Rotational Dining coming to Quantum

[OfTheSeasCruiser]

Hey mods, can we change the thread title to reflect what is actually happening?

 

It will be called Classic not Rotational.

 

Biker, who hopes we can limit the number of threads where all this info will be discussed.

 

Agreed. I thought about how the thread title needed to be changed as soon as the video about the "Classic" option was posted.

Edited February 1, 2015 by OfTheSeasCruiser

[BILLP1]

No wonder the stocks down. Watched the CEO last week on CNBC discuss the bad earnings but said that the feedback on the Quantum has been very positive. Really?

[Biker19]

Well hopefully that will help balance the amount of people who chose regular DD versus the Classic option. For example, someone not wanting to eat at a formal venue should simply choose regular DD, and the same for someone who does not want to eat in Silk (or AI, or Chic).

I can see the thread title now - I chose Classic dining but they won't allow me to change reservations

 

Biker, who has a feeling Classic and DD is an either/or situation - once you choose Classic you can't make any other reservations - not even on the ship.

[3dog]

Just adding the option for Classic in their IT system will take quite some time.

 

:eek:

 

Probably more wishful thinking on my part, but considering a fair number of complaints over the years (not just dining) can all be traced back to poor IT implementation, that they might actually put an effort into at least investigating these issues.

[The Sunset Glow]

So now that I've made it to the end the original post seems to be really inaccurate. :(

 

What was described in the video makes sense and I wouldn't mind it. As long as I'm not forced into classic I'll be ok:D

[internetwhiz]

No wonder the stocks down. Watched the CEO last week on CNBC discuss the bad earnings but said that the feedback on the Quantum has been very positive. Really?

 

 

All I can say is sell now. Adam G sold a bunch more of his about a month ago.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[3dog]

but said that the feedback on the Quantum has been very positive. Really?

 

In fairness, the ship itself is getting decent reviews. It is more like anything that needed a computer by either staff or guest to fully use has been problematic (e.g. dining).

[kruzerci]

In fairness, the ship itself is getting decent reviews. It is more like anything that needed a computer by either staff or guest to fully use has been problematic (e.g. dining).

 

 

Yeah but compared to the rest of the fleet on cruise critic, the reviews on Quantum are alarming at best.

 

I take member reviews with a grain of salt, however when you are seeing just 39% of reviewers 'loving' the ship compared to most Royal Caribbean ships being in the 80-90's, something is seriously wrong.

 

Just saying. There's surely great aspects of the ship, but there are far too many failures.

[P&C4/16/67]

At 110 it is definitely smaller.

 

With 4 restaurants each capable of seating 430 guests that is 1720 guests. Early and late seating is 3440 guests. Quantum sails with 4180 at double and 4900 at max.

 

There is no way that they can be having the rotational dining available for every seat in the dining rooms.

 

As I mentioned in an earlier post maybe they will make a certain number of tables available for rotational dining. This will appeal to those that want the same waiters every night yet leave the flexibility in booking for those that don't mind having different waiters and doing a little bit more planning.

 

All they have to do is rotate 1000 pax a night to the Open Seating Buffet :D

 

DH hasn't been very enthused about this class of ship and I think this will put the nail in the coffin.:(

[Ourusualbeach]

One issue that they will need to address is the lack of seats available in the 4 restaurants.

 

There are only 1740 seats (per sitting) available at the complimentary restaurants. The ship holds between 4200 and 4800 guests. There were already issues with some line ups.

 

Now that they will have a portion (say 50%) set aside for classic dining they need to have a system in place to ensure that they can fill that assigned classic dining seat if that person chooses to eat at a specialty restaurant or the WJ.

 

It should be fairly easy to determine that a guest doing Classic dining has reserved a spot at a specialty restaurant and then know that they can use their table to seat other regular DD guests.

 

What will be hard to monitor is those guests that decide to eat at the WJ or other free dining option. I would think that they need to put a time limit on showing up for your table.

 

If you are not at your assigned table within 20 minutes of your assigned dining time then your table could be, if necessary, be reassigned to someone showing up for DD.

 

All I know is that I can foresee lineups starting if tables reserved by Classic Dining guests sit empty. They are dining elsewhere.

Edited February 1, 2015 by Ourusualbeach

[Elizanessie]

The OP inferred it was trade marketing manager, Vicki Freed that made the announcement. It was interestingly the new CEO and President, Michael Bayley.

