RCCL New dining concept

[evelyn51]

[quote name='jimbo5544']I tend to agree, the yelling at the kids on the lawn made me laugh out loud.:D[/QUOTE]



Made me smile then, I had to look at the username I was looking for "Grumpycruiser" or the like! ;)

[Chuggiebug]

We are looking forward to giving the new concept a try. We will not be cruising on the Quantum out of the NE and the Anthem will not be in the states for a while so we are on hold!

[jimbo5544]

[quote name='evelyn51']Made me smile then, I had to look at the username I was looking for "Grumpycruiser" or the like! ;)[/QUOTE]


Actually I am pretty easy going. If I get to the yelling at the kids on the lawn stage it might be time for the dog track.


Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app from my IPhone

[American Bear]

I can imagine a problem!
You want to eat in the steak restaurant, but its booked every night, OK, so you'll take choice number 2, oh wait, that's booked too, and on and on!:D

[steveru621]

[quote name='SamFritz']I assume there will be no designated formal nights. If that's the case will tuxedo rentals on the ship be available? If so, how many shirts will they give you, since they won't know how many nights you'll be eating at the formal restaurant?

[COLOR=Blue]I'm not a fan of the fracturing of the cruise experience and the increased isolation from my fellow passengers it will create. [/COLOR][/quote]

I agree, isolation is a good term for what's to come. Maybe we should get iPhones and text each other all night long like the kids do. The social interaction at dinner is something that I look forward to on our cruises and I like that the waiter knows my name. People are only strangers on the first night. I cringe when I read posts that seem to equate strangers to toxic waste.

The MDR is really the only place I want that interaction. At the pool I want my book, breakfast is too early, and the entertainment venues are not conducive to conversations.

Making reservations for dinner is a chore I don't want, and because it's MTD, now you'll need to make reservations for all the shows. There's too many moving parts for me. My problem now is our December reservation. We booked on board and the next day the DD announcement was made. We will give it a try because on the positive side it will mean we will meet a lot of people.

RCI has to do something. Traditional dining is broken. Last week many of the tables for 6-10 had 2 people sitting alone. Our table for 8 only had two couples and they ate at Portifinos one night. For the first time in 15 cruises we had dinner in the Windjammer! Keeping an open mind, it's just about a guarantee our table will be full.

[cruisnseas]

If they do it right, each restaurant will have its own galley so each galley is better specialized. This is more likely to produce a higher quality of food as opposed to one large galley preparing all of the food for most of the diners.

I think it sounds interesting. We'll see how it turns out!

[silvermcs]

So for now the new dining concept will only be on Quantum and Anthem. We look forward to trying Anthem next summer. As with the Oasis and Allure, RCCL tried new things; some worked and some didn't. RCCL must have done much research prior to committing millions of $'s to the new dining concept on two new ships. I trust their commitment and am willing to spend my vacation dollars to try it.
In so many CC reviews, RCCL gets high marks on most things and usually takes a few hits on the food quality. Several posters say the MDR food is not as good as it once was because RCCL was 'pushing' us into fee restaurants. Now there are new free restaurant venues to select from (plus a few new $ ones) and it looks like they have a goal of improving the total food quality and experience. Good for them!
(I am surprised that no one has mentioned eating sushi in a bumper car..:D)

[Thoie]

I'd been semi thinking of giving the Anthem a go, but as a solo traveller, I'd find the new dining arrangements off-putting. Would you end up at a table for one every night, or worse, be dumped on top of a couple?

At least with set dining, you can be relatively sure that the people you're sharing a table with know in advance that they'll be sharing, and you have a better chance of being seated with a bunch of other solos.

This, combined, with the 200%+ solo supplement really highlights that RCI are trying to discourage solo travellers.

[MommaBear55]

[quote name='LMaxwell']I would be adjusting expectations in this case as your group would represent fully 1/4 of the capacity of any one venue. Having 10 tables set up for one group may not be a realistic goal. I don't mean to be a downer on your excitement, just saying that you probably shouldn't expect to have the same situation as you had in the past with these new dining concepts.[/QUOTE]

I don't think you are being a downer. I do think this will be different from the two other cruises we have been on with this group. Different better or different worse remains to be seen. I can guarantee we will still have a great time!

