Corvette Posted July 6, 2014 #1 Share Posted July 6, 2014 After many attempts to get dining reservations by phone and internet they finally came through, but mostly all I could get was the "Grande." I see that it is formal all nights. How on earth can anyone carry that much formal attire while traveling in Europe 2 weeks prior to the cruise. We have two children and three adults in our party. Does this mean "buffet" every night? Also, how about the first night? The luggage will not even be delivered to the cabin yet. Anyone else have this problem? We always dress Smart casual anyway so do not understand. It seems like RCL is trying to get you out of the dining room and into paying venues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carsaw Posted July 7, 2014 #2 Share Posted July 7, 2014 After many attempts to get dining reservations by phone and internet they finally came through, but mostly all I could get was the "Grande." I see that it is formal all nights. How on earth can anyone carry that much formal attire while traveling in Europe 2 weeks prior to the cruise. We have two children and three adults in our party. Does this mean "buffet" every night? Also, how about the first night? The luggage will not even be delivered to the cabin yet. Anyone else have this problem? We always dress Smart casual anyway so do not understand. It seems like RCL is trying to get you out of the dining room and into paying venues. It took us 20+ calls to get our dining in order for an 8 night cruise but finally last week it happened. We did one at a time as openings showed up on the site. We had no trouble booking the specialty restaurants, only the included dining. After reading somewhere the first night in Grande was casual, we called and a few reps confirmed it. It makes sense with the luggage issue. I have read a number of comments that cruisers booked the Grande on the first night for this reason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biker19 Posted July 7, 2014 #3 Share Posted July 7, 2014 The first ever sailing for the Quantum class ships is four months away. Folks need to remember that this is an evolving process. The further from your sailing date the fewer choices you'll have (and more problems). Relax, step away from the keyboard and come back in a few months. You will have lots of company with folks who NEVER pre-book any dining. And guess what - they'll have very few issues eating at any of the included dining establishments. BTW, never had an issue pre-booking both the dining and entertainment.:cool: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeanMean Posted July 7, 2014 #4 Share Posted July 7, 2014 Hi, We r booked on the Dec1 ,2014 Carribean Cruise on the Quantum. Suddenly, we were e mailed to book our entertainment and dinner reservations. I tried to book the entertainment and did most of it when I had trouble with their website.So I called Royal to finish booking and do the dinner reservation. Well, Royal could not book any dinners for me until after 7:30pM. We r early eaters and we wanted dinner between 5-6 PM. We then went to our Travel Agent to complain...she called Royal.nothing available...then she gave it to her Rep.after several weeks, we have 6 dinners...4 at the Grande and 2 other to pay...which was ok.We r still missing 5 dinners,and have not heard anything in a couple of weeks. We cannot understand..are the restaurants that small..They did not build a large dining room...big mistake. We wonder how people will get dinner who book the cruise in the future...we r so disgusted with the problem with the dinners and the entertainment. They tell u to book..so we booked and it says ' guest entertainer' .They have 6 shows out of 11 nights. We r thinking of canceling the Cruise...The Quantum is a big disappointment to us!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjrpar Posted July 7, 2014 #5 Share Posted July 7, 2014 Hi,We r booked on the Dec1 ,2014 Carribean Cruise on the Quantum. Suddenly, we were e mailed to book our entertainment and dinner reservations. I tried to book the entertainment and did most of it when I had trouble with their website.So I called Royal to finish booking and do the dinner reservation. Well, Royal could not book any dinners for me until after 7:30pM. We r early eaters and we wanted dinner between 5-6 PM. We then went to our Travel Agent to complain...she called Royal.nothing available...then she gave it to her Rep.after several weeks, we have 6 dinners...4 at the Grande and 2 other to pay...which was ok.We r still missing 5 dinners,and have not heard anything in a couple of weeks. We cannot understand..are the restaurants that small..They did not build a large dining room...big mistake. We wonder how people will get dinner who book the cruise in the future...we r so disgusted with the problem with the dinners and the entertainment. They tell u to book..so we booked and it says ' guest entertainer' .They have 6 shows out of 11 nights. We r thinking of canceling the Cruise...The Quantum is a big disappointment to us!! I believe most of these problems are related to a very poorly designed website and will resolve themselves before or during your cruise. However, I agree that RCCL did a poor job in the introduction of their new dining program and it is frustrating. One has to wonder when they clean house in their IT organization because it's a black eye for the whole company. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boscobeans Posted July 7, 2014 #6 Share Posted July 7, 2014 After many attempts to get dining reservations by phone and internet they finally came through, but mostly all I could get was the "Grande." I see that it is formal all nights. How on earth can anyone carry that much formal attire while traveling in Europe 2 weeks prior to the cruise. We have two children and three adults in our party. Does this mean "buffet" every night? Also, how about the first night? The luggage will not even be delivered to the cabin yet. Anyone else have this problem? We always dress Smart casual anyway so do not understand. It seems like RCL is trying to get you out of the dining room and into paying venues. I hope you can get some alternate dining venues worked in once on board or you might find eating from the same menu each night very boring. FROM THEIR WEBSITE: "Q: Will menus stay the same in each restaurant every night? A: Each restaurant has its own distinctive menu and ambiance that remains consistent throughout the sailing. However, guests can certainly experience different selections from the menu each night." bosco Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biker19 Posted July 8, 2014 #7 Share Posted July 8, 2014 Hi, We r thinking of canceling the Cruise...The Quantum is a big disappointment to us!! Yes, please do that so the rest of folks that are not so bothered by such first world problems can have lower fares.:cool: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenjer Posted July 8, 2014 #8 Share Posted July 8, 2014 I am sure that just like on NCL there will be plenty of openings on ship. My guess is they released a small number of