PMO Posted October 8, 2023 #1 Share Posted October 8, 2023 We are scheduled for early seating in January on Anthem. Our last cruise we were scheduled for early seating but when we got on board we needed to make reservations. Is this still the case or is it really early seating at 5:30? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
time4u2go Posted October 8, 2023 #2 Share Posted October 8, 2023 You had early seating but you had to make reservations? That doesn't make any sense. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GTO-Girl Posted October 8, 2023 #3 Share Posted October 8, 2023 41 minutes ago, PMO said: We are scheduled for early seating in January on Anthem. Our last cruise we were scheduled for early seating but when we got on board we needed to make reservations. Is this still the case or is it really early seating at 5:30? if you have Early “Fixed” Traditional dining then you don’t have make reservations. Sound like either you didn’t know you had My Time Dining OR they changed you to MTD from Traditional without your knowledge (which has happened to me!) 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PMO Posted October 8, 2023 Author #4 Share Posted October 8, 2023 You are wrong on both counts we were Early Seating and they were trying a new program with everyone needing a reservation. This caused major problems as we could not book our times in advance as MTD did prior to sailing. You also did not get the same wait staff. We fought hard to keep them but needed to keep changing our time’s constantly to do so. Everyone was furious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firefly333 Posted October 8, 2023 #5 Share Posted October 8, 2023 2 minutes ago, PMO said: You are wrong on both counts we were Early Seating and they were trying a new program with everyone needing a reservation. This caused major problems as we could not book our times in advance as MTD did prior to sailing. You also did not get the same wait staff. We fought hard to keep them but needed to keep changing our time’s constantly to do so. Everyone was furious. Odd as no one but you has ever posted about this new program. None of us have heard of it. When I choose early dining my table number appears on my card, both before covid and ever since covid. I'm siding with GTO girl. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokeybandit Posted October 8, 2023 #6 Share Posted October 8, 2023 That would be one of the dumbest moves ever to make people with a fixed dining time make reservations. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Tree_skier Posted October 8, 2023 #7 Share Posted October 8, 2023 Just now, smokeybandit said: That would be one of the dumbest moves ever to make people with a fixed dining time make reservations. The whole thing doesn't make any sense at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PMO Posted October 9, 2023 Author #8 Share Posted October 9, 2023 So in January we are good to go! Thanks for your help and it was an extremely dumb idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loman Posted October 9, 2023 #9 Share Posted October 9, 2023 That sounds like my time dining to me also if you needed reservations . You will be fine if you have early dining , same table and same wait staff . Call RC or your TA to confirm you have fixed early dining . Enjoy your cruise ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare HappyTexan44 Posted October 9, 2023 #10 Share Posted October 9, 2023 17 hours ago, GTO-Girl said: if you have Early “Fixed” Traditional dining then you don’t have make reservations. Sound like either you didn’t know you had My Time Dining OR they changed you to MTD from Traditional without your knowledge (which has happened to me!) This would be a nightmare for us. We will be 8, four adults and four teens. Likely doing our own things and meeting up for dinner every day. Also, 5-5:30 is a normal dinner time for me, and one of the other adults wakes up at like 3 am for work. He'll likely be drifting into a more normal schedule, but I don't see him awake at 9pm. The traditional MDR experience is something I've been looking forward to in our Starter Cruise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
motheroftwocats814 Posted October 9, 2023 #11 Share Posted October 9, 2023 As others have said, sounds like MTD instead of early fixed dining. This "new program" is a mystery to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coffeebean Posted October 9, 2023 #12 Share Posted October 9, 2023 19 hours ago, PMO said: You are wrong on both counts we were Early Seating and they were trying a new program with everyone needing a reservation. This caused major problems as we could not book our times in advance as MTD did prior to sailing. You also did not get the same wait staff. We fought hard to keep them but needed to keep changing our time’s constantly to do so. Everyone was furious. That does not sound like traditional early seating. This new program they were trying sounds more like My Time Dining than Traditional Dining. NCL started something like this many years ago and they call it "Freestyle Dining". Show up when ever you like and you will be seated but sometimes with a wait. NCL will accept reservations if that is what you want to do but it is not mandatory to make a reservation. You will likely be seated sooner with a reservation though. Maybe Royal is trying that type of dining.experience for everyone. Hubby and I cruise NCL quite a bit and we do like the Freestyle dining very much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ja2012 Posted October 9, 2023 #13 Share Posted October 9, 2023 (edited) Sort of sounds like dynamic dining. It was rolled out with the quantum class but later canceled. Never had it but from my limited knowledge on the subject it sounds like it. Edited October 9, 2023 by Ja2012 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare travelberlin Posted October 9, 2023 #14 Share Posted October 9, 2023 With MTD we were able to reserve our seats online but there was no option to choose if we want to share a table with others or just seat by ourselves. Is not possible to choose this with MTD? