So, how long does it take to eat in the MDR?

[Hlitner]

The waiters and assistant waiters pick-up the food from the various stations inside the galley (if you have never done a galley tour its fascinating). Most waiters have several tables, especially when they include tables for 2, and do not generally like to make the trek all the way to the galley (and it can be far for some of the stations) to pick-up food for just one of their 2 tops. So even a 2 top can find themselves waiting a bit until their waiter is ready to get a tray full of items. The reality is that the MDR is not supposed to be a fast food restaurant. For those who really want to gulp down their food and get through dinner in a few minutes, there is always the Lido.

 

Hank

[GetOnABoat]

Dinner, 1.5 to 2 hours. Lunch, 1 hour. Breakfast, 1.25 hours.

 

I don't know why, but breakfast is always much slower than lunch, even though it's basically one course versus 3. All those eggs is my guess, plus everyone coming at once.

 

I like eating in the MDR for breakfast and lunch, though. Half of cruising is getting to know all the people and hearing all their stories. I tend to go alone and ask for a table with others. No matter who you sit with for breakfast and lunch, it always seems to take about the same amount of time, and people mind less if you excuse yourself before everyone's finished than they do at dinner.

 

We usually sit with a table of 8-10 for dinner, so it usually takes a while, but with that many people there are usually some good conversations going, and a lot of the time is people talking, not the speed of the service. We've never had a speed of service issue, although after the first night on the last cruise, the DR Manager seemed to have asked all the stewards to hurry things along, as people were barely making it to the show afterward, but we still ended up taking our time. There's nowhere to run off to until the show anyway ;)

[sevenseasnomad]

We find it pays to show up right when the doors open. Those that come in later end up very delayed in the serving queues. If we get our orders in right away, then things move very quickly between courses. Then we need to kill some time before the shows start.

 

We're always early too, (at a table for 2 or 4) and sometimes we're last to be served in our area. A lot depends on the wait staff, how busy they are, how many tables they have, how many people at those tables show up for dinner etc. It seems these poor guys are given more & more tables to serve each time we cruise. We're sometimes amazed that everyone appears to be served in a reasonable amount of time. We truly wish HAL would go back to having more waiters who serve fewer tables so that personable service doesn't completely go by the wayside. Once-upon-a-time, we could actually engage in conversations with our waiters. Now, they're too busy to say much beyond "How are you this evening?"

 

If we're hoping to catch a show, we'll alert the waiter as he hands us the menus. Usually, we're out in time to get decent seats for the show. More nights than not, however, we're happy to enjoy a leisurely meal that generally takes an hour and a half.