Jump to content
Cruise Critic Community

Dining questions: early vs mytime & windj

Wetmib

By Wetmib,
in Royal Caribbean International

 Share

Recommended Posts

Wetmib

Wetmib

Posted
Posted

2 questions: if I'm originally booked for early dining ( 5:30), how difficult is it to get 6:30 or so times if I changed to mytime? Tell me again if you're mytime, can you get same wait staff/table mates, or is every day diff.

Also, dinner in the Windjammer, along with entree and desserts, are appetizers also offered..ie escargot..

 

Thanks all.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
taglovestocruise

taglovestocruise

Posted
Posted
44 minutes ago, Wetmib said:

2 questions: if I'm originally booked for early dining ( 5:30), how difficult is it to get 6:30 or so times if I changed to mytime? Tell me again if you're mytime, can you get same wait staff/table mates, or is every day diff.

Also, dinner in the Windjammer, along with entree and desserts, are appetizers also offered..ie escargot..

 

Thanks all.

You can ask and usually get the same table, time and waitstaff in MTD. All ships have gone to a 6:45 MTD start time, and it starts slow. MTD shares the same dining room as early traditional. As tables open and clear they let MTD into the dining area. A lot of traditional early diners still want a slow 1.5 hour dinner and MTD just have to wait.  No escargot in Windjammer, but I would guess if you asked one of the roaming waiters they would make a run to the MD for you.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Mum2Mercury

Mum2Mercury

Posted
Posted (edited)
1 hour ago, Wetmib said:

2 questions: if I'm originally booked for early dining ( 5:30), how difficult is it to get 6:30 or so times if I changed to mytime? Tell me again if you're mytime, can you get same wait staff/table mates, or is every day diff.

Also, dinner in the Windjammer, along with entree and desserts, are appetizers also offered..ie escargot..

 

Thanks all.

Assuming you go to My Time Dining, you can make your reservations before you leave home.  You've downloaded the app already, right?  Reservations will open 2-3 weeks before you sail; if you watch for "opening day", you should be able to get whatever times you want.  

 

I think My Time Dining starts at 6:45?  You don't have to have the same time each evening.  

 

I found My Time Dining rather strange last week on Explorer: 

- They had two lines -- one for diners with reservations /one for diners without reservations.  About 90% of the diners were on the no-reservations side.  

- The staff didn't seem to care much if you were 15-20 minutes early -- but they did care that you had reservations.  

- On the busiest night, two couples were ahead of us on the reservations side.  We were always seated within minutes of presenting ourselves at the podium.  

- I don't think you can change your reservation time on the app, but one afternoon I did go to the MDR's door during lunch service and made a change for our dinner time.

 

We had the same table and same wait staff each evening, and service was great.  The MDR, however, has never been fast.  

 

We ate dinner in the Windjammer twice -- it really isn't as nice as the MDR.  No, they don't have items that specifically seem like appetizers; for example, I never saw shrimp cocktail or escargot, but they had a nice variety of foods.  Often we saw SOME of the things on the MDR's menu.  Sometimes those things showed up the next day at lunch too, but you really can't predict it.  

Edited by Mum2Mercury
Link to comment
Share on other sites
poocher

poocher

Posted
Posted (edited)

I booked my MTD reservations as soon as i booked my cruise, 6-8 months out.  If you wait until 2-3 weeks before you sail, there will be almost nothing left!  It shows up in the CP at the bottom of the Dining section.

Edited by poocher
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Midway7934

Midway7934

Posted
Posted

Anyone have experience with Adventure of the Seas? I am a diamond member in a suite. There is no separate suite restaurant for dinner (yes, for breakfast only). I made 7o’click reservations for MTD. Also, my husband is disabled (blind). Can I get any priority for dinner or will I be standing in line? We book suites for the assistance they provide to make our travel easier for me with my husband.  This ship was chosen by my sister for a cruise to celebrate her birthday, and we are going along. Should I speak to the Matre’d or concierge? 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 4 weeks later...
Mum2Mercury

Mum2Mercury

Posted
Posted
51 minutes ago, RedIguana said:

As a suite guest, even a JS, skip both the reservation and no reservation line and go directly to the podium past them. 

