CheerMom15

Lucky you! Their web site now says Manhattan Cruise Port. I'm sure this has been recently changed because it never mentioned transportation for up to 4 people before. Hope nobody else has prebooked this expecting to go to Cape Liberty or Brooklyn.

 

"The Hilton Garden Inn Ridgefield Park is just 12 miles from the Manhattan Cruise Port. We conveniently offer complimentary on-site parking for your vehicle for the duration of your cruise and arrange for transportation to the cruise port with the price of your room. Rate is based on number of people per room due to the transportation cost. A breakfast buffet with made to order eggs and omelets is also included for your party of up to four people. "

Weird... We also didn't get free breakfast... So they must have changed it.

Did they actually take you to the Manhattan Cruiseport? I'm sure we never recommended this hotel for Cape Liberty - they are one of the only park cruises for the Manhattan cruiseport. Did you pay extra to go to Bayonne?

I didn't pay anything extra to go to Bayonne... I made reservations through the Hilton website under stay, cruise and park. It didn't say anything about only servicing the Manhattan cruise port. Just said stay park and cruise. I had no idea there was another cruise port besides Bayonne. I'm not from the area... But after he took is to Manhattan, we told him we weren't in the right place and he took us to Bayonne.

We stayed there on Tuesday night and then did the cruise, park and stay for Wednesday night. The hotel is really nice and clean. Everyone was friendly. Took the bus into Times Square (port authority stop) for 4.50 a person one way. Was pretty easy. Took the same bus back. Made it around the city on the subway :-) just be sure to tell the hotel which cruise port you need to go to. They assumed we were going to Manhattan so that's where the driver brought us but we actually needed Bayonne 😳... All in all it was a good stay!

If you have DD Choice, you can go to any dining venue you want any night.

 

If you have DD Classic, if you want to go to one of the 4 "free" dining room venues, then you have to go to your assigned one.

We have DD Classic for our upcoming cruise. I will probably not want to eat at Silk at all because I don't enjoy asian inspired food. I was told by RCI that I should just let the waitstaff and tablemates know if we were not coming to dinner so they wouldn't wait for us, and that we could eat anywhere else, we just wouldn't have reservations and would have to wait for a table. Would that not be the case?

I am booked for an October, 2016 cruise and am used to Master Dining Room setup. I don't understand what I do for the Dynamic Dining. We don't want any specialty dining offers - just a 5:30 eating time. Freebees. Do I sign up on the website for the 5:30 time and they tell me where to go to eat. I am really confused. This sounds so different to me. We could not get the Classic Dining.

If you can't get classic dining, then you would make reservations at the 4 different restaurants for your cruise on the cruise planner page. The classic dining has a set rotation through the 4 restaurants which I have heard you get on the day of the cruise. With the Dynamic Dining, you choose which place to eat on which day at the time you want.

The plan is to take the four dining rooms, and two of them will be traditional, set-time dining and two will be My Time Dining.

That's where I was going with that... I'm tired! lol. Think its time for another coffee. Haha!

My travel agent booked me for Dynamic dining when I requested Classic, and unfortunately she can't change it because RC said "dining has been closed" because we are too close to the sailing. I did not book any restaurants as I thought we were all set, and the only times currently available are around 9:00. What are the chances that RC can change us to Classic dining once I get on board and speak to the dining personnel? I have kids with food allergies, and it would be extremely helpful to have the same waiter each night. I plan on getting to the terminal as early as possible hoping they can switch us. There are 7 people in our party. Thank you for any advice!

There is a thread on the anthem board that has talk of them doing away with the dynamic and going to all classic. Or that there will be 2 dining rooms for classic and 2 for dynamic. Our cruise is in June and right now it seems like the dining is up in the air as far as what they plan on doing and when.

It's not just people who have passed final payment however.

 

Anyone who specifically selected "Dynamic Dining Choice" when booking will be entitled to something due to the fact the end product isn't what they ordered. And for those of us who have shelled out for flights and now have really not much choice but to cruise, plus the fact UK deposits don't allow you to change around any part of the holiday except for cabin upgrades, well we are stuck.

It doesn't just effect "Dynamic Dining Choice", it effects "traditional" as well. Regardless if you opted to eat every day at 8:30 or choose your dining time, we were all told we would be rotated throughout 4 different dining rooms with different menus. Therefore I seriously doubt RCI is going to give everyone on the ship anything as every single person on that ship will be effected.

