My Time Dining questions

[B-52]

Explorer last June, MTD started out a little hectic.

When we first boarded, we headed to the MDR where there was a MTD desk set up. We made our reservation for that evening. No problem.

We waited till the next morning to make the second evenings reservation. Big Mistake. First formal night, and was told the first available was at 8:30pm.

 

Something I learned by mistake. If you are staying in a Suite, the Concierge can make all your reservations for you. Suite guests have something called priority seating for dinner also, although I wasn't sure what that fully meant till then.

We wanted to get in earlier than 8:30. And although we were told they were full, the Concierge not only got us in at 6:30 that evening, he took care of all our MTD reservations for the week. Same table for 2 by the window, same wait staff.

And one day, a long port day, we decided just to go to the Windjammer. He called us to make sure he didn't miss something.

(needless to say he earned a good tip)

[Jasperdo]

There is ONE line -- those with and without reservations and all were seated by place in line -- so to me it didn't seem to make a big difference whether we had a reservation or not.

 

 

My experience on the Mariner was slightly different than this. While there was only one line for MTD, on two occasions the couple in front of us had to wait for a table, while we were seated immediately because we had a reservation. It's funny how each ship does things differently. It should be one standardized formula.

[lmt425]

DH & I went on our first cruise the end of March for our honeymoon. We selected MTD to be able to get a table for two. Like others said, we selected MTD when purchasing the Liberty of the Seas cruise so the gratuities were added to our total.

 

Immediately after getting on the ship we first passed through the paparazzi then there was a table set up to schedule reservations for dinner that night. We decided to wait because we did not know what we were going to be doing that evening & wanted to schedule dinner around what else was going on. Later that evening we went to the dining room, expecting perhaps a short wait and were told it was going to be at least an hour's wait. We said eff that and went to the buffet instead.

 

After receiving our cruise compass for the next night (first formal night) we looked at the day's activities & figured out when the best time to eat would be. We called that morning and were able to get a table for two at the time we wanted. We showed up about 5 minutes before our reservation and were told 'well your reservation isn't until XYZ.' So we sat and waited 10 minutes then got in line again. We were then escorted to our seats. It was pretty awesome because we were at a quiet little table in the corner by a window. It was not so awesome, however, because dinner took about two hours and that is Not our style.

 

We ate in the Windjammer basically every other night (unless we grabbed pizza at Sorrentos) except the second formal night ("lobster night"). Again after looking at the cruise compass (and knowing our schedule in port that day) we called to make reservations. We were told that we could not get a table for 2 at 7, but that we could at 7:30; so we took the 7:30 reservation. This time we went through the line and were seated promptly. Dinner on the second night did not take so painstakingly long, so that was good.

 

I tried escargot and the waiter was very helpful in answering my (dumb) questions ["do I have to eat it out of the shell?"]. I also tried lobster for the first time & the waiter actually pulled most of the meat out of the shell for me because I had no idea how to eat it. We had two different waiters because we were seated in two different sections but they were both fine. Since we've never been on a cruise we had no expectations that waiters should know our names and drink orders (we had water, so it didn't matter).

 

MTD was also good for us for several other reasons.

-DH did not want to dress up every night for dinner.

-we preferred the Windjammer because we were able to try a lot of different foods at our own pace and whenever we wanted

-the WJ always had water, lemonade, and a sugar-free drink (lemon lime, strawberry kiwi, etc) so we could drink something other than water easily

-we did not have to figure out who to tip (because we often ate in WJ) with our automatic gratuities (my understanding is that the gratuities are pooled between waitstaff)

 

 

So reservations were nearly totally booked on the first night because they were almost forcing people to make reservations. But we were able to call the morning-of to get a reservation around a time we wanted.

 

Any other questions, let me know.

[katiel53]

I'd like to thank everyone for the advice and info. We will show up a bit early the first night and I will try to get in Edison's section. There are 5 of us eating together, so I don't know how it's going to be.

 

My husband and I prefer late seating and the 3 others prefer early, so we decided to compromise and do MTD. I'm sure it will work out with our reservations already in place. Thanks again.

[amyphil]

Hi Sue,

Noticed that you just came back from a FOS sailing with MTD. We're going on the FOS 7/18 sailing, first time cruise and we chose MTD. Mainly because the early seating was too early and the late was too late. We thought we'd go with MTD so we could eat in between those two times. I intend to make a reservation before we sail for the first night and then after looking at the compass call and make one for the next day.

I know you said there was only one line but did you find one time more crowded than another? Also, we don't need a table for two, we would like to sit with others. Can you request this when you make your reservation?

