Huge Dissatisfaction with Dynamic Dining

[cooncat]

http://www.examiner.com/article/royal-caribbean-s-dyamic-dining-mass-dissatisfaction-feeble-solutions

 

This was on Facebook.

[joepeka]

And thus the postponement of further rollouts of Dynamic Dining.

P.S. Thanks for posting the article, it's interesting to read of DD complaints besides here on CC.

Edited January 21, 2015 by joepeka

[ahecht]

FYI, Examiner.com isn't a newspaper, and they accept articles written by just about anybody. That particular article was written by a part-time cruise line agent (for an unnamed cruise line, but likely not Royal Caribbean), not a reporter.

Edited January 22, 2015 by ahecht

[micmacmissy]

The author of that article is clearly no journalist. Grammar and usage errors abound!

[Merion_Mom]

The author of that article is clearly no journalist. Grammar and usage errors abound!

 

I got sick just trying to read it. And you left out misspellings. :rolleyes:

[Realtor at Sea]

Despite grammar, writing style, etc. from what I experienced on my Dec. 27th Quantum cruise, this article is correct! After over 30 cruises on RCCL, our Quantum cruise was the worst. Have never ever felt this way about any other RCCL cruise!

[Merion_Mom]

Despite grammar, writing style, etc. from what I experienced on my Dec. 27th Quantum cruise, this article is correct! After over 30 cruises on RCCL, our Quantum cruise was the worst. Have never ever felt this way about any other RCCL cruise!

 

And since your cruise, Royal Caribbean has taken several steps to improve the experience, including making Devinly Decadence complimentary, using a new line system, and expanding the menus.

 

BTW, I sailed three weeks before you and had NO problems with Dynamic Dining.

[LMaxwell]

I think the one area I disagree with is that people would look for more traditional cruise experiences after Quantum. I actually think that if a new cruiser has a bad experience with Quantum they probably wouldn't want to set foot on any cruise ship again, no matter what the shape of the logo is on the outside.

 

At best DD requires much more forethought and planning than a traditional cruise.

 

At worst it is frustrating, fraught with lines, impersonal service, etc...

 

The menus look enticing, not sure why they couldn't just keep MTD and MDR and use a good portion of the new items to update menus.

[Realtor at Sea]

Glad you had a good experiences, Merior Mom! We are hoping our next experience on Feb. 2nd will show some improvements. The waiting time for our "reservations" was horrible, over forty-five minutes in some case, the food often arrived barely warm and the ice cream was generally a melted mess! The staff was exhausted and could barely smile! We felt so sorry for them!

[George C]

As a very long time cruiser I prefer having same waiter and same table ( unless I want specialty restaurants and that should be my choice)

[Realtor at Sea]

I think the one area I disagree with is that people would look for more traditional cruise experiences after Quantum. I actually think that if a new cruiser has a bad experience with Quantum they probably wouldn't want to set foot on any cruise ship again, no matter what the shape of the logo is on the outside.

 

At best DD requires much more forethought and planning than a traditional cruise.

 

At worst it is frustrating, fraught with lines, impersonal service, etc...

 

The menus look enticing, not sure why they couldn't just keep MTD and MDR and use a good portion of the new items to update menus.

 

Well put, LMaxwell! The amount of time making dinner and entertainment reservations was unreal!

[Merion_Mom]

Glad you had a good experiences, Merior Mom! We are hoping our next experience on Feb. 2nd will show some improvements. The waiting time for our "reservations" was horrible, over forty-five minutes in some case, the food often arrived barely warm and the ice cream was generally a melted mess! The staff was exhausted and could barely smile! We felt so sorry for them!

 

:eek: :eek: Why aren't you on our Roll Call?!?!?!?

 

http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1852296&page=41

[Jimmers]

Despite grammar, writing style, etc. from what I experienced on my Dec. 27th Quantum cruise, this article is correct! After over 30 cruises on RCCL, our Quantum cruise was the worst. Have never ever felt this way about any other RCCL cruise!

 

I'd rate our Dec 1 Quantum cruise as our worst also. But the good news is that our next cruise has to be better:)

Edited January 22, 2015 by Jimmers

[Realtor at Sea]

:eek: :eek: Why aren't you on our Roll Call?!?!?!?

 

http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1852296&page=41

 

We're traveling with long time cruise buddies and don't sign up for Meet and Mingles when with them. Maybe we will see you in the CL? Have read your postings and reviews for a long time and enjoyed them! See you soon!

[Deptacon]

And since your cruise, Royal Caribbean has taken several steps to improve the experience, including making Devinly Decadence complimentary, using a new line system, and expanding the menus.

 

BTW, I sailed three weeks before you and had NO problems with Dynamic Dining.

 

Ok no offense, but dont be a sound board for the line. The poster had a legitimate complaint about how they didnt like it....and you come back sounding like the PR department..... congrats, you love RCCL so much you dont see the stains on the floor ever....

[cooncat]

It's been almost 5 years since last cruised. Personally for myself, I am a solo cruiser and I said it before, I like traditional dining. I look forward to seeing the same table mates and servers every night. it just adds so much to the cruise experience since I am along for most of the day unless I'm out on an excursion. I miss the days where you didn't have do any advance planning except for your meal time.

[steveru621]

My first thought is we can all dismiss this article because of spelling errors and the miss use of fu-bar. Also we can diminish the opinion of the author because of grammatical errors. All too easy. We have no way of knowing if English is even the author's first language.

 

We should also ignore the author's opinion because many CC posters had no problem, and loved DD. Ignore those darn malcontents.

