AdvGirl

I'm on the ship now. Decided to try SB for lunch but was extremely disappointed in the offerings. Unnamed fish, pre-cooked burgers. Basically it looked like the same stuff as WJ. We left and went to Cafe270. We were supposed to have dinner there tonight but I was able to get 30% off at Wonderland so we will eat there instead.

Sounds like they have not nailed down the menu yet. Hope it gets worked out before my Feb cruise I had it booked for Dinner.

It looks fine - I remember on the Liberty is was located on Right side aft - also know as the wind tunnel - there was inside and outside - outside was almost not usable when at sea because of the wind through the area - I think it was $5 co-pay plus drinks.

First time at Johnnies was on Voyager back in 2001 an there was no copay but shakes where extra.

Allure in 2014 much larger - of course everything is larger on the Allure including the copay ($7 if I remember right)

So Ala Carte may be OK lots of times I just wanted shake and it was copay plus 4 bucks so just being able to purchase a shake with no copay is a plus:D:cool:

Here is what the website says for my up coming cruise on Anthem "Experience a fresh, upscale dinner with Devinly Decadence at the Solarium Bistro." At first may be more of a name change then anything - but since they cut the cord seems like the menu will change over time. So at least on my Reservation they are now calling it the Solarium Bistro. One other reason for change is to get more people aware there is food in the solarium. I do not know about you but Devinly Decadence does not shout place to eat as well as Solarium Bistro. :D

We did the late seating (i think it was 8:30) of DD Classic on the 12/12 cruise.

 

We really enjoyed it. We had liked dynamic dining on quantum, but missed having the same servers each night, so this was like the best of both worlds - we got to rotate and try the different restaurants, but kept the same waitstaff each night, who were great.

 

Another benefit was that you didn't have to wait online outside the complementary restaurants. Even people with reservations had to wait for a bit to get a table number assigned. But those of us on classic knew our table numbers, so after the first night they told us to just skip the line and go in and sit. The table was in the same basic location in each restaurant, so we were able to find it pretty easily.

 

Dinner was still long - for our party of 5 it generally took about 2 hours - but one night we needed to get out early and just told them when we were seated and our servers made it happen.

 

To be honest, we had major issues with the food on anthem - quality was just poor, and i wasn't thrilled with the selections - but that had nothing to do with our servers or the "classic" experience.

 

The only downside for us was that, because we didn't really like the food in the complementary restaurants, we might have gone to alternative venues or ordered room service more often, but we felt like we should show up since our servers were expecting us. probably silly, but we did skip two nights (once for coastal kitchen, once for chops), and our servers seemed kind of bummed (we told them beforehand so they could use our table for other parties). if you're fine with the food in the 4 main restaurants, though, i think classic is a great experience.

If I am reading between the lines correctly - Dynamic Dining improved the service but the food was the food at what ever restaurant you ate.

I am like you on other ships when I skipped the main dinning room in favor of a specialty restaurant I told my waiters - they also seemed bummed. On one cruise me and my spouse went to chops and sent my 13 and 10 year old to the Main Dinning room. It was a win win - the kids loved being the center of attention in the main dinning room and we had a nice romantic dinner minus kids. The wait staff knew ahead of time what was going on and really gave our kids a great experience. :D:cool:

I am signed up for it. Not sailing for awhile though. I was wait listed couple weeks before it was assigned

I may of missed the boat on getting DDC - requested about 2 months out. Even if I do not get it looking forward to hearing the reviews. :cool::D

Now I may be wrong but I can not remember any reviews of the Anthem since it hit the US for its new home port in New Jersey mention of anyone using Dynamic Dining Classic (DDC) - the one where you rotate venues and your server rotates with you and you eat at same time every nite. Kind of like Classic MDR dinning but dinning room changes every nite. :cool:

I am wait listed for DDC, but so far still on the new Dynamic Dinning - beginning to wonder if it is a myth :rolleyes:

So if you have been on Anthem, and were on the Dynamic Dining Classic dinner rotation I would love to hear how it worked. :D

Thanks for the info. My current plan is to have dinner there on Sunday (unless I find a deal on Wonderland), so I will report back.

I have two meals scheduled in this venue formerly known as DD - so curious to see what changed other then name. Also hope it is open for breakfast. Looking forward to your report. :D

I was just able to make a reservation for our January 25 cruise

From what I can tell from reading these posts it is not going away but is changing its name and menu - but the website has not caught up with the changes. So I assume reservations should still be good unless it is turning into an up charge restaurant which in that case - who knows what will happen.

Seems to be a lot a drama in cruising lately. Kind just want to go cruise and get what was advertised and no drama. Hopefully just a name and menu change. - New year cruisers can fill us in.

OP I think it's been covered, but just in case....