Thanks for the help. By the way, we're from New Jersey also, northern New Jersey......

Amy:confused:

[Gingerbint]

I'd like to thank everyone for the advice and info. We will show up a bit early the first night and I will try to get in Edison's section. There are 5 of us eating together, so I don't know how it's going to be.

 

My husband and I prefer late seating and the 3 others prefer early, so we decided to compromise and do MTD. I'm sure it will work out with our reservations already in place. Thanks again.

 

 

Hi Sue,

Noticed that you just came back from a FOS sailing with MTD. We're going on the FOS 7/18 sailing, first time cruise and we chose MTD. Mainly because the early seating was too early and the late was too late. We thought we'd go with MTD so we could eat in between those two times. I intend to make a reservation before we sail for the first night and then after looking at the compass call and make one for the next day.

I know you said there was only one line but did you find one time more crowded than another? Also, we don't need a table for two, we would like to sit with others. Can you request this when you make your reservation?

Thanks for the help. By the way, we're from New Jersey also, northern New Jersey......

Amy:confused:

 

 

I thought I'd let you know I have just gone into my booking online and there is a section where you can pre book your MTD time.

So I have made a reservation for the first night for a table so we don't miss out on seeing the show,

When you click on it the options this is what comes up re making MTD reservation.

 

My Time Dining Daily Reservations

Select Guests and Reservation Type

 

To make My Time Dining Daily reservations, start by selecting the guest(s) in your reservation, and other reservations, you want to dine with. (If you’d like to dine with guests in additional reservations, you can add them by clicking on “Add Guests from Another Reservation” below.) Note that you will not be able to select any guests who did not select My Time Dining on their booking. Each dining reservation may include up to 10 guests, including yourself.

 

 

Next, choose between the two different types of reservations in My Time Dining:

• Dining at different times and/or with different people each day of your cruise
  
• Dining at the same time with the same people for each day of your cruise
  

Once you’ve selected your guests and a reservation type, click on the “Confirm Guests” button and you will be taken through each day of your cruise to make your choices.

 

 

I made one booking for 1st night and have yet to decide to pre book the others or not.

It has only recently become available to do this, think it depends on how long before you sail.

We are now about 6 weeks out.

 

Hope this maybe helpful :)

[amyphil]

Very helpful, thanks.

Amy

[LizzieNJ]

We just returned from the Freedom April 11th. A few days before the cruise I decide to go online to make reservations for the week for MTD. I had to take 6:15 every night because everything else was full until something like 8pm. I thought, oh great , I waited until the last minute and now we're stuck with 6:15 all week. Well, we showed up at 6:15 the first night. I asked if we had to stick with that time and they said no, we could come whenever we wanted. (we were a family of 5) So a couple nights we went at 6:15, a couple of nights at 6:30, and a couple of nights after 7pm. No problem. However, the nights we showed up after 7 we were put at a table with a different waiter. This was fine with us but we were a little confused about tipping. At the end of the week we gave our envelopes with pre-paid vouchers to our original waiter, but then we also tipped the other waiters separately. I wonder if anyone else had this situation. BTW, the service was very good and fast. We were usaually finished within 1 1/2 hours; plenty of time to make the 9pm shows.

[katiel53]

Gingerbrit,

I have already done our reservations. I tried to do them online but ran into a problem, so Crown & Anchor did them for us and sent us all confirmations. We have reservations for every night at 7:30 except for the night we are going to Portofino where we have reservations at 8:30.

 

Thanks for the helpful suggestion though.

[MikeNJ1109]

Forgive me for jumping into this thread a bit late, but the topic is interesting ...

 

My wife and I have taken six cruises together over the years, 5 with RCCL (Explorer, Brilliance, Mariner, Voyager, and Liberty), and 1 with Norwegian (Dawn to Bermuda). Our five RCCL cruises were "Pre" - MTD ... and while we enjoy the dining room, we did *not* enjoy having to be at the dining room at a specific time every day. As such, we would always 'release' our main dining room assignment when we boarded on the first day...and would take our dinner either in the WJ or in one of the specialty restaurants. The idea of flexbility in this regard -- swimming late, or a late afternoon in port -- was always very appealing.

 

That was one of the reasons why we went on the Norwegian cruise (in addition to it being a great itinerary from a local port). The concept of their "Freestyle" cruising was cool, and frankly it worked for us on that cruise

 

However, we still truly love RCCL and are glad that they've started MTD. We have a reservation for the Freedom OTS for November 2011, and will be trying the MTD for the first time then.

