Dynamic Dining expands to Oasis of the Seas

[Lloyd555]

Just tweeted by Royal Caribbean PR

 

Royal Caribbean exec announces Dynamic Dining expands to Oasis of the Seas during upcoming revitalization.

 

For real?!

Edited August 27, 2014 by Lloyd555

[OfTheSeasCruiser]

Darn, you beat me to posting this!! :cool:

Edited August 27, 2014 by OfTheSeasCruiser

[DEIx15x8]

It'll be interesting to see how they do this, it could go very well or very wrong. I was expecting Dynamic Dining when I booked Quantum over a year ago but they failed to pull it off in any meaningful way. There are no entertainment choices to make and don't even have shows every night. Everyone goes to the same shows and as a result must eat at the same two time slots, aka traditional dining with a ton of hassle. In contrast the Oasis felt horrible with traditional dining and needed Dynamic. Royal knew it didn't work which is why the waiters each night would ask if you needed to be rushed the next night. All of the different start times for the entertainment each night never flowed with traditional but will ensure the people spread their dining out like DD requires in order to operate properly. I just hope they split it into 6 dining rooms, 2 per floor, instead of 3. Six is a perfect number for a ship that does 7 night sailings. Quantum has no where near enough venues for 9-12 night sailings.

 

I have to say I'm honestly surprised by this announcement though. I expected Oasis 3 to be the first non Quantum ship to receive it so that they could have the class split 2 & 2 for different preferences. This now makes the Oasis the first ship in the fleet with Dynamic Dining when she sets sail on October 14th. Wonder how everyone booked feels about this change, especially with reservations not even open yet.

 

Wonder if this also means that Oasis will be the first with Royal IQ now as well. Seems like a requirement to manage Dynamic Dining onboard. Whole lot of Quantum firsts that really aren't firsts any more. Started when they put the virtual balconies on Navigator in January.

Edited August 27, 2014 by DEIx15x8

[ChipLondon]

Its not a race :D

 

Darn, you beat me to posting this!! :cool:

[eroller]

I'm not really sure how they will accomplish this on OASIS as she wasn't designed with the Dynamic Dining concept in mind.

 

She has one massive dining on three levels, with a giant atrium in the middle and the same decor throughout. The concept of Dynamic Dining is several small restaurants, each with its own theme, menu, cuisine, and dress code.

 

How they will turn one massive dining room into multiple restaurants should be interesting. Will they close up the atrium and construct a bulkhead down the center of each level, making the space six different restaurants? I suppose they could but boy that will be expensive and time consuming.

 

It will be interesting to see how they accomplish it. Frankly I think the Oasis Class mega-dining room is quite beautiful and I would be sad to see it closed in and chopped into smaller sections.

[OfTheSeasCruiser]

It'll be interesting to see how they do this, it could go very well or very wrong. I was expecting Dynamic Dining when I booked Quantum over a year ago but they failed to pull it off in any meaningful way. There are no entertainment choices to make and don't even have shows every night. Everyone goes to the same shows and as a result must eat at the same two time slots, aka traditional dining with a ton of hassle. In contrast the Oasis felt horrible with traditional dining and needed Dynamic. Royal knew it didn't work which is why the waiters each night would ask if you needed to be rushed the next night. All of the different start times for the entertainment each night never flowed with traditional but will ensure the people spread their dining out like DD requires in order to operate properly. I just hope they split it into 6 dining rooms, 2 per floor, instead of 3. Six is a perfect number for a ship that does 7 night sailings. Quantum has no where near enough venues for 9-12 night sailings.

 

I have to say I'm honestly surprised by this announcement though. I expected Oasis 3 to be the first non Quantum ship to receive it so that they could have the class split 2 & 2 for different preferences. This now makes the Oasis the first ship in the fleet with Dynamic Dining when she sets sail on October 14th. Wonder how everyone booked feels about this change, especially with reservations not even open yet.

 

Wonder if this also means that Oasis will be the first with Royal IQ now as well. Seems like a requirement to manage Dynamic Dining onboard. Whole lot of Quantum firsts that really aren't firsts any more. Started when they put the virtual balconies on Navigator in January.

