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My time dining, no "good" times left, what do I do?

rucingok

By rucingok,
in Royal Caribbean International

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rucingok

rucingok

Posted
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Ok. So we sail on FOS March 15. I just now have come to understand that I should have a reservation for MTD. I find that ridiculous, though. Anyhoo, All that is available is 5:45 and before and 7:30 and after. I want to eat probably around 6;30 or 7. Should I request 7:30 and then try to show up early or what? Any suggestions? Thanks. We are a party of 2

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SnorkelAway

SnorkelAway

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I suggest making a MTD reservation, if possible, if you know when you are going to want to eat - it can make things easier for them and better for you. Many ships do not let you make a MTD reservation in a time period such as between 5:45 and 7. I do not know about FOS specifically. So, if you want to eat during that time, you can just show up and let them deal with you - but depending on particular ship and particular cruise, you may have a wait a bit.

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orville99 "Live from...." Rare

orville99

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Ok. So we sail on FOS March 15. I just now have come to understand that I should have a reservation for MTD. I find that ridiculous, though. Anyhoo, All that is available is 5:45 and before and 7:30 and after. I want to eat probably around 6;30 or 7. Should I request 7:30 and then try to show up early or what? Any suggestions? Thanks. We are a party of 2

 

 

On FOS there will be two lines at the MTD entrance: one for people with reservations and one for walk-ins. Both lines move at about the same pace, so having a 7:00 reservation won't get you seated much faster than walking up at 7:00 and waiting in the non-res line.

 

As an aside, we've never seen any time slots available between 6:45 and 7:15 on FOS - It's always been 6:30 or before or 7:30 and after. My guess is that's when they do the majority of their table re-sets. We've walked in during that 6:45-7:15 timeframe and have always been seated in 5-10 minutes.

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akcruz

akcruz

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As an aside, we've never seen any time slots available between 6:45 and 7:15 on FOS - It's always been 6:30 or before or 7:30 and after. My guess is that's when they do the majority of their table re-sets. We've walked in during that 6:45-7:15 timeframe and have always been seated in 5-10 minutes.

 

Agree, if you think about how the dining room runs, they try to get in at least 2 seatings with each table, probably even more. If you have people coming in at 5:30 most will not be finishing up before 6:30. With most doing MTD to get that inbetween time (not early, not late seating) you get a "crush" around 7. Considering that they do not open a lot of reservations to pre-book around that time.

 

To the OP, don't worry, make what reservations you are comfortable with ahead of time. If you don't see a time you like you can always just show up and you will be seated shortly.

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BillOh Holiday Sharing Rare

BillOh

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Just returned from the Jewel and did MTD without a reservation and never had to wait even at different times of the night and with differing party sizes.

 

 

 

That's good to hear. I'm not a convert to MTD yet, let alone DD. When I was on Jewel last May, I would occasionally try to enter the dining room on the wrong floor. When I saw a line, I knew I was on the wrong floor. Now that line might not have been more than 5 minutes, but it was always 8-10 people deep. I'm holding on to traditional dining until they pull my cold dead fingers......

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njmomof2

njmomof2

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We've done MTD on Freedom for our last several cruises. I try to make reservations since we like a particular time (just not the set time for early or late) and we like the option of staying with a serving team if we like them.

 

Our last few we were unable to make reservations since we booked late. Tried to do it the first day, was told nothing available for booking. So we showed up and waited....and waited and waited. Eventually my mom contacted the concierge (since she's D+) and he arranged for us to have a standing time. We ended up moving between 2 serving teams but it ended up working out.

 

Because I travel with my kids I don't want to be standing and waiting for a 4 top. And we prefer to eat only ourselves. So I book a specific time. Since we don't do excursions, we're not going to be late for any time I select.

 

I've just booked air for our August trip, but won't book the cruise until after final, and will have the same issue again. Hoping the concierge can help us again.

