Honestly, how do you long-time RC cruisers feel about Dynamic Dining?

[dancinman66]

There is a thread running on this already

 

But I am thinking it has merit but holding off commenting till I've tried it

Just because one cruise line had essentially failed in it doesn't mean they all will

Give them a chance

 

 

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[celebrity]

I tend to agree with Bob and CB at Sea. I enjoy having the same waiters and meeting new people and dining with them nightly. I also think Bob's point about timing dinner with the shows is a valid one. I tried My Time dining once when cruising with a friend and found that we still dined at about the same time as traditional late seating in order to see the shows.

 

I think Dynamic Dining may present problems with getting reservations at one's preferred times, and foresee some real issues early on until they are ironed out. I guess bottom line, I'm an old fart and don't adapt to change well.;)

 

I adapt to change well..have no choice in my career. However, sailing with a group, the one thing constant was meeting at dinner at a set time with a staff that knows my likes/ dislikes and getting to know them.

I have sailed enough that I have become friendly with the dining room staff on previous sailings that remember me by name and welcome me back.

One of the beauties of cruising is that it is effortless..I don't want to plan my days onboard.

My every day life has enough stress.,don't want to worry about timing shows and activities around the ship.

I have only booked 5 out of 12 nites on Quantum as the dining times haven't matched my needs. :(

[LMaxwell]

I am adopting a wait and see attitude to this. I'm not averse to change if it really brings me something new, different, and enjoyable. I'm not opposed to trying it out eventually and then can decide which way I prefer. I do have to say that even though I enjoy the MDR it has been getting a bit "stale".

[leaveitallbehind]

Does this mean there could be fewer food choices overall available on a cruise?

 

Say there were 4 alternative restaurants (included) with a menu 6 starters, 6 mains, 6 deserts, you would have a choice of 72 dishes in total.

 

Versus...1 MDR with 6 choices nightly of starter, main, desert, you would have a choice of 126 dishes over a 7 day cruise.

 

Obviously this is just an example and the alternative restaurants are likely to have a longer list of choices like the specialities,.... but am I understanding this correctly?

 

If this is the case, it could save RCL a lot of money!

 

According again to Adam Goldstein's webcast, each of the smaller included restaurants that will replace the current single large MDR will have larger, enhanced menus from that found in the MDR. So the combined offerings of the four are stated to be greater than the current MDR both in number and variety as each is a different "theme" as well.

 

In addition there will also be more specialty and n/c venues on the Quantum class ships that will result in 18 total venues split 50/50 in terms of fee based and no charge.

 

I too am interested in trying this concept and will reserve judgment until I can base my opinion on actual experience.

Edited August 25, 2014 by leaveitallbehind

[DonnaK]

<snip> We will not sail on any ship that only offers DD only if they want our money they can offer traditional dining or at least my time dining!

Yes this includes the existing booking that I will not hesitate to cancel and rebook on a different line!

 

^^^This! We will not cruise on any ship that does not offer a traditional main dining room experience.

[Ourusualbeach]

I can see your point...often on some nights I struggle to choose an entree, whereas on other nights there are 3 or 4 I want (usually formal night!)

 

Lately it's been the formal nights that we go to the MDR for as we like those menus and end up eating in the specialty restaurants or the WJ on the other nights.

 

I also know that this will only apply to a few but my DW has a dairy allergy and often struggles to find appetizing entres. With the new menus, particularly Silk there are a lot more options for her.

[mommabean]

I like traditional, where I make one decision and all my shows and dining are sorted.

 

Me, too.

 

I booked Quantum and have all my shows and dining booked. But I don't like having to do it this way. It was too much up front work to sort it all out in relation to the port schedule, too.

 

If I'm going to eat in different restaurants on a ship, I'd like to do it Disney's way - take my wait team with me.

 

I do like the idea of the different meal options.

 

But for those without reservations...good luck finding a seat at the restaurant of choice at the time desired. They'll be wasting their time sitting around with a beeper which is what has begun to happen with MTD.

 

Gina

[dacsmom]

I am looking forward to it. I am getting tired of the MDR menus and look forward to the greater variety.

