What's going on with the later MyTime Dining start time?

[ONECRUISER]

1 minute ago, mets07 said:

We are still signing up for MTD, but clearly it is not working as originally designed. The whole idea was to give you flexibility as to when you dined (from an early to a late time ... and varying every night if desired). We never had an issue with it until lately. You should not have to switch to early traditional dining.

 

I documented this concern in my last survey and hope others are as well. We met a couple waiting on line (for a long time) for MTD on a recent cruise and they told us it was their first Royal cruise and they would not be sailing again with Royal because of this issue. They indicated it works fine on other cruise lines and it is important to them.

Unfortunately think going stay, saw these times even before CV on my Sailings. Same with WJ having more limited hrs where use be open late, most my Cruises last 5yrs only open 600pm-830pm

[Starry Eyes]

I also used to enjoy the old MTD system, but as I do not like the new system at all.  DH lines to eat fairly early, so the delayed MTD start time (plus potential lines) ruined the experience for us.  For people who consistently like to dine later anyway, MTD still may work quite nicely, thus I do not think everyone should be put off by the new system.  And for the occasional night when one needs an early dinner for some reason, there are often other choices like WJ or Solarium Bistro 

 

While early traditional dining is earlier than I’d like, it is the best option for us at this point.  I agree…By delaying the start of MTD, cruiseline is  forcing more people into early TD, and using that as an excuse for the delayed MTD start time.

[coaster]

Always get late traditional dining here. You will not starve. A quick trip to WJ if you feel the need to eat before late dining. MDR is usually less crowded also and no need to rush when coming back from the ports.

[OnTheJourney]

39 minutes ago, coaster said:

late dining

No interest whatsoever in eating that late. We don't do it at home so surely don't want to do it while cruising. I often go to bed early during a cruise so eating later (especially with acid reflux) is not a great combination. 

Edited August 20, 2022 by OnTheJourney

[OnTheJourney]

1 hour ago, mets07 said:

You should not have to switch to early traditional dining.

 

Probably beats settling for a 6:30 or later time. 

[mets07]

8 hours ago, OnTheJourney said:

Probably beats settling for a 6:30 or later time. 

Understand your feeling. We simply have no interest in eating that early (TD 5:30) every day of the cruise.

 

[Williamsburgcruiser]

The later start times for MTD are probably due to one deck dining is for unvaccinated (families w/kids) and the other deck dining was vaccinated only.  That was on Liberty.

 

They didn't start MTD until the early folks started leaving.

 

 

[OnTheJourney]

2 hours ago, mets07 said:

We simply have no interest in eating that early (TD 5:30) every day of the cruise.

 

Yep...this is why they make chocolate and vanilla....😉

[OnTheJourney]

2 hours ago, Williamsburgcruiser said:

The later start times for MTD are probably due to one deck dining is for unvaccinated (families w/kids) and the other deck dining was vaccinated only. 

Good point...lots of (still-present) procedures are surely a carryover from when all the pandemic guidelines were instituted. 

[Starry Eyes]

2 hours ago, Williamsburgcruiser said:

The later start times for MTD are probably due to one deck dining is for unvaccinated (families w/kids) and the other deck dining was vaccinated only.  That was on Liberty.

 

They didn't start MTD until the early folks started leaving.

 

 

 

23 minutes ago, OnTheJourney said:

Good point...lots of (still-present) procedures are surely a carryover from when all the pandemic guidelines were instituted. 

I assure you both this revamped MTD system pre-dated the pandemic on several ships.  For example, I was aware of it on Harmony before the pandemic.   Others may tell you they experienced it on other ships before the shutdown.  Certainly this system has been expanding to more and more ships and more guests are now aware of the issue since the restart.  
 

Do not kid yourselves; Royal Caribbean did not start this fiasco because of the pandemic or vaccinations or staff shortages.  My theory is that this system fills more seats more quickly when the MDRs open.  Royal gets a bunch of people into dinner (and thus out from dinner) a bit earlier this way.

Edited August 20, 2022 by Starry Eyes

[lovesthebeach2]

We’ve been on 6 cruises so far since the restart and we, like you, had always had MTD. 
since the restart we couldn’t get in until at least 15 minutes later than our reservation, which was always the first time for the night. Between the time to be seated, the time to get menus, the time to order and the time to eat we realized it was way too late for us.  I moved all existing  reservations to early dining.

