Quantum of the Seas Dynamic Dining Disaster

[ocav]

[quote name='ISABELLA']OMG! what a disaster! Just from reading these post - not sure if it worth the aggravation to sail on Quantum. It seems that just about everything must be booked in advance. It doesn't seems like a leisure cruise, if it requires so much home work.

I hope RCI will fix ALL problems by the time Anthem arrives. I am hoping to sail in April 2016.[/QUOTE]


Take most things on here with a pinch of salt, I'm booked on quantum in 2 weeks and had no issues at all so far, also if people stopped rushing to plan every part of their dining the service wouldn't be as effected as it has been, the point of dynamic dining is that it's dynamic, not reserved dining.

[gregdude]

I agree with cool cruiser, but panic set in when I looked at dinning times and found very few options on some days. I am also booked on the 2/2 cruise and just had to do a lot of homework to get reservations for each night. Some meals are much latter than I would normally select, but with luck they may be changed once aboard. I wonder if part of the problem is the website? Trying to make dinner reservations takes a little time and a lot of jumping around to accomplish. I actually enjoyed the challenge, but I could see that some folks might not appreciate the time and energy required.

[ocav]

[quote name='gregdude']I agree with cool cruiser, but panic set in when I looked at dinning times and found very few options on some days. I am also booked on the 2/2 cruise and just had to do a lot of homework to get reservations for each night. Some meals are much latter than I would normally select, but with luck they may be changed once aboard. I wonder if part of the problem is the website? Trying to make dinner reservations takes a little time and a lot of jumping around to accomplish. I actually enjoyed the challenge, but I could see that some folks might not appreciate the time and energy required.[/QUOTE]


I agree, the booking system is designed like a product shopping cart like Amazon when it should be in a booking style system like OpenTable.

That makes making 2 reservations at one restaurant a nightmare as you have to "checkout" and then go and book the next one, and then it says "you have already ordered this item"

[Coochuck]

[quote name='mw_1970']Jamies was excellent but I am talking about the complimentary food. Very average I thought.[/QUOTE]

Agreed, average food, bad bad bad service....hopefully things will improve on this ship in time, but after our experience last week, I'd advise staying away from this ship for at least a year.

[gregdude]

That could be a problem for those wanting to book because she is being moved to China this spring. We get "Anthem of the Seas" at Cape Liberty in the fall!

[swoopy2110]

OMG! what a disaster! Just from reading these post - not sure if it worth the aggravation to sail on Quantum. It seems that just about everything must be booked in advance. It doesn't seems like a leisure cruise, if it requires so much home work.

I hope RCI will fix ALL problems by the time Anthem arrives. I am hoping to sail in April 2016.

 

 

How absolutely pathetic. You've got to book your cruise in advance too... how do you cope doing that... is it really that difficult to book a few restaurants online ... it took me about 10 minutes. man up. It's hardly difficult

[ocav]

How absolutely pathetic. You've got to book your cruise in advance too... how do you cope doing that... is it really that difficult to book a few restaurants online ... it took me about 10 minutes. man up. It's hardly difficult

 

 

Got it in one.

[catcruzer]

I'm so glad that booking dining reservations was so easy for you, but don't be so quick to judge others. Personally, I had part of my dining reservations that I

made for my upcoming cruise get wiped out three different times. Making reservations may not be difficult but it was the frustration of making them and then losing them repeatedly that becomes very time consuming and aggravating.

[ddowns2050]

Booking dinning is more difficult than you might think. Unless you aren't doing anything at night you have to cross check to make sure your dinning times don't overlap with your show times. It is a pain in the butt. Especially when they lose your reservations and you have to do it again and again as I also have had to do. Then some restaurants aren't available. I'm on the ship right now and if you aren't booked in the Grande already it isn't available to book for the rest of the cruise. I do enough planning at work to have to plan this much on vacation. Don't get me wrong I'm having a great time. But given a choice I would prefer not do DD again.

[edjny]

Then some restaurants aren't available. I'm on the ship right now and if you aren't booked in the Grande already it isn't available to book for the rest of the cruise. I do enough planning at work to have to plan this much on vacation. Don't get me wrong I'm having a great time. But given a choice I would prefer not do DD again.

