Can't do late seating!

[golf43]

I haven't heard much good about MTD...I hear it works much better on other lines. Is that true? We'll be on Legend of the Seas.

 

I just want dinner, not a hassle.

 

We always do MTD. I can not eat late, so doing MTD works for us. We did not have any problems.

[LAI]

I'm wondering: if you're coming from the west coast, late seating (8:30pm) on a Panama Canal cruise would be 5:30 pm west coast time??

Edited June 10, 2013 by LAI
Edit response

[negc]

I haven't heard much good about MTD...I hear it works much better on other lines. Is that true? We'll be on Legend of the Seas.

 

I just want dinner, not a hassle.

In my experience there have been many more positive reviews of RCI's My Time Dining than negative ones and based on personal experiences it

is vastly superior to similar programs on other lines. No hassle and we usually just show up without making advance reservations and have never had a wait to be seated that lasted more than 5 minutes even at times that are considered to be peak times. On Princess, they have beepers to alert diners when they can get a table and waits have frequently exceeded 30 minutes. When we sailed with them they would not even accept advance reservations for peak times.Do some more research and you may be able to confirm my findings about how well MTD works. I think you will be pleasantly surprised if you take this option.

[mefinephotoman]

I had the same issue with my Feb 2014 sailing on Brilliance. They suggested that I keep checking back periodically. It has been about a month since I booked so called today and they had openings on the wait list. So be persistant with between now and final payment and you will probably gain early seating before then.

 

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

[Shippy]

We are older & I LOVE to eat. I never pass by a course & always have a scoop of ice cream with my dessert.

We go to the show afterwards & then bed. We never stay up really late & love to get up early. There is no way I could lay down with a full stomach.

There are many health reasons for that....heartburn, sleep apnea , medications, etc.

Over the years, I have had 3 different doctors & none has ever questioned this. I do not even speak to them. Just call their office & explain to the receptionist....next thing you know, they send a note that simple states I need early dining because....

They are probably glad you didn't take up an appointment time with this.

When I book my cruise I ALWAYS mention to the cruise agent I have a 'medical' issue & need early dining. Since we do a lot of last minute bookings early dining is always full, but that is usually accomodated,even if they say it is not.

When I board, the first thing I do is check the dining time AND the table. We always request a large table.

It doesn't seem to matter what you get in writing for your confirmation, it can still be different when you board.

If I do not get either of those things, I speak to the head dining person as soon as they are available. I say about the 'medical' thing & then whine about how my husband will be so unhappy if he doesn't get a large table.

We always then get what we requested.

[MommaBear55]

Thanks, everybody, for your ideas. I'm mostly concerned about the medical issues, more than the time zones. Also, we use different cruise lines, and kinda look forward to the same people and waiter for dinner each night on RCCL. MTD negates that.

 

I think I'll ask TA to call again in a while.

 

When we do MTD we always reserve the same time (I know kind of defeats the concept;) ) and so we always get the same waiters. We find 6 to early and 8 too late but 7 just right.

[austinhoops]

Going to add my two cents about My Time Dining. We also like to eat on the earlier side and only late dining was open, so we switched to My Time.

 

It worked VERY efficiently on Independence. I made a reservation online for the first night- thereafter, I tried to make reservations on the ship- but all they had was 8pm or later! Hey, what's the point of My Time if you can't choose your time?

 

So here's what we learned....there are two lines, one for folks without reservations, and one for people with. After the first night, we just jumped in the "no reservations" line, which was shorter, I might add. On all occassions we were seated in less than 3 minutes.

 

It worked just fine- do My Time Dining and don't bother with reservations!

 

Thanks for this.

 

I've tried and tried but can only get reservations at 5:30 or after 8pm on My Time Dining for our upcoming cruise (I started calling several months in advance). It does seem like a misnomer when a few months out you can't get a dining time between 5:45-7:45 pm.

 

I'm happy to hear that this strategy worked for you. Will have to explore the "no reservations" line. If we are holding 8 pm reservations but want to eat earlier, is it best to cancel the 8 pm and wait in the no reservations line, or just show up early and wait in the other line? I'm a little leery of not having any time reserved.

Edited June 10, 2013 by austinhoops

[39august]

MTD has always worked just fine for us. Also, if you advise that you have some medical issues, I'm sure the maitre d' will be able to put you in early seating.

[Mark_K]

Thanks, everybody, for your ideas. I'm mostly concerned about the medical issues, more than the time zones. Also, we use different cruise lines, and kinda look forward to the same people and waiter for dinner each night on RCCL. MTD negates that.

 

I think I'll ask TA to call again in a while.

