Will Dynamic Dining Make a Comeback

[nelblu]

Celebrity will be introducing their brand new ship the "Edge."  Below is an article by Cruise Critic titled "8 things you'll love about Celebrity Edge."  1st item is of interest and wonder if Celebrity will make the concept work.

 

 

https://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?ID=3491&et_cid=3177406&et_rid=17021106&et_referrer=Popup_Main

[twangster]

The devil is in the details.  

 

Royal's dynamic dining had the wait staff follow guests from dining room to dining room for traditional dining settings (early and late seating).

 

Will the X approach be four dining rooms that you can pick and choose from day by day in more of a 'my time' fashion, or will these dining rooms be fixed that you rotate through on a pre-scheduled basis with the same table mates?

 

I'm sure some will love it and some will not.  Only time will tell.  

 

Sounds interesting though and some variety for return guests rather than facing the same menus cruise after cruise.

[nelblu]

19 minutes ago, twangster said:

The devil is in the details.  

 

Royal's dynamic dining had the wait staff follow guests from dining room to dining room for traditional dining settings (early and late seating).

 

Will the X approach be four dining rooms that you can pick and choose from day by day in more of a 'my time' fashion, or will these dining rooms be fixed that you rotate through on a pre-scheduled basis with the same table mates?

 

I'm sure some will love it and some will not.  Only time will tell.  

 

Sounds interesting though and some variety for return guests rather than facing the same menus cruise after cruise.

 

Sailed on both the Quantum & Anthem during the DD experiment and loved the concept.  Different restaurants, decors, waiter's uniforms and menus.  Today's menus are drab and boring as only the 1st 2-3 items of each group changes each night.

[Dred pilot Roberts]

I was on the inaugural for the Quantum and also loved DD.  Yes it has some rough edges since it was the first time for the staff, but the food was great.  A really nice change from the same old same old menu that RC has had for the last 25 years.

[edspec]

Disney has done this for many years, loved it when we used to sail with them.

[little britain]

56 minutes ago, twangster said:

The devil is in the details.  

 

Royal's dynamic dining had the wait staff follow guests from dining room to dining room for traditional dining settings (early and late seating).

 

Will the X approach be four dining rooms that you can pick and choose from day by day in more of a 'my time' fashion, or will these dining rooms be fixed that you rotate through on a pre-scheduled basis with the same table mates?

 

I'm sure some will love it and some will not.  Only time will tell.  

 

Sounds interesting though and some variety for return guests rather than facing the same menus cruise after cruise.

The original DD on Quantum did not have wait staff switch restaurants.  It was true DD in that the staff stayed in their one restaurant and you turned up when you wanted to (or you could make reservations).  It was only to appease the 'whiners' that they started the 'staff-follow-you' concept and this is where  it went wrong IMHO as staff were in different restaurants, locations, serving areas.... of course it was going to be chaos.

 

On Edge there will be Four Main Dining Rooms that replace the MDR

Tuscan: Southern Italian, deck 3, capacity 344

Normandie: Contemp. French, deck 3, capacity 346

Cosmopolitan: Global Cuisine, deck 4, capacity 346

Cyprus: Mediterranean, deck 4, capacity 342

75% of each menu will be the same in all 4 restaurants and is the regular MDR cuisine (Celebrity Signature dishes) that changes each night and 25% will be specific to each restaurant theme and will stay the same each night (Classic).

Tuscan and Normandie will be for dinner only and Cosmopolitan and Cyprus will serve breakfast and will serve lunch on sea days.

 

 

LB > who was also on the inaugural Quantum and loved DD and wish they would bring it back!

[Biker19]

Virgin may have something worth noting - no real "MDR" nor a buffet - in terms of a dining concept it's way out there but it could prove successful (though for a different demographic - no former customer/whiners to appease). 

 

Biker, who was on the Quantum maiden and marveled at the tablets being used to try to take orders but noted their failure within a few days. Change is hard.

[Paulxyz2004]

Well I hope they don´t bring it back, but I´m not holding my breath.

 

I´ve experienced it on Ovation and it was a desaster. To me the comcept was and is a complete failure. I don´t want to hop dining rooms every night. The menues have been the worst I´ve ever seen on a cruise and the food and service was just in line with those menues. I´ve never been served so much cold and undercooked or better say raw food on any ship. Some food items sure can be served that way, but ot when it comes to seafood, fish that is not a fresh catch but has been frozen and especially not when it comes to poultry.

14 nights of this and no menu change other than if you changed restaurants - no thanks.

