Poll: Traditional dining vs anytime dining

[SailyaCruise]

no open seating RCCL!!!:eek: :eek:

Thanks in advance.

[SailyaCruise]

Then choose NCL

Snicker.:D That was mean.:eek: But funny.:D

 

Fishing Fool, I apologize.

[Fran Harp]

That would be called the Windjammer. That is a reason why many folks would prefer anytime dining. If your only other option when you miss your assigned seating is to eat at the buffet -- I for one would be going hungry.

 

Hmm. I never had a problem finding good, tasty, edible things in the WJ. For buffet/cafeteria food it's pretty darned good. WJ was our preferred 'choice' when we had a late lunch and found 5:30 dinner too early.

 

Open dining: You have to make a reservation beforehand and prepay the tips;

Traditional dining: you make a reservation when you book the cruise and prepay tips, or tip later depending on the service you get.

 

So what exactly is the point of the change....

 

Fran in Toronto

[Amaranthine33]

I like traditional dining. Why? It forces me to meet other people. I'm not a very outgoing person and I like to just hang out with my family and friends. If left on my own, I may not meet anyone on the cruise!

[beachchick]

I HAVE tried both types of dining (Freestyle on Norwegian Majesty in 2006), so I wasn't spouting unfounded "theories." Just hop over to the NCL board and you'll see plenty of complaints about Freestyle that match what I mentioned as its drawbacks.

 

Good to know and I appreciate you clarifying that for me. It drives me nuts when people say "well I hate such and so because I heard from someone else that it's bad." It's true that there are complaints in particular about the dining on ships that were not built to accomodate freestyle dining. No question that it's not perfect. I do not think that RCI's tradition dining is perfect either. I don't think there is such a thing unless you go really upscale (which, I must admit, would be nice if we could afford it).

 

When on Norw. Majesty last year, I noticed that your idea of "country club casual" in many cases included sweatpants. That didn't bother me a bit. I'm just noting that the reality of the passengers' appearance differs starkly from the smartly-dressed, savvy, freewheeling sophisticates NCL depicts as its clientele in its advertising. When I say they have the freedom to "dress down," I mean down to what you'd wear to mow the yard. But this isn't just NCL, you see some of that on all mass-market ships.

 

Just a minor correction: You didn't see me on the Majesty, so you don't know what "my" idea of country club casual is. I think you meant what others interpreted it to be? You know, there are so very many reports of extremely underdressed passengers on RCI that it's kind of a moot argument. How many times have members here reported about the family "dressed in old jeans and t-shirts on formal night who were allowed into the dining room" and similar issues. On PoH, they were enforcing the basic requests for the dining rooms and all restaurants except the cafe and the buffet: Casual slacks and collared shirt for the gentlemen; casual slacks or skirt with top/sweater or casual dress for women. The fact is that at least 25% of the passengers dressed in (at a minimum) cocktail attire every single night of the cruise. (I have to admit that DH and I and about 1500 other passengers did repeatedly break one request: No sandals in the evening. Not "no flip flops" or "slippers" in the Hawaiian vernacular, but no sandals. Please, no dressy sandals with my pretty tropical print dresses in the evening? Not going to happen.)

 

Isn't the Majesty one that does the shorter cruises? Not that it's an excuse for such beyond casual dressing (sweats? yuck), but even on RCI, the shorter cruises seem to be more casual. Honestly, on PoH we didn't see one single person in the specialty restaurants who wasn't dressed in at least the requested minimum.

I didn't use the words "dumbed down" in my post, but yes, NCL has definitely dumbed down the entire dining experience. I KNOW because I sailed with NCL 23 times without Freestyle.

 

No, sorry that was referencing another member's post. I wasn't clear about that, and I should have been. My apologies. But, c'mon, almost to a person long-time RCI cruisers have the same complaint about the down slide in the dining experience. (Again, I'm not saying it's right; just that it's kind of like calling the kettle black. RCI is very nearly as guilty of it.)

 

I immediately noticed on Norwegian Majesty a dumbed-down place setting with one fork and one knife, instead of utensils for each course. But that was fine because the menu had also been dumbed-down.

 

That's a shame because we had full place settings, including utensils, at every restaurant (except Blue Lagoon, but as that's the "diner" I certainly didn't expect it). The tables were definitely set in a traditional fashion at all 5 of the restaurants where we dined.

 

If memory serves me, NCL menus used to include: hot appetizers, cold appetizers, soup, salad, entree, dessert. MANY passengers worked their way through the whole SIX courses for a long, leisurely meal--and even managed to make small talk with strangers simultaneously. Those were the days. :)

 

What do Freestyle menus have? Appetizer, entree, dessert.

