NCL Specialty Restaurants Go A La Carte in 2016

I recently wrote about Royal Caribbean's decision to limit "Dynamic Dining" only to it's Quantum class ships here, and now this week we hear that competitor Norwegian Cruise Line will make changes regarding how they charge for their specialty restaurants.

Norwegian Cruise Lines was a pioneer in changing the dining concepts on cruise lines by introducing "Freestyle Dining" over a decade ago.  No longer would passengers have to eat at the same time and at the same place every night.  Along with this change came the introduction of "Specialty Restaurants".  These are optional additional dining venues that cruisers can choose from instead of the main dining room on the ships.  Typically, these restaurants are much smaller, feature a certain cuisine and charge a cover charge per person anywhere from $10 - $100 dollars.  

Norwegian has now announced that they will be charging "a la carte" style in their specialty restaurants starting in 2016.  My first thought is that this may be a welcome change for those who never quite felt they were getting their money's worth with some of the high cover charges.  What are your thoughts?  My last cruise on Norwegian Cruise Lines was years ago on the now gone "Dream" and they had just implemented "Freestyle Dining".  Except for a few long waits, I really enjoyed the new concept at the time.  We had enough choice to not need to use the specialty restaurants on that cruise.

Contact me, Matthew Dobeck to book your next cruise!  I can be reached at mattdobeck@outlook.com or 954-798-6573

Royal Caribbean Won't Retrofit For Dynamic Dining

When Royal Caribbean launched Quantum of the Seas, they also introduced a revolutionary new dining concept called "Dynamic Dining".  This dining concept would do away with the traditional early and late seating times and allow guests to dine anywhere they would like at any time they choose.  Rather than having a large main dining room, the ship was outfitted with five smaller sized dining rooms as well as a handful of other smaller specialty dining venues, each with a different  style and type of cuisine.  Along with Dynamic Dining, the formal night concept was done away with, allowing passengers who prefer to dress formally for dinner, to opt for the "formal-only" restaurant called "The Grande".  

Dynamic Dining was quite a change, even for those who previously used the line's "My Time" dining which allow you to choose your time, but still dine in the main dining room.  Some people embraced the concept as it allowed for more choice, while others were not so thrilled with having to micro-manage their dining experience.  To that end, Royal Caribbean did a minor overhaul of the program and introduced Dynamic Dining Classic which added back in the early and late seating times and then assigned the guests to a different restaurant each night.  Dynamic Dining Choice still operates as the original concept.  

Once the Quantum of the Seas was launched, it was announced that all future ships would feature Dynamic Dining and that they were starting to retrofit the existing ships by breaking up the main dining room into smaller venues and then ultimately switch each ship over to Dynamic Dining.  Mega ship, Oasis of the Seas' main dining has already been converted and plans were in the works to convert Allure of the Seas and the new Harmony of the Seas was slated to have the Dynamic Dining concept.

This week Royal Caribbean announced that they are stopping any plans to covert to Dynamic Dining on the Oasis if the Seas, nor are they going ahead with the retrofit of the Allure of the Seas, nor will it be an option on the new ship Harmony of the Seas.  No explanation has been given, but one would assume is that the concept is failing and the expense of this conversion does not bode well for the future.  I hope to get more information soon.  Only the Quantum of the Seas and the Anthem of the Seas currently feature Dynamic Dining.

Please contact me, Matthew Dobeck, Travel Consultant to book your next cruise!  I can be reached at mattdobeck@outlook.com or 954-798-6573

Carnival Cruise Line Will Sail To Cuba Starting May 2016

I had a feeling this was in the works!

A few weeks ago, Carnival announced that they would be coming out with a new "Fathom" line which will feature educational "social impact" travel experiences. My immediate thought was that they'll be sailing to Cuba.


As predicted, they announced that they will indeed be having sailings on the new Fathom brand leaving out of Miami starting in May, 2016. Pricing will start at $2990 per person for a 7-day cruise which is three times higher than a typical 7-day itinerary in the Caribbean. The reason for the high price is that it will include onboard social-impact immersion experiences and on-the-ground cultural immersion activities. As of right now, the Adonia will sail these cruises. That ship is currently serving P&O Cruises. It's still unclear if there will be any other restrictions or requirements to book these sailings, but I am sure more news will be forthcoming in the months ahead.

Carnival is not the first line that will operate in Cuba. In December of this year, MSC cruise lines will begin seasonal sailings out of Havana on the MSC Opera.

While I am excited to see the restriction lifted and Cuba included in the cruise industry, I personally will take a wait and see approach prior to booking one of these cruises myself.

If you'd like to book a cruise anywhere, please contact me, Matthew Dobeck at mattdobeck@outlook.com or 954-798-6573

Walt Disney World 2015 Candlelight Processional Dinner Packages Are Now Open For Booking.

It's finally the time to book your dinner package for this year's Candlelight Processional at Walt Disney World. 

 As a holiday tradition, Walt Disney World celebrates by putting on a processional at Epcot complete with candlelight, full orchestra music and celebrity narration of the Christmas story.  This event takes place November 27th - December 30th, 2015.  Only theme park entry is required to attend the processional, however the dining packages allow for you to have a wonderful meal along with priority seating at the event. 

 Participating restaurants, pricing, celebrity schedule and reservations can be found here.  If you find that you are having any sort of struggle finding a table using the online booking system, be sure to simply call Disney's dining department at (407) 939-3463.

As always, please contact me, Matthew Dobeck to book your next Walt Disney World vacation or any vacation you are thinking about.  I can be reached at mattdobeck@outlook.com or 954-798-6573