Dinner times (MDR)

[spl0731]

Sailing with our family of 10, and have booked My Time Dining. I feel like Goldilocks; early seating is too early, late seating is too late! Ideally, we would like to be seated at 6/6:15. Is this even possible? Seems like the earliest My Time reservation is 6:45, which is cutting the 8:00 shows really close, since our party is so large, and service will be (understandably) slower. I know we could do the Windjammer, but we don't care for it. Will book specialty dining for a few days, but want the MDR experience for the remainder of the trip. 

 

Thanks in advance!

[smokeybandit]

We always book the early seating since it meshes best with the rest of the evening, even though we don't eat at that early at home.

 

Plus it's a cruise ship, your stomach tends to lose track of time anyway. I'd just stick with a fixed seating to better ensure your table of 10 can be accommodated.

[Biker19]

2 minutes ago, spl0731 said:

Is this even possible?

Officially, no, but see what the host can do.

[poocher]

MTD starts when it starts.  I have had it as early as 6:30 but not earlier.  If the start time on your sailing is too late, you’ll have to switch to early traditional (if possible) or eat elsewhere.

Edited June 12, 2023 by poocher

[gerif]

With a party that large I’d switch to fixed dining. Not that many large tables and if the group occupying your intended table is slow you could have a long wait even with reservations. 

[Tatka]

43 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

Officially, no, but see what the host can do.

 

We had success on most tries with 6:15 to 6:30 on several ships, but it is just two of us and on last one it became more difficult, so we are thinking about sticking to what we booked for MTD times.

[crzndeb]

I would try to switch to early traditional. Even if it’s 5-5:30, with 10 people, you may not even get your food until 6. Royal has made a mess of their MTD, and now start it later, and seat MTD when early traditional diners leave their tables.

[spl0731]

Thanks. Seems like our best bet is to head directly to the MDR when we board to see if they can accommodate us. 5:30 early seating is simply too early for us, and late seating too late. We are Goldilocks...