Dynamic Dining postponed for Oasis & Allure

[John&LaLa]

I'm right with you... I also have a child with a food allergy, on the last cruise after talking with waiter & head waiter & spending at least 30 minutes with them most of dining experience went smoothly. We are booked on the quantum not looking forward to going explaining my sons allergy at every meal with different waiters... Hopefully they will have something in place as mr Goldstein stated they would, will have to wait & see how it goes....

 

Isn't one of the reasons the wait staff was assigned tablets was to record special needs or requests.

[baman]

My guess us you dont have autistic kiddo. They are not good with change. It throws them all off. Every time there was a change in the compus my son couldn't deal with it . It was written down that it was happening.!!!! This caused me headaches ... and stress on my vacation.

 

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[Charles4515]

My guess us you dont have autistic kiddo. They are not good with change. It throws them all off. Every time there was a change in the compus my son couldn't deal with it . It was written down that it was happening.!!!! This caused me headaches ... and stress on my vacation.

 

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Of course Traditional dining would be the best and make things easier with your child's special needs but I think they would work it out for you with other types of dining. I have done the equivalent of My Time Dining with a group and we asked for and received the same table, waiter, at the same time every evening. So they could do similar with Dynamic Dining, assign you to one dining time in one dining room with the same waiter every evening. The only limitation would the menu being always the same, that might even be good (?) but with special needs they could even work that out if not.

Edited January 19, 2015 by Charles4515

[Janet524]

Baman's post brings up another sort of related issue. DH has dietary restrictions and our waiter brings the next night's menu for him to order what he wants the following night. I don't see how this would work with DD unless we decided the day before where we wanted to dine, seek someone out to get the menu and place the order. I can't see this working successfully.

[John&LaLa]

My guess us you dont have autistic kiddo. They are not good with change. It throws them all off. Every time there was a change in the compus my son couldn't deal with it . It was written down that it was happening.!!!! This caused me headaches ... and stress on my vacation.

 

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You are halfway right, I have an autistic grandson. However I was replying to food allergy post.

[deanamarie212]

Isn't one of the reasons the wait staff was assigned tablets was to record special needs or requests.

It's not that simple the wait staff having tablets, they just don't understand the complexity sometimes of allergies and easily mistake someone with a milk allergy thinking the lactose free meals will be ok, plus it's the cross contamination. I'm trying to keep an open mind on our forth coming cruise on the DD but am worried it's going to be far more stressful than on traditional dining and as one of the previous posts states we choose his meal the night before and it was ready as soon as we came down at 6pm, children are not always patient waiting for their food...

 

Just interesting how it's going to work & to see how it is working for people who have dietary needs

Edited January 19, 2015 by deanamarie212

[Folk Singer]

Wow, this is big news! Thanks for the update.

 

 

Have to wait and see. Hope DD is not implemented as we do like TD.

[SherriZ366]

It's not that simple the wait staff having tablets, they just don't understand the complexity sometimes of allergies and easily mistake someone with a milk allergy thinking the lactose free meals will be ok, plus it's the cross contamination. I'm trying to keep an open mind on our forth coming cruise on the DD but am worried it's going to be far more stressful than on traditional dining and as one of the previous posts states we choose his meal the night before and it was ready as soon as we came down at 6pm, children are not always patient waiting for their food...

 

Just interesting how it's going to work & to see how it is working for people who have dietary needs

I read that waiters ended up using the tablets to hold the order pad they were writing on. Orders they put into the tablets were not filled so they went back to the old fashioned way of taking orders. Hopefully this is an IT issue that will be cleared up as the proper handling of food allergies and other special needs is important.

[lovetogoaway]

I was just on the RCCL website and it specifically says (for Oasis) now scheduled to begin in LATE 2015.

 

I hope its doesn't start at all. I'm going on the Oasis in August.

[SherriZ366]

I hope its doesn't start at all. I'm going on the Oasis in August.

I have seen posts either on this thread or somewhere else that cruisers who booked for 2-2016 were put back to My Time and Traditional dining.

[lovetogoaway]

First; please do not generalize. Everyone here is an individual with our unique points of view.......thanks :-)

 

Hubsters and I feel that DD will eliminate part of our cruise experience we enjoy. We like the MDR experience. We have been lucky through our years of cruising to have large tables filled with interesting people. We cannot wait to get to the MDR to listen to everyone 's adventures of the day.

 

We also enjoy the rapport with our Waiter and Assistant waiter......hearing about where they are from, families, photos of newborns.

