Flexible Dining Reaches River Ships

The concept of flexible dining — choosing where and when to dine—has reached critical mass and can now be found on most cruise ships. Even river cruises are getting in on the trend. Avalon Waterways just announced a new breakfast dining option for passengers — in-stateroom breakfasts.

“We already provide travelers early- and late-riser breakfast options,” said Patrick Clark, managing director of Avalon Waterways. “Our guests will also have the opportunity to order continental breakfast in their room.”

According to Jennifer Halboth, director of marketing for Globus family of brands, Avalon Waterways added the dining option based on feedback from passengers that they wanted more flexibility. “Flexibility is the cornerstone of all the enhancements we made to our dining programs for 2011.”

The line also added a late evening snack as well as more food choices during meals. “And while we also offer early-riser and late-riser breakfast, for some people breakfast is the meal they prefer to enjoy on their own in the comfort of their own stateroom.”

Margie Jordan, CTA, DS, CEO of ASAP Travel, agreed breakfast is the one meal passengers often want the most flexibility on. “There are some that still prefer a specific time for dinner but prefer to dine on a flexible schedule for breakfast… it’s a choice between sleeping in or getting up early to have breakfast.”

Avalon Waterways is not the first river cruise line to offer more flexible dining options. Tauck currently offers passengers on its ships a second dining venue, which offers lighter bistro-style meals as an alternative to the main dining room. As for room service breakfast, only guests in category 6 suites can order. However, complimentary snack baskets are available from 2 p.m. to midnight in all cabin categories.
 
As for the big lines, Norwegian Cruise Line, Carnival, Royal Caribbean and Celebrity all offer some type of flex dining.

Even the luxury lines offer some flexible options. All the dining on Oceania Cruises, for instance, is open seating so guests can dine when, where and with whom they like – except specialty restaurants, which require reservations.

And in 2011 Crystal Cruises will implement Perfect Choice Dining. Available only in the Crystal Dining Room, Perfect Choice Dining offers passengers open seating by reservation.

Agents are not surprised by the spread of flexible dining among cruise lines.

“Having the flexibility to dine whenever you’d like is a growing trend amongst cruise lines,” Jordan told Travel Market Report. “It’s the final departure from the idea of rigid schedules.

Clients traveling on land-based vacations have always had the choice as to when and where they would dine. It only makes sense to offer this same flexibility on a cruise ship.”

Angie Gideon, office manager of Gideon Travel Agency in Ontario, Canada, agreed. “People like having choices where and when to eat,” she said, though she added that she doesn’t believe clients will choose a specific cruise line because of flexible dining.

“I know that some people won’t pay a cover charge when they don’t have to,” she said.

But Jordan said it’s important that all options be offered. “I think it is critical to offer both options because every client will have a different preference. It’s the ability to choose that makes flexible dining so attractive and important to our cruise clients.”
 
At least one travel seller disagreed, telling TMR that flexible dining evolved out of misconceptions about cruise line dining among non-cruisers. “The only clients who like flexi-dining are the ones who have never cruised before and don’t see the benefit or elegance of set dining times. In my experience, couples like set dining more than families, but overall I think flexi-dining was a concept that was developed in response to an impression about set dining among non-cruisers, versus a complaint from passengers,” said Gretchen Maslanka, leisure sales at Corniche Travel.