How The Whiners Ruined Dynamic Dining

[troykahack]

 

So, if RCCL banned Smoking in the Casino, would that be because of Whiners or people with legitimate complaints?

[PokrChick]

So, if RCCL banned Smoking in the Casino, would that be because of Whiners or people with legitimate complaints?

 

That's completely different. What possible health risks are posed by Dynamic Dining?

[BillOh]

That's completely different. What possible health risks are posed by Dynamic Dining?

 

For an unsolicited moderator I would expect you to realize his message wasn't about health risks, it was commentary on the OPs assement that whiners killed DD.

[Pratique]

So, if RCCL banned Smoking in the Casino, would that be because of Whiners or people with legitimate complaints?

 

It depends on how one characterizes "feedback."

[Mel8730]

I know many cruisers were not happy with Dynamic Dining initially, so Royal responded by adding Dynamic Choice. I thought this was the best of both worlds - classic for those who want a set dining time and choice for those who wanted some flexibility. To read that choice is going away as well as the rotating dining rooms is sad to me. I thought one of the goals for Anthem was to provide a different dining experience? Now it appears it will be the same as most of not all of the other ships in the fleet. I am glad that I got to experience Dynamic Choice on my recent cruise. We made reservations in advance, but they were very easy to change once on board or even through the Royal IQ app. We also never waited more than 2 minutes for a table - except in Chops but that's a different story. :D

[troykahack]

For an unsolicited moderator I would expect you to realize his message wasn't about health risks, it was commentary on the OPs assement that whiners killed DD.

 

Thank you.... someone understood my post...

 

I have no opinion on DD, as I have not sailed on a ship that offers it... SO/DW has sailed with ships that offer something similar to DD, but really doesn't have a problem with it... we would have looked forward to trying something new... change is good, sometimes...

 

So, if RCCL banned smoking in the Casino's, will he be because of Whiners or valid complaints?

Edited September 13, 2016 by troykahack

[troykahack]

That's completely different. What possible health risks are posed by Dynamic Dining?

 

Why is it different, if RCCL adopted a policy of NO SMOKING in the Casino?

 

Would it be because of WHINERS as the OP described, obviously an Opinion, or would it be a valid change based on complaints?

 

The OP said it was WHINERS. So is it always WHINERS when change happens?

[Baron Barracuda]

I wonder if DD specifically and the Anthem in general would be more successful in a different market? It seems like the complaints about Anthem aren't limited to just the dining. Is that because passengers are frustrated with dining and it colors their opinions of everything, or is it just that people want something that's familiar and the Anthem isn't? Perhaps since everyone says the ship itself is so different RCI should reposition the ship to a market where there are several Royal Caribbean choices, and place a more traditional ship in the NY market.

 

Since the Anthem was purpose built for DD, I don't think a switch to traditional dining without a major renovation is going to quiet the complaints. I also don't think it's going to dramatically improve service times, since those are a result of current staffing patterns more than the dining format. I guess I'll always wonder if DD could have succeeded if RCI had committed the money and personnel necessary to make it work properly. As it was, Royal Caribbean's pathetic IT system gave DD two strikes against it before they even launched a ship featuring the concept.

 

 

Cindy

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Might have been interesting test to move Anthem to Miami and Freedom or Voyager class to Bayonne for a time and see if ratings improve. In Miami (or PE) Anthem would directly compete against other Royal ships with td and all other things being equal, bookings and reviews would show which dining style customers prefer.

[gaylemh]

Might have been interesting test to move Anthem to Miami and Freedom or Voyager class to Bayonne for a time and see if ratings improve. In Miami (or PE) Anthem would directly compete against other Royal ships with td and all other things being equal, bookings and reviews would show which dining style customers prefer.

 

I don't know where the low ratings are coming from. I didn't hear many complaints when I was on my 7 sailings. In the beginning on Quantum there were a lot of complaints, but from what I hear on board and also online the majority of people that sail love it. If anyone is on the C & A or Anthem group pages on the other site you will see the comments. You're always going to hear more from people that don't like something than from those that do.

[cruise1814]

This whole back and forth about the vocal minority and how the whiners won. Reminds me of when they banded smoking on balconys. A lot of people said oh the loudest whiners got their way. But then the anti smoking group insisted that the cruise lines listened and the smokers only make up a hand full of passengers.

 

Now in the dynamic dinning situation a lot of you insist that it was not Royal Caribbean listening to the guests and that more do want dynamic dinning than not. Funny how when the other sides gets somthing taken away from them they had before and enjoyed during cruise based on possibly lies or extreme exaggeration. They then insist it is not what the majority of passengers wanted.

