Appalling Brilliance

[cyukuk]

Hi

We have just cruised Trans Atlantic with Brilliance, she is to drydock for three weeks then resume cruising Europe. The Dining experience on board was absolutely dreadful. RCCL had taken half of the Dining Room capacity , the whole of deck 4, for "My Time Dining" . Problem was that nobody wanted to "My Time Dine" !!. On the first evening, Main Seating, dozens and dozens of passengers found that although they had been allocated that Seating there were no tables for them. On their Sea Pass cards the tables were shown as 000, so we had one line going into the Dining room and another lining up to lynch the M' D. I understand it was almost as bad on the Late seating. The majority of these disfranchised passengers were forced to use either the Windjammer or pay to use Chops or Portofino's.

Because Dining space had been so limited it was extremely difficult to get a reservation in any of the Specialist resturants. I have no doubt that some "bean counter" in Miami is looking at this and thinking what a lovely way to get passengers to pay for their food !!!

 

RCCL will have us believe that "My Time" is being tried out on selected ships prior to be being introduced fleet wide, if that is the case this Diam. Plus sailor is jumping ship (Lines). The bad feeling engendered permeated the whole ship, staff who would normally be polite and helpful became absolutely the opposite !!

 

The overiding impression of this Cruise was that it was being operated purely for the convenience of RCCL and not the passengers. We were told that the reason for changing the Itenerary from Falmouth to Plymouth was to save us having to tender ashore, except that is just what we did !!! AND of course, situation normal, it took the Captain by surprise that he had passengers on board who wanted to go ashore. Long lines to board ships lifeboats etc etc .

 

We have cruised Brilliance before but never with an experience such as this; RCCL, the Captain and the Dining room co-ordinator should be ashamed of themselves.

 

Luv

Cy

[coxswain]

I would write to RCCL - that sounds awful !!

 

 

 

 

jj....

[CruzinSuz]

I'm so sorry to hear that. Brilliance is my favorite ship! I hope they stick with regular dining times too....as another Diamond Plus sailor, I would hate to have to change my cruise line.

[RevSmith]

although I am one of those people who loves the idea of my time dinning...I could not agree with you more...The Radiance class ships and the ones built before that are NOT the ships you can do this with any success...RCI needs to set aside an extra dinning area for my time dinning...or only offer it on Freedom class and above....I would like to see more restaurants and more choices...but to try my time on a Radiance ship...they should know better!

[grandmato4]

So sorry to hear of the poor dining experience. I would not be happy either. I have a friend that was on that sailing and is now spending 3 days in London before returning to the US. How was your weather crossing the Atlantic ?

[cyukuk]

The weather was excellent, we did the Great Circle route which swings pretty far North but had following winds and seas the whole way.

 

I haven't , I hope , laboured the points but other things were, no greetings folder from the Conciege and that apparently was my fault for only booking 8 months in advance !!

 

The contrast between this ship and others in the Fleet was so great that I kept looking around for the TV cameras !! I have two more booked on Jewel and Independance and then I am seriously seaching around for a RCCL alternative. Anybody got a recomendation ???

 

Luv

Cy

[Bakincakes]

The weather was excellent, we did the Great Circle route which swings pretty far North but had following winds and seas the whole way.

 

I haven't , I hope , laboured the points but other things were, no greetings folder from the Conciege and that apparently was my fault for only booking 8 months in advance !!

 

The contrast between this ship and others in the Fleet was so great that I kept looking around for the TV cameras !! I have two more booked on Jewel and Independance and then I am seriously seaching around for a RCCL alternative. Anybody got a recomendation ???

 

Luv

Cy

 

Sorry you had such a horrible trip.:(

[luvscruising2007]

I am sorry you had such a bad experience on Brilliance. We did the 11 night Panama Canal on Brilliance in January and had a wonderful time. Our dining experience was superb with great service and good food. That, was of course, traditional dining. I don't understand why they chose deck 4 for my time dining. It would make more sense to chose deck 5 as it is smaller. It sounds as if there was a real snafu in the coordination of the table assignments. Hopefully they will correct the problem soon.:confused:

[Cruise Cat]

I hope they get this worked out before August.