 

Hm, perhaps the menus are not the same fleetwide? We had: Appetizers, soups, salads, entrees (sometimes various categories with more than one in each category), sides (when appropriate, same as in Chops), and desserts. In the Italian restaurant there was the addition of the anti-pasti trolley as well.

 

I don't believe RCI or NCL has ever prohibited anyone from sitting at a table for two, if available. I've done it myself. I just wonder why people who dislike meeting new people sail on ships FULL of them. If you "vant to be alone," why not fly to some some secluded island or rent a beach house where no one will intrude on your solitude?

 

So what difference does it make if passengers choose to sit at a table for two on RCI or NCL or Princess or wherever? Your question here is more general and questions the choices of others because they are not the same as yours. That same attitude seems to pop up on any thread with the question of "are there tables for two?" on this forum. There's always at least one member (who varies) who feels the need to ask "Why would you want to sit at a table for two? You should sit at a big table because meeting new people is one of the best parts of cruising." Maybe it's one of the best parts of cruising for those people; it's not a requirement that it be one of the best parts of cruising for everyone. When we go to a resort, we enjoy meeting new people, but we don't ask to be seated with strangers when we dine. The other answer is that it has nothing to do with not wanting to meet people on a ship full of them. It has to do with personal dining preferences and choosing to meet people on our own terms, such as at the pool or in a lounge or at a show, rather than sitting for 2 hours with people we don't know who have been chosen for us by the cruise line. I remember one member on this forum said that he or she felt "sorry" for people who sat at tables for two because they couldn't be "having any fun." The response from other members was overwhelming that yes indeed, it is possible to have fun dining with just your traveling companions.

 

If we choose to put ourselves in a confined space like a ship spending days in the company of strangers, I think it's incumbent on all of us to climb out of our shells and go with the flow like grownups.

 

What does this have to do with chosing to dine with only your traveling companions? And the fact is that it is not incumbent on anyone to adhere to what you enjoy. This isn't a mix-and-mingle or a "summer camp" where everyone is expected to get to know everyone else. Some people are happy in their shells and neither you nor I have any business telling them otherwise or berating them for it. DH and I are kind of "in between" because we enjoy private time and we enjoy meeting new people. How is it "grownup" to be expected (perhaps forced) to spend time with others if we don't care to do so?

 

Imagine what a nasty, stressful experience cruising would become if everyone on board totally ignored everyone else, especially if they all ended up in lifeboats together. :eek::D

 

I don't know. Based on some of the "tablemates from hell" and "worst behavior" threads, I'm not sure it's such a wonderful thing to have to be expected to be "one happy family." (As long as there's room for everyone on the lifeboat, I don't really care who's on it with me--Although I'd hope for everyone's sake that at least all those onboard have decent hygiene.:p )

 

Traditions don't become traditions because no one liked or honored them. As another poster said, "If it ain't broke..."

 

The dining traditions evolved from the days when "cruising" was primarily transportation and formal everything was the order of the day. I'm not so certain that everyone liked them, but that was the only option. When you have no other option (either socially or because of space constraints) but to eat in a formal dining room at a specific table and a specific time, that's probably what you're going to do whether you "like" it or not.

 

 

I am not by any means saying that "traditional dining" is bad or unenjoyable. We do enjoy it. We also enjoy the anytime/freestyle options as well. I suspect on some issues we will have to agree to disagree--IMO, that doesn't make either of us "wrong" just differing in our opinions and preferences.

 

beachchick

[PEGLEG]

Snicker.:D That was mean.:eek: But funny.:D

 

Fishing Fool, I apologize.

 

Not meant to be mean. Just the truth. Too many people want to change RCI into Carnival or NCL or Princess. THAT is not who RCI is. If RCI is listening to MOST of the posters on these threads, they would realize that fact. Yeah, CC posters are just a part of the cruise industry's clientele, but it is a cross section, no different than a Nielson poll, etc.

 

So, if anybody wants to cruise and be treated just like they are on another cruise line, then go cruise with them.

 

RCI - DON'T CHANGE A THING!

[robtx100]

I guess we had a totally different experience on NCL and Princess. We had anytime dining on both. Each night, we went at 6pm. Each night we requested the same table and waiter. I think the waiters enjoyed seeing us each night and we had a great dining experience. I originally picked anytime dining in case we wanted to eat at 6pm or 8pm, but we went every night at the same time. I guess you could call us traditionalist who think we need flexability.