[dz9yvr]

The concept seems like a bad idea at NCL and is still a bad idea for RCCL. NCL has been trying to improve this concept for years and they haven't been successful. However perhaps RCCL will measure success by increasing the number of passengers using the for fee specialty options. If they degrade the free dining options, passengers will be glad to pay more for a decent meal without a long wait in line.

However, I am hoping that QN and AN are very successful, so the fares on Oasis and Allure drop to more competitive levels.

[caribbean sailor]

[quote name='rene194215']I guess my biggest question would be this, will these new venues be able to accomadate large groups who are on vacation together and would like to spend dinner together?

I know for me, dinner is when you get together with family or new friends and talk about your day. Typically, groups will go thier own way during the day. Will the venues have large tables and how will guests be able to make a reservation say for 20 in 1 location?

Cruising to me is getting away from land and having a completely different expieience from home. You get to meet new people at your dinner table and have that relationship with your wait staff. I know that they have made dinner a fun time! I tried anytime dining once and hated it. There was a different waiter each time and the service was not good.

I just know I would not want to spend my vacation worrying about getting a reservation for dinner. I like the fact that I have dinner at 6 and go on my merry way before and after.

IMHO[/quote]

Agree i don't want to make reservations for diner,just give me early seating.We have no desire to cruise the AMUSEMENT PARK OF THE SEAS.:(

[nimiq]

Intriting change will have to see how this ends up in reality. I remember a while ago when the Dimond Princess had divided the MDR into 4 different theme restaurant and that has to be one of the best cruise experience I have had yet.
I had always wonder why they had not done it to all the fleet but I quess it's because of its negative comments it got from some of its passengers.
As for me before giving it a negative comment I am open to try it first.

Sea ya
Eric

[royalcruz]

After experiencing the gross incompetance of Allure being able to handle MTD WITH reservations, I don't like this new idea at all. It seems to require a lot of preplanning and I wonder if reservations will be honored.

[palofmine]

[quote name='missy428']"So no longer will there be two seatings (at 6 and 8 p.m.) in a main dining room serving crowds nearly the half the size of a ship’s passenger population. Now, passengers will select a different dining spot every night, choosing one of the themed main dining rooms included in the cruise fare. "

Quoted from the article. They list detail about each of the free venues, and then they tell you about the new surcharge venues being added as well. Which is like NCL, a few free choices and a few surcharge places run by celebrity chefs. It's nice to see other lines following suit


Sent from my iPhone using Forums[/quote]


almost sounds like Disney Cruising. You go to a different dining room every night, but your waiters go with you.

[Karma5]

I canceled my cruise with this ship for many different reasons but the one which is really
a big negative is the dining…………..

[justfred]

[quote name='caribbean sailor']Agree i don't want to make reservations for diner,just give me early seating.We have no desire to cruise the AMUSEMENT PARK OF THE SEAS.:([/QUOTE]

We also agree,
we have tried MTD a few times in the past and did not like it, for one we did not like to wait at the entrance waiting to be seated each evening.
In the main dining room we find it nice to get to know our table mates on the first night and then you get some kind of continuity with them and your waiters on the following nights.
During a 7 night cruise we have no desire or need to meet and befriend possibly 40 or 50 other cruisers at the diner table, to be honest I don't think we would remember all of their names, call us old school if you like ?.
Under their new system they have completely abolished conventional dinning altogether!, and now they are forcing My time dinning onto everybody regardless of weather we like it or not!. " We don't " , so will not be cruising on ships that have it, that's our choice, and lets hope that they do not have thoughts of introducing this fleet wide ??. or we could be history.



Grumpy old cruisers

[rncruiser]

There are many reasons I love to cruise. One of the reasons is that there is no decision to be made as to where we dine. The answer is always the MDR. At home, we eat out twice a week and it can often take an hour or more for my family to agree where we should eat or what type of cuisine we want. I can just imagine a "family cruise" where the four of us decide to each dine by ourselves in the restaurant we want that evening.
Since we live in NY, we have frequesntly cruised on Explorer. I will definitely miss that ship and we may find ourselves flying to Florida to cruise more often. With the high prices on Quantum, it won't really cost anymore to pay for airfare.