[2boyzmom]

I had a similar experience on Princess. They just couldn't handle the "anytime dining". I hope like another poster said that they just keep this on the freedom class ships.

[clcurry]

So sorry to hear about your unfortunate dining experience.

 

I would think that if no one, or very few, were using the My Time Dining, that the Maitre D would make the executive decision to free up some of those spots for traditional seating. It sounds like a mess and I am sorry this happened to you. :(

 

I would definitely write to RCCL.

[househunter]

I am a little confused as to why passengers were "forced" to use the Windjammer or Chops or Portofinino? Why didn't they just make a reservation for the time they wanted in the anytime dining room?

 

I know this is a new system for RCI, I for one am going to try it on our next cruise. I just don't think that people had to eat in the Windjammer, they could have made a standing reservation in anytime and it would have been the same as traditional. Am I missing something?:confused:

[PaulS]

We were on the last Panama Canal cruise before the transatlantic and used the MyTime dining. Fortunately, the system was working very well and we had a very enjoyable dining experience. We were told that they were going to expand the MyTime to the entire balcony level for the transatlantic because they expected it to be very popular for the Mediterranean sailings. I'm sorry things went badly for you.

[Lazz]

Okay, now you have me worried! I am going on Freedom this June and I just got an E Mail saying they were going to this My Time Dinning. I DO NOT WANT IT! That is one of the reasons I do not sail NCL any more. I have main seating, so what can I do to make sure I have a table for the entire cruise?

[ronandannette]

I am a little confused as to why passengers were "forced" to use the Windjammer or Chops or Portofinino? Why didn't they just make a reservation for the time they wanted in the anytime dining room?

 

I know this is a new system for RCI, I for one am going to try it on our next cruise. I just don't think that people had to eat in the Windjammer, they could have made a standing reservation in anytime and it would have been the same as traditional. Am I missing something?:confused:

 

I was in the process of asking the very same question. I hope the OP will help us understand his comments a little more clearly.

 

As for RCCL using this as an approach to compel people into specialty dining, I say maybe, maybe not. RCCL is nowhere near equipped to handle it if everyone did start using the pay venues three or four times per cruise. On the Mariner, I think both Chops and Portofino seated about 100 guests at a time and could not possibly have turned over tables more than 3 times a night at best. Flat out at full capacity this would still leave MANY people clamoring for reservations and not being able to get them; risking the great disgruntlement you read about so often on the NCL boards. BTW, NCL doesn't force you into pay-dining by limiting the access to the free venues; in our experience the food in them is just SO much inferior you have to go "specialty" to get a decent meal...

 

Just some food for thought...:rolleyes:

 

Happy Sails,

 

Annette

[Fran Harp]

Hi

We have just cruised Trans Atlantic with Brilliance, she is to drydock for three weeks then resume cruising Europe. The Dining experience on board was absolutely dreadful. RCCL had taken half of the Dining Room capacity , the whole of deck 4, for "My Time Dining" . Problem was that nobody wanted to "My Time Dine" !!. On the first evening, Main Seating, dozens and dozens of passengers found that although they had been allocated that Seating there were no tables for them. On their Sea Pass cards the tables were shown as 000, so we had one line going into the Dining room and another lining up to lynch the M' D. I understand it was almost as bad on the Late seating. The majority of these disfranchised passengers were forced to use either the Windjammer or pay to use Chops or Portofino's.

Because Dining space had been so limited it was extremely difficult to get a reservation in any of the Specialist resturants. I have no doubt that some "bean counter" in Miami is looking at this and thinking what a lovely way to get passengers to pay for their food !!!

 

RCCL will have us believe that "My Time" is being tried out on selected ships prior to be being introduced fleet wide, if that is the case this Diam. Plus sailor is jumping ship (Lines). The bad feeling engendered permeated the whole ship, staff who would normally be polite and helpful became absolutely the opposite !!