 

ex.( Oh we could not use our balcony because the smoke from others balcony was just unbearable and had to move one balcony over because yhe smoke never disapated outside on a moving ship) or Dynamic dinning was the worst experiences out of how ever many cruises we got off at the next port or cancelled this many cruises because of it. Anyway maybe Royal Caribbean should stick with what they know and not try a be like Disney cruise line or ncl with dinning.

[Ocean Dancer]

Might have been interesting test to move Anthem to Miami and Freedom or Voyager class to Bayonne for a time and see if ratings improve. In Miami (or PE) Anthem would directly compete against other Royal ships with td and all other things being equal, bookings and reviews would show which dining style customers prefer.

 

Anthem was built for sailing from cool weather ports and not as open feeling as other classes of ships, so Miami or Fla, would not really work.

 

Royal did not give this DD a chance, they made it too hard and confusing for guests to plan, and make reservations. Then reservations were commonly lost and dinner times had to be re-imput and often conflicting with other reservations, like shows etc. It was very frustration for many.

 

The DD Choice , I think was the major problem as you had to know what time you would be hungry months in advance. That was set up to fail before it even started. Then if you did not have a reservation, or it was lost , you had to wait and many were told to eat in the Windjammer. Most don't cruise to eat in the Windjammer for dinner, so I can see where complaints were many and valid ones at that.

 

If they offered My Time Dining where you just showed up or made a reservation by lunch, and kept the DDClassic with the rotations, it could have worked out.

 

They did not have enough waiters/servers and organization to work out the kinks. We are sorry to see it go. Anthem is a wonderful ship for the mid/north Atlantic............just like their IT dept sucks, so do many other areas of corporate. :confused::cool:

[cynt]

I really enjoyed the DD. I think RCCL should have did a case study on this before implementing. They definitely should have put a team on the different Disney cruises to get it right. I believe the 1st mistake was letting everyone select which day to eat where. They should have kept it at 6pm and 830pm like traditional and color coded it. So 6pm blue start at 1 the grande. 6pm red start at 2 the Chinese place. So on so forth. The next day rotate to the next number. One goes to 2. 2 to 3. 3 to 4. 4 to 1.

Man this could have worked with a few tweeks. Glad I got to experience it.

 

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[cynt]

And as long as I'm talking about color coding I think they should do this for the main shows too. You don't have to go at your allotted time but at least you know you're guaranteed a seat if you do. Drop all this making reservations.

 

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[champagne123]

Anthem was built for sailing from cool weather ports and not as open feeling as other classes of ships, so Miami or Fla, would not really work.

 

Royal did not give this DD a chance, they made it too hard and confusing for guests to plan, and make reservations. Then reservations were commonly lost and dinner times had to be re-imput and often conflicting with other reservations, like shows etc. It was very frustration for many.

 

The DD Choice , I think was the major problem as you had to know what time you would be hungry months in advance. That was set up to fail before it even started. Then if you did not have a reservation, or it was lost , you had to wait and many were told to eat in the Windjammer. Most don't cruise to eat in the Windjammer for dinner, so I can see where complaints were many and valid ones at that.

 

If they offered My Time Dining where you just showed up or made a reservation by lunch, and kept the DDClassic with the rotations, it could have worked out.

 

They did not have enough waiters/servers and organization to work out the kinks. We are sorry to see it go. Anthem is a wonderful ship for the mid/north Atlantic............just like their IT dept sucks, so do many other areas of corporate. :confused::cool:

 

You bring up excellent points and you also have me thinking. We were on NCL Breakaway about 3 years ago and we were sooooo impressed with the dining experience. (I am not saying the food was better than RCL..just the system) I think we had 4 or 5 options for dinner. What baffles me, is I do NOT remember making reservations for any of these venues, before or during the cruise. I do remember just going to the podium and being asked if we wanted to sit alone or with a group. Period. I also do not ever remember having to wait for a table. It was the easiest thing in the world. I also remember seeing a line one night at the larger dining room, so we just went to another. It's a shame RCL could not do this. :(:(:(

Edited September 13, 2016 by champagne123
dddd

[The Grumpus]

I don't know where the low ratings are coming from. I didn't hear many complaints when I was on my 7 sailings. In the beginning on Quantum there were a lot of complaints, but from what I hear on board and also online the majority of people that sail love it. If anyone is on the C & A or Anthem group pages on the other site you will see the comments. You're always going to hear more from people that don't like something than from those that do.

