Brocktoon623

My Anthem cruise isn't till November, but we were already able to make our dining reservations through the Cruise Planner this far our. While it's not the end of the world, I will be disappointed if they go back to traditional dining.

One of the reasons we booked the Anthem was being told that this class of ship was designed around this type of dining. It was promoted that you could choose your venue and dining times all online in advance.

I understand that many cruisers like everything being set in stone and traditional dining, but we're experienced Disney vacationers. For those that are used to Disney World, then you're used to the advanced planning and reservations for dining and rides/experiences. We chose the Anthem due to the similarities in the online control and reservations. Anthem seemed to be advertised as a newer type of experience that may not be for everybody, but may be the direction the industry is headed.

Now there is the potential that RC built an entire boat around an experience that they couldn't figure out? Again, it's not a deal breaker for me, but for others dining is a huge part of a cruise. I would hope if the system does change, there may be a discount or OBC offered for those who didn't want traditional dining?

I've got a while to see how thing sort out, but it may get confusing for the folks who have cruises coming up into April/May

Excuse me am I hearing you right, you are on a November 2016 cruise that 200+ days away and they are taking dinner reservations through the system for you? My cruise on Oasis is on 10/1/2016 and I'm told the window to book dining reservations won't open until 90-100 days out.....

Yup ... we were told by our travel agent that reservations for our Anthem cruise would open around 90 days out. But our dining reservations opened 9+ months in advance. Still nothing for entertainment reservations other than the DreamWorks breakfast.

Based on what I've been reading on CruiseCritic, it seems sort of random. Some cruises open way in advance, while others aren't ready until 60 days or less. I'd recommend checking your roll call thread if there is one for updates, as well as checking your Cruise Planner every now and then.

Same here ... we're in a family Jr suite on the Anthem for the Nov 10th sailing. No problems with making Coastal reservations through the Cruise Planner

On the Anthem Nov 10th 10-day Cruise ... just saved ~ $230 on 2 Premium packages ... Thanks again for starting this thread !!!

 

dptt, do you have CLASSIC (fixed time) or CHOICE (my time) Dynamic Dining?

That's a good point. On my 'Overview' tab for Royal's cruise countdown, I'm specifically listed as Dynamic Dining Choice for 'Dinner Seating'. I was surprised how early the dining opened up for this cruise ... I think the resies opened sometime last week. We're staying in a family junior suite and the system was also already allowing the dinner reservations for Coastal Kitchen answering the Jr Suite/Coastal questions

Nothing for entertainment reservations available yet except for the Dreamworks breakfast.

Please don't confuse folks about Dynamic Dining more than they already are - if you are looking to make reservations you have DD Choice. DD Classic is either early (1) or late (2) but fixed times and requires no reservations.

 

You may want to join the roll call for that sailing - someone on there will likely find that reservations have opened and announce it to every one.

I'm on that roll call, and yep I've announced that the reservations have opened for us that have selected Dynamic Dining Choice. I haven't booked any reservations yet, but I've gone as far in the Cruise Planner to book our guests and select the dining time to test the system. I then cancelled out before finalizing the reservation.

Lovely, so at least the lawyers will win big.

Yep ... lawyers will make millions, and all passengers will get a choice of free drink coupon good for a future sailing or $10 OBC

As for the pics, I can do one better ... see the links below for some youtube vids:

I'm booked in a Family JS for my November Anthem cruise. I was surprised to see that I could already start reserving dining this far out.

Just with playing around with the reservations on my Cruise Planner I can confirm that it's already allowing reservations at Coastal Kitchen for dinner ... went all the way up to booking my party and dining time before cancelling (way too early for me to decided when / where I want to eat)

Dinner reservations have already opened up for my November Anthem cruise. I'm still waiting for the show schedule and entertainment reservations before I book dining.

I'm hoping this isn't like Disney World where you have to book your dining 180 days out at midnight to ensure a reservation.

I've been reading some Cruise Compasses that have been showing access to Coastal Kitchen (dinner only) for Jr Suite guests. I'm not sure if this is for all sailings or just based on demand / how booked Coastal Kitchen would be.

I also agree that it may be due to some sort of local tax. I just checked my Cruise Planner for a trip on Anthem out of NJ, and it's still offering the premium package for $57.82

Quick update ... Either Royal looked into the issue or someone from Royal is keeping up with Cruise critic. Decided to check my cruise planner and as of this morning, the Tree Limin excursion is now available!

Strange coincidence if it's popped up less than 24 hrs on posting on here ...

I tried to book it directly with Jolly Roger, and learned that they were only offering an option which included lunch, which was about $30 more than the version that didn't include food.

