My time dining question

[welove2cruise*]

We normally cruise NCL but will be on Allure in a few weeks. I am confused by a few posts that I read indicating people made reservations for my time dining. I thought we could just show up and be seated (on NCL we usually never have a wait more than a few minutes). Is this different?

[Retired LEO]

We normally cruise NCL but will be on Allure in a few weeks. I am confused by a few posts that I read indicating people made reservations for my time dining. I thought we could just show up and be seated (on NCL we usually never have a wait more than a few minutes). Is this different?

 

Not necessary to make reservations. However, if you have a large group it is highly recommended.

[welove2cruise*]

Thanks! I think usually will just be 4 of us. There isn't a problem getting a table for two or four when you want is there?

[cb at sea]

2 or 4 rarely have a problem being seated....it's larger parties...just like in any restaurant, that have fewer avail. tables.

[welove2cruise*]

Great..sounds perfect.

[pajazz28]

Why take a chance I would recommend reservations. I have always done reservation and been seats right away. Times I have arrived or left the dining room and they was a huge line of people without reservation. If you have trouble getting the times you want on the pre cruise planner just go over to dinning room as soon as you get in and you should be able to get what ever time you want. I have also been able to change it day of it something comes up as long as it is early in the day. Enjoy your cruise.

[E23NK1]

We will be on Freedom in April and this will be our first time with MTD...is it in the main dining room?

Do you need to follow the same dress code for each evening?....formal, etc?

We have made our reservations already but just wanted alittle more info.

Thanks

[BuffettFan1]

We will be on Freedom in April and this will be our first time with MTD...is it in the main dining room?

Do you need to follow the same dress code for each evening?....formal, etc?

We have made our reservations already but just wanted alittle more info.

Thanks

 

 

Was on FOS a few months ago.

 

MTD was on deck 5 in the main dining room.

 

Same dress code and menu as everybody else.

 

We did make reservations most nights just to be safe that we didn't get delayed and end up being late to whatever evening event we were going to do. You can call or stop by the MDR during the day to make a reservation.

[garnetpalmetto]

We will be on Freedom in April and this will be our first time with MTD...is it in the main dining room?

Do you need to follow the same dress code for each evening?....formal, etc?

We have made our reservations already but just wanted alittle more info.

Thanks

 

Yes, MTD is in the MDR. I'm not sure which level of the MDR it's on now - when I cruised Freedom it was on Deck 5, but of course that could have changed. Yes, MTD still follows the same dress code, but as many will point out, dress codes aren't too heavily enforced so "formal nights" aren't quite suit and tie affairs if you rather not go that route.

[welove2cruise*]

I thought I would post a follow up here in case others may be interested. I got nervous about getting into the dining room so the day we boarded (we went in with the first group to board) I headed straight to the dining room to try to make reservations for the 5 nights I had not already made them for.

 

The girl at the restaurant told me the only times available were either too early or too late for us. She said "the dining room is full- they are trying to see if they can use space in the other dining rooms to accommodate everyone"). I asked if we could not just show up and wait for a table and she said that while I could do that she had no idea how long we would have to wait for a table. We didn't know what to think and were afraid we might be making alternate plans for the week.

 

Day one- this was the one day we had a reservation for the main dining room at 5:45 as we had Mama Mia at 8 and wanted to get a good seat. We got down to the dining room around 5:40 and the lines wrapped all the way to the beyond the elevators. There were two lines..the longest initially was for reservations. My friend and I left our husbands in the reservation line and waited in the non-reservation line just to see how it would work out. They got through right before we did so we switched back over to that line.

 

We had no idea if this was going to be the norm. Fortunately after that - we never experienced lines like that. We went without reservations between 6:30 and 7 most nights and never had a problem getting in. They did put us one night on deck 5 which was the traditional dining restaurant but that worked fine as the waiter was doing his best to move our dinner along in a timely manner. (We had one night that took almost 3 hours - if they ever ask you if you have a show to get to - say yes..we learned the hard way).

[welove2cruise*]

Sorry..I should have mentioned we were on Allure.

[yuvraj]

if they ever ask you if you have a show to get to - say yes..we learned the hard way).

 

Good tip. We booked to eat in Giovanni's one night and I was anxious that we might miss the show. Luckily the waiter asked us if we had a show to catch and then managed the service so we finished in a timely manner.

 

The waiters in the MDR were equally professional so if you let them know, they can move things along.

[yuvraj]

We were on the Allure on a Med cruise last year. Getting a table around 6:00 wasn't a problem and there were no queues.

 

Recently we were on the Oasis in the Caribbean. The queues were long for dinning around 6:00pm. This is for ones who hadn't made a reservation.

[Clarea]

We were on the Allure on a Med cruise last year. Getting a table around 6:00 wasn't a problem and there were no queues.

 

Recently we were on the Oasis in the Caribbean. The queues were long for dinning around 6:00pm. This is for ones who hadn't made a reservation.

Makes sense, I'd think the Med cruises would have longer excursion periods, so less folks are ready to eat that early. Also more Europeans in the demographic who tend to eat later.

[jstcruizin]

We were on freedom a few months ago and made reservations the first night for 615 , it was 4 of us, we were seated at a table for 4 by the window and had the best waiters , they were Filipino and from the same area as my brother in law who was with us. We loved them right away and loved our table location that we just decided to keep that time for the rest of the cruise so we could stay where we were. From the second night on to the last, they brought us up Filipino food from their cook down below, we still ordered from the menu and ate what they brought. It was fabulous