My time dining, good or bad?

[engineer24]

We are going to Alaska in May and since we have been put on a waiting list for early seating our other option is my time dining.

[printingchick]

I have read mixed reviews, however my only experience with MTD so fare was EXCELLENT! I'm trying it again on my upcoming Serenade cruise. I'm hoping it will work as well on the smaller ship as it did on Freedom of the Seas in January 2009.

 

As MTD gains in popularity, I'm hearing more and more that reservations are STRONGLY suggested. We never made a reservation on Freedom. We just showed up. They kept track of where they had seated us before and always tried to put us in the same area so we'd have the same servers. I believe that, with a standing reservation time, you would get the exact same table every night, assuming you wanted that. We preferred the flexibility of showing up when we felt like eating. We never waited more than a few minutes to be seated and were always seated in the same general area.

 

I never realized how stressful assigned dining can be. Sometimes, you just don't want to eat at your assigned time. On some days, that time is difficult to make because of the port schedule or entertainment schedule. With MTD, you look over the compass, plan out your day and squeeze in dinner where it fits. SO NICE!!!

 

You can request to be seated by yourselves, or with others. I didn't know this when we went. We were always seated at a table for two.

 

If you love the waitstaff singing and dancing, you'll be disappointed. If you're there at the right time, you can see the performance. However, it will not include YOUR waiter. Servers in MTD are all on different schedules. Their customers are all dining at different times and are therefore at different places in their meal.

 

I'm a big fan based on my experience. While I met some truly wonderful people in traditional dining, more often than not, I was seated at a table where most people never or rarely even showed up!

[yogimax]

We've had one excellent experience and one that was very poor.

[printingchick]

We've had one excellent experience and one that was very poor.

 

Which ships?

[bigtoeswim'n]

Dear Husband and I did MTD on Serenade in Alaska RT YVR last Sep 09. We much prefer MTD bc of being freed from rushing back from a gorgeous port of call, gussy up, just to eat dinner. Our past experience found us rushing back from a scorching POC in Nassau, hurried to dress up, only to sit at a table for 8 all by ourselves for two nights in a row. Then when one other couple did show up, the lady had a plunging V-neck gown with lots of stuff pouring out. She whined about how she wanted MTD. Also, we both feel that too much information about our personal lives ends up spilling out over dinner, including our adult children's lives. DH and I enjoy each other company and don't seem to lack conversation between us. I also find the sing/dancing waitstaff annoying and demeaning to them. So, as you can see, we are not MDR folks.

 

On Serenade, we also went to Portifino one night bc we had an OBC to use.

 

With the above said, I saw plenty of folks enjoying MDR. It depends on the relationship/age of people in your party. A M&M on the Serenade said he clicked with his table mates and had a wonderful time there in MDR. So to each their own.

 

On our Jewel sailing New England in Oct 2010, I plan to sign us up for MTD but will wait to closer to sailing because we may have to cancel due to a sick relative. You have to prepay gratituties that are nonrefundable (I think). Hope this helps in some way and enjoy your cruise.

[Fifi Luna Pepe]

I'm curious about MTD too. I'll be on Freedom with my bf in May, his 2nd cruise, my 3rd. Our last cruise on Majesty we really enjoyed dining with others and meeting new people. We don't want a table for 2, that's what we've got every night at home, lol!

 

I think MTD would be more convenient for us with everything going on aboard Freedom, but we don't want to miss out on opportunities to meet others and share experiences with tablemates. Any insights? Thanks :)

[doublebzz]

Just returned from Navigator 5 day cruise with party of 6 including myself. We opted for "my time dining" and the results were mixed. On the first night, we made reservations for 7 pm which was honored for all 5 nights. We had the same table and wait staff throughout. The service appeared very disjointed. On 2 nights we had long waits between courses requiring us to prompt the waiter so we could make the 9 pm production show. Having said that, the 7 pm dining time was a nice compromise between eating too early or too late. Also, the waiter and assistant were very courteous and cheerfully responded to any special requests.

 

As an aside, we had pre-dinner cocktails in the Champagne Bar which offered complimentary caviar and Vintages which had complimentary tapas. This was the 2nd cruise we've taken on Navigator and its fast becoming one of our favorite ships.

