Dynamic Dining-Reservations

[Kingisacruiser]

I will be on the Anthem during the New Year's Eve/New Year's Sailing. I am new to Royal Caribbean and do not understand Dynamic Dining.

 

Am I required to make reservations for dinner prior to boarding? If I do not make reservations, will I not be allowed in any of the dining rooms?

 

Also, do I have to make reservations for lunch as well?

 

TIA.

[nelblu]

There's two version of DD. One is the DD which is a bit like "My time Dining" and need to make reserves for each evening in each of the 4 complementary restaurant (a 5th if in a suite.) Then there's the Classic DD which you need to get an assigned time and you rotate with the same dining companions and waiters among the 4 complementary restaurants. I'm booked on the Anthem for the 9 nite NE/Canada itinerary in August and upon booking requested/received a 6PM Classic dining time.

 

If you don't have any assigned or reserved time it's basically on availability

when you show up. On this past February Quantum cruise, there was only one version of DD and many Pax were turned away without reserves.

 

Ps. There's a wonderful review of Anthem by "kevinyork" on the Canary Island cruise--ask any specific Q? there.

[rmurray847]

I will be on the Anthem during the New Year's Eve/New Year's Sailing. I am new to Royal Caribbean and do not understand Dynamic Dining.

 

Am I required to make reservations for dinner prior to boarding? If I do not make reservations, will I not be allowed in any of the dining rooms?

 

Also, do I have to make reservations for lunch as well?

 

TIA.

 

I am answering this as someone who has NOT sailed on Anthem, but plan to in April and have thus been doing a lot of research.

 

You can already log on to your cruise via Royal's website and make all your dining reservations now if you like. I did, and it's easy. I recommend, if you have the time, to go to their home page and look at the top left hand corner for the words "Anthem of the Seas." This takes you to pages dedicated to the ship, including an EXCELLENT "Dining" section that gives you details on every dining venue, all the way down to the Seaplex Hot Dog stand. Prepare to be hungry as you go through this!

 

Anyway, once you have an idea of where you'd like to eat, you log on to your cruse and start booking. Having not sailed on Anthem, here's where my knowledge gets sketchy: if you don't book in advance, of course they will feed you. But I've read various reviews ranging from "we just showed up when we wanted and were seated fairly quickly" to "we had to wait for ages" or even "we went to a different restaurant." But if you book and then change your mind on board, I'm not sure if that's better than just winging it. I'm sure someone with experience will chime in. But I'm a bit of a planner, so I locked my reservations down, knowing that likely almost all of them will be fine with me.

 

I did note that when we booked Jamie's (one of the additional fee places) that our pickings in April were already pretty slim. So if a specialty place appeals to you, it might be worth reserving now (although they will also want you to PAY now).

 

No reservations for lunch are accepted (nor breakfast).

[UK Cruiser2]

Just returned from Anthem yesterday and we had D.D.

We didn't pre book any restaurants prior to the cruise. When we tried using the many IPad stations around the ship the only reservations that were available were 5:45pm or after 9:30pm Neither of these options were any good to us so we started just showing up as and when we wanted to eat and we got a table for 2 straight away no problem.

[Biker19]

You can do as above or at the other extreme you can book dining for every night. I would take a middle road - book dining for the first two nights and then decide the rest once on board and get a feel for everything.

[Slopoke15]

You can do as above or at the other extreme you can book dining for every night. I would take a middle road - book dining for the first two nights and then decide the rest once on board and get a feel for everything.

 

This is a good approach. In my case, I am always cruising as part of a group of 4 or more. We prefer to reserve dining times for every day in advance, taking into consideration all aboard times at each port, and also group preferences for the evening shows (early versus late). However, once on board, and after a few days, we might cancel some reservations, and then just go to the windjammer, or walk up to the dining room when the group is ready to eat that day. If we aren't going to show up for a reservation, we always cancel it (usually the day before), and never just "no show".

[conandrob240]

It seems the best approach is to make a reservation for every night at a time that works for you. Then, on board, change and cancel as needed. Why not go in knowing you have something every night? It costs nothing but a little planning.

Edited October 25, 2015 by conandrob240

[Kingisacruiser]

Thanks for all the responses. I went online to book with the intent of cancelling or rebooking onboard as needed. However the only times available were 9:30 and later which will definitely not work for us. So it looks like I will have to try my luck when we get onboard.

 

I wonder if I can change to DD Classic? What is the early seating time for DD Classic?

[UK Cruiser2]

Thanks for all the responses. I went online to book with the intent of cancelling or rebooking onboard as needed. However the only times available were 9:30 and later which will definitely not work for us. So it looks like I will have to try my luck when we get onboard.

 

I wonder if I can change to DD Classic? What is the early seating time for DD Classic?

 

As I said earlier we had DD and walked up on the night and had no problems whatsoever.

[destiny217]

Just booked Anthem and we (party of 2) were assigned DD Classic~late seating (8:30pm). Is there a chance we will be able to switch to DD Choice?

[AndyT3]

Just booked Anthem and we (party of 2) were assigned DD Classic~late seating (8:30pm). Is there a chance we will be able to switch to DD Choice?

 

When we booked our Anthem cruise for next year, we were assigned the same thing. When we called to finalize our hold, I asked the rep about the dining, and she told us that it was no problem to switch us over to the choice dining option. YMMV.

[destiny217]

When we booked our Anthem cruise for next year, we were assigned the same thing. When we called to finalize our hold, I asked the rep about the dining, and she told us that it was no problem to switch us over to the choice dining option. YMMV.

 

Many thanks for this info. I finalized our hold on the website and only other choice was to be placed on waitlist for early DD Classic. I'll give them a call.

[conandrob240]

I'll bet DD classic is sold out. The Classics seem to be the ones that "sell out" so you'd be able to switch from Classic to choice easily but not the reverse.

 

Check back regularly. When I booked in mid-September for Athem for Thanksgiving, it was all sold dxcelt for 9:30pm also but a few weeks in, it opened up and 6-7pm was available for every night. I think this was maybe at the 45 or 60 day mark.

Edited October 26, 2015 by conandrob240