Positive thoughts on MDR and DD

[jayblue]

As much as I like the idea of DD, the MDR experience at dinnertime is the only one I know. My fondest wish would be that RCI could find a way to keep the MDR (for those that love it) and do DD for those looking for a new experience.

 

Keeping your comments on a positive note, without bashing either one (or me), tell everyone what you love about MDR. And for those of you that love the new idea of DD, tell everyone what you like about it.

 

I will acknowledge that my previous comments have been against the MDR (let's get that out of the way) and in favor of DD, but I planned my current cruise thinking that I would primarily have the MDR (albeit MTD) experience. The last time I cruised there were no specialty restaurants and I don't recall the WJ being open for the casual dining experience. Burgers and fries were only available at certain times at a counter in the Solarium. And I loved it all!! There was a Coke plan, but no beverage plan. For me, my next cruise will be a brand new same old experience (my way of saying a mixture of both old and new).

 

Again, please keep make positive comments. This is (sort of) your opinion on the best of Royal Caribbean cruises. :o :)

[Gayle V]

Why I would prefer traditional main dining room experience:

 

Top reason: Meeting new table mates each cruise AND GETTING TO KNOW THEM through the rest of the week. We have often made friends of our table mates, made plans to get together to go to the show, or have drinks later. Sometime we arranged excursions together. One couple we even ended up cruising together again.

 

No making reservations.

 

No need to be shown to my table each night. Our table is ready and waiting for us every night.

 

Same waiters each night, who have my water with lemon and hubby's wine ready as soon as we show.

 

I like the different food themes, but also having "always available items" for when the food is too strange.

 

Having the timing of our dining match up to the timing of the traditional main show. No worry about getting done on time.

 

Love the elegant atmosphere the MDR has always had.

Edited September 13, 2014 by Gayle V

[Gayle V]

My fondest wish would be that RCI could find a way to keep the MDR (for those that love it) and do DD for those looking for a new experience.

 

I'm hoping Royal reads your post and realizes that's the best way to make everyone happy and keep their long time customers.

[jayblue]

I'm hoping Royal reads your post and realizes that's the best way to make everyone happy and keep their long time customers.

 

I'm going to agree with you.

 

I'm keeping an open mind about DD, but having a hard time understanding how RCI can make such a change without any consideration to its loyal customers. While at work earlier today, I had a whole lot of time to sit and think about this. I've seen something like this done with loyal longtime employees of the company I used to work for. That did not turn out well.

[cb at sea]

I have to agree with Gayle V...the traditional experience is great, IMO! We LOVE table mates!

 

I hate the thought of having to plan my meals and shows....we vacation to get away from planning every second of our lives!

 

However, the quality of the dining room has declined so much in recent years, that unless they get rid of the "specialty" (for fee) dining options, the main dining room will continue to lose it's luster...

In past years, it was truly "elegant"...now, not so much!

[jayblue]

Why I would prefer traditional main dining room experience:

 

Top reason: Meeting new table mates each cruise AND GETTING TO KNOW THEM through the rest of the week. We have often made friends of our table mates, made plans to get together to go to the show, or have drinks later. Sometime we arranged excursions together. One couple we even ended up cruising together again.

 

No making reservations.

 

No need to be shown to my table each night. Our table is ready and waiting for us every night.

 

Same waiters each night, who have my water with lemon and hubby's wine ready as soon as we show.

 

I like the different food themes, but also having "always available items" for when the food is too strange.

 

Having the timing of our dining match up to the timing of the traditional main show. No worry about getting done on time.

 

Love the elegant atmosphere the MDR has always had.

 

I see positive experiences in all of your points.

 

All of my cruises have been with groups of people I was familiar with (we're all JWs), but I haven't stayed in contact with any of them directly. I've seen one of the couples since then and met both of their children (one of them and his wife are now FB friends), but lost contact with all of them.

 

I don't remember any of my waiters/asst. waiters, but do remember very pleasant conversations with all of them.

 

My favorite thing about the food was that I tried things I would NEVER have tried on land. I had escargot (after learning what it was in h.s. French class), and salad with bits of squid in it all three times I went. For a young lady who was raised on the south side of Chicago, these were considered delicacies.

 

I do remember one of my friends being so fond of bread, that the waiter's assistant would sit the basket right next to her every night. That was hilarious!

 

My first cruise we had second seating. I had every intention of making each and every midnight buffet and it was just too close to that in time. The last two cruises we had main seating. It was much better, except for when we went to Cozumel. The ship left at 7 p.m. that evening, and I'd never been off the ship at night. I didn't want to miss it! I didn't eat until the midnight buffet. Poor me!

