Dynamic Dining postponed for Oasis & Allure

[RocketMan275]

I was surprised there wasn't a thread about this already (I apologize if I missed it), but I saw this posted on Royal's website under Oasis dining options:

 

"The scheduled introduction of dynamic dining on Oasis of the Seas and Allure of the Seas has been postponed until later in the year."

 

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/findacruise/ships/class/ship/home.do?shipClassCode=OA&shipCode=OA&br=R

 

I think before any one gets all excited about this announcement they should sit down, take a couple of deep breaths, and reflect upon the well organized management process at Royal. Just how confident are you in anything Royal says on their website?

[MJonTravel]

There are a certain percentage of guests that aren't going to like Dynamic Dining, no matter what. However, I'd estimate that a high percentage of complaints generated about it so far by those that have actually experienced the new concept are based in IT issues. I think the concept of Dynamic Dining is sound. It's implementation has been .....ummmh... challenging. :)

 

In all sincerity, I liked Dynamic Dining a lot more than I expected to. I made reservations for 5 out of 11 nights when it opened, and left the rest open to experiment with. I had no problems rebooking reservations using the Royal IQ app, moving things around, and scheduling new reservations. In 11 nights, I spent 10 minutes in line for dining - a group without reservations was in front of us. On night one we waited 30 minutes for a table at Chops, which was overrun with business from, I assume BOGO coupon holders. I know others had all sorts of IT issues so I'm not minimizing that....just sharing what happened to me.

 

In the end, Dynamic Dining was an answer to a lot of guest feedback. For every one of us that loves the social aspect of dining and meeting new people, sharing tables, etc. (and I count myself in that group) there are just as many who prefer the flexibilities and options promised by Dynamic Dining. Personally, I liked it...a lot. That said, I wouldn't seek to book a ship just because it offered Dynamic Dining, nor would I avoid booking one that wasn't.

 

My strong suspicion is that you will eventually see Dynamic Dining on Allure and Oasis, but I think they are doing the right thing by delaying it. They need to fix what they have (Quantum and soon Anthem) before they expand it to other ships, and a lot of that "fix" lies in a reliable IT solution.

[MaritimeR&R]

I for one dislike DD. I was with my family on the Quantum inaugural but usually travel alone -- I did not care for the limited menus, the time it took to "experience" the meal, and making my family's reservations to coordinate with show times six months in advance.

I have a number of future cruises currently booked, but if at some point DD goes fleet wide, I will be cruising on another line.

[LuCruise]

Understanding about My Time vs Dynamic Dining...I'm guessing people don't like it since it puts more work on us...to research the restaurants offered and book them pre-boarding (plus the static menu). I have to say offhand I like the traditional cruise way followed by the show of the night...set time in the dining room...but it may be ok AS long as there is enough selection. (I don't eat beef or chicken so I am limited from the menu). Don't want to be forced to attend the specialty selections for a fee. We're only doing a 7 week cruise so should be ok.

Edited December 25, 2014 by LuCruise

[wendychloecruiser]

I, too, rather enjoyed the concept of dynamic dining on the maiden of quantum. HOWEVER, the technology and the corresponding software, that being the ROYAL IQ app, could not have been tested at all prior to attempting to roll it out. Insanity.

[DragonOfTheSeas]

I find it amazing that RCL put so much faith in the technology to make DD work. Yet, anyone that sails with them knows that IT is their weak link. :rolleyes:

[LetsGetWet!]

I think before any one gets all excited about this announcement they should sit down, take a couple of deep breaths, and reflect upon the well organized management process at Royal. Just how confident are you in anything Royal says on their website?

Not tremendously confident, true. But probably a little more confident than I am about pronouncements from an anonymous internet poster with no inside information who goes by the name "RocketMan275." ;)

[SF]

We have an upcoming cruise on Allure which will still have traditional dining and we are happy about that. However, our Oasis cruise was suppose to be DD and now that it is going to be postponed till later in the year whether we keep it or decide to cruise with another line will depend on when it comes out. If it comes out several months before and there is tIme to get the kInks out of it then we wIll probably keep the cruIse and gIve it a try even though it's not somethIng we prefer. Now should it come out close to our sailing date we will probably cancel as like one of the poster said before and we agree with them... we don't care to be guinea pigs for RCCL at the cost of an expensive cruise.

 

I guess time will tell.

[twindaddy]

I'll differ with Bob on this one (although he & I are probably just interpreting the question differently)

If DD is not in place for your cruise, and you are assigned a traditional fixed table in the portion of the MDR that has the name Grande at the entrance I can't believe that everyone who ended up there by the luck of the draw would be expected to be formal every evening. I'd pay to see the riot that would ensue.

