Recent Mariner cruisers-Peak MTD times?

[Ma2AnZ]

I’ll be traveling with another family on the Mariner this Sunday. We have all signed up for MTD (and have linked our reservations.) We have not made any reservations so far, since we just want to play it by ear, especially on the first day.

 

I’ve read in other threads that there may be a “short wait” (5-15 minutes, or so?) for parties without reservations, which is fine with us. I’ve also read that it’s best to go at “off peak” times.

 

So, experienced Mariner MTD-ers, if we (party of 7) walked up to eat around 6:45-ish, would we have to wait longer than 15 minutes? Obviously, I realize there’s no way to really know, and it won’t kill us if we have to wait….I’m just trying to get an idea of what to expect. Thanks for any input you can give me! :)

[aggiejade]

I think with a party of your size, you might have to possibly wait a short while to all be seated together. And since first seating dining starts at 6pm, I don't know how many people would be through eating and leaving their tables in 45 min, I know I wouldn't. I would probably try for 7:00-7:15 dining time. Happy dining!

[pcur]

We were on the Mariner in February 2010, and the 15, half, and 45 of the hour (7:15, 7:30, 7:45, for instance) were the best times. We were told this by the MTD coordinator. However, I think the hour and half hour are the busiest, and 8:30 when we would leave it was a zoo in the waiting area.

 

We ate at 7:15 and had to wait for a few minutes on two nights. Otherwise, it was immediate seating.

[xpcdoojk]

We did MTD the first week of March, and we made a reservation at lunch most days for the evening (I think they opened to take reservations at 11am) and we booked our dinner reservation each night. We never waited at all. Of course, we booked a table for two. That said, it seemed that there would have been no problem with a larger group, as I know several people that did MTD and wanted seating with other cruisers and were often at a big table by themselves. We sat at our table for two one night and they complained that people doing MTD did not seem to want to eat with strangers. Which is probably true. In other words I think it likely that tables would be pretty much available for your group. The longest we waited was less than 5 minutes on one night where we made a 7:30pm time and we decided that we wanted to eat at 6:30pm. We were quickly accomodated in my opinion.

 

jc

[Ma2AnZ]

Thanks for your replies! I think we'll just try to go at the ":15 & :45" times and hopefully we'll be ok. If we do have to wait a bit....oh well, that's just more time for pre-dinner cocktails ;)