[setsail]

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2015524

[ATC cruiser]

According again to Adam Goldstein's webcast, each of the smaller included restaurants that will replace the current single large MDR will have larger, enhanced menus from that found in the MDR. So the combined offerings of the four are stated to be greater than the current MDR both in number and variety as each is a different "theme" as well.

 

In addition there will also be more specialty and n/c venues on the Quantum class ships that will result in 18 total venues split 50/50 in terms of fee based and no charge.

 

I too am interested in trying this concept and will reserve judgment until I can base my opinion on actual experience.

 

 

The only problem is, I don't really consider 6 or 7 of the free choices as places I'd like to go for dinner. Johnny Rockets, dog

house, cafe promenade, among others are fine for lunch. I really don't want to have dinner at them, plus Johnny Rockets isn't even free. It just seems like to much to have to preplan.

 

 

Aft Cabins Rule

[leaveitallbehind]

The only problem is, I don't really consider 6 or 7 of the free choices as places I'd like to go for dinner. Johnny Rockets, dog

house, cafe promenade, among others are fine for lunch. I really don't want to have dinner at them, plus Johnny Rockets isn't even free. It just seems like to much to have to preplan.

 

 

Aft Cabins Rule

 

The n/c dinner venues would include American Grill, Chic, Silk, and Grande, which are the four replacing the MDR. The Windjammer remains and Cafe Two70 will I guess be another option. Agree with you on the others, however, as not really dinner options. Just have to wait and see how it all works out I guess. :)

[kymbakitty]

OMG !!! Lol

 

Table mates AREN'T fun. It's the worst thing for me about cruising.

 

I'm really friendly and social at all times - talking to lots of people - apart from dinner. At dinner I really dislike sitting with others :)

 

This post made me smile.

 

We haven't stepped foot into a MDR for a very long time. And we haven't had anything other than a table for two since the 90's. It's not that we aren't social, it's just that we don't feel the need to be social over dinner. There are dozens of other social interactions throughout the cruise/ship, but for us, dinner is still just something we enjoy together.

 

We were turned off years ago when it was expected to let someone from your table know if you weren't going to make it. While I understand it could be considered courteous, it was something we didn't even want to be in the position to have to do.

 

Table for two please!!!!!!

 

Dawn

[mac_tlc]

 

At the same time, Capt. Olson and hotel manager Michael Rasmussen confirmed during a C&A event that Freedom would be getting DD after her January dry dock.

 

 

We were on the 8/10 sailing of the FOS and heard the same from the Captain and Hotel Director. It is also telling that of all of the cruises on the Freedom of the Seas, from February 1, 2015 through September 2015, the "early" and "late" dining times are shown as "waitlisted", and the only choice for a new booking is MTD --- except for one in April and one in June. And this is not because they are really full, because you can still get late seating on the New Years holiday cruise. It's pretty obvious its coming to the FOS.

 

We are not in favor of the change, for my son-in-law with a dairy allergy, it was important to talk to the head waiter each night to straigthen out each night and the next day. This will be more difficult is you don't have the same assignment each night.

 

While I don't think we will completely drop RCI if they went fleetwide, I am sure they will get less of our $$$. I'm just not intersted in have to worry about dining reservations. I also think it wil lbe a big problem for those who tend to book late as their choices of dining places/times will be more limited. It's just one more thinkg to worry about that makes a cruise seem more like a land vacation.

 

mac_tlc

[John&LaLa]

What I like about this is that every night I will now have a choice of 72 total dishes as opposed to a choice of 18 dishes every night in the MDR. I know that overall there are fewer choices but on some of the current menus there is nothing that really appeals to me. With Dynamic dining I have more choices and can have the same thing more than once if I find something I really like.

 

I can't handle more than 3 choices:o

 

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[pmkejk]

I am so excited about DD. We are doing an 11 night on Quantum in December and can't wait to try all of the different options. We still booked 5 nights in specialty restaurants. We live in rural Maine where there are not a lot of great places to eat.

 

We also love a table for two. We socialize in the concierge lounge, but love to just enjoy dining alone.