 

 

[Paulxyz2004]

1 hour ago, Dred pilot Roberts said:

I was on the inaugural for the Quantum and also loved DD.  Yes it has some rough edges since it was the first time for the staff, but the food was great.  A really nice change from the same old same old menu that RC has had for the last 25 years.

 

Not quite true. RCI had quite a few menu changes over the years. Those menu changes over the years offered more variety IMO. At least you had a daily changing menu and have it again today. With DD they had one menu / venue. So for a two week cruise the only menu change / variety was chosing between the 4 restaurants. So 14 different menues from 1 venue changed to 4 different menues from 4 venues. I´ll take 14 different ones as more choice than 4.

[Merion_Mom]

7 minutes ago, Paulxyz2004 said:

 

Not quite true. RCI had quite a few menu changes over the years. Those menu changes over the years offered more variety IMO. At least you had a daily changing menu and have it again today. With DD they had one menu / venue. So for a two week cruise the only menu change / variety was chosing between the 4 restaurants. So 14 different menues from 1 venue changed to 4 different menues from 4 venues. I´ll take 14 different ones as more choice than 4.

 

But they were rather extensive menus, so you could choose different items each time you ate in that restaurant. Just like real restaurants at home!  

[boscobeans]

1 hour ago, Paulxyz2004 said:

 

. With DD they had one menu / venue. So for a two week cruise the only menu change / variety was chosing between the 4 restaurants. So 14 different menues from 1 venue changed to 4 different menues from 4 venues. I´ll take 14 different ones as more choice than 4.

Due to difficulties in our vacation availability we must book our cruise a year or so in advance.

 

While on board a Royal Caribbean cruise we booked the first cruise on the Quantum leaving from Cape Liberty.  We were informed of all the choices in restaurants and their differences in cuisine. However we were not informed that the menus in each separate venue would be the same each night. We were not informed that reservations had to be (for the most part) placed in advance on line. Not having tried any of the restaurants before hand this sounded like picking a pig in a poke. One formal all the time, one that seemed to serve pub food and two others made us think twice. I remember it being at least a 12 or 14 day cruise and we would have to choose from one or more of the menus more than once.  

 

Cancelled after reading all the posts, both positive and negative, concerning food choices and reservation scheduling.

The Edge sounds like an attempt to bring back a modified DD dining experience. Not for us.

 

We have a 12 day on the Anthem coming up and will be happy to see different menus in the complimentary restaurants each night even if they are the same for each venue on the same nights.

[boscobeans]

1 hour ago, Merion_Mom said:

 

But they were rather extensive menus, so you could choose different items each time you ate in that restaurant. Just like real restaurants at home!  

 

14 or so different menus along with the usual always available standards are more than most restaurants offer at decent restaurants at home. 

 

We enjoy having the same waiters and table each night and have almost NEVER had a problem finding menu choices that pleased us. 

Just our opinion and personal preference. There are plenty of passengers that loved DD and sang its praises, but it just isn't our cup of tea.

[kochleffel]

21 minutes ago, boscobeans said:

 

14 or so different menus along with the usual always available standards are more than most restaurants offer at decent restaurants at home.

 

On the other hand, at home most people wouldn't go to the same restaurant for 14 consecutive nights.

 

And on the third hand, even with 14 different menus, there are similarities from night to night. There are only so many main ingredients that it's feasible to offer, and only so many cooking techniques that are adaptable to the setting.

[boscobeans]

38 minutes ago, kochleffel said:

 

On the other hand, at home most people wouldn't go to the same restaurant for 14 consecutive nights.

 

And on the third hand, even with 14 different menus, there are similarities from night to night. There are only so many main ingredients that it's feasible to offer, and only so many cooking techniques that are adaptable to the setting.

 

I remember the hundreds and hundreds of posts concerning the DD both before and after it was instituted. 

 

A lot loved it and made spread sheet after spread sheet to set up dining times, venues and tie them in with entertainment times as well as combining the schedules with others they were cruising with.

 

We preferred not to do this and simply booked another ship.. LOL

 

If you liked it, GREAT. 

[Biker19]

7 minutes ago, boscobeans said:

 

 

A lot loved it and made spread sheet after spread sheet to set up dining times, venues and tie them in with entertainment times as well as combining the schedules with others they were cruising with.

This happens on just about every Oasis class sailing - just read some of the reviews. 

[nelblu]

4 hours ago, Biker19 said:

Virgin may have something worth noting - no real "MDR" nor a buffet - in terms of a dining concept it's way out there but it could prove successful (though for a different demographic - no former customer/whiners to appease). 

