My time dining options

[varpinater]

Could someone please share the choice of times available if making online reservations ?  My cruise is too far out yet, to have that loaded in the app.  And, true if we don't reserve,  we can show up and wait? TIA!

Edited September 3, 2022 by varpinater

[Ourusualbeach]

Just now, varpinater said:

Could someone please share the choice of times available if making reservations ?  My cruise is to far out yet, too have that loaded in the app.  And, true if we don't reserve,  we can show up and wait? TIA!

MTD will start at about 6:45pm. 

[Jimbo]

2 minutes ago, varpinater said:

Could someone please share the choice of times available if making online reservations ?  My cruise is too far out yet, to have that loaded in the app.  And, true if we don't reserve,  we can show up and wait? TIA!

Reports aren't the greatest on MTD right now, might get better by the time you cruise. Might not. Most people are saying it's better right now to either pick Early Dining or Late Dining. Good Luck with whatever you choose and welcome to CC.

[mmcgann11]

Just getting off Oasis this morning, I would advise NOT to use MTD. Wait times were 45 minutes past reservation time on this cruise, living many (including us) frustrated. Ended up not eating a single dinner in  main dining room, a first for us ever on any cruise line.

[blueslily]

1 hour ago, mmcgann11 said:

Just getting off Oasis this morning, I would advise NOT to use MTD. Wait times were 45 minutes past reservation time on this cruise, living many (including us) frustrated. Ended up not eating a single dinner in  main dining room, a first for us ever on any cruise line.

 

Thanks for sharing about your experience. What was your MTD reservation time? I'm wondering if the backlog got worse as the evening went on. Thx

[mo&fran]

I'm curious, were all of the dining rooms open on Oasis.  I have cruised 8 times on Allure this year, and initially deck 4 was not open, and it was terrible, but the last cruise, it was open, and it was like it used to be. I had no issue at all.

[blueslily]

To answer the OP"s question, in my cruise planner the earliest time was 6:45, then 7pm, and then it looked like the time slots were every 30 minutes from 7pm up to 9pm. That's what I could see. Not sure if it's the same for every ship. Not sure if other slots were full which resulted in me not seeing them.  That is for Symphony in December. 

[leisuretraveler223]

They key to MTD is definitely strength in numbers.  Being a party of more than four people with reservations is a game changer.  In the past year, we've don two cruises with groups of 6-10 and two with groups of 4 or less.  On all cruises, we had MTD reservations made in advance every night and usually for the same time (within 30 minutes).  

 

On the larger group cruises, it was ideal. Same table, same waitstaff.  They got to know our cocktail/drink preferences and even which rolls we like the most.  The service was just great.

 

On the smaller group cruises, a totally different experience. Often waited, different tables every night, different servers, so cocktails/drinks took longer, everything we much less satisfying.

[the wandering two]

Don't wait for dining to open on the app, opens earlier on cruise planner via website. 

Just been able to book times last week for our August 28 2023 sailing. 

[mmcgann11]

We had 7:30 reservations. We arrived at about 7:25 and found that the 6:45 people were still being seated, let alone 7. Line stretched back quite a ways...

[EmilyJay]

Ovation cruise next year is showing MTD starting at 7pm. 

[blueslily]

Dup

Edited September 4, 2022 by blueslily

[blueslily]

2 hours ago, mmcgann11 said:

We had 7:30 reservations. We arrived at about 7:25 and found that the 6:45 people were still being seated, let alone 7. Line stretched back quite a ways...

 

Did staff explain the delay? Like the 6:45 and 7pm folks were arriving late? Just curious about your specific sailing? Were people with the traditional Early or Late times being seated on time? 

[Ourusualbeach]

23 minutes ago, blueslily said:

 

Did staff explain the delay? Like the 6:45 and 7pm folks were arriving late? Just curious about your specific sailing? Were people with the traditional Early or Late times being seated on time? 

