MDR v MTD

[xpcdoojk]

12 hours ago, klfrodo said:

The only thing I've missed out on is, like you say, the familiarization and interaction with the same staff every night. Otherwise, the meals and service go very well.

If after the first night you love your waiters.  You can request them with the folks who seat you, my experience has always been you can have the same waiters each and every night.  If you are a couple at a large table, you will lose your dinner mates, but as far as waiters go, they are just like the MDR, you just have to request them.  

[The Fun Researcher]

48 minutes ago, 2wheelin said:

OK. Too many misassumptions here to quote. Just returned from the Freedom and had MTD. Early dining started at 5:45. We would usually go to the MTD desk about 6:00 and have a table within 5 minutes. After the first night, no waiting. Had the same table every night even going at 6:30. It was an unused table in the early dining area. There were several empty tables so all were available for anyone with MTD. Food was served at the same time as early set dining, by the same waiters and was the same quality. Waiters actually had more time for us as their other diners were eating.

Interested in hearing what you consider misassumptions?

 

Seems to me more people are commenting based on their actual experiences, like us.
 

Your situation is much more like the old way of my time dining, which is awesome, and we love the Freedom class by the way.  Love the fact that your early dining was as 5:45 PM. Much better than our 5pm.  Any idea what time your lunch venues opened?   It was pretty brutal for us to have all of them open at 12 PM with early seating at 5 PM.
 

Unfortunately, it seems that your situation is more like the exception than the norm nowadays though.  The mass of lines outside the main dining room were the largest we had ever seen waiting for my time dining. No way it was five minutes. Glad your experience with different
 

[Savmom9801]

13 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said:

We had the same servers for all but one of the nights we had MTD on our recent 9 night sailing

Same! We made reservations for around the same time every night and had the same servers every night. We LOVED our servers and love MTD. Making reservations in advance insures that you are seated quickly as well. 

[orville99]

8 hours ago, The Fun Researcher said:

Love the fact that your early dining was as 5:45 PM.

On Freedom, MTD opens at 7:00. WJ opens at 11:30 for lunch.

Given that theUSPHS rules are that food must be consumed, stored, or discarded no more than 2 hours after it is cooked in a commercial kitchen, an MTD start time within that two hour window from the Early seating start time means that the galley can still serve food that was prepped no earlier than 5:00. 

Edited July 22, 2023 by orville99

[Goodtime Cruizin]

17 hours ago, reallyitsmema said:

 

They have totaled messed up MTD with the later start time.  They need to go back to how it was in the past.

 

I believe that it's structured this way now because of the increase in numbers of MTD and it's popularity. I'm thinking that 5 or 6 years ago more cruisers were still using traditional dining times. So as the shift to MTD occurred they had to respond to the numbers. It is an interesting dynamic for sure. 

 

[2wheelin]

1 hour ago, orville99 said:

On Freedom, MTD opens at 7:00. WJ opens at 11:30 for lunch.

Given that theUSPHS rules are that food must be consumed, stored, or discarded no more than 2 hours after it is cooked in a commercial kitchen, an MTD start time within that two hour window from the Early seating start time means that the galley can still serve food that was prepped no earlier than 5:00. 

Again, we just got off the Freedom and RESERVATIONS for MTD open at 7:00 but MTD opens at 5:45 the same as MDR. You just walk up to the desk and request a table. Wise to wait until 6:00 that first night when everyone is needing assistance with table assignments to avoid a wait or confusion. And they record where you sit so the next night they will ask if you want the same table. 

[orville99]

14 minutes ago, 2wheelin said:

Again, we just got off the Freedom and RESERVATIONS for MTD open at 7:00 but MTD opens at 5:45 the same as MDR. You just walk up to the desk and request a table. Wise to wait until 6:00 that first night when everyone is needing assistance with table assignments to avoid a wait or confusion. And they record where you sit so the next night they will ask if you want the same table. 

You are missing the entire point. If you sit down to dinner at 5:45 you are receiving food that has been prepared to be served at its peak of quality at 5:45. If you sit down in that same venue for MTD at 7:00, you are being served food that has been prepared to be served at its peak of quality at 5:45. The fact that you were able to walk in to the early seating without a reservation and be seated at a vacant table does not mean that MTD opened at 5:45, just that you were being accommodated so there would be no unpleasantness. Staff will bend over backwards to avoid POing a guest. Their jobs depend on it.

