Royal Caribbean...the "new" NCL

[JasonV1]

Let me rephrase, a ship that was designed for open dining. I'll have to change how I phrased that.

 

I had sailed NCL prior to the Epic, I guess I didn't remember those early cruises having opening dining since the Epic really changed things up. The downside (in some ways), I spent more money onboard the Epic than any other cruise to date.

 

Do you mean another ship? :confused: Open dining existed long before the Epic. The first time I did it was way back on the NCL Seaward.

Edited March 27, 2014 by JasonV1

[Barb Nahoumi]

Seems like Royal caribbean is following in the footsteps of Norwegian cruise line with their "dynamic dining" aka freestyle cruising with no set seatings and different waiters every night. This is the approach for the new quantum class ships.A lot of the places on their restaurant list are for fee. This is ashame because most loyal royals prefer to have the same waiters every night and the same table. With this,you will not be able to meet new people as tablemates. This is a bad direction for royal to follow the footsteps of NCL. They will lose many of their loyal customers if they turn the entire fleet this way. I feel like RCCL has been copying NCL for the past few years and losing its image in the process.

 

This concept is not only NCL's but Disney's as well. Disney has a dining experience in which the passengers rotate to a different restaurant every night. But, with them, your wait staff goes with you.

 

I never cruised with Disney, but saw this on a cruise TV show.

 

We just enjoyed our first experience with Royal, on the Explorer. As a party of 6, we were able to make a mytime reservation in the MDR for the 10 days we were on board. We had the same wait-staff nightly, and the service was superb.

 

Most of our cruise experience was with NCL, and never had any complaints about their ships.

[cello56]

I want to know what these new restaurants are going to cost. They list CHOPS - a known quantity - as a two $$ choice. Chops is currently $35 per person. So how much are the more expensive ones going to be? I fear that cruising just got potentially a whole lot more expensive.

 

I am also thinking ahead to when we cruise with our friends. They are not ones to pay for specialty dining (and we rarely do), so the main dining room is our choice each night. Once there, there was a variety of types of food so that everyone could choose what they felt like. Now we are going to have to decide which one particular style everyone will have to eat that night. We do this negotiating enough at home, I don't need it on a cruise.

[ChipLondon]

Many people seem to miss the point that the ship is bigger than the size of a dining table, there are many places to meet people throughout the ship. Alot of people have a favourite bar, or relaxation area, simply say hi anywhere, most of us do not bite. :D

 

................With this,you will not be able to meet new people as tablemates. ..................

[tahqa]

Also I do believe that ncl has the lowest amount of noro outbreaks, of all the mass market cruise lines.

 

Sorry, this is incorrect. For the period of 1998 - 2013 the number of reportable incidents were:

 

DCL -- 2

P&O -- 5

Cunard -- 11

Carnival -- 14

RCI -- 24

NCL -- 25

Celebrity -- 27

Princess -- 43

HAL -- 47

 

These numbers come from the CDC website.

Edited March 27, 2014 by tahqa

[nbsjcruiser]

I was on the inaugural NCL Epic sailing out of Miami, where the concept of open dining was launched (at least among the mass market lines, can't speak for others). I haven't gone back to regular dining since.

 

I realize that we all are different, but on vacation I'm rarely ready to eat dinner at the same time. Heck I bought a dining package for my Allure cruise next week and I hated having to pick a set time for the first restaurant in the plan (required to visit it on the first or second day).

 

I do get why some people miss traditional dining though, as the relationship with your table mates and servers can be interesting at times. The problem is that those relationships are hit or miss. I'd rather discover someone interesting onboard and choose eat with them again, or if I find an interesting dining team ask for them to serve me again.

 

I like variety and flexibility above all else, so this interests me.

 

Not sure how the Quantum will work with My Time because the itinerary doesn't interest me at all. Cruising out of Cape Liberty in the winter? Yeah, no thanks. Even if I lived within driving distance, who wants to freeze their tuckus off for 2 days and then cruise to the Bahamas? Anyway, I was a big fan of traditional dining and so my first couple of My Time Dining experiences were not going to be to my liking, or so I thought. I actually enjoyed it. As far as I'm concerned we get the best of both worlds. We ask for a large table at a specific time each night with the same waiter. This way we get to eat when we want depending on the itinerary and usually get the same people each night to dine with.

[jrljel]

Just listening to the announcement about the new dining options and noticed two things:

Even though I know it's not true, I can't help but think that there'a a bit of NCL going on;

And second, it's interesting to note that some of the offerings remind me of Celebrity's offerings.

