My Time Dining Question

After a long absence from RCI we are coming back this May and have booked MTD. Is there a way to make MTD reservations now? I know on all of our Celebrity cruises the past 4 years we could always pre=book our dining time but when I go to the RCI web site I can find my reservations but I cannot see how to book MTD. Thanks in advance everyone.

After a long absence from RCI we are coming back this May and have booked MTD. Is there a way to make MTD reservations now? I know on all of our Celebrity cruises the past 4 years we could always pre=book our dining time but when I go to the RCI web site I can find my reservations but I cannot see how to book MTD. Thanks in advance everyone.

Just access your "Cruise Planner" and when the MTD reservations (may not be open yet for your May 2018 cruise) are available you will be able to do so there. Not sure of the timing but just keep checking or someone on your rollcall (if you joined) will be quick to post this information.

Remember it's not a "must" that you make reservations at all for MTD...we prefer the flexibility to eat at different times each night and just show up.

Best of luck and enjoy your cruise.

Are there fixed number of reservations or are they paid for? I'm curious if there is any penalty for making, and for whatever reason, missing your reservation.

Are there fixed number of reservations or are they paid for? I'm curious if there is any penalty for making, and for whatever reason, missing your reservation.

No charge to make MTD reservations and no charge if you miss them.

Are there fixed number of reservations or are they paid for? I'm curious if there is any penalty for making, and for whatever reason, missing your reservation.

No penalty at all. We actually went one night to cancel our reservation to do a specialty restaurant instead and they told us next time just don't show.

We also went about an hour early for our reservation one night and that also wasn't a problem.

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After a long absence from RCI we are coming back this May and have booked MTD. Is there a way to make MTD reservations now? I know on all of our Celebrity cruises the past 4 years we could always pre=book our dining time but when I go to the RCI web site I can find my reservations but I cannot see how to book MTD. Thanks in advance everyone.

Just access your "Cruise Planner" and when the MTD reservations (may not be open yet for your May 2018 cruise) are available you will be able to do so there. Not sure of the timing but just keep checking or someone on your rollcall (if you joined) will be quick to post this information.

 

Remember it's not a "must" that you make reservations at all for MTD...we prefer the flexibility to eat at different times each night and just show up.

 

Best of luck and enjoy your cruise.

Yes, it's much too early for you to be able to make those reservations. Join your Roll Call. Often someone there will be watching like a hawk and will announce, "Reservations are open!"

:)

No penalty at all. We actually went one night to cancel our reservation to do a specialty restaurant instead and they told us next time just don't show.

 

We also went about an hour early for our reservation one night and that also wasn't a problem.

 

 

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That depends a lot on your cruise and your ship. Sometimes it DOES matter and sometimes it IS a good and considerate thing to cancel. Others can't take "your" table if they are holding it for you.

We love MTD one reason-flexibility! Which is why we rarely make reservations. I look at the Compass in the morning and decide what show we are going to and then we plan dinner around that. We go to dinner when we feel like it. We rarely have to wait and if we do, it is like 5 minutes. But we eat anywhere b/t 7:30 and 8:30 so it works for us. I hated traditional dining as early was too early and I don't always want to eat after 8.

We have been do flex dining on all ships since it started and we will never do anything else.

Thanks for all of the advice and information. Celebrity seems to open their Select Time reservations much sooner so I was concerned. We have not been on an RCI trip in 4 years so I am not really up on things on that side. The roll call? I started it so I guess I will keep an eye on that too.

We generally like to eat around 7pm and we are traveling with some cousins so having a reservation just makes it easier. As others have said, we can always change things as we go but I prefer to have something in place.

If you can't do it prior to your sail date, you can make your reservations on the ship.. Don't stress! I can almost guarantee that the 7 pm timeslot will NOT be open for "pre-booking"...the seldom, if ever, open the popular times until you're on the ship.

Yes, it's much too early for you to be able to make those reservations. Join your Roll Call. Often someone there will be watching like a hawk and will announce, "Reservations are open!"

 

 

 

:)

We are sailing 1 month before and our reservations are open now.

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We already have reservations for MTD on the Explorer of the Seas September Pacific Coast cruise. Traditional dining was not available at the time we booked.

We really enjoy having table mates, usually a table for six. In April our family of 10 had a reservation in MTD and got the same table each night. Is it possible in MTD to have other cruisers as table mates?