Here they are, hidden in plain site: http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/getreviews.cfm?action=ship&ShipID=706

 

The lowest ratings are dining and value for money.

 

I've never really been interested in the ship class from the start but I was thinking about sailing on Anthem in November just to give it a shot. So I read the Cruise Critic reviews of Anthem. And I read the reviews from the first sailing, all the way until about a month ago and the complaints about dining have never changed. It always the same - lost reservation, long waits, poor service and food, can't get a reservation until 9:00 PM. The complaints are consistent through-out the beginning, it's as if RCCL has done nothing to improve the situation - reading the reviews. I value the reviews people make on this website and don't just write them off as "whiners", so when Anthem gets and a 48% "loved it" rating compared to Freedom around 80%, that made my decision for me. It's not like I'm saving any money either, I have to fly to FL and balcony cabins on Freedom were more expensive than Anthem. I think RCCL finally said, enough is enough.

[reallyitsmema]

I really enjoyed the DD. I think RCCL should have did a case study on this before implementing. They definitely should have put a team on the different Disney cruises to get it right. I believe the 1st mistake was letting everyone select which day to eat where. They should have kept it at 6pm and 830pm like traditional and color coded it. So 6pm blue start at 1 the grande. 6pm red start at 2 the Chinese place. So on so forth. The next day rotate to the next number. One goes to 2. 2 to 3. 3 to 4. 4 to 1.

Man this could have worked with a few tweeks. Glad I got to experience it.

 

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You just described Dynamic Dining Classic except it wasn't color coded, people were left their restaurant rotation in their cabin. All this did is tie up large quantities of tables that were left empty when people decided not to eat in the restaurant. This then left fewer table for Dynamic Dining Choice

[DebJ14]

Loved it!! Another reason why I now look first at NCL!!

 

And exactly the reason why we stopped sailing NCL. We hated the Freestyle dining. On ships with My Time or whatever they call it, we still opt for traditional late dining.

[troykahack]

This whole back and forth about the vocal minority and how the whiners won. Reminds me of when they banded smoking on balconys. A lot of people said oh the loudest whiners got their way. But then the anti smoking group insisted that the cruise lines listened and the smokers only make up a hand full of passengers.

 

ex.( Oh we could not use our balcony because the smoke from others balcony was just unbearable and had to move one balcony over because yhe smoke never disapated outside on a moving ship) or Dynamic dinning was the worst experiences out of how ever many cruises we got off at the next port or cancelled this many cruises because of it. Anyway maybe Royal Caribbean should stick with what they know and not try a be like Disney cruise line or ncl with dinning.

 

Huh? Trying to understand your comparison about smoking on balconies. We complained and RCCL listened. It is time to remove smoking from the Casino. Would that be the WHINERS?

 

RCCL does read these posts.....

[DebJ14]

You bring up excellent points and you also have me thinking. We were on NCL Breakaway about 3 years ago and we were sooooo impressed with the dining experience. (I am not saying the food was better than RCL..just the system) I think we had 4 or 5 options for dinner. What baffles me, is I do NOT remember making reservations for any of these venues, before or during the cruise. I do remember just going to the podium and being asked if we wanted to sit alone or with a group. Period. I also do not ever remember having to wait for a table. It was the easiest thing in the world. I also remember seeing a line one night at the larger dining room, so we just went to another. It's a shame RCL could not do this. :(:(:(

 

On the NCL older ships they had an electronic board that showed the waiting times at the various restaurants depending on the size of your party. We would check the board, head to the restaurant showing no wait times and still ended up waiting every time. Gave up on NCL after 3 Freestyle cruises. We were perfectly happy with NCL before Freestyle.

[Biker19]

If they offered My Time Dining where you just showed up or made a reservation by lunch, and kept the DDClassic with the rotations, it could have worked out.

That's what you are going to get under the new system, minus the rotation for Classic (and of course changed menus).

[champagne123]

On the NCL older ships they had an electronic board that showed the waiting times at the various restaurants depending on the size of your party. We would check the board, head to the restaurant showing no wait times and still ended up waiting every time. Gave up on NCL after 3 Freestyle cruises. We were perfectly happy with NCL before Freestyle.

 

Totally respect your opinion Deb, as we only cruised one NCL....and it was a brand new ship when we cruised her. Perhaps we hit it lucky, perhaps they were well versed and knew what they were doing, but we thoroughly enjoyed the Breakaway.