 

The overiding impression of this Cruise was that it was being operated purely for the convenience of RCCL and not the passengers. We were told that the reason for changing the Itenerary from Falmouth to Plymouth was to save us having to tender ashore, except that is just what we did !!! AND of course, situation normal, it took the Captain by surprise that he had passengers on board who wanted to go ashore. Long lines to board ships lifeboats etc etc .

 

We have cruised Brilliance before but never with an experience such as this; RCCL, the Captain and the Dining room co-ordinator should be ashamed of themselves.

 

Luv

Cy

 

We have cruised Brilliance before too - just before Christmas, and it wasn't anything like this. I think, in all fairness, though - events prior to that took up a lot of time - large drug bust in Panama, a couple of emergencies between Miami and King's Wharf.

 

As to the difference between Falmouth and Plymouth - the harbour in Plymouth is more sheltered than Falmouth, making the tender ride a little less rocky. I've heard from friends who were onboard, who said they were quite happy to go in to Plymouth instead of Falmouth because the tender rise was relatively smooth.

 

Captain Sundet has left RCI, as of today I believe, as have other captains - to take a job at home. Suffice it to say RCI is losing a lot of its better crew - look for more departures in the future. Most of them simply cannot afford to live in European countries with the dollar exchange the way it is. Morale is low, and I am fairly sure that morale was low on the ship in the last days. These *are* people after all, and they have lives outside our personal enjoyment. Give them a break or two.

 

But, I would certainly write to RCI about the dining experience - in fact, I did write to them last year suggesting it was not going to be an overwhelming success. They replied they were "testing it out". So they need to know the test didn't work.

 

Fran in Toronto

[RetireeWannabee]

I am a little confused as to why passengers were "forced" to use the Windjammer or Chops or Portofinino? Why didn't they just make a reservation for the time they wanted in the anytime dining room?

 

I know this is a new system for RCI, I for one am going to try it on our next cruise. I just don't think that people had to eat in the Windjammer, they could have made a standing reservation in anytime and it would have been the same as traditional. Am I missing something?:confused:

That's what I was wondering, too!!! If they were declared My Time Diners, then, so be it - declare Your Time. they weren't forced to do anything. there were seats allocated to them.

[Sue L]

That's what I was wondering, too!!! If they were declared My Time Diners, then, so be it - declare Your Time. they weren't forced to do anything. there were seats allocated to them.

 

 

Also, this was not the first sailing with "My Time dining" far from it and no one on the roll call mentioned anything except having a wonderful cruise.

 

I could be totally wrong but something seems off about the story as I think we would have heard way more bad reports, then just this one. :rolleyes:

[Silvery Seas Cruiser]

My concern about My Time Dining on Radiance Class ships is that they do not have enough other dining venues to offer. NCL has several choices, pay, no-pay and premium to choose from.

 

I really hope Independence of the Seas is not going to do that to us. Another concern is that you don't seem to be able to choose whether you do the My Time or traditional dining. I would be especially upset if we didn't even have a choice because then it isn't really My Time, it is RCCI Time.

[lettienets]

I have no desire for anytime dining either but the cruise lines don't care what you want. They care about cutting cost. Holland America has been introducing anytime dining over the past few months and despite the complaints of most traditional diners, who enjoy fixed dining and enjoy getting to know their table mates, they are forced into anytime dining. When you go to book, even a year ahead you are put on a waiting list for fixed dining. They won't even give you a choice except waiting list. I wrote their company too and got the brush off, like oh we thought you would like this new style. I booked the Rotterdam a year in advance before this new system came in and had guaranteed traditional main and yet when I got there I was on anytime dining and had to fight and argue to get traditional. I was not happy. It was a 20 day cruise. I don't want to eat with different people every night for dinner. I do that all day for breakfast and lunch. I enjoy the same group, you feel like the relatives by the end of the cruise.