The delay is that they need to have the folks that did the early dining leave before they can seat the people that have MTD.  All levels are used for first seating.  If they come late or stay sipping their coffee then that delays the MTD folks

[vjmatty]

5 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

The delay is that they need to have the folks that did the early dining leave before they can seat the people that have MTD.  All levels are used for first seating.  If they come late or stay sipping their coffee then that delays the MTD folks

That’s strange, on my upcoming Anthem sailing next month, at least according to the app, MTD is showing as a different dining room than traditional.  Right now we’re scheduled for 6:45 reservations every night in MTD. Should we switch to traditional? Both times have openings. 

[Ourusualbeach]

17 minutes ago, vjmatty said:

That’s strange, on my upcoming Anthem sailing next month, at least according to the app, MTD is showing as a different dining room than traditional.  Right now we’re scheduled for 6:45 reservations every night in MTD. Should we switch to traditional? Both times have openings. 

Royal has changed and now does early seating in all dining rooms (on most ships) and then switches to late and MTD.  Does not surprise me that the website and app  are not up to date.  If you cannot get a MTD reservation until after 6:30 then you know that they have switched to early seating in all dining rooms, it is not a case of MTD being booked up.

[blueslily]

40 minutes ago, vjmatty said:

That’s strange, on my upcoming Anthem sailing next month, at least according to the app, MTD is showing as a different dining room than traditional.  Right now we’re scheduled for 6:45 reservations every night in MTD. Should we switch to traditional? Both times have openings. 

 

Yes, that was my experience cruising (different dining rooms). Hence my curiosity about the delay. I wonder if Royal made the change partially because many people wanted Early Seating for dinner . Which is also interesting to me. I am usually out enjoying the fresh air around 4pm and I can tell that folks have gone to get ready for dinner because by 4:30, it was much calmer on deck. I enjoyed that time when fewer people were out. I'm not sure I want to be one of the people that rushes off to my cabin to get prepared for dinner that early in the day. A big part of cruising for me is enjoying as much daylight as possible. When working, I'm in a building all day. So, when cruising, I will sit down and eat later, lol. (Although eating outdoors is my highest preference. I get that more on other cruise lines.)  With all the chatter on these boards lately about switching to TD, mostly Early Seating, I am excited that more folks will be indoors by later afternoon, hahahha. I can get an afternoon snack if necessary and eat dinner around 7 or 7:30 and still enjoy the night shows. 

 

Anyone sailed on Symphony lately? If yes, what has your TD (Early or Late) versus MTD experience with being seated close to your time or having a long wait? 

Edited September 4, 2022 by blueslily

[vjmatty]

30 minutes ago, blueslily said:

 

Yes, that was my experience cruising (different dining rooms). Hence my curiosity about the delay. I wonder if Royal made the change partially because many people wanted Early Seating for dinner . Which is also interesting to me. I am usually out enjoying the fresh air around 4pm and I can tell that folks have gone to get ready for dinner because by 4:30, it was much calmer on deck. I enjoyed that time when fewer people were out. I'm not sure I want to be one of the people that rushes off to my cabin to get prepared for dinner that early in the day. A big part of cruising for me is enjoying as much daylight as possible. When working, I'm in a building all day. So, when cruising, I will sit down and eat later, lol. (Although eating outdoors is my highest preference. I get that more on other cruise lines.)  With all the chatter on these boards lately about switching to TD, mostly Early Seating, I am excited that more folks will be indoors by later afternoon, hahahha. I can get an afternoon snack if necessary and eat dinner around 7 or 7:30 and still enjoy the night shows. 

 

Anyone sailed on Symphony lately? If yes, what has your TD (Early or Late) versus MTD experience with being seated close to your time or having a long wait? 

Yeah I don’t want to eat at 5:30 traditional either. At home I do because I work 7-3 and all of my eating times are earlier based on my schedule, but not on vacation. Guess we’ll just take our buzzer and head to the nearest bar to wait.

