Have The Freedom Dry Dock Upgrades Been Announced Yet?

[John&LaLa]

Correct. The FR is NOT going to get DD, per the official RCCL press release.

 

You never know. ;)

 

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[SherriZ366]

But they DID put it in writing!! There was a press release that specifically stated that Freedom would NOT get DD while in dry dock.

 

That's what's so frustrating!!

 

 

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But the qualified this with the phrase "At this time" there are no plans to institute DD on FR.

[John&LaLa]

But the qualified this with the phrase "At this time" there are no plans to institute DD on FR.

 

Lawyer speak. :p

 

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[SherriZ366]

Lawyer speak. :p

 

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Of course. They wouldn't want to be sued by folks who had booked traditional and had DD introduced.

[OfTheSeasCruiser]

Just another little update.

 

Even though there are reports from the ship that DD is going to be implemented, Customer Service seems to still think otherwise. This is a email response I received after asking about DD being implemented on Freedom or any other ships in the fleet.

 

However, if you read it, it seems a little outdated because they say there are no plans for Voyager to get it during the dry dock, which happens to be already over :rolleyes: ...

 

Dear Mr. :

 

As leaders in innovation, Royal Caribbean International is reimagining dining at sea with the launch of Dynamic Dining aboard the Quantum class of ships. This revolutionary program also will be introduced to the Oasis Class, the world's largest and most innovative class of cruise ships, during their upcoming scheduled dry docks.

 

Dynamic Dining is a strategic initiative for Royal Caribbean and based on the positive response from our guests, it is our intention to implement this program across as many of our ships as part of our Royal Advantage program – our ongoing commitment to offer the best experience in the industry to our guests. At this time, there are no plans to implement Dynamic Dining on Freedom of the Seas or Voyager of the Seas during their upcoming dry docks due to certain limitations including time restrictions. We will continue to communicate any implementation of Dynamic Dining across the rest of the Royal Caribbean fleet as those decisions are made.

 

Mr. , thank you for contacting Royal Caribbean International.

 

Sincerely,

 

 

Customer Service Representative

[Harley-Davidson_Family]

What are the dates of the dry dock? I can't find them anywhere

[Canadian Cruiser98]

What are the dates of the dry dock? I can't find them anywhere

 

About the beginning to the end of January 2015.

[CRUSINJUD]

I was considering booking FREEDOM OF THE SEAS during July or August. My wife and I were on the Maiden Voyage of QUANTUM OF THE SEAS and I hated the dynamic dining idea. Making individual reservations for nightly dinners and trying to work out shows and entertainment was a nightmare. I can't imagine trying to do it when you are having days in ports. I wanted to book a cruise as they use to be with a main dining room where you could actually go for breakfast and dinner. Dynamic Dining is not like that. Now I'm not sure that I will book Freedom or any other RC ship that does Dynamic Dining and I have a $1400.00 future cruise certificate given to us from the QUANTUM sailing.

[OTownNick]

I was considering booking FREEDOM OF THE SEAS during July or August. My wife and I were on the Maiden Voyage of QUANTUM OF THE SEAS and I hated the dynamic dining idea. Making individual reservations for nightly dinners and trying to work out shows and entertainment was a nightmare. I can't imagine trying to do it when you are having days in ports. I wanted to book a cruise as they use to be with a main dining room where you could actually go for breakfast and dinner. Dynamic Dining is not like that. Now I'm not sure that I will book Freedom or any other RC ship that does Dynamic Dining and I have a $1400.00 future cruise certificate given to us from the QUANTUM sailing.

 

I think the way around that is to reserve times either early or late to coincide with the normal seating times (6:00, 8:30). Even when MTD was option, anytime in the middle you wanted to eat u end up missing shows

[Debde]

I'm as curious as anyone else with what will happen to Freedom during the month of January but this statement:

 

Dynamic Dining is a strategic initiative for Royal Caribbean and based on the positive response from our guests, it is our intention to implement this program across as many of our ships as part of our Royal Advantage program – our ongoing commitment to offer the best experience in the industry to our guests.

 

has me thinking, and from no inside information at all that some surprises could be in store on the reveal. Isn't this ship going to be in dry dock for an entire month? I know nothing about these and generally do not keep track of them but this is a long time-yes???

 

 

My other question is this statement:

 

"Of course. They wouldn't want to be sued by folks who had booked traditional and had DD introduced. "

 

If it did, as the above quote mentioned-I don't think a passenger could SUE the cruise line-could they?? they must have some type of clause that changes can occur at any time just like for the C$A program or missing a scheduled port-right.:confused:

Edited December 5, 2014 by Debde

[jticarruthers]

They have plenty of wriggle room to avoid a lawsuit, and probably plenty of passengers willing to fill the seats of people who might cancel because of it , unfortunately from my perspective because I am not organizing dinner reservations for our group of 20+ if they do implement it :(

[brucefamily09]

I don't recall meeting you, but your screen name is very familiar! Did we cruise last year on Freedom together? I was on the last week of August and again the last two weeks of October with Breeezy, Wendy, a friend of mine.

 

You can see all the menus for the Quantum restaurants on RCI site.

 

Here are the casual ones:

Sorrento's, Cafe Promenade, the cafe @ 270, Johnny Rockets, Windjammer, and Seaplex Dog House.

 

Complimentary ones:

The Grande Restaurant, Chic, Silk, American Icon Grill, Solarium Bistro and Coastal Kitchen.

 

Specialty Restaurants:

Michael's Genuine Pub, Chops Grille, Chef's Table, Izumi, Wonderland, Jamie's Italian, and Devinly Decadence

 

So, on Freedom, there are already five of the casual restaurants. (No cafe @ 270). There is already a solarium bistro, but not restaurant for dinner(Devinly Decadence). There is the bull and bear pub, without food(similar to Michael's Pub), Chops, Chef's Table, and Portofino's (Italian similar to Jamie's Italian.). They are adding Izumi where the card room is now, and a Mexican restaurant in part of Crypt. They will be changing the three floors of the main dining room into three separate restaurants.

 

The food and beverage director told us these changes will be made during dry dock, but not implemented right away. Oasis will be receiving changes during dry dock next month, and it has been reported that Dynamic Dining will not begin on Oasis until March.

 

Capacity for Windjammer on Quantum will be 860, The Grande 400+, Chic 400+, Silk 400+, American Icon 400+, Coastal Kitchen 128-135?, Jamie's Italian 132, Chops 108, Wonderland 62, Izumi 44, and Chef's Table 16.

 

 

So how do they change the ship to DD without implementing it?

[jticarruthers]

So how do they change the ship to DD without implementing it?

 

Same thing they did with Oasis, do any of the physical redesign work required while in drydock but don't actually change the menus/process over yet.

 

It only really changes the MDR from one large restaurant across three floors to three smaller restaurants (one per floor) with a different menu, décor, reservation system for each one.

 

You can do the décor type work in drydock but not implement the menus and reservations until later.

 

This is my personal worst case that they set it up for DD but don't implement/announce until its too late for me to change the group reservation to a different ship at comparable prices and I get stuck with having to deal with it.