Open Dining on Freedom

[madforcruising]

According to this they are using the main dining room which is very large so it must be gaining in popularity

 

 

 

Now that you've reserved your cruise, how about enjoying some freedom of choice in your dinner options. On select ships and sailings+, we're featuring My Time DiningSM** in our Main Dining Room.

 

 

 

:confused: :confused: :confused:

I´m a bit puzzled about your post. My Time Dining has since it´s first trial always been offered in the Main Dining Room, but of course it has never been the whole Main Dining Room and nowhere in the above statement it mentions it being offered in the entire Main Dining room.

So where do you read gaining popularity into the statement?

[hipster1]

Hey Everyone!!

 

No worries with My time!!! We were just on the March 2nd sailing..We originally had early seating..( I too recd the Mytime email..but like 3 days BEFORE our cruise)..so we stuck with our original plan..Went to eat dinner 1st night at 6:00..only to find out..we just did NOT "mesh" with the other 2 couples..so ..Monday morning..went up to deck 5 ( Galileo) and signed up for My time!! Easy, no worries..I just filled out the form to pre pay my gratuties..and DONE!!..Every night.usually around 6:30 or so..we showed up on Deck 5 at the reservation desk..and were whisked away for a table for 2 every night..( yes, part of Galileo is for MYTIME...and our section was by the window!!!)

 

So please..enjoy your cruise!!!! if you want flexibility, then go for My Time..if you want traditional..stick with your early or late seating:D

[coffeebean]

If they go to only open dining fleetwide, they will not see me on their ships. Which would be a shame, because I've really enjoyed cruising with them.

 

Try it. You may like it. I'm and NCL Freestyle advocate and DH and I love Freestyle dining. NCL, however, offers many more dining venues than any of the RCCL ships. THAT may be the big difference in our dining experience enjoyment.

[madforcruising]

If they go to only open dining fleetwide, they will not see me on their ships. Which would be a shame, because I've really enjoyed cruising with them.

 

I´m with you Cindy and it´s what I wrote to the higher ups a RCCL as well.

 

Try it. You may like it. I'm and NCL Freestyle advocate and DH and I love Freestyle dining. NCL, however, offers many more dining venues than any of the RCCL ships. THAT may be the big difference in our dining experience enjoyment.

 

I´ve been on NCL and tried Freestyle. It was my worst Dining experience ever and I hated it. I´m not saying I had a bad cruise on NCL and if it´s your way to travel fine but to me Freestyle sucks.

[SherriZ366]

According to this they are using the main dining room which is very large so it must be gaining in popularity

Now that you've reserved your cruise, how about enjoying some freedom of choice in your dinner options. On select ships and sailings+, we're featuring My Time DiningSM** in our Main Dining Room.

 

The main dining room is ALL 3 levels of the dining room -- ie deck 3, deck 4 and deck 5. MyTime has always been offered in the main dining room and FOS has been using all or part of deck 5 for the trial. That's what we saw on the 2/24 sailing. I got the same email you did a few weeks of the cruise. You are spreading a lot of disinformation baseed on your interpretation of the email that went to all FOS cruisers. See Hipster's posts -- he is an authentic person who tried MyTime the week after we sailed.

[SherriZ366]

Hey Everyone!!

 

No worries with My time!!! We were just on the March 2nd sailing..We originally had early seating..( I too recd the Mytime email..but like 3 days BEFORE our cruise)..so we stuck with our original plan..Went to eat dinner 1st night at 6:00..only to find out..we just did NOT "mesh" with the other 2 couples..so ..Monday morning..went up to deck 5 ( Galileo) and signed up for My time!! Easy, no worries..I just filled out the form to pre pay my gratuties..and DONE!!..Every night.usually around 6:30 or so..we showed up on Deck 5 at the reservation desk..and were whisked away for a table for 2 every night..( yes, part of Galileo is for MYTIME...and our section was by the window!!!)

 

So please..enjoy your cruise!!!! if you want flexibility, then go for My Time..if you want traditional..stick with your early or late seating:D

Glad you posted as you have a real live experience with MyTime. I meant to deck 5 and check out how MyTime was going over on the 2/24 cruise but we would go straight to deck 3 where our table was for dinner. This issue has gotten a lot of attention and only just now are CC folks who tried MyTime posting. Someone on another thread did MyTime on Serenade.

[hipster1]

The main dining room is ALL 3 levels of the dining room -- ie deck 3, deck 4 and deck 5. MyTime has always been offered in the main dining room and FOS has been using all or part of deck 5 for the trial. That's what we saw on the 2/24 sailing. I got the same email you did a few weeks of the cruise. You are spreading a lot of disinformation baseed on your interpretation of the email that went to all FOS cruisers. See Hipster's posts -- he is an authentic person who tried MyTime the week after we sailed.

 

 

I AM AM A SHE!!!!! :D

[SherriZ366]

I AM AM A SHE!!!!! :D

Oh sorry -- but your are still an authentic person who has related her real, live experiences.