 

Just because one can not make a reservation in advance for a particular time does not mean that they could not get in. All they have to do is go on down to the restaurant and ask. There are many people who make reservations and then not show up. The only drawback with Grande is that you have to get a bit more dressed up and then go down to see if you can get in on standby.

[Snackdaddy]

Agreed, average food, bad bad bad service....hopefully things will improve on this ship in time, but after our experience last week, I'd advise staying away from this ship for at least a year.

 

Stay away for a year? I respectfully disagree with you totally. We are on board right now and IMHO things have improved drastically from the earlier posts. Although food is very subjective, we maintain open minds and palates. Granted you cannot please all of the people all of the time, but the DD choices and restaurant options have been wonderful for us. The service has been good to outstanding for us as well. The wait staff works very hard and should be applauded for their efforts to employ a new system with new (and often time consuming) reservation tablets.

 

Here is my subjective 5 Star rating of each restaurant we have eaten dinner in thus far:

 

Chic-- Food 4, Service 3.5, Ambiance 3 (crowded like the old MDR with strange decor)

Jamie's Italian-- Food 5++, Service 5++, Ambiance 5

Izumi-- Food 5++, Service 4, Ambiance 5

Devinly Decadence at Solarium Bistro-- Food 5++, Service 5++, Ambiance 5+

Chops Grille -- Food 4, Service 4, Ambiance 3 (crowded like the old MDR)

American Icon Grill-- Food 3.5, Service 5++, Ambiance 5 (although crowded, great decor)

 

Next up:

Silk

Coastal Kitchen

The Grand

Wonderland

[Lady Hudson]

Stay away for a year? I respectfully disagree with you totally. We are on board right now and IMHO things have improved drastically from the earlier posts. Although food is very subjective, we maintain open minds and palates. Granted you cannot please all of the people all of the time, but the DD choices and restaurant options have been wonderful for us. The service has been good to outstanding for us as well. The wait staff works very hard and should be applauded for their efforts to employ a new system with new (and often time consuming) reservation tablets.

 

Here is my subjective 5 Star rating of each restaurant we have eaten dinner in thus far:

 

Chic-- Food 4, Service 3.5, Ambiance 3 (crowded like the old MDR with strange decor)

Jamie's Italian-- Food 5++, Service 5++, Ambiance 5

Izumi-- Food 5++, Service 4, Ambiance 5

Devinly Decadence at Solarium Bistro-- Food 5++, Service 5++, Ambiance 5+

Chops Grille -- Food 4, Service 4, Ambiance 3 (crowded like the old MDR)

American Icon Grill-- Food 3.5, Service 5++, Ambiance 5 (although crowded, great decor)

 

Next up:

Silk

Coastal Kitchen

The Grand

Wonderland

 

Thanks for reporting. I, too, had no problem with the dining. Going back on Friday. Would you happen to know if the coffee machine in the DL is fixed? It was broken for the last 3 days of our trip. I love my lattes! Katherine

Edited January 18, 2015 by Lady Hudson

[Coochuck]

Stay away for a year? I respectfully disagree with you totally. We are on board right now and IMHO things have improved drastically from the earlier posts. Although food is very subjective, we maintain open minds and palates. Granted you cannot please all of the people all of the time, but the DD choices and restaurant options have been wonderful for us. The service has been good to outstanding for us as well. The wait staff works very hard and should be applauded for their efforts to employ a new system with new (and often time consuming) reservation tablets.

 

Here is my subjective 5 Star rating of each restaurant we have eaten dinner in thus far:

 

Chic-- Food 4, Service 3.5, Ambiance 3 (crowded like the old MDR with strange decor)

Jamie's Italian-- Food 5++, Service 5++, Ambiance 5

Izumi-- Food 5++, Service 4, Ambiance 5

Devinly Decadence at Solarium Bistro-- Food 5++, Service 5++, Ambiance 5+

Chops Grille -- Food 4, Service 4, Ambiance 3 (crowded like the old MDR)

American Icon Grill-- Food 3.5, Service 5++, Ambiance 5 (although crowded, great decor)

 

Next up:

Silk

Coastal Kitchen

The Grand

Wonderland

 

Glad your having a good experience, but mine was far from it. In fact if you go to the review section (I and many others posted reviews) on the Quantum you will find all reviews. The Quantum it is far worse than any other ship in the fleet. I'm not turned off with RCCL, and will be going on the Oasis in 2 weeks...but I stand by my statement...If I was talking to friends, I would tell them not to book the Quantum for at least a year.

