Dining on Anthem

[constansl]

I’m looking at a Christmas cruise on the anthem.  Although I’ve cruised Royal a bunch of times, we’ve never done one of the large ships with multiple dining options.  I am a bit confused.   Can you all help explain it to me?   What is the dining package people keep referencing?
 

my husband and I have always preferred the traditional dining with an occasional speciality meal. We like having the same waiter who learns our style.  We’ve always loved the variety of food on RCI. We fancy ourselves as foodies and enjoy eating the foods we rarely eat in our day to day lives and trying unfamiliar foods.  
 

Over this vacation, we are celebrating my husbands 60th birthday and our anniversary— so I am maybe willing to splurge for the right experience.  Can you please explain how dining works on this cruise?

[taglovestocruise]

There are four rooms.  Two are used for traditional and two for my time.  If you choose late or early traditional they will assign you a dinning room, the Grand and Silk are for traditional, American Icon and chic for My Time.  Solarium Bistro and Windjammer are also available for everyone. They have Chop's, Izumi, Jamie's and Wonderland for specialty dining. Depending on the length of the cruise they offer a 2, 3, or five night specialty package which allows you to pick the restaurant and time you would like to eat at. There is also a Unlimited package that includes every restaurant for dinner and a specialty lunch on sea days.  Check out YouTube for Anthem Dining and a ship walk through. 

[CruiseBride926]

There’s also Chops +1 which gives you a dinner at Chops Steakhouse plus an additional restaurant. We also enjoy the main dining room so this was just enough for us. 

[constansl]

With all these speciality dining options, can we still expect the same variety in the main dining room. That would be the biggest concern. 

[Biker19]

10 minutes ago, constansl said:

With all these specialty dining options, can we still expect the same variety in the main dining room?

Variety is a bit subjective. You can look up the MDR menus in the RCI app - use a close in sailing.

[pinguy]

If you're in a Jr Suite or above, you can also have dinner at the Coastal Kitchen.  

[Merion_Mom]

3 hours ago, pinguy said:

If you're in a Jr Suite or above, you can also have dinner at the Coastal Kitchen.  

 

"Based on availability"

[little britain]

4 hours ago, constansl said:

With all these speciality dining options, can we still expect the same variety in the main dining room. That would be the biggest concern. 

All dining rooms serve exactly the same menu; and it’s the same menu fleet wide on RCI generally. 

[EllieinNJ]

Not on Anthem but on Oasis in October.  Asked TA to book Anytime dining and her invoice says dining "open".  Is this the same or do I actually have to book the Anytime dining on my personal account?

[Biker19]

5 minutes ago, EllieinNJ said:

Is this the same or do I actually have to book the Anytime dining on my personal account?

Your RCI invoice should confrim the type of dining you have. You can also go into the planner and if MyTime is available (under the dining tab -mixed in with all the Specialty options) to book, then you have MyTime.

[JayS]

13 hours ago, CruiseBride926 said:

There’s also Chops +1 which gives you a dinner at Chops Steakhouse plus an additional restaurant. We also enjoy the main dining room so this was just enough for us. 

I was on 3 Anthem cruises and booked on a fourth. The Chops+1 was offered only on one.

 

If offered I will get it. if not maybe a 5 night package.

[alfaeric]

3 hours ago, EllieinNJ said:

Not on Anthem but on Oasis in October.  Asked TA to book Anytime dining and her invoice says dining "open".  Is this the same or do I actually have to book the Anytime dining on my personal account?

No, you don't have to book for My Time Dining.  

 

I will say, if you want a specific time, it really does help, though.  I know it's supposed to by open to any time, but it can also be used as your own private "traditional" dining.

[alfaeric]

9 hours ago, Merion_Mom said:

 

"Based on availability"

If you dine slightly outside of the norm, availability will be there.  We've sailed the Anthem many times in a Jr Suite, and have always gotten seating at Coastal Kitchen.  

