I'm disappointed

[nolesrule]

With all the complaining going out about Dynamic Dining and people saying they are cancelling their cruises, I'm extremely disappointed that for the Anthem TA in 2015, none of the suites (other than some JSes) have become available yet and the prices haven't started dropping for categories still available.

 

I was really looking forward to all the cancellations so we could book this cruise at a more reasonable price.

[BrianAlt]

Exactly. Where are the cancellations? Vocal minority, perhaps?

[SailinC2C]

I can't believe the people complaining about the food choices. I'm sure most of it is better than they eat at home. It might be better if they stayed home.

I applaud RCI for trying something different. I am really looking forward to Wonderland and formal nights at The Grande. What a great idea. Dynamic dining addresses people who want to set their own dining time and those who don't like (and do like) formal nights.

[mrsrebel10]

I can't believe the people complaining about the food choices. I'm sure most of it is better than they eat at home. It might be better if they stayed home.

I applaud RCI for trying something different. I am really looking forward to Wonderland and formal nights at The Grande. What a great idea. Dynamic dining addresses people who want to set their own dining time and those who don't like (and do like) formal nights.

 

 

i totally agree with you, iam actually gettin tired of all the complaints...wish they'd cancel and be done with it.

me and my husband as well as about 10 other people will be on the march 21st cruiseand do not have a problem what so ever with Dynamic Dining..dress formal every night at the Grande or dress down it's all up to the cruisers now anf I personally belioeve this is going to be a huge hit...:D

[Pomperaugrr]

OMG, no one ever told us that bringing out innovations, embracing technology and bringing things never before offered by RCI would involve change!!!!!!!! ;)

 

Eric

Edited March 31, 2014 by Pomperaugrr

[London-Calling]

Do we have to love everything RCL do to partake in this form?

 

Here's the logic in the perceived anti-Dynamic Dining:

 

• Many people here are probably loyal (ish) to RCL because they feel that they are better than NCL.
   
   
  
• You can't really separate NCL from 'Freestyle'. If you don't like NCL or do not think that they are as good as RCL, it's probably because of 'freestyle'.
   
   
  
• Freestyle has many advantages and disadvantages. However some people just don't like it.
   
   
  
• RCL have now adopted a rival cruise lines system - 'Dynamic Dining' is somewhat similar to NCL's 'Freestyle'.
   
   
  
• Dynamic Dining/Freestyle changes the very design of the ships. Having 18 dining options leaves little room for big internal "Wow" spaces - which RCL have been famous for in the past.
   
   
  
• I don't think many of us are actually against 'Dynamic Dining' (I also cruise NCL and like them) but some of us are a little worried how well it will work and how it will change the RCL product.
   
   
  
• I used to enjoy the differences between RCL and NCL. Those differences appear to have eroded with Quantum.
  

Edited April 2, 2014 by London-Calling

[skiiergirl]

I can't speak for the others...but we plan on moving the reservation...not canceling. We want to let the new system get some experience before we try it. We are booked on these sailings alone and would only enjoy DD if we are with one or two other couples. So will try to move it to a date that we can sail with friends. We haven't been able to move it out though as RC keeps delaying the opening of bookings for a later timeframe. We would like to release the cabin we have booked for b2b 11/23 and 12/1 but want to move the reservation...not cancel. That may or may not be the case with others who have voiced displeasure with DD. I actually like the sound of DD but Mr Ski loves traditional dining for the table mate experience. We have not ever done MTD. Since we either usually cruise just the two of us or with a group of 12-16....DD just doesn't appeal to those scenarios. He is willing to try DD if we can work it out to sail with one or two other couples.

[DEIx15x8]

Do we have to love everything RCL do to partake in this form?

 

Here's the logic in the perceived anti-Dynamic Dining:

 

• Many people here are probably loyal (ish) to RCL because they feel that they are better than NCL.
  
• You can't really separate NCL from 'Freestyle'. If you don't like NCL or do not think that they are as good as RCL, it's probably because of 'freestyle'.
  
• Freestyle has many advantages and disadvantages. However some people just don't like it.
  
• RCL have now adopted a rival cruise lines system - 'Dynamic Dining' is somewhat similar to NCL's 'Freestyle'.
  