 

Once we found our Assistant Waiter trying to checkin for his flight home from Orlando. We had seen photographs of his BEAUTIFUL wife and adorable young son who was an exact Mini-Me. We knew we were the last of his sailings for two months.

 

Hubby and I helped sit on his luggage over-stuffed with gifts for his family. All 3 of us had a big laugh and more hugs as he headed home to India.

 

We DO cheat on our MDR staff with Chops....generally on formal nights. We have been known to mosey back to the MDR after.......to checkin with our table peeps!

 

 

DD would eliminate this and for us, it's just a cruise experience we are not willing to trifle with.

 

We don't HATE DD, it's just not for us and enough to change a cruiseline to avoid.

 

 

HOW ABOUT THIS??????

 

RCI insists that the Oasis will eventually offer DD, after all.....they spent buckets of $$$$$ to modify restaurants.

 

How about allowing the Oasis to change to DD if they can get the bugs fixed and keep the Allure as she is now. This way there will be options for everyone! (And if Oasis is replaced in the Caribbean, send her replacement out with DD)

 

Good compromise?

 

 

So sorry for the ramble!

I'm with you!!!!!!

[SherriZ366]

I'm with you!!!!!!

Me too.

[Grandma Petania]

Donut23, I understand your feelings about having the same table-mates (and waiters) at dinner in the MDR every night. Many people feel the same, but it can be stressful for some others.

 

I have been on only 3 cruises so far. My (then) husband and I sailed on the German ship, Bremen, way back in the '60s, thanks to a cruise I won on the TV show "Concentration". We had delightful table-mates - two French-speaking young women from Quebec, and a retired dry cleaner and his wife from upstate New York. Quite likely it was the presence of the young women that drew our young waiter and wine steward to our table so often, but we were a jolly group in any case. Most probably against the rules, all six of us were invited to the crew quarters one night for a party. It was quite the experience with talking and singing in a number of different languages.

 

Forty-five years later, I took my 2nd cruise with my current live-in family - my older daughter, son-in-law & adult grandson, on The Oasis in November 2012. Although DD had made the reservations and requested that we be seated at a table for 8, the table that had been assigned was in a place that was too awkward for my SIL to get to in his power wheelchair. (He has MD.) Instead, the maitre d' steered us to a booth/table in a smaller room, set off from the main dining room. We quickly discovered that we truly enjoyed our own foursome, and getting to know our wonderful waitress and assistant waiter. The maitre d' often stopped by to chat, leaning on the "wall" that lined the sloped entrance to our dining area.

 

In fact, we got so boisterous at times, that we decided we wouldn't be fit company for other table-mates - especially since we are accustomed to having our best family time at home, at dinner, when everyone is at the end of their work day - (except for me, grandma, who is the chief cook and bottle washer, so to speak). We joke a lot, with references that would be difficult to explain to strangers. There were only about four other booth/tables around the walls of our circular room - with a large table in the center - which was separated from us by some columns - so we weren't disruptive to them.

 

Two years ago I sailed on The Oasis again with just my younger daughter. Our previous, much beloved waitress was working on the upper level of My Time dining, so we switched from MDR to try to be seated with her. She was delighted to see us on our first night, but the only way to accommodate us without a long wait was to add us to a table for 10 - with 8 people already seated. It seemed that they were four couples, all strangers to each other. We managed to chat a little with the couple to our left, but the couple to our right kept to themselves, and we couldn't converse with the others across from us because of the distance and noise.

 

On two nights we were seated at a smaller table with people we had met on the ship. I hesitate to write this here, in case there might be hurt feelings, but we just didn't click with them - and we found our dinners as a twosome much more enjoyable. Since then I have talked with a number of other people who had similar experiences on cruises. With MDR, they were stuck night-after-night with dinner mates they wouldn't have chosen. It seems that you (and others who have posted on CC) have been fortunate in being seated with people whose company you enjoyed.

 

On our last cruise, my grandson and I stuck together for breakfast and lunch, and spent much of our day together. DD & DSIL didn't get up as early, and wound up having only one meal before we gathered for dinner. DSIL doesn't care for the shows, so he enjoyed some alone-time on the ocean view balcony, while the rest of us went to the shows. DGS & I went to the "Magic Ice" sculpture gallery on St. Thomas, while DD & DSIL toured Charlotte Amalie. DD & DSIL spent the day on St. Martin, while DGS & I chose to take advantage of fewer people on board the ship.

 

In four weeks my live-in family of four will be sailing on The Oasis again, and we hope to be able to be served at least some nights by our favorite waitress - if she is working in MTD again. In any case, we will definitely ask for a table for just the four of us. As you can see, we are not frequent cruisers, so each experience is very special to us, and we prefer to keep it in the family.