Didn't think of it that way, but that's a good point. I was looking at it from a 'choice' perspective, but this would also tick off some of the 'classic' folks as well.

 

I've got a strange feeling RC could get more of a backlash changing things up then what they are seeing now with the current system and before DD classic.

 

This could be a case where RC should never have even brought in DD classic. It's expected and human nature to be uncomfortable with change, but it may be like quick-sand now ... the more RC tries to change and adapt the system, the faster they'll sink

I agree.. I would rather see them do away with classic and just go to everyone make your reservations and once a restaurant fills up, that's it. Or stop doing reservations and make it like any other restaurant? Perhaps the logistics just aren't there for that on a ship, but it seems like trying to keep the original ideas of the ship would be more important that going back to what made people leave the line in the first place.

If it was just money, why wouldn't start by cutting one thing from each menu? That alone would probably save some $$, no?

Yes, but possibly not at the restaurants I have reserved. I've got reservation at all 4 main locations, and if things change up, I will not longer be able to dine at some of them. I've gotta say I won't be happy if RC changes things and then just says 'deal with it' with no sort of refund or OBC.

 

If RC puts a plan in place for changing the dining, they'll also need some sort of plan in place to handle the guest complaints who just had everything upended.

 

... sort of a wait and see for now though

I highly doubt it since it literally affects everyone on the ship in the same way regardless if you make reservations and others were going to rotate, everyone is missing seeing the other venues/menus. I had classic2 but I still won't be able to see all 4 dining venues only the 1 we will get assigned to apparently. Still super disappointing since all of the restaurant choices were part of the reason for booking this trip.

We have half of our party of 11 (6) on classic early and the other 5 on DD with reservations all over the map.

I don't mind the change, but I want to know what it will look like, and when it will be happening.

I'm a planner, and until this is resolved, I am a little anxious...

I feel you on that! I am also a planner but I love to try different things. I really can't stand this up in the air business. I would prefer if they went all DD so I could actually see all 4 restaurants rather than keep the classic and split them up and then you can only see 1 of the 4 which seems pointless to even have 4 different ones.

Thanks. I did see that.

I am one of those people though, that until its announced, I will have to hear it from multiple sources before I believe it. Always looking for additional credible sources.

mark

Mark, We are on the June 30 sailing as well... I will be disappointed if they do away with the rotational dining as that was one of the big things I liked about this cruise... Will be interesting to hear what they do with the dining. Right now we are set for late classic seating.

I just got off the phone with a very nice rep trying to see if they know anything for certain. They do not - yet. All he would say is they are "leaning to full dynamic" and possibility of eliminating classic...He said nothing is in stone yet and no final decision has been decided. He mentioned that the majority of the passengers like dynamic, but want to keep the option of choosing what time and which restaurant they want, making it more flexible and not having RCI choose for them. It's still in the works. When the make their final decision, he believes emails will be sent to passengers directly or through their T/A....

 

That's it for today!

I am currently signed up for classic for my cruise in June. Guess I will see if that goes away in my cruise planner too. However, as much as I don't want to bother with reservations, I would prefer to make them at all different places than to only be able to see 1 dining venue.

I'm sure there will be other kids. Like other posters mentioned there are schools in the area on break that week. NYC area schools are on Spring break 4/23-5/1. I'm sure there are people that will take their kids out of school the extra week to go on that cruise.

We are in NNY and our break is the same week! Its the latest I've ever seen it!

I'm from MA though and my sisters spring break is the week before ours so they will be off school too! I'm sure your kids will have company!

I don't want to speculate too much on this whole thing, but if they were to bring a more traditional model to Anthem, I have no clue if they'd move to a rotational model like Disney, have a ship wide formal night, have an evening chic night like Celebrity, or completely do away with formal night.

 

 

 

I also want to point out that I am taking neither side of the argument here. I enjoy traditional dining, but that's all that I've tried (well actually I did try freestyle on NCL and didn't like it, but lets stick to RCI). Dynamic Dining seems interesting. I would love for them to somehow figure out a way for DD Choice and Classic to coexist and run seamlessly, but I'm not so sure that is possible.