[orville99]

1 hour ago, 2wheelin said:

Again, we just got off the Freedom and RESERVATIONS for MTD open at 7:00 but MTD opens at 5:45 the same as MDR.

Directly from the app for Freedom’s next sailing:  

 

 

[Goodtime Cruizin]

2 hours ago, orville99 said:

You are missing the entire point. If you sit down to dinner at 5:45 you are receiving food that has been prepared to be served at its peak of quality at 5:45. If you sit down in that same venue for MTD at 7:00, you are being served food that has been prepared to be served at its peak of quality at 5:45. The fact that you were able to walk in to the early seating without a reservation and be seated at a vacant table does not mean that MTD opened at 5:45, just that you were being accommodated so there would be no unpleasantness. Staff will bend over backwards to avoid POing a guest. Their jobs depend on it.

 

While I understand what you're saying I'm also reminded that yours is only an assumption on your behalf. IMO, the ships are managed pretty well. Ship shape comes to mind. Including the galley, kitchen, call it what you want. The passenger count per time slot and the %'s of how many are seating at what time are well known by the staff. I believe food is prepared accordingly or at least as close as possible. When you add to this the change of the menu to a specific type of food served and your room for error drops dramatically. 

 

And if a MTD passenger has a 7pm time slot and walks in at 5:45 and they seat them, then... MTD is OPEN. What is NOT open is the ability to book a time slot before 7pm. 

[Goodtime Cruizin]

51 minutes ago, orville99 said:

Directly from the app for Freedom’s next sailing:  

 

 

Once again this only refers to the ability of making a reservation. Not the ability to be seated & served. 

[orville99]

4 hours ago, Goodtime Cruizin said:

Once again this only refers to the ability of making a reservation. Not the ability to be seated & served. 

Does this clear it up for you? This is from Freedom today:

Edited July 22, 2023 by orville99

[orville99]

4 hours ago, Goodtime Cruizin said:

 

While I understand what you're saying I'm also reminded that yours is only an assumption on your behalf.

Yes, it is my opinion, but…

Galley staff begin prepping food early in the day for the evening”s menu, and time the cooking/finishing in time for the start of the dining schedule. Food is kept in steam tables/warming units until an order comes in and then it is plated and served. As an item approaches a minimum level, additional product is prepared. If it hasn’t been served in that 2 hour window, it is tossed. Up to then, it is still “good enough” to serve.

[orville99]

Post restart RCL implemented a food waste policy in an attempt to reduce the amount of food that was tossed because it was prepared in larger quantities than was needed. What you are seeing in the Dining Rooms is the end product of that policy.  Prep less, hold it longer, and serve it as long as it meets the USPHS requirements.

Edited July 22, 2023 by orville99

[2wheelin]

4 hours ago, Goodtime Cruizin said:

 

While I understand what you're saying I'm also reminded that yours is only an assumption on your behalf. IMO, the ships are managed pretty well. Ship shape comes to mind. Including the galley, kitchen, call it what you want. The passenger count per time slot and the %'s of how many are seating at what time are well known by the staff. I believe food is prepared accordingly or at least as close as possible. When you add to this the change of the menu to a specific type of food served and your room for error drops dramatically. 

 

And if a MTD passenger has a 7pm time slot and walks in at 5:45 and they seat them, then... MTD is OPEN. What is NOT open is the ability to book a time slot before 7pm. 

Exactly. 

20 minutes ago, orville99 said:

Yes, it is my opinion, but…

Galley staff begin prepping food early in the day for the evening”s menu, and time the cooking/finishing in time for the start of the dining schedule. Food is kept in steam tables/warming units until an order comes in and then it is plated and served. As an item approaches a minimum level, additional product is prepared. If it hasn’t been served in that 2 hour window, it is tossed. Up to then, it is still “good enough” to serve.

Just because regulations MAY say it is Ok to serve for two hours does not mean that is standard practice. Rather it would be the rare exception. As stated above, they know within a few plates how much of each thing they need every half hours.