So you're medical issues are not affected by several 23 hour days as opposed to 24, but are by the numbers displayed by the clock on the wall. Quite interesting. Edited June 10, 2013 by Mark_K

[retird]

We're booked on a Panama Canal cruise in April 2014. Our capable, competent, generally wonderful Travel Agent said that RCCL cannot book us for early seating, and they would not even put up on a wait list.

 

Coming from the USA's West coast, we'd be finishing dinner very very late, and with several health issues, that just will not work for me. I dread having to eat every dinner in the Windjammer, to eat at a semi-reasonable hour!

 

Do I have any other options here?

 

 

We always book directly through a RCCL cruise Specialist and my spouse has a medical condition that requires early dining. On the occasions where early traditional dining was not available , I explained the medical situation to the specialist and within a day, I was accomodated for early traditional dining. I would think that your TA could arrange the same for you. Good Luck and happy sailing.

[griffy116]

We're booked on a Panama Canal cruise in April 2014. Our capable, competent, generally wonderful Travel Agent said that RCCL cannot book us for early seating, and they would not even put up on a wait list.

 

Coming from the USA's West coast, we'd be finishing dinner very very late, and with several health issues, that just will not work for me. I dread having to eat every dinner in the Windjammer, to eat at a semi-reasonable hour!

 

Do I have any other options here?

 

Switch to MTD (My Time Dining). It's still in the Main Dining Room, but you chose a time and you can make a standing time each night if you choose.

[oneputt18]

Love MTD, DW and I walk up to MTD desk and within 10 minutes are seated at a table. Never a problem!

[griffy116]

I have a related question....

We are booked on the new Quantum in December of '14, and we did get the 'early' 6:00 PM seating. We would actually like to eat earlier, say around 5:00, but we were told that the 'anytime' dining also started at 6PM, so there was no advantage to doing that.

We have sailed on NCL for the last few years, and they advertise one of their MDR's opening at 5, but on our last cruise they actually started each night at 4:30 for the 'early birds'.

My question is, is there a chance that the MDR on the Quantum may open earlier than 6PM? If so, we would change our reservation from assigned early to anytime to take advantage of that.

We like to eat early enough to still see the first show, and retire early....

 

The MDR is closed with doors locked until they open for the first assigned seating. There's always a crowd of people just waiting on the doors to open. Sorry, but earlier than 6 means eating somewhere other than the MDR. The shows, however at set to give the early seating a chance to eat and go straight there and be able to eat and then see the show.

[pfm18]

Windjammer? Johnny Rockets? Sorrentos?

[CruiseMore1]

Huh?

Isn't 'My Time', go anytime you want? That's the way 'Freestyle' works on NCL...it's just like a restaurant ashore...if the dining room is full when you arrive, you wait or they give you a pager to tell when table is available. Usually only have to wait 10 or 15 minutes or so during peak times. Other times you sail right in. They serve from around 5 PM to 10 PM.....

If they 'give' you a time, isn't that the same thing as assigned seating?

 

Fortunately, RCCL's My Time Dining works better than NCL's Freestyle dining IMHO. It is ONE of the reasons we no longer sail NCL. You don't even get the option for traditional dining on NCL.

[Legalgal]

I'm confused by this thread. If MTD is open on your sailing, pick it and then reserve your dinner time for as early as the dining room opens. You can do this online prior to sailing. I believe you can reserve the same time every night, which may even result in getting the same wait staff each night, thereby making is similar the traditional dining concept, only done at the time YOU want to dine. I think that this will alleviate your concern about being forced to eat late.

 

I have not personally done the MTD thing yet as we always do the late seating and prefer to eat late anyway. However, from the way I see it operates, RCCL took the Freestyle concept and the traditional dining concept and made a hybrid of the two. Usually, hybrids of two concepts dilutes both concepts, but RCCL seems have come up with one that only makes it better!

 

I agree with others that I've heard nothing but awesome reviews of the MTD dining on RCCL.

[nyer]

The MDR is closed with doors locked until they open for the first assigned seating. There's always a crowd of people just waiting on the doors to open. Sorry, but earlier than 6 means eating somewhere other than the MDR. The shows, however at set to give the early seating a chance to eat and go straight there and be able to eat and then see the show.

 

This is not always so. We are taking a cruise with our two very young granddaughters and we have MTD reservations for 5:30 for each night of our cruise. This is on the Explorer, I don't know about other ships.

[DebJ14]

We're booked on a Panama Canal cruise in April 2014. Our capable, competent, generally wonderful Travel Agent said that RCCL cannot book us for early seating, and they would not even put up on a wait list.

 

Coming from the USA's West coast, we'd be finishing dinner very very late, and with several health issues, that just will not work for me. I dread having to eat every dinner in the Windjammer, to eat at a semi-reasonable hour!

