson of my generation. :)

 

My comment was purely anecdotal (hence my addition of 'IMO'). Whenever I ask my friends (30s, professionals, etc.) about cruising they always come back with something about not wanting to wear formal attire, nor eat with strangers, etc. Traditional dining is a major turnoff to them and most don't know that there are other options.

I'm 54 and DW is 45. We prefer select dining over traditional. I like the option of eating alone or in a group. I also don't need to became friends with the wait staff and adopt them as pets so having the same wait staff each night isn't a perk for me. Most of all I like the flexibility of eating when I want. Sometimes it's early and sometimes it's as late as 9:00. I do agree with you to some extent that the younger generation would be more open to select dining because it was always available to them. When I sailed back in 1986 and 1991 you only had a choice of early or late and there was no guarantee on the time you would get. On both trips I had to tip the Maitre d $50 to be switched to late seating. Most of those who still prefer traditional have been sailing for a long time and that's all that was available at the time. With all of the dining choices and the class separation I don't have much hope for traditional dining in the future. I also want to mention that select dining sells out on Celebrity. On Princess early traditional sells out before late traditional and anytime is always available. So from that information IMO Celebrity may be drawing a younger crowd.

While we're talking about "definitions", look up what 'IMO' stands for. Once you understand that caveat to my comment you'll realize that I, by no means, appointed myself spokesperson of my generation. :)

 

My comment was purely anecdotal (hence my addition of 'IMO'). Whenever I ask my friends (30s, professionals, etc.) about cruising they always come back with something about not wanting to wear formal attire, nor eat with strangers, etc. Traditional dining is a major turnoff to them and most don't know that there are other options.

That's an interesting point of view. My husband and I (early 30's, professionals) do prefer meeting new people, dressing up if the occasion warrants it, and traditional dining. I would be very sad if Celebrity did away with traditional dining, as our previous Celebrity cruise sat us with a couple that we now hang out with outside the cruise.

I'm sure some people really dig the NCL way of doing things, but we were not impressed.

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I foresee the MDR becoming less formal i.e. smart casual all the time with select dining becoming the choice of the majority not slated for Blu or the Suite dining room.

I think that the MDR will be taken over by choice dining and when the Suite dining room is taken out of the Select dining section, the MDR and Select location will be flipped.... IMO. "Fixed" diners will be surrounded by tables that are fluid in their seating.

But speculation is just that... it's not what an individual wants but what seems to work for the majority on board... that's why they're in charge and we will adapt.

I am in my early 30's, single, and a professional for demographic purposes. I prefer late seating as I don't want to have to worry about making a reservation or waiting in line for a table. Additionally, when I travel just myself with one other, I enjoy speaking with others and meeting new people. I have been fortunate that I have met many wonderful, warm, and interesting people this way.

In fact, on the cruise I have booked for April, we were wait listed for late seating and placed into select. I was happy when we were moved into late seating. I think by offering a variety of options onboard, they are going to please the most. However, there will never be a time when everyone is happy with the direction.

DancerOT,

I agree with everything in your post. My sentiment exactly, and my age is late 60's.:)