Ruby Dining Room Question

[woostergirl]

My family and I are going to Alaksa on a SF rountrip in June. Two parents and our kids will be 11 and 7. It's our first crusie and I am hoping for some advice on dining...After lurking on the boards for a while, I want to try the MDR the old fashioned way...same time every day. So I selected 6p so we can finish dinner and still make it to some shows (and get the kids to the kids club). We are in an aft mini-suite on deck 9 so it seemed to make sense to pick the Botticelli Dining Room as it's in the back of the ship three decks down. Does this seem like a good strategy (timing and location)? Any other considerations to keep in mind? TIA!

[Sea Hag]

14 minutes ago, woostergirl said:

My family and I are going to Alaksa on a SF rountrip in June. Two parents and our kids will be 11 and 7. It's our first crusie and I am hoping for some advice on dining...After lurking on the boards for a while, I want to try the MDR the old fashioned way...same time every day. So I selected 6p so we can finish dinner and still make it to some shows (and get the kids to the kids club). We are in an aft mini-suite on deck 9 so it seemed to make sense to pick the Botticelli Dining Room as it's in the back of the ship three decks down. Does this seem like a good strategy (timing and location)? Any other considerations to keep in mind? TIA!

We were in the Boticelli on the Ruby last week, and I'd recommend any other dining room than that. The reason I say this is that the waiting area outside the Boticelli is very small. Many people will also have 6 pm reservations, and all of those will show up at the same time. Even though we had the same time and table for each night, we still were stuck in a long, very disorganized line that snaked all around the waiting area. I won't ever choose that dining room again.

Edited May 5, 2022 by Sea Hag
clarification

[Loritd]

We were on the Ruby in April. Almost all the way aft and booked the DeVinci dining room. From the Boticelli dining room you can not go forward without going up or down one deck.  The kitchen is in the way.

[woostergirl]

Thank you @Sea Hag and @Loritd! Great suggestions. It is hard to visualize the restaurent waiting areas by looking at deck plans! I will change my dining room to DaVinci room.

[VibeGuy]

No.  There is always crowding at the door and up the stairs.  There’s just not enough space for guests waiting to be seated.  
 

We got lucky in DaVinci, found a waiter we clicked with, and the headwaiters/dining room managers were willing to turn our existing “same time/same table type” reservation to a “same

table same server” one (they can, app users can’t).  This worked perfectly as we were routinely invited to make our own way to “our” table even if there was a line to be seated. 

[grak]

Would definitely choose any dining room but the Botticelli. It’s a crazy, disorganized crowd. Some with masks and some without and absolutely no distancing if those are of concern to you. Reservations were ignored….you sat where they chose or waited. Just not a pleasant experience.

[skynight]

I would choose one of the mid ship DR's on deck 6, DaVinci or Deck 5, Michelangelo, with the nod toward deck 5.  These have adjacent to them and it is easier to get to the theater.  

[startedwithamouse]

6pm is a really tough dining time, as the 5pm crowd isn't quite finished yet. I would suggest either 5pm or 7:30pm or even 8pm. Even if you have reservations at 6pm, it's not likely you'll be seated at the time. And Botticelli is the worst for waiting crowds. People push, saying we have reservations, when in fact the entire line has reservations. We changed ours to 8pm, and sailed in with no wait and still made the 9:30pm show. We chose Skagway on Discovery , which is same as DaVinci on Ruby, so we could quickly walk to the show,  which is on the same deck. 

Edited May 5, 2022 by startedwithamouse

[woostergirl]

Thanks again! I changed it to DaVinci at 720p, private table. Will they mind if my reservation says 4 but only my husband and I show up some nights? Was thinking we'd take the kids to the buffet earlier and then drop them off at the kids club once in a while.

[Sea Hag]

1 hour ago, startedwithamouse said:

6pm is a really tough dining time, as the 5pm crowd isn't quite finished yet. I would suggest either 5pm or 7:30pm or even 8pm. Even if you have reservations at 6pm, it's not likely you'll be seated at the time. And Botticelli is the worst for waiting crowds. People push, saying we have reservations, when in fact the entire line has reservations. We changed ours to 8pm, and sailed in with no wait and still made the 9:30pm show. We chose Skagway on Discovery , which is same as DaVinci on Ruby, so we could quickly walk to the show,  which is on the same deck. 

On our cruise last week, if we hadn't gotten such a great waiter and such a great table for the week, we'd have changed our reservations as well. It was probably worth it when we finally got to our great table/waiter.