[crayon78]

Baman's post brings up another sort of related issue. DH has dietary restrictions and our waiter brings the next night's menu for him to order what he wants the following night. I don't see how this would work with DD unless we decided the day before where we wanted to dine, seek someone out to get the menu and place the order. I can't see this working successfully.

 

We were on Quantum and dealt with pre-orders there (although we were only told about halfway through that we could do it). At the end of each meal, they had to bring in the menus from wherever we were going to be the next day (and yes, we had to know where we were going to dine, and I don't know what they would have done if we didn't have reservations) and send the order in.

 

The next day when we would show up at the restaurant, sometimes it went smoothly and sometimes it didn't. We had some dishes that didn't show up, even though they confirm the order at the start of the meal. We had a head waiter who didn't understand why we pre-ordered and said she was going to just disregard it and take the order again. I'm not sure how effective the pre-orders were and I really don't know how you would do it if you had truly "dynamic" dining when you choose a restaurant the day of. I think you'd end up explaining the allergies and dietary restrictions at the start of each meal, and just have to hope you got someone who was trained enough to understand and properly deal with them.

 

And just a note on the tablets and tech, we entered all the food allergies and dietary restrictions into the system prior to the cruise, but it wasn't in any of the restaurant systems or connected to our reservations. We had to have it all put in by one of the restaurant staff again. Just another example of their technology not working as smoothly and seamlessly as it could.

[twindaddy]

On two nights we were seated at a smaller table with people we had met on the ship. I hesitate to write this here, in case there might be hurt feelings, but we just didn't click with them - and we found our dinners as a twosome much more enjoyable. Since then I have talked with a number of other people who had similar experiences on cruises. With MDR, they were stuck night-after-night with dinner mates they wouldn't have chosen. It seems that you (and others who have posted on CC) have been fortunate in being seated with people whose company you enjoyed.

 

 

Great post, thank you for sharing.

 

My take on things, and I am not trying to sound like a tool, but at one time or another I have been a regular on the Disney, Carnival, and Princess sections of cruise critic as well as another Disney related board I would get in trouble if I mentioned. The stories of people having bad tablemates are somewhat rare (though often comical), and are usual solved by asking the head server to be re-seated.

 

I have read many, many more stories about fantastic table mates that turn into cruise friends, sometimes lifelong friends. I know as soon as a I post this, someone will post the "I got sat with an axe murder" post. Notice I did not say all, just most are pretty good from my unscientific research.

 

Some prefer family only time, and there is nothing wrong with that.

 

If you read back through the pages of this thread, my main point has been I think Royal should give passengers choices. Make a ship in each class dynamic, keep a ship in each class MDR/MTD, and go from there. Alternatively, I still do not see what problem dynamic dining is solving that a better menu and a MTD/MDR mix cant solve.

 

Great to hear your cruise stories!

Edited January 20, 2015 by twindaddy

[Sunny AZ Girl]

Most of time we travel with larger groups of friends or family and in those cases having a set seating time and table works best for us. Everyone knows where to meet at the end of the day without having to pre-plan where to go. If it is just DH and I or just one other couple we now prefer MTD. We like a little flexibility. If there is a late port day we may dine later, for example. We have also had two (out of 14) cruise with less than desirable table mate situations and MTD helps prevent us risking hurting the feelings of others by us asking to be moved to another table.

 

We were willing to try DD when we thought it was going to be on our upcoming Oasis sailing, but we had to accept that our group of 10 would not be together most nights due to different preferences. I think we all took a sigh of relief when we found out that we would be back to Traditional Dining on that sailing. I would like to try DD on a cruse with just DH and I after the bugs have been worked out. I would give it a year or more of operation before I would choose to use it, though.

[sross6019]

After looking at the sample menus for DD I personally like traditional dining. If they want DD, wish they would put on only on the new ships and leave the rest alone. Not a big fan of the speciality dining due to the extra cost. But RCCL can't please everyone, so I will keep a wait and see attitude.

[3dog]

Make a ship in each class dynamic, keep a ship in each class MDR/MTD, and go from there.

 

This is a problematic solution, as what ship(s) do you convert? If you read enough on this board (or any of the boards for that matter), many have their favorite ship. If that is the one that is converted, then those pax are potentially disappointed. Or if the ship is traveling in a unique itinerary and only has DD, the pax preferring traditional is disappointed.

 

Alternatively, I still do not see what problem dynamic dining is solving that a better menu and a MTD/MDR mix cant solve

 

For the most part, RCI is trying to evolve (as any successful business needs to do to remain successful), and flexible dining is becoming the most preferred among cruisers. It went from just a small section of the dining room to entire floors, and every cruise line has their own implementation of flexible dining.