 

If Royal can manage DD well, then I think it will work pretty well on Oasis. With all the entertainment options and so much going in it will probably be kind of convenient. What I don't want to see is it spread to the smaller ships where there really isn't a need to be rushed through dinner get to an entertainment venue.

[DaveTheNerd]

This is going to make sailing in November a very... experimental experience!

[ChipLondon]

Further tweets indicate this will not be effective until March next year :eek:

 

This is going to make sailing in November a very... experimental experience!

[Tall-Cruiser]

It'll be interesting to see how they do this, it could go very well or very wrong. I was expecting Dynamic Dining when I booked Quantum over a year ago but they failed to pull it off in any meaningful way. There are no entertainment choices to make and don't even have shows every night. Everyone goes to the same shows and as a result must eat at the same two time slots, aka traditional dining with a ton of hassle. In contrast the Oasis felt horrible with traditional dining and needed Dynamic. Royal knew it didn't work which is why the waiters each night would ask if you needed to be rushed the next night. All of the different start times for the entertainment each night never flowed with traditional but will ensure the people spread their dining out like DD requires in order to operate properly. I just hope they split it into 6 dining rooms, 2 per floor, instead of 3. Six is a perfect number for a ship that does 7 night sailings. Quantum has no where near enough venues for 9-12 night sailings.

 

I have to say I'm honestly surprised by this announcement though. I expected Oasis 3 to be the first non Quantum ship to receive it so that they could have the class split 2 & 2 for different preferences. This now makes the Oasis the first ship in the fleet with Dynamic Dining when she sets sail on October 14th. Wonder how everyone booked feels about this change, especially with reservations not even open yet.

 

Wonder if this also means that Oasis will be the first with Royal IQ now as well. Seems like a requirement to manage Dynamic Dining onboard. Whole lot of Quantum firsts that really aren't firsts any more. Started when they put the virtual balconies on Navigator in January.

 

Freedom OTS is going into Dry-dock early part of 2015 for almost a month. I now wonder whether she too will get DD during that time.

[DEIx15x8]

Further tweets indicate this will not be effective until March next year :eek:

 

Well that makes no sense. So are they planning to have "virtual walls" now too. Same dining room but depending on where you are you get different table clothes and menus? Don't understand how this will work or what could be required to be done during a dry dock but not impact the current operating model for the remaining 6 months it'll be in use.

[Eng23]

Freedom OTS is going into Dry-dock early part of 2015 for almost a month. I now wonder whether she too will get DD during that time.

It is rumored that Freedom will also have this done during her dry dock in January.

[OfTheSeasCruiser]

Well that makes no sense. So are they planning to have "virtual walls" now too. Same dining room but depending on where you are you get different table clothes and menus? Don't understand how this will work or what could be required to be done during a dry dock but not impact the current operating model for the remaining 6 months it'll be in use.

 

I have no idea how that will work. I would think that anyone sailing in those times will be sort of inconvenienced somehow. Quite odd.

[Treacher1]

that Dynamic Dining was an option to be tried out on Quantum and Anthem. After studying - they would determine IF it would be an option on other Royal Ships. Well, how do they know how it is working - tough to get reservations and no way of knowing how it will work till these ships sail. Also, why not go forth with this at least 6 months and then poll loyal Royals to see their opinions. This whole process seems to be rushed and premature. I am sailing Quantum in March - I think I will like the idea of going to the varied restaurants - however it was a real pain setting up reservations. Still must book entertainment.

 

I hate to see the beautiful MDR of Oasis split up into smaller restaurants. As large as Oasis is, could they not leave one deck traditional dining for those wanting that. Then they would keep ALL passengers happy. I fear some people might drift to other cruise lines? Or is this going to be the way for ALL cruise lines. Just throwing out some ideas. To me - the luxury of cruising was having the same waitstaff the entire cruise - others might not care - just saying liked

more traditional way of cruising - less hassle.

 

Perhaps if making reservations were easier - I would feel a little differently. I was able to pre book early, and was not able to get a one night the time I wanted. Fifteen or thirty minutes earlier or later - that is fine, can work with that. However, what about the people who booked a month after me. Interestingly enough - I COULD get exact times for specialty restaurants, but NOT the free ones.