• Dynamic Dining/Freestyle changes the very design of the ships. Having 18 dining options leaves little room for big internal "Wow" spaces - which RCL have been famous for in the past.
  
  
• I don't think many of us are actually against 'Dynamic Dining' (I also cruise NCL and like them) but some of us are a little worried how well it will work and how it will change the RCL product.
  
• I used to enjoy the differences between RCL and NCL. Those differences appear to have eroded with Quantum.
  

I think this is a good outline of the points. With the first that I bolded though, I've seen this mentioned many times and I do not think it is true. Royal Caribbean keeps claiming 18 different dinner venues but that is a bold lie. The Promenade Cafe is not a dinner venue along with many others. The Quantum in has 4 venues (American Icon Grill, Chic, Silk, The Grande Restaurant) that occupy the MDR spot and only 7 other true restaurants (Wonderland, Coastal Kitchen, Chops Grill, Jamie's Italian, Izumi, Johnny Rockets, Solarium Bistro). The remaining 7 includes the Windjammer which is standard, 4 small snack places (Cafe Promenade, Cafe@270, Sorrentos, Seaplex Dog House), the pub which is not a real restaurant, and Chef's Table which is tiny. If you compare it to Freedom class they had 3 floors for the MDR (6 restaurants if converted) along with a Johnny Rockets, Chops Grill, Portofino, and a Windjammer. They then had snack venues like Sorrentos, a pub, vintages, Cafe Promenade, Ice Cream Parlor, and Cupcake Cupboard. That is 9* restaurants, a buffet, and 6 snack places for a total of 16 venues. Quantum at slightly larger has 12 restaurants, a buffet, and 5 snack places for a total of 18 venues. The total capacity of all 12 restaurants cannot exceed that of the ship which is only slightly larger than a Freedom class ship so I really can't believe that these venues are taking up that much more than the other classes or else they would have tons of empty tables. The number of people that must be sat and cooked for each night doesn't change by much when you add more venues.

Just for comparison the Oasis is larger and has a MDR (equivalent of 6 venues) along with Starbucks, Globe and Atlas Pub, Sorrentos, Cupcake Cupboard, Cafe Promenade, Boardwalk Donut Shop, Ice Cream Parlor, Johnny Rockets, Seafood Shack, Boardwalk Bar, Chef's Table, Vintages, Giovanni's Table, Park Cafe, 150 Central Park, Chops Grille, Solarium Cafe, Wipe Out Cafe, Izumi, and a Windjammer. That is 14* restaurants, a buffet, and 11 snack places for a total of 25 restaurants (Allure added a Dog House).

 

If your questioning the conversion of MDR to dining venues, the math does work. Quantum's 4 complimentary restaurants have a capacity of 1,600 while the smaller Freedom of the Seas has a MDR capacity of 2,100 in the larger single venue.

 

To the other point that I bolded. I know I'm not against Dynamic Dining but the reduction to just 4 menus regardless of length has me quite concerned. Hopefully once it launches we will learn that they have a plan for this but they aren't helping the situation at all right now.

Edited April 2, 2014 by DEIx15x8

[tlatrice]

With all the complaining going out about Dynamic Dining and people saying they are cancelling their cruises, I'm extremely disappointed that for the Anthem TA in 2015, none of the suites (other than some JSes) have become available yet and the prices haven't started dropping for categories still available.

 

I was really looking forward to all the cancellations so we could book this cruise at a more reasonable price.

 

 

:D

 

I hadn't considered that angle!

[karmacats]

With all the complaining going out about Dynamic Dining and people saying they are cancelling their cruises, I'm extremely disappointed that for the Anthem TA in 2015, none of the suites (other than some JSes) have become available yet and the prices haven't started dropping for categories still available.

 

I was really looking forward to all the cancellations so we could book this cruise at a more reasonable price.

 

I'm presuming this was written tongue-in-cheek, but FWIW, there have been cancellations on my cruise (Jan 3). I was finally able to upgrade from a GS to a SGS, and friends of ours were able to snag a loft suite. We've both been trying to make these moves since early Feb, checking the royal website 5-6 times per day, and finally were able to do so the day dynamic dining was announced (for our friends' new reservation) or a couple days later (for our upgrade). I doubt the timing was coincidental.

