beachbuddy

I absolutely agree. It's too bad they couldn't just stick to Dynamic Dining to let people get use to it. I would rather have the new DD menus than go back to the old RCCL MDR menus and if I had to eat 12 nights in American Icon (I hated the decor) I would seriously not be a happy cruiser. :(

Then you should let Michael Bagley know how you feel. Wonder what's going to happen to all the reservations we already made. We're linked for dinners with 8 people.

I'm really hoping the change doesn't happen or before May 14. I'm on that sailing. Nothing I can really do about it if they do implement it but I've been really looking forward to the DD experience.

 

I emailed the dining team a couple weeks ago to request table size and location. The Anthem team said email back 2 weeks prior. I'm not sure if that's standard practice or if it was indicative of something.

I have friends on your sailing Hope you get to enjoy DD. We really loved it on Quantum. We don't sail on her till November.

I agree beach buddy the venues are small and I wouldn't want to be in the same one for the entire time. We enjoyed visiting all 4 venues on Quantum and looking forward to doing it again on Anthum. We'll see, have to wait until Oct.

Exactly!! If I wanted to eat in one room for 12 nights I would have booked another ship with a large beautiful formal dining room.......LOL

That's a good point.

 

The reports were that Silk and AI were going MTD and Grande and Chic were going traditional, is that correct?

Yep, that's what I heard so far so those that complained the most and wanted traditional get the 2 nicer restaurants. Very disappointed in Royal if this is what they're going to do.

I emailed Michael Bagley and told him how I feel about it. Probably won't do anything but wish everyone that loves DD would email him. If anyone wants his email, it's mbagley@rccl.com

(quote)I'm sure when they change to one menu for all restaurants per night, they will rotate the old menus throughout the week. If you get assigned Silk, I doubt they would give you the same menu or same 2 menus all week.

I just hope they are the current DD menus and not the standard RCI menus like other ships.(quote)

That's the point, this ship was suppose to be unique and innovative - shouldn't be the same boring menus that the other ships have. DD was a big draw for some people and now there may not be anything special about it. JMHO.

From what Patti posted, the menus will all be the same, so it won't matter what restaurant you use.

Won't be happy if the menus are all the same since they really bragged about the food and restaurant choices when this class was built. Also, definitely wouldn't want to be assigned to Silk for 12 nights!!!

He really didn't say much about DD just that the name may change to MTD in the coming weeks or months.

 

I more curious to know with MTD whether or not we will be able to pick what free restaurant we want to eat in every night or would we just be assigned to one of them for the duration of the cruise.

Yep, that's exactly what I want to know too!

Yes, there were issues with DD in the beginning. Staff wasn't familiar with taking orders on an iPad, Royal took away assistant waiters so service was slow and like someone else said, some passengers weren't even told to book their dinners ahead of time. Assistant waiters were put back on the ship and things started working fine. By the time we sailed in April things ran smoothly. I just received an email a few days ago about all the different restaurants in this class ship. If Royal is doing away with it, I think it's going to bite them in the $SS!!!

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My thoughts exactly. I really hope this change doesn't go into effect until after my May 14 sailing, but it's not looking good. Seems possible we'll be the first sailing with the changes.

I know. I have a friend on your sailing. I hope you get to have DD. We don't sail till November.

I really don't care if we don't have the same waiter every night. They hyped up Quantum Class and advertised it as a new type of dining. Great restaurants to choose from and now they're turning something that was new and exciting into something even less than ordinary by sticking us in 1 of 4 smaller restaurants. If I have to be stuck in 1 restaurant for 12 nights, I'd rather it be in a large beautiful formal MDR like on their other class ships.

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I don't know the answer to that however the trustworthy person currently on board posted that as one of the things that she had been told.

 

I changed all of our dinner reservations to Coastal Kitchen and Solarium Bistro because on the Quantum and Anthem we like the menu in those two restaurants very much. If they system changes and reports are good about the 4 Main Dining Room we will not have regrets.

 

On our last 4 cruises on the Oasis we never went to the Main Dining room and ate all our meals in either Coastal Kitchen or specialty restaurants because we like the service and food.

Thanks Gail. I see Patti came on and did clarify that SB will be for suites and P's.

We ate in CK and Devin's restaurant on Quantum and both were delicious.

Also, I don't get the impression that these details are meant to be confidential.

I agree with that too. It's almost like they want us, the consumer, to spread the word.

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I agree that THIS is absolutely the heart of the issue.

Yep, I agree too!!

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Let me clarify the intention of my post.

 

I feel that it is "odd" that, on two different cruises that are still months away, nothing was available before 7:30 in the 4 main dining rooms on any night

 

We've been on three "Dynamic Dining" cruises (2 Quantum and 1 Anthem) and had absolutely no difficulty booking 6:00 or 6:15 before boarding. When booking for this cruise (at least a month ago) I was surprised at the consistency in which 7:30 appeared on every night…..I even thought it was odd at that time.

