I first heard news of big changes to Dynamic Dining tonight on one of the Facebook cruising groups I participate in. Later, I saw the same news on royalcaribbeanblog.com (not the company’s blog) so I’ll repeat it here. There are indications that Royal Caribbean is already making an adjustment to its new Dynamic Dining program which debuted on Quantum of the Seas and move to a “rotational dining” concept. For those not familiar, rotational dining is a concept employed at Disney Cruise Line. You dine in different venues each night, but rotate among the venues along with your same dining staff.
Apparently, this news came from a Royal Caribbean VP while speaking to travel agents aboard a 2-night cruise previewing the recently renovated Freedom of the Seas to travel agents. For the record – I liked Dynamic Dining in concept, and mostly in practice during my December 2014 Quantum of the Seas cruise, and did not experience any excessive waits, crazy lines, or major issues that have been reported on the cruise message boards. I’ll be reaching out for official word from Royal Caribbean, but I’m inclined to believe change is in the air with Dynamic Dining.
-MJ, January 31, 2015
well Quantum of the Seas is on my definitely to do list so I am looking forward to all the kinks being worked out! thanks for the info!
I am a traditionalist I think when it comes to cruise dining. I was just on Caribbean Princess two weeks ago and had traditional 5:30 PM dining. (with kids it had to be early) but then I see all these people 20-30 deep waiting to be seated because they are on anytime dining option. Who wants to wait for a table?? I just don’t get it.
I haven’t been on Quantum or any Disney cruises (but veteran of 10 cruises) but I would like Dynamic dining if it was set time with same servers with no waiting.
Rotational worked pretty well on Disney. You either go early or late, and you keep the same server. Your meal rotation is listed on your room key so you know where to show up. I liked Dynamic Dining very much in concept, and to be honest, it worked for me in practice. Lines weren’t long (for me), and the only glitches involved revolved around crew and guests getting used to a new way of doing things, and the reservation system which was not 100 percent reliable. From everything thing I’ve heard, it’s done nothing but improve as it’s gone along, but I guess RCL got enough complaints about it that they’re going to try something else. Now someone will gripe about not wanting to eat in a specific restaurant on the night they rotate into it. 🙂