Set Time Dining

[twonpcb]

OK, I know that this is probably a rookie question but I cannot find a definitive answer online.  When dining in the MDR , is My Time Dining the only option?  My husband and I have been on 12+ cruises, the vast majority being on Celebrity or RCCL.  On each occasion, we were assigned a MDR table and time.  For the duration of the cruise, we dined our evening meal with the same people every night.  We have made many lasting friendships with several folks we have met at our table on each cruise.  Does NCL offer this option at all?  

[zdcatc12]

Not on the Epic cruise that I just got off of.

[All-ready2cruise]

NCL offers "Freestyle dining.  For MDR dining you don't really need a reservation unless you're dining with a large party.  I love this part of NCL.  

No, it's not a case of dining with a specific group of passengers, unless you and others want to organize that amongst yourselves. 

For example; I cruise solo and we usually gather each evening to dine together. I works well for us; however, as a couple, we'd just arrive at the MDR and be seated a 2-top and dine together.  

[2tnts]

No, NCL does not have a set dining time or location.  That’s what I like about NCL.  Don’t have to rush from port or other activities to eat dinner. Also did not like like sitting at the same table every night as you do on RCL or Carnival.

[casofilia]

Freestyle Dining is probably the best thing that NCL have introduced over the years.   You eat when you want, where you want and with whom you want.   You can turn up with the same people at the same time every night if you wish but we enjoy being able to turn up when we feel like eating.   We can offer to eat alone or choose to share as we feel.

We use two cruise lines; the other has one called Anytime Dining which is nowhere equivalent to Freestyle Dining.   Their Traditional Dining forces you to eat at a specified time in a specified place with specified people.   Not a favourite and another reason to jettison that cruise line.

Edited September 28, 2021 by casofilia

[ziggyuk]

5 hours ago, twonpcb said:

OK, I know that this is probably a rookie question but I cannot find a definitive answer online.  When dining in the MDR , is My Time Dining the only option?  My husband and I have been on 12+ cruises, the vast majority being on Celebrity or RCCL.  On each occasion, we were assigned a MDR table and time.  For the duration of the cruise, we dined our evening meal with the same people every night.  We have made many lasting friendships with several folks we have met at our table on each cruise.  Does NCL offer this option at all?  

 

If you like eating with others, it might be worth asking on your roll call to see if there are other like minded people who might join you.

 

Me personally, I will take a two top at a time of my choice every time. Honestly, you are better off sitting with other like minded people rather than people like me who don't want to share a table and make small talk with strangers.

[WarfRatWA]

7 hours ago, twonpcb said:

OK, I know that this is probably a rookie question but I cannot find a definitive answer online.  When dining in the MDR , is My Time Dining the only option?  My husband and I have been on 12+ cruises, the vast majority being on Celebrity or RCCL.  On each occasion, we were assigned a MDR table and time.  For the duration of the cruise, we dined our evening meal with the same people every night.  We have made many lasting friendships with several folks we have met at our table on each cruise.  Does NCL offer this option at all?  

NCL lets you eat when you want with whom you want.  I very much prefer this to set dinning times.

 

If you are looking to share a table, just inquire with the host, if anyone else is looking share a table, the host will put you together.

[MoCruiseFan]

10 hours ago, twonpcb said:

OK, I know that this is probably a rookie question but I cannot find a definitive answer online.  When dining in the MDR , is My Time Dining the only option?  My husband and I have been on 12+ cruises, the vast majority being on Celebrity or RCCL.  On each occasion, we were assigned a MDR table and time.  For the duration of the cruise, we dined our evening meal with the same people every night.  We have made many lasting friendships with several folks we have met at our table on each cruise.  Does NCL offer this option at all?  

This is one of the major 'selling points' of NCL.  I do not EVER want to eat dinner (or any meal) with a table full of strangers let alone the same strangers very meal for a week while on a cruise vacation.  We spend that time as family together time and use it to discuss plans do the next day, etc.

[FlGoodShips]

Eat whenever and wherever you want. No set times.

[phillygwm]

14 hours ago, twonpcb said:

My husband and I have been on 12+ cruises, the vast majority being on Celebrity or RCCL.  On each occasion, we were assigned a MDR table and time.  For the duration of the cruise, we dined our evening meal with the same people every night.  We have made many lasting friendships with several folks we have met at our table on each cruise.  Does NCL offer this option at all?  

You're not the first person I've heard who has made friends with the others at their table.  For me, the one time I sailed RCI (albeit 20 years ago) dining was painful.  I wound up eating at the buffet to get away from some of the people at my table.  Guess it depends on your personality type.