 

The OP stated she had said DD "will be gone" in a couple of months.

 

The OP stated that they named the program would be named in caps, Rotational Dining and did not refer to the 'Classic Option'

 

I guess we heard the cheers he or she heard.

 

I did not hear the part about the roll-out on Anthem as stated by the OP, but that would make sense.

 

While I do not share the anger or frustration of RCI presenting new information at a 'trade' event, I just wish these 'Professional Travel Planners' actually listened to what was being said.

 

We only saw 2 minutes of video so we don't know who all said what, perhaps Vicki discussed it more after the video was taken. :confused:

 

Michael did say with Classic "the guests will rotate through the 4 dining rooms" so I am guessing that is where "rotation" became a part of the title of this thread.

 

Also Michael did say it was going to be introduced on Anthem.

 

I for one would like to thank the OP for starting this thread, for me personally it has given me the lift I needed to be excited about going back on a RCCL after 11/2 Maiden Voyage of Quantum of the Seas.

 

RCCL listened, Michael Bayley listened, so thank you RCCL.

[Ourusualbeach]

Yeah but compared to the rest of the fleet on cruise critic, the reviews on Quantum are alarming at best.

.

 

What would be interesting to see is the ratings of only the reviews from Jan 1 of this year.

[3dog]

Just saying. There's surely great aspects of the ship, but there are far too many failures.

 

Agreed, but from what I have read (disclaimer: I haven't personally experienced Quantum), these failures are not an endemic problem with the ship, but one of a problematic implementation that can be fixed.

 

So focusing on fixing these problems and making sure they don't appear on other Quantum class ships (or any class ship for that matter), and then the reviews return to more acceptable levels (they already seem to be rising).

Edited February 1, 2015 by 3dog

[Ourusualbeach]

We only saw 2 minutes of video so we don't know who all said what, perhaps Vicki discussed it more after the video was taken. :confused:

 

Michael did say with Classic "the guests will rotate through the 4 dining rooms" so I am guessing that is where "rotation" became a part of the title of this thread.

 

Also Michael did say it was going to be introduced on Anthem.

 

I for one would like to thank the OP for starting this thread, for me personally it has given me the lift I needed to be excited about going back on a RCCL after 11/2 Maiden Voyage of Quantum of the Seas.

 

RCCL listened, Michael Bayley listened, so thank you RCCL.

 

 

So far I feel that he has made a difference. Right after he took over, implementation of DD on Oasis and Allure was postponed and now this.

 

My own feeling is that Royal went far too long without someone firmly in control and you had too many VP's trying to put their stamp on the brand without regard for the consequences.

[MADflyer]

:eek:

 

Probably more wishful thinking on my part, but considering a fair number of complaints over the years (not just dining) can all be traced back to poor IT implementation, that they might actually put an effort into at least investigating these issues.

 

She was the 'Ship of the Year' for 2014 on the very site where we are having this discussion, in fact.

 

I think you are exactly right about the IT issue. It was more how they handled it than the actual issues.

 

I was on both the Norwegian Getaway maiden voyage and the Quantum of the Seas and both had some IT issues.

 

The fact that the NCL app did not work on Getaway until several weeks later when they got her to the homeport of Miami, did not really make a big deal as there was no 'hype' about their technology prior to sailing.

 

The RCI mistake was releasing the worlds first 'smart ship' and all the hype and how revolutionary it was going to be and then not delivering on that. This created dissatisfaction, when in fact the product was pretty good.

[OfTheSeasCruiser]

We only saw 2 minutes of video so we don't know who all said what, perhaps Vicki discussed it more after the video was taken. :confused:

 

Michael did say with Classic "the guests will rotate through the 4 dining rooms" so I am guessing that is where "rotation" became a part of the title of this thread.

 

Also Michael did say it was going to be introduced on Anthem.

 

I for one would like to thank the OP for starting this thread, for me personally it has given me the lift I needed to be excited about going back on a RCCL after 11/2 Maiden Voyage of Quantum of the Seas.

 

RCCL listened, Michael Bayley listened, so thank you RCCL.

 

I also feel that Michael Bayley is listening to guests and doing a very nice job, and I thank him and Royal Caribbean for that. This announcement got me excited about the future of RCI...For awhile, I was a little worried that my cruising days with RCI were going to end sooner rather than later.

[beachnative]

What would be interesting to see is the ratings of only the reviews from Jan 1 of this year.