 

 

Edited September 4, 2022 by vjmatty

[blueslily]

9 minutes ago, vjmatty said:

Yeah I don’t want to eat at 5:30 traditional either. At home I do because I work 7-3 and all of my eating times are earlier based on my schedule, but not on vacation. Guess we’ll just take our buzzer and head to the nearest bar to wait.

 

 

 

I'll just figure out the dining plan a little closer to cruise date. It's just 2 of us. We are resourceful people and our priority is relaxing, enjoying the view, and not being stressed about stuff during the cruise. I'm sure we wont allow ourselves to starve or wait around in crazy long lines. 🙂 My cabin buddy for this cruise doesnt want to be rushed or overly scheduled. We have a plan for now and will adjust it, if necessary, when information is available about how things are going during the fall sailings. I expected chaos during the summer sailings. 🤣 Hence, I pass on cruising during the summer. 

 

Happy cruising everyone! 🛳🏝🙋‍♀️🎉

[H2Oregon]

We had a bad experience with MTD on Ovation this summer.  No reservations available until late, app was only occasionally working to try and make reservations.  Huge lines on both the reservation side and the standby side.

 

Have a cruise on Enchantment in early November, the app shows MTD starting at 5:30.  Possibly the smaller ships have more flexible MTD hours.  We were able to book 5:45  My Time for all the nights except one where we selected 6:45.  Done on the app and in my cruise planner.  Fingers crossed that it all works. 

[Ourusualbeach]

9 minutes ago, H2Oregon said:

We had a bad experience with MTD on Ovation this summer.  No reservations available until late, app was only occasionally working to try and make reservations.  Huge lines on both the reservation side and the standby side.

 

Have a cruise on Enchantment in early November, the app shows MTD starting at 5:30.  Possibly the smaller ships have more flexible MTD hours.  We were able to book 5:45  My Time for all the nights except one where we selected 6:45.  Done on the app and in my cruise planner.  Fingers crossed that it all works. 

Enchantment seems to be one of the few ships that still has early mtd openings available. 

[Ourusualbeach]

7 hours ago, blueslily said:

wonder if Royal made the change partially because many people wanted Early Seating for dinner .

That is exactly the reason that they did this.  

[vegascruiser1]

9 hours ago, blueslily said:

 

Yes, that was my experience cruising (different dining rooms). Hence my curiosity about the delay. I wonder if Royal made the change partially because many people wanted Early Seating for dinner . Which is also interesting to me. I am usually out enjoying the fresh air around 4pm and I can tell that folks have gone to get ready for dinner because by 4:30, it was much calmer on deck. I enjoyed that time when fewer people were out. I'm not sure I want to be one of the people that rushes off to my cabin to get prepared for dinner that early in the day. A big part of cruising for me is enjoying as much daylight as possible. When working, I'm in a building all day. So, when cruising, I will sit down and eat later, lol. (Although eating outdoors is my highest preference. I get that more on other cruise lines.)  With all the chatter on these boards lately about switching to TD, mostly Early Seating, I am excited that more folks will be indoors by later afternoon, hahahha. I can get an afternoon snack if necessary and eat dinner around 7 or 7:30 and still enjoy the night shows. 

 

Anyone sailed on Symphony lately? If yes, what has your TD (Early or Late) versus MTD experience with being seated close to your time or having a long wait? 

We were on the Symphony in May. We had MTD at 7:30 every day for 6 of us. We had the same table all week. We did not have to wait to be seated and our table was always ready. I think early seating was 5:15-5:30 and late was 8:30. 

[blueslily]

33 minutes ago, vegascruiser1 said:

We were on the Symphony in May. We had MTD at 7:30 every day for 6 of us. We had the same table all week. We did not have to wait to be seated and our table was always ready. I think early seating was 5:15-5:30 and late was 8:30. 

 

Thanks so much!