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steveru621 Posted October 9, 2023 #15 Share Posted October 9, 2023 20 hours ago, PMO said: You are wrong on both counts we were Early Seating and they were trying a new program with everyone needing a reservation. This caused major problems as we could not book our times in advance as MTD did prior to sailing. You also did not get the same wait staff. We fought hard to keep them but needed to keep changing our time’s constantly to do so. Everyone was furious. There is an experiment to let you choose your table, not your time. This is not fleet-wide. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare WrittenOnYourHeart Posted October 9, 2023 #16 Share Posted October 9, 2023 Sounds like what Celebrity has gone to on the Edge-class (though they have 4 main dining rooms and people complained about being assigned to only one - even though you can order from any). No fixed, all reservations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OSUZorba Posted October 9, 2023 #17 Share Posted October 9, 2023 (edited) 1 hour ago, coffeebean said: That does not sound like traditional early seating. This new program they were trying sounds more like My Time Dining than Traditional Dining. NCL started something like this many years ago and they call it "Freestyle Dining". Show up when ever you like and you will be seated but sometimes with a wait. NCL will accept reservations if that is what you want to do but it is not mandatory to make a reservation. You will likely be seated sooner with a reservation though. Maybe Royal is trying that type of dining.experience for everyone. Hubby and I cruise NCL quite a bit and we do like the Freestyle dining very much. Princess switched to that. One thing I really disliked about Princess. Never knew night to night if you were going to get great service or terrible service. Edited October 9, 2023 by OSUZorba Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PMO Posted October 9, 2023 Author #18 Share Posted October 9, 2023 Thank you ALL for your comments! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tatka Posted October 9, 2023 #19 Share Posted October 9, 2023 3 hours ago, coffeebean said: That does not sound like traditional early seating. This new program they were trying sounds more like My Time Dining than Traditional Dining. NCL started something like this many years ago and they call it "Freestyle Dining". Show up when ever you like and you will be seated but sometimes with a wait. NCL will accept reservations if that is what you want to do but it is not mandatory to make a reservation. You will likely be seated sooner with a reservation though. Maybe Royal is trying that type of dining.experience for everyone. Hubby and I cruise NCL quite a bit and we do like the Freestyle dining very much. "New Program" My Time dining exists since 2000-x (2007 or earlier). You can arrive at any time or make reservation. Nothing different than Freestyle with NCL or similar on all other lines. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tatka Posted October 9, 2023 #20 Share Posted October 9, 2023 (edited) 1 hour ago, OSUZorba said: Princess switched to that. One thing I really disliked about Princess. Never knew night to night if you were going to get great service or terrible service. Princess just like RCI has both. Assigned and Anytime dining since we started sailing with them in 2006. Every line except for Cunard (regular accommodations) and MSC (maybe they also have it now) have both. NCL does not have assigned dining. Only Freestyle. Edited October 9, 2023 by Tatka Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OSUZorba Posted October 9, 2023 #21 Share Posted October 9, 2023 6 minutes ago, Tatka said: Princess just like RCI has both. Assigned and Anytime dining since we started sailing with them in 2006. Every line except for Cunard (regular accommodations) and MSC (maybe they also have it now) have both. NCL does not have assigned dining. Only Freestyle. I was on Ruby in March there were no assigned times, it was all my time dining. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare WrittenOnYourHeart Posted October 9, 2023 #22 Share Posted October 9, 2023 9 minutes ago, Tatka said: Every line except for Cunard (regular accommodations) and MSC (maybe they also have it now) have both. Disney doesn't have an anytime/my time option. Just the 2 seatings that rotate through their 3 mdrs - servers and people. You have the same table number and same service team in each restaurant. MTD/Anytime/Freestyle wouldn't work with that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tatka Posted October 9, 2023 #23 Share Posted October 9, 2023 1 minute ago, WrittenOnYourHeart said: Disney doesn't have an anytime/my time option. Just the 2 seatings that rotate through their 3 mdrs - servers and people. You have the same table number and same service team in each restaurant. MTD/Anytime/Freestyle wouldn't work with that. Thank you. Disney is a very special line.. I never sailed with them. Sailed with RCI (28) - Celebrity (7) - Princess (7) - NCL (9) - Holland (2) - Carnival (2) - MSC (2) - Cunard (1) . All, but 2 had some forms of MTD (Anytime, Freestyle, Your Time Dining, Select etc) . NCL did not have traditional. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dahirsh Posted October 9, 2023 #24 Share Posted October 9, 2023 3 hours ago, Ja2012 said: Sort of sounds like dynamic dining. It was rolled out with the quantum class but later canceled. Never had it but from my limited knowledge on the subject it sounds like it. no, it doesn't. And I did sail with Dynamic Dining. More than once. I was one of the (apparently few) who loved it and is still sad the varied menu were pushed out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now