[Straughn]

After mulling over this possible switch to some combination of open seating/traditional dining, I have several thoughts. My first one being that why does RCI have to be like all the other cruise lines? If HAL and Princess and NCL offer open seating, why not be the cruise line that doesn't offer it. Yes, they may lose customers who want open seating to those cruise lines, but RCI would gain customers from those lines, especially HAL, who want tradational dining. If RCI is one of the few offering traditional dining, they stand out in the crowd, or they can be like all the other lines and try to please all the people all the time, which, if Princess is an example, doesn't work.

 

Perhaps another possibility is to offer open seating on the shorter 3, 4, 5 day cruises. It is my understanding that those cruises have, in general, a more casual atmosphere. I have long thought that they ought to do away with formal nights on the shorter cruises (but we are not discussing dress requirements in this thread ;) ). The 6 day and longer cruises could maintain traditional dining. There is always the option of the Windjammer and the speciality restaurants on the Radiance and larger classes of ships for passengers who want more flexibility in scheduling.

 

Since they have multiple ships cruising the same routes, especially in the Caribbean, they could designate one ship as open seating and one as traditional. The demand for one ship over the other would quickly tell them what the majority of their customers prefer.

 

Lastly, if they want to even try to make this work, they need to have totally separate dining rooms. I would not enjoy being seated on the traditonal level and having a lot of people coming and going, either above or below me, as the open-seating tables turn over. One of the things I most enjoy about traditional dining is that once people are seated, they tend to stay that way and dinner seems more organized with everyone eating on roughly the same schedule.

[Hypo]

Why not simply change the Windjammer to open seating with full waiter service? Also offer the same menu as is being offered in the dining room that evening, including lobster tails.

 

This way, you can enjoy all of the benefits of anytime dining, in a casual atmosphere, with waiter service and still have the option of the traditional dining room available.

 

Hypo

[SherriZ366]

Why not simply change the Windjammer to open seating with full waiter service? Also offer the same menu as is being offered in the dining room that evening, including lobster tails.

 

This way, you can enjoy all of the benefits of anytime dining, in a casual atmosphere, with waiter service and still have the option of the traditional dining room available.

 

Hypo

that is a constructive suggestion. I wonder if RCCL would have enough waiters/asst. waiters to accomplish this.

 

Remember another thing -- NCL and Princess are purpose built for full freestyle/open dining or a traditional/anytime option.

[The Big Booper]

I guess we had a totally different experience on NCL and Princess. We had anytime dining on both. Each night, we went at 6pm. Each night we requested the same table and waiter. I think the waiters enjoyed seeing us each night and we had a great dining experience. I originally picked anytime dining in case we wanted to eat at 6pm or 8pm, but we went every night at the same time. I guess you could call us traditionalist who think we need flexability.

 

Freestyle or Anytime, whatever you call it, works best if you show up when the dining room first opens. Which is what you did. You call it personal choice, I call it early seating, since you were there every night at 6 PM. Try waltzing in at 7:00 PM.

[SherriZ366]

Freestyle or Anytime, whatever you call it, works best if you show up when the dining room first opens. Which is what you did. You call it personal choice, I call it early seating, since you were there every night at 6 PM. Try waltzing in at 7:00 PM.

I think very late would work -- i.e. 8:30 which is really the time of second seating. DH thought that NCL sounded good becasue he figured we could eat at 7 or 7:30 but if we went to the dining room at that time, we probably would be handed a beeper and would get a table around the time of second seating.

[bocamimi]

Say It Isn't So.

I Hate This Idea!!!!!!!!!

I Am A Diamond Member That Is Very Very Disappointed.

[shmutzik]

our 1st cruise was on Princess - and my husband especially wanted free style dining. It was fine - we went to the formal dining room on my birthday and the last night of the cruise and it was ok. we had no complaints about any of the food - even cafeteria style was tasty. Then last year, when we sailed with RC we had to have formal dining, and he was not thrilled...until...he realized that the waiters were amazing, remembering everyone's special orders from various nights, it was fun to discuss our days with the table while our kids were at the table next to us, having their own fun with the waiters! He even relaxed and chatted after dinner...which he rarely does! We loved it.

[beachchick]

After mulling over this possible switch to some combination of open seating/traditional dining, I have several thoughts. My first one being that why does RCI have to be like all the other cruise lines? If HAL and Princess and NCL offer open seating, why not be the cruise line that doesn't offer it. Yes, they may lose customers who want open seating to those cruise lines, but RCI would gain customers from those lines, especially HAL, who want tradational dining. If RCI is one of the few offering traditional dining, they stand out in the crowd, or they can be like all the other lines and try to please all the people all the time, which, if Princess is an example, doesn't work.

