Can someone explain Dynamic Dining?

[Hoopster95]

Originally Posted by clarea View Post

In addition, you don't have to figure out show times if you have traditional.

 

Bob

Very true.

 

You don't have to figure out showtimes on Q either... there are early showtimes at 7pm and late at 9pm. On later ports of calls (ie. all aboard 6pm or later) I have early showtimes after main seating (9pm) and a late show for after the late seating (10:30pm). All my show times on the 11 night Q sailing Dec 1 are geared to be almost exactly the same timing like on a standard traditional dining cruises.

 

So there seems to be no need "to figure out" anything! :)

 

 

I agree with your husband.

 

I appreciate your info on booking strategy. I may use that for our Oasis cruise next year. I wish they would just have a single option that says "Book us at random restaurants at times when we can easily see the show after dinner".

 

Seriously, the very best idea ever! Bob, email Goldstein. If this were to ever be incorporated you deserve a free cruise for all the man hours they'll save of problem solving. But then again we're talking about RCL's IT Dept :rolleyes:

[Hoopster95]

What happens if you book a cruise 3 months from sailing or last minute bookings, and the times you want to dine and see the shows are all gone? Too stressful to think about. I just want to enjoy my cruise not worry about show times or dinnertimes. I don't think I want to eat in the windjammer every night either.

 

Read the reviews from cruisers just sailed... many just walked up to the venue they wanted and were seated. They didn't need to think about or worry about anything!

[negc]

Nicely said...

 

From experience just 2 months ago on Serenade... still MDR on this ship yes?.... my 2nd to last day booking in Giovanni's in a table for 11 were only 4 people from my MDR table as the rest were friends made on board with similar interests at other venues. If you force yourself to make friends with someone you have not even met yet, there is no way to know whether that connection will ever hold.

 

My best friends from Turkey/Greece cruise 4 yrs ago were Aussie... they have both visited me and I visited both of them. They were not MDR table mates.

 

On my current Q roll call I have already been invited by two high D+'s and a Pinnacle solo to join them for dinner whenever I wanted. I have not met them but have connected via the roll call and other threads.

 

To those who feel the need to be forced to meet new people with the MDR experience, please as you walk around the ship just simply smile and say hello... if you're at a venue you really enjoy with similar interests to others, like the CL/DL or Karaoke or Boleros, or.... you name it , simply sit down with someone new... you may just meet your best friend of your life rather than sit in a corner lamenting that you have new table mates for dinner tonight.

 

(Edited: I am 100% positive that many others here can say they have friends from previous cruises that were not on their MDR table when they first met)

 

Where's the "Like" button?:)

[Biker19]

No, because it appears that they have already relaxed their definition of the formal dress code and a black suit coat is not a requirement.

It was, sorta, if you wanted to go in after the first couple of days on the maiden TA. If you didn't have a coat one was provided to patrons without one. Yes, the first couple of days was a bit of free-for-all in terms of dress code, but it was fairly close to the listed definition after that.

 

After the first two days I would have thought that 2 hrs was the norm in the restaurants - that was, like many other things, a glitch due to the newness of the ship and process.

[fishtaco]

And, the converse is true too. If you want an Asian themed choice it may not be available in the MDR either.

 

I am talking popular choices you are talking minority choices that if in fact were very popular they would become part of the everyday menu! In a food "style" themed venue they cannot offer the total additional choices the MDR can on theme nights or any nights.

[TM38Rob]

To remove the contradictory spin from the press release, the basics of Dynamic Dining is the elimination of the Traditional Main Dining Room. Replacing the MDR space are specialty restaurants. Dynamic Dining encompasses all the specialty restaurants ("complimentary" and extra charge), the Windjammer buffet, and the snack venues (Doghouse, Sorrentos Pizza, Cafe Promenade) for dinner.

 

On Oasis-class ships, the MDR becomes American Icon Grille on Deck 3, The Grande on Deck 4, & Silk on Deck 5. These 3 restaurants, along with Chic, are on Quantum-class ships. COASTAL Kitchen is on both Quantum and Oasis-class ships, with the latter replacing the Viking Crown Lounge, is for Grand Suite guests and above along with Pinnacle only. These are the so-called "complimentary" restaurants.

 

American Icon Grille is "comfort food with a twist" and Silk is Pan Asian fare. These are the only two I would consider "complimentary", along with Chic on Quantum.

 

The Grande is Formal Night every night, suits/tux required for men. Hardly consider this "complimentary" if it requires the purchase of a suit or a tux rental.

 

COASTAL Kitchen requires the purchase of a suite, so it's only "complimentary" if you're a Pinnacle member of Crown & Anchor Society.

 

Wonderland is an extra charge restaurant being adding to Oasis from Quantum.

 

"On Oasis Class, American Icon Grill, Silk, and The Grand will feature two menus that rotate midway through the cruise". Otherwise, each restaurant will have the same menu every night of the cruise.

