12 nt. Mediterranean - Q about dining options

[SewCruise]

My cousin and I are going on our first cruise next summer - 12 nt. Med/Greek Isles on Brilliance.

 

We both are drawn to the My Time Dining option as it allows us more flexibility (we will be doing a lot of shore excursions), and because the traditional seating times seem too early/too late for us.

 

It's also very important to us that we get every opportunity to meet new people and enjoy the company of our fellow cruisers. But the more I read on the boards, the more I'm concerned that MTD doesn't really provide an environment for meeting and visiting with other people. For the most part, we are not interested in eating by ourselves.

 

If we want to dine with other cruisers, do we have to select traditional seating?

 

Is it possible/workable to select the MTD option but request to be seated with other diners who are entering the dining room at the same time? Or does that get too confusing?

 

Help!

 

:confused:

[jchiefs13]

While I've not done MTD, I DID do the 12 night Med on Brilliance last fall and had a blast. We did a later seating, which worked well for us. I too enjoy getting to meet some people, but I also want to get to know _my_ wait staff, which I don't think you get w/ MTD.

 

You're going to have a blast - and will be so spoiled with this being your first cruise! If you've got the same itinerary I can try to help answer questions about the ports if you have any. You can email me privately (remove the spaces): judy_coposky @ yahoo.com

 

-JC

[cb at sea]

Port days don't really have much of an effect on dining....you have to be onboard at least 1/2 hour prior to sailaway...you'll have time for any dining option.

[C00lCruiser]

My cousin and I are going on our first cruise next summer - 12 nt. Med/Greek Isles on Brilliance.

 

We both are drawn to the My Time Dining option as it allows us more flexibility (we will be doing a lot of shore excursions), and because the traditional seating times seem too early/too late for us.

 

It's also very important to us that we get every opportunity to meet new people and enjoy the company of our fellow cruisers. But the more I read on the boards, the more I'm concerned that MTD doesn't really provide an environment for meeting and visiting with other people. For the most part, we are not interested in eating by ourselves.

 

If we want to dine with other cruisers, do we have to select traditional seating?

 

Is it possible/workable to select the MTD option but request to be seated with other diners who are entering the dining room at the same time? Or does that get too confusing?

 

Help!

 

:confused:

 

 

We sailed on the Brilliance and shared a table with 4 other couples on a table for 10. We switched seats every night and it was one of the most wonderful dinner times we had -- at the early seating. We still keep in touch with 3 of the couples -- new cruise friends -- 2 of whom have invited us to cruise with them again!!

 

If you want to meet people, ask for a large table and go for it. If the first night is a bore, then switch the 2nd night!!

 

And yes, we LOVED the Brilliance and we all had so many stories to share of the that day's experiences!! We'd do it again!! ENJOY!!

[GiannaD]

We did MTD on the Vision of the Seas last fall in the Mediterranean. We liked the flexibility of dining when we wanted. We could rest after long days on excursions and arrive later or we could arrive early on sea days. We could eat with others who were arriving at the same time or request a table for the two of us. We found a waiter we really liked and usually requested one of his tables.

 

We did a Holland America cruise in the Mediterranean in May where we also did MTD and it worked well. On both cruises we never waited to be seated more than a few minutes and met some very interesting people.

 

It is also possible to make reservations in advance which we only did for one evening when we knew everyone would be arriving late.

 

We did traditional seating on Celebrity before MTD was available and found the late seating to be too late when we had early excursions and the early seating too early because we had rush after being off the ship in the afternoon. The flexibility and interesting people at our tables made MTD ideal for the two of us.

[philair]

Help!!

We want to order My Time Dining for our upcoming cruise.

We have been told by our local agent that there is no MTD on the Brilliance for this cruise.

Have you heard anything about this ?

I am new to cruise critic so could you also reply to philair@gmail.com.

Thanks

Judith and phil

[NorbertsNiece]

Hi philair,

 

Welcome to CC.

Chances are on this cruise the MTD option is fully booked at this time. Suggest you head for the Dining Room soon after boarding. There will be a desk there where you can request the change to MTD as they will hold places back. At that time they will apply the gratuities option to your sea pass card.

[philair]

Thanks for the advise - will check this out as soon as we board.

Our local agent still says that on their computer there is no MTD on our cruise but we will still do as you suggest.

Thanks again for the info.

Judith and Phil

 

:)