OnTheJourney

Probably beats settling for a 6:30 or later time.

No interest whatsoever in eating that late. We don't do it at home so surely don't want to do it while cruising. I often go to bed early during a cruise so eating later (especially with acid reflux) is not a great combination.

Where do they say that? Don't recall reading that on their site. I glanced at it after sending you the link and then quickly lost interest. It's just...too much to take on and ultimately it's often about places I'll likely never get to anyway. Always wanted to visit all the continents, but SHOULD have done it, once again, when a bit younger. DW is not fond of flying - especially long trips, so the remaining continents we've not been to - Africa, Australia, and Asia - are all a question mark. Were I to have to settle on one of those - hands down would be Australia (and New Zealand during the same trip) being that my paternal ancestry goes back to the coastal area of Warrnambool. Once again...LONG trip, to do it right. I'd never go by cruise ship - doesn't cover enough of the AUS interior. A good land tour = lots of flights during the itinerary. Sadly, despite it being a dream trip for decades, I don't see it happening anymore. Should have been done pre-meniere's disease.

Yeah that's about the timeframe we enjoy. We have a few 3-week trips coming up and that's about as long as I care for. As much as I love to travel, always look forward to getting back home, increasingly so as I get older I suppose. I always worry about a few unpredictable medical issues that might decide to make an appearance while we're away. I get totally random meniere's disease attacks. Not fun. Happened during the Chairman's cruise - during a group lunch nonetheless and so the food was basically wasted on me - didn't feel like eating it (but sure paid for it anyway LOL). Fortunately the episode passed fairly quickly and I was able to trudge on with the rest of the walking tour. So traveling is not the relatively worry-free experience it was in my younger days.

Nice to know. Unfortunately we won't be there anytime soon for a longhaul flight. A bit of an understatement 😁 Hoping it turns out to be worth it.

I think that's the best option. I don't want to obsess over this. I'll have our TA change us to early seating (for two) and done. Have alot more important things to be concerned with.

Well, if it makes any difference, we always book a GS...so maybe whichever concierge we have can pull some strings.

Of course...I realize that. I understand the issue, but don't like it. There are options other than Royal Caribbean.

Most interesting for sure. As I've said, we had zero issues on the Enchantment. Booked 5:30 and then they told us to come earlier. Worked for us.

Never heard of this.... That's crap. I see that on Day 1 the earliest available is 7:30. That's also crap. Sounds like it'll either be the early seating WITH table for two or else the buffet - and probably little cruising with RCL in the future unless things change. I will neither wait in a long line nor settle for a later time - even 6:30.

Ahh but that = a lesser ($) bottom line. The game has become one of...where can we cut corners and still provide a satisfactory product. That said, the dining / wait staff, as we all know, is VERY concerned about getting high marks on surveys.

Well, not only sucks, I won't do it. I'll go to early seating before allowing this MTD thing to become a PITA.

LOL..you will have to do aLOT of reading to accomplish that! Their thing has been going on for years. Tons of reading on that site, maps, you name it. Like I said, not my thing. I look in on them from time to time. They ran into a mess during covid - were stuck in (I think) India for over a year. They use cruises as a way to connect their various itineraries. LOTS of detailed planning. NO physical "home" of any kind per se....I just couldn't do that.

Never been. We've only done B-class twice and the first time was free upgrade. One time with SAS premium economy we had access to the lounge - enjoyed it greatly.

AND...I believe you have to travel aLOT - as in a good part of the year - not just a few weeks. Most I've seen are basically full-time travelers. Check out this one as an example: https://www.worldwidewaftage.com I'd never want to be away from home anywhere near this much. A 2-3 week trip is more than enough for me at any one time, and then perhaps another trip a few months after that. A nice, fairly substantial trip 3 times a year or so satisfies my wanderlust. The rest of the time...MORE than enough to do at home.

I don't like it....just...too much hassle. I'm surely NOT going to stand in a long line to wait to eat. I'll trot over to the buffet before I do that.

Haven't paid much attention to anything RCL - related the past 4 months or so cause we had alot of details and preparation to work out for our May cruise with Viking, and then even more to do for another upcoming winter cruise with Viking. Some of these RCL and X cruises we have booked are carryovers from covid-related cancellations. Can't wait till we're done with them and no longer have to worry about using FCC. Rebookings of rebookings - something we're all pretty familiar with. So, yeah, I admittedly have not kept up with whatever's going on with RCL since our March cruise with them. Didn't feel the need to being that on the Enchantment it was the same as always - booked MTD times around 5:15 or so - no problems.

I'm sure you're right about this. I have to look at it again. I think MTD is assigned to deck 3 and then TD is 4 and 5 - I didn't spend too much time on the website thus far after briefly looking at the MTD times. The rest - MDR deck assignment and so forth, is really no big deal.

We had no problem with MTD at 5:00 on Enchantment, and that was only back in March. The staff told us to come even earlier after we showed up around 5:15 the first day or so. Haven't thought about using the early MDR seating basically cause we haven't done that for years. Can't even remember the last time we would have booked TD. Always did MTD and so I don't think about the early or late seating options. We like the MTD flexiblity to have the option of picking a different time each day - IF needed due to sometimes later / longer shore excursions. I only looked at all this today as part of planning to check in. Based on our March experience with RCL, I just assumed the earlier MTD times would be available as they always have been.

I'm thinking that there are probably more times available than they have listed...will research it further. Thanks for replies!

Absolutely, makes no sense to me. We're assigned to deck 3 for MTD. The Adventure has dining on 3 decks (not sure how we'll like this after being on a ship with only around 700 people and one dining room).

Yeah...it sure is for me. I'm not into "eating fashionably late". Like I said, we can find someone else to cruise with if they're going to do this sort of thing.

TD...what is that? Same as MTD? Thanks for the advice. I'm sure it's the best way to proceed but...just not happy about having to hassle with this. I like to reserve all the dining times in advance. We're only a few weeks out at this point so I'm going to email the address you provided. Thanks!

Are you referring to still trying to get an earlier MTD seating, or are you talking about a table-for-two at the early MDR seating? I assume the latter. Waitlist is probably the best way, but if this becomes too much hassle, I'm done with RCL, especially having come off of a cruise line where you don't need to reserve any dining time other than the two specialty restuarants onboard.

We're scheduled on the Adventure in the near future, and I just noticed today that MTD - as we're typically assigned to beCAUSE of being able to eat early - is now listed as not starting till 6:30 - an hour later than the early MDR seating. I'm not happy. 6:30 is way too late for us especially since we like to catch the earlier show time. I'm thinking we should have our TA change us to the early seating so as to get in by 5:00 - 5:30. Not sure I can do this myself on the website. If we do the MDR though and can't reserve a table for two, we'll probably scratch the MDR completely and just do the buffet, and then might strongly consider not cruising with RCL in the future.