[joeski27]

Further tweets indicate this will not be effective until March next year :eek:

 

Sweet! We're sailing the first week of March, looks like we could be the first to report on this :)

[EatSleepCruise]

I guess it makes sense to roll out Dynamic Dining (DD) on Oasis of the Seas as passengers can already pre-book shows.

 

It is essential to pre-book shows, as our experience on Allure in 2013 was that few people got into shows on standby and I can only imagine what types of seats those few lucky people who got in on stand by were stuck with.

 

Although, I am surprised that they did not at least wait a bit to work out the kinks, as with any RCI new enhancement, I am sure there will be plenty of issues with DD on Quantum of the Seas.

 

We had a ton of headaches when trying to book our DD for upcoming Quantum and Allure sailings. The system was hard to navigate, time out errors, and no availability. We blogged about our experiences on our site.

 

Hopefully, our suffering can make it a bit easier for folks to get through the process.

 

We are excited about Quantum and think the ship looks great, so now that we have Dynamic Dining down cold, we can maybe try Oasis in the near future.

[Smilefy]

Exactly the question I was wondering! :confused:

My concerns are:

 

A) the areas will feel cramped and claustrophobic.

B) Picky eaters in the family won't have access to the reoccurring-daily bland menu.

C) The cost of cruising will go up because the separate menus will inevitably mean more spending.

 

I'm not really sure how they will accomplish this on OASIS as she wasn't designed with the Dynamic Dining concept in mind.

 

She has one massive dining on three levels, with a giant atrium in the middle and the same decor throughout. The concept of Dynamic Dining is several small restaurants, each with its own theme, menu, cuisine, and dress code.

 

How they will turn one massive dining room into multiple restaurants should be interesting. Will they close up the atrium and construct a bulkhead down the center of each level, making the space six different restaurants? I suppose they could but boy that will be expensive and time consuming.

 

It will be interesting to see how they accomplish it. Frankly I think the Oasis Class mega-dining room is quite beautiful and I would be sad to see it closed in and chopped into smaller sections.

[g3off]

It'll be interesting to see how they do this, it could go very well or very wrong. I was expecting Dynamic Dining when I booked Quantum over a year ago but they failed to pull it off in any meaningful way. There are no entertainment choices to make and don't even have shows every night. Everyone goes to the same shows and as a result must eat at the same two time slots, aka traditional dining with a ton of hassle. In contrast the Oasis felt horrible with traditional dining and needed Dynamic. Royal knew it didn't work which is why the waiters each night would ask if you needed to be rushed the next night. All of the different start times for the entertainment each night never flowed with traditional but will ensure the people spread their dining out like DD requires in order to operate properly. I just hope they split it into 6 dining rooms, 2 per floor, instead of 3. Six is a perfect number for a ship that does 7 night sailings. Quantum has no where near enough venues for 9-12 night sailings.

 

I have to say I'm honestly surprised by this announcement though. I expected Oasis 3 to be the first non Quantum ship to receive it so that they could have the class split 2 & 2 for different preferences. This now makes the Oasis the first ship in the fleet with Dynamic Dining when she sets sail on October 14th. Wonder how everyone booked feels about this change, especially with reservations not even open yet.

 

Wonder if this also means that Oasis will be the first with Royal IQ now as well. Seems like a requirement to manage Dynamic Dining onboard. Whole lot of Quantum firsts that really aren't firsts any more. Started when they put the virtual balconies on Navigator in January.

Quantum definitely has enough venues for 9-12 nights. I am on an 11 night in Feb and have managed to book 10 nights all in dif restaurants except The grand which we are doing a formal night on the 2nd and 10th night. Yes this includes some specialty paid restaurants too though, but not all.

[DEIx15x8]

Quantum definitely has enough venues for 9-12 nights. I am on an 11 night in Feb and have managed to book 10 nights all in dif restaurants except The grand which we are doing a formal night on the 2nd and 10th night. Yes this includes some specialty paid restaurants too though, but not all.

 

You had to pay for that, you can technically sail for 18 nights without repeating a venue if you include casual venues like the Dog House. Used to be able to sail for 14 nights with sit down meals without repeating a single menu or having to spend money, essentially 14 complimentary venues under the current system rather than 4. The "expanded selection" claim they keep making is not valid either, I've done the math and the menus offer a significantly smaller selection than the previous. I believe anything over 6 days in length is fewer options than before and IMO the ones they offer are of poorer quality. They may look nicer but the selection is more of a narrow selection rather than the varied offerings of the previous menus.