tables to prebook since scores of people will not know to book ahead and just show up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DEIx15x8 Posted July 8, 2014 #9 Share Posted July 8, 2014 (edited) I am sure that just like on NCL there will be plenty of openings on ship. My guess is they released a small number of tables to prebook since scores of people will not know to book ahead and just show up. The official statement I've been told by several levels of support is that 80% of bookings are available online and 20% are reserved for the ship. Nobody has been able to confirm the way that the 20% is being held back but it would seem to be the venue closing at the 80% mark and not a selection across the times being held back. Considering that they did not do any kind of across the board holding back during the "testing" phase and instead chose to open with barely anything available earlier than 8pm it does not appear to be a capability of the system. Edited July 8, 2014 by DEIx15x8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biker19 Posted July 8, 2014 #10 Share Posted July 8, 2014 The ship was designed to accommodate everyone - the issue here is that RCI's IT system is getting in the way. Why anyone would expect otherwise with all the other IT issues RCI has is beyond me. :rolleyes: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steveru621 Posted July 8, 2014 #11 Share Posted July 8, 2014 I think two things have happened; 1] RCI thought they would get more paying diners, 2] they completely miscalculated the number of slots they have available. If I book 6:30 that chair will be empty from 5:30 - 6:30 because I can't kick someone out of their seat based on a stop watch. I also probably cannot book the chair again until 8:15; until the 6:30 chair is empty and I clear and reset the table. If you book someone at 7:00, the only time available maybe 5:30, with a quick turn-a-round when I show up at 7:00. With traditional dining I'm positive that chair will be used twice a night. With DDD it may well be empty half the night depending on the buffer they have built in. If they use a 2:30 hour buffer for traditional dining, DDD will need to be significantly tighter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjrpar Posted July 9, 2014 #12 Share Posted July 9, 2014 I think two things have happened; 1] RCI thought they would get more paying diners, 2] they completely miscalculated the number of slots they have available. If I book 6:30 that chair will be empty from 5:30 - 6:30 because I can't kick someone out of their seat based on a stop watch. I also probably cannot book the chair again until 8:15; until the 6:30 chair is empty and I clear and reset the table. If you book someone at 7:00, the only time available maybe 5:30, with a quick turn-a-round when I show up at 7:00. With traditional dining I'm positive that chair will be used twice a night. With DDD it may well be empty half the night depending on the buffer they have built in. If they use a 2:30 hour buffer for traditional dining, DDD will need to be significantly tighter. I doubt your first point. They have years of data from 20 ships to determine how many people eat at the specialty restaurants. If point 2 is correct, they should fire their planners, it's simple math. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biker19 Posted July 9, 2014 #13 Share Posted July 9, 2014 With traditional dining I'm positive that chair will be used twice a night. With DDD it may well be empty half the night depending on the buffer they have built in. If they use a 2:30 hour buffer for traditional dining, DDD will need to be significantly tighter. This is a good point. While there's no financial incentive to move folks along like in a traditional land based restaurant, they do need to perhaps move folks along faster than the traditional cruise times to be able to accomodate everyone without too long a wait. Hm...just had a thought. The skeptic in me says that they may intentionally make the wait times longer for those folks that don't reserve ahead of time to steer them to paid venues.:rolleyes: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nelblu Posted July 9, 2014 #14 Share Posted July 9, 2014 It took me three weeks with the help of a diligent RCL Dining Associate to book both free and paid dining venues with a 6:15 pm time. I wish I could hand her a big WOW card. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steveru621 Posted July 9, 2014 #15 Share Posted July 9, 2014 It took me three weeks with the help of a diligent RCL Dining Associate to book both free and paid dining venues with a 6:15 pm time. I wish I could hand her a big WOW card. What a trooper! I haven't even looked at my dining options for our cruise in December. The horror stories like yours have completely turned me off to the whole process, and it doesn't sound like it's getting any better. I never wanted the choices that RCI have given me. Strange as it sounds, I would just as soon RCI assign us seats based on our entertainment choices. Still considering moving to another ship. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Car Dealer Posted July 10, 2014 #16 Share Posted July 10, 2014 Consider that with DD you will not be sitting at a large table taking a leisurely dinner with other cruisers, but with only your party. Your 2 hour dinners will turn into an hour or so depending on your plans, and still be enjoyable for most people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steveru621 Posted July 10, 2014 #17 Share Posted July 10, 2014 Consider that with DD you will not be sitting at a large table taking a leisurely dinner with other cruisers, but with only your party. Your 2 hour dinners will turn into an hour or so depending on your plans, and still be enjoyable for most people. No large tables? That's even more disappointing. Part of my cruise experience is meeting new people in the MDR at a large table. My party is DW and I. So instead of a leisurely dinner. I'm going to be subtlety rushed through my meal like Chili's'? Liking this less and less~ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DEIx15x8 Posted July 11, 2014 #18 Share Posted July 11, 2014 (edited) No large tables? That's even more disappointing. Part of my cruise experience is meeting new people in the MDR at a large table. My party is DW and I. So instead of a leisurely dinner. I'm going to be subtlety rushed through my meal like Chili's'? Liking this less and less~ They still have some because they have to accommodate large groups. They will also have some for smaller groups or 2-3 to sit together since the majority of tables will seat 4-6 with some seating 2 or 8+. So if you have your preference for dining set to not sitting alone they will likely assign you with other pairs at a table for 4 or 6 similar to how lunch is handled. Unlike currently though I would assume that anything larger than 6 would always be used for larger parties and not pairing people up. Edited July 11, 2014 by DEIx15x8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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