If you are correct, two hours worth of food is ready by 5:45, or as you say maybe even earlier, and all those people arriving for MTD at 7:00 will mostly get food sitting around for 1.5 hours by 7:15 when their order comes. You can get a rare steak at 7:15 or any other time. 

If I had MTD and arrived at the assigned dining room, along with many other MTD patrons, anytime after I WAS TOLD I COULD ARRIVE, MTD was absolutely open. They are not like some cruise lines which have totally separate dining rooms for each. And yes, the app says early dining (reservation) opens at a certain time and MTD (reservations) open at a certain time. Yes, they could write it clearer and I understand people getting miffed if they wait for their reservation time and then find out they could have gone earlier. You just have to ask questions and accept the answer you get.

Enjoy your cruise

[Goodtime Cruizin]

6 hours ago, orville99 said:

Does this clear it up for you? This is from Freedom today:

 

not really. I mean today on Freedom that were discouraging passengers from arriving early. but that doesn't mean it's across the entire fleet. In fact, it could very well change tomorrow on the Freedom. I'm done. Enjoy your cruise!

[redwell]

We are on early dining on our cruise on anthem in October we've never done set dining only done mtd can we ask for a table for 2 I was going to go to the dining room when we board to ask 

[mikefromny]

On 7/21/2023 at 10:52 AM, BirdTravels said:

We always do My Time Dining. Now,,, we normally eat around the same time, even with MTD, and we ensure that the hostess puts us with the same waiters, so we get the same interaction with our servers without the constraints of traditional dining. By night 2, our waiters have our drink and dining references down, and on the last night, our waiters get a nice tip.

 

Royal is still stuck in the ancient times with traditional dining. That is not what the contemporary cruiser wants. 

I consider myself a contemporary cruiser and I enjoy traditional seating. I like that Royal gives the option of both. I think options are what contemporary cruisers want.

[orville99]

3 hours ago, redwell said:

We are on early dining on our cruise on anthem in October we've never done set dining only done mtd can we ask for a table for 2 I was going to go to the dining room when we board to ask 

Go to the dining room as soon as you board and they should be able to honor your request.

[2wheelin]

Got home and checked all my paperwork, cruise reservation, boarding pass, website. Under dining it says dining hours 5:45-11. Choose MTD for the freedom to come anytime the dining room is open. Now I’m leaving too. 🙂

[LobsterStalker]

On 7/22/2023 at 9:40 AM, Goodtime Cruizin said:

On 7/21/2023 at 4:11 PM, reallyitsmema said:

They have totaled messed up MTD with the later start time.  They need to go back to how it was in the past.

 

I believe that it's structured this way now because of the increase in numbers of MTD and it's popularity. I'm thinking that 5 or 6 years ago more cruisers were still using traditional dining times. So as the shift to MTD occurred they had to respond to the numbers. It is an interesting dynamic for sure.

Where I am seeing the issue on my last 3 sailings is Way more people are requesting Early Traditional rather than MTD , so much so that is causing a chaotic scene at the MDR on embarkation day .It is a flood of disgruntled passengers trying to get Early , and them stating that it is full .

For me personally , I have had early (Confirmed ) pre cruise , 3 cruises in a row only to board and find out I am bumped . 1 of these I even had an Email confirmation of my table #

Yes ........ It is currently a $#!T show !

 

Cheers

 

[maggie416]

On 7/21/2023 at 10:40 PM, 2wheelin said:

OK. Too many misassumptions here to quote. Just returned from the Freedom and had MTD. Early dining started at 5:45. We would usually go to the MTD desk about 6:00 and have a table within 5 minutes. After the first night, no waiting. Had the same table every night even going at 6:30. It was an unused table in the early dining area. There were several empty tables so all were available for anyone with MTD. Food was served at the same time as early set dining, by the same waiters and was the same quality. Waiters actually had more time for us as their other diners were eating.