 

I've been thinking about this Oasis revitalization and the thing that's jumped out to me that no one has mentioned yet is that dining room within a dining room patent from a few months back. We all thought that was for Quantum but perhaps that is the plan for Oasis. Maybe they will replace the railings with half walls and the structure to allow for glass panels to be easily installed in March when they need it to become individual venues rather than a single large one.

[OfTheSeasCruiser]

A few days ago, I emailed Royal Caribbean questioning what changes would be made to the Oasis of the Seas Main Dining Room. I know that Customer Service doesn't always have the correct information, but the response I got sounds pretty reliable.

 

Here's my original question:

 

Was looking into the Oasis of the Seas for a 2015 cruise. After hearing the recent announcement of Dynamic Dining expanding to the Oasis, I got a little concerned. This year we wanted to sail with Traditional Dining or at least My Time Dining. Can you please explain how the dining room onboard will change after the dry dock even though Dynamic Dining is not supposed to start until March 2015? Thanks so much.

 

And here's the response I just received:

 

Dear:

 

Thank you for your email.

 

We apologize for the delay in our response. More customers than ever before are choosing the convenience of email as their primary mode of communication. As a result, the turnaround time for responses has increased. We sincerely regret any inconvenience this may have caused.

 

We sincerely regret to learn of any disappointment that you may have experienced when learning of the new Dynamic Dining that will be offered on the Oasis of the Seas beginning early 2015. We do appreciate, however, the opportunity to answer questions that you have about this brand new way of dining.

 

The beautiful transformation of the main dining room into distinct complimentary restaurants will be visible after the revitalization of the Oasis of the Seas in October 2014. Deck three will be home to American Icon Grill, deck four will be The Grande Restaurant and deck five will be Silk. Prior to early 2015, the menu offering will be the usual rotating main dining room menu and the dress code will follow the usual main dining room pattern; smart casual with a few formal nights based on the itinerary length.

 

While we understand that improvements on board our world class ships can initially be disconcerting to our loyal guests, please rest assured that such improvements are always preceded by extensive research, careful planning and the utmost care from our team of experts. We are certain that once guests have experienced the infinite possibilities of Dynamic Dining onboard the Oasis of the Seas, they will welcome this innovative approach to dining that literally has something for everyone.

 

Please check our website (http://www.royalcaribbean.com) for general information on the lowest available rates for all categories of accommodations, current itineraries and access to our online booking request form. For more detailed information on itineraries, current rates and availability, please contact our Certified Vacation Planners at 1-800-205-9812.

 

Thank you for choosing Royal Caribbean International. We look forward to welcoming you onboard in the near future.

 

Sincerely,

 

 

 

 

Claudette Oppe

Customer Service Representative

Edited September 8, 2014 by OfTheSeasCruiser

[DEIx15x8]

A few days ago, I emailed Royal Caribbean questioning what changes would be made to the Oasis of the Seas Main Dining Room. I know that Customer Service doesn't always have the correct information, but the response I got sounds pretty reliable.

 

Here's my original question:

 

Was looking into the Oasis of the Seas for a 2015 cruise. The recent announcement of Dynamic Dining expanding to the Oasis, I got a little concerned. This year we wanted to sail with Traditional Dining or at least My Time Dining. Can you please explain how the dining room onboard will change after the dry dock even though Dynamic Dining is not supposed to start until March 2015? Thanks so much.

 

And here's the response I just received:

 

Dear:

 

Thank you for your email.

 

We apologize for the delay in our response. More customers than ever before are choosing the convenience of email as their primary mode of communication. As a result, the turnaround time for responses has increased. We sincerely regret any inconvenience this may have caused.

 

We sincerely regret to learn of any disappointment that you may have experienced when learning of the new Dynamic Dining that will be offered on the Oasis of the Seas beginning early 2015. We do appreciate, however, the opportunity to answer questions that you have about this brand new way of dining.

