Does anyone take ALL meals in the WindJammer and skill the MDR?

[ChitownGus]

We have four kids, and are considering taking all of our meals in the WindJammer, and skipping the MDR (except the occasional breakfast and lunch). We have 4 small kids, and the selection is better for us, plus, 1.5 hours can be difficult on the smallest kids. Does anyone else do this? Also, not sure who I would "tip" at the end of the cruise..any suggestions?

[bouhunter]

No reason whatsoever u can't do this. The concensus will be that you should still pay full tips to the main dining room waiters. Whatever, they turn down the lights at Windjammer in the evening and it is a nice, relaxing atmosphere.

 

Enjoy you cruise!:)

[joandian]

We have four kids, and are considering taking all of our meals in the WindJammer, and skipping the MDR (except the occasional breakfast and lunch). We have 4 small kids, and the selection is better for us, plus, 1.5 hours can be difficult on the smallest kids. Does anyone else do this? Also, not sure who I would "tip" at the end of the cruise..any suggestions?

 

Yes, our last cruise, a 28 day BTB, we ate in the main dining room twice for lunch and never for dinner. We ate dinner at the Windjammer the most but also at Giovanni's. We much prefer to just select what we want and eat when we want. We register for MTD so no table mates are kept waiting for us.

 

With MTD the tips are prepaid and they get to the right person. If not registering for MTD, you can ask for the tips to be added to your account and they will be allocated for you.

[EmTeeNesters]

If you choose MTD, you will not affect the traditional dining wait staff and other possible passengers that may also be assigned to the same table that you would have been assigned to.

Also, you can then pre-pay tips which will be distributed to the Windjammer wait staff.

[Dcoy]

Does the food choice change nightly in the Windjammer?

 

Thanks

 

Don

[DonnaK]

Please, if you have traditional dining and you do not plan to eat in the MDR at all, alert the maitre-d so your table can be released and people on the waiting list can be seated there. It's better to sign up for My Time Dining if you only plan to eat in the MDR a few times, or not at all.

 

If you prepay your tips, or have them put on your onboard account, then you don't have to worry about distributing the gratuities - RCI will take care of that for you.

[joandian]

Does the food choice change nightly in the Windjammer?

 

Thanks

 

Don

 

The basics in Jade and the salad bar are the same but there are different hot dishes and vegetables each night along with a roast. Usually the dishes are much the same as served in the MDR, you just get more variety. There are different deserts added each night as well but a few things, including ice cream are available each night.

[rubrrick]

In the past few years, we eat all of our meals in the WJ or an alternative restaurant, always pick MTD, and just let the dining room staff know not to expect us.

 

Some cruise to eat, but we are afraid of our weight gain if we had our meals in the MDR.:D

 

Rick

[tchrchgo]

Please, if you have traditional dining and you do not plan to eat in the MDR at all, alert the maitre-d so your table can be released and people on the waiting list can be seated there. It's better to sign up for My Time Dining if you only plan to eat in the MDR a few times, or not at all.

 

If you prepay your tips, or have them put on your onboard account, then you don't have to worry about distributing the gratuities - RCI will take care of that for you.

 

Unfortunately for us MTD was booked on our cruise, so we're stuck with traditional seating

[sue d. miller]

We have four kids, and are considering taking all of our meals in the WindJammer, and skipping the MDR (except the occasional breakfast and lunch). We have 4 small kids, and the selection is better for us, plus, 1.5 hours can be difficult on the smallest kids. Does anyone else do this? Also, not sure who I would "tip" at the end of the cruise..any suggestions?

 

Yes we do this all the time now. It is wonderful to choose the food you want. We go around 6:30 before it gets busy. Make sure you get MTD, the tips are prepaid and taken out at final payment. Everyone will get their tips and you don't have to worry about it, it also includes your room steward. At the end of the week you will get envelopes & vouchers for the tips. You don't have to do anything with them if that is what you plan on giving. If you choose to add extra you can put that in the appropriate envelope & hand it to the crew member.

[gmacruiser418]

last time we cruised we had our wait staff all to ourselves after the first night. there were 2 of us for 3 tables. I felt so bad for the staff. I knew they were making very little for the late shift.

[atb]

With everyone booking MTD, and then going alternate; too bad RCL doesn't have a 3rd choice: Alternate all the way.

[StGeorgeCruisers]

We loved having all of our meals in the Windjammer. We found very few people here and enjoyed picking our own seat. For dinner, they served all of what was available in the dining room. This allowed us to sample a little of everything. We felt so relaxed at being able to eat when we chose in the evening and we could dress however we choose.

 

On our final evening my husband did go to the main dining room and gave our waiters the tips for the week. We have an upcoming cruise where we plan to skip the main dining room again as well for the Windjammer.