 

I may be wrong, but I was under the impression that when cruising resumed they had one DR for traditional dining, one for MTD and one for the unvaccinated, which was parents with children that at the time couldn’t get the vax. Now that’s gone away, I would think MTD should/could go back to what it was prior to the shutdown.

[S.A.M.J.R.]

13 hours ago, coaster said:

Always get late traditional dining here. You will not starve. A quick trip to WJ if you feel the need to eat before late dining. MDR is usually less crowded also and no need to rush when coming back from the ports.

No one is claiming they'll starve.  No one is even saying they'll be hungry.  People want to do what works for THEM.  At home, we normally eat around 530-6p anyway.  So why would we want to wait until 830?

3 hours ago, Williamsburgcruiser said:

The later start times for MTD are probably due to one deck dining is for unvaccinated (families w/kids) and the other deck dining was vaccinated only.  That was on Liberty.

 

They didn't start MTD until the early folks started leaving.

 

 

Except, 1) a couple people have mentioned that this "new" system started before the pandemic.  2) On our Mariner cruise, deck 4 did NOT have an early TD time, just late.  

 

If too many people are requesting early TD that they have no table for MTD early, IMO, limit how many people you allow to do early TD and start MTD at 530.  Those that want to eat at 530, can, just get a 530 MTD reservation.  And before anyone says you can't, you absolutely CAN get the same wait staff every night on MTD (we did for our first three cruises).  

 

[Starry Eyes]

18 minutes ago, S.A.M.J.R. said:

No one is claiming they'll starve.  No one is even saying they'll be hungry.  People want to do what works for THEM.  At home, we normally eat around 530-6p anyway.  So why would we want to wait until 830?

Except, 1) a couple people have mentioned that this "new" system started before the pandemic.  2) On our Mariner cruise, deck 4 did NOT have an early TD time, just late.  

 

If too many people are requesting early TD that they have no table for MTD early, IMO, limit how many people you allow to do early TD and start MTD at 530.  Those that want to eat at 530, can, just get a 530 MTD reservation.  And before anyone says you can't, you absolutely CAN get the same wait staff every night on MTD (we did for our first three cruises).  

 

I don’t know what happened on your specific Mariner cruise (fluke?,affinity group?), but the app shows early dining on all three decks on the current cruise and a couple random upcoming cruises.  
 

I agree with you: under the old MTD system if somebody could not get early TD they could use MTD and simply dine early.  Granted, if they wanted to dine with same people every night they would have to arrange it themselves (or book earlier so they can get TD).  So that is justification, and once they push back the MTD start time, more people do indeed select early TD, which they use to reinforce their justification.  I think TD just fills seats faster than MTD and that is better for the cruiseline.

[OnTheJourney]

1 hour ago, lovesthebeach2 said:

I moved all existing  reservations to early dining.

This sounds like the easiest or at least less complicated option. 

[Esmerelda]

Oddly enough, I just booked our upcoming MTD for late October.  The first time on all of our 7 day is 6:45PM.  That’s way later than it used to be.  This is on the Allure.  I’m not complaining though, I’m on a boat😉…happy girl. 😎

[Starry Eyes]

2 minutes ago, Esmerelda said:

Oddly enough, I just booked our upcoming MTD for late October.  The first time on all of our 7 day is 6:45PM.  That’s way later than it used to be.  This is on the Allure.  I’m not complaining though, I’m on a boat😉…happy girl. 😎

Great attitude.  As long as you can adjust to dining later, MTD should work out just fine.  

[lovesthebeach2]

17 minutes ago, Starry Eyes said:

Great attitude.  As long as you can adjust to dining later, MTD should work out just fine.  

We didn’t mind the later time, but my belly had a difference of opinion and decided I needed to eat earlier. 😳

[cruiselvr04]

8 pm is now too late for us. We tried my time but it messes with the show schedule.  10pm is getting too late for a show.  We sometimes do them that late but not every night. So we've moved to early.  If its too early for a port of call we will just eat in the Windjammer.  Most ports will be fine though.

 

Its good we all have choices.  But my time just didn't seem to work for us.

[Rusty_lock]

I've got MTD booked for Ovation next week but every other cruise after that I've got early seating. I'm going to try eating at 7 4 nights.  The other nights I have specialty scheduled for 6. Hopefully I won't have to wait for to long to be seated with a reservation.