 

I wish I could say the same for the Oasis ships, but with the desk inside, it's harder to get inside when seats are available....  

 

To the OP- since this is a special cruise, I hope you can find time to experiment with all of the dining options on board the Anthem.  While you clearly enjoy the MDR, there are so many options to dine on the Anthem, you can eat everywhere and still not go to the MDR.  (although of ALL the dining options, we have not really enjoyed the Solarium Bistro- maybe it will be better now)

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

On 8/7/2021 at 5:41 PM, taglovestocruise said:

If you choose late or early traditional they will assign you a dinning room, the Grand and Silk are for traditional, American Icon and chic for My Time.

 

How will you know if you have been assigned to American Icon or Chic with MyTime? Is it possible once you know to request the other if you prefer that decor/ambience?

[Merion_Mom]

3 hours ago, smedley_odwin said:

We had a junior suite on the 1st August Anthem Cruise, didn't manage to get into Coastal Kitchen as it was booked up with Suite guests.

 

On 8/8/2021 at 10:21 AM, alfaeric said:

If you dine slightly outside of the norm, availability will be there.  We've sailed the Anthem many times in a Jr Suite, and have always gotten seating at Coastal Kitchen.  

 

I wish I could say the same for the Oasis ships, but with the desk inside, it's harder to get inside when seats are available....  

 

To the OP- since this is a special cruise, I hope you can find time to experiment with all of the dining options on board the Anthem.  While you clearly enjoy the MDR, there are so many options to dine on the Anthem, you can eat everywhere and still not go to the MDR.  (although of ALL the dining options, we have not really enjoyed the Solarium Bistro- maybe it will be better now)

 

[Biker19]

11 hours ago, WrittenOnYourHeart said:

 

How will you know if you have been assigned to American Icon or Chic with MyTime? Is it possible once you know to request the other if you prefer that decor/ambience?

There's no table/venue assignment with MTD - the table is assigned when you walk up to the host podium. When busy, MTD may even end up in venues on deck 3.

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

53 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

There's no table/venue assignment with MTD - the table is assigned when you walk up to the host podium. When busy, MTD may even end up in venues on deck 3.

 

So there is one host podium for all 4 MDRs? I have not been on this ship before. Celebrity Edge has 4 dining rooms, but I had Select and made reservations so I knew which one to go to.

 

The post I quoted indicated that Fixed Dining is assigned to 2 and MTD to 2.  I've made MTD reservations (I get that "it's not how MTD is supposed to work" but they offer the opportunity to make reservations, and I like having that done), so how will I know which room to go to? Unless there is just one host podium for all 4?

[Biker19]

10 minutes ago, WrittenOnYourHeart said:

So there is one host podium for all 4 MDRs?

There are four podiums on deck 4, two for folks with reservations and two for folks without. The podium may have up two hosts each. While reservations are not required, the lines without reservations are usually quite a bit longer than the one with.

Edited August 16, 2021 by Biker19

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

12 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

There are four podiums on deck 4, two for folks with reservations and two for folks without. The podium may have up two hosts each. While reservations are not required, the lines without reservations are usually quite a bit longer than the one with.

 

Gotcha. So I'd go to the With Reservations line and they will tell me which one to go to?

[Biker19]

9 minutes ago, WrittenOnYourHeart said:

So I'd go to the With Reservations line and they will tell me which one to go to?

The host will hand you off to another staff member who will walk you to your table. On most sailings, they tend to seat you in the same area, maybe even the same table, so sometimes you can just walk to "your" table after a few nights - this is less likely if you have quite a bit of variation in your reservation time.

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

2 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

The host will hand you off to another staff member who will walk you to your table. On most sailings, they tend to seat you in the same area, maybe even the same table, so sometimes you can just walk to "your" table after a few nights - this is less likely if you have quite a bit of variation in your reservation time.

 

Thank you so much! I'm reserved at the same time each day - a nice time between the two fixed times.