Leaving port @ 7, what do you do about dinner?

[jlrieman]

We are on FOS 10/12 western. Two of our ports we leave at 7 pm. We are scheduled for MFTD at 530, if we stay in port til close to leaving time, are we pretty much on our own for dinner? We have 3 kids and will not be eating in port, no since in spending that extra money when I don't have to. I don't care to eat at WJ on those nights but wanted to see what the general consensus is for everyone else.

 

Thanks!!

 

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[Clarea]

If you don't want to eat in WJ, don't want to eat in port, don't want to spend money at a specialty restaurant, don't want to get back in time for MDR dinner, then I don't see any other choices but Cafe Promenade, Sorrento's or room service.

[1ParticularHbr]

We are on FOS 10/12 western. Two of our ports we leave at 7 pm. We are scheduled for MFTD at 530, if we stay in port til close to leaving time, are we pretty much on our own for dinner? We have 3 kids and will not be eating in port, no since in spending that extra money when I don't have to. I don't care to eat at WJ on those nights but wanted to see what the general consensus is for everyone else.

 

Thanks!!

 

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Since you don't want to eat in port or in Windjammer, as I see it, you have two options 1)change dining reservation 2)get back onboard in time for the one you have. There's a 3rd but with a cost...let kids eat in Windjammer then reserve a specialty restaurant for the two of you. Enjoy your cruise whatever you choose.

[TXMary]

If you have MTD, why don't you change the time of your reservations for those nights? That is what My Time Dining is all about!! :)

[Clarea]

If you have MTD, why don't you change the time of your reservations for those nights? That is what My Time Dining is all about!! :)

I understood the OP to have My Family Time Dining, which is a confusing name. It's not My Time, it's traditional early dinner with kid pickup by Adventure Ocean people about 45 minutes after the start of dinner.

 

I wonder how (or if) that will work with Dynamic Dining?

Edited September 23, 2014 by clarea

[TXMary]

I understood the OP to have My Family Time Dining, which is a confusing name. It's not My Time, it's traditional early dinner with kid pickup by Adventure Ocean people about 45 minutes after the start of dinner.

 

I wonder how (or if) that will work with Dynamic Dining?

 

Oops...I don't have children. That's over my head. lol

[jlrieman]

I didn't mean we will not eat in WJ, I meant it as we don't care if that's what we have to do. And yes MFTD is the same as 1st seating, you don't pick your time, it's just what they call it so the kids can go to AO. Just wanted to see what most other people did in this situation.

 

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[Clarea]

I didn't mean we will not eat in WJ, I meant it as we don't care if that's what we have to do. And yes MFTD is the same as 1st seating, you don't pick your time, it's just what they call it so the kids can go to AO. Just wanted to see what most other people did in this situation.

Well, my choice would be Windjammer.

[Centex]

We don't sail on RC until next summer, but as I understand it, Windjammer for dinner has some of the same items that you would get at thevMDR. If this is the case, I would go for the Windjammer.

[OfTheSeasCruiser]

We usually choose 8:30 dining so we don't usually have this problem, but if we did, I would probably just head to the Windjammer. I've heard the food was good there for dinner. Or you could make a reservation for a specialty restaurant.

[stevea36]

We are on FOS 10/12 western. Two of our ports we leave at 7 pm. We are scheduled for MFTD at 530, if we stay in port til close to leaving time, are we pretty much on our own for dinner? We have 3 kids and will not be eating in port, no since in spending that extra money when I don't have to. I don't care to eat at WJ on those nights but wanted to see what the general consensus is for everyone else.

 

Thanks!!

 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using Forums mobile app

 

BTW, if you leave port at 7, you MUST be on board by 630 or so... not that much of a time difference between MFTD and boarding time. Additionally, due to local port conditions you might want to be onboard a bit earlier to make sure that you are back on time.

 

Steve

[mrpayroll]

We were just on F.O.S Western. We had to be back on ship by 6:15 pm.

[cb at sea]

You eat when and where you want..,on boarding day, dinner is at the normal times, give or take 30 mins. Either skip dinner or show up and eat!

[kccrzr]

If you want to eat in the MDR, discuss alternative arrangements with the head waiter on your first night. On our recent Allure cruise a couple who had early dinner were able to switch to our later seating for the same reason on port days.

Edited September 24, 2014 by kccrzr

[ehfl]

Since you've so severely limited your options, it's really up to you to decide how to handle it. Most people who don't like their dining time will just switch to a different time, or to MTD. If you don't want to eat in the dining room, then chose from one of the other venues. If you prefer to eat ashore, just make sure you allow for time to board before the ship sails.

[LeeW]

We don't sail on RC until next summer, but as I understand it, Windjammer for dinner has some of the same items that you would get at thevMDR. If this is the case, I would go for the Windjammer.

 

We don't have the family dining, just Anytime, and change the reservation if we need to. Since it only takes us about 45 minutes to eat, we wouldn't need the councilor pickup anyway - Mytime is much faster than fixed seating.

 

But our experience on Navigator earlier this month was that Windjammer seemed to have the same food at lunch and dinner (and mostly the same food every day for 14 days). On Princess, the buffet has most of the same food as the dining rooms, but we didn't see this on RCI.

[CyberTag]

Check with the head waiter. Often they will let you come later once or twice. We did that on our recent Allure cruise.

[xvxpskowro]

Either skip dinner or show up and eat!

[smoosh21]

We don't sail on RC until next summer, but as I understand it, Windjammer for dinner has some of the same items that you would get at thevMDR. If this is the case, I would go for the Windjammer.

 

Yes, the Windjammer normally has 2 or 3 of the main entree items as well as some of the app items on that nights main menu. Plus, they often have other things as well.

We have started drifting to do the Windjammer more often. When we first started cruising we did MDR every night, we would never do the Buffet in the evening. Now, If we have had a long day in port and dont feel like getting ready for the MDR we have no issues doing Windjammer. It can be much more relaxing

[Clarea]

We don't have the family dining, just Anytime, and change the reservation if we need to. Since it only takes us about 45 minutes to eat, we wouldn't need the councilor pickup anyway - Mytime is much faster than fixed seating.

 

But our experience on Navigator earlier this month was that Windjammer seemed to have the same food at lunch and dinner (and mostly the same food every day for 14 days). On Princess, the buffet has most of the same food as the dining rooms, but we didn't see this on RCI.

That's odd. We were on Navigator two weeks ago, and the Windjammer dinner selections changed every night.

[nelblu]

If you want to eat in the MDR, discuss alternative arrangements with the head waiter on your first night. On our recent Allure cruise a couple who had early dinner were able to switch to our later seating for the same reason on port days.

 

That would be my recommendation as the MDR is never at full capacity.

[DonnaK]

I think that you'll find that you won't be ashore until the last minute, especially with 3 young kids.

 

We tend to get off the ship early in the morning, and are usually back onboard in plenty of time to have a swim in the pool and get ready for early traditional dining.