[SomeBeach]

We have cruised Brilliance before too - just before Christmas, and it wasn't anything like this. I think, in all fairness, though - events prior to that took up a lot of time - large drug bust in Panama, a couple of emergencies between Miami and King's Wharf.

 

As to the difference between Falmouth and Plymouth - the harbour in Plymouth is more sheltered than Falmouth, making the tender ride a little less rocky. I've heard from friends who were onboard, who said they were quite happy to go in to Plymouth instead of Falmouth because the tender rise was relatively smooth.

 

Captain Sundet has left RCI, as of today I believe, as have other captains - to take a job at home. Suffice it to say RCI is losing a lot of its better crew - look for more departures in the future. Most of them simply cannot afford to live in European countries with the dollar exchange the way it is. Morale is low, and I am fairly sure that morale was low on the ship in the last days. These *are* people after all, and they have lives outside our personal enjoyment. Give them a break or two.

 

But, I would certainly write to RCI about the dining experience - in fact, I did write to them last year suggesting it was not going to be an overwhelming success. They replied they were "testing it out". So they need to know the test didn't work.

 

Fran in Toronto

 

Fran, very nicely explained. I believe there is more behind these Captains leaving than the dollar exchange. I don't believe we will find out what more is going on. Does anyone know if this is happening on other lines?

I was on Freedom in Jan. I had an assigned seating but an option was available for the ATD. It was still early in the test time I guess.

I would think if it has gone as badly as posted here, RCI may want to rethink this thing. Otherwise, I would make sure, through RCI or your TA that you have your choice checked again and then check when boarding.

[Lazz]

I have no desire for anytime dining either but the cruise lines don't care what you want. They care about cutting cost. Holland America has been introducing anytime dining over the past few months and despite the complaints of most traditional diners, who enjoy fixed dining and enjoy getting to know their table mates, they are forced into anytime dining. When you go to book, even a year ahead you are put on a waiting list for fixed dining. They won't even give you a choice except waiting list. I wrote their company too and got the brush off, like oh we thought you would like this new style. I booked the Rotterdam a year in advance before this new system came in and had guaranteed traditional main and yet when I got there I was on anytime dining and had to fight and argue to get traditional. I was not happy. It was a 20 day cruise. I don't want to eat with different people every night for dinner. I do that all day for breakfast and lunch. I enjoy the same group, you feel like the relatives by the end of the cruise.

 

On RCCL web site, they list my dinning as "Main Seating, No waitlist." Does this mean I will be assigned a talble?

[Sue L]

On RCCL web site, they list my dinning as "Main Seating, No waitlist." Does this mean I will be assigned a talble?

 

 

Are you talking about on the Brilliance? If not what ship? They are only trying it on a few not fleet wide at this point. Also for anytime dining you MUST pre pay your tips, so don't do it. But you should be on traditional dining with the listing you have on your reservation.

[lettienets]

On RCCL web site, they list my dinning as "Main Seating, No waitlist." Does this mean I will be assigned a talble?

 

I don't know. Phone them for clarification for the cruise you want. When I was on Voyager of the Seas in Dec 2008, the Capt said although they are experimenting with this ATD it can't happen on all ships logistically.

It seems to me with NCL, Princess and now Holland America and some RCI ships this is the new trend. Don't tell me most people want it. I find that hard to believe. It must have something to do with them saving money. And boy, do they watch where you eat on HAL - you have to give your cabin number at the door if you are on as you wish and they check the computer that you aren't jumoing from traditional to AYWD. In the Lido, it is not really an alternative casual buffet either. You order an entre from a guy at a podium who also asks for your stateroom number. No picking up what you want.

[kborth]

We were on Brilliance in January and everything was great. I was thinking about Europe and Brilliance but not now. We were on Princess anytime dining and hated it. Snooty maitre di Lined us up like cows and rushed us out the door within half an hour. Maybe Celebrity is the way to go ,Kathi