early / late / my time dining

[DaveG99]

Which one do you prefer? I am signed up for late dinning on the Majesty next month. I think 6pm is way to early to eat and have time for my girl friend to get ready. I was thinking about getting the my time dining thing but then we would probably miss shows.

[karena1]

No you would not miss the shows. That is the beauty of MTD. You go when you feel like it. So go to dinner around the shows. We love it and would never do any other kind of dining.

[jobowl]

we like late seating. we enjoy not rushing after a day on the islands. We also like having the same waiters every nite. We really get to know them and enjoy the time with them. It is a matter of preference.

[Virtopia]

I prefer early dining. The showtimes seem to coincide better and if I get hungry later, I could always get room service.

[RazorbackIslandGirl]

We love MTD & have always gotten the same waiters each night! We usually eat early, see a show & find a late night snack!:D

[cb at sea]

If you do either of the traditional seatings, you will need to be ready at about the same time. And, there's PLENTY of time to "get ready" for either! If you're planning on going to the show, early seating goes AFTER dinner, and late seating goes BEFORE dinner...so you need to be ready and dressed at about the same time. Even on port days, that's not hard to do. I'm serious...there's PLENTY of time!

 

If you do MTD, you'll have to arrange your eating times around the shows....if you misjudge the times,....oh, well...

 

We prefer late seating, as we're late eaters at home...just fits with our general schedule. It's nice to get ready...have a couple of drinks...see a show and eat with our tablemates (do request a large table, if you're doing "traditional" dining"...much more fun than eating alone...you'll have PLENTY of time to be a "couple" and be all smootchie!)

 

MTDer's generally don't want to eat with others....anti-social...I don't know...tablemates are much more fun!

[Checksmate]

MTDer's generally don't want to eat with others....anti-social...I don't know...tablemates are much more fun!

 

I love MTD. I spend my whole life being around people. When my DH and I go on a cruise it's our time to spend time with each other. I find it very romantic to spend time focusing on my DH. Sorry but that does not make me antisocial. Kind of a stupid comment!

[klscaz]

Which one do you prefer? I am signed up for late dinning on the Majesty next month. I think 6pm is way to early to eat and have time for my girl friend to get ready. I was thinking about getting the my time dining thing but then we would probably miss shows.

 

We always choose late dining. We tried MTD once but it was really their time. We always had to wait 15-20 minutes to be seated.

[mechcc]

Honestly it depends on the cruise, ship, and who we are cruising with.

 

Love traditional dining with the same dining steward, assistant dining steward, and fellow passengers. Like the relationships developed among everyone. Even better when the service is top notch.

 

Time wise - we can eat either early or late traditional. Just the 2 of us - late. But if we are cruising with others that prefer early - that is just fine.

 

MTD - have done it once because we were doing several speciality resturants and will be doing it again on our upcoming Allure cruise for the same reason. Don't really like it because our one experience we felt rushed and impersonnal. This was not on RCL and hope our Allure is better.

[BND]

We always do late. We prefer it because we never have to come back early from ports and we have plenty of time to shower and get to dinner. On sea days, we also can stay by the pool late and not run in at 3 or so to get ready. Early really cuts into your afternoons.

[themaxydog]

I have only had one RCI experience and chose MTD due to liking the way Norwegian does freestyle dining and because I don't eat an evening meal every night. MTD didn't work at all, and, as you have read, you are considered anti social by some of those who traditionally dine, for reasons known only to them.

 

This time I have chosen the late seating because it gives you more time to get ready and even decide if you want to attend. Always remember that it is your holiday, not someone else's, do it your way! I suppose when I don't turn up every night the traditionalists will consider me anti social again, are well, while they talk about me they are leaving someone else alone.:rolleyes:

[cruise pup]

I just think it's great that you get a choice. Although when I booked my last cruise I was told only MTD was available, 7 months before the cruise. But thanks to a head waiter on Voyager who interceded on my behalf, I got the traditional seating I wanted.

[Gilgo Surfer]

Always late seating for me. I find it funny when I am going back to my cabin in wet swim trunks and flip flops and a towel around my neck that folks are already in their evening gowns and suites on their way to dinner.

 

For me, early seating is way to early and I have no interest in MTD.

 

Just my opinion.:)

[Feen Machine]

MTDer's generally don't want to eat with others....anti-social...I don't know...tablemates are much more fun!

 

I love MTD. I spend my whole life being around people. When my DH and I go on a cruise it's our time to spend time with each other. I find it very romantic to spend time focusing on my DH. Sorry but that does not make me antisocial. Kind of a stupid comment!

 

Hi

I agree with you also , stupid comment ,

[rummenroman]

Sorry but that does not make me antisocial. Kind of a stupid comment!

 

Don't get too worked up. CB is a wealth of knowledge, but can be rather harsh, and short-sighted when responding to just about anything.

[tweenie123]

We love late dining. We did early on our first cruise and couldn't do justice to the food as we were still too full from lunch!. Late suits us as we can relax on sea days without feeling rushed, take out time to get ready for dinner and plan what we want to do around the ship.

 

We've not tried MTD - we really enjoy meeting table mates and getting to know our waiters.

[maxxedout2]

Just off Majesty, 3 nighter, last weekend. Nice get-away.

 

Did Early MDR, because that is our normal eating schedule

at home. Still only went two nights. Many, many people

skipped formal night in MDR...don't be surprised at that.

 

BTW, the people with MTD were creating a line of maybe

50 people...waiting for a table as we walked by them to

our assigned tables at 6:30 P.M.

 

 

As far as Majesty shows (3 nighter):

 

---- They had only (1) First Night Welcome Show at about 8PM.

---- Second night, juggler did (2) shows.

---- Last night (1) Show.

---- Quest and others were held late, once.

 

You won't miss a show either way if you just stay on schedule and

don't get sidetracked somehow. :D

 

Have Fun.

 

What else... Front row seats required a 20 minute early arrival.

 

:cool::cool:

[DonnaK]

We always book early traditional and then go to the shows afterwards. It's closest to the time we eat at home, and it gives us time to digest our food before going to bed. We've never felt rushed to get ready or anything like that. With late dining, I hate going to bed on a full stomach, and as someone else mentioned, some of the shows are before dinner, so you need to be ready roughly the same time as if you had early dining on those nights. We would only choose MTD as a last resort, as we really love the traditional dining experience.