[doublebzz]

I'm curious about MTD too. I'll be on Freedom with my bf in May, his 2nd cruise, my 3rd. Our last cruise on Majesty we really enjoyed dining with others and meeting new people. We don't want a table for 2, that's what we've got every night at home, lol!

 

I think MTD would be more convenient for us with everything going on aboard Freedom, but we don't want to miss out on opportunities to meet others and share experiences with tablemates. Any insights? Thanks :)

 

With MTD you can request a large table and it most probably will be granted as there are more requests for tables for 2. I'm with you on wanting to meet fellow guests and share experiences - isn't that what cruising is all about?

[BrendaInToronto]

My husband and I had an excellent experience with MTD on the Monarch of the Seas this past November. The first night we just showed up at 6:30 and were seated immediately at a table for 2, but then chose to make reservations for the rest of the cruise (3 more nights) for 7:30 each night. Every night we showed up at 7:30 and were promptly seated at our requested table for 2.

 

No complaints whatsoever.

[Tropical09]

We were on FOS for Thanksgiving and did MTD and wasn't happy with the service at all. We were a family of 4 and every night we sat in a different place and the waiters seemed confused. We had to wait a couple of the nights a long time for a drink and extra bread. We would rather have the same service each night and get to dinner and have our drinks waiting and if you like anything special they have that waiting for you instead of using MTD. No more MTD for us

[newbiecruiser09]

With MTD you can request a large table and it most probably will be granted as there are more requests for tables for 2. I'm with you on wanting to meet fellow guests and share experiences - isn't that what cruising is all about?

 

Even if you don't request a larger table, you can meet new people. DH & I did MTD last April. On 2 nights, they sat us at 4 tops and another couple joined us (not too long after we were seated). It was nice to meet new people but we did not feel like we needed to "bond" with them by sitting with them all week.

[Gon2hwe]

Have done traditional and Freestyle on NCL. Much preferred the Freestyle so have requested MTD on Freedom. Our last tablemates we not very friendly and we felt self conscious with them all week. I think any small wait is worth not being stuck with people you have nothing in common with. Also hated the rush to get to dinner on time. It added alot of stress and you are on vacation. Late seating is just too late for us.

 

Does anyone know the best time to go so as not to miss the shows?

[negc]

We were on FOS for Thanksgiving and did MTD and wasn't happy with the service at all. We were a family of 4 and every night we sat in a different place and the waiters seemed confused. We had to wait a couple of the nights a long time for a drink and extra bread. We would rather have the same service each night and get to dinner and have our drinks waiting and if you like anything special they have that waiting for you instead of using MTD. No more MTD for us

Did you ever voice your complaints about the service to the head waiter or the person manning the podium. On only one evening in MTD was our service less than very good, and a word to the hostess as we left the dining room insured that for the rest of the cruise we were seated at a table staffed by an excellent waiter and assistant waiter. If you find excellent service staff on the first evening you can usually request to be seated at one of their tables for the rest of the cruise. We were skeptical of MTD before we tried it but found it worked very well for us and allowed us a lot more scheduling flexibility. Had we chosen to, we could have asked to be seated at a larger table or, if we met other compatible people during the cruise, we could have invited them to join us for dinner each evening (assuming of course that they were in the MTD program).

[cb at sea]

The shows are scheduled around the 2 traditional dining times....so if you eat near one of those times, you will make the shows without a problem. (Neither of the traditional times conflict with any shows!!!)

[negc]

On our Jewel sailing New England in Oct 2010' date=' I plan to sign us up for MTD but will wait to closer to sailing because we may have to cancel due to a sick relative. You have to prepay gratituties that are nonrefundable (I think). Hope this helps in some way and enjoy your cruise.[/quote']

 

If you are referring to the repositioning cruise from Boston to Miami, we'll be with you on that sailing. A rather large number of folks in our group have already requested MTD for that cruise, so you might want to act before they reach the limits allotted to MTD. If you have to cancel your cruise before you are in the penalty period, your gratuities will be refunded as well as the deposit and any payments you have made, so don't hesitate because you fear that the prepaid gratuities are nonrefundable.