MDR "experience" Traditional Dining on Allure

[Queenzena]

Will be on the Allure this coming December. Haven't done RCCL in almost 4 years due to illness, but I really miss the experience of dining in the MDR. Loved sharing a large table and meeting new people, and enjoying decent food. My son who was a teen at the time, met friends from all over the world whom he still communicates with. My question has to do with my time dining and all those specialty restaurants. Eating has since become more flexible ( not unlike, in some cases, the freestyle concept of NCL). Will we still have tablemates? Should we also book some specialty dining? It will only be me and DH, as son is in college now. Any thoughts on how "traditional" is traditional dining on Allure?

Edited February 6, 2016 by Queenzena

[Clarea]

Will be on the Allure this coming December. Haven't done RCCL in almost 4 years due to illness, but I really miss the experience of dining in the MDR. Loved sharing a large table and meeting new people, and enjoying decent food. My son who was a teen at the time, met friends from all over the world whom he still communicates with. My question has to do with my time dining and all those specialty restaurants. Eating has since become more flexible ( not unlike, in some cases, the freestyle concept of NCL). Will we still have tablemates? Should we also book some specialty dining? It will only be me and DH, as son is in college now. Any thoughts on how "traditional" is traditional dining on Allure?

Royal still offers traditional dining on Allure. Just ask for a large table and they will put others with you.

[leaveitallbehind]

If you want to book specialty restaurants IMO Allure has some of the best. It won't affect your traditional MDR dining either - you just will be absent from the MDR those nights. Best of both worlds!

 

As a courtesy just let your wait staff and table mates know the night(s) before that you will not be joining them and they won't hold up service waiting for you thinking that you might just be late arriving.

[akcruz]

Yes you can still do traditional dining on Allure however what we have found is that with so many options available, even with sitting at a large table, we ended up by ourselves or without many at the tanle each night.

[cb at sea]

Folks who do MTD prefer to eat alone.....if you want tablemates, then traditional seating is for you. Sure, some MTDer's might like tablemates now and again, but the problem is finding someone who will eat with others....

[leaveitallbehind]

Folks who do MTD prefer to eat alone.....if you want tablemates, then traditional seating is for you. Sure, some MTDer's might like tablemates now and again, but the problem is finding someone who will eat with others....

 

Exactly what information do you have to support this view of yours?

 

As with so many of your gazillion posts IMO you are completely incorrect with this. ....and I can support that from my own direct experience as a MTD diner.

Edited February 6, 2016 by leaveitallbehind

[BrownIGirl21]

Folks who do MTD prefer to eat alone.....if you want tablemates, then traditional seating is for you. Sure, some MTDer's might like tablemates now and again, but the problem is finding someone who will eat with others....

We were on the Adventure of the Seas in October and did MTD. They always asked if we minded sharing a table. We were seated at a table for 10 each night and enjoyed meeting new people. We select MTD so we can dine when we wanted, not because we wanted to eat alone.

[rncruiser]

We actually have up on MTD because we prefer to share a table but usually ended up eating alone because no one else wanted to share. So, yes, I agree that many people who do MTD do not want to share a table with strangers. Most of the large tables seemed to be with family groups traveling together.

[leaveitallbehind]

We actually have up on MTD because we prefer to share a table but usually ended up eating alone because no one else wanted to share. So, yes, I agree that many people who do MTD do not want to share a table with strangers. Most of the large tables seemed to be with family groups traveling together.

 

Keep in mind those same family groups and others who do not want to share a table are also with traditional dining. You can request table sizes to fit your party with traditional dining as well not share with others. We have seen that and done that ourselves depending on our mix of family and others traveling, as well as have shared many tables - both with traditional dining as well as MTD.

 

So yes there are many who like to share as well as many who don't - and we've experienced both with both dining styles.

 

I just try to stay away from generalization or stereotypical statements as IMO they generally are not true. :)