 

This needs to be repeated:

 

IT WOULD BE INTERESTING TO SEE THE RATINGS USING ONLY REVIEWS SINCE JANUARY 1.

 

Many kinks were resolved in December and early January and the massive complaining of November and December has given way to mostly positive reviews. The early complaints are now "old news".

Edited February 1, 2015 by beachnative

[nolesrule]

All I can say is sell now. Adam G sold a bunch more of his about a month ago.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Sales of stock by corporate officers and directors is how they turn much of their compensation into real money. I wouldn't necessarily read anything into it.

[internetwhiz]

Sales of stock by corporate officers and directors is how they turn much of their compensation into real money. I wouldn't necessarily read anything into it.

 

 

Oh I know, just odd timing. He has plenty more. Lol

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[kruzerci]

This needs to be repeated:

 

IT WOULD BE INTERESTING TO SEE THE RATINGS USING ONLY REVIEWS SINCE JANUARY 1.

 

Many kinks were resolved in December and early January and the massive complaining of November and December has given way to mostly positive reviews. The early complaints are now "old news".

 

 

You're exactly right. The average of more recent reviews are more along the lines of mediocre than terrible :rolleyes:. You've made it abundantly clear you had great experiences on Quantum. That doesn't discount the masses of disappointed passengers.

[MADflyer]

We only saw 2 minutes of video so we don't know who all said what, perhaps Vicki discussed it more after the video was taken. :confused:

 

Michael did say with Classic "the guests will rotate through the 4 dining rooms" so I am guessing that is where "rotation" became a part of the title of this thread.

 

Also Michael did say it was going to be introduced on Anthem.

 

I for one would like to thank the OP for starting this thread, for me personally it has given me the lift I needed to be excited about going back on a RCCL after 11/2 Maiden Voyage of Quantum of the Seas.

 

RCCL listened, Michael Bayley listened, so thank you RCCL.

 

I am thankful to any productive discussion on CC and am also thankful for this thread. It raised some interesting points.

 

I was wondering the same thing about Vicki Freed actually and wondered what came later to inspire the comment that DD was being replaced entirely, as that is not what we heard on the video posted here. I just saw her smiling and eagerly supporting her new boss.

 

I just did not hear him say that it would be introduced on Anthem as I stated. That still sounds like a good idea.

 

I was already fully aware that RCI was listening and have followed all the advancements on Quantum from week to week. I am also thankful that they continue to listen to their customers.

 

In the only post I made on this thread prior to the 'video' being posted, I simply stated that I thought, "There is more to come on the issue" as I knew that the stated rotational system would create other problems.

 

I certainly do not want 'dissatisfied' traditionalists on my next sailing and I am glad they are taking steps to make them happy. It was somewhat of an easy fix though and I had actually wondered why they did not have this option right from the start.

 

It does seem to come down to the technology and that is too bad.

Edited February 1, 2015 by MADflyer

[Ourusualbeach]

You're exactly right. The average of more recent reviews are more along the lines of mediocre than terrible :rolleyes:. You've made it abundantly clear you had great experiences on Quantum. That doesn't discount the masses of disappointed passengers.

 

So instead of talking in generalities here are the results of the reviews only for January.

 

22 people rated the ship a 5

7 people rated the ship a 4

10 people rated the ship a 3

11 people rated the ship a 2

8 people rated the ship a 1

 

Not close to being great BUT it is certainly improving and 50% are rating the ship a 4 or better.

 

They have a long way to go but they have also come a long way.

 

I would not at all be surprised to see February's numbers even better.

[JezzaC]

Great news! Wish that video was published earlier. Sounds good - DD is still available and Classic one is option for more traditional taste. I bet there will be most 8 tops on classic side - more people on smaller space.

Edited February 1, 2015 by JezzaC

[kruzerci]

So instead of talking in generalities here are the results of the reviews only for January.

 

 

 

22 people rated the ship a 5

 

7 people rated the ship a 4

 

10 people rated the ship a 3

 

11 people rated the ship a 2

 

8 people rated the ship a 1

 

 

 

Not close to being great BUT it is certainly improving and 50% are rating the ship a 4 or better.

 

 

 

So... mediocre.

[Elizanessie]

When Michael was talking about Classic "by the time Anthem gets to the US it will be fully beautifully working" ...really Michael that is a wow slap in the face for guests who will be on the ship in Europe before she gets to the US.