ANTHEM - What's going on with DD/Classic Dining?

[jplotts865]

NCL pretty much ruined cruising as far as I'm concerned. Since the line was the one who instituted "free style" dining and the other lines followed the concept has destroyed the ambiance of a true cruse. I will never sail on NCL - and I really dislike they way they have tarted up their ships with those horrible graphics. It was always a wonderful experience to meet new people on a cruise, at the same table every night, and DRESS FOR DINNER. Cruising today is like a trip to a floating mall/amusement park with everything possible designed to take you off the fact that you are at sea, on the ocean. I do not want to have to make reservations for dinner, pay extra for dinner in a "speciality restaurant". Dining in the main dining room used to be a lovely experience and the menu was always, always perfectly fine.

[avalon007]

Very easy to book onboard you can do it from the Royal IQ app or just use your stateroom TV.

 

From what we saw on our Anthem cruise March 7-19 if you want to eat after 7:45 PM you should not have aproblem getting in. Most of the restaurants were only a 1/2 to a 3/4 full and our reservations were for 7:45 PM. Grande was the busiest, so you might want to make reservations for that one.

 

Great - good news! Should suit us fine as we dine mostly late & never very early. We often get caught up chatting to people in the Diamond Lounge at 5pm & before we know it it's 8pm!

 

We are also easy going & not concerned if we don't get our first preference dining option every night - we will be happy enough to dine in another venue & there is always the Windjammer if we miss out altogether - it's not like we will starve.:D

 

We are intending to try all the restaurants & booked the 14 night cruise so we would have more time to do that - although some may still need to be lunch time visits to fit them all in. :)

[cot427]

NCL pretty much ruined cruising as far as I'm concerned. Since the line was the one who instituted "free style" dining and the other lines followed the concept has destroyed the ambiance of a true cruse. I will never sail on NCL - and I really dislike they way they have tarted up their ships with those horrible graphics. It was always a wonderful experience to meet new people on a cruise, at the same table every night, and DRESS FOR DINNER. Cruising today is like a trip to a floating mall/amusement park with everything possible designed to take you off the fact that you are at sea, on the ocean. I do not want to have to make reservations for dinner, pay extra for dinner in a "speciality restaurant". Dining in the main dining room used to be a lovely experience and the menu was always, always perfectly fine.

 

I respect your opinion, but could not disagree more! The service on NCL's free style dining was spectacular, far superior to the rushed and inattentive service I've experienced on RCI lately. The ships are fun...and they are bringing you closer to the ocean...678 Ocean Place has venues OUTSIDE where you can relax and look out at the sea, eating and/or drinking.

 

While there are still ships that haven't transitioned to the "new" cruising concept, eventually all ships will be like this...reservations for things, pay for restaurants, etc. It's just the direction the industry is moving in.

[CruisingChick]

- although some may still need to be lunch time visits to fit them all in. :)

 

Cafe 270 has a nice lunch. Salads, sandwiches, soups. They have the delicious Roast Beef sandwich, Kummlewick. So that's another spot you will have to try and fit in. Good thing you have 14 days.

[CruisingChick]

NCL pretty much ruined cruising as far as I'm concerned. Since the line was the one who instituted "free style" dining and the other lines followed the concept has destroyed the ambiance of a true cruse.

 

I agree. I liked it much better when their were set dining times and everything centered around those dining times.

 

On our Anthem cruise we had to change our dinner reservations on a few nights because then they changed the times of the shows we were scheduled to attend. Too much thinking and paying attention. The reason we fell in love with cruising was because of the fixed dining, having your same table every evening, not having to wait in line to be seated and getting to know our servers and tablemates.

 

Our first cruise the ship was so small that on sea days they have fixed seating breakfast and lunch in the MDR.

 

I'd love to see how that would go over now adays.

[espo56]

Currently on Anthem.

 

After speaking with several Upper Management Personnel and Restaurant Personnel, there are going to be changes made, but everything is still in the working-out the bugs stage. Since there are 4 MDR's involved in the change, it is not an easy process.

 

The 2 dining rooms on Deck 3 will be Traditional Early and Late Seating and the 2 dining rooms on Deck 4 will be MTD.

 

The exact start up date has not been determined, but it appears it may be with those cruises starting on or after April 30th.

 

If I hear of any updates, since we will be here until April 30th, I will certainly post it here.

 

Does this mean the Grande will no longer be formal and will there be no formal nights now. Hiw will this affect those of us who are already booked. I'm assuming those to took classic will get the traditional dining. Is that how it will work.

[Clarea]

Does this mean the Grande will no longer be formal and will there be no formal nights now. Hiw will this affect those of us who are already booked. I'm assuming those to took classic will get the traditional dining. Is that how it will work.

It sounds like the management is still working out all the details of the change and we won't know for a while yet.