 

Thom

 

Thanks, that was my thinking. I am not a formal night guy.

 

What does late 2015 mean? Just in time to make you a guinea pig on a peak priced holiday cruise?

 

Just like I was about to be a guinea pig on a high priced spring break cruise, rolling out dynamic dining when it still was a mess on the Quantum. No thanks.

 

While I would not be thrilled, at least they will have some time under their belts to really get it worked out.

 

I personally am a huge fan of the rotational dining that Disney does, but even suggested that on these boards is likely to get you mauled.

[TM38Rob]

I am a big fan of the MDR, I have and never will sail NCL because of the freestyle crap. I like a table with a familiar server waiting for me, but that is just me, I know others feel differently.

 

I had accepted dynamic dining and was cautiously optimistic.

 

I am scheduled for what was the second cruise of dynamic dining on the Oasis, I relieved it postponed. Nothing on any cruise line is ever good for the first few months. I will never understand people who go on the first few sailings of a new ships and are surprised there are kinks, sometimes huge, that have to be worked out.

 

This is incredible selfish, but I am glad the kinks are not being worked out on my dime.

 

So if I am assigned to eat in The Grande, do I have to dress up every night? My scheduler still shows dynamic dining, need to see how I can get that switched to late.

I was assigned to The Grande and not many people dressed formally, even on formal night. Everyone dressed the same as any ship as it's still the MDR. With the current traditional dining/MTD on Oasis post-dry dock, The American Icon on Deck 3 is all traditional dining, Silk on Deck 5 is for MTD, and The Grande is a mix with traditional dining to the left and MTD on the right.

[Biker19]

If DD is not in place for your cruise, and you are assigned a traditional fixed table in the portion of the MDR that has the name Grande at the entrance I can't believe that everyone who ended up there by the luck of the draw would be expected to be formal every evening. I'd pay to see the riot that would ensue.

 

They won't be expected to dress formal every night - just two, the formal nights. Without DD, there will be formal nights. The problem now will be that some folks knowing that DD was to be on their sailing, did not bring any formal wear (they planned to skip Grande) - so come formal nights, the riot will be in the Windjammer.:cool:

Edited December 25, 2014 by Biker19

[TM38Rob]

At first DD was going to be thoroughly test on Quantum (and Anthem?) before retrofitting to any other ships. Then RCCL announced that Oasis (and then Allure) would be getting DD long before Quantum's maiden voyage.

 

In addition to the IT issues, unhappy waitstaff and slow service, unhappy people unable to eat at desired times and people cancelling cruises with DD; another possibility for the delay could involve developing the 2nd menu for the complimentary venues.

 

Also, maybe there is an impact on bookings in the extra charge restaurants. Perhaps people who complain about the current MDR menus being boring and book mostly the extra cost specialty restaurants are now mostly booking the complimentary specialty restaurants instead with DD.

[Donut23]

While I agree with that, I just think it's nuts for people to have so much hatred for something they haven't tried. Same for people who LOVE it so much without trying it.

 

I don't need to burn myself & wind up in the hospital to know the stove is hot!

I don't need to see the wind to feel it!

I don't need to get ebola to know I don't want it!

I don't need to have someone steal all my belongings/money to know that it would suck!

 

Trying DD isn't comparable. It's just not even in the same ballpark.

 

I was *convinced* that I would hate cruising. I'd heard about it from family, co-workers, seen TV shows about it, etc. I was sure I would hate it. I didn't need to try it because I KNEW I would hate it.

 

I tried it and realized I was stupid to discount something that I hadn't tried.

 

 

 

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!

[Donut23]

They won't be expected to dress formal every night - just two, the formal nights. Without DD, there will be formal nights. The problem now will be that some folks knowing that DD was to be on their sailing, did not bring any formal wear (they planned to skip Grande) - so come formal nights, the riot will be in the Windjammer.:cool:

 

 

 

 

I'm sure you have seen what people wear into the MDR on formal night. I doubt attire will be a problem ------ sadly. I liked "the olden days" with tux's' and long dresses. Of course we outgrew all that and just dine elsewhere.

[nelblu]

I for one dislike DD. I was with my family on the Quantum inaugural but usually travel alone -- I did not care for the limited menus, the time it took to "experience" the meal, and making my family's reservations to coordinate with show times six months in advance.

I have a number of future cruises currently booked, but if at some point DD goes fleet wide, I will be cruising on another line.

 

Same struggle with us on the reserves, and when you think that everything is in order, the entertainment reserves that I worked to complement the dining times suddenly are dropped from the cruise planner and had to scramble to replace them. To this day, I still can't get my arms around one show which is--cancelled or fully booked, or lied or not to by RCL.

