How would you improve MTD?

[OV8]

With all the MTD inconsistency between the different RCL ships - what can be done to smooth out the bumps.

 

I've had ZERO issues with MTD but many cruisers have been less than satisfied.

 

So - How would you improve MTD?

[goneclear]

Like you I have had zero problems with MTD. From now on it's MTD all the way for me.

[oriolesfan22]

Just back from the LOS and loved MTD. We switched after the first night in the MDR after our late seating dinner was moved to 9PM which was too late for our group. We made a 7PM reservation for the entire week and had the same dining room team, who were the best we've had in many, many years.

[rummenroman]

Like you i love MTD, and have it booked on my coming cruises.

 

There is one thing i wish they would do. Have a private section for MTD. That ways there is no herd of people leaving and another herd of people coming. That is about my only wish!

[UandMe4Ever]

On the larger ships w/ 3 tier dining room, I would make one entire floor MTD only, so that people w/ TD do not have to walk through while MTD are in the midst of eating, causing a bit of a distraction.

 

In the alternative, on the smaller ships, change the TD to perhaps 6:30 and 8:00, totally cord off the MTD so no invasive pass throughs and possible make something like 6:00 to 9:15 as MTD. There's enough of a spread to keep everyone happy! :-)

 

Thats my thought for the moment.

[massfriends]

On the larger ships w/ 3 tier dining room, I would make one entire floor MTD only, so that people w/ TD do not have to walk through while MTD are in the midst of eating, causing a bit of a distraction.

 

In the alternative, on the smaller ships, change the TD to perhaps 6:30 and 8:00, totally cord off the MTD so no invasive pass throughs and possible make something like 6:00 to 9:15 as MTD. There's enough of a spread to keep everyone happy! :-)

 

Thats my thought for the moment.

We were told that eventually that is exactly what the plan is.....one whole level of the dinning room for MTD only. They first need to see if there is enough interest in MTD to warrant using a whole level.

 

As to the question being asked....we have used MTD twice and have NOT had any problems....we LOVE it!

[Bobal]

I agree with making a whole floor MTD - or at least a full half of a floor, rather than mixing MTD tables with trad tables. We loved MTD on our last cruise and have booked it for our next 2. However, they treated MTD as an add-on rather than a separate dining experience and allowed it to be overtaken by traditional diners on occasion.

 

We had a wonderful waiter and assistant who we requested every night. Unfortunately they had a situation whereby a party of 4 who were booked on Trad dining flatly refused to sit with other people and created a big fuss until a separate table was found. However they still insisted on having the same table, time and same waiter every night. Because the ship was full the only way they could accommodate them was to place them in MTD - with 'our' waiter:mad:. Additionally another family of 4 had chosen MTD but insisted that they always sat alongside a party of 10 who were on trad dining and with whom they'd made friends - again this took up a table of 4 in our favourite section - particularly annoying since the parents often turned up 30 mins later than the kids.

 

If MTD was in a dedicated section completely separate from trad dining this sort of thing shouldn't happen.

[Guest maddycat]

We used MTD once on the Explorer in May and loved it. We signed up for it again for our next cruise on the Explorer in Oct. I don't think that we'll ever go back to traditional. We love the flexibility.

[Kurbanfan]

So - How would you improve MTD?

 

Call it what it is "My Reservations Dining" advertise it a such and sell it as such............

[OV8]

Call it what it is "My Reservations Dining" advertise it a such and sell it as such............

But if they have more room - say on each floor of the MDR - then reservations are not needed no?

 

Personally I am not a fan of reservations as it defeats the purpose of a vacation & every day rat race.

[goneclear]

Call it what it is "My Reservations Dining" advertise it a such and sell it as such............

 

We sailed Liberty in August and never made a reservation. They asked us if we would like to but you dont have to.

We just turned up when it was convenient to us. Some times we were led right in and some times we waited between 5-10 mins. No big deal.

[Kurbanfan]

We sailed Liberty in August and never made a reservation. They asked us if we would like to but you dont have to.

We just turned up when it was convenient to us. Some times we were led right in and some times we waited between 5-10 mins. No big deal.

 

We never made reservations either....although every single night they tried encourage us to make one:rolleyes: I told them that defeats the whole purpose.

We also never had to wait to be seated.......once seated though we had to wait and wait and wait:rolleyes: And there were always several empty tables in our area........it was a total joke......

Maybe this is just a Mariner problem......

[newlu]

Hi,

 

I would like to try it, but we are only 2 and enjoy eating with others for conversation, etc. Will they always seat us with others if that's what we want, and right now we have 8:30pm can we see the first night who we are with and then swith for the rest of the week to mtd?

 

Thanks

newlu

[rummenroman]

Hi,

 

I would like to try it, but we are only 2 and enjoy eating with others for conversation, etc. Will they always seat us with others if that's what we want, and right now we have 8:30pm can we see the first night who we are with and then swith for the rest of the week to mtd?

