How does Your Time Dining with a big Group work??

[sallymomo]

So we've always done Your Time Dining when we've cruised. But its always been our family of 4. This time around, we are traveling with 2 other families of 4. So total 12 people (6 adults, 6 kids). Right now we have selected your time Dining. We are ok with them splitting us up in a group of 6& 6 or 8 & 4. BUt with the your time dining, will it be hard to get tables nearby?? Since we have kids, we would prefer them to be next to us at the table. Or should we pick assigned dining?

 

Also, does one MDR do Anytime Dining while the other is strictly for Assigned Dining??

[A&Jfamily]

So we've always done Your Time Dining when we've cruised. But its always been our family of 4. This time around, we are traveling with 2 other families of 4. So total 12 people (6 adults, 6 kids). Right now we have selected your time Dining. We are ok with them splitting us up in a group of 6& 6 or 8 & 4. BUt with the your time dining, will it be hard to get tables nearby?? Since we have kids, we would prefer them to be next to us at the table. Or should we pick assigned dining?

 

Also, does one MDR do Anytime Dining while the other is strictly for Assigned Dining??

 

Personally, I would select a fixed seating. Any time I have tried for tables more than 4, we have had a wait. Now perhaps that's my curse, but one time it was so bad we bailed and went to a specialty restaurant. Another time we waited 45 minutes with a hungry 7 year old - had to play board games and keep him distracted.

 

And not only do you face a delay but also the possibility of being split up unless you are willing to wait for two such tables next to each other to fill up.

[falkcor]

in my experience your time dining doesn't work that great for such large parties, if you want to all sit together... we had a group of 11 and it was terrible - 45 minute to over an hour wait every single time. it was nice they sent little 'we're sorry' treats to the cabin due to the wait, but after the 3rd tray you'd think they'd realize they were doing something wrong lol.

 

if you are willing to split up as you mentioned i don't think it would be as much of a problem - with 6 & 6 probably being the easiest to accommodate. many of the ytd tables tend to be smaller with a higher portion of say the 2 and 4 tops (for parties wishing to eat alone) than the larger say 8 or 10 tops. in our experience, we only once had a 10 minute wait to get a 6 top - and that was with requesting the same server each night on a 7 night cruise.

 

for ships with 2 dining rooms, it is typically one floor of one dining room for your time dining, with the 2nd floor and 2nd dining room being fixed time seating. it seems to typically be the mid ship dining room off the lobby

[bar1068]

I think this is a YMMV kind of question. I've cruised twice with a group of 10 and did ATD...our experience was good overall...No long or excessively waits, we also sat together....even had the same wait staff...for whatever that is worth....several nights...don't think 2 more folks would make that much difference...but who knows....so..worked for us and our group.

[GatorGirl57]

Another thing to think about with YTD is corralling 12 people together all at the same time to go eat. This will require specific plans every day, or lots of calling between cabins. For your sanity's sake, I would switch to main dining. I love YTD, but when I go with more than my DH and I, we get main dining so that everyone has to show up at the same time and can eat together.

 

As others have mentioned, once you get to the dining room there will likely be a wait almost every day - this could become frustrating as well.

 

What specifically about YTD do you want?

Edited February 19, 2015 by GatorGirl57

[SadieN]

It's fine if you want to eat when the doors open at 5:30 or after 8. During the busy hours expect to wait.

Just like any restaurant at home.

[Mary Ellen1]

Another thing to think about with YTD is corralling 12 people together all at the same time to go eat. This will require specific plans every day, or lots of calling between cabins. For your sanity's sake, I would switch to main dining. I love YTD, but when I go with more than my DH and I, we get main dining so that everyone has to show up at the same time and can eat together.

 

As others have mentioned, once you get to the dining room there will likely be a wait almost every day - this could become frustrating as well.

 

What specifically about YTD do you want?

 

That's what I was going to say! I think you're asking for a lot of stress & trouble, trying to coordinate dinner-time every single day. Just go with the assigned dinner time, and you'll be happier.

 

:)

[woodey]

I agree with others the larger the group the longer the wait time...get a linked fixed time or be the first ones at the door when they open up...

[Qchell]

We had a group of 10 on the Fascination in January a few years ago and maybe had to wait 5 minutes one night.

 

But I have seen lots of posts on this subject where wait times could be considerable. I truly think it ultimately depends on the time you go eat and how many others are choosing the same time.

 

If you are good with waiting if need to - having the ability to pick and choose when you eat will probably be nice. If you aren't - the assigned times might be a better choice..

[Rock_ON!!]

I had YTD with a group of 12 this summer on the Valor and never had a problem. We sat at the same table each night , had a great wait staff, and we arrived consistently around 5:45-6pm and never had to wait. It can be done.

[Calyn2323]

We did the YTD on the Pride with a group of 12. We didn't have a hard time. We had to wait a few times but we just hang out at the closest bar(we had no kids with us so no hurry). They had 2 tables set up for 12 every night, so we had the same wait staff every night. We all met about 7:00 and went to dinner 7:30ish. We are planning to do this again for our next cruise.

Edited February 19, 2015 by Calyn2323

[sallymomo]

The reason we want to do YTD is because we usually like to catch the 7:30 PG Comedy Show and around 8 we go do dinner and are usually done by 9:30 so we can head to the the Adult comedy show...but again...thats when its just the 4 of us. Wanted to do the same thing this time...but maybe it makes sense to choose the 8:15 dining. This way I don't have to chase people around. We may end up missing the 9:30 adult comedy though :(

 

We are planning on cruising during end of March/Early April (Spring Break week) on the Magic so we may have more people than say a ship might have in Feb or October

Edited February 19, 2015 by sallymomo

[izzydog]

We were on the Breeze over Spring Break three years ago. We chose YTD for our two families, there was nine of us. They would not let you put your request for a table in until everyone in your party was there. We would tell everyone what time we were planning on eating and then meet at the bar outside the dining room and wait for our table. I don't recall having to wait very long for seating once we put our request in.

[imluvncruzn]

in my experience your time dining doesn't work that great for such large parties, if you want to all sit together... we had a group of 11 and it was terrible - 45 minute to over an hour wait every single time. it was nice they sent little 'we're sorry' treats to the cabin due to the wait, but after the 3rd tray you'd think they'd realize they were doing something wrong lol.

 

Ditto! Just off the Sunshine a few weeks ago and chose the My Time Dining and it was the absolute worse dining experience we've ever had out of 17 cruises. First night we waited about 45 minutes and then got the "I'm sorry note and treats" in room the next day. Second night we waited 70 minutes and got another note and treats in cabin next day. After that we were DONE!

[jaycat]

We did it with a group on The Magic with no problems. Getting mostly females dress at a given time is no easy task. The only problem is the kids can get a little antsy waiting.

So it depends on ship & age of kids