 

The shows never interested me. But, it was the 90s and they were still getting those together at that time. I'm going to find my old Cruise Compasses (I think I still have them!), and see what I missed. I remember when my sister came back from her first cruise on NCL (the late great Norway), she had seen West Side Story and wanted to watch the movie. It was the beginning of something beautiful.

 

I do so love cruising! I've missed it all these years!

[jayblue]

As for DD. I love the concept of it as much as I loved my experiences in the MDR. That's why I'm looking at it as a positive. I like setting my own time for dinner and having a choice about the type of food I want.

 

RCI is also trying to make loyal cruisers out of families, as well, trying to keep young children on a vacation schedule is a challenge, at best.

 

DD is a concept. I won't schedule my next cruise until the one I'm working on is done. By the time I do schedule, the reviews will be in and the kinks will be worked out.

 

On a side note: they only showed the dinner menus, no lunch. What will happen to the Tutti Salad when all of the MDRs are gone?!!! My cruise on the Liberty will be the first time I try this and I already know I'm going to love it!

[abridalmaven]

Why I would prefer traditional main dining room experience:

 

Top reason: Meeting new table mates each cruise AND GETTING TO KNOW THEM through the rest of the week. We have often made friends of our table mates, made plans to get together to go to the show, or have drinks later. Sometime we arranged excursions together. One couple we even ended up cruising together again.

 

No making reservations.

 

No need to be shown to my table each night. Our table is ready and waiting for us every night.

 

Same waiters each night, who have my water with lemon and hubby's wine ready as soon as we show.

 

I like the different food themes, but also having "always available items" for when the food is too strange.

 

Having the timing of our dining match up to the timing of the traditional main show. No worry about getting done on time.

 

Love the elegant atmosphere the MDR has always had.

 

 

Amen.

[2chiefs]

I'm going to agree with you.

 

I'm keeping an open mind about DD, but having a hard time understanding how RCI can make such a change without any consideration to its loyal customers. While at work earlier today, I had a whole lot of time to sit and think about this. I've seen something like this done with loyal longtime employees of the company I used to work for. That did not turn out well.

 

LOL.... You call that work!!! :):):):)

[jayblue]

LOL.... You call that work!!! :):):):)

 

LOL!!! I keep asking myself that.

 

 

 

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[Fat Paul]

I am looking forward to dynamic dinning. I have always enjoyed the MDR but I love the idea of variety.

[dacsmom]

I am also looking forward to Dynamic Dining because of the many more choices of meals. Instead of a few entrees to choose from I have menus from several different restaurants. There are times when I book a specialty restaurant because I am not fond of what is served in the MDR, for some reason I never warmed to "Mojo." It seems I will just have to force myself to book another cruise to experience DD since those I have booked will get Dynamic Dining after I sail.

Edited September 14, 2014 by dacsmom

[Anubi]

Jayblue, I note that you are going on the Liberty in February. Is RCL going to have DD on the Liberty that soon? I'm asking because we just booked the Liberty this week for next September and asked for Anytime Dining.

Edited September 14, 2014 by Anubi

[jticarruthers]

Jayblue, I note that you are going on the Liberty in February. Is RCL going to have DD on the Liberty that soon? I'm asking because we just booked the Liberty this week for next September and asked for Anytime Dining.

 

I had heard Freedom might have it next year based on its January Drydock, had not heard any speculation about Liberty transition timeframe yet.

 

Back to the original question asked though:

 

We have always enjoyed MDR, reasons would include:

 

Getting to know the waitstaff (especially as we have moved to longer cruises and really having them anticipate your habits towards the end). We just took first timers on a cruise and by the end of it they "loved" our wait team and looked forward to seeing them every night.

 

Not having to worry about which restaurant, which time, which night. Do I book ahead or just wing it, etc. MDR is there ready for us every night, if we don't want to go we don't have to, if we want to book something and try a specialty restaurant we can, but its there and ready without having to do any thinking/planning.

 

On the DD side, if I think of it as just adding more specialty restaurant options then I actually like the idea of having a greater variety of types of food available. Giving up the MDR entirely to get those options though is a net negative for me.

 

I think more could be accomplished by refreshing the menus, adding more options, etc. without having to kill MDR off to accomplish it, but we shall see.

 

Freedom in '15 sounds like it will be my first experience and then we will go from there.

[TC1957]

We love the MDR for the reasons mentioned above and I have absolutely no desire to try DD...and as a result will not book passage of a ship with only that as an option. The most consistent comment I see as a negative to the MDR is the quality of the food and the lack of interesting options.