[jezthepuff]

I respect your opinion, but could not disagree more! The service on NCL's free style dining was spectacular, far superior to the rushed and inattentive service I've experienced on RCI lately.

 

I disagree as well. The one thing I really liked about NCL is dining when and where I wanted. We eat when we're hungry, not because "it's time." I know some people like that structure, but I don't need it...especially on vacation. Also, I may be involved in some other activity, and I don't want to rush around to make a dinner time.

 

I also don't want to be stuck with a set seating every night. I don't want to sit with a group of people I don't know and make small talk. I know lots of people find that to be fun, but I work with people every day....I'm on vacation to spend time with my husband. And I really dislike having to wait for the members of the table to show up when we're ready to eat.

 

I don't care about getting the same server every night. There are bad servers and good servers. I don't want to be stuck with the same one if they aren't that good. I don't need them to know anything about me. My preferences can change nightly. One night I might want a lemonade. Another, I might want something different. So anticipating needs for me seems kind of presumptuous. And I'd feel badly not drinking the lemonade or whatever knowing that they were trying their best to give me what they thought I wanted.

 

Also, we love the speciality restaurants, especially to get away from the crowds. I don't care that I have to pay more...it's an option.

 

Yes, things are changing, and sometimes change can be uncomfortable. But it doesn't make it any less that a "true cruise."

[brfan]

I don't know how widespread it is, but I read reviews mentioning that the wait staff is focusing on the classic passengers, while the service is slow to non existent for the choice folks. Could the issue be that the food is prepped and served all at once banquet style to meet the need of the classic seating times ... but the various dynamic plating and serving times are throwing things out of whack?

 

If that's the case, then it should be a staffing and prep issue to solve and will still not address the capacity issue. Of course if the 4 dining rooms share 2 kitchen / prep areas, maybe the 2 x 2 plan could help things

 

I'm not sure why Royal is having the wait staff that looks after the classic diners also looking after the choice diners. In my opinion the choice diners should have different waiters. The classic wait staff moves with their guests to each of the restaurants. Now I can understand if short staffed they could ask a classic waiter to assist the choice waiter whenever he/she has free time. I'm wondering if they are still not staffed up enough on the Anthem and that's causing the issues. If that's the case those issues probably won't be going away if they change back to traditional/MTD.

[gaylemh]

Not sure what the problem is.

 

Our dinner reservations were for 7:45 PM. There were always empty tables and some of the times the restaurants were only 3/4 to a half full.

 

I went to Silk on our cruise and I don't think more than 25% of the tables were taken. Last night in AI it was the same. Both times were at 7.

 

They could easily turn over the tables 3 times in MTD. We were finished in less than 75 minutes.

 

Maybe they will make the whole ship MTD. Just making a dining time reservation, or just showing up, and when you arrive you will be seated in which ever restaurant there is room, but having the same menu in each restaurant.

[beachnative]

I'm not sure why Royal is having the wait staff that looks after the classic diners also looking after the choice diners. In my opinion the choice diners should have different waiters. The classic wait staff moves with their guests to each of the restaurants. Now I can understand if short staffed they could ask a classic waiter to assist the choice waiter whenever he/she has free time. I'm wondering if they are still not staffed up enough on the Anthem and that's causing the issues. If that's the case those issues probably won't be going away if they change back to traditional/MTD.

 

With three ships being introduced into the fleet at basically the same time (Ovation-huge, Harmony-huge, Empress-small) staffing is a real issue. These ships require that large numbers of crew be pulled from existing ships and sent to the new-builds. Their replacements will be many new (think unseasoned) crew members who will be faced with a steep learning curve.

[CruisingChick]

but having the same menu in each restaurant.

 

Question is will they keep the Anthem menus or adopt the old RCCL menus?

 

We really liked the new Anthem dinner menus. Even Silk. The hibatchi steak and the pepper steak entrees were to die for. Loved the spring rolls and the soups were pretty good also. Only think I didn't like at Silk were the desserts so I got chocolate ice cream.

[gaylemh]

All my reservations were between 7 and 7:30. There were no lines and we were finished in about 75 minutes. The longest, a couple of times, was 90. I think it was because we dined between the early and late seatings. The early was finished and the late hadn't arrived yet.

[Clarea]

Question is will they keep the Anthem menus or adopt the old RCCL menus?....

Agree, that is the biggest deal. It would be great if they could merge the separate Anthem menus into a series of daily menus for all the free restaurants.

[gaylemh]

Question is will they keep the Anthem menus or adopt the old RCCL menus?

 

We really liked the new Anthem dinner menus. Even Silk. The hibatchi steak and the pepper steak entrees were to die for. Loved the spring rolls and the soups were pretty good also. Only think I didn't like at Silk were the desserts so I got chocolate ice cream.

 

I hope they don't go with the same menu as on other ships. The food was a big let down when I sailed on Liberty, after having sailed on Quantum.