 

Solarium Bistro: a couple of days ago I went back into my reservation and easily switched my "main dining room" reservations to 6:00 in Coastal Kitchen AND Solarium Bistro (which is currently a complimentary dining area for all guests).

 

All of this led me to make the statement that I think it is odd.

 

(Hopefully this clarifies my other post).

Gail, something is definitely odd. We're not cruising till Nov and honestly didn't have a problem with DD reservations for 8 people - all bookings are for DD and we also booked solarium bistro for 2 nights. Wonder what's going to happen to our reservations now.

Not sure I'm understanding this right. Is SB going to be for Suites and P's only along with CK?

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I guess what I keep bouncing around in my head ... is it normal for DD Choice to be booked solid this far out (7 months)? If so, what am I getting myself into with a packed cruise ship of passengers who filled all the reservations so far in advance? I'd like to eat around 5:30 for a few nights (and why I tried moving some reservations) ... hoping that is not an issue like you said I can just show up.

 

 

 

I can accept that there may be an issue with the reservation system, but RC told me today that it just looks like everything is indeed booked for now.

 

 

 

Guess I've got some thinking to do ...

They always leave reservations open for people to book when onboard.

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6 weeks from now? That sure sounds like my May 14th sailing or the following sailing. I really hope it's the following. Wouldn't want to be on the first sailing for the change...I can only imagine the chaos and confusion.

And the people complaining because they are expecting DD.

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We had anytime dining on The NLC last year and it was bad. We waited most nights 40 minutes in a crowded area for our table most nights. The night we made a reservation, they told us to wait on the side and forgot about us for about 40 minutes until we reminded them we were waiting.

 

Would much rather sit down at a designated time and have a seat for our family.

DD worked great for us on Quantum. We never had to wait. Very disappointed that it's going away.

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I don't know why people complained about DD so much. It's only on 1 ship in the US and those that didn't like it could have sailed 1 of Royals many ships.

There's plenty of us that did like it.

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I'm gonna' go with Patti on this one. It's been my experience where she sees smoke there's usually a fire. Just my humble opinion.

I agree with you.

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For us DD is working out well. But then, we are not known to complain about the small stuff. We just kind of go with the flow!!:D

 

It appears that many C&A Members complained. Remember when Diamond Members complained back in 2009 about being excommunicated from the CL. Management listened and a Diamond Event was created.

 

I was told last night that when DD is eliminated and Traditional and MTD go into effect Coastal Kitchen (which is currently for Gold Card Holders and JS for dinner only) and Solarium Bistro (which is currently for anyone) will be for Gold Card Holders (Suite Guests and PC Members) only.

 

I believe that this change is going to tie in with the new Royal Suite Program when it goes into effect in May.

Patti,am I reading this right. Both Solarium Bistro and CK are for suites?

I am so unhappy about them doing away with DD. We loved it on Quantum and was looking forward to it on Anthem. Very disappointed in Royals decision on this.

Plus there are 8 of us and we spent lots of time reserving our restaurants and times. Not happy at all.

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Folowing

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Awesome pictures!! Thanks for sharing them with all of us. Sorry we never got to meet on the ship. Those 2 weeks flew by for us.

Pardon my ignorance, but I always assumed that the emergency calls for ships were the same universally. For example when we had a "jumper" on Carnival the call from the bridge was "Bravo, bravo, bravo" portside. Passengers that were on the Oasis are saying the call was "Oscar, oscar, oscar". Can someone elaborate on this?

 

Also, if the calls aren't universal then when the ship calls the Coast Guard is there a universal code or name for "man overboard"? or do they just say what happened i.e. we have a man overboard?

Bravo is for a fire.

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What a horrible video. Gives me chills. The life boats are still searching. Prayers for him and his family.

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I'm onboard too. Someone on Twitter said the person was on top of a lifeboat and went over. But I don't know if that's true or not. Prayers for the person and his or her family.

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Hello friends! Time for an update...

 

 

 

I would like to once again thank everyone who follows my live reports and wanted to let everyone know that 5 weeks from today I will be starting my next adventure aboard Regal Princess. My next live adventure will begin on Saturday, October 31st! Most of you know I will be including on the pre cruise fun as a build up to when I board Regal on Tuesday, November 3rd! This will also be another 12 nights at sea(5 night and then a 7 night) so looking forward to another extended cruise vacation.

 

 

 

I will post the link here once I start the next report. Hope to see you all there! :)

Chris, we'll be sailing on Oasis (2nd leg of our B2B) on Oct 31st but will catch up on your live when we get back. Dee & John and Kim & Alex will be with us plus a few more PBC'ers.

Patty

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And I am amazed that someone who doesn't care about bed placement bothers to read threads about that very subject.

 

Peace!

LOL.........I was going to say the same thing!!! It really does amaze me!!!