 

The beautiful transformation of the main dining room into distinct complimentary restaurants will be visible after the revitalization of the Oasis of the Seas in October 2014. Deck three will be home to American Icon Grill, deck four will be The Grande Restaurant and deck five will be Silk. Prior to early 2015, the menu offering will be the usual rotating main dining room menu and the dress code will follow the usual main dining room pattern; smart casual with a few formal nights based on the itinerary length.

 

While we understand that improvements on board our world class ships can initially be disconcerting to our loyal guests, please rest assured that such improvements are always preceded by extensive research, careful planning and the utmost care from our team of experts. We are certain that once guests have experienced the infinite possibilities of Dynamic Dining onboard the Oasis of the Seas, they will welcome this innovative approach to dining that literally has something for everyone.

 

Please check our website (www.royalcaribbean.com) for general information on the lowest available rates for all categories of accommodations, current itineraries and access to our online booking request form. For more detailed information on itineraries, current rates and availability, please contact our Certified Vacation Planners at 1-800-205-9812.

 

Thank you for choosing Royal Caribbean International. We look forward to welcoming you onboard in the near future.

 

Sincerely,

 

 

 

 

Claudette Oppe

Customer Service Representative

 

Thanks for the update. Sounds like each floor will be a single restaurant then. The way they currently operate each floor acts independent and has it's own slightly different theme so that is not much of a change. Wonder if they will actually change the openness to allow for different atmospheres then or not. The dining room within a dinning room patent with glass windows could certainly apply here. I'm sure with Oasis 3/4 if they plan for Dynamic Dining they will go for closed venues like Quantum. Will be interesting to see if it's the same 3 full floor venues without a hole in the middle or 6 smaller ones more in line with Quantum.

[OfTheSeasCruiser]

Thanks for the update. Sounds like each floor will be a single restaurant then. The way they currently operate each floor acts independent and has it's own slightly different theme so that is not much of a change. Wonder if they will actually change the openness to allow for different atmospheres then or not. The dining room within a dinning room patent with glass windows could certainly apply here. I'm sure with Oasis 3/4 if they plan for Dynamic Dining they will go for closed venues like Quantum. Will be interesting to see if it's the same 3 full floor venues without a hole in the middle or 6 smaller ones more in line with Quantum.

 

I really hope that they don't close up the three floors and make them separate, it really is a beautiful dining room. It also looks as if anyone sailing between the dry dock and March 2015 will just get assigned to one of the restaurants, which makes me think they will not be closing up the MDR.

 

I'm also a little concerned because it appears we are getting one less option that we would be getting with Quantum/Anthem.

 

By the way - What is the dining room within a dining room patent?

[DEIx15x8]

I really hope that they don't close up the three floors and make them separate, it really is a beautiful dining room. It also looks as if anyone sailing between the dry dock and March 2015 will just get assigned to one of the restaurants, which makes me think they will not be closing up the MDR.

 

I'm also a little concerned because it appears we are getting one less option that we would be getting with Quantum/Anthem.

 

By the way - What is the dining room within a dining room patent?

 

There was a patent filed that involved a main dining room that included smaller specialty venues separated by glass walls. It allowed for an upper level glassed in venue to have a completely different atmosphere than the main venue below while still allowing for an expansive space. In the patents the space was to allow for multi floor windows out to the sea. In this case it would be to maintain the massive open space of the existing venue.

[OfTheSeasCruiser]

There was a patent filed that involved a main dining room that included smaller specialty venues separated by glass walls. It allowed for an upper level glassed in venue to have a completely different atmosphere than the main venue below while still allowing for an expansive space. In the patents the space was to allow for multi floor windows out to the sea. In this case it would be to maintain the massive open space of the existing venue.

 

I assume it was a Royal Caribbean patent? Very interesting.

[OCruisers]

It will be interesting to see how they manage to do this on Oasis.

[Ourusualbeach]

It will be interesting to see how they manage to do this on Oasis.

 

There was a post on the main boards tonight where someone received a reply from customer service.

 

The MDR is being split into 3 restaurants,

 

Deck 3 - American Icon Grill

Deck 4 - The Grande

Deck 5 - Silk

 

Each floor will be decorated differently. No subdividing of individual floors.

 

A pretty easy and cosmetic change.

 

Edit. Didn't see the post on the previous page.

Edited September 9, 2014 by Ourusualbeach