Potential Solution for MDR/DD issue

New Coke accomplished exactly what Coca-Cola sought. It was basically just a ruse to give them the opportunity to change from sucrose to high fructose corn syrup. When the returned to "Coke Classic" few people noticed that one subtle change from the true original recipe. Coca-Cola did exactly what they wanted to.

Sure they did!:rolleyes:

"Project Kansas" was one of the greatest marking ploys in history. Pepsi had caught them in sales and in 6 months after The New Coke Rollout, Coke was growing twice as fast as Pepsi.

They were able to to not only to change to high fructose corn syrup but also were able to take all coca derivatives out. That hurt the Peruvian Govt. & the Cartels. :eek:

The complimentary restaurants are Silk, Chic, American Icon, Grande, and Coastal Kitchens. CK is for suites only and Grande is always formal. On Oasis/Allure, the complimentary restaurants are Silk, Grande, American Icon, and Coastal Kitchens. Which restaurant on which class would you suggest swapping for a MDR?

 

RCI has decided that DD is the way to attract new cruisers who are not interested in the traditional dining style. Why should they dilute the DD experience and undermine their strategy?

Based on what LouTheGlue has been reviewing on the Quantum it seems that American Icon which is the largest would be the most optimum. It is the only free restaurant that is open for lunch on sea days.

It's all about making money...everything starts with that in mind.

And with the Traditional MDR setup, that cannot make money!

Pure and simple.

They have found a way with DD to make money, although you may not see it yet, the framework is there.....

Would you be willing to pay as you go for all your mealS, etc, IF the cruisefare was cut in half?

And if you want , you can pre-purchase a meal plan before you board.

Not saying that's what is coming, I'm just curious if people would do it.

I'm going to get panned for disparaging something I've not yet experienced. And yet, here I go, stepping right into it.

There are a number of reasons I prefer cruising to land-based vacations. The usual - being at sea, visiting multiple destinations on the same vacation, my resort travels with me, etc. But high on that list are the SOCIAL aspects of cruising.

Friends you meet at a land-based resort arrive and leave on different schedules. The staff at those resorts work different days. Everyone on your 7 day cruise is with you throughout your vacation. Your fellow cruisers and your staff.

Someone here compared DD to MyTime. It's not the same. I LOVE MyTime Dining. That said, I choose to make a standing reservation so I can have the same table and the same staff every night. I appreciate being able to choose my dining time and my table mates. However, I like eating in the same place, being served by the same staff, every night of my trip. That is a HUGE plus in my mind.

I work in advertising and understand the marketing implications. So what? I LIKE being addressed by name. I LIKE having the staff know what I want to drink. I LIKE that they remember that last night I said I'd be going snorkeling today and they ask me about my adventure. I like BONDING with the staff and my fellow passengers. To me, it's what makes a cruise vacation unlike other vacations.

I don't want to experience a new restaurant every night of my cruise. I could do that at an all inclusive resort. I don't consider it a BENEFIT over developing a relationship with my MDR staff.

I prefer small ships, so this isn't likely to impact my cruise experience for a long time. When it does, I hope there are other cruise lines offering a main dining room. Call me silly, sappy, sentimental or a stuck-in-the-mud traditionalist. Some elements of my cruise experience are really important to me. This happens to be one of them.

Here's my GUESS and I'm sticking to it!!;)

DD is the way of the future and way more profitable for Royal. They are not going to change anything as they are in the mode of changes for the future. I'm thinking from Voyager class and up-all these ships are large enough to stuff enough small dining venues in and ching cha ching............Chchchch changes! [David Bowie for those who are wondering!!] Slow and steady but that is where they are heading I'm thinking.

Radiance and Vision class just don't seem large enough to take up space with new dining venues so they may be the ships to sail on for that old style cruising many can not let go of.

Thinking out loud with no professional knowledge or inside information.:o

Based on what LouTheGlue has been reviewing on the Quantum it seems that American Icon which is the largest would be the most optimum. It is the only free restaurant that is open for lunch on sea days.

Really? You realize that means that if you are on Oasis/Allure and not in a suite, your dinner choices would be Pan Asian (Silk) or Formal (Grande) or the Horizon Court? Probably a non-starter.

DD is the way of the future and way more profitable for Royal.

Ding ding ding, we have a winner!!!

Forget about the mdr being "old fashioned", forget about pitting generations against each other because people's tastes do indeed change over time.

Ultimately DD provides RCCL with the opportunity to add more "value added" restaurants to the ships and increases the likelihood of passengers utilizing them.

You know that the DD venues will change their menus once on a 7 night cruise, correct?

They didn't change at all on the Quantum for the recent southern Caribbean cruise. That was 11 nights.....

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Ultimately DD provides RCCL with the opportunity to add more "value added" restaurants to the ships and increases the likelihood of passengers utilizing them.

That would be the common sense answer, but someone did the math in another thread and the seat ratio of fee based venues to complimentary ones has stayed the same between Oasis and Quantum class (about 11%) - it did NOT go up. Based on initial anecdotal feedback it seems RCI may have undershot how many seats to allocate to fee based restaurants as Jamies seems full all the time and turning people away.