[Gazza64]

One of the reasons we booked Quantum was the introduction of dynamic dining (sailing Dubai - Singapore 29th May). We have taken a couple of cruises in the past and loved everything apart from the traditional fixed dining. The idea of being able to eat at different locations whenever we want really appeals to us - more like a land based vacation, I'm sure DD will attract a lot of new cruisers who have been put off by the traditional way of doing things.

Being a new ship I have been reading the various forums with much interest. Whilst I understand a lot of people may not like the hassle of having to book their dining I am really curious as to why so many people who love the traditional way of cruising booked this ship. Unless it was advertised differently when first available RCI have been very clear in stating 'this changes everything'

 

I'm sure they will sort out the technical problems and I do sympathize with passengers who have been beta testing the systems (maybe they took advise from Microsoft!!).

 

One final thought - looking at the forums a lot of you are regular cruisers and are members of the RCI loyalty program. Why not start a forum for each cruise with a 'reservation swap' theme. I'm sure a lot of people will have just booked what was available - may be that others would like to swap....just an idea!!

[celebrity]

One of the reasons we booked Quantum was the introduction of dynamic dining (sailing Dubai - Singapore 29th May). We have taken a couple of cruises in the past and loved everything apart from the traditional fixed dining. The idea of being able to eat at different locations whenever we want really appeals to us - more like a land based vacation, I'm sure DD will attract a lot of new cruisers who have been put off by the traditional way of doing things.

Being a new ship I have been reading the various forums with much interest. Whilst I understand a lot of people may not like the hassle of having to book their dining I am really curious as to why so many people who love the traditional way of cruising booked this ship. Unless it was advertised differently when first available RCI have been very clear in stating 'this changes everything'

 

I'm sure they will sort out the technical problems and I do sympathize with passengers who have been beta testing the systems (maybe they took advise from Microsoft!!).

 

One final thought - looking at the forums a lot of you are regular cruisers and are members of the RCI loyalty program. Why not start a forum for each cruise with a 'reservation swap' theme. I'm sure a lot of people will have just booked what was available - may be that others would like to swap....just an idea!!

 

Many of Royal's most loyal cruisers, myself included booked the first day reservations were opened. At that time, there was no mention of Dynamic Dining. We were confirmed for late seating and months later, came the announcement of Dynamic Dining.

[mikemartin774]

Many of Royal's most loyal cruisers, myself included booked the first day reservations were opened. At that time, there was no mention of Dynamic Dining. We were confirmed for late seating and months later, came the announcement of Dynamic Dining.

 

I also booked the first day reservations opened and later found out about

DD it was well before final payment and considered cancelling but did not.

I am very happy I didn't cancel and went with an open mind and enjoyed

every aspect of the dining experience and the whole cruise

[Gazza64]

Many of Royal's most loyal cruisers, myself included booked the first day reservations were opened. At that time, there was no mention of Dynamic Dining. We were confirmed for late seating and months later, came the announcement of Dynamic Dining.

 

That's not good, they must have know at the time that it was going to be a completely different experience and that it may not suit everybody - maybe they were more concerned about filling the ship!!

[MAGSMFC]

I am so disappointed to see there is hardly any space for hanging clothes. I have seen pictures today of a balcony cabin and just can't believe there will be no room to hang my clothes. We are on the cruise from Barcelona to Dubai in May which is a 16 night cruise and I certainly will have a lot more than 5 dresses which someone said there is only room to hang this amount. We are in a D2 balcony.

 

I have always enjoyed our cruises and dressing up on an evening but the more I read about the ship the more disappointed I am in having booked it. Am I going to have to live out of a suitcase for 16 nights.