 

Dynamic Dining is an attempt by RCI to evolve a "better menu" and a better "MTD/MDR mix". Obviously the first pass at this implementation was problematic at best and upsetting to traditionalists, but I seriously doubt that it will be scrapped entirely. Look for version 2.0 sometime in the future.

 

But again, that is just my $.02

[TravelerThom]

...Dynamic Dining is an attempt by RCI to evolve a "better menu" and a better "MTD/MDR mix". Obviously the first pass at this implementation was problematic at best and upsetting to traditionalists, but I seriously doubt that it will be scrapped entirely. Look for version 2.0 sometime in the future...

IMO RCI attempted too much with version 1.0 on Quantum, but I give RCI credit for now working to improve things. The addition on Quantum of complimentary dining seats in the Solarium Bistro seats has to help with overall wait times and provide more Prime Time seat availability (Prime Time being defined as the time they are busiest). If I understand correctly there have also been staff additions (assistant waiters maybe, I'm not entirely clear on this), and faster turn over would also help with wait times. I haven't heard enough to know if the issue with lost reservations has improved, but I am willing to believe that they are working hard on that. All these things working together should quiet down some of complaints about DD functionality.

 

I think most of us understand MTD (My Time Dining) and how it has worked on existing ships. No matter what you do, nothing will be perfect, but MTD certainly has many fans who would be unhappy if it (or an acceptable substitute, such as well functioning DD) went away. MDR (Main Dining Room) in the context of various forms of dinner scheduling, I use as an abbreviation for Traditional Dining with a fixed Early and Late seating. IF MTD means that to you (and it may not), I fail to see how DD as discussed by RCI can evolve into a better MTD/MDR mix. Doesn't RCI's DD specifically preclude MDR Traditional Dining? Or are you envisioning Traditional MDR seatings in one Dining Room concurrently with DD in other rooms?

 

Thom

[LetsGetWet!]

Alternatively, I still do not see what problem dynamic dining is solving that a better menu and a MTD/MDR mix cant solve.

 

I think most of us understand MTD (My Time Dining) and how it has worked on existing ships. No matter what you do, nothing will be perfect, but MTD certainly has many fans who would be unhappy if it (or an acceptable substitute, such as well functioning DD) went away. MDR (Main Dining Room) in the context of various forms of dinner scheduling, I use as an abbreviation for Traditional Dining with a fixed Early and Late seating. IF MTD means that to you (and it may not), I fail to see how DD as discussed by RCI can evolve into a better MTD/MDR mix. Doesn't RCI's DD specifically preclude MDR Traditional Dining? Or are you envisioning Traditional MDR seatings in one Dining Room concurrently with DD in other rooms?

 

Thom

Agreed. It seems fairly logical that one could provide most of the menu additions of the DD free venues to existing dining (MTD/Trad) and satisfy the majority of both those who like DD and those who don't. I think currently MTD accounts for about 1/3 of the dinner "capacity" on traditional RCI ships. Especially if you took the other 2/3 and made half formal and half not on "formal nights" it seems that along with the expanded menus from DD you'd have solved most of the wants for everyone, without having to upset and alienate those who prefer traditional dining.

[3dog]

IMO RCI attempted too much with version 1.0 on Quantum, but I give RCI credit for now working to improve things. The addition on Quantum of complimentary dining seats in the Solarium Bistro seats has to help with overall wait times and provide more Prime Time seat availability (Prime Time being defined as the time they are busiest). If I understand correctly there have also been staff additions (assistant waiters maybe, I'm not entirely clear on this), and faster turn over would also help with wait times. I haven't heard enough to know if the issue with lost reservations has improved, but I am willing to believe that they are working hard on that. All these things working together should quiet down some of complaints about DD functionality.

 

I agree that they attempted too much, but it could have (or should have) been predicted.

 

I have previously posted that I think the cornerstone failure was depending too much on technology, such that once it couldn't keep up, it snowballed into disaster. Some of this dependence assumed that the technology would make people more efficient, so they wouldn't need as many people. Some of the dependence assumed it will make the flow move faster, so they wouldn't need any controls. Once both failed, the problem was was exponentially multiplied. And they were so dependent on the technology, they had no backup plan once it failed, even though their own investigations should have revealed that onboard systems regularly fail.