 

The fact is that dozens of reviews and CC posts have given failing grades for DD. This includes many angry posts from cruisers that have spent an unacceptable amount of time just trying to get reservations straight before they even set foot on the ship.

 

We should also ignore the bad reviews because 'someday' RCI will make enough changes to make it at least palatable. We also need to ignore that pesky Oasis class fact. DD is postponed indefinitely. Must be it went so well on Quantum, RCI wanted to keep it a Quantum class exclusive.

 

If anyone had any problems on-board it must have been the lack of assistant waiters, and couldn't possibly have been poor execution and planning by RCI. Please answer this question; what is it about a cruise ship that requires an assistant waiter? I can't remember the last land based restaurant where I was introduced to an assistant waiter???

 

Someday we will cruise on the Anthem out of our home port in NJ. Our cruise on Quantum was 50% bad and 50% good. The premium we paid tilted the scales to the second worse cruise we have experienced on RCI. I'm confident RCI will fix these problems, but no one on CC can diminish my opinion because of the good 'future' intentions of RCI.

Edited January 22, 2015 by steveru621

[negc]

Ok no offense, but dont be a sound board for the line. The poster had a legitimate complaint about how they didnt like it....and you come back sounding like the PR department..... congrats, you love RCCL so much you dont see the stains on the floor ever....

 

I think that your comments are unfair and paint an unflattering picture of a member of cruise critic who has never been behind the door in expressing her honest opinions. The poster who had a legitimate complaint made his points sand some of them were refuted by Merion Mom whose experience was the opposite. You can choose to believe one and not the other or you might admit that both were correct in their description of their admittedly different experiences. Should someone, like myself, who had positive experiences when they did dynamic dining remain silent when others post gory accounts of their opposite reactions? We will be sailing again on Quantum in a few weeks and I anticipate that many of the reported problems may have been resolved by then. If not, I will be sure to report that fact but I am not boarding the ship looking only for the "stains on the floor".

For those who enjoy having the same table mates each evening and believe that DD doesn't allow for this, what is to prevent them from making friends on board and arranging to dine with them each evening? Seems a simple solution to that alleged problem with dynamic dining.

[Deptacon]

I think that your comments are unfair and paint an unflattering picture of a member of cruise critic who has never been behind the door in expressing her honest opinions. The poster who had a legitimate complaint made his points sand some of them were refuted by Merion Mom whose experience was the opposite. You can choose to believe one and not the other or you might admit that both were correct in their description of their admittedly different experiences. Should someone, like myself, who had positive experiences when they did dynamic dining remain silent when others post gory accounts of their opposite reactions? We will be sailing again on Quantum in a few weeks and I anticipate that many of the reported problems may have been resolved by then. If not, I will be sure to report that fact but I am not boarding the ship looking only for the "stains on the floor".

For those who enjoy having the same table mates each evening and believe that DD doesn't allow for this, what is to prevent them from making friends on board and arranging to dine with them each evening? Seems a simple solution to that alleged problem with dynamic dining.

 

perception is reality....thats how her comment read to me. and reading it again several times, it still does. We can paint the dynamic dinning poop all the colors we want to try and dress it up....its still poop....

[nednrom]

. I also have seen very positive reviews of quantum lately here and on FB. The reviews were awful the first couple of months but things seem to have gotten better.

Edited January 22, 2015 by nednrom

[B-52]

The menus look enticing, not sure why they couldn't just keep MTD and MDR and use a good portion of the new items to update menus.

 

 

Because they can't charge $$ per meal per restaurant as if every venue was a specialty......wait for it, it is slowly coming. They're just setting the foundation now.

It will also change the way gratuities are handled with Dining staff....

Edited January 22, 2015 by B-52

[ocav]

Maybe if people stopped reserving every meal they can because they feel like they need too, then it would actually be alright.

 

A lot of the problems are occurring because people feel forced into reservations, one thing that Royal has never said "you must do"

 

Note the reminder emails are for Speciality Restaurants not reserving complimentary, note the fact nobody outside of CruiseCritic has ever said "you need to reserve".

 

Reservations are for those who maybe have picky eating habits or want a specific restaurant for a special occasion (Grande should be res. only for example)

[Gazza64]

I think that your comments are unfair and paint an unflattering picture of a member of cruise critic who has never been behind the door in expressing her honest opinions. The poster who had a legitimate complaint made his points sand some of them were refuted by Merion Mom whose experience was the opposite. You can choose to believe one and not tr he other or you might admit that both were correct in their description of their admittedly different experiences. Should someone, like myself, who had positive experiences when they did dynamic dining remain silent when others post gory accounts of their opposite reactions? We will be sailing again on Quantum in a few weeks and I anticipate that many of the reported problems may have been resolved by then. If not, I will be sure to report that fact but I am not boarding the ship looking only for the "stains on the floor".

For those who enjoy having the same table mates each evening and believe that DD doesn't allow for this, what is to prevent them from making friends on board and arranging to dine with them each evening? Seems a simple solution to that alleged problem with dynamic dining.

 

Or sailing on a different ship!!

[TravelerThom]

...For those who enjoy having the same table mates each evening and believe that DD doesn't allow for this, what is to prevent them from making friends on board and arranging to dine with them each evening?...

Perhaps the fact that I made reservations months ago at Silk for 7pm and they have reservations for American Icon at 7:30pm?

OH - I forgot - RCI solved that for us by "losing" those reservations:mad:.

[poncho1973]

no one on CC can diminish my opinion because of the good 'future' intentions of RCI.

 

First, I'm glad that your opinions are first-hand opinions. That's the best part. Good or bad, you have actually experienced what you are talking about.

 

Second, what about diminishing some people's opinions about your opinions? Where does it end?