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srlafleur

srlafleur

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We're a party of 2 and always choose MTD (or whatever it's called on various lines). I can count on one hand, over several cruises, both the number of times we've made reservations and the number of times we've had to wait more than a few minutes. AND, more often than not, we've managed to get the same team of servers, if not the exact same table, many times without even asking.

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Clarea

Clarea

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What happens if you have made reservations for MTD and can't make that time on a night. DO you just go and wait in line or do you go to the Windjammer?

I'd call the MTD desk in advance and tell them you won't make your reserved time, so they can use the table for someone else. They may be able to change your reservation - if not, then you have your choice to wait in line or go elsewhere.

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orville99 "Live from...." Rare

orville99

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What happens if you have made reservations for MTD and can't make that time on a night. DO you just go and wait in line or do you go to the Windjammer?

 

 

This happened to us on our NYE cruise. We didn't eat in the MDR until the second night, and I couldn't find the sheet that had our reservation times on it so we just took a guess and walked up to the hostess station around 7:15, and they seated us right away - turns out our reservations were for 7:45, so no problem.

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Paulette3028

Paulette3028

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That's good to hear. I'm not a convert to MTD yet, let alone DD. When I was on Jewel last May, I would occasionally try to enter the dining room on the wrong floor. When I saw a line, I knew I was on the wrong floor. Now that line might not have been more than 5 minutes, but it was always 8-10 people deep. I'm holding on to traditional dining until they pull my cold dead fingers......

 

The thought of MTD or DD doesn't thrill me....but from people I know who have been doing them, it seemed just fine....they did have reservations and even the line that did not have reservations they knew from others on board went very quickly.

 

I probably won't wait until 'they pull my cold dead fingers' but for now I will stay with what I know is 'comfortable for me and DH' -- Early Traditional Seating.

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iheartbda

iheartbda

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That's good to hear. I'm not a convert to MTD yet, let alone DD. When I was on Jewel last May, I would occasionally try to enter the dining room on the wrong floor. When I saw a line, I knew I was on the wrong floor. Now that line might not have been more than 5 minutes, but it was always 8-10 people deep. I'm holding on to traditional dining until they pull my cold dead fingers......

 

Thought the same thing but have done MTD the last couple of cruises and it worked well. We did not make reservations pre-cruise but we would stop after dinner and talk to the maître d'. By that time we would have an idea of what we were doing the next day and along with what was available, we would make a ressie for the next night.

 

Now, DD......I dunno'.:D

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newfiegirl4

newfiegirl4

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Hey, was on the Vision on the Thanksgiving cruise and it was a complete nightmare. From the time (3) hr of boarding to the 1 hr minimum wait for dinner in the MDR was a disaster. We, a party of 2 booked this cruise 8 months in advance and was told only MTD was all we could get.....so no reservations needed....or so we thought!! We went to eat the first night and there were approx 50 people in a line waiting for dinner. We left and went to the windjammer, fine for the first night. But the second night was exactly the same. When Maitre d was approached all he could say was, the ship was full and so sorry, then tell us we needed reservations?? Like what the heck! So we go and make reservations and the only time for the rest of the cruise we could get was 8:30, needless to say when we got there, there was still a line just like the night before and each night after.....so frustrating. We never got out of the dining room each night before 10 pm and that is way to late to be eating. JMO.

Food was good and so was service for the most part. It was just all this lining and waiting. So many people were so frustrated with this.

I hope I don't have the same experience on our cruise on the Legend in Mar!

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pajazz28

pajazz28

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First of all they only reserve about 40% online so there will be 60% reservation still avialable once onboard. Also my wife and I usually go by the my time desk every morning and get our reservation depending on what we read on the compass and I have yet to not get the time we want. Yiu should be ok.

 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Forums mobile app

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  • 6 months later...
dizzlepop

dizzlepop

Posted
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Just off the Freedom and we had MTD. The only times that they would take a reservation for on any day were 5:45 or 8:30

 

Just on FOS today and yup, no MTD in prime time. 5:00-5:45, or 7:45 and later.

 

I know from this forum that we can show up whenever, thank goodness. When reserving, they didn't mention that little detail.

 

Thanks, all!

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