itrek

cruisegus is correct and my bad for not explaining going up to ask for a no show seat better than I did. Often the line for mytime starts forming not at the podium but in the hallway in front of the elevators. Definitely do not cut line in front of someone at the podium. That would be rude as cruisegus pointed out. I originally found out you could go up and ask for a no show seat from the staff person directing people to get in that line in front of the elevators. He said "Did you check to see if you could get a no show seat? If you want to see if they have any just go up to the podium and ask. If they don't have any you can line up here with the rest of these people"

You are correct, 7:00 or 7:15 on some ships is when My Time starts. However, regular early seating starts at 5:30 or 6:00 and they always have a number of tables open because passengers don't show up for their early seating time. I've found that if you go at 6:30 they'll let My Time people in to take those no show tables. You can ask them at the check-in counter that is in front of the dining room and they'll tell you what time they start letting people in to fill no show tables. I was told by a head waiter that they like to do this because it staggers the dining starts more making service go faster rather than everyone showing up at once. If you do this don't be afraid to just march right up to the counter and ask if you can be seated at an early seating no show table even if there is already a line forming for My Time. It almost always works but the worst case is they will very nicely tell you they are full.

I have a Wonder cruise that sails a year from now and I've been seeing Unlimited Dining sold out but only on days when they list the price at $168. Every few days the price changes to $326 for a day or two and at that price it's never sold out. I've been watching this happen for 2 months now and I check it every day. Also, when the price is $168 it says it's a 15% discount off the normal price of $199. If the undiscounted price is really $199 then why do they sell it the next day for $326? I've called C&A Diamond Plus 3 times and they can book unlimited dining for me but even when the web site says the price is $168 they can only sell it to me at the $326 price. I've asked multiple times if this is some kind of system glitch and I've been told wholeheartedly by 3 different C&A people "No it's not a glitch." That leads me to believe it is some kind of marketing ploy. If they can sell it at $326 every few days it's not really sold out due to too many people having bought it already. Plus I have a hard time believing that a cruise a year away is anywhere near sold out on anything. I don't know what time of day they change their web site pricing. I always check around 7am then usually again in the evening. I was thinking that maybe they sell unlimited dining for $168 but only a small number at $168 per day. If I can figure out when they change their web site pricing I'll try to jump in and book it the second they update pricing to $168 and see if I can get it. I got Unlimited Dining on Symphony for $134 last November on Thanksgiving week. That was funny pricing too. RCCL constantly had 15%, 30%, 35%, and 50% off sales but the price was always $134 no matter what the percentage off amount was and that price could be booked right up until 3 days before the cruise. That was definitely a marketing ploy to get people to buy because they think they are getting some big percentage off.