 

So I'm still a big fan of the MDR and do love meeting people there, but as others have commented, in the last several years the number at my large table would vary each night, as more and more folks opt for other restaurants. That makes me sad, but that's what people want now, so I will embrace the change and try the new dynamic dining.

 

For the first time last Christmas, we dined like MTD on Princess' Royal Princess and tried that. I cannot say I liked that the experience, but as I said before, I will give it another try.

 

Royal rarely, if ever, messes up with their choices. I expect this to be like OA and AL: I said I'd never sail on them, but once I did, I loved the experience. The beauty, however, is that I CAN choose a different ship for a difference feel, and I LOVE that. If I want more traditional yet big, I can do a Freedom class ship; if I want a little bigger punch, I can do an OA class; and if I want the amusement park experience, I'll pick Quantum. Seems right and I'm happy!

[AllenKll]

TERRIBLE AWFUL BAD NO-GOOD

 

I loved fixed time dining. It afforded me one less thing to worry about when I cruised. Now I have to THINK!

 

I was planning to get married on the Quantum... already payed my deposits. I wonder if I can get a refund now that the service has changed.

 

Bad move RCI. I think I might switch to some other line, if this goes fleet wide.

Edited March 27, 2014 by AllenKll

[Nebr.cruiser]

I don't really mind the idea of different restaurants, although the idea of having to figure out where you want to eat every night, or especially before your cruise (reservations suggested) doesn't appeal to me. I don't want to have to plan everything ahead of time, of risk long waits or roaming around the ship trying to find a restaurant that has availability. We don't always know what we want to do months ahead, or even one day ahead.

 

What I do object to is that it looks like the beginning of the end of 'free' (included) dining. Want a good meal? Pay extra. Want variety? Pay extra. Want to find an open venue? Pay extra. Maybe it won't be like this and the included venues will be fine, but who knows?

 

I can do that at home. I just want to relax and not have to pre-plan everything on vacation. We usually do Mytime dining because of that.

[dfishner]

I find it interesting that most people complain about the quality of food on RCL and how it is going down hill now they come up with a concept that hopefully addresses the food quality and variety issue. Part of the problem has always been feeding mass amount of people at one time in one area. I would think with the new concept there will still be a main kitchen but I believe it will be more of a commissary kitchen and I assume there will be satellite kitchens like they do for the specialty restaurants which will ease the pressure of putting out 1000's of meal out of one location which would improve the quality issues people complain about. When you put out that many meals at one time out of one kitchen something always suffers. I think what RCL is going to do addresses that.

 

When I first read about the dynamic dining before having all the facts it does sound like freestyle dining and there are similarities where it changes is that all the restaurant have their own concept with it own menu. One of the things I did enjoy about NCL was the ability to go to a different restaurant every evening for us it made it exciting because there was so many choices. It is also the reason why I like Oasis we spent a week on Oasis and never even saw the MDR.

 

I like the direction that RCL is taking with the Dynamic Dining heck I have not brought a sport coat on any ship in years and would for the Grande. I never thought I would ever do that again :-)

 

I am still not crazy over the ship it does not wow me like Oasis but the dining did perk my interest.

[ryano]

I wonder if I can get a refund now that the service has changed.

 

 

Yes.

[kalliekae]

I'm looking forward to the Quantum dining changes. We had a bad experience with the MDR on our Feb Oasis cruise. Therefore, we dined in the specialty restaurants the majority of the evenings and will never again make reservations in the MDR. We loved the choices of the specialty restaurants plus the food and service was far superior to the MDR. Bring on the Quantum!

 

 

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[IHateSnow!]

I think it's an interesting concept. It seems to me that it's essentially an enhanced and better version of My Time Dining. I haven't done a traditional dining seating since Royal introduced MTD.

 

One of my biggest complaints on the past few cruises I've been on is having trouble finding food that seemed appealing to me on the menu. I'm hoping that this will provide more consistent menu choices, and for someone like me who doesn't mind paying the upcharge for a specialty restaurant, it works well I think.

 

I like that there is still an option for formal, but I can choose when and how often.

 

I'm not booked on one of these ships....but I'm definitely curious about it.

[aubreyc1988]

I think it sounds great! I love all the options available!

[PuterMonkey]

So I have a question for those who have cruised NCL where this is the normal dining method. On RCL, I often see in reviews that there can be long wait times to get a table with My Time Dining, even if a reservation had been made. Does that hold true on NCL as well? I would hate to have to do that every night. I love being able to show up at 8 and walk right to my table.