 

Perhaps another possibility is to offer open seating on the shorter 3, 4, 5 day cruises. It is my understanding that those cruises have, in general, a more casual atmosphere. I have long thought that they ought to do away with formal nights on the shorter cruises (but we are not discussing dress requirements in this thread ;) ). The 6 day and longer cruises could maintain traditional dining. There is always the option of the Windjammer and the speciality restaurants on the Radiance and larger classes of ships for passengers who want more flexibility in scheduling.

 

Since they have multiple ships cruising the same routes, especially in the Caribbean, they could designate one ship as open seating and one as traditional. The demand for one ship over the other would quickly tell them what the majority of their customers prefer.

 

Lastly, if they want to even try to make this work, they need to have totally separate dining rooms. I would not enjoy being seated on the traditonal level and having a lot of people coming and going, either above or below me, as the open-seating tables turn over. One of the things I most enjoy about traditional dining is that once people are seated, they tend to stay that way and dinner seems more organized with everyone eating on roughly the same schedule.

 

This is a truly intriguing idea. I suppose that many traditionalists who take the shorter cruises wouldn't be happy about it, but I like the idea of not having to pack the formal gear for, say, the 3 or 4 night Monarch cruise.

 

I agree that if RCI decides to try a form of anytime dining, they simply must separate it somehow and have traditional dining too. In the past, some have suggested having the upper levels of the dining room open seating and keeping the main level traditional. I don't know how that would work out, but it's also a thought. The idea of making the Windjammer open, but more formal dining is interesting, but then there's no casual option for those who want to wear shorts to dinner and just have a quick, casual meal.

 

This is, no doubt, one of the never-ending sagas of modern cruising. (Oh well, we've got to have stuff to debate about, don't we? At least this isn't a smoking or diapers in the pool thread! And it's nice that everyone is civil and rational.)

 

Peace!:D

 

beachchick

[Don Pedro]

Why not simply change the Windjammer to open seating with full waiter service? Also offer the same menu as is being offered in the dining room that evening, including lobster tails.

 

This way, you can enjoy all of the benefits of anytime dining, in a casual atmosphere, with waiter service and still have the option of the traditional dining room available.

 

Hypo

 

Wow, now we are going to change both the way the dining room and the Windjammer operate. We know your idea is well intentioned but it does nothing but eliminate the Windjammer and replace it with a dining room.

 

Please, Please, Please leave the Windjammer alone! There are those of us who don't want to order off the menu and deal with waiters. We opt to eat in the Windjammer because we don't enjoy enduring the repetitous two hour long dining routine every evening.

 

We enjoy strolling through the buffet and picking out what and how much we want to eat.

[firefly333]

The problem with this is as you can see from the poll results, traditional was voted for 2 to 1. But when half the traditional is cancelled, it means a lot of folks who want traditional are out in the cold.

 

Go look at Princess. We got "stuck" with anytime dining as do a lot of others who dont want it. So you make about 1/4 of your passengers unhappy forcing them into anytime dining by doing this.

[Hypo]

Hey Lola and Pete,

 

I know they probably won't change the way the WJ operates. This was only a possible option to what they are going to do. My big concern was that they announced this "trial" only 13 days before final payment date for our cruise on the Freedom on Oct 7. Since the whole ship had already planned on having traditional, early or late seating, at least 1/3 of those people must (or are afforded the opportunity to) change their plans and try the open seating, anytime dining.

 

I don't want anytime, we are with you and like either traditional or the options of WJ, specialty restaurants, Promenade, etc.

 

We were on the Grand Princess a few years ago, had early traditional confirmed, and when we got to the ship were told we were in anytime, so sorry. We were told that we could just make reservations in any time seating for the entire week, and have the same table, waitstaff, and time of seating, "just like traditional". Not true, they wouldn't take a standing reservation for two people, and we were forced to join the cattle call and wait for a table.

 

I really wish that they had announced this test at a time that coincided with opening booking period for a future date. That way, anyone booking the ship would be aware of all of the dining options available, when they make their cruise decisions.

 

Haven't talked to you in a while on the Voyager M&M, hopefully it will get more active as we get closer to the end of the year.