 

I just wished that RCCL offered the same menu from Grande in an informal setting as well. I love the entree's from that menu, but do not want to get all dressed up. :)

[dlambright]

Not really a fan so far. I am booked on 11/2 Quantum TA and found that I can not book dinner times. Nothing is available except 9:00PM and that is only available on a couple nights. Everything is booked up or not available. They have apparently reserved some of the dinning options "Costal Kitchen" for suite guests only. Hopefully they will open up more availability before the cruise.

 

I don't like all the pre-planning required with DD and all entertainment requiring reservations. Vacations are not supposed to require so much pre-planning.

 

My family is a big fan of MDR with fixed times and same waiters. Have tried MTD and did not like it. Seems DD will limit the food options. Only a few restaurants that are not specialty restaurants and limited availability. Looks like 3 restaurants and 6 or 7 entrees. Something like 18-21 entree options for an 8 day cruise. Will probably end up eating repeat menus night after night. Not much WOW there.

 

It also seems there will be conflicts between DD availability and nightly entertainment.

[emdia43]

Not really a fan so far. I am booked on 11/2 Quantum TA and found that I can not book dinner times. Nothing is available except 9:00PM and that is only available on a couple nights. Everything is booked up or not available. They have apparently reserved some of the dinning options "Costal Kitchen" for suite guests only. Hopefully they will open up more availability before the cruise.

 

I don't like all the pre-planning required with DD and all entertainment requiring reservations. Vacations are not supposed to require so much pre-planning.

 

My family is a big fan of MDR with fixed times and same waiters. Have tried MTD and did not like it. Seems DD will limit the food options. Only a few restaurants that are not specialty restaurants and limited availability. Looks like 3 restaurants and 6 or 7 entrees. Something like 18-21 entree options for an 8 day cruise. Will probably end up eating repeat menus night after night. Not much WOW there.

 

It also seems there will be conflicts between DD availability and nightly entertainment.

 

This is exactly why I am not looking forward to the change. It seems like a lot of effort to have to pre-schedule all your meals, and predict where you'll feel like eating on a particular night ahead of time. I foresee a lot of very disgruntled diners who can't get bookings. when/where they want them. Sounds more and more like NCL every day...

[Paulette3028]

It really is a coin flip. We've had excellent experiences, such as meeting a couple on a Navigator cruise in 2006 who we've kept in touch with over the years and will be cruising with on Indy next year... and then we've had downright painful experiences.

 

That being said, we've also done two person MTD tables where we were so close to the tables next to us (and tended to eat at the same time every night as the people next to us) that we ended up having great conversation every night even though we were sitting "alone."

 

The bottom line is that all we can do is speculate about how much we will like/dislike DD.

 

This will either go down as the brilliant move of a company with its finger on the pulse of its customers or the next new Coke.

 

Time will tell.

 

Either way, we'll be RCI customers.

 

Of all the things I have read in this thread and others about DD, I have to agree with one of the things you have said -- "We'll be RCI customers".

 

That is the truth, if DD does get implemented on ships we want to cruise on from Royal we will adapt our dinner reservation needs to what is available. Preferably we can do it all, before we even set out on our cruise, from the comfort of our living room.

 

Let me say, we have always preferred MDR early traditional seating...we like having the same tablemates for a week to get to know and the same wait staff....call us stuffy if you want. If I wanted to have dinner with my DH alone each night I can simply stay home....I have dinner with him when we are NOT on vacation (and I love him dearly).

 

But whether a ship has DD or not will not be the reason I don't book a cruise. We enjoy cruising and have enjoyed cruising with Royal.....so this dining option won't change that, even though it will change the way we approach dining. I won't be rushing to do it however....hoping that Royal gets all the 'kinks' out before they expand it, beyond Quantum.

 

Specialty restaurants have been part of the Royal dining options for years, and they have not been of interest to us, until very recently....when we tried Izumi. That will probably be the only specialty restaurant we will consider again....since it isn't a food option presented in the MDR, and even at home we go out for Japanese food every other week....we will just do it on the ship, if we want to.

[Bookish Angel]

Anything that is not MDR appeals to me.

