Please explain MTD

[ginamarie935]

I know I'm chiming in late but I have a question about the MTD. Do you have to reserve a dining time for each night or can you walk up to the dining room anytime during dining times and get a table? We will be a party of six.

[Swath]

I know I'm chiming in late but I have a question about the MTD. Do you have to reserve a dining time for each night or can you walk up to the dining room anytime during dining times and get a table? We will be a party of six.

MTD: Is Between 6:00PM - 9:30PM MAX 10 Per/Table.

You call the MDR and make resvations or reserve a time/times via Royal's website beforehand.

[Swath]

MTD: Is Between 6:00PM - 9:30PM MAX 10 Per/Table.

You call the MDR and make resvations or reserve a time/times via Royal's website beforehand.

OOPS forgot to add that you can go to MDR without do the above, BUT you RISK getting whatever tables are free @ the time you go.

OR

Not getting a Table

[cisco 09]

Hi guys

We have just returned from the Brilliance of the Seas 2 days ago and this was our experience of MTD. We have previously cruised with Princess and love their Anytime Dining.I thought MTD would work the same way but beware. When we received our travel docs just a few days before we left I noticed we were down for dining at 9pm although we had booked MTD. I thought this be easily rectified when we got on board but I was very wrong. As soon as possible we went to the MDR to sort this out and were told it couldn't be changed. (It didn't need changed-we just wanted what we had booked) The best they could do was change our time to 6.30.We were angry but accepted it-until I remembered we had prepaid our gratuities. I went back the following day and really made a fuss. We were told we might have to queue (our problem) and we wouldn't get a table for 2 (we would rather share and meet new people) and eventually they gave us what we had booked. I think there a big problem here with RCI booking more people on MTD than they know they can cope with and taking money up front for something they know they can't provide.

We never had to queue and never booked.Service and food were excellent every night and we shared tables with some lovely people.

[jebl]

I am wondering if perhaps the OP's TA booked them a ressie with the MTD. I am sailing in April and when I tried to book a 6:45 ressie for MTD all of the 6 to 8 ressies were gone. I really think RCI needs to rethink their MTD. If it is truly My Time why do I need to be locked into a ressie.

 

I didn't make any ressie and will try to get the time we want once onboard.

 

 

OP you may want to contact your TA and just get listed as MTD with no time attached. Then as soon as you board go to the dining room and try to get the time you want.

[noshoobie]

Thanks for sharing your experience Cisco09. Sorry that happened to you. It's a shame you had to fight for something that you had already booked. I've already paid my gratuities too. I am definitely going to contact my TA and let her know this happened so we can try to avoid it. Thanks, jebl, for your advice too. Please post how it goes for you in April.

[Pushka]

That 9pm rather defeats the purpose of MTD! And is not what it states on the website when reasearching it. I booked for 7.30 as soon as the website allowed me to, and am glad that I did that, but I shouldnt have had to do that given those tips are already billed to my final payment.

[ksadonnab]

Hi guys

We have just returned from the Brilliance of the Seas 2 days ago and this was our experience of MTD. We have previously cruised with Princess and love their Anytime Dining.I thought MTD would work the same way but beware. When we received our travel docs just a few days before we left I noticed we were down for dining at 9pm although we had booked MTD. I thought this be easily rectified when we got on board but I was very wrong. As soon as possible we went to the MDR to sort this out and were told it couldn't be changed. (It didn't need changed-we just wanted what we had booked) The best they could do was change our time to 6.30.We were angry but accepted it-until I remembered we had prepaid our gratuities. I went back the following day and really made a fuss. We were told we might have to queue (our problem) and we wouldn't get a table for 2 (we would rather share and meet new people) and eventually they gave us what we had booked. I think there a big problem here with RCI booking more people on MTD than they know they can cope with and taking money up front for something they know they can't provide.

We never had to queue and never booked.Service and food were excellent every night and we shared tables with some lovely people.

 

I really hope this will not be our issue with MTD as this will be the first try of this dining option for us. We want the flexibility of "just showing up" if we choose to.

 

If this is not so then MTD is NOT really MTD then, huh? :rolleyes:

[negc]

I really hope this will not be our issue with MTD as this will be the first try of this dining option for us. We want the flexibility of "just showing up" if we choose to.

 

If this is not so then MTD is NOT really MTD then, huh? :rolleyes:

 

On the many times we have chosen MTD, what you want-flexibility- is exactly what we experienced. The issue mentioned by another poster was an anomaly and not typical of most people's experience on RCI. However, our experience on Princess was far less successful. In their Anytime Dining system, you absolultely could not make advance reservations for times between 6:30 and 8:30 pm and when you just showed up during those times, more often than not, you were handed a beeper and told that there might be a wait of 45 minutes or longer. With MTD, when we have just shown up, even at times that most would consider to be peak times, our wait was never more than five minutes and the number of tables for two seemed to be greater than in the traditional dining sections of the dining room. People also need to recognize that there is a difference between being able to reserve a specific dining time in MTD and being "required" to make a reservation. Reservations may be recommended but they are definitely not required.

No system is perfect and glitches can always occur when humans are involved, but our experience with My Time Dining (and I was a confirmed enthusiast of traditional dining, previously) has been quite positive.:)

[mo&fran]

On the many times we have chosen MTD, what you want-flexibility- is exactly what we experienced. The issue mentioned by another poster was an anomaly and not typical of most people's experience on RCI. However, our experience on Princess was far less successful. In their Anytime Dining system, you absolultely could not make advance reservations for times between 6:30 and 8:30 pm and when you just showed up during those times, more often than not, you were handed a beeper and told that there might be a wait of 45 minutes or longer. With MTD, when we have just shown up, even at times that most would consider to be peak times, our wait was never more than five minutes and the number of tables for two seemed to be greater than in the traditional dining sections of the dining room. People also need to recognize that there is a difference between being able to reserve a specific dining time in MTD and being "required" to make a reservation. Reservations may be recommended but they are definitely not required.