Obviously I don't know who's in a suite and who isn't, but -- having reservations for MTD -- we lowly inside-room cruisers essentially walked right in every night.  The line for people without reservations was always fairly long,  

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Mum2Mercury

Mum2Mercury

Posted
Posted (edited)
16 minutes ago, RedIguana said:

Yes. It may only be voyager class and above that have the suite podium there. I have used it on Harmony and Explorer. 

I didn't see a suite podium on Explorer (last month).  We were assigned to the second of three dining room floors ... perhaps the suite podium is on the lower /largest dining room space?  

Edited by Mum2Mercury
Link to comment
Share on other sites
RedIguana

RedIguana

Posted
Posted
9 minutes ago, Mum2Mercury said:

I didn't see a suite podium on Explorer (last month).  We were assigned to the second of three dining room floors ... perhaps the suite podium is on the lower /largest dining room space? 

As far as I know it is only for the MTD room. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
DukeASUGirl

DukeASUGirl

Posted
Posted
On 9/14/2022 at 7:48 PM, Mum2Mercury said:

 Reservations will open 2-3 weeks before you sail; if you watch for "opening day", you should be able to get whatever times you want.  

 

 

 

Maybe reservations only open 2-3 weeks early on the app, but if you make your reservations through the Cruise Planner on the website, then it's open at least 6 months in advance, maybe more. We made MTD reservations in April for our October sailing.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
DukeASUGirl

DukeASUGirl

Posted
Posted

I should note that the people on my FB group who waited to try to make MTD reservations until 2-3 weeks in advance on the app found that all the 6:30, 6:45, and 7:00 timeslots had all been taken by the time they looked. That's because those of us who did it in Cruise Planner had already booked those slots months earlier.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Mum2Mercury

Mum2Mercury

Posted
Posted
2 minutes ago, DukeASUGirl said:

 

Maybe reservations only open 2-3 weeks early on the app, but if you make your reservations through the Cruise Planner on the website, then it's open at least 6 months in advance, maybe more. We made MTD reservations in April for our October sailing.

My Time Dinner reservations open super early on the App.  I've just made reservations for a cruise that's literally a year away.  

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Tin can

Tin can

Posted
Posted
On 9/15/2022 at 2:04 PM, SimplyAlbert said:

We were on the Explorer last week and had MTD.  We didn't have reservations and generally showed up between 7-7:30 pm.  Never waited more than a few minutes to be seated.

 

Seemed to be the best time for MTD on our last cruise after letting the mad rush when it first opened die down. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
RedIguana

RedIguana

Posted
Posted

Entering the MTD room, there are two lines leading to two podiums, one for reservations and one for no reservations. Farther into the MTD, before the tables start and just past kitchen/crew entrance (on Explorer, don't remember if harmony had an entrance there) on the left side is another podium. We were not the only suite guests using that podium. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
poocher

poocher

Posted
Posted (edited)
2 hours ago, RedIguana said:

As far as I know it is only for the MTD room. 

And we had MTD, still never saw it, but by day 3 they were waving us through to our table without waiting in line.  Maybe that was them?

Edited by poocher
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Mum2Mercury

Mum2Mercury

Posted
Posted (edited)
2 hours ago, RedIguana said:

Entering the MTD room, there are two lines leading to two podiums, one for reservations and one for no reservations. Farther into the MTD, before the tables start and just past kitchen/crew entrance (on Explorer, don't remember if harmony had an entrance there) on the left side is another podium. We were not the only suite guests using that podium. 

We were directed to that same podium on Explorer on the first night /continued to use it each evening.  We were not in a suite. 

Edited by Mum2Mercury
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing
  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Cruise Critic News & Features
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...