[SherriZ366]

We were on the 8/10 sailing of the FOS and heard the same from the Captain and Hotel Director. It is also telling that of all of the cruises on the Freedom of the Seas, from February 1, 2015 through September 2015, the "early" and "late" dining times are shown as "waitlisted", and the only choice for a new booking is MTD --- except for one in April and one in June. And this is not because they are really full, because you can still get late seating on the New Years holiday cruise. It's pretty obvious its coming to the FOS.

 

We are not in favor of the change, for my son-in-law with a dairy allergy, it was important to talk to the head waiter each night to straigthen out each night and the next day. This will be more difficult is you don't have the same assignment each night.

 

While I don't think we will completely drop RCI if they went fleetwide, I am sure they will get less of our $$$. I'm just not intersted in have to worry about dining reservations. I also think it wil lbe a big problem for those who tend to book late as their choices of dining places/times will be more limited. It's just one more thinkg to worry about that makes a cruise seem more like a land vacation.

 

mac_tlc

As you saw from other threads, I am not in favor of the change on FR.

 

We have 4 cruises booked with them and all are traditional late seating. I did check on dinner seatings on the 2-22-2014 cruse and traditional early was full with availability in Late and MTD. Early seating is VERY popular especially in the Fall, Winter and non-Spring Break sailings on FR because the Mid-Fl. demographic.

 

FR is not purpose built for DD and from your report and those of other recent cruisers, there will ONLY be 3 restaurants not 5 like QU. So less choices.

 

People with food allergies or special diets like your SIL will have problems.

 

For the four cruises we have booked on FR (see signature), we will have to try to re-construct DD to work for our party who likes traditional and have dietary needs or like the Always Available menu. I have read about cruisers working for 8 hours for 2 days to get the dining right. Traditional is easy. Book the cruise, link your reservations if you are traveling with friends, and sail.

 

We are sailing solo in August and would like to be in the position of being placed at a table with other diners for the 7 nights. We have only had one problem with a dining table on RCI and that was due to language difficulties.

 

I hope that they keep some sort of Traditional dining on FR or as a last resort, regular My Time, which I can work with for something similar to Traditional.

[M. St. Louis]

I've already cancelled one cruise due to the stupid concept, and will cancel two more should this cancer spread.

[Iamthesea]

Nope...not liking it! I did not read this entire thread, but I thought I read where this will be on the Oasis in 2015. I was thinking of booking a cruise for the end of March on the Oasis. If the DD is featured on that cruise, I think I will pass.

 

Has anyone thought about the servers in these venues? I think that sometimes, the waiters and assistant waiters enjoy getting to know their table passengers, as much as we enjoy them. :) With all the changing around each night, the servers will have different tables of passengers each night.

Edited August 26, 2014 by Iamthesea

[geogran]

As a first time RCCL cruiser, in reading part of the press release below it would appear RCCL has resolved a very popular and contentious question on the CC boards as to what to wear to dinner...

 

"Guests will also be in full control of their own epicurean journey via a smart, new reservations system that empowers them to decide when, where, with whom to dine, and how to dress each evening."

 

I am enjoying the varied opinions and thoughts on the upcoming DD and look forward to reading about actual experiences once it comes on line....

[abridalmaven]

Not thrilled with the idea.

 

Anything that takes RC in the direction of NCL is not a positive.

 

 

Agreed. Disliked NCL. Waiters did not care if they got orders right.

[ATC cruiser]

If what I've read is true, that you can order off any of the no charge menus, from any of the venues, then I might not mind it. But I still like having the same waitstaff every night. My families drinks are usually sitting on the table when we arrive, little things like that will be missing. At the end of the cruise we normally give each member of our dining team an extra tip for their good service, I really don't see people doing this on a nightly basis. I'm not sure I like it or not. One thing is for sure, when they originally announced DD for the Quantum and Anthem, they said that for now it would only be for those two ships. There were no plans to change things on the other ships until it was tested. They lied thru their teeth. If it's true Freedom is getting this in its January drydock, then they knew at the time of the DD announcement that this was going thru. It's going to be a major refit to convert the MDR into 6 to 8 separate venues, and took one heck of a lot of pre-planning.

 

 

Aft Cabins Rule