Fantastica with My Choice Dining

[Selion]

Just got off the Seaside yesterday, 8/20.  We were booked in Fantastica.  To our surprise, our cruise card said "Fantastica - My Choice Dining."  I was confused and I went to the dining staff on embarkation day to confirm.  She confirmed that was correct, and mentioned this is something they started doing recently.  Has anyone else had this experience?  I actually preferred it this way, since we could go anytime we wanted during dinner time.  On the other hand, it took away the most significant part of booking into Aurea for us: anytime dining (we are not spa people).

 

BTW, this was our first time in Fantastica with only the 2 of us.  Previous cruises on MSC were either in YC or Fantastica with families in multiple cabins.

[JamieLogical]

I have heard they do this on some of the shorter sailings.

[laudergayle]

How long was your cruise.  We board Sunday for 4 nights…hoping we get anytime dining, too.

[Selion]

3 minutes ago, laudergayle said:

How long was your cruise.  We board Sunday for 4 nights…hoping we get anytime dining, too.

Ours was a 3 nighter.

[cbfb]

I would love this!!! But we are in a 7 night so doubtful! IMHO they should open this up to everyone who wants it. 

[laudergayle]

I had read somewhere it was the 3 night cruises…I’ll report back once we board our 4 nighter.  Hoping so 🤞

[carlmm]

Have to disagree: I would not like to loose my fixed table and waiters.

[JamieLogical]

2 minutes ago, carlmm said:

Have to disagree: I would not like to loose my fixed table and waiters.

 

They could do something like Celebrity and Princess do where you have options for fixed dining times OR anytime dining. I would think that would be fairly easy to do, since they have multiple dining rooms on most ships. They could have some dining rooms devoted to fixed time dining and some devoted to anytime dining.

 

I have noticed that on Celebrity, even if I do anytime dining, they almost always seat me in the same section with the same waiter when I arrive, even if I don't always get the exact same table.

[Essiesmom]

Inward about this here, and was also on Seaside last week.  I asked my waiter and he said they are starting to do it on the 3 day sailings.  I reported that in my live thread.  EM

[CruisinCrow]

We'll be on the 3-day sailing in 10 days.  I hope we get My Choice Dining!

[CruisinCrow]

Were you assigned a specific dining room?  What time did you usually go to dinner and was there a wait?

[Selion]

5 minutes ago, CruisinCrow said:

Were you assigned a specific dining room?  What time did you usually go to dinner and was there a wait?

We were assigned to the Seashore Restaurant on deck 5; the same one they had listed for Aurea.

 

We usually went between 7:30pm and 8pm.  We didn't really have to wait.  Perhaps 5 minutes on the first night because there was a line of guests waiting to be seated.  The line was moving very quickly.  The remaining 2 nights we were seated almost immediately since there weren't any lines to speak of.

[TravelandLeisure85]

We were assigned my time dining on our July Seaside cruise. It was a 3 night. The Seashore was MTD and Ipanema was set dining. I don’t like set dining times, so I was pleased.

Edited August 21, 2023 by TravelandLeisure85

[phred119s]

On 8/21/2023 at 5:59 PM, TravelandLeisure85 said:

We were assigned my time dining on our July Seaside cruise. It was a 3 night. The Seashore was MTD and Ipanema was set dining. I don’t like set dining times, so I was pleased.

We were on your sailing and had early dining in Ipanema. But we were part of a group of 23 so I’m sure that’s why. We are sailing again next week and wishing for anytime!