Jump to content
Cruise Critic Community

Dynamic Dining

CRUISEBOY305
 Share

Recommended Posts

LMaxwell Great Review Rare

LMaxwell

Posted
Posted

But now, it seems, everything other than American-type fare is tied to a surcharge.

 

What piece of information did I miss between the deck plans coming out and now that would suggest that only one themed dining room is included in the fare?

 

Again, I remain cautiously optimistic.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Tyron

Tyron

Posted
Posted
I'm not ready to lump it in the same way. Norwegian will have separate MDR rooms; themed slightly different, but still traditional style MDR's with MDR-type menus.

 

It's hard to say from my seat if NCL has been having a good time with upcharge restaurants or not. They have now come up with an unlimited dining plan which gets you to part with a good sum of money up front. On the other hand...they are giving this away as incentives as well. I haven't been on an NCL ship; I don't know how full those upcharge venues are or not. But there sure are a LOT of them. I think Royal will have a better balance AND be offering a touch of "specialty" dining in the included venues.

 

Just my thoughts. Could be wrong. We'll know more this evening.

 

I am not entirely change resistant; I am excited to hear the new concepts and ideas and discuss the virtues or potential flaws. I do admit that I very much prefer to have familiar waitstaff when possible; I find the service better and they become a bit more committed to providing exceptional service, a rapport is built. It's hard/difficult/impossible to do that with different dining staff each evening.

 

I remain an optimist. I sense the taking of the best parts of other cruise line concepts and adding some new innovation or twist to it. I believe the option will exist for people to be sat with strangers, but let's face it, these ships are marketed as family fun parks at sea. This is not where to go for a traditional cruise experience. These ships will be jam packed with families not because it was DisneyWorld or a cruise, it will be packed because it was Disney or Quantum. That's a distinction.

 

I agree. I think RCI is now building and targeting a new demographic. As times change, they have to adjust and adapt to attract/retain new cruisers. They still have a fleet with 20 other vessels that offer the traditional dining experience.

 

My only concern is making sure most of these new venues are fee free.

:cool::)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
smoosh21

smoosh21

Posted
Posted
I have been on the side of RCCL for quite some time prior to this announcement, but I have to say I'm disappointed.

 

Even with the updated deck plans yesterday, I was OK because I figured the majority of options would be free of charge. Who isn't a fan of options?

 

But now, it seems, everything other than American-type fare is tied to a surcharge. I don't like the idea of going on an all inclusive vacation and paying extra for having quality food. I mean really - even the pub food?

 

It may turn out OK, but with only 3 free of charge dining rooms, I feel like I will be out of options by night 5.

 

Why invite people to event to show off new food if it's ONLY going to be the food that has a surcharge. It seems moronic.

 

More specialty restaurants mean a decline in the quality of food us commoners eat. Heading the wrong way in my opinion...

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

 

Exactly!

I am still on the maiden voyage, but I am looking forward to it less than I was 24 hours ago knowing how few included restaurants there are

Link to comment
Share on other sites
LMaxwell Great Review Rare

LMaxwell

Posted
Posted (edited)

 

More specialty restaurants mean a decline in the quality of food us commoners eat. Heading the wrong way in my opinion...

 

 

Not necessarily. I believe there is going to be 4, if not 6, viable dining options for dinner that will be free of charge.

 

You will have the 4 themed dining rooms with simplified menus. You will also have the Windjammer, which looks to be expanded (I'd like to see buffet+ table service for made to order steak, chicken, fish; but I digress). I believe they are FINALLY listening about Park Cafe and will have dinner hours. Possibly...

 

Anyway, my point is that by simplifying the menus (4 dining rooms, 4 menus) instead of a possible choice of 15 different MDR menus, it simplifies ordering, lowers purchase costs, reduces waste, and is in fact what is allowing RCI to potentially offer more free themed options; not through lower quality, but through a cost savings through efficiency approach. Not that a ship carries food for all 15 potential current MDR menus now, but saving money in the business process equals the opportunity to offer more options. Potentially RCI is creating 4 themed MDR's that are "specialty-lite" and offering them free of charge? We will see.

 

We're getting away from banquet style foods served in heavy creams and sauces and melted spoons of butter. It will be there, if you want, but you now are going to have exciting options that aren't bland.

Edited by LMaxwell
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Indy_Girl46

Indy_Girl46

Posted
Posted

Sounds a bit disappointing to me so far. If there are only a few restaurants which are included and the majority appear to be fee paying restaurants, the ones which are included will be extremely busy and I have visions of everyone queueing to get in to them. RC must know what they are doing but I have to say I am a little concerned about what I have heard so far.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Elizanessie

Elizanessie

Posted
Posted
Exactly!

I am still on the maiden voyage, but I am looking forward to it less than I was 24 hours ago knowing how few included restaurants there are

 

For the last 7 hours I thought I was not going to be on the Maiden Voyage as my TA was having a problem puting a payment through for me. I thought maybe RCCL wasn't going to let me on the ship because I leaked the Anthem deck plans with the restaurants named. :eek:

 

But just got word...I am ok ...phew :D

 

But I have no idea where I will eat dinner....mmm...ah yes Windjammer.

 

As a solo on the 11/2 Maiden Voyage I do not want to sit on my own in The Grande etc. I want to sit with others...I want tablemates.

Oh well at least in the WJ I won't stick out like a sore thumb sitting by myself :o

 

Thank goodness I will have my family with me for 11/23 Inaugural.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
karmacats

karmacats

Posted
Posted

I can't even express how disappointed I am, except to say that I will now stop obsessively stalking the RCCL site for Anthem opening dates from Florida, because there's no way I'm schlepping all the way down to Florida to be stuck with norwegian-style dining.