 

Wishing you and your family a wonderful cruise~!! :-)

[DonnaK]

Unfortunately for us MTD was booked on our cruise, so we're stuck with traditional seating

 

If you want MTD, ask to be put on the waiting list. If there's no waiting list, call back every so often until it opens up. If that doesn't work, or if you don't clear the waiting list before sailing, go to the dining room right after you board and ask the maitre-d to move you from traditional to MTD. They generally allow you to change once onboard.

[Villatranquility]

Well, have to admit in all my 9 (mainly lengthy) cruises I have never yet made it into the dining room for even one meal. I know most love the experience but if you pardon the pun it just doesn't 'float my boat' ;). The choices in the Windjammer are wide and varied, you can eat at your own pace, and vary your meal times to suit the days events. The staff get to know you and have more time to spend on you and yours, and for us part of the charm is conversing with them about the part of the world that they come from. We have made some lasting friendships over the years with the Windjammer crew members. We always tip them at the end of the cruise. :)

[sue d. miller]

If you want MTD, ask to be put on the waiting list. If there's no waiting list, call back every so often until it opens up. If that doesn't work, or if you don't clear the waiting list before sailing, go to the dining room right after you board and ask the maitre-d to move you from traditional to MTD. They generally allow you to change once onboard.

 

The first time I changed to MTD I was on a waitlist. Because I wanted to eat all meals in the WJ & not the MT dining room, I emailed RC, rcldining@rccl.com and told them we did not require a table in MTD room & could free up a table there. The next day we got an email we wrere cleared.

[ChitownGus]

We always tip them at the end of the cruise. :)

 

 

If I eat my meals in the WindJammer, and none in the MDR, would it be best to give my tips to the WindJammer staff instead of the MDR staff? Does the WindJammer staff expect a tip at the end of the week? I want to tip, just want to tip the right people...

[sue d. miller]

Everyone gets paid that needs to be paid. That is the convenience of prepaid. If you want to give extra to anyone on the last night you can.:) Waitstaff in the WJ changes, they work in different venues, by prepaying all you come in contact with will get your tips.

[TEXASMUNK]

The WJ is great with the kids....But, you might give one evening a shot at MTD, solely so the kids can get the MDR experience on a cruise ship. If you get a table for your family only, you can ask the wait staff to speed up the service, but why deny the unique experience just cause they are little people.....They might enjoy the heck out of the one time experience

[Debde]

If I eat my meals in the WindJammer, and none in the MDR, would it be best to give my tips to the WindJammer staff instead of the MDR staff? Does the WindJammer staff expect a tip at the end of the week? I want to tip, just want to tip the right people...

 

another option:

If you do not want to pre-pay, and you eat all your meals in the WJ-you will find you get to know the wait staff at night very well if you sit in the same section every evening. You could just tip them at the end of the cruise as I have done this often.

[ARCruisinNana]

You didn't say the ages of your kids, but are you planning to use Adventure Ocean during the cruise? They have a GREAT program and 2 nights (usually on the Formal nights) they will take the kids to dinner and you can have a nice quiet dinner.

[kc320]

It has been my experience that the staff working in the evening in the Windjammer do NOT receive any tips...they rotate there once a month I believe it was and know going in the only tips they will receive are the ones people who dine in the WJ give them...they are NOT included in the MTD tip pool...

 

When I know I will only be dining in the windjammer or alternative dining I release my table in the MDR and sit in the same area of the WJ each evening...it gives me a way to get to know the staff there & I tip the person who has served me on the last evening the same as I would in the dining room...

[reney313]

We did this on our 5 day cruise for the first time ever. MTD was wait listed so we had a traditional sitting time. On the first day, I went to the maitre de and let him know we would not be dining in the dining room so he could release the table. We pre-paid the gratuities to our onboard account so those in the Windjammer and around the ship would get the tips automatically (Sorrento's Cafe Promenade, etc).

[mommaof 3]

We didn't, but we did take little kids on our last cruise and I have to tell you that we found the Windjammer very difficult with little kids. Because it's a buffet we were constantly running to get something for someone, half the time the kids ate, but we didn't ever find a chance to get our own food. In the MDR everything is there for you, the kids liked the kid's menu and the staff was extraordinary with them. They realized the first night that the littlest one loved shrimp cocktail and had some for her everynight, took the grapes out of the middle one's fruit once they saw she didn't eat them, and made them incredible cookie & icecream dessert plates on the last night. Just some things you might want to consider.

[Scotty G]

We have four kids, and are considering taking all of our meals in the WindJammer, and skipping the MDR (except the occasional breakfast and lunch). We have 4 small kids, and the selection is better for us, plus, 1.5 hours can be difficult on the smallest kids. Does anyone else do this? Also, not sure who I would "tip" at the end of the cruise..any suggestions?

 

You can take all your meals in the Windjammer with no problem. Just let the Maitre'd know on your first afternoon so they will free up your seats for someone else. For gratuities you can do them on a daily basis in the WJ. During the evening meal you will be able to get the same area and even servers if you let the manager/headwaiter in charge of the WJ know. Have a great time!!!