[ebk2795]

We sailed 12 nights on Quantum in April 2015 with dynamic dining. We didn't plan on seeing any shows, except for Mama Mia (an afternoon showing). Therefore, when we made our dining reservations, we did not need to coordinate dining and show times.

 

We did a lot of research on the dining venues on the Quantum after we booked. We decided which restaurants we wanted to vist, and we went ahead and booked them. We left some nights open because we wanted to eat dinner in the Windjammer a few times. There were some venues we preferred over others, but overall, we had no complaints.

 

The three of us were always seated at a table for four. Because of that, we did miss out on the experience of meeting new people at dinner. Did it bother me? No. We found other ways to meet new people.

 

We were on the 3-night Anthem sailing this past March, and we had Dynamic Dining Classic. When we received our restaurant rotation, The Grande was included. Since we had no intention of bringing "dressy" clothes, we decided to skip the dining rooms. We ate in the Windjammer and Solarium Bistro.

 

We are sailing on the Anthem in May 2017, and I was looking forward to the varied menus in each restaurant. I'm sorry to see dynamic dining go.

 

Eileen

 

p.s. now that the menus will be the same in the four restaurants, does this mean that savory bites will now be in the bread basket? :)

[Biker19]

MTD will book in 30 minute intervals from 5 PM to 9:30 PM. They do not have the set up and change over that you have with traditional dining and will turn each table at a rate of 2.25 at least.

 

A certain percentage will be away each evening dining in the Windjammer and specialty.

 

With traditional serving about 1720 per night, that leaves somewhere around 2500 (assume 100% occupancy, though the figure for the fleet is 105% and some sailings it's much higher) for MTD, CK and other venues. Assume 200 for CK. That leaves 2300 in venues that seat 860 if they all try to go to the "MDR". The math might work, but they will have to make some adjustments that were not done under DD (like give away tables when you have no shows).

 

Biker, who is going to start a rumor that Anthem will start assessing a no show penalty for MTD diners.

[reallyitsmema]

Here they are, hidden in plain site: http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/getreviews.cfm?action=ship&ShipID=706

 

The lowest ratings are dining and value for money.

 

I've never really been interested in the ship class from the start but I was thinking about sailing on Anthem in November just to give it a shot. So I read the Cruise Critic reviews of Anthem. And I read the reviews from the first sailing, all the way until about a month ago and the complaints about dining have never changed. It always the same - lost reservation, long waits, poor service and food, can't get a reservation until 9:00 PM. The complaints are consistent through-out the beginning, it's as if RCCL has done nothing to improve the situation - reading the reviews. I value the reviews people make on this website and don't just write them off as "whiners", so when Anthem gets and a 48% "loved it" rating compared to Freedom around 80%, that made my decision for me. It's not like I'm saving any money either, I have to fly to FL and balcony cabins on Freedom were more expensive than Anthem. I think RCCL finally said, enough is enough.

 

We read some of those reviews too, but decided to give it a shot since we could drive to NJ. Reservations beforehand are a pain in the butt because times just aren't available. We didn't have any reservations lost or changed, but we weren't able to reserve a preferred time for 2 of the 5 nights prior to sailing.

 

Once on board, the Royal IQ app did make it simple to get the reservations we wanted. The app still needs some work, but it was somewhat helpful. It would be nice if they actually told you the venue and deck for the shows you have scheduled for instance.

 

We liked 3 of the 4 complimentary restaurants we ate in. Silk was the worse service we have ever experienced and we left after our main courses and had dessert and coffee somewhere else.

 

We would not pick Anthem again, unless it was a cheap cruise, which this was not.

[Turtles06]

On the NCL older ships they had an electronic board that showed the waiting times at the various restaurants depending on the size of your party. We would check the board, head to the restaurant showing no wait times and still ended up waiting every time. Gave up on NCL after 3 Freestyle cruises. We were perfectly happy with NCL before Freestyle.

 

I don't know how recently you've cruised NCL, but we really enjoy Freestyle Dining and think it works great, at least on the ships we've been on (the Jewel class). NCL came up with this concept, purpose-built the ships for it, and does it very well imho. And there are still those electronic boards all around the ships, which are quite handy.

 

My wife and I will typically go the 7pm show, which ends around 7:50pm, and then head to dinner. Rarely have had to wait very long in the MDRs. Sorry Freestyle didn't work for you.

 

I was hoping RCI was going to pull off something similar with DD, but the restaurants on Anthem are too small, and having to make reservations is pretty much the opposite of Freestyle.