[ahecht]

Sorry, this is incorrect. For the period of 1998 - 2013 the number of reportable incidents were:

 

DCL -- 2

P&O -- 5

Cunard -- 11

Carnival -- 14

RCI -- 24

NCL -- 25

Celebrity -- 27

Princess -- 43

HAL -- 47

 

These numbers come from the CDC website.

 

Those numbers don't take the number of ships that each line has. Here are the numbers per ship over the last five years:

 

Cunard: 1.33

Celebrity: 1.27

Holland America: 0.93

Princess: 0.88

Regent Seven Seas: 0.33

Norwegian: 0.31

Royal Caribbean: 0.29

P&O: 0.14

Carnival: 0.13

[aubreyc1988]

I find it interesting that most people complain about the quality of food on RCL and how it is going down hill now they come up with a concept that hopefully addresses the food quality and variety issue. Part of the problem has always been feeding mass amount of people at one time in one area. I would think with the new concept there will still be a main kitchen but I believe it will be more of a commissary kitchen and I assume there will be satellite kitchens like they do for the specialty restaurants which will ease the pressure of putting out 1000's of meal out of one location which would improve the quality issues people complain about. When you put out that many meals at one time out of one kitchen something always suffers. I think what RCL is going to do addresses that.

 

When I first read about the dynamic dining before having all the facts it does sound like freestyle dining and there are similarities where it changes is that all the restaurant have their own concept with it own menu. One of the things I did enjoy about NCL was the ability to go to a different restaurant every evening for us it made it exciting because there was so many choices. It is also the reason why I like Oasis we spent a week on Oasis and never even saw the MDR.

 

I like the direction that RCL is taking with the Dynamic Dining heck I have not brought a sport coat on any ship in years and would for the Grande. I never thought I would ever do that again :-)

 

I am still not crazy over the ship it does not wow me like Oasis but the dining did perk my interest.

 

+1 I agree, i think it will definitely make it easier on staff and improve quality issues. I had excellent food on the Indy tho, better than I had on the Allure. I for one don't mind the added cost of eating in a specialty restaurant a couple times during my cruise, but the added free options are nice too!

 

Also like how they have a formal venue and a casual venues! Hopefully this will stop those "Formal" attire threads on CC hehe ;) My husband and I are getting into going more casual for attire since its a pain to bring dress clothes in our suitcases, not to mention the space it takes to pack a suit...different for the ladies where we can fit a dress in our luggage pretty easily! On our last cruise, I wore dress pants in the MDR every night and it was AMAZING - I wasn't cold, like I usually am in a dress, and didn't have the pain of wearing heels while walking around the ship! We don't have our picture taken often on cruises anyhow so love the casual option!

[webzila]

Seems like Royal caribbean is following in the footsteps of Norwegian cruise line with their "dynamic dining" aka freestyle cruising with no set seatings and different waiters every night. This is the approach for the new quantum class ships.A lot of the places on their restaurant list are for fee. This is ashame because most loyal royals prefer to have the same waiters every night and the same table. With this,you will not be able to meet new people as tablemates. This is a bad direction for royal to follow the footsteps of NCL. They will lose many of their loyal customers if they turn the entire fleet this way. I feel like RCCL has been copying NCL for the past few years and losing its image in the process.

 

My guess is that IF they do loose customers as you predict, they will gain more in return.

[waterbug123]

Where I live there is an area with a lot of restaurants near a mall. Most nights, especially weekends, there is a huge wait to get in almost every place because there are so many people eating out. Some take reservations, some do not. So basically I can go on a cruise ship and have the same dining experience that I have at home. No thank you.

 

One comment below pretty well sums up my opinion of that suggestion that it is not optimal to have to make decisions when and where you want to eat a few months before the meal......most of us don't do that at home so then to do it on a "relaxing" cruise??? Doesn't sound good.

 

The mall comparison is apples and oranges. At the mall you have a set number of tables amongst the restaurants, but an unknown, and thus somewhat unlimited, number of people who may choose to eat there on a given night. On a ship, you have the same exact number of people onboard every night. They didn't ask me to design their new restaurants but I'm pretty sure they know they need to have a number of seats that is comparable to the old MDR.