I don't mind the traditional dining assigned times because it means I don't have to plan. I just want to be able to have the experience and see all 4 dining rooms, not just the 1 I have been assigned to. I chose Anthem partly because it wasn't just 1 MDR, it was different. Therefore I am just saying that I would be a disappointed to have to eat in Silk every day. I don't see that the rotational dining wouldn't work but I am guessing they would have to add in a dining time making 5P,7P,9P instead of 5:30 and 8:30?

You do understand that that is how dining works on every ship other ship in the fleet?

 

(+ My Time Dining, where you go to the same dining room every night, but at no set time and no set table)

I was under the impression that on other cruises where they had a Main Dining Room, then yes you would be in the MDR every night. But since this ship was designed to have 4 different distinct dining rooms so they could go away from the MDR feel, I would think it would be boring to sit in Chic every day when there are 3 other detailed beautiful places to be seen. I was also under the impression that other ships had "formal night" not a "formal restaurant" ( and yes, I understand that some people don't dress up and they ignore the dress code, that isn't what I am debating). So are they going to do away with formal anything if you can no longer eat in the Grande where dressing more formally wouldn't make you look out of place.

From what I understood the 4 "dining venues" were all different in decor and what not and The Grande was the one restaurant that you could (maybe without feeling out of place) dress up for dinner. If they assign you to 1 dining room the whole time on your cruise, it would kind of be lame to not get to experience all of the other dining areas. I don't have anything invested in the DD v classic debate but I want to see what the ship has to offer, not just get a different menu in the same seat every day. How boring would that be?

I have also seen rumors that Anthem will switch to traditional dining (using the 4 complimentary restaurants as MDR) on April 1st or May 1st.

 

We should know soon. April 1st is fast approaching.

We sail in June. Will be interesting to see what happens!

While I have never cruised before, I like the fact that they kept both available. We opted for Classic dining because I don't want to deal with making reservations or trying to decide where and when to eat on vacation. I like that at 8:30 I just show up at the restaurant of the night and eat there. And if I decide to book a specialty restaurant, then so be it...

I guess I don't understand why it would bother anyone if they continue to do both. Those who like Classic still have that option and those who choose Dynamic have that option. Seems like the best of both worlds?

I agree with the people that say to keep checking. We originally booked our upcoming Anthem cruise with the 30% off WOW sale and our TA looked for a mil discount and there wasn't one but they have us 50$ OBC for my husband being military. But I saw our cruise price go down a little bit so I called our TA and when she called RCCL she had them check again for a military rate on our cruise and they were offering one. Our cruise price dropped over 1000.00 because of that so I would always keep checking :)

I am so excited for you. We have to wait until October. :( I hope you come back and let us know how you made out.

I will for sure! I am so excited!

I know we are new to cruising as Anthem will be our first ever but I specifically booked Anthem from NJ because of the "wasted days" getting to Bermuda and the Caribbean and back. I am looking forward to having a couple days with no where to be on the way there and back.

Where in NY is it supposed to snow?? I heard rain.

We live in NNY.... They were saying 5-10in this afternoon through tomorrow. Not sure if that has changed between yesterday and now though as the weather here changes every 5 minutes! Haha!

We are going out in June and I am not cancelling. We got Norovirus at Disney World back in 2009 and still went back. We also got it when we went home for Christmas one year, assuming we picked it up at a highway rest stop. It happens every where all the time and not really a reason to cancel a trip IMHO.

Can't speak for the weather, its been weird this year. We live in NY and we have no snow left on the ground and it was 47 yesterday.. but its supposed to snow on Wednesday. :eek:

:mad:

 

Aboard the Oasis right now. Why do people believe they have the right to save lounge chairs for hours without returning to use them? One lady just marked her territory of 12..... Yes, 12 chairs and hasn't been back for over an hour.

 

We all paid thousands of dollars to be here and enjoy the ship.

 

No one is more "deserving" than anyone else.

 

Why can't people learn to be courteous?

 

Why can't people learn to share?

 

Watching people on this cruise is a real lesson in humanity.

You're nicer than me... I would have tossed 2 of their towels over on to another chair 30 minutes ago. You don't need to hog 12 chairs. And honestly, I don't care if they come back in an hour and there is no where for them to sit. If they really wanted place for 12 to sit, then they should have all been here an hour ago...