 

I was told on our 3/7 cruise that the heads of corporate dining were there trying out different menu items for the new menus on Anthem. There were many changes on the menus from just my cruise in January to the cruise in March.

[cot427]

Question is will they keep the Anthem menus or adopt the old RCCL menus?

 

We really liked the new Anthem dinner menus. Even Silk. The hibatchi steak and the pepper steak entrees were to die for. Loved the spring rolls and the soups were pretty good also. Only think I didn't like at Silk were the desserts so I got chocolate ice cream.

 

I would guess/hope they keep the current menus, just instead of having them in one restaurant, they would have one each night in the traditional room. I think it would be too much logistically, since they already source ingredients for the new menu. But you never know what they have up their sleeve!

[Clarea]

I hope they don't go with the same menu as on other ships. ...

Totally agree, it would be a shame to lose all those interesting entrees they offer now.

[Cuizer2]

Hi cruisers,

Keep reading different stories about the Dining on Anthem. Some say it should all go Dynamic, as is, making reservations for restaurant and time of your choice. That would be the gest. Different restaurants, trying different menu's.

 

I personally think DD is the way of the future. Mixing it with Classic, just doesn't seem to work. Classic folks could still choose their 5:30 or whatever time as they do for classic. It would prevent much confusion all around.

 

Safe travels all.

 

PS I appreciate feedback and opinions, just as long as it's kept civil.

Thanks.

:-)

 

Personally I've been on NCL for 21 nights and I don't like Freestyle. I much prefer the traditional two seating system. If you make reservations before you board the ship, then you might as well just stick with the traditional two seating system. I've twice tried the flexible dining when cruising with friends that I am not sharing a cabin with and too much time is spent trying to get everyone to agree on when and where to eat.

 

The big advantage of the traditional two seating system is that you know when and where you are going to eat. It is easy to plan your schedule around that. Also, the shows are scheduled around the two seating times. So, if you want to go to the show, you have to choose one of the two traditional dining times anyway.

[CruisingChick]

I hope they don't go with the same menu as on other ships. The food was a big let down when I sailed on Liberty, after having sailed on Quantum.

 

I was told on our 3/7 cruise that the heads of corporate dining were there trying out different menu items for the new menus on Anthem. There were many changes on the menus from just my cruise in January to the cruise in March.

 

I thought the dinner menus on our 3/7 cruise were pretty good. Only disappointment was they did not have pot stickers in Silk for the entire cruise. They told us they'd have them on day 13 - ha ha ha.

[hansolosmom]

I respect your opinion, but could not disagree more! The service on NCL's free style dining was spectacular, far superior to the rushed and inattentive service I've experienced on RCI lately. The ships are fun...and they are bringing you closer to the ocean...678 Ocean Place has venues OUTSIDE where you can relax and look out at the sea, eating and/or drinking.

 

While there are still ships that haven't transitioned to the "new" cruising concept, eventually all ships will be like this...reservations for things, pay for restaurants, etc. It's just the direction the industry is moving in.

 

We were just on Breakaway in March and the service was awful.

Yes the boardwalk concept is great with the outside seating, we enjoyed the outside part of both the martini and whiskey bars, but the service in the dining rooms was horrible.

[ocav]

Maybe people who "like traditional dining and don't want anything else" should stop booking Q Class ships.

 

 

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[Cuizer2]

Maybe people who "like traditional dining and don't want anything else" should stop booking Q Class ships.

 

 

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Maybe all the ships should change to DD because you like it better.

[ocav]

Maybe all the ships should change to DD because you like it better.

 

 

 

That's very different logic.

 

What they are effectively doing is going to Chipotle and asking for a Big Mac, I wouldn't expect Chipotle to then be like "we are doing this all wrong, let's start making Big Macs" do you.

 

Like I don't go on Allure and expect them to make all 3 decks my time dining because I prefer it

Edited March 30, 2016 by ocav

[cruisenfever]

Greetings again from Anthem. We have eaten in Silk and American Icon and have had wonderful food and service. Tonight we go to Chic. We are doing DD Choice and have not had a problem.

 

We had dinner in Coastal Kitchen the first night and had the Filet Mignon and it was absolutely wonderful. Could cut it with a fork it was so tender.

[tserface]

That actually makes a lot of sense (not so much from the junk food example, but that the ships could be different). We are looking forward to going on the Anthem in just over a month and a lot of it is the anticipation of something new. It's nice that RCI provides different kinds of experiences on different ships going different places at different times from different ports. We have lots of choices.

 

If all I could get in life were Big Macs, well... ewwwwww.

 

Tom

 

That's very different logic.

 

What they are effectively doing is going to Chipotle and asking for a Big Mac, I wouldn't expect Chipotle to then be like "we are doing this all wrong, let's start making Big Macs" do you.

 

Like I don't go on Allure and expect them to make all 3 decks my time dining because I prefer it