My Time Dining Question

[disneyclfan]

Since the Oasis is offering "My Time" Dining is that the only option? Or are they also doing traditional early and late?

 

I chose late when I originally booked, but will probably switch it to "my time".

[Elizanessie]

There will be Tradtional & MTD :D

[negc]

Since the Oasis is offering "My Time" Dining is that the only option? Or are they also doing traditional early and late?

 

I chose late when I originally booked, but will probably switch it to "my time".

RCI's position has always been and continues to be that they will always offer traditional dining along with MTD. I'm not sure what the test results have been to date on those ships offering both styles, but I suspect that the majority of RCI cruisers continue to opt for either early or late seating. That certainly seemed to be the case on our recent transatlantic on Jewel of the Seas.:)

[dougp26364]

When can you book MTD? Can it be done now or do we have to wait until so many days before the cruise.

[Cruising89143]

When can you book MTD? Can it be done now or do we have to wait until so many days before the cruise.

 

RCI has added that MTD is available on the Oasis so I would call and see if they will let you add it now. Of course they will add the gratuities to your invoice when you sign up.

[kkorman]

When can you book MTD? Can it be done now or do we have to wait until so many days before the cruise.

 

I booked Oasis last week and My Time was available.

[kkorman]

RCI's position has always been and continues to be that they will always offer traditional dining along with MTD. I'm not sure what the test results have been to date on those ships offering both styles, but I suspect that the majority of RCI cruisers continue to opt for either early or late seating. That certainly seemed to be the case on our recent transatlantic on Jewel of the Seas.:)

 

I did notice that RCI has started marketing it better and have been trying to educate people on what it is. We chose it on the Freedom and thought it was flawless. We were given the same service every night and we did not have any wait.

 

With all the options for dining out there, traditional is turning nontraditional as a table of eight can easily turn to 2 because of specialty dining, room service, J Rockets, etc. I think everyone should try it and see the flexibility that comes along w/ it.

[suzyluvs2cruise]

We returned last Saturday from 24 days of b2b cruises on the Jewel of the Seas. We had My Time dining and loved it!!! :)

 

We didn't sign up for it before the cruise as we didn't want to be charged right then for the gratuities. The first day.....soon after we boarded......we went to the My Time area and signed up. We were asked to fill out the form for pre-paid gratuities, selected 7:45 as our dining time and requested a table for 4.

 

We had the same wait staff every night and it was the best dining experience we've ever had on a cruise ship. Nigel Wilson was our waiter and Steven the asst. Mr. G was our Head Waiter and he was funny, personable and very visible........unlike many Head Waiters who come around in the beginning to say hello and then you don't see them until right before the end of the cruise.

 

A couple of nights we knew we would be coming back late from port so we changed our time to 8:30. If we wanted to go to the 9:00 pm show Nigel would "fast track" our dinner and we would finish in time for the show.

 

We liked everything so much that we requested My Time for the 2nd cruise of our b2b. We had the same wait staff and Head Waiter and another great dining experience.

 

I think alot of passengers really don't understand the My Time concept and many are put off by having to pay the gratuities prior to cruising. We're hoping more will try it and they too will have the same great dining experience we had.

[nikkiml]

:confused: Since I'm new to cruising, I have a few questions: we'll be a group of 16 (could be more) and we all booked for early dinning. Does this mean that with this option we are invited to show up between a timeline predetermined? If not, could there be a long wait before we are seated? Is that the main reason why experienced cruisers would chose MyTimeDinning vs early or late dinning option?

 

Considering your experience, what would you recommand?

 

Thank you, and please excuse me for any spelling mistake since French is my language.

 

Lucie

[NJCruiseGal32]

Nikki...

 

The reason as to why cruiser's prefer MTD is simply because you can choose what time you'd like to dine in the main dining room.

 

With traditional dining, you're expected to be there by a ceartin time or the doors are closed.

 

In my opinion, if it's your first cruise just book the late seating dining. You can always make reservations for the other restaurants on board for times which you and your group would like to eat.There is however a cover charge per person for such restaurants.

 

Early seating dinner will be bothersome, as it's typically starts at 6pm. Most often we're in the islands until at least 7pm. So think about it and make the choice which is right for you

[Cruising89143]

Just called and had MTD added to my reservation. Just took a few minutes to do. So glad that this was available.

[DebbieN167]

I've never been on a cruise yet that had MTD. Do you have to set a time for the same hour every day? Why do you have to pre pay your gratuities for this?