 

On Oasis and Allure there is both a brand-name Starbucks espresso kiosk (where NO drinks package is accepted) and a non-branded espresso kiosk (where the espresso/specialty coffee-containing packages are accepted).

 

So if you're on Oasis or Allure, there's a Starbucks onboard but you can't use the package there. If you're on another ship, there's no Starbucks so you can't use it there. :) But you can use it on all ships at the unbranded espresso kiosk.

 

 

 

 

 

:D

 

OP, ifyou can drink that much liquid in a day, Replenish is terrific. I'm filled to the brim with the water I need to drink and a latte and the occasional out-of-pocket booze drink; I've tried to drink my fill with Replenish and haven't yet gotten to the per day level. I don't plan to get Replenish again.

 

 

 

 

I hadn't seen that kerfluffle.

 

Of course, there is no such thing as the "ReplenishMENT" package. There is Refreshment and Replenish.

 

http://media.royalcaribbean.com/content/shared_assets/pdf/menus/beverage_packages.pdf

Last December the Royal Replenish worked at Starbucks so this is a change - did read it though not sure why. You can use your Starbucks awards i heard though but not sure. Do not think it was usage issue on my cruise was almost never a wait to get your Starbucks

Really? You resurrected a three and a half year old thread to complain about Royal Caribbean again, with a comment that has NOTHING to do with the topic of the resurrected thread?

 

<smh>

Not sure what happened but was in anthem thread on phone and now I realize I posted to three year old thread. - my bad - oh was not complaining just kind of being tongue and cheek about contracts. Sorry my apologies :confused:

So much of the negative reviews seem to be around the staff and their lack of attention.

This should be an easy fix and really needs to be addressed at the top.

The other negative reviews seem to be around technology failures (both on and off-board).

I really haven't seen much negativity about the ship itself.

These seem to be very easy fixes and really need some attention at the corporate level.

Staff is under contract, so maybe there will be a staff refresh soon?🙄

Service is a direct reflection of management expectations. Although some staff may be sub par it is not these exceptions that are the issue. Management needs to set clear standards and train and counsel staff to maintain those standards. So change crew and not management will result in the same level of service.

Also at least for many RCL crew that have worked RCL for a while Quantum/Anthem is different, so training is even more important.

Don't shut the staff shoot the manager!:eek:

Hey! Two and a half years later and now we have water slides! Guess there is a first time for everything! :p

Hate to contribute to an old post like this but yes - never say never - Harmony and all the Freedom class ships will soon have adult water slides (kids also). The abyss on Harmony is a non water slide - from top deck to boardwalk - not sure about landing will have to see it before I would do it.:eek:

NCL and Carnival have had slides for long time so seemed like someday we would see them. Adding them to Freedom class was surprise - going on Liberty first - I am sure RCL will be looking for how they go over with the passengers - my guess is they will do well. I have always heard good things about the Disney Aqua Duck - was kind of hopping for a water roller coaster like that but adult slides is good start. :cool:

Windjammer was closed every night at 9pm last week. And by that point there was hardly anything left anyway..

Used to eat at MDR - then graze the Windjammer for something sweet and taste when waiting for the show to start. Can not remember when they closed on Allure and Liberty though ever was there after 8pm we where early dinners

Once you start adding days (3 to 4 days or 4 to 5 days), it is $15 more than the prior package.

And since you can use it in the a la carte restaurants - it is like getting 50% discount on the first $30 spent. Or even more if you go to Chops.

I could not find the wonderland restriction only Chefs Table - but makes sense so I must of missed that but once is probably enough anyway. I really hope Wonderland is 1/2 as good as 150 Park Place - food and service in that restaurant on the Allure was exceptional!

Wonderland can only be used once, and I don't think Izumi and Michaels can be included. I had wanted to use Izumi, but downgraded to 3 days when the terms didn't include it.

Michaels and Izumi are included - but they are both a la carte so they allow you $30 per person at a la Carte Restaurants.

Ah, yes. But lest we forget..the cruise ticket contract we all accept says, "The cruise line is always right and the passenger is always wrong," doesn't it? :D

 

Pete

Most contracts are written in favor of the seller. So yep pretty much correct. What they do not want is bad press - means they have to spend more advertising dollars to over come it

We were on the anthem 11/30/15 sailing we purchased a 5 night restaurant package on board the first day for $120.00 it included chops, jamies and Wonderland. We were happy with it. We ate in jamies twice and chops 3 times.

Been thinking about bumping up to 5 days - could use the extra days for Michaels Pub and the Japanese restaurant, or repeat at chops or Jamie's or Wonderland. $15 per person per restaurant seems ok

Does anyone have any further info on this? Which restaurants are included? How is the selection of the day 1 restaurant done? Is it better to book in advance or are there deals offered once you are on board?