 

I will probably keep my Quantum reservation b/c the 4-hour drive to NY (opposed to the 16-hour drive to FL we usually have to do) is too good to pass up, and we have friends coming with us so we are guaranteed good tablemates. :D But if Quantum was in FL and therefore not so convenient, or we didn't have friends coming, I would be cancelling Quantum in a heartbeat.

 

I know there is a lot more to cruising than food, but one of the things we enjoy the most is getting to know our servers and tablemates. To take that away takes away a lot of what we find rewarding about cruising.

 

I am not really a traditionalist and am fine with change; for example, I would have loved something like Disney's rotational dining. I think dining on Quantum will now lose its personal touch.

 

Our server on Allure in Jan said he'd been on the last 6 or 7 new builds for royal right from the start, and would help train the waitstaff etc. He said he really didn't want to be on Quantum. Now I know why. I think some of the waitstaff enjoy forging bonds with their guests. I also know that many passengers get to know their waitstaff well and give them extra tips at the end of the cruise; I bet servers will lose that as who's going to tip extra when you've had a different server each night?

 

Just to respond to some PP's comments/questions -

 

When we went on Norwegian, the specialty restaurants were booked solid every night. Why? The food at the MDR was so horrible, and the service so bad, that everyone went straight for the fee restaurants. On a 7-night royal cruise we usually eat at a specialty 2 nights or so; on a 7-night norwegian we did specialties for 5 nights after 2 horrible nights in the MDR. It seemed like a pure moneygrab on the part of NCL - make the MDR so bad people pay to eat elsewhere - and I feel like that's the direction RCCL is going.

 

Had a strange magicband experience at WDW last fall. the first two days were great, because we didnt try to change any of our pre-selected fast passes. Starting on the third day we tried to substitute a fast pass, and all heck broke loose. The app wouldnt work, our fastpasses were lost, etc etc. we've been to WDW 20 times (had annual passes the last 2 years) and didn't have any kids with us, yet it was one of the most stressful trips i've ever taken. we declined to renew our annual passes, and even though we need to be in orlando next summer for a family event we booked a non-disney resort and have no plans to hit the parks. I went into the magicband/fast pass plus thing with an open mind and ready to enjoy them, and was really disappointed.

 

Well, just my two cents. I know some people are thrilled with mytime/freestyle dining. However, i think that's why the current royal setup works so well - you can do mytime if you want, and traditional if you want. it caters to everyone. Royal's just lost my business on their new ships, by specifically cutting out one of the most enjoyable parts of my trip.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
LMaxwell Great Review Rare

LMaxwell

Posted
Posted
Not 4 options - 3. Windjammer does not count no matter how many changes they make.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

I was counting WJ in the 6, not the 4.

 

To me the 4 would be Silk, Chic, American, Grande (but you must be dressed for Grande)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
viper17d

viper17d

Posted
Posted
I was counting WJ in the 6, not the 4.

 

To me the 4 would be Silk, Chic, American, Grande (but you must be dressed for Grande)

 

 

Based on every single thing I've read, Silk is not free.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Link to comment
Share on other sites
karmacats

karmacats

Posted
Posted
I was counting WJ in the 6, not the 4.

 

To me the 4 would be Silk, Chic, American, Grande (but you must be dressed for Grande)

 

one of those 4 is not free (I think silk). it's been reported on other threads - people tweeted it from today's event. seems weird, given the deck plans, that one of those would have an upcharge, but it is what it is.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
LMaxwell Great Review Rare

LMaxwell

Posted
Posted
one of those 4 is not free (I think silk). it's been reported on other threads - people tweeted it from today's event. seems weird, given the deck plans, that one of those would have an upcharge, but it is what it is.

 

Ah, okay. I do not use Twitter so I don't have much info on the event.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
karmacats

karmacats

Posted
Posted
Ah, okay. I do not use Twitter so I don't have much info on the event.

 

I don't use twitter, either. :D But some of the other threads were reporting that's what was tweeted. I guess we'll find out for sure in about an hour, when the big announcements are made!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
roe2ship

roe2ship

Posted
Posted
I was counting WJ in the 6, not the 4.

 

To me the 4 would be Silk, Chic, American, Grande (but you must be dressed for Grande)

Silk is not free.

 

Perhaps I am missing something, but what difference is the existing two/three free dining rooms on other ships to what they are now offering?

 

To me, as of right now, the major difference in this dynamic dining is that traditional seating is gone.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
smoosh21

smoosh21

Posted
Posted
New thread with photos from NYC suggests otherwise.

 

Should we be placing bets on this....you know....for fun? :D

 

It looks like Silk is free, which makes me feel much better. At least I will have 3 non-dress up regular service restaurants included.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
karmacats

karmacats

Posted
Posted

 

The website says silk is in fact free. i sorted so it would only show me complementary restaurants, and it stayed in the list. weird. but ok, i for one will not complain about one more free restaurant! :D

 

also happy to see suite folks can bring guests to the suite restaurant (we're in a GS but sailing with folks in a balcony). I thought we were going to have to sneak them in under our overcoats! :p

Link to comment
Share on other sites
moakes

moakes

Posted
Posted

After reviewing the menus of both the free and for pay restaurants, I'm impressed. There is a lot of variety between the restaurants and within each. I can see lots of different dishes in both $$ and free restaurants. Hopefully they taste as good as described!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing
  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • Hurricane Zone 2024
      • Cruise Insurance Q&A w/ Steve Dasseos of Tripinsurancestore.com June 2024
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Cruise Critic News & Features
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...