 

If you ate all your meals in the Traditional Dining Room in the past, Dynamic Dining is a major change. No more nightly rotating menus. No more assigned tables with other guests and the same waitstaff nightly. You will be required to choose where you will dine and make reservations for each restaurant you wish to dine, or dine in the Windjammer.

 

If you never ate in the MDR, or only one or two meals, then Dynamic Dining is nothing new for you. For those mostly dining in the specialty extra charge restaurants, you may view Dynamic Dining as "more choice". If you ate all your dinners in the Windjammer in the past, well, the Windjammer is still there.

 

For the DD cheerleaders promoting "more choice" as a good thing; Traditional diners may view this as "too much choice" in having to choose where to dine each night, and "less choice" as the MDR is no longer an option and the menus only appeal to a specialty rather than the variety offered on the MDR rotating menu.

 

[For me personally, Dynamic Dining is a bad thing. As I often sail on my own, I will no longer have the same tablemates (or any tablemates) and same waitstaff. Without that experience, the menu becomes more important to me as it does when dining alone on land. I can't afford suites, so COASTAL Kitchen is out. Don't own a suit and not paying extra to rent a tux to dine by myself, so The Grande is out. Menus at Silk and Chic do not appeal to me, so they're out. That leaves me with American Icon Grille, which the Children's menu looks better, but not enough variety for a 7 night cruise. So this forces me to repeat the menu, or eat at the Windjammer, or pay extra for Chops Grille. That is why I put on my survey from my recent Oasis cruise that I will never sail on a ship with Dynamic Dining. (Well, not solo anyway.) It's a shame that they put the new Studio Balcony staterooms on a ship with no MDR.]

Updated to reflect that California Kitchen is actually Coastal Kitchen. From the description of Coastal Kitchen in the Dining Options: "Fuses Mediterranean influences with the unmatched riches of California's bountiful farmlands."

 

Either way won't be able to eat there even if I wanted to.

[TM38Rob]

Originally Posted by TM38Rob

 

The Grande is Formal Night every night, suits/tux required for men. Hardly consider this "complimentary" if it requires the purchase of a suit or a tux rental.

 

You can as long as you have pants and a decent shirt, the venue will provide a suit coat. ;)

Thanks Biker19. It's good to know suit coats are available at The Grande, just like a land based fine dining restaurant. With the tux rentals offered through the ship, I didn't think they would provide them.

 

I'm reminded of an episode of "Cheers" where Sam Malone wasn't allowed into Melville's without a jacket, so he had to borrow Norm's. Of course, Sam was going there to confront the new owner of Melville's (John Allen Hill) about some of his new changes and how they were negatively affecting the Cheers regulars.

[TM38Rob]

Why can't you find others to dine with and make reservations together for a restaurant or restaurants once you are on board? If so you only need to dine alone if you choose and it appears that when you arrive in one of the dynamic dining venues, you have the option of dining with others if you prefer. We find and make friends elsewhere on the ship besides in the dining room so it seems that when you make those new friends you might ask if they would like to join you at dinner and thus replicate what you find so attractive about traditional and my time dining, while avoiding the issue of being seated for the length of a cruise with people with whom you have nothing in common or whose behavior is less than exemplary. If you re-read their "formal dining" clothing requirement you should see that suits and/or tuxes are NOT required. Unless there is absolutely only one item on each venue's menu that you can tolerate, you should be able to dine in the same room more than once without repeating the same selection (though if it is a very good item, having it again should not be such a horrible thing). Under the current system I have found MDR menus that absolutely had nothing that appealed to me except for the "always available" items which sometimes meant skipping the starters altogether so I think I will wait until we have tried it before giving up entirely on this new style of dining. For me, the only negative may be the loss of having the same wait staff for the entire cruise but we have had such excellent service from almost everyone who has served us that it might not be that much of a sacrifice.

Given the use of "we" in your post, I take it that you haven't sailed solo. With all the different venues (restaurants and entertainment) and reservations, it's not as easy as inviting someone to join them for dinner as it is with Traditional Dining (Didn't work for me in the past anyway). When you do sail solo and try to re-create the traditional MDR experience, please come back and let us know how successful you were.

 

In the past I've always had tablemates and the Maitre Ds have done an excellent job with the table assignments.

 

The current menus have maybe one entree each night I look forward to ordering, and I got to have the Beef Sliders and Steak Fries at least one night (either as an appetizer or entree). There were a couple nights on my last cruise I did not order an appetizer because none appealed to me and I had had a late lunch anyway. Food was less important as I was paired with another solo cruise for dinner in The Grande (still MDR menus until March). (BTW, only head waiters were jackets for the most part in The Grande, even on Formal Night.) I enjoyed the conversation more than I enjoyed the food. I also enjoyed having the same waiter each night. It provides a continuity for me as something to look forward to each evening. Gave the waiter a nice big tip on the last night.