 

I think most of us understand MTD (My Time Dining) and how it has worked on existing ships. No matter what you do, nothing will be perfect, but MTD certainly has many fans who would be unhappy if it (or an acceptable substitute, such as well functioning DD) went away. MDR (Main Dining Room) in the context of various forms of dinner scheduling, I use as an abbreviation for Traditional Dining with a fixed Early and Late seating. IF MTD means that to you (and it may not), I fail to see how DD as discussed by RCI can evolve into a better MTD/MDR mix. Doesn't RCI's DD specifically preclude MDR Traditional Dining? Or are you envisioning Traditional MDR seatings in one Dining Room concurrently with DD in other rooms?

 

Thom

 

In my terminology, "Traditional" means two fixed-time seatings (MDR is where it is served - but happy to use it to mean the fixed-time scheduling), so no, the "DD evolution" is unlikely to include "Traditional Dining" (though I could see a way to make a transition for those that significantly favor that form). And considering it a "MTD/MDR mix" is actually an incorrect viewpoint as there won't really be a mix (but I was only trying to use some part of a quote from a previous poster).

 

Where I expect them to go (and, IMO, all lines will eventually get there, though not for a many number of years), is to drop the "Traditional" scheduling and move strictly to some flexible scheduling, as it is more practical to the cruise lines and seems to be more popular among new cruisers. So I expect the "Traditional/Flexible" mix will evolve only to Flexible, and allow lines to offer different variations of flexible.

[RocketMan275]

I agree that they attempted too much, but it could have (or should have) been predicted.

 

I have previously posted that I think the cornerstone failure was depending too much on technology, such that once it couldn't keep up, it snowballed into disaster. Some of this dependence assumed that the technology would make people more efficient, so they wouldn't need as many people. Some of the dependence assumed it will make the flow move faster, so they wouldn't need any controls. Once both failed, the problem was was exponentially multiplied. And they were so dependent on the technology, they had no backup plan once it failed, even though their own investigations should have revealed that onboard systems regularly fail.

 

 

 

In my terminology, "Traditional" means two fixed-time seatings (MDR is where it is served - but happy to use it to mean the fixed-time scheduling), so no, the "DD evolution" is unlikely to include "Traditional Dining" (though I could see a way to make a transition for those that significantly favor that form). And considering it a "MTD/MDR mix" is actually an incorrect viewpoint as there won't really be a mix (but I was only trying to use some part of a quote from a previous poster).

 

Where I expect them to go (and, IMO, all lines will eventually get there, though not for a many number of years), is to drop the "Traditional" scheduling and move strictly to some flexible scheduling, as it is more practical to the cruise lines and seems to be more popular among new cruisers. So I expect the "Traditional/Flexible" mix will evolve only to Flexible, and allow lines to offer different variations of flexible.

 

Perhaps Classic Dining might be a better way to describe the combination of Traditional Dining and My Time Dining?

[LetsGetWet!]

Where I expect them to go (and, IMO, all lines will eventually get there, though not for a many number of years), is to drop the "Traditional" scheduling and move strictly to some flexible scheduling, as it is more practical to the cruise lines and seems to be more popular among new cruisers. So I expect the "Traditional/Flexible" mix will evolve only to Flexible, and allow lines to offer different variations of flexible.

I'm not sure you're correct there - because you're definitely wrong about 100% flexible being more practical for the cruise lines. The initial DD rollout showed that. To get best utilization of the space and be able to serve everyone most efficiently, the cruise lines need to have some people eat a little earlier and some a little later than the times that most will choose left to a totally flexible choice. Otherwise they have underutilized dining facilities early and late, and are unable to serve everyone who shows up and wants to eat during the middle-evening times.

[TravelerThom]

I'm not sure you're correct there - because you're definitely wrong about 100% flexible being more practical for the cruise lines. The initial DD rollout showed that. To get best utilization of the space and be able to serve everyone most efficiently, the cruise lines need to have some people eat a little earlier and some a little later than the times that most will choose left to a totally flexible choice. Otherwise they have underutilized dining facilities early and late, and are unable to serve everyone who shows up and wants to eat during the middle-evening times.

Well said. Land based restaurants quite often have Early-Bird discounts to help spread the load. Perhaps the cruise lines could add incentives to encourage passengers to come early or late. My (much older:p) sister is in a continuing care community, and early diners get a free glass of wine. Just a thought.

 

Thom

[travelgoddess1]

Good morning! I have friends sailing on another ship at the moment, and the rumor is going around that Dynamic Dining is now being removed from Quantum, with the source quoted as Cruise Critic. I have not seen this posted anywhere, so my question is, has anyone heard this?

 

I think there may be confusion with DD being postponed on Allure and Oasis. :rolleyes::eek:

 

Karen