dining on Anthem???

[blingbbb222]

Hi everyone. hope someone can help. we have cruised many times with Princess but never with RCI. We are a family of 4, myself, my husband and our two daughters, 15 and 13. We are getting rather confused with the pre cruise planner. Is it correct that we have to pre book the shows? we have never had to do this before, previously we've just turned up with other cruise liners. Also, can we only book them once? Also we are on dynamic dining choice. I am getting confused at what this actually means. We will not be dining at any of the speciality restaurants but we have been advised by the RCI call centre staff ( in Guatemala )that we still have to pre book all our restaurants for the holiday. If this is correct, how on earth can we know what we feel like eating 3 weeks before our cruise?? The call centre staff were really unhelpful. I would really appreciate any advice. Thanking you in advance.

Edited July 5, 2015 by blingbbb222

[papcx]

Welcome to CC.

 

The Anthem is a stunning ship, you'll love it.

 

The theatre (or 270 for that matter) won't hold all the passengers in one go so they do the big performances a few time each cruise (depending on length). You can que up for standby in the hope so people with reservations don't show up, but I'd suggest booking in advance. Don't miss Spectras Cabaret or The Gift. We will rock you was (I thought) only okay, and that pains me as I'm a huge Queen fan.

 

Dynamic dining - lots of different opinions on this one. Personally, I didn't have a problem with it. I booked every night in advance and only every waited a couple of minutes to be seated at the complementary restaurants. Even changed a couple of reservations onboard without a problem.

 

Others have had drastically different experiences.

 

As for not knowing what you want, each restaurant, although themed, has a diverse enough menu. I'm sure you'll find something you like.

[blingbbb222]

Hi Papcx

Thanks so much for your advice, really appreciated. feel a bit better now!

[dst87]

Hi Papcx

Thanks so much for your advice, really appreciated. feel a bit better now!

 

For my Anthem cruise in September I've booked one visit to every restaurant on board, which leaves about 3 or so days at the end for additional reservations in places we liked most. I'm not too worried about it.

 

I've heard that there is some standby availability, so hopefully you won't have too much issue if you decide not to book. You might just have to wait in line for a little bit.

 

I guess I'll need to see once on board how easily changes can be accommodated when you change your mind and fancy something different to what you've booked in advance... time will tell!

[bogofman]

We prebooked all online b4 sailing and never had to wait, however we like to dine late, there was always plenty of spare space . You can use the onboard app to change your bookings at any time, or in the normal way.

I would not book the classic dining option as I would not want to be stuck with the same waiter every night, we had some dodgy ones and some very good ones.

the good ones were in Silk, and the most dodgy in American icon

 

All menus had a large choice of classic dishes as well as the themed options, I would have prefer more themed options.

 

Also the menus are based around the same Base, I.e

lamb shank in the grand and curried lamb shank in Silk, not exactly a curry just a curry sause covering the standard shank,

 

Similar with the sea food dishes, some time two types of salmon on the same menu

one classic and one with an oriental theme

[blingbbb222]

Brilliant thank you, that's a real help to us, so much better than the call centre. Thank you again

[The Tuckmeister]

I just came off from Anthem on Saturday after 14 nights. Had no problem booking dining online before I traveled and had no problem canceling or amending once on board. Also, there was no waiting when we arrived for our reservation. Overall we loved dynamic dining.