Dining - Have I made a mess??

Ok, be gentle. I am primary caregiver to my elderly parents :).

Here's the story. Months ago I booked on Harmony for hubby & I. Signed up for My Time Dining and prepaid all gratuities. As the months went by we decided to go to a few specialty restaurants. No I didn't do "dining package". But now a few weeks before cruising I have 5 specialty restaurants booked and have no plans to go to main dining room during our cruise. If I can't get reservations anywhere we figure we'll do Windjammer one night and Johnny Rockets one night. This is the first time we'll not do main dining room after 20+ cruise so it's a nice mini adventure for us :).

So now I am wondering...A) I know I spent more than I had to buying the reservations one at a time...and figure that is an oh well..but B) what about prepaid gratuities? Do I now lose those and tip again at the specialty restaurants? And lastly, should we go to dining room on our sea pass card upon boarding to tell them we won't be using their facilities? Seems like we should tell someone!

I am NOT trying to get out of tipping. I'm just trying to understand how it works and want to do the right thing. The sad part is we are diamond and I still did this :).

Thanks in advance if you have some insight.

Ok, be gentle. I am primary caregiver to my elderly parents :).

 

Here's the story. Months ago I booked on Harmony for hubby & I. Signed up for My Time Dining and prepaid all gratuities. As the months went by we decided to go to a few specialty restaurants. No I didn't do "dining package". But now a few weeks before cruising I have 5 specialty restaurants booked and have no plans to go to main dining room during our cruise. If I can't get reservations anywhere we figure we'll do Windjammer one night and Johnny Rockets one night. This is the first time we'll not do main dining room after 20+ cruise so it's a nice mini adventure for us :).

 

So now I am wondering...A) I know I spent more than I had to buying the reservations one at a time...and figure that is an oh well..but B) what about prepaid gratuities? Do I now lose those and tip again at the specialty restaurants? And lastly, should we go to dining room on our sea pass card upon boarding to tell them we won't be using their facilities? Seems like we should tell someone!

 

I am NOT trying to get out of tipping. I'm just trying to understand how it works and want to do the right thing. The sad part is we are diamond and I still did this :).

 

Thanks in advance if you have some insight.

Since you have a MTD reservations . I would go to the dining room and let them know you will not be coming This will free up your reservation time for someone else.

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I've seen posts from people who ended up buying the multi night dining packages after having booked individual dinners and being refunded the difference as OBC. Perhaps that's possible for you?

As for your gratuities, they cover not only dining room staff, but your room steward, back of house and servers in the WJ and other food service locations. I'd just leave it alone.

Your prepaid gratuities won't be wasted, they pay for your stateroom attendant and helpers, in addition to dining staff. Dining staff includes those people serving you at breakfast, lunch, and dinner in Windjammer.

It would be thoughtful to cancel your MyTime dining reservations to free that time slot for someone else.

Prepaid gratuities can be done by anyone. They are not required for My Time and cover your room steward, all dining rooms and some behind the scenes staff, so you don't need to do anything. Specialty restaurant price normally includes gratuity, but many people do tip additionally; nothing to do with your prepaid tips. Remember you will still be eating breakfast and lunch in dining facilities, so staff will be getting your prepaid tips. Hope that makes sense.

It is customary to tip for room service delivery, diamond lounge bar staff and concierge (if you use concierge service). Again, these people are not part of the prepaid staff.

A) I know I spent more than I had to buying the reservations one at a time...and figure that is an oh well

I have a hard time believing that Crown & Anchor would not do something here...

I would call them and ask them if they can remove & refund all the individual bookings you have made so that you can purchase one of the very well priced dining package in your cruise planner. I believe the 4 night was $100 when I booked it and the 5 night was $121.

The tips to the wait staff cover ALL meals...not just dinner! Leave them as be...and any fee you pay for "specialty restaurants" has the tip added into the fee.

It would be thoughtful to cancel your MyTime dining reservations to free that time slot for someone else.

 

Prepaid gratuities can be done by anyone. They are not required for My Time and cover your room steward, all dining rooms and some behind the scenes staff, so you don't need to do anything. Specialty restaurant price normally includes gratuity, but many people do tip additionally; nothing to do with your prepaid tips. Remember you will still be eating breakfast and lunch in dining facilities, so staff will be getting your prepaid tips. Hope that makes sense.

 

It is customary to tip for room service delivery, diamond lounge bar staff and concierge (if you use concierge service). Again, these people are not part of the prepaid staff.

Maybe I am missing something or don't understand how MTD works. I thought I had a good handle on MTD. I thought the reason people elected for MTD was for flexibility and not having to make a "reservation." Mind you, even with MTD I have made reservations on certain nights as the dining room can be really crowded.

I didn't see that the OP had MTD reservations already, only that they had signed up for MTD. Unless you have reservations for any night in the MDR for MTD (a lot of alphabet soup here. LOL) I don't know that you need to let them know you won't be coming. That's a bigger issue for traditional dining where you might have a specific waiter or tablemates waiting for you.