 

As for making decisions ahead of time, on our last cruise we had exactly 2 reservations booked prior to boarding. And yet somehow, we managed to make decisions on a daily basis as to where to eat AND get tables with little to no waiting. Honestly, I think some of you people are just looking for problems. If you've already convinced yourselves that dynamic dining will be a horrible disaster, THEN DON'T GO ON THE QUANTUM OR ANTHEM. There are hundreds of other cruise ships out there with MDR's for you. At least for the time being. :D

[waterbug123]

The MDR also has a variety of choices each night, so depending on your mood you could get American comfort food, Asian food, fancy banquet dishes, Italian food, etc. Better yet, each member of your party could get a different dish, so I could order crepes and ceviche, the person to my right could order a burger or pasta with red sauce, and the person to my left could order a curry dish. That sounds a whole lot more "dynamic" than everyone in your party having to agree months in advance to all eat Asian food or comfort food on a particular night.

 

OMG, do you really think the menus at the new places will be so limiting that there will be no variety whatsoever? And you don't have to make all of your reservations months ahead. We almost always eat all meals in specialty restaurants and never make more than 1 or 2 reservations pre-cruise.

 

I am also thinking ahead to when we cruise with our friends. They are not ones to pay for specialty dining (and we rarely do), so the main dining room is our choice each night. Once there, there was a variety of types of food so that everyone could choose what they felt like. Now we are going to have to decide which one particular style everyone will have to eat that night. We do this negotiating enough at home, I don't need it on a cruise.

 

Really? Your friends (or you) are so inflexible that you can't say "hey, we'll pick the restaurant tonight, tomorrow you guys pick." If so, maybe you need new friends who aren't so high maintenance.

 

I'm truly amazed at the number of people who seem to just be hell bent on looking for problems. :eek: So many complaints before about getting "stuck" with assigned seating, or not having ANY options besides MDR without paying a fee, and now that you can choose where to eat and several more places are available without a surcharge, nobody is happy with that either.

 

Actually, if they hadn't added a single new restaurant, and had just taken the existing specialties and said there was no longer a fee, people would be rejoicing because they'd have variety and choice without paying extra. Well, now you CAN get more variety and choice without paying extra.... and everybody is complaining. Conclusion: There are a lot of people who just want to complain. :rolleyes:

[George C]

I want same waiter and same table, I would not compare RCCL to NCL, but I dislike anytime dinning and will most likely not book any cruise that this is not offered.

[tahqa]

Those numbers don't take the number of ships that each line has. Here are the numbers per ship over the last five years:

 

Cunard: 1.33

Celebrity: 1.27

Holland America: 0.93

Princess: 0.88

Regent Seven Seas: 0.33

Norwegian: 0.31

Royal Caribbean: 0.29

P&O: 0.14

Carnival: 0.13

 

Yes, that's true... when I was tallying the numbers I was being lazy and didn't feel like breaking it down by ship (I actually did this originally about a month ago because I was curious). ;)

 

Point is, NCL isn't the best for noro incidents. Not that it's relevant to the original purpose of this thread. :D

Edited March 27, 2014 by tahqa

[emdia43]

I'll reserve judgment until I see reviews from the first few cruises, to see how well the reservations work, how often people are not able to get the restaurant of their choice......;)

[emdia43]

The mall comparison is apples and oranges. At the mall you have a set number of tables amongst the restaurants, but an unknown, and thus somewhat unlimited, number of people who may choose to eat there on a given night. On a ship, you have the same exact number of people onboard every night. They didn't ask me to design their new restaurants but I'm pretty sure they know they need to have a number of seats that is comparable to the old MDR.

 

As for making decisions ahead of time, on our last cruise we had exactly 2 reservations booked prior to boarding. And yet somehow, we managed to make decisions on a daily basis as to where to eat AND get tables with little to no waiting. Honestly, I think some of you people are just looking for problems. If you've already convinced yourselves that dynamic dining will be a horrible disaster, THEN DON'T GO ON THE QUANTUM OR ANTHEM. There are hundreds of other cruise ships out there with MDR's for you. At least for the time being. :D

 

Have you seen the Windjammer on Allure? First glance tells you it's way too small for the number of passengers, I've never seen one so congested, with waits for tables- I just hope the same person who designed that isn't involved with the Dynamic Dining......

[ryano]

Yes, that's true... when I was tallying the numbers I was being lazy and didn't feel like breaking it down by ship (I actually did this originally about a month ago because I was curious). ;)

 

Point is, NCL isn't the best for noro incidents. Not that it's relevant to the original purpose of this thread. :D

 

What I find shocking is that the highest #s by ship belong to the cruise lines that are supposed to be "upper tier" and WOW! Look at Carnival at the bottom! Maybe its that way because Cunard, Celebrity and HAL have fewer ships and Carnival has the most? :confused:

 

Like you said, nothing to do with this thread really. Just an observation.

Edited March 27, 2014 by ryano