 

HELLO!! Royal Caribbean are you listening? I wonder if ANY thought has been given to making the chef step up his/her game when it comes to the MDR menu? I view it as a self-fullfilling prophecy when they say MDR numbers are dropping. Sure they are, because the quality of the food is gone way down hill with limited variety.

[bouhunter]

Oh good - the new daily thread about DD..................

 

Since DD is only for Quantum now, and Oasis NEXT YEAR, I'm sure we can expect a new thread every day for years to come.:rolleyes:

 

Each one to easily exceed 100 posts.

 

On a slightly more serious note. We go nowhere near MDR on our cruises. But I do understand that a lot of people love the "same waiter, same table, same tablemates...." thing and that's great for them. What I find amusing is the NEVER ENDING threads now about DD with detailed, specific questions that no one can possibley answer at this time :)

Edited September 15, 2014 by bouhunter

[ryano]

What I find amusing is the NEVER ENDING threads now about DD with detailed, specific questions that no one can possibley answer at this time :)

 

I also find amusing, the number of people that have already decided they hate something they have no idea how will work or have even tried yet LOL.

 

Ive said it a few times and will say it again. It reminds me of all the Oasis haters of circa 2008 around here. MOST have which now sailed those two ships and love them.

 

Im just hoping that Freedom actually DOES get DD during the January drydock. Im already tired of the whole Main Dining Room and traditional dining concept.

[CruiseTobey]

Why I would prefer traditional main dining room experience:

 

Love the elegant atmosphere the MDR has always had.

 

Which do you find more "elegant"? The canned singing waiters or the requisite twirling napkins? :rolleyes:

[Clarea]

Which do you find more "elegant"? The canned singing waiters or the requisite twirling napkins? :rolleyes:

I believe both of those are gone on Royal now.

[bouhunter]

Which do you find more "elegant"? The canned singing waiters or the requisite twirling napkins? :rolleyes:

 

Now that is funny:D

[sanger727]

The rollout of DD is the reason why I'm trying Royal for the first time next year on the Oasis.

 

We have cruised Carnival, Norweigan, and Celebrity and always wanted to try Royal, but for the price it never seemed worth it. Our number one complaint (even with Norweigan) is we hate the MDR experience. We have no interest in dining with others, we always choose MTD with a table for 2. I don't care for many of the dishes served in the MDR and the fact that the menu isn't available till the morning of makes it difficult to plan which nights we want to try an alternative dining venue. ie. We may have in our minds that on Tues we want to try a specialty, and then come to find that the menu on Tues looks really good and the menu on Wed has nothing we want to eat. I love the idea of knowing which restaurants we are interested in ahead of time and having an idea of what each will serve.

 

I don't think DD makes much since on a ship with one show done twice per night, but with Oasis having multiple shows on multiple nights I think it will fit right in.

[jayblue]

Jayblue, I note that you are going on the Liberty in February. Is RCL going to have DD on the Liberty that soon? I'm asking because we just booked the Liberty this week for next September and asked for Anytime Dining.

 

No. I will get my last experience in the MDR and my first with MTD.

 

As far as I can tell, there are no plans for LOS to drydock anytime next year, but that could change.

 

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[jayblue]

Oh good - the new daily thread about DD..................

 

Since DD is only for Quantum now, and Oasis NEXT YEAR, I'm sure we can expect a new thread every day for years to come.:rolleyes:

 

Each one to easily exceed 100 posts.

 

On a slightly more serious note. We go nowhere near MDR on our cruises. But I do understand that a lot of people love the "same waiter, same table, same tablemates...." thing and that's great for them. What I find amusing is the NEVER ENDING threads now about DD with detailed, specific questions that no one can possibley answer at this time :)

 

My post was to put a positive spin on both. It is obvious that many people are going to miss the MDR experience. It is also obvious that many of us are looking forward to DD, which is still a bit of a mystery.

 

I wanted to see if the "nays" and "yeas" could find common ground rather than acting like Congress.

 

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[marci22]

Well a lot of people have tried MTD and that is similar to DD. I've tried MTD and I (and my family) prefer traditional. If we do book MTD, we request the same time every night and the same waiters. I think traditional dining is easier.

 

People who like to do things more spontaneously might prefer DD.

[John&LaLa]

I have to agree with Gayle V...the traditional experience is great, IMO! We LOVE table mates!

 

I hate the thought of having to plan my meals and shows....we vacation to get away from planning every second of our lives!

 

However, the quality of the dining room has declined so much in recent years, that unless they get rid of the "specialty" (for fee) dining options, the main dining room will continue to lose it's luster...

In past years, it was truly "elegant"...now, not so much!

 

just an observation, but why would someone with 62,000 posts have an issue with planning a few dinners and shows. :confused: