How The Whiners Ruined Dynamic Dining

[Biker19]

I've tried to find the capacity by venue for Anthem, but no luck. Does anyone know those numbers? They were all over the place when the old DD threads were active

I think they are all around 430. CK is about 130.

Edited September 13, 2016 by Biker19

[LMaxwell]

Merion mom have you considered that the initial design was inadequate to meet demand or expectations? Or that RCI did a poor job managing expectations? If things had worked you'd probably have seen 80% approval instead of 40%. I can't put all the blame on guests for RCI bailing on an idea instead of fixing it. Seems the ships never had adequate capacity for DD.

[John&LaLa]

I think they are all around 430. CK is about 130.

 

Thanks.

[tinkertwo]

I'd like to know when voicing ones opinion made them a 'Whiner'. The title of this thread is just wrong in so many ways.......but I'm just whining.

[marci22]

Have sailed Anthem and Quantum and the reason I am happy about going back to traditional dining is that the crew was very stressed out IMHO. I never had a change nor did the waiters, asst. waiters, and head waiter ever really have the time for even a few minutes to interact with us. They always seem to be rushed and stressed.....K.O.

 

I agree with this. Waiter would drop both soup and appetizer, or soup and salad, and we wouldn't see him again until the main course was served. Then it was dropped off and you had to flag someone down if anything was missing/not right.

 

People are always saying, 'send it back if you don't like it', etc, but we didn't make changes during dinner because it was too hard to get someone's attention, and then it was more waiting to get what you wanted.

 

And our server wasn't just standing around, he was running all over the place. The HW also seemed overloaded and stressed.

 

The dining room was never full. They need to hire more servers.

Edited September 13, 2016 by marci22

[marci22]

I am also guessing that singles and couples have a better time with DD. Larger parties have less flexibility.

[marci22]

Where is The Royal Caribbean International poster when you need him?:confused::confused::confused:

 

Do we need him :confused:

[PokrChick]

I absolutely loved DD on Anthem and that's why I have it booked again for next year. It was my belief that if people wanted a traditional dining experience, they should book a different ship. Anthem was different for a reason - to attract a different type of passenger. It's a shame it's going away. I wonder what else they're going to change about that ship. I'm not sure what to do with my current booking.

[padlock]

Really?? How do you explain Allure 80%, Oasis 79%, Celebrity Equinox 87%, Celebrity Eclipse 86%, etc. Anthem 49%. It is what it is.

 

Nice cherry picking of the reviews. I noticed how you conveniently left off Harmony of the Seas which is sitting at 52%. Given that the general consensus is that Harmony is pretty much identical to Allure and Oasis, that tells me that the user reviews are incredibly fickle and are more a function which particular passengers happened to write reviews, as opposed to any objective measure on the quality of the ship.

[MADflyer]

With the numbers offered, that would mean that they would have 860 x 2 for traditional dining as the maximum number. I would assume that My time would be that same 860 x 2 + 430 then.

 

That would be a total of 1720 slots for traditional dining and then 2100 for My Time for a total of 3820.

 

With the double occupancy of the ship being 4180 and the maximum occupancy being 4905, that would mean that RCI will have to increase cruise fares on these ships.

 

I would say that Quantum class ships will now see much higher 3rd and 4th passenger rates and that incentives for solo travelers might be quite good at times.

 

I would also think that this might incentivize RCI to start tracking Specialty dining and actually using the empty seats created in the traditional dining room when guests are away and dining at specialty venues.

 

This could also lead to much more aggressive marketing of specialty venues as a very necessary element of making this work.

 

This might also move RCI to offer an 'all specialty' alternative where guest dine all nights in specialty venues and the Windjammer.

[marci22]

I absolutely loved DD on Anthem and that's why I have it booked again for next year. It was my belief that if people wanted a traditional dining experience, they should book a different ship. Anthem was different for a reason - to attract a different type of passenger. It's a shame it's going away. I wonder what else they're going to change about that ship. I'm not sure what to do with my current booking.

 

Maybe there are not enough of those types of passengers (the different types) to fill the ship?

 

I doubt that they want their ship to appeal to a specific type of passenger; they want any type who will book a cabin.

[kevinyork]

I wonder if DD specifically and the Anthem in general would be more successful in a different market? It seems like the complaints about Anthem aren't limited to just the dining. Is that because passengers are frustrated with dining and it colors their opinions of everything, or is it just that people want something that's familiar and the Anthem isn't? Perhaps since everyone says the ship itself is so different RCI should reposition the ship to a market where there are several Royal Caribbean choices, and place a more traditional ship in the NY market.

