My Time Dining OR Traditional dining

[215girl]

I am torn between doing MTD or traditional, there are times that I do not want to eat at 8:30 and I maybe hungry at 6:30.

 

Whats your preference?

[efields2]

I'm a traditional dining girl, however, on a port-intensive cruise, I would definitely consider MTD so I wouldn't feel rushed to get back from each port.

 

I enjoy the structure of knowing what time dinner is, who I'll be seated with, who my waiters are, etc. Plus, 6 pm is when I eat at home, so it works for me.

 

On the days when we aren't hungry at 6, or we're late getting back to the ship from port, we'll just eat in another venue on board.

[luvscruising2007]

We also like traditional dining and always request late seating. If we get hungry we grab a snack.

However, our meals during the day seem to coincide alot with the late seating. We eat breakfast later and lunch later. Works for us.

[brianabrad]

We leave Saturday for my first cruise with RCCL. We chose the traditional dinning with the early seating. I've have no experience with traditional dining but I hope it works okay for us. My only concern is getting on the ship later from an excursion and being late for dinner.

[crazy 4 cruising]

We USED to be traditional diners & resisted the change to MTD. Now that's all we do is MTD. The only difference for us is that we don't go at the same tie every night, but we could. I really think it is the best thing--you can still have the same wait staff night after night & so you get to know them OR if you don't care so much for them, you can have a different set every nght if you want. It is getting more and more popular, so we sign up for it whenever we book. TRY it & see.

[jst4fun715]

We have really enjoyed the MTD especially on a port intensive cruise. Last Jan there were 6 of us so we just made a standing reservation for 7:00 and it worked great. Enough time to get back from the excursions and not have to rush to get ready....and we had the same table by the window and same waitstaff every night. Another thing we like is that we seem to be in and out a little quicker than the traditional dining.

[cruisegirl1]

The traditional times are built around the evening show schedules. If you plan to go to the she shows, then the MTD will not be a huge benefit.

 

M

[efields2]

We leave Saturday for my first cruise with RCCL. We chose the traditional dinning with the early seating. I've have no experience with traditional dining but I hope it works okay for us. My only concern is getting on the ship later from an excursion and being late for dinner.

 

If you know you'll be getting back late from an excursion, just plan on eating elsewhere that night. We were in St. Martin from noon to 9 pm so we knew we were definitely going to want to spend more time on the island instead of rushing back to be ready for 6 pm.

 

When the ship leaves port at 5 or 6 pm, you should have plenty of time to get ready, since you need to be back on board at least 1/2 hr before the ship is to leave.

[negc]

The traditional times are built around the evening show schedules. If you plan to go to the she shows, then the MTD will not be a huge benefit.

 

M

 

But it won't present an insurmountable problem either. It really isn't that difficult to choose dinner times that will still allow you to see any shows that you want to see. We, too, were strong advocates of traditional dining, especially after trying Princess' Anytime Dining with all of its drawbacks, but RCI seems to have done a good job of avoiding those problems, and we now find ourselves choosing MTD over traditional for most of our cruises. We have decided that 6:30 is often too early and 8:30 is often too late, so, with MTD, we can adjust our dining times to fit our daily schedule. We rarely make advance reservations and have never experienced a lengthy wait to be seated.:)

[Puffinater]

Based on your statement I would say give MTD a try. It will allow you more freedom of choice.

[brianabrad]

If you know you'll be getting back late from an excursion, just plan on eating elsewhere that night. We were in St. Martin from noon to 9 pm so we knew we were definitely going to want to spend more time on the island instead of rushing back to be ready for 6 pm.

 

When the ship leaves port at 5 or 6 pm, you should have plenty of time to get ready, since you need to be back on board at least 1/2 hr before the ship is to leave.

 

Good to know. I look forward to eating in the MDR. I just wasn't to sure if we would have the time to get back and get ready. For example, on our first day we are on an excurison (booked through the ship) till 4:45. I guess we will just hurry that night.

 

One a side note - if you are booked with traditional dining and miss your time but still want to eat in the MDR is that even an option? Or do you just totally miss out that night?

[negc]

Good to know. I look forward to eating in the MDR. I just wasn't to sure if we would have the time to get back and get ready. For example, on our first day we are on an excurison (booked through the ship) till 4:45. I guess we will just hurry that night.

 

One a side note - if you are booked with traditional dining and miss your time but still want to eat in the MDR is that even an option? Or do you just totally miss out that night?

 

If you miss your time you will have to eat elsewhere (Windjammer or a specialty restaurant). Once you have chosen between Traditional Dining and My Time Dining you are restricted to your choice and cannot switch from one to the other even for one night. If you have early dining and there is room for you at late seating for a night, the Maitre'd might be able to accommodate you, but I wouldn't bank on it. You can always ask and the worst he can say is "No".:)

[Puffinater]

Good to know. I look forward to eating in the MDR. I just wasn't to sure if we would have the time to get back and get ready. For example, on our first day we are on an excurison (booked through the ship) till 4:45. I guess we will just hurry that night.

 

This example is a great case for MTD. Why rush when you are on vacation? With MTD you can rest up a bit then head off to the MDR. There may be a very short wait but you will be able to enjoy the MDR.

[efields2]

Good to know. I look forward to eating in the MDR. I just wasn't to sure if we would have the time to get back and get ready. For example, on our first day we are on an excurison (booked through the ship) till 4:45. I guess we will just hurry that night.

 

I realized AFTER I posted that you are going on a southern caribbean cruise, which is always more port-intensive than other caribbean cruises. You may want to consider MTD in this case. You won't feel as rushed after each island and you'll be able to relax more in the evenings after getting back on board.

 

Either way, you'll have to get right back on board after anyway, since the ship sails at 5.

[jst4fun715]

The traditional times are built around the evening show schedules. If you plan to go to the she shows, then the MTD will not be a huge benefit.

 

M

 

When we chose our 7:00 time on our Southern route, the MTD worked out really well. We were usually done by at least 8:30 and had time to make the show at 9:00. It really has seemed to me like you can get in and out of the MTD quicker than the traditional.

[215girl]

Thanks everyone for your responses, I am still debating since I will be traveling solo I will see how it goes the first night of dinner and if I dont like it I will eat in the windjammer for the remainder of the cruise its only a weekend cruise.

[Mack2]

I tried MTD aboard Princess, and I didn't like it. The service seemed less personal.

 

I guess I'm more of a traditional dining type of person. To me, the show schedules and activities are centered around the dining times... so while there may be a rush to get back to the cabin to get ready for dinner by X:XX time, there's no rush to get OUT of dinner by X:XX to get to the show and still grab some good seats.

 

What I like most about the traditional dining is meeting your shipmates/table mates. For the most part, really nice people... and I'm sure the feeling is mutual :cool:.

 

What I like most about the traditional dining was the service... if you get a great waiter or busboy, they get to know you, your preferences, and they even might find time to tell you about the next port, or the best show, or something useful.

 

I like that... MTD, it was hit or miss whether you got the same servers...

[mommypenguin29]

My husband and I tried the MYD last cruise and are planning on that again for this cruise... we liked being able to choose what time we ate at and never had any issues seeing any of the shows or feeling rushed and we requested the same waiters each night and they were awesome!