Thanks for the reply. I didn't even think of contacting the zip-line company directly. They're all over social media (facebook, twitter etc ..) I may just send them an e-mail to see if they know anything. I may be able to book directly as well.

Yup ... the FC (family connected) is a combination of a Jr Suite, a studio, and another balcony cabin. If Royal doesn't get a family to book the FC, they'll book the 3 separate so there will also be others in the balcony room and the studio.

My Anthem Caribbean cruise isn't til November, but I was talking with some Royal cruisers and they highly recommended the Tree Limin zipline in St Thomas. Royal lists this in their excursion catalog as STS1, yet it's not showing in my Cruise Planner. I figured it may be due to the cruise being a while out ... but figured it can't hurt to call Royal.

What Royal told me is that it should be available, but I was correct in that it isn't showing for my cruise. The lady on the phone said it is available for the upcoming April Anthem sailing with the same itinerary. She also said there are Allure and Oasis sailings to St Thomas after my sailing date that are still showing the STS1 zip line excursion. She then mentioned that some other ships like the Harmony appeared to have dropped that excursion as well. Royal basically left it at "they'll look into it".

This is not even near an 'end of the world situation' if some of the excursions aren't available, but I was looking forward to it after all the good things I've heard. I figured I'd ask the experienced Royal cruisers is this normal for some excursions to drop from some ships? And do they pop back up as the cruise gets closer?

Interesting. That's a completely different selection to those they had in Europe in summer even though the ones in Europe appeared to have been packaged in U.S. and then exported. If it works same way I would expect all but the $14 ones to be included in select package.

I wouldn't even mind paying a few $ extra for the $14 selections as they are listed as 22oz and decent %ABV. Not sure if premium package covers drinks up to $12?

Huge beer geek here! I've got the premium beverage package for my Anthem cruise later in the year ... If the beer list remains similar to what's posted in that pic I'll be a happy camper and probably be a regular fixture in Michael's.

This is fabulous information. Gives me plenty of insight of what's happening. Sushi.....yuk! I didn't think Izumi (a la carte) was actually one of the specialty places....we'd drop that soon as we boarded if that one was on there...concerned about anisakiasis!

I talked with RC on the phone last week and they mentioned that Izumi was included and that you're given a cash limit (can't remember what it was) and you pay anything over that amount as it's a la carte.

I also am a little concerned on this new format

Anyone know if we can use it both night 1 and night 2?

Another great question. They mentioned your 1st restaurant on night 1 OR 2, but what about both? I was told that I could change anything I wanted as soon a I boarded the ship, but not before. So I would assume (and we all know what happens when you assume) you could do the same premium restaurant on on night 1 AND 2 as long as you booked when you board. The RC rep on the phone mentioned a few times based on availability. As long as the restaurants aren't booked solid, I'm hoping it won't be a problem.

I'll be following the premium dining threads closely as there does seem to be some 'devils in the details' to figure out the system

It looks like the packages have gone live this week even for my Anthem cruise way out in November. From the website description and other things I've heard on the 2-5 day pre-paid Anthem packages:

- You book/pay for the package and then choose a time you would like to eat your 1st meal

- Royal will then pre-choose for you a restaurant (from Chops, Jamie's, Wonderland or Izumi) on night 1 or 2 of the cruise around the time you picked out

- Once you board the Anthem you can change your pre-selected 1st meal and reserve your remaining meals based on availability.

- For example, RC could select Izumi for your 2nd night, and you might not like sushi and/or would instead want to eat premium on the 1st night, so you would change that reservation once you were aboard ... based on what is available

The key from what I found is that while you're getting a discount on the premium restaurants, you're trading the freedom to make reservations in advance of sailing. The strategy from RC's standpoint is they are able to ensure the premium restaurants are evenly distributed over the 1st two nights, and then they can control availability for the rest of the cruise and make sure that a place like Chops isn't sold out months in advance.

I'm sort on on the fence but leaning towards getting a 4 night package for our our 10 night cruise

Hopefully I'm not confusing the issue, but I'm sailing on the Anthem in November, which is a Quantum class ship. While the cruise is still a while off, our reservations use the newer terminology of Dynamic Dining Choice (my time) or Dynamic Dining Classic (traditional). We wanted the My Time style and our reservations currently list that we have selected Dynamic Dining Choice.

Is this listing because we are a long way off from our sailing? ... I though the Quantum class ships are changing to the Dynamic Dining naming instead of My Time?

I booked the Anthem for November and the recent press is actually making me more confident in our decision. If the Anthem was able to take a beating in that type of storm and sail out of it with with only the currently reported minor damage ... I feel more comfortable knowing I'm on a ship that can take its' lumps.