 

Thanks

newlu

 

You are given the option to dine with others, or alone. If you find another couple with great conversations then set it up between the 4 of you to eat at the same time.

 

To answer your question you are not allowed to switch mid cruise.

[Ginnylou]

Having tried MTD three times now the following is what I experienced.

 

When I wanted dinner btw 6:45 PM or 7:30 PM they (HW) would state that I could have 6:30 or 8:00 PM but not the time I wanted.

 

I did find when I didn't set a time and just showed up they were very accommodating and I was sat quickly, however it did happen to be 8:30 PM.

[Bakincakes]

Yes, totally isolate it so that traditionals aren't disturbed with the constant comings and goings of MTD.

[charlie09]

Yes. I agree, isolate it and have one floor dedicated to MTD to see if that helps. Last summer they trialed it on Brillance and it was exellent. This summer on Independence...chaos for us most nights. We were told we had to make a resevation and all they could offer us was 7.15 or 8.45, kind of defeats the purpose of MTD. A few nights the service was very good but most pretty bad, had to wait and ask for menu/bread rolls/water. One night they even told us we had finished our bottle of wine when we had to be asked to be topped up!! Turns out they had put the next table to us number on our bottle and it took about 10 mins to resolve...not good. Several different waiters all the time, even on the same night. They state you can request a certain table and waiter and they will try to accomodate you. We did this several times (after a 'good' night ) never got our request granted. They were very keen to push the after dinner shots though. We even had 2 occations were they took us to be seated and there was not a table vacant and we had to hoover beside other tables until they found us one. We are pretty laid back about things on holiday but would never do MTD again.

[NavarreCruiser]

We did mtd on the Independence ta in March. It was great. We are diamond and had a cocktail party every night from 5 o 8:30 so each night we would dine whenever we wanted. The whole floor of the dining room was for mtd and we never waited more than a few minutes.

[MAZANDSTEVE]

We never made reservations either....although every single night they tried encourage us to make one:rolleyes: I told them that defeats the whole purpose.

We also never had to wait to be seated.......once seated though we had to wait and wait and wait:rolleyes: And there were always several empty tables in our area........it was a total joke......

Maybe this is just a Mariner problem......

 

 

We had problems on Brilliance too, we had to wait for a table most evenings and told to reserve for the next evening. Not MTD then is it?

[bobstheboy]

Having experienced MTD on I.O.T.S and Freestyle Dining on the Norwegian Jade, I believe NCL have the better package.

 

On I.O.T.S last week, they wanted reservations and you were kept waiting if you didn't comply. On the Jade last year there were large screens around the ship giving you the waiting situation in every restaurant. If you arrived and there was a wait list, you were given a pager and an estimated time (never longer than 20 minutes) and you could go and have a drink or sit and relax until the pager started buzzing. The dining experience was better as was the food, IMO.

[AmberMarie]

So for MTD, you literally just walk up, they ask how many, you say 2 and they seat you at a table for two, just like a normal restaurant? We have not experienced MTD, yet, but were curious for our upcoming cruise.

[Driftwoodgal]

We enjoyed MTD on the Serenade, but were strongly encouraged to make a reservation for each night. I too thought it really wasn't MTD if I had to make a reservation each night, or a set one. Thinking back on it though, if 100 people had MTD and everyone showed up at the same time then someone would have to wait. On the nights we didn't have a reservation we were seated but service did take a little longer. I think this was due to the wait staff being slammed all at the same time.

 

This is probably our choice of dining in the future unless we are cruising with others that prefer not to use it.

[Driftwoodgal]

So for MTD, you literally just walk up, they ask how many, you say 2 and they seat you at a table for two, just like a normal restaurant? We have not experienced MTD, yet, but were curious for our upcoming cruise.

 

Yes, that is one way that it works. You can also make a standing reservation for a paticular time and you shouldn't have to wait at all. We loved eating between the two normal dining times as it seemed a little less hectic and noisy. You will possibly miss the shows that the dining staff puts on if you eat between the two set dinner times though.

[Kurbanfan]

So for MTD, you literally just walk up, they ask how many, you say 2 and they seat you at a table for two, just like a normal restaurant? We have not experienced MTD, yet, but were curious for our upcoming cruise.

 

 

That is how it is suppose to work......but on RCCL they want you to make a reservation each day.......yes you can show up like we did but the service was horrific........

 

 

Our experience with anytime dining with Carnival and Princess was top notch.........could be because no reservation required;)

[printingchick]

I've only tried MTD one time, on my Freedom cruise in January. I had no issues. It was a totally positive experience. We love MTD and have booked it again for our 2010 cruise.

 

From what I've read, I think the biggest issue with MTD is that it's been more popular than RCCL anticipated. This limits the number of people who can be accommodated in MTD to those to request it well in advance and can mean a longer wait for passengers who prefer not to make reservations. (We didn't have that issue, but I've read some people have.)

 

I'd recommend making the MTD area larger. That would be my only suggestion for improvement.