If you no-show a 'free' dining reservation, what happens?

[Midge6263]

Do they page you or anything? Call the cabin?

[PattyG12]

I've had them call the cabin but normally nothing

[Midge6263]

Thanks, Patty! 😀

[Milwaukee Eight]

You also possibility prevent another cruiser from making a reservation by not letting them know. 

[HBE4]

If it's MTD reservations, won't they just give your spot to someone on the No-Reservation line?

 

I hope so, otherwise I'm a real jerk for the 2 no-shows on last week's cruise.

[mcatmcat]

nothjing , the waiter will be happy that he or she has at least 2 less people to take care lol

[lovescats5]

Since it is free, there is probably nothing they could do.  The problem comes when you make reservations at a specialty restaurant and then not show up.  I know that Star Class is not charged $25 instead of no fee because too many people reserved and then did not show or cancel. 

[pcur]

7 hours ago, mcatmcat said:

nothjing , the waiter will be happy that he or she has at least 2 less people to take care lol

That's true of the regular main dining room, but for MTD the staff will lose the tips for that table for the time period they hold it waiting for the passengers to show up who have reserved it.  That's why they log in your cabin number to the table in MTD: so the staff will get the tips for the evening meal.  

 

The staff WANT two more people to take care of.

 

It's best to let them know to not hold a MTD table for you if you've reserved it.

[Biker19]

4 hours ago, pcur said:

That's true of the regular main dining room, but for MTD the staff will lose the tips for that table for the time period they hold it waiting for the passengers to show up who have reserved it.  That's why they log in your cabin number to the table in MTD: so the staff will get the tips for the evening meal.  

Oh good, we need more tipping theories.

 

Biker, who is missing tipping threads, which I guess with the rest of the CC traffic, is down since the conversion.

[ObstructedView2]

5 hours ago, pcur said:

 

for MTD the staff will lose the tips for that table for the time period they hold it waiting for the passengers to show up who have reserved it.  That's why they log in your cabin number to the table in MTD: so the staff will get the tips for the evening meal.  

 

 

My goodness, wow! This cannot be further from the truth. Would love to read your thoughts concerning 11/22/1963 as well...

 

🤔

Edited November 16, 2018 by ObstructedView2

[HBE4]

5 hours ago, pcur said:

It's best to let them know to not hold a MTD table for you if you've reserved it.

 

In my case, I would have IF I could. I had made a week's worth of MTD reservations for 7:00 pm prior to the cruise. On 2 of those days, we decided to not go for various reasons (napped to long/lingered & ate to much all day, etc). I tried calling the MTD phone number to cancel around 5-6 pm but - according to the cruise compass - it's only staffed from 7 am - 3 pm. Sure enough, it just rang and rang...

 

There was no way to cancel via TV and without an app, the only option was to walk to the MDR on the other side of the ship and cancel in person.

 

I just assumed they would give my spot to someone in the No-Reservation line. Hopefully this is correct.

 

[twangster]

Most ships MTD is a 15 minute window.  If you don't show they release the table and the next eligible guest will be placed at the table.  

[2Long2NxtCrz]

3 minutes ago, HBE4 said:

 

In my case, I would have IF I could. I had made a week's worth of MTD reservations for 7:00 pm prior to the cruise. On 2 of those days, we decided to not go for various reasons (napped to long/lingered & ate to much all day, etc). I tried calling the MTD phone number to cancel around 5-6 pm but - according to the cruise compass - it's only staffed from 7 am - 3 pm. Sure enough, it just rang and rang...

 

There was no way to cancel via TV and without an app, the only option was to walk to the MDR on the other side of the ship and cancel in person.

 

I just assumed they would give my spot to someone in the No-Reservation line. Hopefully this is correct.

 

They do end up giving it to someone in the No-Reservation line.  But they will hold it for at least 15 minutes past your reserved time.  (I know this because we've been late a couple of times and just barely squeaked in before they were going to give our table away!)

[HBE4]

Twangster & 2Long2NxtCrz - thanks for the quick replies. I feel better now.  

 

There was another day were were late as well and figured we'd have to wait on the No-Reservation line but they still took us right to our table.

 

[HBE4]

6 hours ago, pcur said:

That's true of the regular main dining room, but for MTD the staff will lose the tips for that table for the time period they hold it waiting for the passengers to show up who have reserved it.  That's why they log in your cabin number to the table in MTD: so the staff will get the tips for the evening meal.  

 

 

I had prepaid gratuities which is shared among the staff. Wouldn't the waiters get the same tip whether I ate there or not?

 

I hate to think that it's based on the # of people served.....especially for the poor bartender in the theater bar.

[Biker19]

15 minutes ago, HBE4 said:

I hate to think that it's based on the # of people served....

It's not, take all tipping info passed around here with a huge grain of salt.

[PattyG12]

On 11/16/2018 at 4:31 AM, pcur said:

That's true of the regular main dining room, but for MTD the staff will lose the tips for that table for the time period they hold it waiting for the passengers to show up who have reserved it.  That's why they log in your cabin number to the table in MTD: so the staff will get the tips for the evening meal.  

 

THIS couldn't be farther from the truth.  When you sign up for MTD the staff automatically gets the tips.  They would be thrilled because they would get the tips and not have as many.

[pcur]

7 minutes ago, PattyG12 said:

THIS couldn't be farther from the truth.  When you sign up for MTD the staff automatically gets the tips.  They would be thrilled because they would get the tips and not have as many.

Yes, but each evening as you go into the dining room, they log your cabin number to the table they assign you. This way the tips for that evening go to the specific waiter/assistant waiter at that table.  We reserve a table for every night in MTD, so if we don't show, that table sits empty for the period of time they will hold it for us, thus slowing down the flow of passengers to that table.  Of course our tips go to the general pool, but if one has a table reserved, then it's a good idea to notify the kiosk at the entrance that you won't be using that table the next night if you are dining in a specialty restaurant.  That way the table gets filled promptly, instead of sitting empty for 15-30 minutes.

Edited November 28, 2018 by pcur

[PattyG12]

11 minutes ago, pcur said:

 That way the table gets filled promptly, instead of sitting empty for 15-30 minutes.

In theory, this is correct.  However, the 15 minutes could be for us or anyone else.  There are only so many people on the ship.  If they have MTD, they have the tips allocated.  The servers actually love MTD because the tips are guaranteed.

[pcur]

26 minutes ago, PattyG12 said:

In theory, this is correct.  However, the 15 minutes could be for us or anyone else.  There are only so many people on the ship.  If they have MTD, they have the tips allocated.  The servers actually love MTD because the tips are guaranteed.

The information I received was in  MTD is the staff receive the tips for the actual NUMBER of people they serve each night.  The tips are guaranteed for each person they serve.  Therefore, we don't want to slow down the process, and let them know we won't be needing our table that evening.

[GUEST71919]

When you get to the Pearly Gates you get a stern talking to! 

 

Sorry, I could not resist 😹 Not a lot left to add other - but as has been said if call or go by to let someone know if posssible (in some places, like a suite’s restaurant, other cruisers being able to get a reservation can depend on it and is the polite thing to do). If you are stuck in a small boat somewhere in huge swells on a tour that is late, that trumps the info above (and has happened to us)!

 

Happy Sailing 🧜🏼‍♀️

Lynn

[FLACRUISER99]

They always don't hold a table, I was booked for the same table/time on Adventure and when lobster night came I was sealed at a different table/waiter. So much for they hold a table for you. In fact this has happened several times.