 

Others' suggestions are good, though.  Post something in your roll call and see what you find.  You MAY choose to reserve a time in MDR but as everyone has stated before me, the flexibility of timing is a feature, not a bug.

 

[TowerOrchard]

I'm sure you've gotten the picture by now that there are no assigned times or eating with strangers. 😆 The MDRs are set up like a land-based restaurant with lots of smaller tables instead of the larger banquet style tables on other cruise lines.

 

We have also had good experiences on other lines meeting people over dinner, but on NCL, we focus that friendly energy in other places. We've made new friends at the bars, during trivia, on shore excursions, around the pool... you name it. That vibe is still present on NCL - it just shows up in places other than the dining rooms.

 

 

[kochleffel]

1 hour ago, TowerOrchard said:

The MDRs are set up like a land-based restaurant with lots of smaller tables instead of the larger banquet style tables on other cruise lines.

 

I was on a cruise on the Gem a few years ago where there was a mismatch between the MDR setup and the passenger demographics: it was while schools were in session, and there were very few family groups. Mostly parties of two, but the MDR had a large number of tables for six and not enough 2- or 4-tops. At breakfast, when only one MDR was open, parties of one, two, or three would have had to wait for a table alone, and the hosts recommended sharing. There was also some sharing at dinner, but less since the other MDR was also open then.

[hallux]

5 hours ago, phillygwm said:

For me, the one time I sailed RCI (albeit 20 years ago) dining was painful.

The two times I sailed on RCI I was with enough family that we had our own table for a set-time dining.

[ChiefMateJRK]

3 hours ago, kochleffel said:

There was also some sharing at dinner, but less since the other MDR was also open then.

Sounds just like Amtrak.  It's always a given that you'll share a table in the dining car with "strangers."  We met a lot of nice folks that way.  

[kochleffel]

1 hour ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

Sounds just like Amtrak.  It's always a given that you'll share a table in the dining car with "strangers."  We met a lot of nice folks that way.  

 My recollection, not very recent, of Amtrak dining cars is that they were all 4-tops, so unless you had a party of exactly 4, you were going to share a table. On the Gem cruise, it was possible to get a table alone for 1-3 people, but it meant a longer wait.

 

In contrast, on RCI in 2019, traveling alone with MyTime seating, I asked about sharing a table at dinner, but was seated alone every night but one (and always at the same table, with the same waiters). The one night I shared a table was when we were overnight at St. Petersburg. Because some passengers with early seating were on excursions that would come back late and some with late seating needed to leave for evening excursions, it was all MyTime that night and all shared tables. It worked out badly for me because of one ill-behaved person at a large table, but that is my only bad experience at a shared table.

[BirdTravels]

22 hours ago, twonpcb said:

  For the duration of the cruise, we dined our evening meal with the same people every night.  We have made many lasting friendships with several folks we have met at our table on each cruise.  Does NCL offer this option at all?  

Well,,, right now, even Royal is not doing group seating. They are spacing people out. On Royal or NCL, it does not stop you from chatting with people on adjacent tables. To a large extent, the contemporary cruiser is not interested in large group dining at fixed times. People do it if they have to. MyTime dining usually has long wait lists. 

 

This is a photo (kinda hard to see) from a recent Royal cruise where there were two couples, sat on opposite ends of a 10-top to keep them socially distant. Kinda like one of those scenes from a comedy movie. (We just got a 2-top to ourselves)

Edited September 29, 2021 by BirdTravels

[zqvol]

On 9/27/2021 at 11:43 PM, twonpcb said:

OK, I know that this is probably a rookie question but I cannot find a definitive answer online.  When dining in the MDR , is My Time Dining the only option?  My husband and I have been on 12+ cruises, the vast majority being on Celebrity or RCCL.  On each occasion, we were assigned a MDR table and time.  For the duration of the cruise, we dined our evening meal with the same people every night.  We have made many lasting friendships with several folks we have met at our table on each cruise.  Does NCL offer this option at all?  

Free Style means just that. You dine when you want and with who you want. There is nothing set about dining options on NCL. NCL is unlike the other mainstream lines in this regard.

[Sobro]

As a frequent RCI cruiser I've only had one bad MDR table and that was only a 4 night cruise. We are such good friends with a couple we met at a table in 2008 that we spent a week together renting a house in Denver in 2017.

 

I'm OK with Freestyle but sometimes forcing people together can be great.