We were on the Oasis in May. Early dining was at 5:00. We were rushed so they could accommodate MTD. When we left the dining room the lines for reservations and non were ridiculous. Many complaining they were not able to have dinner until very late. I realize the Oasis is a big ship. However on our upcoming cruise MTD does not start until 7 :30, if you do not make reservations when booking it will be 8:30 or 9:00 before you could get in. I don't know why they changed how things were done in the past on the smaller ships, 1 dining room or a part of designated to MTD. But, it's the way it is now. For our upcoming cruise on Liberty we were not going to make reservations but when I saw 7:30 was the earliest I figured better book now.

Marg

[The Fun Researcher]

19 minutes ago, maggie416 said:

We were on the Oasis in May. Early dining was at 5:00. We were rushed so they could accommodate MTD. When we left the dining room the lines for reservations and non were ridiculous. Many complaining they were not able to have dinner until very late. I realize the Oasis is a big ship. However on our upcoming cruise MTD does not start until 7 :30, if you do not make reservations when booking it will be 8:30 or 9:00 before you could get in. I don't know why they changed how things were done in the past on the smaller ships, 1 dining room or a part of designated to MTD. But, it's the way it is now. For our upcoming cruise on Liberty we were not going to make reservations but when I saw 7:30 was the earliest I figured better book now.

Marg

It really does seem like they have made things worse. It seemed to work just fine in the past when they had dedicated space for my time dining.

 

Just throwing this out there, but you don’t think it could be because the wait staff would get a lot less additional gratuities for My time than Traditional, do you?  I know if I was jumping from Wait staff to Wait staff each evening, I would be less inclined to leave an additional gratuity for them at the end. We tend to find a good waiter and stick with them with MTD but I’m guessing many don’t.  That could create a pretty big delta between wait staff in traditional vs MTD

[2wheelin]

5 hours ago, 2wheelin said:

Got home and checked all my paperwork, cruise reservation, boarding pass, website. Under dining it says dining hours 5:45-11. Choose MTD for the freedom to come anytime the dining room is open. 

 

1 hour ago, maggie416 said:

We were on the Oasis in May. Early dining was at 5:00. We were rushed so they could accommodate MTD. When we left the dining room the lines for reservations and non were ridiculous. Many complaining they were not able to have dinner until very late. I realize the Oasis is a big ship. However on our upcoming cruise MTD does not start until 7 :30, if you do not make reservations when booking it will be 8:30 or 9:00 before you could get in. I don't know why they changed how things were done in the past on the smaller ships, 1 dining room or a part of designated to MTD. But, it's the way it is now. For our upcoming cruise on Liberty we were not going to make reservations but when I saw 7:30 was the earliest I figured better book now.

Marg

Did you read what you quoted of mine previously? Reservations open later but the MTD opens when the dining room opens. You go without a reservation and MAY or may not have to wait a little bit for a table. I’m sure the Oasis is a little more crowded and when peope are unaware of the actual dining times, they create unnecessary chaos.

[Donsyb]

When we had MTD in November on oasis we were seated within about 5 minutes every night except lobster night, which was about 10 minutes.

 

Even when lines were long they moved pretty fast, so it looked worse than it actually was.

 

they also tried to keep us at the same table (we didn’t ask for that) but about half way through gave us the option of getting a table straight away but in a different area, or waiting and having the same table as

previous nights.

 

and I maybe the odd one out, but we liked dynamic dining! And prefer MTD to traditional (early is too early and late is too late for us).

Edited July 23, 2023 by Donsyb

[HappyTexan44]

On 7/23/2023 at 2:17 PM, LobsterStalker said:

Where I am seeing the issue on my last 3 sailings is Way more people are requesting Early Traditional rather than MTD , so much so that is causing a chaotic scene at the MDR on embarkation day .It is a flood of disgruntled passengers trying to get Early , and them stating that it is full .

For me personally , I have had early (Confirmed ) pre cruise , 3 cruises in a row only to board and find out I am bumped . 1 of these I even had an Email confirmation of my table #

Yes ........ It is currently a $#!T show !

 

Cheers

 

 

That would be a nightmare.  Early dining is around when we normally eat anyway.   Plus we will be a table of 8 including 4 teen girls.  

(This is dismay, not disbelief)   How can they do that?   If someone is confirmed for a certain dining slot they should stay confirmed for that slot, and they shouldn't confirm more people than a slot can hold.