My time Dining

[Cruisingjer]

My understanding is it is now available on all ships.

[mommastav]

My husband and I recently returned from a Western Caribbean Liberty of the Seas cruise. We had requested MTD through our TA and had prepaid gratuities. Our reservation said Main seating, but once on board we did have MTD. We could show up whenever we wanted, however, we only had the option to sit at a table for 2 unless we wanted to wait and see if we could talk someone else into joining us. We had sailed with Princess, and enjoyed the Anytime Dining where we could sit at a table for 8 each night, and thus meet many new people. We explained at the Dining room that we really wanted to be able to sit with others at dinner, and they explained that since they place the tables for 2 close together they assume you can strike up conversations that way. After trying that the second night, the couple we spoke to made it clear they chose a table for 2 for a reason. We then requested to be moved to the second seating with an assigned table and they were able to accomodate us. Ironically the table was available because another couple had opted to be moved to MTD.

[newcruisers2]

In my instance, it very specifically says on RC's website that My Time Dining is available on this cruise. See if you can find the small print.

 

I was just wondering where you found the fine print.

[janoma]

Although I could swear I saw it on the website (I can visualize it being in blue typeface), I can't find it now (I swear they've changed a bunch of things in the last week or so). I do have it on my printed booking confirmation. We are on Brilliance and it says "On Brilliance sailings thru 12/23/09, we will offer My time Dining for dinner." Then gives some details....

[negc]

They shouldn't let people make reservations for my time dining......defeats the whole purpose IMO.........

All lines with flexible dining allow people to make reservations, although some restrict the hours when that can be done. I see no reason why someone who, say wants to dine every evening at 7:30 pm which is not one of the traditional dining hours, shouldn't be allowed to do so. That is what MTD is all about, the ability to dine at a time of their choice. There is nothing to prevent others from dining at different times each evening, either by making advance reservations or by just showing up. Without some reservations you will reduce dining at popular times to a mad scramble before anyone else to get to the dining room so that you can get a table. Perhaps I don't understand what you are saying so perhaps you can elaborate as to how being able to reserve your own dining time defeats the purpose of My Time Dining?

[janoma]

I agree with Bill. 7:30 is approximately what I'm looking for...sunset and departure times are all around 7:00 for the duration of our trip, so I'd rather be on deck then...and 7:30 works nicely with that. I don't know if I'd necessarily make that reservation every night, but I can see myself doing a reservation probably 1/2 the time...which makes it worth it to me.

[cruisecrasy]

Most likely, the documents were printed before you made the change and they were not able to correct the dining choice.

 

If you still want to do My Time Dining, simply go the the Mozart Dining Room after you board ship and make your reservation. I would carry with me proof that I had already paid the gratuities. The Mozart Dining Room has a small area of tables FOR TWO that are reserved for My Time Dining and you have to select a time for the entire week. You do not go at 6pm one night and then 7pm the next night. It would 6pm for the entire cruise!

 

I am confused - nothing new for me of course :) but I wld appreciate it if u cld explain your comments re: dining hrs.

 

If u have to book the same time each nite how is that any different than traditional dining?

 

I thought the object with MTD was to make dining hrs flexible so folks cld pick & choose the times that best suited them?

 

Thanks for your insight!

[spanner14]

My husband and I recently returned from a Western Caribbean Liberty of the Seas cruise. We had requested MTD through our TA and had prepaid gratuities. Our reservation said Main seating, but once on board we did have MTD. We could show up whenever we wanted, however, we only had the option to sit at a table for 2 unless we wanted to wait and see if we could talk someone else into joining us. We had sailed with Princess, and enjoyed the Anytime Dining where we could sit at a table for 8 each night, and thus meet many new people. We explained at the Dining room that we really wanted to be able to sit with others at dinner, and they explained that since they place the tables for 2 close together they assume you can strike up conversations that way. After trying that the second night, the couple we spoke to made it clear they chose a table for 2 for a reason. We then requested to be moved to the second seating with an assigned table and they were able to accomodate us. Ironically the table was available because another couple had opted to be moved to MTD.

 

So this is probably a really silly question but what if there are three of you? I've asked my TA to book MTD for us on Freedom but there are three of us; how would that work? Would they just seat the three of us at a table for four?

 

It's all very confusing! Thanks :)

[little britain]

One of the first things we did when we boarded was sign up for MyTimeDining. We had registered in England but apparently this had not been communicated to the ship. One small section of the deck 5 dining room was set aside for this and it seemed to be popular. We requested a table for 2 at 7:45. We were sat at a table for 2 at 7:45. Our waiters greeted us by name, the food appeared freshly prepared and was always hot. We had friends doing Traditional dining and they said they sent their food back a few times for being cold. We were being ambassadors for MTD telling everyone we spoke to how good it was! Martina was the MTD hostess. Each night as we left the dining room they asked if we wanted to make a reservation for the following evening, so we could choose a time that suited us. I got the impression that they tried to sit you at the same table/area so you had the same waiters. This is not an issue for me so I didn't particularly care where I sat. She was most appologetic that she couldn't sit us at our 'usual' table one day! Apparently after April 19th it is going to be expanded to the whole 5th floor of the dining room. There were 140 signed up for our cruise and we were told that they had assigned their best waiters to this to ensure great service.

One night we didn’t make a reservation just to check out the time we had to wait for a table – it was about 25 seconds – so either way MTD was a winner for us.

 

Spanner14 - if there are 3 of you then you sit at a table for 3 - there is no sharing of tables in MTD

CruiseCrasy - you do not have to book every night, you can just turn out. It differs from Tradtional dining in the fact that you are not forced to sit with people you do not want to sit with, and you eat at the time you want. Sort of like when you go to a restaurant....;)

For us 6:15 is far to early and 8:30 is too late so 7:45 worked just fine for us.

LilPony - yes it is available on all ships now - you have to register when you get on board as the computer prebooking system isnt working yet. I have since heard it wont be working till early May. If your cruise is after this date then you should be able to register beforehand.

AlphaKitty - it will say MTD on your invoice under the itinerary in the Special Requests section.....

[Kviolasr]

I am confused - nothing new for me of course :) but I wld appreciate it if u cld explain your comments re: dining hrs.

 

If u have to book the same time each nite how is that any different than traditional dining?

 

I thought the object with MTD was to make dining hrs flexible so folks cld pick & choose the times that best suited them?

 

Thanks for your insight!

 

I respectfully disagree with JMG regarding the MTD situation on the AOS. We just returned from a 3/29 AOS cruise and we did the MTD. It was, in fact, a small section of the 5th floor (Mozart dining room) but there were tables for 2, 4, 6 (maybe even a couple of 8 tops). There were 6 in our party and we got a table for 6. We signed up on day one and the Head Waiter of this area asked what time we would NORMALLY want to eat, he then gave us a standing reservation for that time (we picked 7:30). He told us we could change that time every day but might not get same table/waitstaff and might have to wait to be seated. He also asked that we if we knew we wouldn't make the 7:30, call and advise on changed time so they could adjust accordingly. We ate at the 7:30 time (4) out of (7) nights and changed it to later times on the (3) others. We still ended up with same waitstaff for all seven nights. The Head Waiter did seem to want to keep you to your "normal" time but we were definitely able to make changes, and never actually had to wait for our table.

 

Service was excellent, flexibility was great. We recommend MTD.

[dogsambam]

We were so excited that RCCL has finally gotten with the program. This was our on gripe with RCCL which would sometimes make us turn to Princess. We are travelling NEw YEars with our 4 year old and infant, and are so happy we will be able to eat when we want.