[molly361]

I've never been on a cruise yet that had MTD. Do you have to set a time for the same hour every day? Why do you have to pre pay your gratuities for this?

 

No you do not have to show up at the same time every night, usually you get different servers every evening and that is the reason for the prepaid gratuities so that all staff can get them. You can show up whenever you like but sometimes there could be a wait if you come at a "popular" dinner time. We did like the above poster on Princess and reserved the same table for 2 every night at the same time and had the same servers. It was great

[karena1]

I called Friday and had our April 2010 Oasis dining changed to My Time. I think we will love it. Nice to go to dinner when we feel like it. We don't care who we sit with (as long as it is all adults and no kids) and DH loves meeting people so he will enjoy meeting new folks every night. If we have to wait a couple minutes, no biggie to us. I think we will love getting done a little earlier and enjoy more of the evening.

[DebbieN167]

Karina-

We are booked for Feb. 2010. Didn't see an option online to requst MTD.

Molly- I see you were also on the Britanis! That was our first cruise.....

[molly361]

Karina-

We are booked for Feb. 2010. Didn't see an option online to requst MTD.

 

Molly- I see you were also on the Britanis! That was our first cruise.....

 

The ships sure have come a LONG way since then. We will request MTD when we get closer to 2010- We booked as soon as they opened and were not allowed to pick any dining preferences.

[alonzo14]

Karina-

We are booked for Feb. 2010. Didn't see an option online to requst MTD.

Molly- I see you were also on the Britanis! That was our first cruise.....

 

If you have a TA they can request MTD for you. If you don't have one then you can call your Royal Carribean Vacation planner or Crown and Anchor if you are a repeat cruiser.

[karena1]

Karina-

We are booked for Feb. 2010. Didn't see an option online to requst MTD.

 

Molly- I see you were also on the Britanis! That was our first cruise.....

 

I kept calling Royal to find out about it. The My Time Dining # is 800-590-6218

[karena1]

If you have a TA they can request MTD for you. If you don't have one then you can call your Royal Carribean Vacation planner or Crown and Anchor if you are a repeat cruiser.

 

I had already xferred our Serenade to our TA, so she emailed me today and said she had changed our dining to My Time. So now I have it confirmed on both our April Serenade and our 2010 April Oasis.

[alonzo14]

Great! Enjoy your cruises!

[suzyluvs2cruise]

I had already xferred our Serenade to our TA, so she emailed me today and said she had changed our dining to My Time. So now I have it confirmed on both our April Serenade and our 2010 April Oasis.

 

I'm sure you'll enjoy My Time dining as much as we did.

 

I'm curious............were your gratuities for both cruises charged to your credit card when you booked My Time? We'd like to book My Time for our April '09 cruise on the Radiance but want to use OBC to cover the gratuities.

[karena1]

I'm sure you'll enjoy My Time dining as much as we did.

 

I'm curious............were your gratuities for both cruises charged to your credit card when you booked My Time? We'd like to book My Time for our April '09 cruise on the Radiance but want to use OBC to cover the gratuities.

 

They are added on to your bill that you have to pay at final payment. So you cannot use OBC to pay for the pre-paid tips. They are paid before you ever get on the ship. When I look at my invoice it shows the total left to pay for the trip and that includes my prepaid tips.

[berbet]

Changed my dining to My Time yesterday. The TA said that my prepaid gratuities would be due with my final payment.

[running girl]

Ok I have never done my time dinning before and I am reading all about the tip situation and have a couple questions. We booked last week and are very excited,we have 3 rooms on deck 12 mid ship oceanside balcony and have picked my time dinning. Not that I care that they will be charging the tip on final payment but what is the rate and is it just for dinning? I always tip extra anyway, the service is always out of this world. :rolleyes:

[karena1]

Ok I have never done my time dinning before and I am reading all about the tip situation and have a couple questions. We booked last week and are very excited,we have 3 rooms on deck 12 mid ship oceanside balcony and have picked my time dinning. Not that I care that they will be charging the tip on final payment but what is the rate and is it just for dinning? I always tip extra anyway, the service is always out of this world. :rolleyes:

 

It is not just the dining, but all the tips are prepaid. Exactly the same amt as if you had paid for them on board. You will still get the vouchers so can add cash if you want. But with the pre-paid, all are paid, so when you board you won't have any tips left to pay except any "extra" that you want to pay.