 

In addition, I noticed the price for D1s dropped considerably at the end of last week, too. Royal pricing is a mystery, of course, but to me that says people have cancelled. The D1s are back up in price now, though. I was keeping track because we have another set of friends in a D1 on our sailing.

 

To be honest, while I think dynamic dining will work fine while we're cruising with friends, if it was just me and DH, i would have been really tempted to cancel. We really enjoy having the same servers and tablemates every night. That said, some of the new restaurants look amazing, and I can see why they would appeal to the folks who are ok with mytime or freestyle dining. we'll give it a try and see how we like it, but i suspect we'll be back on an oasis or freedom class next, rather than anthem as we had been planning. Maybe i'll be pleasantly surprised on quantum, though. trying to keep an open mind. :)

[London-Calling]

Royal Caribbean keeps claiming 18 different dinner venues but that is a bold lie.

 

NCL do that too: they claim Breakaway has twenty options. One is room service, for example! I believe the dining rooms with both internal seating and seating on the Waterfront prom are counted as two options. I true figure is more like 10.

 

A nice logical reply to my post, thanks.

[dfishner]

For years on here people have complained about the food quality on RCL and when you feed so many people in one operation at one time quality does suffer. I applaud RCL for taking a major step in addressing this by making each dining venue smaller and probably having a satellite kitchen for each kitchen with a fixed menu they can probably address the issues you all including myself have complained about.

 

I rather have a few less choices and better quality food and really do not care if I have the same waiter every night or sit with people I do not know. I much prefer a smaller venue with better quality food this to me says restaurant.

 

RCL even addressed the dreaded dress issues that always pops up on here by making a formal dining room for those who want to dress up. I frankly never like to dress up but in looking over the menu for the Grande I would take a sport coat and tie something I never thought I would do again.

 

We will see how RCL handles all of this when Quantum comes out and I am sure it will take a few months for them to iron out the kinks since this is a new type of ship. I again applaud RCL for taking steps to address two areas that have come up on Cruise Critic time after time. I still believe people will complain no matter what it is human nature but at least RCL did address it head on.

Edited April 5, 2014 by dfishner

[wwcruisers]

Well -- and this is just my opinion -- RC had to do something -- just not sure that completely doing away with the MDR is it. Many of us can remember the old days, before my-time dining and the specialty restaurants. Rarely did you see an empty seat in the MDR. Now you see empty and half-empty tables all over the place, at second seating. At the same time, the lines for my-time dining grow longer, as it's popularity increases. Same thing on Celebrity, by the way. So, I'm pretty sure that there will be some bugs to work out in this new dining system. But, it may be the wave of the future for all cruise-ship dining. We're certainly willing to give it a try -- well, if RC will ever release the new dates for Quantum, that is!

[Merion_Mom]

Exactly. Where are the cancellations? Vocal minority, perhaps?

 

We are still a long way out from final payment.

 

:D

[marci22]

We are still a long way out from final payment.

 

:D

 

yeah. I've seen some nice cabins come up around final on most of my sailings. People like to have options until the last minute.

[kruzerci]

Exactly. Where are the cancellations? Vocal minority, perhaps?

 

That's CruiseCritic for you!

[Maraprince]

Exactly. Where are the cancellations? Vocal minority, perhaps?

 

 

TA's holding cabins will not turn them in until final payment is due. This is the norm...see cabin categories opening up that were never available. RCL will generally tend to up the pricing to get as much as they can from passengers just wanting to be one of the first to sail on a new ship. If they can't, pricing will drop but it will not help those with bookings made before final payment date.

 

Depending on the reviews for the first few sailings, either there will be a big demand or people will back away from this new dining concept.

 

MARAPRINCE

[marci22]

We are still a long way out from final payment.

 

:D

 

yeah it's not over until the fat lady pays.

[DEIx15x8]

I check daily and prices were going up constantly for the past year but have mostly flatlined since the announcement. I also saw the return of SB and JS categories that had been sold out. If your wondering, on our sailing an upgrade to a JS is just $3 per person per day from a balcony.

Edited April 11, 2014 by DEIx15x8