 

Cindy

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

 

I think you have a point. Anthem was perfect for the UK market in her first season as she's suited to mixed weather cruises. Met hardly anyone on our Sep 15 cruise who didn't love DD, both the idea and the execution and we preferred the food choices to the regular fleet menu . So I agree, if she had been repositioned back to the UK then she may have stood a chance of keeping the original concept.

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Clarea]

During a conversation with an officer, it was mentioned that they designed Quantum class assuming they could turn each dining seat an average of 2.8 times per night, and they have not been able to achieve that.

[Biker19]

With the numbers offered, that would mean that they would have 860 x 2 for traditional dining as the maximum number. I would assume that My time would be that same 860 x 2 + 430 then.

 

Why the extra 430 for MTD?

[Biker19]

During a conversation with an officer, it was mentioned that they designed Quantum class assuming they could turn each dining seat an average of 2.8 times per night, and they have not been able to achieve that.

 

Probably because they were unwilling to seat people at empty tables. As with other ships MTD, one can finish in an hour with DD Choice, but between the reservation system limitations (blocks much more than 1 hr for the reservation) and the above, it doesn't work (to turn the tables 3x per night). Not sure how renaming the system will solve this issue.

[Clarea]

Probably because they were unwilling to seat people at empty tables. As with other ships MTD, one can finish in an hour with DD Choice, but between the reservation system limitations (blocks much more than 1 hr for the reservation) and the above, it doesn't work (to turn the tables 3x per night). Not sure how renaming the system will solve this issue.

I think they ought to give the Classic folks 30 min leeway, then their space should be available for the MTD people. I think this would help, except for those that don't wish to be seated with "strangers".

[DonnaK]

Another possible issue with DD and allotted space in the "MDRs" is that perhaps the number of people dining in specialty restaurants (to free up seats in the complementary venues) is not as high as they anticipated. When we were on Quantum and Anthem, the specialty restaurants were practically empty most of the time (with the exception of Jamie's).

[marci22]

We ate in CK most nights but each day they told us about offers in the pay restaurants. We were also given a presentation while at lunch in WJ one day, about an Izumi deal.

 

I think the pay restaurants are underutilized. People don't want to pay more on top of an already expensive cruise.

[Pratique]

During a conversation with an officer, it was mentioned that they designed Quantum class assuming they could turn each dining seat an average of 2.8 times per night, and they have not been able to achieve that.

 

Confused. Do they turn individual seats while the table is occupied by others still finishing dinner? If not, then the slowest diner at the table is the bottleneck. Larger tables -> slower turns. Especially when the whole idea of dining with strangers is to socialize at the table.

[MADflyer]

During a conversation with an officer, it was mentioned that they designed Quantum class assuming they could turn each dining seat an average of 2.8 times per night, and they have not been able to achieve that.

 

That would be the number of turns necessary to serve the maximum passenger load.

 

With the Windjammer and specialty venue diners added in and with the original DD concept this table turn rate would have been much lower.

 

Add in the fact they had flexible seating in several venues with 2 top tables very close together that could be used as tables for 2,3,4,5 or 6 easily.

 

I would say the Quantum class actual turn rate was only needing to be about 2.2 times total. With dining from 5:30 to 9:30 without the re-setting on the other ships, this would be very easily accomplished.

 

That is obvious now on the other ships where you often have evenings where the traditional dining rooms are half empty.

[Clarea]

Confused. Do they turn individual seats while the table is occupied by others still finishing dinner? If not, then the slowest diner at the table is the bottleneck. Larger tables -> slower turns. Especially when the whole idea of dining with strangers is to socialize at the table.

The 2.8 figure is an average over all the seats in all the dining rooms.

[MADflyer]

Why the extra 430 for MTD?

 

MTD will book in 30 minute intervals from 5 PM to 9:30 PM. They do not have the set up and change over that you have with traditional dining and will turn each table at a rate of 2.25 at least.

 

A certain percentage will be away each evening dining in the Windjammer and specialty.

[Pratique]

The 2.8 figure is an average over all the seats in all the dining rooms.

 

That makes more sense than each seat turning an average of 2.8 times.

Edited September 13, 2016 by Pratique

[MADflyer]

It is odd that as a guest that frequently dines in specialty venues, I am constantly seeing posts that specialty venues are 'empty' while I, in fact, actually struggle to get bookings and there are sure a lot of diners filling those seats around me.

 

Another fact is that most groups traveling with RCI usually have a lunch or dinner where they book an entire restaurant and thus make it unavailable to other diners.

 

Having dined at a Chef's table event on 8 occasions now, I have only once had a dinner where the table was not full and that was on a 2 night Vision sailing.

[BillOh]

I think the pay restaurants are underutilized. People don't want to pay more on top of an already expensive cruise.

 

That and the perceived value of those specialty restaurants has decreased in some eyes (mine regarding Chops)