 

Mark

[perkyblue]

I rarely post on a thread without at least attempting to read most of the thread first, and I never post the same thing on separate threads, but I'm making an exception now because I don't have time to read this thread right now (It's getting late!) and because I just posted this on my roll call and realized it would be appropriate here. This was my response to finding out that RCI is starting to offer anytime dining:

 

No, no, no! I knew this was coming, but I really hate it! I know it's a "choice," but from what I've heard about the way it's done on Princess, people who request traditional dining often don't get it because it fills up too quickly. So then you end up having to either eat very early or very late because all of the more popular dining times for non-traditional dining also fill up quickly. You might decide to show up for dinner at 7:00, but no tables are available until an hour later. I hate seeing traditional dining being phased out, it's really a shame. One of the great traditions of cruising, and one of the things that separates it from land-based vacations is disappearing.

 

Another reason I hate to see this even though it is a "choice" is because I don't think new cruisers will even give traditional dining a try. I know I wouldn't have on my first cruise if I'd had the choice. If you've never experienced it, the idea of dining every night with strangers is not very appealing to most people, and you don't know how nice it is to really get to know your wait staff and have them get to know you and your preferences. I think that several years down the road traditional dining could be completely phased out because the next generation of cruisers will be more likely to choose non-traditional dining.

Plus, I just really like the idea of everyone coming together in the dining room. I feel like it makes all of the cruisers more of a community, if that makes any sense. Not that we're all going to get to know each other, but at least all of us are sharing the same experience. I can't explain exactly why, but I like the unity of everyone on the ship coming together at the same time (even if it is in two shifts) for dinner.

 

I'm so disappointed that RCI is moving away from traditional dining. :(

 

 

The part in red above was highlighted by another member of our roll call as something she hadn't thought about before, so I just wanted to share it with the rest of you as well.

[seetosea]

We have done both, but prefer the traditional dining. The anytime was okay - just wasn't our cup of tea.

[horsefeathers75]

I have been a long time RCCL cruiser and love the traditional time dining. That being said I have tried other cruises lines and continue to come back to RCCL because they are the best cruise line out there (imo). The traditional dining time is another reason I stay with RCCL.

 

In the world we live in and eat in, when you go to a resturant you get a beeper and wait for it to go off. Why would anyone want to go on a cruise and have to do the same thing. It is nice to know that while cruising at a certain time there is always something you can count on and that is your table with your waiter waiting you. I personally do not want to be sitting by the pool or taking my nap and having to worry that I better get in line to wait for a dinner table. Why anyone would want to do this is beyond me.

 

RCCL should keep to traditional time dining as many people have come back to RCCL just because of that. This is my 14th cruise with them and I count on them being reliable when it comes to feeding me and all my many friends I have brought to them with me..

 

RCCL we know you read these boards so please do not get go Freestyle, it will ruin what we have come to depend on. We respect that you stick to what works for you and Traditional dining works for you.

 

Thanks for listening.

 

Debi

[DeepWaterMariner]

We have enjoyed Personal Choice dinning on Princess so we would welcome an open sitting dinning option on RCI. We have had several cruises on RCI where our dinning room table has not been full which has detracted from the dinning experience. Open sitting eliminates that problem while giving us more flexibility on when we dine.

[griswalds]

We prefer traditional as we really like to get to know our table friends. We are not opposed to a ship that offers both as long as they can avoid a waitlist.

Even on open seating, we still ended up going at the same time.

Griswalds

[codewize]

There's a lot of discussion about this and from what I can see the majority is against anytime / freestyle dining, mostly in efforts to maintain the impeccable quality of service along with tradition.

 

I of course agree BUT has anyone said anything to RCCI? Have we sent them comments, letters, emails about how we feel? I would guess that diamond and diamond members, even Platinum members comments will carry a lot of weight during the decision process.

 

If we feel that strongly about this, and it seems like we do, we need to tell them, formally.

[SherriZ366]

There's a lot of discussion about this and from what I can see the majority is against anytime / freestyle dining, mostly in efforts to maintain the impeccable quality of service along with tradition.

 

I of course agree BUT has anyone said anything to RCCI? Have we sent them comments, letters, emails about how we feel? I would guess that diamond and diamond members, even Platinum members comments will carry a lot of weight during the decision process.

 

If we feel that strongly about this, and it seems like we do, we need to tell them, formally.

Lots of communications to RCCL including asking them to read this and other threads which want to keep the ships 100% traditional dining in the dining room. Some folks have used the following email cruisecomments@rccl.com or have emails officers at RCI. Other folks have expressed their opinions via Crown and Anchor/Diamond-platinum/diamond plus phone lines. Please also weigh in.