Dining

[LuckyStar]

MSC newbie here.  We do not see our dining time on our reservation and weren't sure if it would be set?  It does note that dining is not set.  Not sure what that means. We are cruise vets so we understand how dining works on other lines but MSC seems an odd duck.  Any help would be appreciated!

 

Jenny

 

P.S. Not Yacht Club.  We are in the commoners area. 🙂

Edited September 16, 2023 by LuckyStar
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[Essiesmom]

If you booked Bella it’s a tossup.  If you booked Fantastica you can state your preference of early or late, but you won’t know until you get your cruise card.  If you booked Aurea you have My Choice dining.  EM

[JamieLogical]

Your dining time, room, and table will be printed on your keycard when you check in for the cruise at the terminal.

[CruisingFox27]

There currently an issue when you log into your booking that the dining time states "dining preference not set".

 

How it works is determined by your booked experience, as outlined by essiesmom above. 

[LuckyStar]

Thanks all.  I just decided I'm not going to worry about it. I'm so giddy with excitement, I'd be happy with a box lunch each night. 🤣

[CruisingWalter]

12 hours ago, LuckyStar said:

Thanks all.  I just decided I'm not going to worry about it. I'm so giddy with excitement, I'd be happy with a box lunch each night

 

We were Bella Experience on our very first MSC Cruise a few months ago and ended up with the 9:45p dining time. Not our first choice by any means, but it might have worked in our favor. Service was great, meals were hot and we had none of the complaints we have seen about the MDR being slow, food coming out cold or not hot or the wrong food. Basically our dining room was 25-50% full when we ate so our service was fantastic whereas the earlier two seatings were full. If it's helpful we posted our food review recently. The food was much better than we expected based on all the social posts we saw prior to boarding.   https://youtu.be/8DNLLqRyCiA

 

[mcoler181]

25 minutes ago, CruisingWalter said:

 

We were Bella Experience on our very first MSC Cruise a few months ago and ended up with the 9:45p dining time. Not our first choice by any means, but it might have worked in our favor. Service was great, meals were hot and we had none of the complaints we have seen about the MDR being slow, food coming out cold or not hot or the wrong food. Basically our dining room was 25-50% full when we ate so our service was fantastic whereas the earlier two seatings were full. If it's helpful we posted our food review recently. The food was much better than we expected based on all the social posts we saw prior to boarding.   https://youtu.be/8DNLLqRyCiA

 

We are on Bella on our first MSC cruise in Feb, if you are assigned a late seating is there any chance of getting it moved do you know?  Our youngest is 9 and wouldn't fancy waiting until gone 10pm before eating.

[JamieLogical]

1 hour ago, mcoler181 said:

We are on Bella on our first MSC cruise in Feb, if you are assigned a late seating is there any chance of getting it moved do you know?  Our youngest is 9 and wouldn't fancy waiting until gone 10pm before eating.

 

You can try to get it moved, but there are no guarantees. Make sure you try to change it first thing upon boarding. Where you go to try to change it likely depends on the ship. On the Meraviglia, there was a desk set up in the hall outside of the area on deck 6 that has three of the four MDRs.

[Essiesmom]

There will be instructions in the welcome aboard paper they hand out when you board.  I’ve posted the instructions for Seaside.

 

 

[CruisingWalter]

14 hours ago, mcoler181 said:

We are on Bella on our first MSC cruise in Feb, if you are assigned a late seating is there any chance of getting it moved do you know?  Our youngest is 9 and wouldn't fancy waiting until gone 10pm before eating.

 

On our sailing the first two seatings were sold out, so not for our sailing.

[mcoler181]

5 hours ago, CruisingWalter said:

 

On our sailing the first two seatings were sold out, so not for our sailing.

That would be less than ideal, think we would end up in the buffet most nights if that was the case which on a 14 night cruise would not be great.

 

I guess we will just have to see what happens. 

[CliveJ]

Have sailed 4 times with MSC this year.

Always asked TA to include 'early sitting', which is what came up on the cruise card, but each time went along, as soon as was on board..usually by 11a.m., to the restaurant manager (there is a desk set up, but they'll just put you on a list for confirmation..or not...at a later time), who even on a very busy summer cruise sorted me out with a table exactly as I requested.

 

 

 

 

Edited September 19, 2023 by CliveJ