[Paulxyz2004]

Unfortunately I can´t put too much hope into the News. While it seems to be fantastic News, it also is just a hint of having the implementation delayed and not to get rid of the horrible concept at all.

 

I have not tried it and I have no desire to do so. One of the selling Points of a cruise is to not give me the same I can have on land. I don´t want to restaurant hop. I want my table with my wait Team at a fixed time and with a daily changing menu. I know I´m way too Young to expect to experience this for the rest of my life:(, but as Long as I can find traditional Dining I will go there before I saiol on a ship with DD. Once I can´t find traditional on any ship / line anymore I will have to make the decision if cruising is still for me.

I know RCI will do what they feel they have to anyway and that´s the way a Business has to act, they will hardly listen to me or be sad if I´m turning to other lines as there will be others taking my place. At the time given there will be ships with traditional but I expect them to go away slowly.

[Haber]

This is a nice Christmas present! Otherwise, one week from now, New Year's Day, I was going to be sitting online trying to coordinate booking dining with two other families for the guinea pig cruise of March 14th.

 

The three families were all originally booked for early dining. I wonder if our bookings will revert to that automatically or if the system will have forgotten our original requests. I guess I'll find out when the cruise planner stops listing DD.

 

A few days ago we got emails that one of our shows had been bumped from 7:00 to 7:30. I wonder if that was in anticipation of going back to traditional dining. What time do the early and late shows normally start to work around traditional dining?

[LEtue]

 

I have not tried it and I have no desire to do so. One of the selling Points of a cruise is to not give me the same I can have on land. I don´t want to restaurant hop. I want my table with my wait Team at a fixed time and with a daily changing menu. I know I´m way too Young to expect to experience this for the rest of my life:(, but as Long as I can find traditional Dining I will go there before I saiol on a ship with DD. Once I can´t find traditional on any ship / line anymore I will have to make the decision if cruising is still for me.

 

Amen!

 

I don't see why one restaurant can't remain traditional dining. Other cruise lines make is work.

 

I have no desire to sail the mega ships either so implementing DD on a few of them should offer enough options for all cruise passengers. Now that would be dynamic! :D

[Polarbear Pa]

Tried it and absolutely hated it enough that would not consider a cruising on a ship that this was the dining option.

[shutterbug63]

I've never done dynamic dining...and have no desire to do so. This news thrills me...this plus the fact that they've stated it won't be implemented on the Freedom during her upcoming drydock means I won't have to deal with it in 2016 when we sail her.

 

My son & I just like traditional dining...we've have some amazing company at our table on every sailing we've been on. It's also a "set it and forget it" option for us...no need to make individual reservations every night and we much prefer that.

[London-Calling]

The Norwegian Cruise line has been operating 'Freestyle' for a couple of decades and it does still not work so well, at times.

 

RCI have no chance of making DD (their copy of Freestyle) work properly after only a few months!

[SF]

The Norwegian Cruise line has been operating 'Freestyle' for a couple of decades and it does still not work so well, at times.

 

RCI have no chance of making DD (their copy of Freestyle) work properly after only a few months!

 

Totally agree. That is why we are waiting to see when DD will now be implemented on Oasis. Originally it was suppose to start in March which would have given us enough time to read reviews and decide but now that it has been changed to "later in the year" we will just have to wait and see. If it comes out too close to our cruise we are cancelling and booking another line. Or if no definite date is mentioned close to final payment then we'll definitely be changing as we are not happy with this concept to begin with but absolutely will not be the ones to use an expensive cruise to tryout the new dining. Everyone knows there's going to be problems...especially at first.

Thankfully our upcoming Allure cruise is still on traditional.:)

[LMaxwell]

What is happening to people that booked post-March 2015 for Oasis and had DD and were not required to prepay gratuities? Is Royal going to honor the terms and conditions of Dynamic Dining for those already booked?

Edited December 25, 2014 by LMaxwell

[north29]

Might be..... Do you have to make dinner reservations each night?

Heck we never know when we will eat dinner, having to make reservations with given times would be a bummer for us. If it is true,To me, it seems that having to make reservations each night is just a throw back to traditional dining with a quirk.

[SF]

Might be..... Do you have to make dinner reservations each night?

Heck we never know when we will eat dinner, having to make reservations with given times would be a bummer for us. If it is true,To me, it seems that having to make reservations each night is just a throw back to traditional dining with a quirk.

 

Once DD is instituted then Yes you would have to decide which dining venue you want and on which day and time and call to make all your reservations for the cruise.

Edited December 25, 2014 by SF