 

Thanks

Ok - from what is says - you pick a time on day one or day 2. RCL decides based on what is good for them and other passengers what restaurant you will eat at on that day and time. All other time and dates and restaurants are made by you once on board day one. The restaurant assignment will be in your room when you check in.

I think all of the restaurants are open except chefs table. I choose three because on 7 day cruise I can get three different for fee restaurants and then the 4 different restaurants available on Anthem. Hope that helps.

Was watching a video a lady touring deck 4 in the wee hours of the morning. Guess what Promanade cafe was open. Yea I have a place for coffee and snack during the wee hours. I also saw how Promanade Cafe was connected to sorrento's pizza 🍕 I think it works

I see all be negative posts about the Anthem of the Seas! Is it really true?

First remember it is a vacation - do not go looking for things you do not like. There will be a ton of things you love on any cruise spend as much doing those activities and you will have an amazing cruise no matter which ship you ⛵ sail.

I have read all the stuff as well and I for one am very excited to be cruising on her in Feb!

I have done "Dynamic Dining" on both Quantum and Anthem and had no real issues on either ship. We loved the experience. It really worked well for us. But we do tend to dine early (6-ish), so we never had a wait, were seated promptly, and service was mostly good to excellent. What I did notice was that by the time we left the dining room, there were longer lines forming, and waiters were becoming more "harried". I think the later you eat, the more likely you are to have "issues".

 

Quantum didn't have the option of "Dynamic Classic" dining like Anthem does now, but on Anthem the most complaints I heard were from "classic" diners with a set dining time with rotating dining room assignments and Dynamic Diners who chose to dine later in the evening.

Interesting - makes sense - just like flying those that fly early usually have fewer problems then those that fly late. Problems compound with time. Looks like my up coming cruise I will be dinning later since most venues where already booked for early times. I am 45 days out and most early times are gone. So looks like you really need to book long before the cruise begins to get early times.

MTD was on the top floor by Nov.

Last Dec on Alure I was My Time and the top floor of the Main dinning room was all or close to all My Time diners. But the Allure main is three stories so at best My Time was 30% of diners maybe less. :)

I just can't see how this is such a problem for them when they've done My Time Dining for years.

The difference with My Time Dining - which I have done - is they only use one part of dining room for this so volume is less. Also the ship configuration with one main dinning room would seem to make it easier. But remember I do not an expert and never ran a restaurant and even if I had the size of cruise ship dinning puts it in a whole other world - so everything I say is subjective on my part.

I do wonder how NCL appears to pull this off with much less issues then RCL has had so far. :rolleyes:

Any NCL pros please chime in.:cool:

Unless you are getting a Phd in hospitality and doing research, it's time you step away from CC for a few days.:cool:

Well no PH.D. But do have experience in process optimization and owned a business that serviced the public and studied customer service practically and theoretically. But still have not seen inner workings of Anthem and most likely will not get to the underbelly of the beast when I cruise in Feb. So at best it is

an educated guess.

Not trying to offend just noticed some trends in all the negative postings about Dynamic Dinning.

Oh and my bad was using app and thought this was posted in Quantum Class.

Ok, first I have not sailed Quantum or Anthem, but will sail Anthem in Feb so my comments are based on all I have read so far. So if you looking for comments from some who has sailed I am not your girl yet!

I think the many issue with Dynamic Dining is poor logistics. What I mean is the way dinner flows from guests to servers is awkward and leads to difficulties.

The best way to explain this is too first talk about traditional dining on older ships. First traditional dinning was designed for two seating early and late. Each seating had a clear flow customers arrived within a certain window, where seated and a flow started with drinks and ended with the final desert. Everything happened within a window of time and everyone could understand the flow and there was very little confusion from kitchen to waiter to customer eating dinner. Everyone at that seating was on the same flow of events resulting in a consistent and predictable experience. Even the location of the kitchen in relation to the restaurant was designed so things flowed smoothly and efficiently.

Now Dynamic Dinning has people arriving and leaving at multiple times. There is no consistent flow. A waiter will be taking orders from one customer and serving dessert to another at the same time. From those wait staff that grew up with the Traditional dinning this is very confusing. Add to this that kitchen access and flow is now split among 4 different restaurants and not all the venues have equal access to kitchen you can begin to understand why so many staff are not at there best. Now you could say that this is no different then a normal Restaurant on land where customers come and go at different times. But the shear volume a cruise ship deals with makes this very challenging - even good wait staff at a normal land based restaurant can get out of their flow if the restaurant becomes extremely busy (every day for a cruise ship).

So what is the cure for this - well number one is training followed by correct staffing. Maybe reducing seating times would help - NCL has been doing this longer then any other cruise line Maybe RCL needs to steal someone away from NCL who knows how to make this more complicated way of providing meals on a cruise ship work at its most efficient.

For those of you have tried dynamic dinning first hand let me know if I am close to the mark or totally off base.