[hipster1]

Glad you posted as you have a real live experience with MyTime. I meant to deck 5 and check out how MyTime was going over on the 2/24 cruise but we would go straight to deck 3 where our table was for dinner. This issue has gotten a lot of attention and only just now are CC folks who tried MyTime posting. Someone on another thread did MyTime on Serenade.

 

 

Sherri!!!

 

I am just laughing at all the folks freaking out over DINNER!!! You are right..everyone is jumping to conclusions. Someone even posted they would never cruise wiht RCCL again if they go ALL MY TIME (Which I highly doubt RCCL will go completely MY TIME.)

 

Its a VACATION..for relaxation!!!!..and its just dinner!!:rolleyes:

[madforcruising]

Sherri!!!

 

I am just laughing at all the folks freaking out over DINNER!!! You are right..everyone is jumping to conclusions. Someone even posted they would never cruise wiht RCCL again if they go ALL MY TIME (Which I highly doubt RCCL will go completely MY TIME.)

 

Its a VACATION..for relaxation!!!!..and its just dinner!!:rolleyes:

 

 

Well I´m not one of those jumping to conclusions, but yes I will take my business elsewhere once they start to skip traditional for My Time Dining. I´m not saying they are going to do this, but if they would try to force me to My Time because Traditional is full already I´m not going.

I agree it´s a vacation for relaxation and for me dinner is a big part of this. My experience with Freestyle on NCL was horrid enough to say that was not the least bit relaxing to stand in line for lengthy times to get seated for dinner, just to be rushed through dinner then because the line outside was still long and they needed you to be out of there ASAP to accomodate waiting people outside. Not my idea of relaxation.

[SherriZ366]

Sherri!!!

 

I am just laughing at all the folks freaking out over DINNER!!! You are right..everyone is jumping to conclusions. Someone even posted they would never cruise wiht RCCL again if they go ALL MY TIME (Which I highly doubt RCCL will go completely MY TIME.)

 

Its a VACATION..for relaxation!!!!..and its just dinner!!:rolleyes:

I think RCI knows their passenger mix well enough to not eliminate traditional and they seem to be MUCH more flexible than Princess with allocating space to what passengers want. RCI's dining rooms may work better in the flexibilitty area and the Genesis may present new ways to be flexible.

 

For a lot of people who like traditional (present company included), dinner with the same tablemates that you get to know and the same waiters who know your preferences is an important part of the cruise. I think for others who put less empahsis on dinner, MyTime works very well.

[hipster1]

Well I´m not one of those jumping to conclusions, but yes I will take my business elsewhere once they start to skip traditional for My Time Dining. I´m not saying they are going to do this, but if they would try to force me to My Time because Traditional is full already I´m not going.

I agree it´s a vacation for relaxation and for me dinner is a big part of this. My experience with Freestyle on NCL was horrid enough to say that was not the least bit relaxing to stand in line for lengthy times to get seated for dinner, just to be rushed through dinner then because the line outside was still long and they needed you to be out of there ASAP to accomodate waiting people outside. Not my idea of relaxation.

 

 

HI Mad!

I totally agree..I would not want to wait in line for dinner on a cruise..BUT..Like I posted, I highly doubt RCCL will go all MY Time..They are just testing this out ...It seemed to work very nicely on our cruise..the majority of passengers WERE on traditional dining..So, hopefully in the future, RCCL will have half a deck reserved for My Time..and the rest traditional..I'm sure this is how the outcome will be!

[hipster1]

I think RCI knows their passenger mix well enough to not eliminate traditional and they seem to be MUCH more flexible than Princess with allocating space to what passengers want. RCI's dining rooms may work better in the flexibilitty area and the Genesis may present new ways to be flexible.

 

For a lot of people who like traditional (present company included), dinner with the same tablemates that you get to know and the same waiters who know your preferences is an important part of the cruise. I think for others who put less empahsis on dinner, MyTime works very well.

 

 

Well said!!

 

But I do have to state, even though we were in the My Time, we sat in the SAME SECTION every night..( just moved around tables) and saw( for the most part ) THE SAME PASSENGERS...and had 3 of the waiters for that section..we always conversed with the passengers next to us..the waiters did know our prefrences..so its best of both worlds!:D

[SherriZ366]

Well said!!

 

But I do have to state, even though we were in the My Time, we sat in the SAME SECTION every night..( just moved around tables) and saw( for the most part ) THE SAME PASSENGERS...and had 3 of the waiters for that section..we always conversed with the passengers next to us..the waiters did know our prefrences..so its best of both worlds!:D

Sounds like it worked well -- as I said, RCI may be learning from other lines' mistakes.

 

Some of the horror stories from other cruise lines have influenced passengers. My TA and some posters have talked about instances where cruisers have confirmed traditional dining on Princess and have found out that they were switched into anytime once they got on the ship. And there are lots of posts on this board from folks who did not like NCL Freestyle. They felt that the free restaurants were not good although the extra price restuarants were good.

[hipster1]

Sounds like it worked well -- as I said, RCI may be learning from other lines' mistakes.