If you have reservations in the MDR, stop by and let them know you won't be coming for that reservation. Otherwise, they have plenty of people who will be keeping them on their toes every night.

Am I missing something here? Why not simply cancel both the existing specialty dining and the prepaid grats. Then book a 5 night dining package? Let the grats accrue during the cruise - you never know if some OBC comes your way and you can put it towards grats.

Thank you all for the awesome advice & suggestions. I might call C&A and see about making all the reservations a "package" but it's $$'s already spent. As far as gratuities, I will leave that alone. And yes, we always tip in the Diamond lounge each night.

And you're right, I don't have a reservation yet for a set time for MTD so I am no worries about that as well. Still will likely drop by and give them the heads up we won't be there though. 15 more days, can't wait :).

Maybe I am missing something or don't understand how MTD works. I thought I had a good handle on MTD. I thought the reason people elected for MTD was for flexibility and not having to make a "reservation." Mind you, even with MTD I have made reservations on certain nights as the dining room can be really crowded.

 

I didn't see that the OP had MTD reservations already, only that they had signed up for MTD. Unless you have reservations for any night in the MDR for MTD (a lot of alphabet soup here. LOL) I don't know that you need to let them know you won't be coming. That's a bigge issue for traditional dining where you might have a specific waiter or tablemates waiting for you.

If you have reservations in the MDR, stop by and let them know you won't be coming for that reservation. Otherwise, they have plenty of people who will be keeping them on their toes every night.

OP does not have actual reservations for dinner, but they are signed up for MTD. There could be people on the waiting list for MTD (just like there could be people wanting to switch from early to late seating)' hence suggestion to let dining room know they won't be there at all. It might help people on waiting list for MTD prior to embarkation.

Maybe I am missing something or don't understand how MTD works. I thought I had a good handle on MTD. I thought the reason people elected for MTD was for flexibility and not having to make a "reservation." Mind you, even with MTD I have made reservations on certain nights as the dining room can be really crowded.

 

I didn't see that the OP had MTD reservations already, only that they had signed up for MTD. Unless you have reservations for any night in the MDR for MTD (a lot of alphabet soup here. LOL) I don't know that you need to let them know you won't be coming. That's a bigger issue for traditional dining where you might have a specific waiter or tablemates waiting for you.

If you have reservations in the MDR, stop by and let them know you won't be coming for that reservation. Otherwise, they have plenty of people who will be keeping them on their toes every night.

I read a post a few weeks ago from someone that was # 535 on the waitlist for MTD, they had small children and were assigned 8:30 dining. If your not going to show up you should let the dinner staff know. happy cruising

Thank you all for the awesome advice & suggestions. I might call C&A and see about making all the reservations a "package" but it's $$'s already spent. As far as gratuities, I will leave that alone. And yes, we always tip in the Diamond lounge each night.

 

And you're right, I don't have a reservation yet for a set time for MTD so I am no worries about that as well. Still will likely drop by and give them the heads up we won't be there though. 15 more days, can't wait :).

But you can always cancel things in your cruise planner for a refund. You should cancel them and just purchase the 5 night or the new ultimate package instead if money is your concern. Not sure what happens with reservations for he 5 night package to know if you can make them ahead of time?

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I would cancel the separate nights and rebook the 5 night package... I know from experience that you can cancel stuff in the planner (specialty restaurants, excursions, drink packages), and get a refund back to your credit card...

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I might call C&A and see about making all the reservations a "package" but it's $$'s already spent..

:confused::confused: how is it spent? You have not sailed yet and can get a full refund.

Also a possible fyi here. I do MTD regularly and an occasional specialty restaurant. I have not actually seen the hostess side of their resurvation system for dining except for some quick looks, but I believe that when they plug in your cabin they see all your reservations. I used to stop and tell them but they alway seem to know already.

OP does not have actual reservations for dinner, but they are signed up for MTD. There could be people on the waiting list for MTD (just like there could be people wanting to switch from early to late seating)' hence suggestion to let dining room know they won't be there at all. It might help people on waiting list for MTD prior to embarkation.

While many People think it´s nice to let them know, it won´t Change a Thing. Nobody will get cleared off the waitlist because of this.

They already know the nights you are not showing up because you hold Reservations at other places. But it´s figured in already when they assign traditional and MTD.

Just like the Chef in the galley has some pretty good Knowledge about how many of each items on the menu he will Need on any given day, they know how many People assigned to MTD will miss on average to go to other places for dinner, so it´s already figured in. As a result it doesn´t make a difference telling them.

It´s a slightly different matter with traditional Dining and not planning to use it. Still nobody will clear the waitlist, unless they Switch you to MTD, but they might Shuffle your assigned seats in traditional to someone else and put you (as you won´t be there) in a less desirable spot, but this is still a might and not really something you Need to worry about.