 

We cannot cancel due to flights booked and our stay in Dubai afterwards.

[ksg]

We are on this Friday's sailing. I called RCCL this morning to change one of my very carefully and painfully made reservations in order to book Devinely Decadence. Well not only was I not able to get Devine, but lost a 7:00 in Chic trying. I totally lost it with customer service (pretty embarrassed about it) and in the 5 minutes between cancelling the Chic and then trying for Devine the reservation got snapped up. I was actually in tears - so pathetic. Anyway, I demanded a supervisor, and she emailed the ship's dining directly and supposedly we got the original reservation back.

 

Can't believe I'm even disclosing this. So, if there are issues on the ship, this may be our seventh and last cruise with RCCL. How stupid to not be able to see alternate dining times before cancelling what you have!! This is way too much advance work and I swore I'd stop getting stressed about it. Guess I lied...

[Coochuck]

We are on this Friday's sailing. I called RCCL this morning to change one of my very carefully and painfully made reservations in order to book Devinely Decadence. Well not only was I not able to get Devine, but lost a 7:00 in Chic trying. I totally lost it with customer service (pretty embarrassed about it) and in the 5 minutes between cancelling the Chic and then trying for Devine the reservation got snapped up. I was actually in tears - so pathetic. Anyway, I demanded a supervisor, and she emailed the ship's dining directly and supposedly we got the original reservation back.

 

Can't believe I'm even disclosing this. So, if there are issues on the ship, this may be our seventh and last cruise with RCCL. How stupid to not be able to see alternate dining times before cancelling what you have!! This is way too much advance work and I swore I'd stop getting stressed about it. Guess I lied...

 

Hopefully things will get better. They lost 4 out of 8 of your reservations...it took a few hours to correct once onboard, but it was fixed. I hope you printed out your cal with your reservations...thats what really saved the day for us.

[floridaglen]

How stupid to not be able to see alternate dining times before cancelling what you have!! This is way too much advance work and I swore I'd stop getting stressed about it. Guess I lied...

 

It strikes me that the person you spoke to doesn't know how the system works. You don't need to cancel your existing reservation before booking another one. Since The Solarium Bistro is now complimentary I decided to change two of my dinner reservations so that we can dine there. In my cruise planner I chose the date I wanted to eat there and then the time. The system told me that I already had a reservation for that evening and asked me whether I would like to carry on with the reservation for The Solarium Bistro and that my existing reservation for Chic would automatically be cancelled. I checked all my dining reservations afterwards to make sure that they were correct and they were.

 

I just thought I would mention it in case anybody else wanted to change their dining reservations. You do not need to cancel your existing one first.

[Pennstateman]

I wanted to change one of my booked reservations to another restaurant. They said I had to cancel the one I had first, and only then could we try the other restaurant. Huh? :confused:

[edjny]

I wanted to change one of my booked reservations to another restaurant. They said I had to cancel the one I had first, and only then could we try the other restaurant. Huh? :confused:

 

They are only trying to "idiot-proof" they reservation system. There are two ways of doing it. Apparently the first is the method they adopted; if you have a time conflict, they won't make the new booking. The second potential method is to bring up a message that there is a conflict and give you and option to cancel the earlier one to make a new one.

 

I think the second method would be better, but there may be other factors in play...

Edited January 19, 2015 by edjny

[edjny]

Hopefully things will get better. They lost 4 out of 8 of your reservations...it took a few hours to correct once onboard, but it was fixed. I hope you printed out your cal with your reservations...thats what really saved the day for us.

 

A couple of our restaurant reservations were 'lost' when we got to the restaurant. Not really a big deal though. They just took us to a table without the reservation.....

[floridaglen]

I wanted to change one of my booked reservations to another restaurant. They said I had to cancel the one I had first, and only then could we try the other restaurant. Huh? :confused:

 

Perhaps that was because you telephoned them and asked them to do it for you. Just go into your cruise planner, choose the date and time for the restaurant you want and it will automatically cancel any conflicting reservation. It works....I did it twice yesterday myself no problems :)