 

Some of the horror stories from other cruise lines have influenced passengers. My TA and some posters have talked about instances where cruisers have confirmed traditional dining on Princess and have found out that they were switched into anytime once they got on the ship. And there are lots of posts on this board from folks who did not like NCL Freestyle. They felt that the free restaurants were not good although the extra price restuarants were good.

 

 

RCCL has the right idea..sit back and watch others ( maybe fail), and then come in and see how they can do it differently.

 

I have only cruised with RCCL, so I dont know about other lines..but it sounds bad:confused: . I dont blame passengers who have had bad experiences to be aprehensive, but so far, RCCL has handled this well..and they have been very accomodating.

[SherriZ366]

RCCL has the right idea..sit back and watch others ( maybe fail), and then come in and see how they can do it differently.

 

I have only cruised with RCCL, so I dont know about other lines..but it sounds bad:confused: . I dont blame passengers who have had bad experiences to be aprehensive, but so far, RCCL has handled this well..and they have been very accomodating.

We've become exclusively RCI since our last Princess cruise -- felt that the dining room service (and this was in traditional) had declined. But we also liked the passenger mix MUCH better on RCI.

[hipster1]

We've become exclusively RCI since our last Princess cruise -- felt that the dining room service (and this was in traditional) had declined. But we also liked the passenger mix MUCH better on RCI.

 

 

Yeh, I have met some really cool folks on all our cruises ( ok all of 2!!:rolleyes: )..but we are HOOKED.. We are in the planning stages for the Mediteranean!

[madforcruising]

HI Mad!

I totally agree..I would not want to wait in line for dinner on a cruise..BUT..Like I posted, I highly doubt RCCL will go all MY Time..They are just testing this out ...It seemed to work very nicely on our cruise..the majority of passengers WERE on traditional dining..So, hopefully in the future, RCCL will have half a deck reserved for My Time..and the rest traditional..I'm sure this is how the outcome will be!

 

 

I agree that it is most unlikely that RCCL will go all Freestyle like NCL and it´s more likely they will go the route of Princess offering both. I just hope they will be more flexible than Princess is from what I get from the boards.

 

Although your report and that few from others are promising about it working out good so far I think this is just a very early stage of the testing with (I think) not a very high demand in MyTime. I think the real problems will start to come up once the demand for MyTime is getting higher.

Just on a side note I believe the decision for MyTime is long made and all the "testing" is just their procedure of implementing it step by step.

[hipster1]

I agree that it is most unlikely that RCCL will go all Freestyle like NCL and it´s more likely they will go the route of Princess offering both. I just hope they will be more flexible than Princess is from what I get from the boards.

 

Although your report and that few from others are promising about it working out good so far I think this is just a very early stage of the testing with (I think) not a very high demand in MyTime. I think the real problems will start to come up once the demand for MyTime is getting higher.

Just on a side note I believe the decision for MyTime is long made and all the "testing" is just their procedure of implementing it step by step.

 

 

You are right..If the demand gets higher, I'm sure there can be some problems..but, I think RCI will handle this as it comes along.

 

Our Head Waiter did say it was succesful and will be implented fleet wide!

[poppop1507]

Just booked cruise on freedom in july on the phone with royal caribbean and they said theres no early or late seating and that Freedom is trying open dining for the year. So i guess royal caribbean might add anytime dining to their whole fleet soon mabye?

 

Sorry for being late but have not been on board for a while

 

Checked with my travel agent as I hate open seating for dinner.

She checked it out for me and found that this is not true.

 

The open seating for dinner is an option and not replacing traditional early and late seating.

 

You would have been much better off booking with a travel agent than calling Royal Caribbean at least you would have gotten correct info,.

[negc]

I agree that it is most unlikely that RCCL will go all Freestyle like NCL and it´s more likely they will go the route of Princess offering both. I just hope they will be more flexible than Princess is from what I get from the boards.

 

Although your report and that few from others are promising about it working out good so far I think this is just a very early stage of the testing with (I think) not a very high demand in MyTime. I think the real problems will start to come up once the demand for MyTime is getting higher.

Just on a side note I believe the decision for MyTime is long made and all the "testing" is just their procedure of implementing it step by step.

 

Couldn't have said it better myself.:) While I am encouraged by the early reports about their success in offering both styles of dining without impinging on either group, the real test will come once it is more established and the numbers begin to reflect the informed decisions of all passengers. I am also skeptical of any claims that their decision to extend it fleetwide by the end of the year, was not a foregone conclusion rather than the result of the limited testing done on Freedom (especially since this decision was announced well before they had extended the test to Brilliance and Serenade. Be that as it may, I am a bit more confident that they will be able to achieve a satisfactory balance between the two styles, and am somewhat encouraged by recent posts that indicate a bit more flexibility on the part of Princess in operating its two dining options.:)

[suite]

The open dining on the freedom sounds great to my husband and i but not to the kids as they are teens and wanted to meet some other kids at dinner the first night. I asked my travel agent to have our family sit with some other families with teens but she said rc couldn't guarantee it. I guess i will just wait and see the first night.