 

Michael

[akcruz]

Just to give my 2 cents on this topic. We have done MTD twice and the main thing that hit me is that each ship has their own way of running this section of the dining room. To truly find out what you need to expect you really need to add the ship you will be sailing on.

 

We will definitely do MTD again, just not sure for all sailings. Will pick and choose in the future.

[Figsgrandma]

We just returned from the Freedom April 11th. A few days before the cruise I decide to go online to make reservations for the week for MTD. I had to take 6:15 every night because everything else was full until something like 8pm. I thought, oh great , I waited until the last minute and now we're stuck with 6:15 all week. Well, we showed up at 6:15 the first night. I asked if we had to stick with that time and they said no, we could come whenever we wanted. (we were a family of 5) So a couple nights we went at 6:15, a couple of nights at 6:30, and a couple of nights after 7pm. No problem. However, the nights we showed up after 7 we were put at a table with a different waiter. This was fine with us but we were a little confused about tipping. At the end of the week we gave our envelopes with pre-paid vouchers to our original waiter, but then we also tipped the other waiters separately. I wonder if anyone else had this situation. BTW, the service was very good and fast. We were usaually finished within 1 1/2 hours; plenty of time to make the 9pm shows.

 

I have the same question.

 

This will be our first time using My Time Dining. I have no problem with the pre-paid gratuities, but if we don't have he same waiter every night to whom do we give the voucher on the last night? And, if we don't know whether we're going to have the same waiter each night, and we feel he service deserves an extra gratuity, do we tip each night, or wait until the endd and then try to find each waiter?

[MJB1437]

My question on MTD is- when you have 1st or 2nd seating and you get to the dining room a little early the doors are closed. If you choose MTD and get there at 8:15 before the doors open, do you wait outside or are the doors always open for MTD guests?

Myrna

[deeno1]

Hi,

I am just curious about getting a table for 2. We have mtd and if we do not book a table each day and just turn up, what are the chances of getting a table for 2?

 

Dont mind sharing a few nights but we would like to have dinner just the two of us for some nights.

 

Thanks in advance :)

[andrzej5914]

I have the same question.

 

This will be our first time using My Time Dining. I have no problem with the pre-paid gratuities, but if we don't have he same waiter every night to whom do we give the voucher on the last night? And, if we don't know whether we're going to have the same waiter each night, and we feel he service deserves an extra gratuity, do we tip each night, or wait until the endd and then try to find each waiter?

 

You will be seated in MTD section so all 3 service people, the waiter, assistant and head waiter know you are prepaid. Your room service person also knows you are pre-paid. If you do want to tip extra, you can do it with cash either on the night or at the end. You'll get vouchers with envelopes on the last evening in the room, but you can toss them in the garbage unless you want to use the envelopes for extra tips. The chances are you may get the same wait staff every evening even though you may chose different times as long as you are seated in their section. We had the same waiter during our 4 night cruise although we sat at two different 2 top tables at different times each evening.

 

My question on MTD is- when you have 1st or 2nd seating and you get to the dining room a little early the doors are closed. If you choose MTD and get there at 8:15 before the doors open, do you wait outside or are the doors always open for MTD guests?

Myrna

 

The doors are always open.

 

Hi,

I am just curious about getting a table for 2. We have mtd and if we do not book a table each day and just turn up, what are the chances of getting a table for 2?

 

Dont mind sharing a few nights but we would like to have dinner just the two of us for some nights.

 

Thanks in advance :)

 

2 top tables are the easiest to get just because the way MTD section is set up. It's mostly assumed that MTD is preferred by couples and just like in your case they want to sit alone, so majority of the tables are for 2. On our cruise the 2 tops were very close to each other so it was possible to talk to other couples as long as both sides were interested, but the space in between was just of enough of a buffer zone that if you just wanted to talk to your partner, it was easily done.

[UandMe4Ever]

I'm only guessing, but I would presume the MDR is open from early dining on for the MTD folks. Please state for a fact if this is the case. Glad someone answered the question about 'who to tip' in MTD..

 

Thanks in advance. Sailing the Explorer again on 11/7/10 - 12 Nights....Yay and can't wait to try MTD...I'm sure we'll love it. We usually eat between 7ish and 8ish..Still time for the 9:00 p.m. show if we want...

[Jasperdo]

I'm only guessing, but I would presume the MDR is open from early dining on for the MTD folks. Please state for a fact if this is the case.

 

You are correct. MTD is open for continous service. On the Mariner I believe the hours were 5:45PM to 9:30PM. You can show up anytime during those hours. There is a separate MTD desk outside the MTD dining room that you would go to.