 

Do I have any other options here?

 

Send an e-mail to special needs saying you require the early dining time for health reasons. Whenever I could not get confirmed when traveling with my diabetic Mom I sent off an e-mail to special needs and then early dining was magically confirmed.

[OCruisers]

I don't post much anymore on the main boards, but love to lurk!

 

However, here I have to make an exception. Even though you cannot be booked for the main seating, give the Maitre'd a small token, and he will seat you at the first seating.

 

Why?

 

Many that are in both seatings have alternative restaurant reservations, but only the Maitre'd knows. You will not have an assigned table, but, who cares, you will be able to eat at the early seating time. Rick

 

It never hurts to $hake hands.

 

LuLu

~~~~

 

:D

[edjny]

Thanks for this.

 

I've tried and tried but can only get reservations at 5:30 or after 8pm on My Time Dining for our upcoming cruise (I started calling several months in advance). It does seem like a misnomer when a few months out you can't get a dining time between 5:45-7:45 pm.

 

I'm happy to hear that this strategy worked for you. Will have to explore the "no reservations" line. If we are holding 8 pm reservations but want to eat earlier, is it best to cancel the 8 pm and wait in the no reservations line, or just show up early and wait in the other line? I'm a little leery of not having any time reserved.

 

We always go with the MTD. But about half the time we eat in the WindJammer. Much more relaxed and we have found that the WJ serves most of the items that were on the Dining Room menu. Plus, they always have more stuff that you can not get in the DR.

[edjny]

The MDR is closed with doors locked until they open for the first assigned seating. There's always a crowd of people just waiting on the doors to open. Sorry, but earlier than 6 means eating somewhere other than the MDR. The shows, however at set to give the early seating a chance to eat and go straight there and be able to eat and then see the show.

 

Not necessarily. Some ships start serving MTD a half hour before the 'traditional' dining room opens. I know we have done it, but I don't remeber which ship we were on.

[Langley Cruisers]

It never hurts to $hake hands.

 

I so disagree. One should not have to do this when dealing with Traditional Dining times. I have paid my cruise fare, and expect to deal reasonably and courteously with Management/Maitre'd without having to tip/bribe him.

 

.

[bob brown]

What time are the main shows on RCCL? On some traditional lines, dinner is at 6 or 830 , and shows are at 8 or 1030. But sometimes, for various reasons, the late diners have to see their show before dinner...in that case the shows may be scheduled for 7 and 9.

We like to eat early enough to still make the 7 pm show. On NCL, that is no problem, since they start at 5, and sometimes as early as 430....

[Scotty G]

We're booked on a Panama Canal cruise in April 2014. Our capable, competent, generally wonderful Travel Agent said that RCCL cannot book us for early seating, and they would not even put up on a wait list.

 

Coming from the USA's West coast, we'd be finishing dinner very very late, and with several health issues, that just will not work for me. I dread having to eat every dinner in the Windjammer, to eat at a semi-reasonable hour!

 

Do I have any other options here?

 

A note from your doctor to the special needs department should fix this! We have done this before. Have your TA fax it to special needs.

[Morecruisesplz]

We have never been refused wait-listing, and it has always cleared....hope this is not a new RCCL policy! Ask your TA to call again - maybe a different rep will have a different answer. Good luck!

 

BTW, if you do decide to try My Time, do it right away - better chance to be able to get the time you prefer!

 

It does appear to be a new policy among the ship-board staff that wait lists are gone and that having cleared a list or having had your choice confirmed via email is now meaningless. At least that was the case on the Freedom of the Seas last week. Early traditional seating was not available when we booked so we booked MTD. I also emailed special needs and our early seating was confirmed several days prior to sail date. They automatically removed all of our MTD times and changed the reservation to early seating. We printed that page and took the email with us which we decided was good planning when upon checking in our seapass cards still said MTD and we were told to see the Maitre D after boarding. Having had to do this in the past with no problems, we headed there after boarding. Not only were we blown off but they managed to do so loudly enough to embarrass us -- like we were crazy. No waitlist - "We don't do that. We can not honor the letter no matter what Special Needs department wrote. Just go to MTD and you will like it." So then a nice gal from Guest Services took us back to the Maitre D's desk. Got a different one but the same attitude -- "Try MTD we feel sure you will like it." She explained that once I took my insulin shot I could not stand in line to wait for a table. "No problem -- go to front of line and tell them you will sit with any group at the next available table." (I'm sure the other cruisers in line would have liked that!) She explained that we needed a table for 2. "Then the only choice is to stand in line for the next available table. That shouldn't take too long." And he turned his back on the 3 of us. The guest services gal apologized but where does that get us?

 

My guess is traditional dining will be gone soon and everyone will be forced into MTD.