We already have reservations for MTD on the Explorer of the Seas September Pacific Coast cruise. Traditional dining was not available at the time we booked.

We really enjoy having table mates, usually a table for six. In April our family of 10 had a reservation in MTD and got the same table each night. Is it possible in MTD to have other cruisers as table mates?

You may indeed tell the host/ess at the podium that you would like to share a table.

Last time we cruised, a party of 4, we got seated at a larger table with other people.

IIRC, they asked if we wanted a table for 4 or would be willing to share.

We already have reservations for MTD on the Explorer of the Seas September Pacific Coast cruise. Traditional dining was not available at the time we booked.

We really enjoy having table mates, usually a table for six. In April our family of 10 had a reservation in MTD and got the same table each night. Is it possible in MTD to have other cruisers as table mates?

On one cruise on the second night we had a table of 8, (4 couples that had never met before), and we all got on great. We decided to meet up again on the second night, and after that the table was ours for the rest of the cruise and we ate together every night. They were good to keep the table and we just walked in when we wanted. Not the norm, and never happened before or since, but it can be done.

We are sailing on the Harmony in September with MTD. I kept trying to schedule MTD on My Cruise Planner (started in like June) with no success. Called RCI in July, they couldn't find the reason I was not able to. I was just going to wait until we were aboard to make the reservations but My Cruise Planner apparently "healed itself" in August and I was able to schedule MTD online...

Looks like when you book MTD in My Cruise Planner though, it wont let you pick a time less than at least 2 hours prior to another scheduled event. I understand this but was hoping as a table for 2 we could eat later and closer to show time..... Will likely revise MTD reservation on board anyway....

When we first started doing My Time Dining, we loved the idea--total flexibility. We always varied dining time based on the arrival from port and the show times...and, importantly, a little pre-dinner drinking in the Diamond Lounge. Say, we got back from port by 4:00 or 4:30, we'd shower and dress and head to the Diamond Lounge around 5:00...If the show was at, say, 9:00, we'd try to get out of the DL by 7:00 at the latest and head to dinner, leaving a two-hour time slot. If we got back from port later, we'd shorten that time in the DL...If we were in the middle of some great conversation in the DL, we'd get to dinner a little later...Always "played it by ear"...never made a reservation...And it always worked perfectly...Always got seated immediately...

...until our most recent back-to-back cruises this past June/July on Jewel of the Seas. On the first leg of our BTB, we showed up night one at around 7:00 and found two rather long lines--one "With Reservations", the other "without"...Got in the "Without Reservations" line and it moved very slowly...When we finally got to the front, they claimed to have trouble seating us and forced us to wait. (We are very flexible--there are two of us...and we told them we were willing to take ANY table--by ourselves or sitting with others). This pattern repeated every night the first few nights. One night, we were told we could not be seated at all--there were NO tables available. After some discussion, they told us that there was one table...but it was a table for six and we'd be eating alone with four empty seats. I asked "what about the couple behind us in line?" (as I knew from conversation prior to getting to the front was also willing to share a table). So, they sat the four of us at the table for six...but never filled the other two seats. After dinner, I went to Guest Relations and complained...They said someone would get back to me--but they never did. The next evening, I told the story to the Diamond Lounge hostess...who was appalled. She called the Dining Room and set up a table for us for that night...and continued to do so each night for the rest of our back-to-back. She asked that we tell her about 15-20 minutes prior to leaving the DL and she would make that call every night.

Of course, the whole situation had us so rattled that for the second leg of the BTB, we bought the 3 specialty restaurant package...and a fourth night, we were invited to the Captain's Table, so we didn't have to deal with it that much on the second leg...

But, for our upcoming Christmas cruise on Navigator, we are just afraid of ending up in that same situation...So, we went onto the RCCL website and made reservations for every night of the 9 nights...The website only offered us reservations at 6:30 or before or 7:45 or after...Our typical 7:00 or 7:15 was not an option...So, we arbitrarily made a reservation for every night at 6:30--regardless of port times, show times, etc. Sort of defeats the idea of having flexibility...but, at least it should allow us into that faster moving "With Reservations" line...I am just wondering, if we show up late for that reservation each night, how will that affect things? Say we don't get there until 7:00, will we still be okay? It seemed to me that there were always people in that "With Reservations" line at 7:00 even though the website doesn't seem to offer 7:00 reservations...and they were certainly getting seated faster than we were...