Has anybody ever given you $100 just for having gone on a cruise ship? A thank-you for your comments, however critical they may have been? A thank-you even if you didn’t make any comments?
That’s what Royal Caribbean is doing.
Anybody who sailed on Quantum of the Seas, which will be six months old in a couple of weeks, is being given a $100 thank-you for having endured what was Royal Caribbean’s dining mistake when the ship was launched. Thanks is coming in the form of — and here’s the asterisk — $100 to spend on Anthem of the Seas, the ship now on its inaugural voyage in the waters off Southampton.
The reason? Because on Anthem of the Seas, Royal Caribbean has the dining thing right…or at least the cruise line thinks so.
The Dynamic Dining concept on Quantum allowed passengers to go to any of four main dining rooms. The problem (read: complaint) was two-fold. One was that desired reservations and reservation space didn’t always match, or maybe didn’t often match. Two 
was that traditional diners, the ones who want to sit at the same table with the same people at the same time and be served by the same waiters and probably eat the same food (just kidding), didn’t like it.
So along comes two concepts: Dynamic Dining Classic and Dynamic Dining Choice.
The traditionalists will opt for Classic, which sounds like rotating everything (tablemates, waiters) from restaurant to restaurant. The non-traditionalists will have the Choice of times and tables, as well as restaurants. And both of them, like everybody who has cruised on Quantum of the Seas, will have $100 per person to spend on an Anthem of the Seas cruise (must be booked by May 31).
Royal Caribbean, of course, didn’t have to do anything to appease those who didn’t like the old Dynamic Dining. It was probably a somewhat vocal minority and now the somewhat silent majority can share in the benefits. On paper, the cruise line is ponying up approximately $10 million, based on 100,000 passengers in the ship’s first six months. In reality, it will be much less because in order to collect, those 100,000 passengers would have to book a cruise on Anthem of the Seas in the next five weeks.
Nonetheless, it’s a nice gesture for not getting the dining thing right the first time.
Today at portsandbows.com: Live from the deck of the Anthem
Carnival Ecstasy
4 nights
May 11, 2015
Miami (return): Half Moon Cay, Nassau
Inside: $229
Cost per day: $57
www.carnival.com