 

Biker, who was on the Quantum maiden and marveled at the tablets being used to try to take orders but noted their failure within a few days. Change is hard.

 

 

Now that you mention, yes the tablets was used on the Quantum and boy was it slow.  How could the tablets work if RCL's IT dept. can't get their website to function properly.

[nelblu]

43 minutes ago, boscobeans said:

 

I remember the hundreds and hundreds of posts concerning the DD both before and after it was instituted. 

 

A lot loved it and made spread sheet after spread sheet to set up dining times, venues and tie them in with entertainment times as well as combining the schedules with others they were cruising with.

 

We preferred not to do this and simply booked another ship.. LOL

 

If you liked it, GREAT. 

 

Gee, a spreadsheet.  There aren't that many decent shows to be concerned over. I've sailed on the Anthem 4 times and they have the same stinking shows, other than the headliners and even those are repetitive, eg. Tony Tillman has been one of the headliners on 3 of my sails.

[CapeGal]

Gosh I hope not! I never saw such loud chaos both in the entrances to the dining rooms and IN the dining rooms from cruisers and waitstaff.  NOT fun!

[nelblu]

6 hours ago, boscobeans said:

.

 

We have a 12 day on the Anthem coming up and will be happy to see different menus in the complimentary restaurants each night even if they are the same for each venue on the same nights.

 

You will only see the 1st 2-3 items in each column (App., entrée & dessert) change each night only.  the rest of the menu remains the same.  On the 8th nite, the menu is the same as the 1st. nite.

[dahirsh]

loved Dynamic Dining and the menus were a lot more interesting then the current ones. Hope to see it back in some format eventually

 

[Baron Barracuda]

9 hours ago, Paulxyz2004 said:

 

With DD they had one menu / venue. So for a two week cruise the only menu change / variety was chosing between the 4 restaurants. So 14 different menues from 1 venue changed to 4 different menues from 4 venues. I´ll take 14 different ones as more choice than 4.

 Not true.  Sailed both Quantum and Anthem with DD.  On Quantum restaurants each had two menus which changed mid cruise.  On Anthem each restaurant had an A, B and C menu they rotated through every few nights.  On our 12 night sailing we ate in each of the four restaurants using all three menus thus experiencing 12 different menus.

Edited November 18, 2018 by Baron Barracuda

[gaylemh]

I loved DD, and was sad to see it end.  I never had any of the problems that people were reporting.  I made my reservations before I boarded and everything worked out fine.  I also loved all the food choices. The major problem started when they tried to combine rotational dining with DD. They were holding seats and sections of the restaurants for people that didn't show up for the rotational and then didn't have enough seats for those with DD.   I think if they gave the original DD more time it would have worked out.  I would love to see it come back.

[Paulxyz2004]

17 hours ago, Merion_Mom said:

 

But they were rather extensive menus, so you could choose different items each time you ate in that restaurant. Just like real restaurants at home!  

 

I disagree with this. The menus were in line with other menus from RCI pre and post DD in the way of diiferent items offered on them. By far not like a real restaurant at home. I´ve rarely visited a restaurant at home with a menu like on a cruise ship. There´s simply no comparison DD or classic/MTD to a majority of restaurants on land.

 

I remember quite well a galley tour on Oasis prior to the dry dock when they talked about splitting the MDR into venues for DD. Prior to entering the galley the Chef, Maitr´D and HD explained their plans about DD and wow they were not prepared for the negative comments. I´ve rarely seen people backing out quicker.

 

Anyway I completely agree to disagree with you on this topic as I know your love for DD and me being a proud member of the, as you call them, "whiners that killed DD". We both know we are not alone with our opinion.

[CRUISEFAN0001]

Dynamic Dining was a totally flop.   Passengers - many passengers - complained repeatedly, and Royal finally succumbed to admitting it was a mistake and terminated the program. Many won't miss it either.

[gerard43]

My husband and I did a cruise on Anthem closer to the end of DD, we were on my time dining, and it was great. I don't know why everyone complained. I loved the different atmospheres, all our food was delicious, it wasn't hard to book times the day of for our dinner reservation, and we tried each restaurant at least once. I guess what disappoints me now is that they have 4 great venues on Anthem and when we go in January we will only see two of them as My Time Dining Guests, and we don't get to try the different styles each restaurant used to reflect. Like if you are going to have one menu then give us the grand two or three deck dining room like we had on liberty and have everyone together, but now we have four good looking venues that are designed to have different cuisine to match their decor and that whole vibe is now wasted.   I loved the options, found it easy to use, liked the quality of food, and never could understand why everyone hated it so much.