My Time Dining - Anthem of the Seas - HUH? How does this work

I remember my Anthem cruise in late October, 2016 was one of the last cruises to do Dynamic. I think they switched over mid-november of that year.

I liked the concept. We had the Classic Dynamic, where our waiters followed us to each restaurant and we had a set time every night. However, looking over at Regular Dynamic, they were having huge issues. People who didn't have reservations were generally relegated to eating at 5:30 or 9:00, or wait until a table was open. I heard that some waited as much as 30 minutes to get seated.

I heard that some waited as much as 30 minutes to get seated.

That can still happen today with MTD on any ship.

Now, I'll complicate things a bit. Just got off Anthem. We had MTD booked with reservations for various times between 5:45 and 6:15. We checked-in on the 'reservations' line on Deck 4. Several times we were led down to Deck 3 to eat in either Grande or Chic. The explanation given was if the people with the standing 5:30 Early Seating don't show-up within 15 minutes, their table is given to MTD passenger overflow. During our 9 night voyage, we dined in each of the 4 dining rooms. Nice.

Yup. Last week everyone with MTD checked in on deck 4 (Icon/Silk). Two sets of lines, one with reservations one without. If you had a standing reservation for the same table they just waved you through. In theory the dining room opened at 5, with online reservations set up for 5:30. In practice if you had a 5:30 reservation they wanted you in there by that time. Most days the dining room opened at 5, but on formal nights they opened early at 4:45.

By the way, for those folks that like squashed pennies, Icon (and I assume the others) had a squasher at the entrance with four different patterns (iFly, Northstar, Icon, Anthem). No cost, just feed in the pennies. And a lot of the waiters had a pocket full of pennies.

Ok..here's another question for a MTD newbie. If you reserve for the same time every night of the cruise, how can you request the same wait staff and table? Do you do it the first night at the table? Ahead of time?

Ok..here's another question for a MTD newbie. If you reserve for the same time every night of the cruise, how can you request the same wait staff and table? Do you do it the first night at the table? Ahead of time?

After your first dinner of the cruise, if you like your staff and would like to stay with them for the duration of your cruise, stop by the host's/hostess' desk on your way out and express your preference.

How about table size can you get tables for 2?

Yup. Last week everyone with MTD checked in on deck 4 (Icon/Silk). Two sets of lines, one with reservations one without. If you had a standing reservation for the same table they just waved you through. In theory the dining room opened at 5, with online reservations set up for 5:30. In practice if you had a 5:30 reservation they wanted you in there by that time. Most days the dining room opened at 5, but on formal nights they opened early at 4:45.

 

By the way, for those folks that like squashed pennies, Icon (and I assume the others) had a squasher at the entrance with four different patterns (iFly, Northstar, Icon, Anthem). No cost, just feed in the pennies. And a lot of the waiters had a pocket full of pennies.

What?

How about table size can you get tables for 2?

Yes.

What?

If you don't know what a "penny squashing" machine is--

http://www.pennybandz.com/penny-press-machines.html