No system is perfect and glitches can always occur when humans are involved, but our experience with My Time Dining (and I was a confirmed enthusiast of traditional dining, previously) has been quite positive.:)

We have also had a positive experience with MTD, but I cannot help but wonder how much our C&A (D+) status has influenced that.

[Familygoboston]

Hi guys

We have just returned from the Brilliance of the Seas 2 days ago and this was our experience of MTD. We have previously cruised with Princess and love their Anytime Dining.I thought MTD would work the same way but beware. When we received our travel docs just a few days before we left I noticed we were down for dining at 9pm although we had booked MTD. I thought this be easily rectified when we got on board but I was very wrong. As soon as possible we went to the MDR to sort this out and were told it couldn't be changed. (It didn't need changed-we just wanted what we had booked) The best they could do was change our time to 6.30.We were angry but accepted it-until I remembered we had prepaid our gratuities. I went back the following day and really made a fuss. We were told we might have to queue (our problem) and we wouldn't get a table for 2 (we would rather share and meet new people) and eventually they gave us what we had booked. I think there a big problem here with RCI booking more people on MTD than they know they can cope with and taking money up front for something they know they can't provide.

We never had to queue and never booked.Service and food were excellent every night and we shared tables with some lovely people.

 

Im sorry that you had this experience and had to battle to get "accepted" into the MTD program that you had already prepaid gratuities for:eek:. It does seem though that once you convinced them to honor your original booking that the MTD worked perfectly for you...you dined when you wanted without a wait and with whom you wanted. That's what I experienced over many cruises with MTD...thanks for reporting!

[goodml]

Just off Liberty of the Seas and currently sitting at FLL waiting for flight. We had MTD and it worked well every night but last night. The wait team we had last night was incredibly slow and definitely backed things up for people waiting. Btw we did make reservations online before leaving just to be on the safe side. We booked various times throughout the week depending on whether it was a port day or a sea day and it worked out well. We were also able to just call down and reschedule if we wanted to change it up a bit.

 

Liberty was truly an amazing ship!

[north29]

We have used MTD since it's inception, and never had a problem, but we are flexible, not fixed people and do not mind a wait just like any good walk in restaurant. We have shown up very early, but trying to avoid the America desire to eat early, and we usually do have a set time say 7 to 8 but have been late, also, and have always had the same waitstaff, and many times our preferred table. Maybe we are just lucky.

A lot of people who book MTD at a given hour apparently do not show up, which is what we found more and more on the Freedom in February which corresponds to empty tables.

My advice is pick a time you are happy with, and give the MTD staff a chance to make you happy. If they do a nice tip at the end would be a good thing, they from what I have heard are not part of the Prepaid gratuities.

[Pushka]

My advice is pick a time you are happy with, and give the MTD staff a chance to make you happy. If they do a nice tip at the end would be a good thing, they from what I have heard are not part of the Prepaid gratuities.

 

They have to be part of the pre paid gratuities otherwise there is no reason for them being pre paid because MTD is the reason why gratuities must be pre paid.

[art4u]

If you sign up for MTD prior to final payment, then your gratuities will be included in your final payment.

 

If you sign up for MTD once on board, then the gratuities will be charged to your SeaPass Account and any OBC on your account can be used towards payment.

 

The gratuities cover your cabin attendant, waiter, assistant waiter and head waiter no matter if you pre-pay prior to final payment or once on board. It's a package deal.

 

We are sailing on GOS this June out of Venice - have paid our final payment and are listed for early seating in MDR at 6:30pm.

 

So if we went to MDR for our early seating time a few nights in a row but then decide to do MTD on another few nights - can we do that? Or is it all or nothing one way or the other...?

[Pushka]

So if we went to MDR for our early seating time a few nights in a row but then decide to do MTD on another few nights - can we do that? Or is it all or nothing one way or the other...?

 

No, its one or the other. Just like early or late MDR.

[cisco 09]

Hi guys

Could I just reiterate-although we have a huge problem getting our MTD which we had booked, I would highly recommend it.

The flexibility is great, we walked straight in each evening and we loved meeting new people and making new friends.

[tigstoy]

We have used MTD since it's inception, and never had a problem, but we are flexible, not fixed people and do not mind a wait just like any good walk in restaurant. We have shown up very early, but trying to avoid the America desire to eat early, and we usually do have a set time say 7 to 8 but have been late, also, and have always had the same waitstaff, and many times our preferred table. Maybe we are just lucky.

A lot of people who book MTD at a given hour apparently do not show up, which is what we found more and more on the Freedom in February which corresponds to empty tables.

My advice is pick a time you are happy with, and give the MTD staff a chance to make you happy. If they do a nice tip at the end would be a good thing, they from what I have heard are not part of the Prepaid gratuities.

 

MTD staff are included in the prepaid tips. We were given vouchers to pass out on the last night of the cruise. It included all of our wait staff.

 

Link to suggested gratuities and what they will charge you as prepaid if you do MTD. You can always add more.

 

Waiter:$3.75 USDa day per guest

Assistant Waiter:$2.15 USDa day per guest

Head Waiter:$.75 USDa day per guest

 

 

Stateroom Attendant/Other Housekeeping Services:$5.00 USD a day per guest

 

If you have a suite substitute below for stateroom attendant

Suite Attendant/Other Housekeeping Services:$7.25 USDa day per guest

 

 

The total charged us for MTD prepaid for 8 night cruise was 93.20 per person. We can then add additional tips to anyone of the above we want.