 

In contrast, I ate at Johnny Rockets each day for Lunch or Dinner on the Oasis. On the 5 night cruise: Day 1 - Lunch, Tuna Melt; Day 2 - Breakfast, French Toast; Day 3 - Lunch, Cheeseburger; Day 4 - Breakfast, Breakfast Sandwich; Day 5 - Breakfast, Cheese Omelet. Breakfast was free, Lunch had a surcharge. I had a different server each meal. Gave a cash tip at Breakfast, and added the tip via SeaPass during Lunch. Food was excellent, hot and tasted good. Service was great, however, waitstaff understandably too busy to have a conversation like I can have with waitstaff in MDR with two set seatings. With one minor exception, I dined by myself each of those meals. For the record, I was a table of one for all 5 meals. Menu was great, enough choices of items I wanted to order where I was able to order something different each every time I ate at Johnny Rockets.

 

Point being, food (and menu choices) for me has to be really great to compensate for the lack of tablemates, and the specialty restaurants replacing the MDR don't do it for me. I'm finding less items on the new menus for DD I'd like to try than what is currently offered in the MDR.

Also, it's more convenient to give a nice big tip to one waiter at the end of the cruise than it is to give smaller ones each night.

 

Another disadvantage of Dynamic Dining is having to keep track of which night you reserved a table at a given restaurant. Traditional Dining is same dining room, even with My Time Dining. Now people will have to remember where they need to go for dinner each night based on any reservations they may have made. It's one thing to book a special meal one night in Chops Grille and eat in the MDR all the other nights, and another to book 7 different reservations for a 7 night cruise.

Edited November 16, 2014 by TM38Rob

[royzer76]

More info and menus here .... http://www.royalcaribbean.co.uk/our-ships/quantum-class/dining/dining-hub.html

[HiCSailor]

Another cruise critic member has created a chart that I find helpful in summarizing and visualizing the dynamic dining options on board Quantum:

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B8K45qWkduXcc190WU5GcGRQZE0/preview

 

Bon appetite!

[KeywestK]

Another cruise critic member has created a chart that I find helpful in summarizing and visualizing the dynamic dining options on board Quantum:

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B8K45qWkduXcc190WU5GcGRQZE0/preview

 

Bon appetite!

 

I'm printing this out and adding it to my print out of TM38ROB's earlier post on DD. My biggest issue with DD is the pre-reserving months in advance for each night. If we could just walk up to whichever restaurant we're in the mood for, I'd have no issues with any of this. I'm looking forward to reading future reviews on how it actually all plays out in real time. It's one thing to read about the new DD and how it should work, but it's quite another thing to see how it actually plays out. I'm keeping an open mind and will determine at some point if it will be for me or not.

[Biker19]

If we could just walk up to whichever restaurant we're in the mood for, I'd have no issues with any of this.

 

You can, but you might need to wait a bit if you want a table for 2. If you are willing to share a table, you'll be seated right away. Actually, even the folks with reservations have to wait, sometimes quite a while at peak times.

[KeywestK]

You can, but you might need to wait a bit if you want a table for 2. If you are willing to share a table, you'll be seated right away. Actually, even the folks with reservations have to wait, sometimes quite a while at peak times.

 

That all seems reasonable. Not being able to get a table for 2 each evening is not a deal breaker.

[KS Sunflower]

That all seems reasonable. Not being able to get a table for 2 each evening is not a deal breaker.

 

We were on the Quantum Maiden Voyage and DD was a learning experience for everyone. We ate at the American Icon Grill twice, Silk once and the Grande once. We ate at the Windjammer the rest of the time. We were asked if we wanted to share a table each time and usually did, unless we wanted to finish quickly. The times we didn't share a table, we were out in less than an hour.

I was very impressed with the decor in all the restaurants.

 

We ate breakfast at the American Grill twice, the rest of the time we ate at 270 or the Windjammer. In 270, if we wanted our food warm, we were given a beeper. When the beeper went off, we picked up our food.

 

The night we ate at the Grande, all the people I saw, were dressed very nicely. Much like any formal night, on any ship. If, you want to dress "formally" every night, just book the Grande. No tuxes at our table but the men did have jackets and ties.

 

If, I cruise on a ship, with DD again, I'm not going to worry about making advance reservations. There's always some place to eat.

[Paulette3028]

We were asked if we wanted to share a table each time and usually did, unless we wanted to finish quickly. The times we didn't share a table, we were out in less than an hour. I was very impressed with the decor in all the restaurants.

 

 

Glad to read this. We enjoy on a cruise having dinner with others. Often we cruise by ourselves and in the past would request to be at a table with 6-10 others....to enjoy light conversation and meet other people.

 

It is nice to know they asked each night and you could be seated at a larger table. As I usually say, 'If I wanted to have dinner with just my husband, it would be like being at HOME'.