Questions about Dining Plan and MDR

[dvcdisney]

I was able to find some information from 2019 on the dining plans, but I was wondering if anything has changed.

My Anthem cruise has the 3 night Dining plan offer (didn't notice any Unlimited or Ultimate dining plan). It says that they will provide a courtesy reservation for first or second night. I read the earlier threads that said they would choose the restaurant for you but you won't be informed of it. Since it's a holiday cruise, I'm concerned that the speciality restaurant we want will be booked for Christmas Day by the time we get onboard.

So - just a couple of questions:
1. We have 2 staterooms, I was planning to get the dining plan for my husband and I, but not for my kids (teen and adult) since they have no interest in the specialty dining other than one night. In this case, how can I add them to the courtesy booking?

2. If we decide that the reservations are not available to the restaurants that we want, can we cancel the 3 night dining plan and get a full refund (as long as we don't use it, of course)?

3. Would it be possible to book the reservations and ask them to use the dining plan instead and refund the bookings? So for instance, if I want to make sure I have a particular reservation for Chops Grille on Day 2, but I think it won't be available when I get there, so I reserve now. Can I ask them to use one of our dining plans and refund what we paid?

With regards to the MDR, I notice that we can only book the time but not the dining room.

1. How do we know which dining room we go to each night?

2. Can we change between the 2 dining rooms or do we have to stay in the same dining room every time?

And finally, with all restaurants, are there vaccinated vs unvaccinated sections?

Sorry about the lengthy and convoluted questions, I'm still very new to RCCL.

Thanks for any information and suggestions.

 

[Denise W]

There is only one regular dining room, although it usually has 2 floors to it.

Since I haven’t cruised since the pandemic began, I don’t know what they are doing now in dining. We usually did My Time Dining and booked the same time for every night well before the cruise.

 

[dvcdisney]

There is only one regular dining room, although it usually has 2 floors to it.

Since I haven’t cruised since the pandemic began, I don’t know what they are doing now in dining. We usually did My Time Dining and booked the same time for every night well before the cruise.

Okay. For some reason, I thought there was 2 dining rooms for those who have set dining and 2 dining for My Time Dining. There's Grande, Chic, Silk and American Icon. Are these considered just one dining room?

Sorry, I must have really misunderstood that. It does look like their on deck 3 and 4. So, are they just two levels of one whole Dining room?

 

[Denise W]

Anthem started out with the 4 dining rooms, and people rotated between them. That hasn’t been done for several years. Most RCL ships have one main dining room. Now Anthem has 2 designated My Time Dining and 2 designated regular dining. 2 are next to each other on one deck, the other 2 next to each other on the next deck. You go up to the podium and are seated in whichever one has room.

 

[dvcdisney]

Anthem started out with the 4 dining rooms, and people rotated between them. That hasn’t been done for several years. Most RCL ships have one main dining room. Now Anthem has 2 designated My Time Dining and 2 designated regular dining. 2 are next to each other on one deck, the other 2 next to each other on the next deck. You go up to the podium and are seated in whichever one has room.

Okay. Thanks!

I understand now. I thought these were all separate dining rooms. So when we arrive to check in for our reservations, we could be brought to either of the 2 designated for My Time Dining (we chose this option).

 

[dvcdisney]

1. We have 2 staterooms, I was planning to get the dining plan for my husband and I, but not for my kids (teen and adult) since they have no interest in the specialty dining other than one night. In this case, how can I add them to the courtesy booking?

2. If we decide that the reservations are not available to the restaurants that we want, can we cancel the 3 night dining plan and get a full refund (as long as we don't use it, of course)?

3. Would it be possible to book the reservations and ask them to use the dining plan instead and refund the bookings? So for instance, if I want to make sure I have a particular reservation for Chops Grille on Day 2, but I think it won't be available when I get there, so I reserve now. Can I ask them to use one of our dining plans and refund what we paid?

Does anyone have any idea about my above 3 questions?